I couldn't tell how long I'd been in the closet but it had to have been hours already. I wondered how much longer they were going to leave me in here. I didn't think I could stay much longer without losing my mind.
Everywhere I turned, I could see shadow hands reaching out out to me and trying to pull me into their embrace. I was currently pressed into a corner with my head resting on my knees and my body facing the entire room. This way I could see everything.
The door to the closet opened and light spilled into the dark room. I crawled towards the light happy to be finally free. Amanda our housekeeper stood over me with tears in her eyes.
"You poor darling, how long have you been in here? Come on let's get you out and taken care of" Amanda held onto my arm and helped me stand. Then she took me to the bathroom and after I was done with my business brought me food.
"You shouldn't have let me out" I whispered. " She could get mad at you"
Amanda shook her head and pat my hair "She's the one who gave me permission to let you out"
The door to my room flew open and Emilia strolled in. "Wow you look terrible"
"Hello Emilia. Do you need anything? If you don't, then I see no other reason for you to be here" Amanda replied to Emilia.
For some reason, Amanda and Emilia had never gotten along and when I'd asked her why, she didn't reply. She just told me another time. I'd asked s few more times after that but always got the same reply.
"You don't need to be such a bitch Amanda. Maybe people would like you more if you took that stick out your butt" Emilia rolled her eyes and Amanda scowled.
"What do you want?" I asked Emilia. I just didn't have the energy to deal with snarking at each other.
She pulled my phone out of her pocket and waved it at me. "Mother said to give this to you. She went to get her styling crew from the airport" She threw it at me and I barely caught it.
"She also said to tell you that you're not allowed to go anywhere except your date. Anyways, I have better things to do. So bye. Oh and Amanda, you'd best get back to work or I'll make sure you're out of a job by the end of the day" And with a 2 finger salute, she was gone. Amanda couldn't stay either, so I decided to try and do some damage control.m
"Pick up, pick up, pick up" I muttered pacing around my room. I'd been trying to call Jacob for the past 15 minutes but all my calls had either been declined or sent to voicemail.
I needed to explain what was going on. I had to make sure he heard my side of the story and soon, Jacob got really jealous whenever he saw me with other guys. It was why I didn't have a lot of male friends. He'd never liked it.
I checked the time and cursed, I was running out of my time. I had to talk to him before Mother got back with her styling crew.
Mother would be here with the stylists by 10:45, and then I'd be heading out to meet my supposed fiancee for our 1 o clock lunch date by 12:30.
I called again but my call was immediately declined. Shit would hit the fan if he saw those pictures before I could explain everything. He'd probably get mad and lash out, and I hated when Jacob got mad, he always got a little bit aggressive.
But, no matter what happened, I was never going to break up with him. He was all I had, and I didn't care if I had to wear a mask or pretend for the rest of my life. As long as I had Jacob, I'd be alright.
A few minutes later, I heard the click of the phone being answered and I let out a calming breath. My palms were slick and sweaty and I was scared that I'd drop the phone by accident. I wiped them on my dress one after the other and tried my best to calm down
"What do you want Rachel?"
"I needed to talk to you so I could explain everything"
"Yeah" he scoffed "Explain what? How you've been cheating on me? Was I just a placeholder for you?
Did you date me only until you found someone good enough or did you leave me the moment someone with more money came around? Even though you kept talking about how you didn't care about money. What a hypocrite"
My hand shook but I squeezed it into a fist and forced myself to stay calm. I couldn't exactly have my happy ever after with Jacob if I yelled or talked back to him.
"Jacob, I swear, it's not like that"
" Then how is it, huh Rachel? F-ing tell me" he screamed into the phone. I'd expected this, I was surprised he'd even stayed calm for so long.
"I had no idea that was going to happen. I found out when the news broke on the internet"
" You really expect me to believe that"
"I swear, I'm not lying. I tried asking my mom about it but she wouldn't tell me anything"
"If you really want me to believe you then I want you to be at my house in the next 10 minutes"
"Jacob! That's not.." he hung up "possible" I finished.
His dorm was at least 30 minutes away without traffic.And I'd also been told not to go out. I ran my hands through my hair and paced around the room confused. If I disobeyed my mother, she'd punish me again, maybe even worse this time but if I didn't go, I'd lose Jacob.
I couldn't lose Jacob, I had to go. I rushed to put on my shoes but when I went to grab my keys from the cupboard in the entrance foyer, they weren't there. I cursed silently and grabbed the first one my hand touched. I got to the garage and pressed the keys. "Shit" I whispered. It was Emilia's BMW i8.
Taking would probably get me in a lot of trouble if I was caught. It was her favourite car, she'd gotten it for our birthday last year and never let anyone drive it. I was so dead if I was caught but I didn't have the time to go back and grab a different one. I had only 8 minutes left.
