Bartered (7 page)

Chapter 13

Isobel

Two days later, his aunt and cousin Elena arrived late in the afternoon. We were out in the garden, underneath a pergola that had white, see-through silk veils, overlooking the beautiful French Riviera. Hugo was supposed to join us but was actually running late, and I had to prematurely play hostess until His Highness was back from his business endeavors.

Elena
, just as I had expected, appeared like a spoiled, bored princess, minding only herself as she frantically tapped away on her phone.

His aunt Julee and Elena had the same features as Hugo—dark hair, chocolate eyes
, and excellent gene pool. Both women also had that kind of air of elegance that was purely imbued from a very young age, most especially his aunt. From the way she carefully sipped on her china to her indirect way of interrogating me, it was all done with refined finesse. If it weren’t for her obvious doubts about me, I could’ve actually gotten along with her. Then again, I couldn’t blame her suspicions. I did, after all, come out of thin air as she’d carefully put it.

She might
have appeared poised and calm, but I wasn’t fooled. After all, my family ran with circles that reminded me of Julee; suspicious, self-righteous, self-entitled.

“I found it rather odd that Hugo instantly changed his lifestyle after ten years of b
eing an infamous Casanova all over Europe.” Her brow raised a tad before a malice-filled smile. “Pardon my rudeness, but I just don’t believe it.”

Well
, then why even try to appease her already made up mind? “You’re more than welcome to your own opinion.” Shrugging, I reached out to take a sip of my coffee. I took my time sipping, tasting the liquid on my tongue before I placed it back on the saucer. “It seems you’ve already made up your mind, so I’m under no obligation to change it.”

“Carry on that attitude
, and you wouldn’t last long with my nephew. I can guarantee you that,” she threatened, her composure slightly slipping from her anger.

My, not even an hour in
, and we were already enemies. Great. However, as much as I wanted to play nice, she was the one who’d started it, and I wasn’t going to let her treat me like dirt. My father already filled that role in my life; I need not do with another.

“As the saying goes, there are a lot of fishes in the ocean…”
my rebuttal came with a smug look. “So I’m not bothered by your threats.”

Julee became tomato red as she instantly stood up, glaring down at me. “Hugo won’t tolerate this disrespect towards his family. I’ll make sure he knows how selfish you are.”

Seriously?
“Be my guest, Julee,” I murmured before I watched her walk away, raving mad with anger.

“My mother…
She’s something, isn’t she?”

My head spun to the side to glance at Elena. “She definitely is.” My riled up em
otions started to ebb away, making me sigh with relief. “I had no idea that you were paying attention to the conversation.”

“I
always
pay attention,” she blurted out, giving me a wicked smile. “I can’t stand my mother. One gets creative in ignoring her.” She considered me a moment, studying me. “Don’t mind her. She’s just bitter that my father divorced her for a younger woman.”

Very well. She was a scarred woman
; scorned and bitchy. They were the best ones, out to get whomever they could to join their miserable lot.

“Hugo told me you’re going to be my vacation buddy,” she started saying before I gave her a curt nod. “Tonight. Eight p
.m. We’re going out to meet some of my friends that are here for a week. So take out that little mini black dress; we’re about to come out and play all night long.”

Party.
With people that were my age
. Sounds like a perfect way to end my night. I needed some fun after being confused ever since I moved in the Villa Blanc.

“Sounds brilliant.”

Elena stood up, stretching like a tired feline. “Time to get a little beauty rest before getting ready for tonight. I’ll see you at eight.”

“See you.”

All by my lonesome, I thought about the night ahead of me. Maybe having Elena around wasn’t so bad after all. Because, truth be told, I was dying to let loose and forget about Hugo for a few hours.

Hugo arrived when the sun was about to set. It wasn’t that I was scared to face him because I challenged his aunt
, but for some reason, I didn’t feel like facing him just yet. Subsequently, I decided to take the stairs that were carved from the very rock itself that led to the shore below.

I needed reprieve from the chaotic life I lived in at the moment. It was one of the re
asons why I had decided to study in England, even though my father had been completely opposed to it.

The azure water looked marvelous
, aglow with the sun’s last rays. Watching the sun setting low, I thought of my mother who loved watching it out from the balcony. It was a daily ritual for her. She’d stare at it, as if saying a prayer. When I was little, I used to sit on her lap with her hugging me tightly from behind. I remembered her saying,
“No matter how bad our day goes, you can always count on this moment to make you feel good. We take a moment to appreciate how beautiful life is. There’s always beauty amidst the ugliness this world has to offer. Never forget that, Isobel.”
Those words had stuck with me most because it was a reminder of how my mother’s life was. She was unhappy and knew the ugliness my father was made of, yet she wouldn’t ever leave his side. All she had were those sunsets to remind her that life wasn’t always dark and cruel.

My mother
. My poor mother. There was a time when I thought my father was only verbally abusive to her until that day where he had done something to prove the lengths he’d go through to punish me.

“You are not going anywhere, Isobel. You’re staying in Athens. End of discussion!” he roared at me, looking enraged with his neck turning the shade of crimson and eyes that made my bones shake.

