Fatal Alliances: Chapter 37

After taking a bath, I sat at the dressing table staring at my paling reflection. I wasn’t sick physically, but I felt mentally messed up. After finding out all that, I would have never imagined Adrian to tell me anything about his past, but I did threaten him. Maybe that’s what pushed him over the edge to tell me about it. Getting out the room, I walked along the hall to find him sitting at the desk in the library with his laptop.

And he was back to his work-addicted self.

Hand on chin, lips plastered in a thin straight line, furrowed eyebrows, and fixed intense grey gaze. I slowly knocked on the door to get his attention. At that moment, his eyes fluttered onto me.

“Can I come in?”

“No, but I have a feeling you’re going to anyway.” He wickedly smiled, still keeping his eyes glued to the screen.

“You know me so very well, Mr. Vandermir.” I replied walking in and looking at the shelves of books, “You used to read all this?”

It took a while before he answered me tiredly, “Not all, some were my mother’s.”

“Oh,” I said as my eyes brushed over the smaller desk at the other end of the room, “Whose desk was that? Yours?”

“Yes.” He simply stated.

“But why are there two desks?”

“One was for me and the other for my father.”

There was a picture I noticed hanging on the wall above, I hadn’t realized it when I came in here before. It was a picture of Adrian, Ricardo, Finny, and Donnie when they were younger, probably around their teenage years.

“You’ve known them for such a long time?” I asked, trailing my fingers on it.

Giving a frustrated sigh he got up from his seat, walked in front of the desk, and casually sat on it folding his arm, “I was trying to work, Miss Greene. It isn’t helpful when you keep bombarding me with questions.”

“You work too much.”

“I have responsibilities.”

“Don’t you have free time at least? I mean, what do you do for fun?” I quizzed.

“I don’t have free time.”

“No, you just think you have none hence when you actually do, you use it for work-related stuff.” I pointed out.

He chuckled at that and walked up to me, only to look at the picture I was staring at.

“You actually had people who managed to put up with you until this day.” I teased playfully, “I mean, excluding Ricardo because he’s your cousin. How did you know the others anyway?”

For a moment he hesitated, but spoke nonetheless, “School. My father surprisingly allowed me to keep attending public school, I met Donnie long before what happened to my father.”

“So you two were like best friends or something? That’s an unlikely pair.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Well, he’s so childish, fun, carefree and you’re well… manly, boring, and strict.”

“We don’t have to be similar to be compatible, Miss Greene.” He smirked looking down upon me with his scoring grey eyes. The way he said that and looked at me made me feel a little unsettled.

“And what about Finny?” I blurted, trying to move the tension away.

“Close family friend. He’s like a brother to me.”

“Oh, I see.” I smiled. That was the big secret Finny was keeping from me? Close family friend? Somehow, I believed that there was more to the relationship between Adrian and Finneas. Still, I didn’t bring up the matter.

“So what about you, Adrian? Don’t you at least want to have a family of your own later on? Are you planning to live like this for the rest of your life?”

“What’s wrong with this? I happen to like living like this. Family doesn’t last forever, Greene, they always end up breaking.”

“That’s not true. Not always.” I muttered but said it more like a wish.

“As I said, I’m perfectly fine by myself. I don’t need and want anyone else with me.”

“How very villain-like, Mr. Vandermir.”

“Are you done with all your questions now?”

“Gosh, you say it as if I came to interrogate you.” I laughed.

“Didn’t you?”

“No, I just wanted to speak with someone and well you’re my only option.”

I wanted to know more about him, get in his head. See who he really is.

“Do you hate him?” I suddenly asked.

“My father?”

“Yes, do you hate him after everything he did to you?”

Adrian looked at the smaller desk at the end of the room as if he was remembering a memory, “No.” He replied, “I don’t.”

I was a bit taken back by his response. I’d expect him to say yes, after all, his father did so many horrible things that couldn’t be forgiven, but here Vandermir was playing a saint by saying he didn’t hate his father.

