Chapter 37

Juliette's POV:

“Talk about shit!” I threw my hands up in the air irritated. Thankfully, I learned that one of Zachary’s maids changed my clothes after that tragic fall in that stupid fountain. But that man just had to play with me and my poor mind, claiming that he was the one who changed my clothes. I asked him the whole day yesterday about who changed my clothes, and all he did was mock me, glare at me, ignore me, type on his laptop and phone, and at one point he had the guts to shove me out of his stupid study room. I even banged on his door a few times because he locked it from the inside, claiming that I was irritating him! I mean how the hell was I irritating him, when he was the one who was irritating me?

I asked a simple question. “Who changed my clothes?”

If he had just provided a simple question, I would have been on my way. But no, he had to make it complicated and annoy me.

“Why ask the silly question?”

“Excuse me? It’s about a women’s dignity! Duh!”

Finally, after pacing around, I met this lady in the hall mopping and cleaning the floor. I wouldn’t have known if she hadn’t asked me about how I was and if I wanted something.

Then I asked her about my clothes, and she told me that she was asked by Zachary to change my clothes, because he went to fetch the doctor. I took a sigh of relief. Thank God!

I would have killed him; if only he didn’t leave me in the house all alone the whole night. He didn’t even find it important to tell me that he'd be leaving, or that he wouldn't be around in the evening. It was awkward to be like a ghost, wandering around in a big house with no people around. The maids were back to their quarters, leaving a poor little soul alone in the big house. Even the bedroom where I sleep is so big that I preferred covering my head with a blanket, fearing the possibilities of ghosts watching me sleep.

I mean, you never know!

Early in the morning, I took a long shower. I needed it, because my hair smelled like a dead rat ever since I fell into the fountain.

All of a sudden, I felt hungry, and decided to make my own food, as no maids come early in the morning. I looked at the clock to find out it was seven in the morning.

I decided to eat bread and butter for breakfast. I wasn’t really good at cooking, but I could make the basics, at least to feed myself. I put the bread on the kitchen counter and searched for the butter in the fridge. It was still difficult for me to find everything easily. Most of the time, I had to ask the maids if I wanted anything.

My eyes fell on the toaster once I found the butter, and I thought about toasting it. So, I took the bread and inserted the loaves inside it, and waited for the toaster to give me my bread. I thought about searching for anything else that looked edible in the fridge while I waited.

“Well, a sight to behold!” I jumped in fear, but took a sigh of relief when I saw who it was.

“Zachary! Will you stop scaring me like that? You caught me off guard!” I said as I walked to the fridge, grabbing the jug of milk and putting it on the table.

“I'll drink some milk!” I thought as I searched for the glass.

I was searching for it when Zachary walked into the kitchen and walked passed me to a cupboard. From, there he took a glass out and put it beside the milk jug and looked back at me.

He looked tired, as if he didn’t sleep the whole night. He was wearing the same clothes from yesterday. His hair was messy and his sleeves were rolled up, which was an unusual sight for me, because from the day I have been with him, I have seen him dress in perfection, and I had actually assumed that he was the kind of person who dresses up perfectly every single day.

I heard a noise and saw the bread pop up from the toaster. Before I could take it out, Zachary took it out, put it on a plate, and inserted more into the toaster.

“You are hungry? Already?” he looked at his watch. “At this time of the day?” he asked, and then without letting me speak he continued. “You should have called the maids, using the staff phone,” he said as he crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at me. His brown eyes pierced into mine, as if he was looking directly into my soul.

“Because for a dumb human like you, you never know!” he said and that brought me back to reality.

“Dumb? Excuse me?” I glared at me.

“What if you burn the kitchen down?” he said, smirking at the end, and looked at the toaster when the bread popped up.

“Well for your information, I can cook!” I told him, and crossed my arms.

“Really?” he said as he took another piece of bread and put it in the toaster.

“Yes. Yes! I know all the basics. I can at least feed myself!” I told him, and took the plate from him. Taking the knife, I started applying butter on the bread.

I stopped when I heard him chuckle. “What?” I asked.

“Nothing!” he said, and walked to the fridge and took the eggs out.

“Wait! I will make you scrambled eggs,” he said as he put a pan on the stove and took the butter away from me. I looked at him as if he had two heads while he beat the egg onto the hot pan.

He can cook?

“What?” he asked when he caught me staring.

“Who taught you how to cook?” I asked, and a sly smile appeared on his face, as he chose to ignore my question and concentrated on the eggs. Leaning against the kitchen platform, I watched as he sprinkled salt over it and stirred it on the pan.

The egg looked nice, it even smelled nice, and I felt my mouth salivating looking at it. I was really hungry.

“Here! Just serve it on two plates. I will make some coffee,” he said and went to fetch the coffee powder from the cupboard. I admired his cooking skills and did what he asked. Taking two plates, I served the eggs and took the bread to the table. At this point, my stomach was screaming.

“Oh my God!” I inhaled the aroma of the coffee when Zachary placed the cup of coffee before me.

I pushed my wet hair to the left side of my shoulder and sat on the chair as Zachary took a seat before me. I took a piece of bread and bit into it, then shoveled eggs into my mouth immediately after.

“Heaven,” I thought as I chewed, enjoying the delicious breakfast, savoring each bite. I was so busy eating my food that I didn’t notice the piercing stare I was getting. When I felt the stare, and I looked up at him with my mouth full to find him drinking from his coffee, staring at me. He knew that I caught him staring, yet he didn’t pry his eyes away from me. I chewed my food slowly, wondering why he was staring so intensely.

What did I do now?

I followed his eyes, and they were directed at my hair. What’s so interesting about my hair? It’s damp, obviously because I just took a shower.

“Is there something on my face?” I asked once I swallowed my food.

