Chapter 16

Blinking, Kendall raised her brows at Sabrina, who winked at her.

Clenching his jaw in stormy silence, Lucien ignored them and walked over to his armchair to sit so he could read his book.

“What did you do today?” Sabrina asked her father, wide-eyed. “We got our nails done! And we did a lot of online shopping and had a swim. I also fired the pool boy, by the way, because there was chlorine in the water, and it hurt my eyes.”

Lucien silently put his feet up, opening his book and getting ready to vanish between the pages where her voice would be drowned out.

Helena appeared at the doorway. “Yes, Ms Sinclair.”

Sabrina glanced over at her. “Helena, tell my chef we want snacks. Tell him to make some of those chocolate-dipped figs with mascarpone, and also some sorbet palettes. It’s late, we can’t eat too heavy.”

Helena gracefully nodded. “Is that all, Miss?”

“Hmmm, yup. Ken? You want anything else?”

Kendall quickly shifted gears from an observer to the focus of attention. She looked over at the housekeeper. “I think I’ll have some fruit, please.”

The housekeeper paused for a moment and then nodded. “Yes, Ms McCarthy.”

“Kendall doesn’t eat your sad wholefoods fruit,” said Sabrina with a scowl. “Make sure it’s from the Japanese fruit parcels we have.”

Helena nodded. “Understood, Ms Sinclair.”

“Okay, go,” Sabrina said, turning back to her dad.

She paused when she saw him and then sighed, rolling her eyes. When he started reading, he wouldn’t look up even if a bomb went off.

“Dad!”

He didn’t react, eyes glued to the pages.

Kendall held Sabrina’s arm to whisper, “Hey, maybe we should head back to your room? Like… I feel like we’re bothering Mr Sinclair.”

“What?” Sabrina said loudly. “You think he’s annoyed you’re here?! No, he’s not, my dad’s not like that!”

Lucien lightly clenched his teeth and turned the page. If his daughter pursued any profession outside of acting, she would be wasting a priceless talent.

Cringing, Kendall said nothing.

“Dad, I told Kendall about our vacation in the Maldives,” said Sabrina. “And she said she’s never been! Can you imagine?! But it makes sense because Kendall’s family is super-secret, so they don’t let her travel as much as we do. So, I promised her I’ll take her to the Maldives if her parents give us permission. Can you contact them and find out??”

Silence answered her question as Lucien remained concentrated on his book. He refused to be distracted, he needed to read the next five chapters before bed tonight.

Huffing, Sabrina crossed her arms. Biting her lip, she looked at Kendall. “Ask him something.”

Kendall raised a brow. “Me?”

“Yeah, you said you had piles of questions for him because he inspires you!”

Kendall blinked flatly at her. “Sure. I sure did.”

Nodding impatiently, Sabrina indicated with her eyes for Kendall to speak.

Swallowing hard, Kendall looked over at Mr Sinclair. He’d obviously showered and changed into more comfortable clothes. He looked so comfortable in his chair, one hand under his chin as he read his book; it felt like a crime to disturb him.

Sabrina nudged her arm. Making her friends ask her dad a bunch of questions usually worked because he was always kind enough to answer them, giving Sabrina a chance to hop into their conversation and talk to him.

Kendall understood that without any explanations at all. She felt a little sad for Sabrina, seeing how desperate she was to talk to her own father. Why didn't he just talk to her?

Sighing, she decided to help her friend out and disturb a concentrating Lucien.

“Uhm…” she started quietly. “Excuse me, Mr Sinclair. Wh-what book are you reading?”

Lucien’s reading eyes froze on one word, and then his vision blurred as he zoned out. His concentration on the book was broken by nothing more than her question. He thought of ignoring her, but couldn’t. She’s asked so politely, Lucien couldn’t remember the last time any of Sabrina’s bratty friends had said ‘Excuse me’.

Sighing, he raised his gaze and looked at her.

Sabrina wasted no time. “It’s The Consolations of Philosophy! Right, Dad?”

Lucien subtly clenched his jaw, looking at his daughter and seeing the twinkle of triumph in her eyes. It was bizarre, but this had become a sort of contest they had, where he tried his best to ignore her in his alone time, and she did her best to show him that she wouldn’t tolerate not being the centre of his universe at every moment. She was practically smirking at him.

Sighing, he nodded. “Yes. It’s The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Botton.”

“It’s like boring, sad stuff,” Sabrina explained.

Kendall softly gasped. “I know him. I read The Course of Love in January this year.”

Both Sabrina and her father looked surprised, although for different reasons.

“Why would you read depressing books?” Sabrina questioned, frowning. “All they do is make you want to die.”

The door opened and Helena entered, carrying a large gold tray filled with snacks. She’d had to wake the chef up, which hadn’t been nice, but Sabrina’s word was law, so they all obeyed.

Sabrina gave the housekeeper instructions on how to arrange the food, and she was being a little condescending, but Lucien was too busy frowning at Kendall, a thoughtful frown on his face.

“You read The Course of Love?” he asked.

She nodded. “Yes, Sir.”

“I see. But isn’t that kind of book a little too complicated for your young mind? I doubt you’ve experienced any of that.”

Kendall hummed as she thought it over. “Well, I actually read it to help me understand my parents…”

She forced a smile, lowering her gaze. The book didn’t help her do that either. All it showed her was a world she hadn’t seen or imagined before. Her parents’ arguments stemmed from accusing each other of using the last pinch of cocaine or from fighting over who would sell their body to get money for more drugs.

The book had been a fresh new world that she had strangely enjoyed.

“I see,” Lucien said, more to himself than anyone. Where had Sabrina said this girl was from again? He was suddenly curious.

“Oh, just leave it,” Sabrina said, waving Helena away. “I’ll do it myself.”

Exhausted, Helena bowed and left the room.

The girls started eating, but Lucien was still studying Kendall.

“Your surname is McCarthy, am I right?”

Kendall paused. “Yes.”

He slowly nodded, gaze fixed on her face. “Where… exactly are you from?”