“My father did a lot of sinful things, Greene, but his motive wasn’t ill. He wanted me to be perfect, to be successful. I only have so much today because of his upbringing. I admit what he did to my mother was wrong, unforgivable. But I blame Rocillie only for that, he somehow influenced my father that my mother was having affairs with other men. And because of my father’s mental sickness, it came as a shock to him, and well, he punished her for that. I would see strange men coming to the house telling my father that they knew my mother, but she denied it. I knew it wasn’t true and I confirmed that it wasn’t when I met those men years after. They said they were just working for Rocillie at that time.”

“He did all that for revenge? God, I’m sorry about what had happened Adrian.”

“Stop apologizing.” He said in frustration.

“Why do you get so angry when I say that to you?”

“Because what good would that do, Greene? Sorry isn’t going to change the past. It’s pointless.”

“No, sincere apologies are a way of telling someone they care. That they understand your pain and are going to be there for you.”

“I don’t need comfort.”

“Then maybe that’s why you’re so cold.” I sighed.

Adrian walked to the fencing set at the side of the room and took one of the swords up.

“So, I’m guessing you’re like an expert at fencing too?” I continued.

“I wouldn’t brag.”

Taking up one of the swords myself, I gave a soft laugh, “The only time I ever had any kind of fence-related experience was when I would force my sister to re-enact the Lord of the Rings battle scenes with me.”

“Try me.” He smiled wickedly.

“What?” I asked, feeling my face heat up.

“Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on you.”

Taking a step back, he allowed me to make the first move. This was crazy, he expected a girl who knew absolutely nothing about fencing to fight him. But I wasn’t going to stand there and just stare at him. And besides, I had lots of fighting experience before. They may not have been as formal as fencing, but they did count, didn’t they? Swinging the sword at him, he effortlessly blocked.

“You swing like a girl.” He laughed.

“I am a girl.” I corrected as we continued.

“From what I know, good girls don’t hit other girls with walking sticks, Miss Greene.”

“And who said I was a good girl?” I teased blocking his sword with mine. Swiftly, he skillfully yet flawlessly caused me to drop mine and spun me into his arms with his blade at my neck and his other hand at my waist. I felt his low chuckle tickle behind my right ear.

“I’m sorry.” He said as his hands slipped under my top onto my bare stomach.

God, I felt as if his touch sent ripples of shock through me. I liked it. Somehow it caused my heart to flutter, my goosebumps were evident. I honestly didn’t like the fact that I liked this feeling. His long elegant cold fingers brushed tenderly along my tender warm skin. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t right that I enjoyed his touch. This was wrong. That’s when it hit me. Wait, did he just apologize to me?

“Sorry?” I asked, turning to face him.

“If I had…” He replied while looking at my stomach.

Oh, he must have meant when he had held me harshly last night when he told me about his past.

“You didn’t.” I assured him, “I’m fine.”

Before he could say another word, a strange voice interrupted, “Wow, I have to learn this new way of fencing.” A short guy with fine brown hair, combed neatly to the side, said while observing how close Adrian and I were.

Vandermir released me only to give an uninterested sigh at the man, “Barney.”

“Adrian.” The man smiled cheekily walking up to us. His face was very circular, youthful, but somehow I had a feeling that he was around Adrian’s age. There was something that just felt crazy about him.

“Who’s the beauty?” He asked, looking at me.

“Miss Lucien.” Adrian smiled, which in turn made the man cough in surprise. He fixed his glasses and came a little too much in my personal space boundaries.

“Lucien?”

“Yes. And please, next time tell me when you’re coming.” Vandermir said in annoyance.

“But you’re not a man?” Barney asked me.

“Excuse me?”

“No it’s just- I didn’t expect seeing a girl here. I didn’t know the Lucien was a lady.” He replied.

“Don’t worry buddy, I didn’t know I was a Lucien either. I thought I was a Greene.” I said with a soft laugh, causing him to laugh nervously.

Adrian, with an irritated expression, folded his arms and arched an eyebrow, “She’s only here for certain matters pertaining to the partnership Barney. She isn’t here to forge bonds.”

“I know.” He replied, “Well, I heard my homeboy was back in Montana. I couldn’t miss the chance of meeting you again.”

“Homeboy?” I giggled.

“Yes, we were friends since childhood,” Barney stated proudly.

“Really? I didn’t see you in any of the pictures.” I said. God, I hadn’t meant to say that aloud.

“That’s because I was the one taking the picture Miss Lucien.” He snorted, “I’m like the electrons to an iron friendship.”

