“What? What do you mean he said he’s busy?”
Selena rubs my back as I stare at her incredulously. “He’s in Long Beach, he’s not even in Sawson.”
“No. He was here!” They all look at me in concern. “Isa, Jax just spoke to him. He left the opera and went straight to Long Beach to meet his dad.”
“No… he was here.” I argue. But now… I’m doubting myself. Was it all a dream?
I look at Jax. “He’s not here?”
He shakes his head.
“And … he said he’s too busy to come?”
Selena looks down.
“He did say you should stay with us.” She’s trying to make the situation better.
I look around, lost, and confused.
“Yeah, I think I’d like that.” I can’t stay in this dorm anymore. It’s lifeless and a HubSpot for crime apparently.
“I can’t believe he doesn’t care.” I check my phone. No missed calls or any texts.
Chapter 21
Two weeks have passed since the robbery. They trashed the place and stole my wallet, a gold necklace, and a bracelet. The police told us that the cameras were tampered with, so they couldn’t get any footage. I told them everything I remember but with no CCTV, no witnesses, and no other clues, they closed the case and basically told me to purchase an extra lock in the future.
I haven’t seen or spoken to Sebastian. I haven’t contacted him, and he hasn’t contacted me. My heart hurts. Sometimes I wake up crying. I miss him. I miss him so much. Coming to terms with our break-up was hard. Coming to terms with the fact that he so easily let me go and didn’t check up on me, was excruciating. How do you get over an obsessive love? I was addicted to him. I wanted him more than I wanted anything else. And I lost him. How do I move on?
I’ve been staying at Jax’s place so at least I’m distracted being with Selena. I’m scrolling through the TV when I see Edmond. I pause and increase the volume. It says ‘Live footage’ at the top left so I know this is happening now.
“For weeks, people have speculated about the connection between Edmond Carter and Juan Estadas. Two of the richest business men. What are they conspiring? Turns out, all the rumors were wrong. They are not launching a new airline nor are they joining forces in the gold mining industry. This friendship is nothing about business. Edmond’s only son, Sebastian, is dating Juan’s daughter, Gabriela.”
I miss the next words spoken. My body shakes as I see Edmond and Juan walking ahead of Sebastian and a girl with dark brown hair, long legs, and tan skin. A very beautiful girl. Sebastian opens the door for her once they reach the limo.
“Hoping for a ring soon!” Juan says to the paparazzi.
“What do you think Edmond?” Another asks.
“Well, let’s just say the ring is already chosen.” Edmond responds with a smile.
I stare at the TV as the host starts talking about a reality star who’s going to rehab. I grab the remote to rewind and watch the same scene twice… three times… four…
Sebastian? Engaged? No… it can’t be. Is this what he’s been doing the whole time? Was he with her all those late nights? Or was this the situation he’s been trying to fix for us to finally be together?
I stop my trail of thought. It doesn’t matter. He’s getting engaged. Engaged!
I put on my sneakers and grab Jax’s car keys. I’m wearing pajamas, a shirt and shorts with smiling strawberries printed on them. Great outfit choice for this confrontation.
I drive to Sebastian’s building and stay parked across the street. A part of me doesn’t believe what I heard. I can’t fathom the idea that he’s engaged. Has he been with her since me?
Their limo arrives and two massive bodyguards emerge, looking around. Edmond and Juan exit followed by Gabriela and Sebastian.
I give them a five-minute head start before I walk into the building. I pull out the keys to Sebastian’s flat and go up the elevator. Unlocking the door, I walk in.
“Well, hello there.” Juan says, looking at me up and down.
“Fuck.” Edmond mutters.
I keep my eyes on Sebastian who’s staring at me like he can’t bother give me the time of day.
“What’s going on?” I ask him, begging him with my eyes to prove me wrong. “I saw you on the news.” No one answers.
“What’s going on?” I repeat, my voice breaking as my eyes glisten.
“What?” Juan says mockingly. “You don’t want her to know you were never hers? He’s been engaged to my daughter for the last two years. You’re more than welcome to be his mistress once they get married.”
“Stop, Juan.” Edmond threatens.
Two years?
I look at the girl. Gabriela is even more beautiful in real life. She looks like a young Jessica Alba. Tan, flawless skin, dark features, big lips. She’s almost too beautiful. She’s on a chair looking down, fidgeting with her hands. As opposed to the mess that I am, she’s wearing a knee-length ivory conservative dress. Her hair is in a formal up-do and she’s wearing a pearl necklace. Looking at her, I can easily see how she’s better suited for Sebastian.
‘No one will ever want you. You’re not good enough.’ My mother’s words intrude. I close my eyes tightly and shake the thoughts away.
“You dated me knowing that this would happen eventually? You made me fall in love with you when you could never be mine? Sh-she’s your girlfriend now, Seb?” I cross my arms and strengthen my voice. “Your fiancé?”
