Virtue & Vanity

by Astrid Jane Ray

  The sound of the door startled me from my thoughts and I glanced towards it, expecting to see Emily, but I was surprised to see Sebastian instead. He walked over to me in a steady pace and the moment he got close, he gently wrapped his arms around my waist and for a while, we enjoyed the miraculous view together. With my back leaning against his strong chest that radiated comfortable warmth, I relaxed in his arms. I liked being so close to him.

  As he kissed my temple and lowered his lips to my ears, the rising excitement played with my breath, making it faster; synchronizing it with the beating of my heart.

  “I love having you here. I wish I could bring you more often, but I’m afraid The Goliath would go bankrupt within a month if I made a habit of this.”

  “Why is that?” I whispered, caught up with the feeling of his hot breath on my skin.

  “Because I wouldn’t get anything done.” He smiled. “Having you around is too distracting.”

  His soft, inviting voice made me want to face him and when I turned around, he observed me with a disarming smile on his face. Slowly, he leaned over to me and sighed in discomfort.

  “You really don’t know what you do to me, do you?” I shook my head and he exhaled harshly, closing his eyes. “Let me show you then,” he whispered.

  As his lips came closer to mine, my heartbeat hummed in my throat and I let out a shaky breath to release some of the pressure.

  “Shh.” I could feel his minty breath on my lips. “It’s just a kiss. Just a small kiss.” His lips touched mine and started massaging them with persuasive sensitivity and while he gently ran his hands along my back and my hair, I managed to let go of my restraints and enjoy having him so close to me. Just as I felt that he was about to deepen the kiss, there was a loud knock on the door and I stepped away from him, trying to quickly fix up my hair and adjust my dress.

  Sebastian laughed as he invited the person on the other side to come in and before I knew it, the door swung open and Emily walked in with my bottle of water. Inexplicable shame rushed through my system and I couldn’t even look her in the eyes as she handed me the bottle. I didn’t have to look up to see that Sebastian was amused by this entire situation.

  “Will you need anything else, Sir?”

  “No, that’s all. Thank you,” he said without taking his eyes off of me. “Cancel all my calls and don’t let anyone through to my office.”

  “I understand,” she said in a light voice, like she knew exactly what had happened between us, and I wanted the ground to swallow me up.

  When she finally left, I dared to glance at Sebastian who was smirking at me. He came a few steps closer and tilted up my chin, observing my flushed cheeks.

  “So sweet,” he whispered. “I swear to God… Your innocence will be the death of me.” His lips were so close and I thought he would kiss me again, but instead, he raised his head and laid a soft kiss on my forehead, stepping away from me.

  I swallowed, heat rising in my entire body. Gulping, I looked around in a desperate need to change the subject.

  “You have a lovely assistant,” I stated and he raised his eyebrows, letting me know he knew exactly what I was trying to do.

  He shrugged. “We work well together, that’s all. I wouldn’t go as far as calling her lovely.”

  “She told me she went to Paris with you,” I said in a light voice, that was void of any tension, but Sebastian narrowed his eyes at me in an interrogating manner and I instantly knew that bringing this up might not have been the best idea.

  He smirked. “Hmm… If I didn’t know better, I’d think that my sweet wife was jealous,” he teased and as I slowly shook my head, his smirk turned into a genuine smile. “Terrible liar.” His warm whisper sounded through the room and he approached me again, resting his palm against my face, caressing my cheek. “You shouldn’t worry about other women, Isabelle. I’ll never want anyone else.” The green in his eyes lit up with something powerful and endeavoring. “Only you.”

  I gaped at him in wonder, at a loss of words. One piece at a time, this man was taking away my heart and my soul, stripping away all of the layers that shielded me against him, working his way to the very core of my being.

  “I almost forgot. I have to tell you something.” He walked over to his desk, pulled out a small envelop and then handed it to me. “Open it,” he encouraged.

  I glanced at Sebastian and carefully pulled out a small card from the envelope. As I read the content of the note, I realized it was an invitation for the wedding of his friend Jared who had also been his best man. Light dread took hold of me when I remember the way that man looked at me at our wedding and back then, his fiancé Amelia didn’t spare her mean glances my way either. How on earth was I supposed to attend their wedding reception?

