Chapter 75

“Luis, opinions on Isobel? You know her right?” I entered my room and made my way to the closet to free him.

“You poor thing, I kept you here for a really long time.” I sighed and hugged him, but he seemed completely unfazed.

“Did you tell Christian?” He asked with hopeful eyes, but I shook my head. “No, I didn’t—the fewer people who know, the better.”

“But we can trust Christian, he would never hurt me.” Luis pulled my shirt. I felt bad that he was living in his own fantasy, and I did not want to wake him. He was right, Christian wouldn’t hurt him—but he would most likely send him back, which was no different from hurting him.

“Luis, how is your bond with Isobel?” I asked him once again. “Aunt Isobel is nice to me, I trust her.” He surprisingly told me. Won’t you look at that? There was another person who liked her.

“I heard she was a snake.” Luis looked at me with curious eyes. Wow, the news really did travel. Just the idea of Isobel embarrassing herself like that made me feel satisfied.

“Yeah I think she might be past that, that’s why I’m asking you what your bond is like,” I told him. I would’ve loved to talk some more about these correct accusations which involved Isobel being a snake, but now was not the time. “You called her aunt so, that’ll do.”

Luis looked at me with a worried look on his face and shook his head. “Will she help me? But I want to stay with you, Beau told me to stay with you!” He spoke in fear. It seemed like he really trusted Beau’s words, which made all of this even worse. No matter what, I had to keep him safe.

“I’m not going anywhere, but you need a fresh set of clothes—and I need to know my brother is still okay.”

“I told you, he still is!” Luis tried to convince me one more time, but until I had seen Beau with my own two eyes, I could not say the same. “I have to know for sure.”

“Don’t you have...twin telepathy?” Luis asked as I let out a chuckle. He was funny, I’ll give him that. “I wish we had, Luis—because if we did, we wouldn’t be here right now.” I ruffled my hands through his hair and grabbed the tablet from the nightstand. “How about you go and watch something fun while I’ll call...aunt Isobel.”

I opened my cabinet and threw some snacks on the bed for Luis. He didn’t seem like he was going to give me more useful information anytime soon, so I at least had to keep him quiet. “Here you have some popcorn, candy, drinks—“

“It’s morning?” Luis looked at me with a confused look on his face.

“Nooo, it isn’t, we’re one minute past noon,” I spoke with my hands in my hips as I stared at my alarm clock. I hadn’t even bothered to look at the time—and gave him snacks to eat. The parenting would work out perfectly fine, no worries.

“Yeah, okay!” Luis smiled and opened a bag of chips. It was not ideal, but it at least kept him quiet for now. “I’ll be in the bathroom for a while,” I told Luis, and locked the door, so no one could barge into the room. “Try to make less noise,” I whispered at him before closing the bathroom door.

I pulled out my phone and searched for Isobel’s name. This was definitely going to be something. Let’s see if she’ll pick up.

“Hello?” I heard the all too familiar voice and froze up for a second. Was I crazy? This was the same person who tried to not only have me but also my baby killed.

Get it together Serena, you need her.

“Isobel, is that you?” I asked, knowing very well that it was. “S-serena?” She spoke as all the power in her voice had disappeared. Suddenly not that confident anymore, now were we?

“Yes, It’s me—I don’t have much time so I’m just going to say what I have to say. Christian told me that you’ve apologized to him?” I jumped right into it and wasted no time.

“Isobel?” I sighed after I got met with silence and heard a deep breath. “Yeah, I did—I know it might seem suspicious to you and I know you deserve my apology the most bu—“

“Okay, so we agree on that.” I cut her off as I was not in the mood to listen to any more of her nonsense. “He told me you were desperate for my forgiveness, willing to do almost anything. Is that right?”

“I-I don’t like where this is going.”

“You know, that’s funny—because that was my reaction when I heard you were trying to get me and the baby killed,” I told her as I tried to get rid of the little doubt she might’ve had. I wanted her to feel guilty and I needed her to work along.

“Serena...” She called out my name. Whatever I was doing, it was clearly working. “Listen, are you willing to do anything for my forgiveness—yes or no?”

“It depends.” She spoke. It depends? Judging by her sins, those words were not reserved for her. I remember I had laughed when Cesca told me to go on my knees to apologize—but not even an apology like that could fix what Isobel had done to me.

“You know, Christian told me that he’d cut you off if I really want it—so your friendship with him depends on me.” I made clear, knowing that whatever friendship they had, used to be a bit more than that. I was not stupid and I still wanted him to cut her off, but not before I would make use of her. “Now let me ask you one more time, are you ready to do anything for my forgiveness?”

I heard her take a deep breath as she went into deep thoughts. She had no choice and she knew it. “Yes, yes I am.”

It worked.

“Good, do you know where I’m staying?”