“Isabel, go home.” He simply says.
“Did I mean so little to you?”
“I’m done, Isabel.”
“Y-you’re done. That simple? You’re done and you have a new girl and a ring picked out.” I laugh humorlessly. I wipe a tear that falls on my cheek.
He takes two steps towards me. “You ended it with me. And it was a good decision. Our end was inevitable. Everything with you is dramatic. I’m tired of it. I don’t want you anymore, Isabel.”
“This isn’t you.” I tell him.
“I am done, Isabel.” He shouts in exasperation. “Why do you think I wasn’t around towards the end? I’d come home in the middle of the night all the time. Who do you think I was seeing?” He tilts his face to his right, indicating Gabriela.
“No, you … you can’t, you couldn’t have.”
“Really? Are you that naïve?” He crosses his arms and grins at me.
“This isn’t you.” I repeat in a whisper.
“I don’t want you anymore. I want her.”
My heart shatters.
“You’re an asshole.” I whisper. “You’re an asshole.” I repeat louder. “I wish I never met you!” I shout. Tears fall down my face. “I hate you. I hate you!” I tell him brokenly. I take his house keys and throw it at him, but he ducks, dodging the hit.
Juan says something in Spanish and Sebastian’s eyes widen. The next thing I know, I’m lifted on top of Sebastian’s shoulders and he walks us out of his apartment.
I kick him, hard. “I hate you! I hate you!” He puts me down while he calls the elevator and I take the opportunity to slap him across the face. He holds his cheek as he stares at me emotionlessly.
The elevator opens and Troy steps out. “I hate you. I hate you. I hate you!” I cry out, shoving Sebastian over and over again. Troy grabs my arm and pulls me towards the elevator.
“Don’t touch me!” I pull away. “Trust me, I don’t want to be here either.” I enter the elevator and leave.
As soon as the doors close, I swear I hear him say I love you. But nope. I’m done listening to my hopeful heart. I imagined his love for me, I imagined him being with me when the robbery happened. I am done. I am so done.
I somehow make it safely to Jax’s apartment. With how hysterical I was, driving shouldn’t have been an option.
I walk inside and see Selena and Alayna on the couch looking stressed.
“Oh, thank god!” Alayna says and Selena pulls me on the couch.
“He’s engaged. He’s
getting engaged to her.” I point to the TV screen where I paused the announcement.
“That doesn’t make sense!” Selena starts. “There has to be something more.”
“Stop. Even if he did really love me or whatever, he dated me knowing there is an end between us. He always knew he had to eventually marry her. I gave him my heart. I didn’t even give it. He took it! And he kept taking more and more of me until I was completely and utterly his. He kept coming after me no matter how many times I ended things and pushed him away. He kept coming! He should’ve let me go!”
“I am so sorry but maybe-.” Alayna says.
I interrupt her. “New cardinal rule, we do not defend Sebastian. And we never ever discuss him again. I am done with him. Okay?”
Chapter 22
Another month passes and I go through the motions. I go to class then go home. My nightmares continue but this time, I don’t have Sebastian to make me feel better.
I’m not sure how I feel about what happened. All I know is that I’m in pain. My heart aches, physically aches, and most days I just want to stay in bed and sleep.
News of Sebastian and Gabriela’s engagement spread across the college. I got stared at and was whispered about constantly for the first two weeks. Misty likes shoving it in my face that I’m pathetic for believing I was Sebastian’s girl. I ignore them all, I don’t care. I’m just happy I haven’t been exposed to any more sightings of them together.
I haven’t seen him, I haven’t looked.
Sitting in bed, I’m listening to music and trying to concentrate on this poem when someone knocks on the door. Looking through the peephole, I see a delivery man. Opening the door but keeping the chain on, I look at the box in his hand. Diet Center.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t order from the diet center.” I tell the delivery man.
“Are you sure?” He looks at the order summary. “It’s for an Isabel Talen. Is that you?”
“Yes, but I do not need it.” I tell him rudely, my anger spiking.
“It was sent by an Alegra –”
“I know who sent it! Just take it back. I do not need it. I’m sorry, I have to go.” I close the door on his face and fifteen minutes later, I’m still raging. I change into shorts and a tank top, put on my sneakers, and order an uber.
I’m ecstatic that my parents are in Sawson today. We were meant to meet after their formal lunch with my dad’s colleagues but I’m going to surprise them with an early visit.
Arriving at the restaurant, a waitress leads me to their table in the private room at the back. All conversation stops when people notice my presence. My hair is in knots, my shorts barely cover my ass, and my tank top greatly accentuates my breasts. Basically, I look like my mother’s worst nightmare.
“Isabel?” She says in a threat.
“Mother, father, what a pleasure.” I smile sarcastically.
There are at least twenty other people in here, but I don’t care.
