Chapter 39

"Stay away from me, you jerk!" Emily said to Alexandrios who tried talking to her but once again she gave him the cold shoulder response she had been giving him for the past four days. And her attitude was irritating him.

Alexandrios was the kind of man who never chased after a girl but Emily was making him desperate and that was not just his style. He didn't chase girls, girls chased him.

"Look, Emily. I am trying to hold a conversation with you…"

"There will be no conversation between us until my friend came back to this stupid cruise of yours. Do you understand me?" Emily snapped and picked her laptop from the sunchair, she was about to walk away but Alexandrios grabbed her hand and made her hand.

"You are not going anywhere, Is it in my hand that she went missing. My friend is also missing. I am worried about him as well but that doesn't mean I would stop taking everything else for granted Emily. I am angry at the situation too but that doesn't mean I will start taking it out on other people. I am trying to talk to you but you kept giving me the cold shoulder, goddamnit!"

Emily swallowed the heaviness in her throat. She knew what she was doing was wrong but she was getting too attached to him and this scared her.

Unlike her friends she didn't come from a rich background and she didn't want herself to get hurt again. And getting emotionally attached with someone who was just having fun with her would hurt her. Casual sex was okay, but getting involved with a billionaire who lived a jet-set life was what made her toes curled in anxiety.

"Please let me go!" She said and jerked out of his hold. Before Alexandrios could even utter a word she walked away from him and once she reached her cabin she left a long depressing breath.

"That SOB! I won't leave him, Em…"

Susan stopped yelling when her eyes landed on Emily's ashen face. "Now what happened to you?"

Emily shook her head. "It's nothing…"

"Shut the fu*k up with you it's nothing and tell me what happened?"

"It's Alexandrios, he tried talking with me again and I walked out on him."

Susan remained silent for a while and then darted towards her. "I know we only suffer each other and you find me a little rude but I think you should move on from Victor. He was a scumbag and if you like this Russian billionaire then there is no harm in trying."

"I don't want anyone to take me as a charity case, Susan. I recall how everyone thought I was lucky because Victor was rich and I was not…"

"Move on, Em! You like Alexandrios from day one. I know that. Aurora knows that, so do me a favour and don't cheat on yourself."

Emily looked at the window, only if someone could understand the pain of becoming a laughing stock in University because you fell in love with a rich man. She agreed for casual sex. She liked Alexandrios and when she saw him for the first time she made a complete fool of herself but still, she was not ready to face the same humiliation again.

Meanwhile, Aurora was sitting inside a small cabin on the motorboat. "You want something madam, tea, coffee." A girl asked.

Aurora politely declined. She kept staring at the blue ocean water. Liam was with the captain, talking to him and she was happy that he was nowhere near her.

Only four days and it felt like an eternity. She touched the ring on her finger. Her engagement ring but today she didn't feel that same happiness she used to feel.

The ring felt wrong on her finger today. Aurora closed her eyes and a few tears rolled down her cheeks.

oh mom, I just wish you would have been here today. I am lost without you.

The motorboat stopped and the captain helped Aurora to step out of the boat. Her eyes went to Liam who was talking to someone over the phone. She looked away. Aurora wanted nothing except for meeting her friend and calling her father. She was about to walk away but Liam grabbed her hand.

"Goodbye, wife. See you soon!" He whispered but he forgot that unlike that island here she was not alone.

She snatched her hand away. "I don't want to see your face again, Mr Knight. I just want to forget that I ever met a man like you. You don't exist for me, not anymore, so you may live in hell for all I care," saying that she left.

Liam only smirked. "Oh, darling, I don't live in hell, I rule over it. And as far as forgetting me is concerned, I am carved in your fate, wife."

Liam knew that his father was waiting for him so without wasting a single second he went to his office and found Ryan sitting on his chair.

"Good evening, Dad." Liam drawled and Ryan glared at the direction of Liam's voice.

Ryan sighed seeing Liam calm and composed. "Don't ever do something without sharing it with me first. Do you understand?" He gritted out and Liam only smiled.

"He wants to meet you. So stop smiling and tell me what are you going to tell him because now that his daughter is safe, his mind started working again. He has doubts over you. Ethan asked me how did you end up on an island with his daughter?"

"Ethan King, you always made me your fan," Liam said while shaking his head.

"I will tell him the truth, dad. I gather he saw what I was trying to show him or why would he order his man to kill that restaurant owner."

"Let's hope he won't take it as an insult Liam. I don't want any problem with him. Friendship aside, our business will suffer greatly if things get bad."

"Leave it to me and tell me when the meeting is," Liam asked, shrugging out of his coat which he wore on the island Villa.

"Tomorrow, in Churchill. He wants to meet you over breakfast."

"Let's see what my father in law wants from me…." Liam whispered while casually sitting on the couch in the office and his father opening a bottle of cognac for both of them.

