Chapter 30 - Drinks And Stories

Back at the hotel suite where Isabella and Moira were staying, the hours passed without them even noticing, they were busy finishing almost half of the pile of food and two bottles of red wine.

They did their best to dampen the atmosphere, but at some point, a weird silence settled in the room.

“I think that being cheated on is written somewhere in my destiny.” Isabella found herself mumbling.

“Come on, that’s not true. You just met a bunch of assholes. You’ll find the right guy in time. I’m sorry it was not Edmund, I should have known that he wasn’t able to move on from that horrible woman. I swear I don’t know what she does to drive men crazy!”

“She must be a witch, putting a love spell on them.” She joked as a result of too much alcohol in her system.

She never had more than a glass, but this time the situation required it. The wine numbed her body, her mind and even her senses.

‘Anything to take my mind from what I witnessed, from his lies and betrayal. From the fact that he offered me momentary happiness just to snatch it away from me forcefully.’

“I had my share of bad luck in love as well. We are still so young, there will be plenty of chances to get happiness or another heartbreak.” Moira tried to offer comfort.

“You really like the man you’re currently dating, don’t you?”

“Well, I might.”

Isabella propped herself in an elbow to stare at Moira, thinking that her new friend was already so beautiful, but genuine happiness only enhanced that beauty.

“Well, you are a lucky girl to have a loving boyfriend. Tell me more about him!”

Moira gave her a broken smile. “You sure you want to hear a blissful story while in this state?”

“I definitely want to hear a blissful story especially in this state!” Came the wholehearted response. “By all means, restore my faith in humanity!”

“Okay, I’ll tell you everything. One year ago, Alec started working for my cousin. He was put in charge of my security, and I used to sneak out every night to go clubbing. I always managed to fool my security, but not Alec, he was too clever.” She chuckled.

“Sounds exciting! Tell me more!”

“It became a habit to argue daily with him, and I remember that one day he called me a spoiled brat that had no consideration for the people surrounding her, a self-centered princess that only cared about having fun, with no regard to anything else in this life.”

“Auch, that must have hurt.”

“Ohh, yes it did. His words came as a slap in my face, and I asked Edmund to change my guard.”

“It’s… understandable.”

“To be honest, he hit bullseyes, but that was not the worst. The worst was hearing the words coming from his mouth.”

“So you were already in love, you just didn’t realize it yet.”

Moira sighed. “Probably. But me being me, I started to date an asshole to avoid catching feelings and of course, get rid of the ones I already had.”

Isabella looked at her confused. “And… Alec? What happened to him?”

“Well, one night after having too much drinks, the stupid asshole I was dating started to go all handsy will me, even though I clearly told him no.” Her tone mirrored the sorrow inside.

Isabella’s hand flew to her mouth. “I hope he didn’t … do anything to you.”

Her mind instantly traveled to what Noah told her about her sister and her father, but she pushed the dire thoughts out of her head.

A tear rolled down Moira’s cheeks, but she shook her head in denial. “I was really scared that moment, and I really thought he was going to rape me, but Alec came out of nowhere and bit the crap out of him.”

Isabella released the breath she didn’t realize she was holding. “I’m so glad!” She hugged her.

“It turns out, he was still in charge of my security, but more in the shadows. And after that night, we kind of admitted our feelings for each other. Sure, we still had some differences, but…”

“But your love conquered it all.” Isabella delightfully concluded.

“I wish I could say ‘yes’, but I’m afraid that our class differences will show, sooner or later. For now, we are keeping it a secret with the purpose of protecting what we have as much as we can.” Her voice was laced with sadness.

“Oh sweetie...” She reached and lightly squeezed Moira’s shoulder, not knowing how to bring comfort to her aching heart. “But here you are, sharing this wonderful story. And you shouldn’t let others meddle in your relationship.”

Moira looked at her for a good few moments before opening her mouth to speak again.

“I like you Isabella, you are a very nice person, you don’t deserve to be treated the way my cousin treated you. I know all about the reasons behind your marriage. Your sister will recover, so you should get a divorce or an annulment. Go and be happy somewhere else! Move on from him, leave and never look back!”

Her words cut like glass through Isabella’s heart. She was aware that it was the best course of action, but even knowing that, it still hurt.

And it was another thing that surprised her. She believed that Moira followed her in order to convince her to return to Edmund, but it seemed quite the opposite. His cousin insisted that she should move on with her life.

‘I find it a bit weird that she never once tried to put a good word for Edmund. Or maybe she just knows him better and she thinks it would be useless to point me towards a man that has no feelings for me.’ She shook her head. ‘I must be reading too much into it.’

A few more drinks later, they finally drifted off.

* * *

As night morphed into morning, and morning into afternoon, Isabella was trying to open her heavy eyes, struggling to blink away the headache and the dizziness.

She scanned her surroundings, a painful feeling coursing through her veins as mental pictures from yesterday with Edmund and that woman invaded her memory.

‘So it was not just a bad dream. A part of me hoped it was.’

The sun was up in the sky, revealing that they overslept. She searched her phone to check the hour, it was pretty late. There was a notification for unread messages, she pressed on it.

“Isabella, you need to come to the hospital.” Said the text.

‘Oh, my God! My sister!’

Her heart started racing in her chest and cold sweat traveled down her spine. The message was sent a few hours ago.

‘Did something happen to Luisa? I need to go there right away!’