Chapter 17 Chapter seventeen
Elena's POV
I pulled Rafael to the side, my fingers digging into his arm almost desperately. "Rafael... What is she doing here?" I asked trying to keep my voice steady and low, but my chest tightened with every word.
He sighed, running a hand through his hair, that infuriating carries gesture that somehow made him look impossibly handsome even when he was about to piss me off, "sweetheart... She is heartbroken," he said, his tone soft, almost like he was justifying something to himself than to me because I didn't see how useful this information is to me. "She needs to rewind, and I didn't want to leave her alone back at her condominium feeling like that. I was worried, especially when her steward called to say that she had given them a day off. So... I decided she should join us."
I blinked at him stunned. My stomach twisted into knots. "You are not serious are you? This was supposed to be something for both of us, Rafael? Just... Us," I whisper almost pleading. I am losing my mind and Rafael was responsible for it.
He arched an eyebrow that infuriating tilt that made me want to smack him and hug him all at once. What was he turning me into? I don't even understand myself. "When did you become selfish, Elena?" He asked in a low, dangerous voice.
"I'm not being selfish," I shot back, heat rising in my chest, "I just don't want Arabella on this yacht, Rafael. Not with us. Not like this. I wanted just you... You and me. No one else."
Rafael's law tightened, and he stepped closer, close enough that I could feel the heat radiating from him. I know that look... that look that leaves no room for argument. "I'm not asking for your opinion," he said, his voice cold now, the kind that brooked no argument. "If you don't want to come, then you should go home."
The word hit me like a punch to the gut. My lips parted to protest, to argue, to demand that he couldn't possibly... Couldn't just decide this for all of us. But Rafael turned on his heel, walking towards Arabella with that infuriatingly calm stride of his, and helped her into the yacht like he was doing nothing more than offering a friend a hand, while I stood there lost.
I stared after him, my chest tight, hands trembling slightly. I let out a long, frustrated sigh and I had no choice but to follow them. The deck of the yacht was polished, gleaming under the duct lights that lined the rails, and the gentle rocking of the waves was a deceptive calm after the storm brewing inside me.
Once we were inside, Rafael caught up with me, his hand brushing mine in a fleeting gesture that was both tender and maddening. "Baby... I didn't mean to scold you," he murmured, voice low, almost guilty, I swatted his hand off my hand, but he didn't react to that, "I just... I wanted to help a friend. Apart from being my secretary, Arabella is my friend. It's only right that I'm here with her during her trying period."
I narrowed my eyes at him, wanting to laugh, the jealousy and frustration coiling tighter in my chest. "A trying period?" I asked, my tone sharp. "And what about me, Rafa? Am I... Just supposed to be okay with this? First it was your birthday and now this time with you. Tell me, should I just smile and act like this doesn't bother me?"
Before he could answer, Arabella sensed the tension between us and approached, her usual warm, delicate smile not quite reaching her eyes, "I... I didn't mean to show up here," she said softly, looking at me directly. I was hurt, and... If you don't want me here, Elena, I can just leave."
I froze, the words hitting me harder than I expected. What game is she playing, the victim while I am the villain? Her voice was sweet, apologetic, almost disarming, but I knew better. Arabella had a talent for making herself appear innocent, vulnerable, and yet, she always left a trail of discomfort in her wake. My mind reeked, and I realized that Rafael's insistence, his calm justification, had only fueled my uneasiness.
Arabella continued, softly, "I told Rafael this was a bad idea. That I shouldn't come. That... It might complicate things," she paused, looking at Rafael with those wide, expressive eyes of hers, and then back at me, "he insisted. He only cares about a friend nothing more. He is always like that. And... Well... I told him this as well last night, but he insisted on not leaving me alone last night, but..."
My brows furrow, sharp and unyielding. "Wait," I said, my voice barely above, a whisper, I wanted to assume, I didn't hear it right, "you... Spend the night with Arabella?"
Rafael's mouth opened, and then closed, caught between denial and explanation. My heart beat faster, a painful mix of fear, jealousy, and disbelief. So he was calling me last night from her place. Arabella was the workload that made him not come home last night.
Before Rafael could even respond, Arabella stepped forward, that small apologetic smile still in place, her voice gentle, almost rehearsed. "It wasn't intentional," she said, her eyes glistening. "I... I'm sorry about that."
Even though every fiber of me screamed that I shouldn't trust her, that she was lying, that she was crafting some delicate performance, I couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy. She really had to cry. Even if I knew it had been a calculated act. Still... It didn't make the sight of Rafael with her any easier to swallow.
