A Trillionaire's Revenge

XXII

Before going downstairs, I check myself out in the mirror. My hair is still neat, my golden flare skirt still well ironed and my blouse was still intact. The only thing missing was my signature pink lip stain. I apply a thin coat and head downstairs. I ball my hands into fists as I approach Luke. He is facing the opposite direction, his back turned to me. He is talking to Aunt Ruth. Aunt Ruth turns, "My darling." She says and Luke turns. He looks at me, scanning my face as I take my eyes elsewhere. I couldn't look at him.

"Well? Go say hello to your husband!" Aunt Ruth says, giggling. I look at Luke and although I'm not sure if I'm being paranoid, it kills me to see the cold expression he's giving me.

I move closer to him, "Welcome home." is all I can say. Suddenly, he swoops in to kiss me, but I take my face away and move over to aunt Ruth. She has an awkward expression on her face. I probably made her uncomfortable by refusing to kiss Luke.

"Hope I'm not intruding?" I hear a familiar voice say and immediately I know who it is. Laurel walks in and gives me her usual dirty face. I had to play it cool. I turn around to look at him, he has a gigantic smile plastered on his face. Aunt Ruth squeezes my hand. I look at her, and as though my facial expression states that I'd give her an explanation later, she lets go of my hand.

I move over to Luke, hold his collar as I tiptoe to kiss him. Thankfully, he lets me. My body sparks with different emotions and I keep kissing Luke. I needed to make that move so Rocky could see that there was no chance of him and I getting together ever again.

I turn my head to face Rocky, "Honestly, you are. I'd like to have today with my husband. Alone." I look at Luke, "Look, I'm sorry for how I acted, there's no justification for it. I-I can't even explain what happened but the most important thing is that I love you."I look at Rocky,

"Nothing changes that. No one changes that."
I hug him and he hugs me back, "I love you too, Natalie, but—I break the hug as I wonder what he has to say. There should be no buts.

"But what?" I ask, tucking my hair behind my ear. I look at Rocky and his facial expression sends chills down my spine.

"Well, Caleb here will be staying with us for a few da—

"What?" I ask, perplexed at his suggestion. I try to compose myself as much as possible, "Why? You didn't discuss this with me earlier." I say, in a whisper like tone.

Luke takes me to the corner as he tries to explain but my mind is on Rocky, living under the same roof as Rocky. Luke keeps explaining, but all I can hear is muffled sounds. I felt so frustrated, defeated and lost.

"Natalie, Natalie, Natalie?" Luke calls, shaking me gently. "What's wrong? Are you okay?" If I kept on acting weird whenever Rocky was around, Luke would notice and I couldn't risk letting him find out about Rocky. Especially about the kiss I had shared with Rocky.

"Did you hear me? He has nowhere— "Yes." I cut in, giving the best smile I can. "Hormones. My hormones have me acting out foolishly. Yes, of course, he can stay. It's not even my house."

Luke's shoulders drop as he gives a disappointing look. "What do you mean by that, Natalie? You know that's not true. Everything I own is yours just as much as they're mine, you should know that."

"I'm sorry, but you don't show it." I respond as I storm off. I was cold, scared,  lonely and angry. Somewhere in my mind, I knew the real reason behind wanting Rocky far away from me wasn't solely to prevent Luke from finding out, but because I was afraid of what I would do if he was constantly around me.

Laurel, Emmanuelle and Ryn, one of the helps are together in the kitchen. They all turn to look at me as I enter. I smile at them, "Well, let's start preparing dinner, shall we? I'm thinking steak, peppered chicken, lasagna and Thai rice with Worcester and shrimp sauce."

Emmanuelle smiles, "Anything you want Mrs Natalie."

I give her the okay hand sign as she calls me by my name. "Where are the bell peppers?" I ask, as I pick a knife from the knife rack.

"Did Luke day you can pick the meals? I've been deciding the meals we eat way before you came, so I think it's only fair that I continue doing so, since you've taken everything else from me."

"Exactly. Way before I came. Now, I'm here and this is my house, so I get to decide what I eat and what my husband eats. Not you." I say to her and Emmanuele and Ryn giggle. Laurel looks at them, shooting daggers at them with her eyes. She looks back at me, "I hate you so much!" She says as she storms off. I didn't hate Laurel, but I didn't like her either.

"You need help with that?" Emmanuele asks.

"No, no." I say as I slice the green pepper. "Why?" I ask, Emmanuele. "You think because I'm from a rich family, I don't know how to cook or do chores?" I ask jokingly.

"No. Well. . . honestly, you don't look like you would know your way around the kitchen. You're too refined and sophisticated."

"What? No. Just because I enjoyed the nice things in life, doesn't mean I wouldn't know to do basic things. My mother never taught me how to cook but I did learn from Aunt Ruth. I consider her my mother, actually, because she's taught me some pretty useful life lessons."

"I bet you look just like your mother."

"Sadly, I do, but not character wise. I'm more of my dad character wis." I say, casually thinking about my father. I would give him a call afterwards.

"Well, thank God for that. You are a very lovable person. At first, when you came to the manor, everyone disliked you because we all thought you would be stuck up, but we started seeing and hearing you talk nicely to everyone and we were all surprised."

"Really? But Laurel doesn't like me much." I say, pouring the sliced peppers into the transparent glass bowl.

"Well, Laurel and Luke practically grew up together since they were teenagers from what I know, and she's loved him ever since."

"Well, how does Luke feel about that? Does he know? Did they ever. . .?" I query, mentally preparing myself for her answers.

She chuckles, "No, Mrs. Natalie, they never did—well, as far as I know and, yes, Lucas knows but he loves her like a sister, but you know Laurel. She's strong headed, she won't ever give up."

I sigh in relief, "Well, she better. I'm Luke's better half now and she has to respect our boundaries." I say as I drop the knife on the counter and turn to leave. I turn around, genuinely smiling "It was nice having this conversation, Emmanuele."