“Seriously?” Isobel chuckled, probably thinking I was playing with her. “Information like that doesn’t really get shared with me anymore, so.”

“Can I trust you?” I asked one last time. Telling her the address of the safe house would also be a risk—but it was one I was willing to take for Luis and for Beau.

“You told me, my friendship with Christian depends on you so.” Isobel sighed. That’s funny.

“Didn’t stop you from trying to kill me. I need to know, can I trust you?” I repeated the same question. I had to hear it from her mouth. “Yes Serena, you can trust me.” She spoke.

I let out a relieved breath and leaned my head against the wall. Everything was working out as planned.

“Good, I’ll send you the address and I need you to come over—right now.” I immediately instructed her as there was no time to explain. “R-right now?”

“Yes, right now!” I started losing my patience. “Let’s say...with clothes and underwear for an eleven-year-old.”

“Huh?” Isobel asked in shock. “Huh?” I mocked her right after. She was in no position to question any of my requests.

“Serena, is this some kind of joke?” She wondered. Yes, my request was a bit weird—but once again, she was in no position to question it. If I would’ve told her to crawl to the safe house, she should’ve done it.

“That’s funny, that was my reaction when I heard you tried to get me killed.” I chuckled.

“Serena...”

“Listen, I expect you here at this address with a set of underwear and clothes for an eleven-year-old boy and don’t tell anyone I called you or what we’ve discussed,” I spoke, making sure not to leave anything out. “I’ll give you two hours.”

Once again I was met with silence and wondered if she would end up backing out. “Fine.” She finally gave in with a slight delay. I actually managed to persuade her.

“Don’t worry, I’ll give the guards the message—because I don’t think they’ll let in a snake just like that.” I decided to irritate her even more.

“Sure.” She huffed as I giggled to myself. Seeing this desperate and hopeless side of Isobel was a present itself—and it's what she deserved. “Okay, then I’ll see you soon—you have two hours,” I told her.

“Serena, what the hell are you doing?” Isobel asked, but I was not in the mood for her questions. All she had to do was to follow my instructions.

“I said two hours, Isobel.” I rolled my eyes before realizing that she couldn’t see me. For someone who should be ashamed to be talking, her mouth seemed to be moving quite a lot.

“Fine.” She agreed before she hung up the phone.

After waiting for a while I paced back and forth the room, wondering whether she had stood me up or not. We were already past the two hours and she still wasn’t here. “She will be here. Isobel always keeps her word.” Luis smiled as he tried to calm me down before he focused his eyes back onto the tablet again.

Forcing the guards to keep Isobel coming here a secret was very easy. I felt guilty for blackmailing them—but I told them that I would tell Christian about their bad security system if they would tell anyone about her visit.

It was hard to break them at first as they seemed extremely loyal to Christian, but after telling them that I would not forget their faces after we got married, they gave in.

Even though Christian had forgiven her, he had never given her the address of the safe house and I wanted to believe that he did so for a reason. The fewer people who knew, the better.

After what had felt like hours I could finally hear the door open and ran downstairs as fast as I could. Other than a few maids, who minded their own business, it was always quiet around here—especially with Ramiro and Amanda being in the guest house.

My eyes met Isobel’s and I had expected to feel some kind of fear or hatred—but all I felt for her was pity. I felt sorry for her that she was the pathetic bitch she was.

“Don’t just stand there, follow me—quick!” I told Isobel and grabbed her by the arm. “Hey? Where are you taking me!” Isobel demanded an answer but obliged anyway.

“Serena, you’re scaring me—I just came here to apologize, there’s no point in torturing me.” She spoke in fear. What?

“Torture?” I chuckled. “Isobel, I’m not like you—I need you to do something else,” I told her before I opened my room door and pushed her in.

“Luis, what the...?” I heard her say as I closed the door behind me. “Aunt Isobel!” Luis called out with a big smile on her face and jumped from the bed to hug her.

“Serena, what the hell is he doing here?” Isobel whispered and gave me a confused look. “Does Christian knows about this?” She asked. “Well.” I huffed and closed my eyes. “That’s where you come into the story.”

Isobel pushed Luis aside and stepped back. “No, no, no—this won’t help me gain his trust back at all. I will pretend like I didn’t see anything, and walk away.” She turned around to open the door, but before she could—I covered it with my entire body. “Serena, move. I brought the bag with clothes, but this is as far as I go.”

“Aunt Isobel, she needs your help.” Luis looked at her with desperate eyes.

“Do what I ask of you—and I’ll put in a good word for you, come on.” I almost begged. She should’ve been the one begging me, but yet here I was. “I brought you clothes, now let me go.”

“No, Isobel—you are now an accomplice to kidnapping and you have no one to back you up—so you will help me.” I took a step forward with each word as she took one back.

“Fine, you win.” She gulped.

She was right, I won.