POV: Victoria
“What were you saying to Mom earlier today, why did she speak with you and not me?” I asked him out of the blue, breaking the silence between us.
“You have got to be kidding me right now!
Are you fucking kidding me?!” He yelled angrily.
“First you were drooling over some stupid boy you just saw and now you want to know what I discussed with your mom?
How did we go from that to this, were you thinking about it the whole day?
Why didn’t you just ask me the moment you thought of it, why wait until now when we have other important matters to attend to. You could channel all these energies into taking back the company from your father and becoming an independent woman like your mom always wanted.” He told me angrily.
“So that’s it then?” I let out with a smirk.
You know, I was wondering why you were so upset with me. I thought it was my mom or the guy I was staring at earlier. I even thought it was because of what Dominic said earlier. But it seems I’ve been wrong and stupid all along. You are pissed because of your money, you keep spending your money on me and I have no way of paying you back. That’s why you are so angry, that’s why you don’t want to hear anything else I have to say.
You think I’m going to demand for more money from you and you don’t want that. Is that why you are trying so hard to get me to be independent. Are you planning to end our engagement, are you tired of me already?!” I yelled at him, holding back my tears. He groaned at my dramatic response and he tried to explain what he meant to me, but I wasn’t willing to listen to him.
He is being unreasonably over dramatic and it’s kind of annoying. I don’t know what he wants from me. I just want to know what is going on around me, I want to know why everyone keeps whispering around me, acting as if I were some fragile creature that could get destroyed or broken with mere words.
I decided not to listen to him anymore, I regret breaking the silence between us, now it’s even worse than it was when we started this journey. We sat in silence until we got to Dominic’s house. It’s a massive building that is built luxuriously for the comfort of the occupant. The surrounding has trees and huge rocks to make it look like a deep forest. I can imagine how beautiful this place would be in winter when it snows.
I stood beside the car, looking around the building and smiling to myself, loving the scenery. A maid came over and escorted us to the entrance, leading us into the mansion. We were offered some refreshments while we waited for Dominic and Claire to show up. I sipped from my glass of wine as we waited. I haven’t seen her yet, but I felt so relieved to be here. Something in my heart tells me that my presence here would get her to change her mind.
I thought in my heart that I would be able to get through to her, I didn’t know that it was way more than I imagined, I did not see this coming at all. As we sat there waiting, Claire and Dominic came down the stairs together. The moment I turned to stare at Claire, I realized that this was not the Claire I used to know. She has changed so much, I couldn’t even recognize her.
She looks classy and beautiful, so beautiful. She could be mistaken for a young heiress from an extremely wealthy family. Even with Raphael by my side, I still don’t have the luxury of looking this good. I think she had spent the day at the beauty salon and spa, she looks so stunning and her skin is so spotless and sparkling. She is emanating a special kind of glow, the kind of glow that was seen on my face after Raphael proposed.
The last time I’d been this happy was after that night I spent with Raphael in his father’s mansion. Since we got back it’s been so crazy, I haven’t had a moment to myself, I haven’t had any chance to have fun with Raphael, I guess that’s why he is always so grumpy. I turned to him and he had a pleasant smile on his face as he watched them highlighting from the stairs. Dominic looked so proud as well, it’s obvious he is the reason why she is glowing and he isn’t ashamed to say it.
I’m the only one feeling embarrassed and a bit jealous if I’m being honest with myself. She seems to be having the time of her life in this mansion and it makes me so furious because I am supposed to be having fun too but I decided to put her and my mom first. I had every chance to run off with Raphael and go have fun wherever we wanted to. But I couldn’t just leave them, I had to think about their welfare and put them first. But Claire doesn’t give two shits about Mom and I, her attitude and demeanor say it all. She is not even happy to see me here,
“You should not have come here, Vee, what are you doing here?” she asked me furiously when they arrived at the bottom of the stairs to meet with us. I know she said she wanted some time to clear her head, but I thought my presence would mean something to her. Turns out I am not as important as I thought I was. I’m finally meeting with Claire and she looks as though she wants to call the guards on me or something.
“What did I ever do to you, Claire, why do you hate me this much?
I’d been working so hard to get you back home, I know it took some time but I did it, didn’t I?” I asked.
“Of course, you did. I mean, why wouldn’t you?
After all, it’s all your fault that I’m here. You are the reason why he hates me so much. If you hadn’t been so mean to him, he would not have hated me so much, he would not have turned into a monster.” She lets out angrily.
“Are you still blaming me for what happened between you and Kyle?
How is it my fault that you ended up with someone so mean and heartless. I warned you about him a million times, I told you he is not good for you. How is it my fault that he decided to show you how true personality, how is that my fault?” I asked her furiously. She smiled sadly and as she did, tears dripped down her cheeks, falling on her chest and disappearing under her armless crop top.
“You made it clear to him on several occasions that he’s never going to be with me. You said you hated him and you did all you could to push him away. That’s what you did, Victoria, that’s how you turned him into a monster!” she sobbed sadly, running her perfect makeup. I didn’t understand what she was talking about until she told me about the new girl Kyle was dating.
Turns out that the time mom and I had seized her phone and forced her to stop seeing him was the time he had met the girl that convinced him to leave my sister. So tentatively, it’s actually our fault as she claimed. It’s the same girl who convinced him to steal from Dominic and run to his rival, Carlos for protection. Claire had spoken to Kyle and he told her everything, begging for her forgiveness.
“Did you forgive him, did Dominic hurt him?” I asked her curiously and she sobbed harder, throwing herself in my arms. I didn’t push further because it seemed like she didn’t want to talk about it. I just hugged her to myself, trying not to say anything more to upset her. At least she is finally speaking with me and that’s a good thing, right?
“I miss you Claire, and I’m sorry we hurt you so much. We didn’t mean to hurt to, we were only looking out for you, I promise. We love you so much Claire, we would never do anything to intentionally hurt you, I promise. Mom is so worried about you, she misses you and she wants to see you, please Claire.” I begged.
“I love you, Claire and I’m sorry I blamed you for my mistake with Kyle. But please, don’t you ever mention that woman to me ever again.” She said.