Bartered

by Pamela Ann

  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 being 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 emotions 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 reasons 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 vision 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 posses
sed—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.”

  “That’s the thing, I do know this.” He seemed tormented. “And I do know that you’re in love with a man named Damen Zabat.”

  Had I heard him right? “How did you—”

  “A thorough background check is part of being a mistress. It was in the contract you signed.”

  “Oh.” Had I failed to see it? Maybe I had, but my mind had been preoccupied with more pressing decisions from what the contract entailed.

  He sighed loudly before he gazed out onto the sea, pondering. “Is it wrong that the more you deny me, the more I want you? Your heart might belong to another man, but your body wants me, Isobel.”

  It was sad; however, what he was saying was the truth. My traitorous body couldn’t help eagerly responding to his touches. I was attracted to him, and this carnal feeling I felt each time I saw him was pure torment, because I didn’t want to feel this way. It was wrong, and yet, when he touched me, all I could think about was him and this spellbinding power he had over my body.

  He took a moment before he spun around and faced me, looking determined. “Tell me I’m lying.”

  “I wish I could.” I bit the bottom of my lip, hating the fact I was in this position. Almost a week ago, I had been absolutely sure Hugo wouldn’t have any power over me. That I would be in control of everything. I wasn’t so sure any longer. But for Damen, I’d keep fighting this off until I was out of fight. “But nothing will come of it. That I can assure you.”

  “You seem certain.”

  Damen. Just think of Damen and his love. “Because I am.”

  Thinking hard, I wondered about the times he had intimately touched me yet didn’t execute anything that was agreed upon. It made me wonder if this was his plan all along—for something more rewarding in the end. Unless, of course, this was just my imagination going into overdrive. After all, he’d been distant on moment and seductive the second. He blew hot and cold, making it hard for me to read his true intentions.

  “Why am I really here?” glancing at him wearily, I voiced out my suspicion.

  “Care to elaborate?”

  “Let’s drop the pretense that you plan to do anything with me other than being your go-to, all around person to make your life easier,” I challenged him to deny it. “So I’m asking again, what’s my purpose?”

  He immediately looked formidable. The baffled man earlier vanished as if it had been a figment of my imagination. “Your purpose is me, Isobel,” he stated succinctly.

  Our eyes battled before I stepped into his space, our noses almost touching, challenging him. “Sex. This boils down to sex.” I hatefully gritted out. “Funny how nothing’s happened.”

  “I want you,” he hissed into my face, eyes locking with mine. “I want to possess this body like no other man has ever done. I want to fuck your pussy until I’ve had my fill with it, until you can’t think of Damen.”

  Oh, wow. Had this been the reason why he’d been all twisted with me?

  “Didn’t you get the memo? No vaginal sex. That’s what we agreed upon. Have you forgotten? I could rehash it for you if you want.”

  “I never forgot that I’m only allowed to have you the other way…” His eyes dropped to my lips before he pressed his chest against my aching breasts, making the tension much more powerful. “It’s tempting, ma belle.” He said the words as if he was caressing them on my skin—I felt the heat of them. “Sometimes, I lay at night wondering if I should take that offer because I can’t seem to get my fill of you.” He paused. “But doing that will cause pain, and I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “Huh.” He didn’t want to hurt me. Funny how that wasn’t in the contract, but here he was, acting noble when he was after something I wasn’t willing to give. “So, instead, you’re waiting around, hoping I’ll change my mind,” I provided the answers without blinking.

  “Yes.” He didn’t deny it.

  Well, too bad. My vagina wasn’t open for business, not even for a man who made me feel this aroused with merely one look from him. He exuded a kind of power over me… Regardless, I knew better.

  “That’ll never happen, Hugo.” This was all a game to him. I had become a challenge. The only thing I could hang on to was my love for Damen. I knew that would give me enough strength to fight this sexual attraction we both had for each other.

  “Let’s make a deal.”

  “Another one?”

  “Spend som
e time with me—two weeks—and at the end of that, you can make your decision. Whatever it is, I promise to respect it and leave the subject alone.” He seemed sincere enough.

  But this was Hugo Xavier we were talking about. He had inherited an empire, which had the capacity to triple all of his riches. No doubt he was sharp and conniving. Trusting him would be unwise, yet declining this offer would lead him to play dirty, and I wasn’t sure I could handle that. At least with this one, I could keep my guard up and come out proving him wrong.

  “And?” I pressed with determination. “I have a feeling there’s an and attached to that sentence.”

  “And you’re bound to spend the rest of your time until the contract is up; babysitting, making coffee, driving me crazy from flaunting something I can’t have.” He seamlessly provided me with hope.

  “That sounds too easy.” I was a tad doubtful. After all, he had me in exchange for pardoning my father’s debt of three hundred thousand Euros. To a man like him, it might not amount to much, but to me, it meant everything.

  “We shall see. I have yet to seduce you, ma belle.” His thumb brushed the bottom of my lip, making me tingle all over. It was as if he zapped electricity within me, sparking fireworks everywhere, in every pore of my body. “Maybe seducing you wouldn’t be too easy.”

  Bloody shit. Why did he have to come out and make me feel like this was going to be the fight of my life? My mind was tortured enough; battling with my body’s needs and wants would be another matter. Suffice it to say that, at the very end of this ruse, it would be I who made the final decision. Believing this comforted me enough to stand my ground.

  “Seduce away because this woman won’t bat an eyelash even when you try.”

  He made a throaty, deep-bellied laugh. The sexy kind where a woman was bound to feel enthralled, staring at his throat, noticing how even he could make that look wholly enticing.

  “I love your snarky cattiness, Isobel.” He bestowed his über sexually charged kind of smile, making me weak in the knees.