Page 78 of The Husband Contract
“Sebastian. I don’t know what’s going on between the two of you, and it’s not my place to say anything, but… he’s not all bad.” I try not to roll my eyes at her words. Poor Janice most probably has no clue how fucked up her boss is and I’m not going to be the one to tell her.
“I’ll take your word for it,” I say, and watch as she closes the door.
What would she do if I told her the whole fucked-up story? She probably wouldn’t believe me anyway.
I stand there for a few moments, not really knowing what to do. I’m in a suite, and it’s beautiful. There’s a queen-size bed on one side of the room with expensive “Indian cotton” sheets and big, fluffy pillows. I admire the antique dresser and the TV. There’s even a green velvet loveseat on one side and a writing bureau leaned up against the wall. No detail has been left out and if I were here under any other circumstances, I would be quite happy with a room like this one.
I walk over to the floor-to-ceiling windows and peek out at the skyscrapers that make up the city. I feel like a princess in a tower, only I’m more like a prisoner. Then I check out the bathroom. There’s a large spa bathtub and a walk-in shower. It’s amazing. It’s the most beautiful room I’ve ever been in and yet I feel like a bird in a gilded gold cage. I don’t want to be in this golden cage. I just want to be inmyroom. As simple as it is.
I finally understand what it is to appreciate whatyou have, even if you don’t think it’s much. I still don’t really understand why I’m here. I have no idea what Sebastian wants from me. What his revenge is going to be? I feel like once I understand his plan, I can figure out the best way to deal with it. Maybe I’ll exact my own retribution on him. I’d love to beat him at his own game.
I decide to call Katherine, because I need to speak to a friend before I spiral into oblivion.
“Oh my gosh, Willow, is everything okay?” Katherine says as soon as she answers. “Brielle and I have been so worried.”
“I’m okay, I guess.” My throat chokes up in emotion. I can’t tell her how broken I am right now. I can’t let her worry. I don’t want either one of them to do anything drastic because I don’t want to get them involved. I don’t know what Sebastian would do to them. And I know my friends. They are my fierce protectors. If they knew the extent of his cruelty and the words he’d threatened me with, they would be after his blood.
“Where are you? I tried calling the hotel in Vegas. I was going to try and send the police there, but they said you’d checked out. I had no idea where you’d gone. I wasn’t sure what he’d done to you.”
My chest tightens. I miss her—miss both of them. It wasn’t supposed to be this way, yet here we are.
“We’re in Manhattan,” I say. “Do you think you and Brielle can look after the hotel for a little bit without me there?”
“Of course. What’s going on? When are you going to be back in Whispering Haven?”
“I don’t know. Which is crazy, right? But, I just don’t know.” I decide not to tell her about his threats to ruin her and Brielle’s lives or his threats to ruin their parents lives as well. It will only make her more worried and this isn’t theirfault nor problem. I have to figure it out. Sebastian was playing on my weaknesses.
“Are you okay? Do you want to call the police?”
“I’m okay. And no, I don’t know what I would tell the police. I mean, it’s not like hemademe marry him. I married him of my own free will.”
“But didn’t you say he married you for revenge?”
“That’s what he said. But, I mean, what are the police going to say to that? It sounds like it’s made up.” If only it were easy to explain how loving and kind he’d been in the beginning and how he’d fooled me.
“I know. So, what are you going to do? Have you tried to tell him he’s wrong? Have you reasoned with him?”
There’s no reasoning with a man like Sebastian.
“Girl, I showed him my bank account, and then he went on about offshore accounts. That I’m hiding millions of dollars in the Cayman Islands or somewhere. It makes no sense to me why he would think I have all this money. He saw me working at the Magnolia Club. He saw me working at the front desk. I mean, I freaking clean toilets at the bed and breakfast. Would I be doing that if I had millions of dollars?” The frustration in my voice burns through me. There was nothing about me that screamed I had millions. Shit, there was nothing about me that screamed I even had thousands.
“I know! He’s meant to be this smart businessman, but it seems like he’s not all that smart,” she says. “I can’t believe he fooled all of us. I really thought he was sincere. I really thought he was a good guy.”
I close my eyes and let loose a ragged sigh. “I did as well.”
“I am… sorry.”
“What are you sorry about?”
“You had doubts. You were hesitant. And me andBrielle, well, we convinced you that it was all in your head. I convinced you that he loved you, that he actually wanted to be with you. You might not be in this position if it weren’t for me.” My heart pounds at her words. I do not want her to blame herself.
“Oh my gosh, do not even say that, Katherine. Trust me when I say I was going to go ahead with it, no matter what you said. I bought into it. Iwantedto buy into it. I spent all these years looking at myself as Cinderella and who saved Cinderella? The prince. And I saw him as my prince. You didn’t make me see him as that. He did.”
Boy was I wrong. He had us all fooled. A villain disguised as a hero.
“I know,” she agrees with a grumble. “I just can’t believe he turned out to be so crazy.”
“You and me both. He’s either a psychopath or some sort of serial killer.”