He looked back at me, and as if he was reluctant, he shook his head ‘no.’ With a small sigh, he took a bite of his food and I concentrated on mine.

“Frumoasă,” I heard him mumble.

“What?” I asked, confused whether I heard something or not.

“Eat your food!” he said and though I wanted to throw my spoon at his face, I gave him a sarcastic smile and continued eating.

“I set Nicholas free!”

All of a sudden I heard him say. I choked on my coffee and coughed a little before looking straight into his eyes.

“What?” I asked, perplexed by his words.

“I let go of Nicholas yesterday,” he said looking straight into my eyes. I blinked several times and averted my gaze away from him.

“Oh!” I said as I put the coffee mug on the table, and trailed my finger along the rim of the mug.

“Aren't you going to ask me any questions about Nicholas?” he asked and my head shot up to his direction.

He wants me to ask him about Nicholas?

“Do you want me to?” I questioned back. All of a sudden, a statement from my father came rushing into my mind. I clenched my jaw and put my left hand on my knees to hide it from Zachary. Something pissed me off, causing my left hand to clench into a tight fist as I looked straight into his brown orbs.

“I will answer your questions!” he said which made me avert my eyes away from him.

“You don’t need to worry about Nicholas. I have people watching his every move. We hope he will take us to Vito. And if you are worried about your safety, then you don’t need to. He can’t harm you, I will ensure—”

“Are you my bodyguard?” I questioned glaring at him.

“Pardon?” he narrowed his eyes.

“I no longer care about what Nicholas, or Emmett, or whatever his name is, is doing or what he wants. It is a request from me, I will be grateful if you keep me away from all of this. I don’t want to hear anything about him. You can do whatever you want with him. So please?” I asked and watched as he balled his fists on the table and clenched his jaw, but nodded yes.

“Fine! I respect your decision. I won’t involve you in this any further,” he said and I nodded, appreciating that he understood my decision.

Nicholas! The name itself wants me to kill someone. Not only did he break my trust, but that man has the audacity to try to harm my family. Sick man! He was the worst mistake in my life. I hate myself for ever falling in love with that bastard. I still couldn't believe that my world was completely flipped upside down in a matter of a few days.

There was a moment of silence between us where we chose to silently sip our coffee, not even looking at each other. My mood changed into a foul one because of Nicholas. I just hoped Zachary would take care of all this, and keeps me out of it. I don’t want to get involved in Zachary’s criminal lifestyle, nor do I want anything to do with Nicholas anymore. He is dead to me now.

That reminded me of my father’s statement. “You said you will answer my questions.”

He looked up at me and nodded with a slight hesitancy.

“So, once all this is all sorted out, I mean you get your revenge for Nicholas and Vito; will you let me go back to my family? I mean, I can go back and resume my old life?” I asked, and saw something flickering in his eyes. I couldn’t quite recognize it, whether it was anger or sadness.

“Of course!” he said with a smile, which looked like a fake one. Judging from the situation of our lives, I highly doubted that it was a fake smile, but rather it was a happy one because he would be free from me. I mean, of course I was a burden for him, because he had to protect me, and at the same time, act in front of his family as if we were a happily married couple. He would be more than ecstatic to let go of me. The question is, does it even matter? Because both of us know, we are far from a happily married couple. ‘Married’ only by a deal.

“Great!” I muttered.

So why does it affect me all of a sudden that he wants me to go away? I mean, I should be happy, because a couple of days ago, I was the one who wanted desperately to get away from him. So, how did all of these feelings change so suddenly? Our feelings to separate and go our own ways should be mutual. I hope this Vito guy was captured as soon as possible, because the sooner he is captured, the sooner all this will be over.

“What am I even thinking?” I mumbled to myself and watched as he looked my way with a questioning look, to which I gave him a shrug and shook my head saying a small, “nothing!”

I sat on the balcony chair as I looked up into the sky blankly, my mind void of any thoughts. I was confused with what was going on in my life. The only thing that came into my mind was what I would be doing after I can go back home. Should I be excited? Should I make a list of things that I will do once I am free?

All of a sudden, something fell on my lap, and I jerked out of my blank stare to look at the object on my lap. Zachary sat on the chair next to me, while I couldn’t help but glare at him.

“How many times do I need to tell you? Don’t scare me like that!” I complained.

“Whatever!” he rolled his eyes and took the newspaper that he brought and began reading it, making himself comfortable on his chair.

I looked down on my lap to find a small bag and I opened it, only to gasp.

“A phone?” I asked as I looked at the box and then opened the box.

“You are giving me a phone?” I asked, smiling at him.

“No! Look at it carefully. It’s a mosquito!” As always, his reply was sarcastic, which instantly smacked the smile off of my face. I didn’t quarrel with him though. Taking the brand new phone out of the box, I switched it on. A smiled remained plastered on my face whiIe I tried to figure out its features.

“Now that you know everything, I hope you don’t try to run, or escape like the last time,” he said and I nodded inattentively.

“What?” I asked once I realized I wasn’t paying attention.

“Nevermind!” he said and got back to reading his newspaper.

“What is your number?” I asked excitedly, once I checked the contact list and found it empty. After saving everyone’s number that I remembered, like Dad, Kiara, Jace, and Mom, I thought about saving Zachary’s number too. I mean why not? He brought me the phone, after all, and he is my husband...

“You want to save my number?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Why not?” I questioned.

He sighed and took the phone from me and dialed his number before saving it and handing it back to me.

I scrolled over, wanting to see what he did only to gasp seeing the name that he saved.

“My heartbeat?” I questioned gritting my teeth in annoyance.

“Classic?” he smirked raising an eyebrow.

“Oh very!” I replied with a sarcastic smile of my own.

Such a jerk!