“What?”

“Forget him,” Adrian sighed.

I honestly didn’t know what to say about them, the guy reminded me of one of those old cartoon characters, “Oh- uh- okay.”

“Barney’s father is bringing the last part of the partnership documents you’d have to sign, Greene. So for the meantime, do whatever you want.” Vandermir stated throwing a book at me, “Go read something.”

‘10000 Ways of the Mannerly’.

“Looks like you missed out on this book, Vandermir,” I commented as I walked out.

So basically, I was just waiting for some man to get here so I could sign my part off the partnership and free myself from potentially being arrested. And once Rocillie signs the document Adrian drafted, then I’d have nothing to do with Adrian ever again. Why did I feel so miserable about that? I should be happy, contented, thrilled about that. I wasn’t. I just felt so damn lousy. And it had only been about two hours since that man came.

“Oh, hello.” Barney’s voice echoed behind me, “Why do you look so sad?”

“Sad?” I asked. Wow, did I look sad about this? Was I depressed?

“Well, you look like you have the world of trouble on your shoulders, Miss Lucien.”

“Oh, please don’t call me that,” I said politely.

“Miss Greene, then? Don’t worry, I know about you, the partnership. Only because of my father though.”

“No,” I laughed softly, “I meant you can call me Juliet, I don’t like all the formalities.”

“Tell me about it.” He agreed, sitting on the sofa opposite me, “How about we play a little game?”

“Huh?”

“You play chess?” He asked as he pulled out the board from under the mahogany table between us.

“Well, I hadn’t played in a while, but alright.” I smiled.

Just that moment Adrian walked past us, plastering that serious expression of his.

“Barney, meet me in the family hall. We have to talk. Now.” He stated in that autocratic way of his.

“He is such a dictator.” I frowned as I watched him walk away.

“He’s a good guy though.”

The old me would have opposed that. If I hadn’t learned about his past, I would have gotten angry at people only defending him. Barney must have known about Adrian as well, and so did Finny, Ricardo, and Donnie. That’s probably why they trusted him and his decisions so much. Maybe it’s because he went through so much, experienced so much.

“I know.” I sighed.

“You know what, just set it up. I’ll go and speak to him and be right back.”

With that, he left. I waited about twenty minutes for the guy. I just sat and stared at the chessboard, which was already set up, while munching on some cereal. Maybe I should find him. Getting up, I looked around for him. Where was the family hall anyway? Vandermir’s house was so huge. I swear I could get lost inside this place. Suddenly, I heard laugher coming from a room nearby. Barney’s voice. Grateful that I found them, I entered the room.

“Barney, I finished setting the-”

I immediately stopped to see what was going on before me. I promised myself I wouldn’t get mad. I tried staying sober from anger, but God, I wanted to kill these two right now.

“This is what you two are doing? This is what you called him for!” I yelled at Adrian who was sitting casually at a table while pouring a drink into a wine glass with classical music playing in the background.

“Don’t raise your voice at me.” He stated coldly with furrowed eyebrows.

“Oh just shut up!” I iced furiously at him, “What are you going to do if I don’t?”

“Greene.” He warned testily.

“Wow.” I heard Barney tremble nervously.

“And you!” I pointed my attention towards him, “Don’t you have half a mind to tell me to forget about it? Why did you have to keep me waiting like that? It’s so inconsiderate!”

“I- I was going to but- well this was my favourite. I forgot.”  He defended himself raising his glass up.

“Enough.” Adrian slammed at me.

How could he speak so harshly at me? I wasn’t even the one at fault here.

“Don’t speak to me like that Vandermir!” I snapped walking towards him.

I hadn’t realized it but there was a ‘watch your step’ height that I failed to notice and stumbled. Just when I thought I was about to fall in embarrassment, I didn’t. Actually, I did. I did fall, but into someone’s arms. Vandermir. He looked mad, murderously furious at me while I probably looked like a scared little child that held on to her parent begging not to go to the doctor. In that same pitiful way, I was clutching onto his shirt, trying not to fall and hit the ground. Slowly, I tried to steady myself to get up and away from him, but he didn’t allow it. Adrian kept his hands firmly around me. What the heck was wrong with him?