  “Sebastian…” I looked at him in an almost frightened manner, fearing to tell him I didn’t want to accompany him to this wedding. “I don’t…”

  “Shh.” He sighed and pulled me into a light embrace. “They’re really nice people. You have nothing to worry about. You’ll see.”

  I looked up at him. “Sebastian, they hate me.” I tried to convince him.

  “Don’t be silly,” he whispered in a fit of surprise. “Of course they don’t hate you.” I tried to look away, fighting the desperate thought that he would make me attend that wedding where all those people would probably only mock my appearance, but he tilted up my chin and made me face him again. “Only a fool would hate someone as sweet and uncorrupted as you.”

  “You were a fool then…” I breathed out the words, reminding him that he too, didn’t find it at all difficult to hate me.

  He swallowed. “Angel, I think we’ve already established that you’re married to one of the biggest idiots in the universe.” I had to laugh since hearing him scowl at himself like that was so unlike him. He pulled me into a tighter embrace and whispered softly to me. “I promise there is no need to worry about my friends. They are looking forward to see you again.”

  I shook my head. “You… you don’t know how they looked at me at our wedding.” I closed my eyes, fighting the shame. “I can’t bear to see them again. I’m… I’m so ashamed,” I admitted in a pleading voice.

  “Isabelle…” He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Forget about what happened before. Please, whatever they did to hurt you, I’m the one to blame. I’m the one who caused it and I will fix it, okay?” He leaned his head on mine and I focused on his slow breathing. “Do you trust me?” He asked in a quiet voice, patiently waiting for my reply.

  I parted my lips, ready to offer him absolution that would bring peace to his mind, but the moment was interrupted by the commotion that was coming from the outside.

  All I could make out was the sound of Emily’s persistent voice that tried to stop somebody from entering Sebastian’s office. The noise caused by the loud screech of the door broke through the room before we even got a chance to react.

  Suddenly, I was confronted with the angry stare of the woman whom I hadn’t seen in a very long time… And her eyes widened in surprise when she realized she had caught me in Sebastian’s embrace.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  The scrutinizing gaze of the woman in front of us held my complete attention and the strong, disapproving glow in those eyes compelled me to step away from Sebastian. The moment I did that, a mysterious smirk appeared on her porcelain looking face.

  “Well, if it isn’t Romeo and Juliette in the flesh. How romantic of you to make yourself unavailable so that you could spent time with your charming bride.” She chuckled, turning in my direction. “You know what they say; better late than never.” She winked at me.

  “What are you doing here?” Sebastian scowled at her.

  “What a warm welcome.” Her voice rang with sarcasm. “Can’t a sister pay a visit to her beloved brother?” She produced an offended look on her face.

  “I don’t think so,” he said, annoyed. “Cut the act and tell me what you want, Dianne!”

>   “I’d like to talk to you in,” her eyes darted towards me and her interrogating stare sent chills down my spine, “a more private atmosphere.”

  I already started leaving, when Sebastian held me by my elbow. “Stay,” he said in a firm voice and then turned to Dianne. “There is nothing you can’t say to me in front of my wife.”

  Appearing to be amused by Sebastian’s angry reaction, she bit her lower lip, suppressing the need to laugh.

  “Oh, is that so? I see that you’ve forgotten that I’ve got quite a few stories to tell. Like the one that now you’re calling her your wife but if my memory serves me well, I’m pretty sure I can think of the times where you used very different terms to refer to this simple girl from that hillbilly town in the middle of nowhere.” She raised her eyebrows and shook her head. “You should stop playing the tentative husband, Sebastian. It doesn’t suit you.” She snickered and looked towards me.

  “I think it would be best if you leave before I lose my patience,” Sebastian said in an annoyed voice I recognized all too well and then he paused before provoking her with simple words that seemed to carry just the right dose of venom to make her crack. “And I’m pretty sure you’re the last person who should be handing out advice, considering the marital bliss you’re experiencing with that pathetic excuse you have for a husband.”