Meanwhile, Aurora hugged both her friends tightly. All three were crying to be together again. "We were so tense, Aurora. We tried everything to find you but...are you alright? Please tell us that you are fine,"

Aurora nodded. "Yes, let me take a shower and change into fresh clothes. Then we'll talk."

In the shower, Aurora once again reminded herself to not think about that man. While washing her face she felt her engagement ring on her skin. Again something shifted in her.

The ring felt odd on her finger. She sighed and turned off the shower. Wearing the bathrobe she stepped out of the bathroom.

"Surprise…"

She jumped at the excited voice of her friends but smiled when she saw the table filled with different chocolates, ice creams. Donuts, burgers, french fries and everything that Aurora likes.

"What is all this?" She asked, sounding off.

Both Susan and Emily glanced at each other. It was Susan who went to Aurora first, "Aurora are you alright? What has happened, tell me right now? This is your favourite food and you gave such a lame reaction to it. There is a reason. There has to be a reason…"

Aurora sighed. She threw the towel on the couch and sat down. Emily came to her and sat beside her. "Tell us Aurora?"

"I don't know, Em. It's just...I feel burdened with everything right now. I feel stuck…"

"Aurora, what exactly happened to you on that Island." Susan demanded.

Aurora shook her head. "I thought I made a friend but he was not a friend. He betrayed my trust and I don't…" she stopped talking and picked a cupcake from the table, took a huge bite of it.

"I want to forget everything that has happened in the past four days," once again Aurora eyed her ring.

"Susan, did he call?"

"Ethan called in every half an hour, Aurora. He sent search teams for you…"

Aurora gulped. "I was asking about Gabe!" She whispered.

"He didn't even message a single time. I don't know why you still bother with him. That man is not worth your time and you want to marry that man. For God sake Aurora open your eyes and see that he is not the right one for you."

"Susan…" Emily tried to stop her. They both knew how many times Gabe called and Emily feared that Susan's over protectiveness might risk Aurora's friendship.

Aurora sighed, hiding her face in her palm. "I am so confused right now, Susie. I feel…"

Susan frowned, she sat beside Aurora and touched her shoulder. "What are you confused about love? Tell me, Love."

Aurora raised her chin and gazed at her friend. "I feel stuck with this ring, Susan. I don't know but this last month without him felt refreshing to me. Whenever I look at this ring I feel guilty of some crime I didn't commit."

"Aurora, it's okay, there is no rule that you have to marry the person. It plays if you don't want to be in this relationship anymore…"

"But mom used to say that you fell in love only once. She loved dad till the very end of her life. She told me a real woman only loves once, marries once and lives happily ever after with that one man."

"Aurora, are you even listening to yourself!" This time it was Emily who raised her voice not Susan and even Susan was shocked.

"I loved Victor with my heart. I loved him so much that I gave up my values of saving myself for my husband and what happened then? I was a joke to him, just a joke. Someone good for having fun but not good enough to be introduced to the family. Trust me, girl, your mom was lucky to love someone who loved her back. You can't live your life to prove that I lived by your rules mom! Grow up, Aurora. Everyone has different life experiences and you need to learn from yours. So do me a favour and just do what you feel right not what mommy told you twelve years ago!"

Aurora closed her eyes. She didn't know what to feel anymore. She wanted to talk to Gabe but he had not called her once. "I want to feel something but I don't feel happy with this ring on my finger anymore. I don't feel the same goodness I used to feel with him. I feel restricted like…"

Aurora stopped talking and closed her eyes. Susan and Emily shared a look. Susan kissed Aurora's cheek, "we know whatever we would say might not be what you want to hear but I want to tell you something, but as a friend but your godsister."

Memories of their mothers flashed in Aurora's mind and a small smile came to her face. She gazed at her. "We're god sisters."

"Your mom asked me to take care of you because I was older than you. She asked me to help you whenever you feel stuck, Aurora. She asked me when she was dying in that hospital bed."

Both Aurora and Susan had tears in their eyes. "My dad married four times, mom loved him till the very end of her life even after he abused her and ditched her. She still loved him. You were there to see how much my mom suffered because of my dad. Tell me do you want to live like her? Because whenever I see Gabe all I see in him is my father. You used to be confident and happy about everything but that man made you feel like garbage. And you are saying that Savannah wanted you to love once… no. On the contrary, she would have wanted you to live your life happily, she would want you to be confident and happy and if this ring on your finger is suffocating you."

Susan held her hand and pulled the ring out of her finger. "What did you do?" Aurora asked her with wide eyes.

"I gave you freedom from this ring. Now be the old Aurora again."

Aurora looked at her naked finger, she didn't feel any pain. On the contrary she did feel freedom.

There was no guilt or pain, only a satisfied smile on her face. Maybe, she just needed to live her life the way she wanted.

Susan was right there was no relationship worth your own happiness and Aurora decided that now she would be doing what she wanted not what was expected of her to do…