“Uh… maybe I should…you know… come back…” Barney awkwardly said and walked out leaving just Vandermir and me alone. I didn’t want to be alone with this man right now.

“Adrian.” I struggled to get away from him. He suddenly steadied me up to him harshly.

“When are you going to grow up, Greene? Wake up to your reality? It isn’t all fun and games so stop being so childish, stubborn, and irritated on such stupid things that don’t even matter! Hell, a game of chess? Do you look for things to get mad about?”

As much as I wanted to rebuke him, as much as I wanted to shout at him, I couldn’t. Whatever he was saying was the truth. When I’m with him I feel like a child, weak and irritated. He makes me feel like that. He makes me feel so many things I’ve never felt or experienced before. All my life I’ve learned to do things on my own, stand up for myself, be independent. But with him, it’s like those things don’t exist again. I feel vulnerable, dependant, I feel like I need him. I hated it.

“What are you doing?” He suddenly asked looking at me with furrowed eyebrows.

“I- I’m not doing anything,” I replied, feeling my eyes getting damp and foggy.

“Stop it.” He said in a low and irritated voice, “Stop crying.”

“I’m –I’m not crying.” I tried to convince myself even though I knew I was about to.

I honestly detested the fact that I would allow a stranger like him to get in my head, mess with my emotions, he makes me feel unbelievably inferior and pitiful.

“I’m not crying,” I repeated to myself in a whisper.

Adrian gave a tired sigh, for a minute it almost looked regretful. “What the hell do I do with you, Greene?” he asked cupping my face in his hands.

What’s wrong with this guy? One minute he’s scolding me and the next he’s rueful about it? Does he think I’m some sort of inanimate object he can just push around and treat however he likes? I have feelings too. I’m not a rock. And I have a gut feeling that he spitefully makes me feel uneasy when he gets past my personal space, when he gets too close to me. Does he like to do that? Of course, he does. He’s probably had so many relationships in his time, after the incident with his father. He’s experienced, knows more than I do on these things. Maybe he just laughs at how uncomfortable I get when he’s near me. As he admitted before, he liked seeing me like that. It made me so darn mad that he would think like that. I had my personal beliefs. I wasn’t going to forget it like that. I wasn’t going to let Adrian get his way and mock my integrity.

“Don’t touch me!” I snapped, slapping his hand away, “Don’t you dare come close to me again! Do you think you could treat me however you want? It isn’t right! It isn’t right when you touch me like that! I don’t like it!”

“You don’t like it?” He arched an eyebrow.

“No, that’s the problem. I do like it, it’s just that I don’t like that I do like it!”

“What?”

“Just stop. I can’t, I – I’m- Gosh…” I finished in exhaustion.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He smirked, walking closer to the table to take another drink.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about!”

After tasting the wine as if he was trying to solve its age, he charmingly fixed his burning gaze upon me and extended an arm, “Would you like to dance, Miss Greene?”

What the actual hell? What was wrong with him? I probably wondered that about him a million times, but this, this was just absolutely absurd.

“Adrian- are –are you on drugs?” I asked, quite alarmed at his question and bipolarity.

Ignoring my question and concern, he took my hand in his and guided me at the middle of the large room. Yeah, this guy was insane. He was totally on something. I hadn’t realized but the room we were in was elegantly and unrealistically gorgeous. It was like a real-life ballroom from the Elizabethan Era with its exquisite artwork on the ceiling and walls.

“This room,” I trailed admiring its beauty.

“I used to have dance practice in here,” Adrian replied coolly.

Somehow I forget about being mad at him like it didn’t matter again. What good would staying angry at him do, anyway? It’s kind of sad that he could easily make me forget and move away from my perspective of detest towards him. But then again, what if he really was a druggie? Shouldn’t I try to help him overcome his problem? Maybe I shouldn’t keep getting angry at him. Maybe I needed to show him that I’m there for him in this difficulty. I was definitely convinced that he was on something. He needed help, support.   

“Dance? You?” I arched an eyebrow in disbelief and teased, “You used to dance by yourself?”

“No, my father used to bring in some of the loveliest girls around for me. Probably in the hopes I’ll take a liking to one.”

“You sound like a prince.” I laughed as he held me with him closely, “Did you find that unlucky princess Mr. Vandermir?”