I had never seen Father this angry, yet I knew if I didn’t stand my ground and fight for what I wanted, I would be stuck here in Athens, living under the same roof with him.
Going to England to study was my only legit way out without rousing too much suspicion.

I
’d had an idea he wouldn’t be pleased, but somehow, I had sort of convinced myself I had the means to persuade him this was for the best. Seeing him beyond furious at my audacity to even contemplate leaving our home, let alone leaving the country, I wasn’t so sure I had the capacity to make him understand my reason.

“Father
, please—”

He marched towards me, eyes bulging out of its sockets as he breathed down on me before he unleashed his fury. “My decision’s final! Don’t you dare defy my authority as the man of this
house. No more about this nonsense.”

No… please
, I quietly begged him through my eyes. I had to make him understand that even his authority wouldn’t stop me from achieving my dreams. This was my time, and I wouldn’t let him steal this away from me, too.

With my heart ramming against my heart, my will pushed me to the inevitable. “I’ve accepted…
and I already bought an airplane ticket. I’m going, Father, whether you approve or not.”

Before I even managed to take a breath after I finished speaking, my father’s strong
, furious hand wrapped around my neck, choking me. “You insolent child! You want to leave this house because you long to be that boy’s whore. You’re worthless, just like your mother.” Each word he said made him look like he was Satan before he started to lift me off the floor. My air passage was completely blocked as I tried to detach his hand from my neck, but he was too strong for me to fight off.

When I was sure I was turning blue and would die that very moment because my v
ision became blurry, something happened.

“Let her go!” Yanni, my younger brother
, interrupted, punching Father in the face, making him drop me to the floor, heaving and gasping for air in my lungs. “Iso, you okay?” he asked worriedly before he focused his attention on his target. My father almost fell to the floor, but what he did next was quite the unexpected.

His laugh—the mind-bending evil kind of laugh that only demonic people
possessed—bellowed out of him, appearing as if he was finding this situation easy to laugh off.

“Saving your sister was a mistake.” My father’s dead eyes burned into me before
they landed on my brother. “Throwing your fist at me guaranteed that your life will be hell.” He glanced at me before flicking his gaze back to Yanni. “Consider this a lesson to you both,” he warned before leaving us to recover.

Five minutes later
, when I thought my day couldn’t get any worse, I heard the most chilling of screams from my mother.

Later, I found out that he punched her in the stomach because he deemed it useless that it couldn’t even hold a baby. He believed that a woman’s womb was made to carry all babies. Women that couldn’t were, therefore, a disgrace.
This
was one of the reasons he tried to justify his lifestyle—full of gambling, deceit, and countless women who were idiotic enough to buy his bullshit.

Every time I thought about that time, I felt responsible for bringing more hurt to my mother. It was selfish of me
, yet I knew I had to follow my gut, and the need to be free of my father’s shackles was just too profound to ignore.

“Here you are. I’ve been looking all over for you.”

Hugo
. Crap. Was he here to reprimand me of my abhorrent behavior towards his aunt? “Is this about your Aunt Julee? Listen, she—”

“She said that you were
a cheeky, ill-mannered gold digger.”

Cheeky? Probably. Ill-mannered
? Definitely. But a gold digger? I certainly wasn’t. Ever since I had arrived here, I had tried to ignore the deep, nagging feeling of loneliness, or how I wished to be with my friends and spend this precious time with Damen instead of playing charades with the megalomaniac named Hugo Xavier. Putting a brave face on everyday was a challenge as it was, and then, in comes Julee Favre with her brow raising, elegant self, questioning my position in Hugo’s
faux
love life.

Wearing an insufferable
expression, I had to lay how I felt about his aunt out for him. “Your aunt had it coming,” I said unapologetically. “If you’re here to ask me to apologize to her, then you’re wasting your breath.”

“I’m not here for that.”
He eyed me thoughtfully, angling his face so the last rays of the sun basked over him, making him glow. Chocolate brown turned into golden, fiery lava before me, taking my breath away. “Although, it’s quite an accomplishment to get her so viciously mad.”

“Was that…
a compliment?
” I hid a shy smile.

He matched my grin, eyes dancing at me, amused. “I know she’s difficult. At one point
, I was worried how you’d fair with her, but I guess that answers my curiosity.”

“Well, I aim to please
,
Your Highness
,” I teased further; glad I hadn’t ticked him off about his aunt.

“Is that so?” he murmured with a look about him, staring at me with wonderment.

The look
he was giving me made me thirsty. Touching the base of my throat, I timidly gazed at him. “What?”

“You just surprise me.” A frown creased his handsome profile before he reached out and cupped my cheek. His touch simply shocked me. “I never thought a smile could mesmerize
me…” he rasped out. “But you have proven me wrong.”

Dear me. What was he doing? He had never acted this way
, like he was starting to like me. Not the Isobel he saw, but the woman inside me.

“I can’t stop thinking about you, Isobel.” He sounded strangled, just as confused as I was. “I don’t want to
, and yet you remain in my mind…”

“Hugo…” What should I say to him? Damn. He needed to know. “Please
, don’t go there. We both know that this is purely business. Don’t make it more than that.”