  Her high-pitched laughter sounded through the room again and when I shivered at the sight of this crazed woman in front of me, Sebastian took hold of my hand, squeezing it tightly. Glancing at me with reassurance, he displayed affection in front of his evil sister and I knew that it would not go unnoticed and unaccounted for. And I was right. The moment her eyes paused on our hands, she turned serious and I could have sworn there were tears forming in her eyes, but she was a woman made of stone and as expected, she pulled them back, replacing the stare that uncovered her weakness with the one that was dark, cold and stripped of any emotion. I couldn’t help thinking that some things ran in the family.

  “You know, I wonder...” There was so much bitterness in her voice. “At what point have you succumbed to this pathetic little gold digger and got to the point where your family means nothing to you?”

  “Careful, Dianne!” Sebastian uttered a clear warning. “Just because you’re my sister doesn’t mean I’ll tolerate your bullshit.”

  Her posture had finally loosened up a bit as she was taking heed in Sebastian’s warning. “I didn’t come here to fight you, Sebastian,” she said in a proud voice, but it was clear she had swallowed a dose of her arrogance.

  “Please, enlighten me!” he said impatiently.

  I stood there motionless, wondering how there could ever be so much hostility between two people who were bound by the same blood. Dianne’s gaze remained frozen on me for a few moments, sending out a clear message that she wasn’t comfortable discussing the matter in my presence, but she sighed and gave it up once she noticed Sebastian’s eyebrows rose, signaling that he would soon be unable to stifle his irritation.

  “I need your help. I want you to do something about it!” she demanded and I looked at her confused, because I had no idea what she meant, but Sebastian seemed to have understood her request perfectly, because he simply shrugged and suddenly looked at her like she evoked pity in him.

  “And what exactly do you want me to do about it?” he asked in a flat voice.

  “Father doesn’t want to get involved anymore. But somebody has to,” she asserted firmly. “Talk to her and put her in her place. Or better yet, make her go away.” She raised her voice. “This disrespect has to stop! She has no right to take away what’s mine. She has no rights whatsoever!”

  Sebastian took a deep breath and shook his head at her. “If you’re expecting me to get involved into your husband’s mesmerized love life and become a part of this pathetic triangle, you’ve lost your mind, Dianne. If you have any dignity left, you will file for a divorce!”

  “Never!” she all but yelled. “I’m an Everett. I won’t yield to some low-life bitch and let her destroy my marriage.”

  “I hate to break your little bubble, Dianne, but your marriage has already been destroyed... for a long time. There is nothing that I, father or even God himself can do about it. And maybe none of these things would have happened if you weren’t so thirsty for revenge. You thought you could play with people’s lives, but you ended up destroying your own. A lesson well learned, I think.”

  “So, I see. You’re too busy playing the husband of the year to prevent a scandal in the family.” She smirked, obviously hiding the fact that she was upset by Sebastian’s refusal to help her and then she glanced at me before turning serious. “My, oh my, whatever did you do to change his mind?” Her eyes darted towards her brother. “When I only remember the tantrum you threw when you found out you’d had to marry her and look at you now. I wonder what daddy would have said if he witnessed your tacky love escapade.”

  “Is that a threat?” Sebastian asked calmly. “Because if you think that I give a fuck, you’re very mistaken!”

  “Don’t be a fool,” she said in a voice that rang with plea and warning. “All I ask of you is to talk to her. After all, you’re the one who owns this company.”

  “And what would that achieve? Caleb is the one who needs to leave.” He was relentless.

  “I refuse. I refuse to let them win!” She gritted her teeth and her face produced a painful grimace. “Divorce is not an option I’m even willing to consider.”

  “Dianne, you’re being delusional. Count your losses and move on with your life,” Sebastian said in his infamous steel-cold voice, indicating that the conversation was over.