I barely remembered the drive, all I remembered was flying through the streets and praying I wasn't pulled over. I swerved into Jacob's driveway and turned off the car. Half the car was on the road but I couldn't be bothered. Jacob was leaning against the door in just sweats and I could feel myself getting hot all over. He's so handsome I thought.
" You're 2 minutes late" he called but I was so happy to see him that I couldn't be bothered. I threw myself into his arms and hugged him tight but he didn't hold me back.
"So? You said you could explain".
" I didn't know anything about the engagement. My parents, well my mom was the one who arranged it. I had no idea until the night of my birthday when the article came out. I would've come see you immediately but my mom wouldn't let me. I've been trying to get them to call off the wedding but they wouldn't listen".
"Please, you have to believe me"
"Fuck, I'm sorry babe, I do believe you. I just got mad hearing about you with another guy that I kinda lost it for a moment". He held me back and squeezed me tight.
"Rachel" he called and I pulled my face out from where I was snuggling him. "Do you know how much I love you?"
I shook my head "How much?" I asked smiling.
"So much".
"So what are we gonna do now? How are you gonna stop the wedding"
"Honestly, I have no idea. But, I have a meeting with him later today so I'll try talk to him about working something out" I looked at my watch and saw I had barely any time left so I tried to pull out of Jacob's arms but he wouldn't let me go.
"Come on. Come in, spend some time with me" He tried pulling me inside but I pulled back.
"I can't, I'll be late" I tried but he was much stronger than me and he pulled me into him.
"Come on, Rachel"
"Seriously Jacob, I'll be late"
"So you want me to let you go, so you can go make yourself look pretty just to spend time with another man. Can you hear that sounds babe?"
"Look I know it sounds terrible but I really do have to go. My mom will kill me if I'm late" I tried pulling my arm out of his grip but the harder I pulled, the tighter his hold got. I tried to pry his fingers away but they wouldn't budge.
"Jacob you're hurting me" I yelled at him but my words didn't seem to get through to him.
"I promise I'll do whatever you want when I get back but for now, you have to let me go please" The tears were already building in my eyes, but he just wasn't listening.
" Jacob" I yelled, his face changed from the snarl he was wearing and he flung my arm away from him looking disgusted. I cradled my arm to my chest and stared at him through teary eyes.
"What the hell, Jacob?" He rolled his eyes at me and smirked.
"Oh come on babe. Stop being so dramatic" he rolled his eyes " you're overreacting, it didn't hurt that much, it was just a tiny squeeze"
"But Jacob, it actually hurt" He just rolled his eyes and stuck his hands in his pockets.
"Like I said Rachel, you're just being dramatic, it's probably because you're so weak. We really need to toughen you up"
When he put it like that, he kind of made sense. His grip only hurt because I was weak and couldn't handle a little bit of pain. He probably didn't exert a lot of strength, I was clearly the one with the problem. Or at least that was what I tried to tell myself, but no matter how I tried to lie to myself, I couldn't forget how hard he'd held me.
"Yeah you're right, my bad. I'm sorry" I was still rubbing my arm where it throbbed, but the smile that lit up Jacob's face was enough to make me feel better.
"That's my girl" he came forward and kissed my forehead the pressed his forehead to mine.
"I have to go okay" I pulled back from him and made my way to the car, I needed to be away from him for now, I couldn't be the perfect girlfriend he needed with the way my mind was right now.
I got back it into Emilia's car and floored the accelerator, I'd wasted too much time with Jacob. It was already 10:30, I absolutely had to get home before either Mother or Emilia.
5 minutes later, I discovered the odds were absolutely not on my side,I was stuck in a traffic jam and couldn't get out, it looked like an accident had occurred up ahead so I had to wait until the debris was cleared.
By the time I made it home, it was 11 and I knew for sure that I was dead. When I pulled into the garage, Emilia was waiting for me looking furious with Mother standing behind her. Her foot was aggressively tapping the floor and I'm pretty sure she'd have breathed fire if it was possible.
She walked up to the car and pulled open the door. " Get out" she screamed in my face and I'm pretty sure I heard her whisper you're lucky you didn't scratch it when I passed her.
My mother's poker face was impenetrable and I couldn't guess what she was thinking. Behind us Emilia was still fussing over her car.
"You're late"
"I know Mother and I'm sorry but..."
"You were under strict offers not to leave the house" she cut me off. Her voice was deceptively soft and that scared me more than anything. "You disobeyed me. We will deal with this when you return from lunch" I cowered under her gaze and as I much as I wanted to defend myself, the only words I could say were "yes mother". She began to walk away then turned around to look back at me.
"Come along, we're far behind schedule and we have much work to do" She then began to walk away and I had no choice but to trail behind her. On the way up, her phone rang and she moved aside to take the call. I had no idea who she was talking to or what they were talking about but I could have sworn I saw a little bit of fear flicker across her face.
But it was gone as it quickly as it had come and I decided I had imagined it. Besides, I had something else to worry about and his name was Adrian Kingsley
.