His uncle, Mr. Sinclair! Those words looped in my head like a cursed radio tape. The man who I had confided in was my enemy’s cousin. Satan should give back the title of the evilest thing in the universe because the Sinclair mansion was full of worse entities.
“Tell him I need ten more minutes,” yelled Elijah, confirming his true identity. I closed my hands into fists. My rage had reached a dangerous level. Those lying scumbags needed someone to teach them a lesson.
“I am sorry, I didn’t realize Nathan’s evil twin worked as a houseworker,” I began angrily. “You must be the male version of Cinderella. Are you waiting for your princess to free you from this cruelty?”
“Yes.” Elijah shamelessly nodded. “Do you have a castle or a big house? Because I really need you to take me there. I can no longer tolerate the torture of my stepfamily.”
“Lord.” I stomped my feet. “You people have no heart now, do you? My problems are amusing to you?”
“Excuse me, Miss. I don’t remember saying that anywhere. I was only playing along. Cinderella’s male version doesn’t sound like a bad idea. Disney should consider making it. We should pitch in the idea,” he replied, unbothered by my rage.
“I am sure they’ll never listen to a liar like you,” I sassed.
“Maybe. Maybe not. However, I don’t understand what you are so mad about. What did I lie about to you besides saying that I work for the family? It’s very possible in a parallel universe,” Elijah replied in his easygoing tone. My harsh words didn’t seem to be aggravating him. “Besides, if you think clearly, putting aside your burning hate and anger for Nathan, all I did was listen to your problems, help you hide, and take you out of that box when you were unconscious. Does that make me a bad person?”
Elijah hadn’t done anything to hurt me. He wasn’t wrong about only helping me out. I calmed down my anger before speaking again. “Why did you lie to me?”
“Because of this.” Elijah pointed at me. “Everyone automatically assumes you are a bad person when you are related to someone they hate. Also, you wouldn’t have trusted or told me your problem if I had introduced myself to the truth.”
“Why did you want to hear my distressing story? Do you wish to tell on me? Did Nathan ask you to do this?” I asked.
“Nathan doesn’t know about my arrival yet. No one knows except Uncle Sinclair,” Elijah answered.
“You didn’t answer my question regarding reporting this conversation to Nathan or your uncle,” I reminded.
Elijah’s bright smile disappeared. “Of course. I am going to tell on you. It was my master plan to trick you into saying bad things about Nathan so that I could show it to him.” My heart raced. I knew it. Even the good things that happened to me were tricks of fate to bring me more misery. “Because I am an impish second grader who doesn’t have anything better to do than to tell on people to my mommy and family for more candy,” he continued.
“What?” I asked.
Elijah grinned humorously. “What? Am I not allowed to use sarcasm? Your insults are so full of it that I am sensing competition here. For context, let me tell you that my friends have crowned me the king of sarcasm.”
I remained silent as I didn’t find any of that funny. In the Sinclair estate, everyone had more power than me. “Will you tell Nathan?” I repeated.
Elijah sighed, shaking his head empathetically. “I can see you will not let this go until I give you some kind of assurance that your hateful words shall not reach Nathan’s ears.” I nodded a yes, biting my lip anxiously. “Alright. I won’t say a word to Nathan. Just because I am his cousin doesn’t mean I report everything to him and see him as a faultless creature. He is an asshole, and everyone in the family knows that, including his coddling parents, who are responsible for his behavior. Don’t get me wrong. I love Nathan to death, but I know he treats his employees like slaves. Believe it or not, he wasn’t always this way. The healthy Nathan was much more tolerable. His behavior seems to grow worse with his progressing illness.”
“I didn’t know that. I admire you for admitting to the negative traits of your cousin. People usually defend such unacceptable behavior because it’s mostly towards poor or unimportant people,” I said. Elijah’s image had already begun to improve in my head. He didn’t seem to be a jerk like I had initially thought after learning that he was Nathan’s cousin.
“I agree. That’s the case in most families,” Elijah began. He folded his arms and silently observed me for a second. I had a feeling he was about to ask me an uncomfortable question. “Can I ask how is the mafia relevant to your problem? Why are they after you, and why does Nathan want proof of that? It’s pretty odd. I have never seen him concerned or even slightly interested in other people’s problems.”
I told Elijah everything. My sob story, my job in the Sinclair estate, and my engagement to Nathan. I, however, left out the steamy parts and everything related to it, including Nathan’s condition to make him feel horny for me.
Though Elijah listened to it all quietly, his astonishment increased with every word I spoke.
“Interesting. You just blew my mind away with all this brand-new information. My cousin got engaged and was about to an engagement party, and no one told me about it,” Elijah began. “I think we both have been wronged in our ways. It calls for only one thing now_ revenge.”
“Revenge?!” I reacted.
“Yes.” Elijah’s innocent face turned impish. “Are you interested in having revenge on Nathan Sinclair?” he offered.