  In a fit of helplessness, Dianne aimed all of her fury on me with her demeaning stare and then her eyes darted towards Sebastian. “You’re calling me delusional? Come on, Sebastian. I think it’s more than clear which one of us got lost in a world of fucking fairytales. I mean...” She shook her head and her eyes roamed the length of my body while she sighed in disbelief. “Look at her. How can you even consider keeping her as your wife? Have you already forgotten about the woman you swore you would marry no matter what? Or does getting a divorce suddenly not mean that much to you now that the time is ticking away?” Dianne’s taunting voice broke through the room, summoning all those dark and dangerous ghosts of the past that had been locked away for far too long.

  A shiver of pain rushed through me, her words burning their way to my fragile heart. Insecurely, I glanced at Sebastian and I noticed his eyes were suddenly distant, expressionless and frozen on Dianne. It hurt. It shouldn’t have, but it hurt when he remained silent. Apparently, he couldn’t have cared less about the danger presented by his family, but when it came to Cora, things seemed to have been very different. I tried to find the strength that would save me from showing weakness in front of Dianne, but as the unremitting silence kept ruling the tight space between us, I let out a shaky breath and she produced a victorious smile. She was already celebrating the fact that she’d defeated me.

  “No offense darling, but we both know he’s way out of your league.” She observed my stunned demeanor for a while and then produced a fake compassionate expression on her face. “Don’t look at me like I’m your enemy. I’m only trying to help, so you see... You should thank me, actually, because I’m doing you the biggest favor of your life. Even you can’t be that ignorant to believe that a man like Sebastian could ever really fall for a girl like you.” She snickered. “Why if it weren’t for Cora’s...” She paused, looking for the right word. “setback, you would have never even entered Sebastian’s life to begin with.” She almost sang the words and I froze, unable to breathe at the mention of Cora’s name while Dianne simply shrugged her shoulders and continued patronizing me in a mocking tone. “Must be hard to deal with the loss of the woman you love, don’t you think? I bet he’s only using you to relieve some of the stress...”

  “Dianne, that’s enough!” Sebastian finally spoke in a voice that was stripped of any emotion. “Leave
her out of this.”

  She gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh, no! How silly of me to say what everybody—including you—is thinking!” She chuckled and roamed my humbled posture. “Go ahead, ask him,” she urged me in her serpent like voice. “Ask him if he really cares…” A sardonic smile appeared on her lips. “Or is he just using you to forget about his dear Cora.”

  Against my better judgment, I had allowed Dianne’s scrutinizing provocation to plant a seed of doubt in my mind and I looked at Sebastian, hoping he would say something, anything, even just a small word that would counteract her mean statement, but he remained quiet and with every long, stretching second of heavy silence, my heart sank deeper into oblivion.

  “Sebastian...” I said in a small, broken voice and instinctively, I reached out for his hand but something dark swept over him and he pulled it away, tightly closing his eyes and that simple action told me everything I needed to know.

  A sharp ache formed at the center of my chest and spread everywhere around as if I’d been repeatedly stabbed by a knife. My heart thumped in a crazy rhythm, forming the growing lump in my throat that made it impossible for me to breathe in that space. As the first tear slid down my cheek, I quickly wiped it with the sweaty palm of my hand and made an attempt to walk away, but Sebastian instantly caught me by my elbow to stop my movement. For a split second; only one short fracture of time that seemed to be crumbling down around us and moving in slow motion, our eyes met and I saw the demise of the light and the return of dim shadows in those green eyes. As the heavy stone of shameful reality settled on my chest, I thought I would die on the spot from the crushing pain caused by the truth that wiped away all of my sanity. With defiance, I made myself look at him because I wanted him to see what he had done, but there was nothing in those eyes. The only display of emotion was his tightening grip on my arm. Why was this man, who looked at me so darkly, acting like he wasn’t willing to ever let me go? He took a deep breath, like he prepared himself to say something and I feared that his words might break me beyond repair so I used all of my strength to free myself from his grip because I needed to get out of there. The moment I managed to pull away from him, I ran past Dianne who held a content smirk on her face and I headed straight for the hallway. I thought I had heard Sebastian yell something at Dianne but I felt too unwell and too caught up into my own emotions to pay attention to it. The only thing I focused on was getting as far away from his office as I could.