I stared at Rafael, my chest tightening. His eyes, those dangerous, infuriatingly handsome eyes, met mine, and I felt a storm of emotions crashing over me: anger, desire, betrayal, and longing, all twisted together in a dangerous tangle.
“I… I can’t believe this,” I whispered, my fingers clutching the railing for support. I felt small, insignificant somehow, like a spectator to a game I hadn’t agreed to play. Rafael stepped closer, but I held up a hand, wanting nothing from him right now. “I… I need to know the truth,” I said, my voice trembling slightly. “What happened last night?”
Rafael’s expression softened for a fraction of a second, and I could almost believe he would reassure me. But Arabella, ever delicate, ever strategic, leaned slightly toward him, her hand brushing his arm as if to remind him and me, that she was here, that she existed in this moment, and that I was not the only one he cared for.
“It… It’s complicated,” Rafael murmured, the words hanging in the air between us like a fragile thread ready to snap. “Elena… you know I didn’t mean for this to happen. I..."
“Did what?” I snapped, my voice louder than intended, catching the attention of the few crew members nearby. My pulse surged, my hands shaking, and I felt the sting of tears threatening to form. “Did you… Sleep with her?”
Arabella’s quick, almost rehearsed, voice cut me off again. “It’s not intentional,” she said, eyes wide and wet, full of that carefully crafted innocence. “I… I didn’t mean for anything to happen. I was already crying… and…” She trailed off, glancing at Rafael with a softness that made my stomach twist painfully.
My head spun. I wanted to scream, to lash out, to demand the truth, but my body felt frozen between the two of them. Rafael, with his dangerous, undeniable charm and protective intensity, and Arabella, who seemed to have claimed some fragile, irritatingly permanent space in his life.
"So you did? You did fuck her all night?" I snapped,
"Elena, are you mad?" It was Rafael who growled. "How could you..."
"Were you not here when she said, she..."
"I said sleep not fuck." Her voice was low again. I rested my palm on my face, as frustration covered every vein in my body. This girl was messing with me. "They are two different things..." She added.
I looked at Rafael again, searching his face for any flicker of honesty, any glimmer of guilt that he had… but the expression I found was unreadable. Controlled. Calm. But beneath it, I could feel it, the tension, the pull between him and Arabella, and somehow, horrifyingly, the pull toward me as well.
I took a step back, needing space, my hands trembling. “I… I don’t know what to think anymore,” I admitted, voice raw, shaky. I felt anger, betrayal, and jealousy swirling with something darker, something I refused to name.
Rafael’s eyes softened, his hand reaching for mine, but I pulled it back reflexively. “Elena…” he began, but I shook my head.
Arabella, sensing my hesitation, leaned a fraction closer to Rafael, her small apology still lingering in her expression. “I'm sorry the words came out differently, I would never do that to you... and as for the part of me showing up here... I didn’t mean to show up,” she repeated softly. “I just… I was hurt. And if you don’t want me here, Elena… I understand. I really do. But he… he insisted. And I… I didn’t mean for any of this.”
I swallowed hard, my jaw tightening. Her words were harmless, but the effect was devastating. I could feel my chest tighten with an emotion I couldn’t name, anger? Hurt? Maybe even fear. Fear that Rafael’s heart, that place I thought was mine alone, wasn’t as exclusively mine as I’d believed.
Rafael sighed deeply. “Let’s just go inside. The cruise is supposed to be relaxing. We can talk more later.”
I nodded stiffly, unable to trust my voice.
He walked past me, heading toward the yacht’s interior, leaving me standing on the deck for a moment. Arabella lingered behind, waiting until Rafael was a few steps ahead.
Then she leaned closer to me, too close, and whispered a single sentence, her voice sweet like poisoned honey.
“Try to keep up, Elena. Rafael hates it when women act insecure and clingy.”
My entire body went still.
Before I could react, she straightened, her expression instantly shifting back into innocent, wounded perfection.
“Elena?” Rafael called from inside. “Come on.”
I finally forced my feet to move, stepping onto the yacht properly. The interior was breathtaking, polished wood, glass walls, luxury everywhere. But the beauty of it felt distant, smothered by the heaviness in my chest.
Arabella followed behind me, silent.
Rafael waited near the seating area, forcing a gentle smile when our eyes met.
“We’ll have a better day from here,” he promised, reaching out again.
I took his hand. I didn’t know if it was strength or foolishness that made me do it.
Arabella watched from the side. And the moment Rafael turned away to speak with the captain. She smirked again.
Wider this time.
Confident.
Victorious.
As if she’d already won.
As if she knew something I didn’t.
As if the ground beneath my feet was about to collapse. And deep inside, I felt it, the shift.
Something was coming.
Something I wasn’t prepared for.
Something that would change everything.