“What’s going on, Isabel? Is everything okay?” My father stands up, frowning.
I laugh out loud. “Oh, dad. This is so weird! Us talking! When was the last time you acknowledged me as your daughter?”
“Isabel?” He repeats and I refuse to believe the hurt expression on his face.
“Don’t worry, dad. Today’s not on you, although you’re almost as shitty of a parent as your wife over there.” I point at my mother. Looking around, I recognize the couple who I met all those years ago who tried to help me. Anne and Roman. And I swear she’s smiling at me.
“Isabel, outside, now!” My mom shouts but I ignore her.
“Oh! Do you not want people to know how horrible you’ve been as a parent?”
“Enough!” She approaches and grabs my arm in a tight hold.
She pulls me outside and around the corner so we’re in an alley. As soon as she lets go of my arm, she slaps me across the cheek. For the first time, I push her back. Not hard enough for her to fall, but enough for her to stumble backwards in shock.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” My father screams. “How dare you put your hands on her?”
I look at him, assuming he’s shouting at me but see his eyes directed at my mother. I burst out in hysterical laughter as tears fall from my eyes.
“Why do you care?” I say through a laugh. “Why do you care? How dare she put her hands on me? You’re lucky I’m finally fighting back!” I shout and his face hardens in an instant.
“She’s being dramatic, George.” She tells my father. “Now you,” she points at me, “what the hell do you think you’re doing? What the hell are you wearing? You look like a slut! Your hair … your complexion. You look like a disaster. I will call Tony for a spa appointment for you ASAP. Did you borrow these hideous clothes from that tacky roommate of yours?” She looks me up and down in disgust. But I smile because I know her so well. She’s trying to break me with her words. She’s always been successful in doing so, but not anymore.
“No, actually these are the clothes I wear on a daily basis when I’m not being fake and trying to portray an image you are forcing upon me.” I respond.
I have never spoken back to either of my parents, and it feels liberating.
“Isabel, what is going on with you? You do not speak to us this way.” My father adds.
“Yes, I do not, because I have been bullied, mocked, and belittled by both of you since the day I was fucking born!” I don’t care that I’m gaining the attention of people around us.
“Isabel, lower your voice now!” My mother says, gripping my arm and digging her nails into my skin painfully.
Yanking my arm away, I stare at her. “What, mother? Are you afraid that everyone is going to find out that the Talen’s have emotionally and physically abused their child?”
“We never lay a hand on you!” My father argues.
“No, you didn’t, but she did.” I point at my mother. “You just committed emotional negligence.” I lift my shoulders up and down as if it’s not a big deal.
“What? You hit our daughter?” He gasps and I roll my eyes.
“No, I don’t understand.” He says. “Alegra, have you laid a hand on our daughter?”
“As if you didn’t know.” I scoff.
“I didn’t!” He slaps his hand on the wall. I’ve never seen him look so enraged.
“Oh, please,” my mother scoffs, “you should’ve seen what my mother did to me, what I did to you is nothing.”
“You call blackmailing a doctor to check if your fourteen-year-old daughter is still a virgin, nothing?” My father gasps from behind me, but I keep going.
“You call grounding me for six months when I was eleven just because I embarrassed you at a function, nothing? What about when I became anorexic because of you?” I cry out loud.
This moment is a purge, my words are setting me free.
“How about when you hit me and forced me to lie to everyone? And when the nurses were concerned about my bruises, you got them all fired.”
My dad is panting and stares at my mother in blatant hate. “You did all of that?”
“Oh, would you still be angry if you knew she wasn’t a virgin? Fourteen years old and she had sex!”
“I let him have me because he was the first person in my life who showed me an ounce of affection!” I scream through tears of devastation.
“That is not what I’ve been told! Alegra explain!” My dad demands as my mother and I stand in silence staring at each other.
“Your daughter is an ungrateful little girl who ruined her own life by being a lazy slut! You’re spoilt Isabel, always taking the easy way out. You didn’t even bother to make the right friends or lose the weight-”
“You never speak that way to her again!” My dad shouts. “Is this what I’ve been missing this whole time?” He looks between us both. “God, Isabel, I am so sorry. I thought you and your mother were close. She always made it sound like you two were as tight as sisters. Was this your revenge you conniving bitch?”
He asks my mom.
I’m shocked when she slaps him.
“Why the hell do you hate me so much?” I ask her.
“Because you’re a constant reminder! I can’t have children, and then he brings home a child, saying it’s his from one of his many endeavors with the whores he likes so much!”
“You cheated first Alegra, do not let me remind you.”
“So, y-you’re not my mother?” I ask, relief seeping into me.
“Of course not! You think my daughter would turn out to be …” she points at me with a disgusting look on her face, “so lacking? You look just like his whore!”
Taming Sebastian (Sawson's Royal College Book 2) Page 22