He stared at me for a moment with the softest smile tugging at the edge of his lips, “I think I found her.”

“Oh,” was all I could say.

“You’re too stiff.” He sighed, changing the topic.

“What?”

“Don’t be so tense around me.” He said pulling me even closer to him, “Relax.”

“Uh- I-”

“Have you ever danced before?”

“Not exactly,” I replied.

“I’ll teach you then.” He grinned as he placed his right hand around my waist and took my hand in his left one. “Here,” He said as he instructed me to place my free hand on his shoulder.

“I –umm,” I awkwardly breathed, holding on to his shirt’s shoulder and accidentally stepped on his foot, “Gosh, sorry.”

“You’re too nervous Greene, are you like this with all men?”

Truthfully, I wasn’t. It was only around Adrian that I found myself awkward and nervous. Even though I haven’t been in any kind of love relationship, I’ve been around a lot of guys before; growing up, school, university friends, best friends’ boyfriends, etc. I haven’t been ‘around them’ in a trashy way, just in the associative, friendship kind of way. I’ve seen them all, but then there was Vandermir. I’ve never met anyone like him before. He was different. I’ve never felt any kind of desire from any guy before until I met Adrian. This was wrong, I shouldn’t think like that, but it was just so hard not to.

“You speak to me as if I’m some sort of child. I know how to flirt with boys Adrian.”

“Well, I’m no boy Miss Greene.” He slightly smirked.

Somehow, that made me very uneasy. He was doing it again, making me feel that weird sensation as he guided me with him.

“Actually, I’ve only danced a few times.” I began trying to move the tension away, “Mrs. Dawnly used to make me attend some of her friends’ parties. It was always ballroom dancing and cocktails. Although, I was a terrible dancer as you can see.”

“I can.”

“I have a love-hate relationship with those parties though. It’s kind of nice to pretend you’re back in time for a little with the dancing, yet I detested the fact that most of the individuals attending those function parties always seemed to be the most intimidating snobbish kind. Don’t get me wrong, not all were awful people, just the majority. Mr. Dawnly always had the same perspective as me. He didn’t like to attend those parties, so that’s why he told me I should go, you know, to make sure Mrs. Dawnly doesn’t get taken advantage of. Everyone used to take advantage of her. It’s nice that he trusted me with that responsibility. He had always been such a good man to me. You know, one time when I had-”

Before I could have even finished my sentence, I felt heated lips crash upon mine. Adrian entwined his finger lightly into my hair and kept his grip on me firm and steady.

Shock laced through my body as he stapled me to him. The sudden need caused me to motion my lips to his. It didn’t feel wrong again. It felt perfect. Adrian made me feel safe and graceful and completely over my head yet sane in an insane way. He made me feel perfect. My inner feminist would have hated how dominant he was, but I didn’t.   

He tasted of rich red wine, it was probably the closest I’ve ever been to alcohol. Everything seemed to be so warm inside, fuzzy. Being with him felt extraordinary, complete. He didn’t kiss me as aggressively and harshly as before, it was tender yet full of desire. Almost like one of the kisses in a fairy-tale that makes your heart flutter, except by a hot, bad guy instead of the prince. I’d never expected Adrian to kiss me like that. I’d never had expected him to kiss me at all again. As he pulled away, I felt suddenly speechless. I didn’t know what to even say. All I could do was stupidly turn the deepest shade of pink and a human-size jello.

“You talk too much, Miss Greene.” He chuckled, looking down upon me, almost an inch away.

I couldn’t come to terms with what just happened.

“Juliet.” His voice caressed as he gently squeezed my hand which was on his chest.

The way he said my name, his tone of voice- it was different. It was tender and sweet and full of a longing need. And of course, it was entwined with that raspy edge. He made me feel weak. His eyes were filled with a deprived craving. For some reason, I wanted to cry. Adrian reminded me of how he looked like a child and the thought of how he’d been abused made me feel broken. My heart clenched so much it was becoming hard to breathe. How could he live like this his whole life? Adrian Vandermir wasn’t the man the world saw him to be. No matter the success or how much money he had, it couldn’t heal that wound of his past. He was a broken man, and he knew it.

I was about to say something- anything, but a familiar voice echoed with a soft laugh from behind, “Seems like this trip did you two some good after all.”

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