NIRELLE - Chapter 57: Chapter 57

I have Mara help me get ready; I wanted people to talk to. I wanted to hear the media call me Mrs. Vexley and say that I was Mr. Lucien Vexley's wife. I still could not wrap my mind around why that was my goal, but Mara got the goal. I was looking like a superstar, the kind that you'd see in magazines and think that they were created for that moment.
"You look very beautiful, Mrs. Vexley. I am sure Mr. Vexley would be pleased to see you like this," she says, and I want her words to be true. Would Lucien see me and think I looked beautiful enough? Would he say it to me?
"Thank you, Mara; it's only possible because of you," I say, trying to catch my breath at how snatched the dress was. It felt so tight as if I wouldn't be able to breathe, but Mara had told me that this was what the young ladies wore now, and I wanted everyone to think I was the lady befitting to be Lucien's wife. He needed someone sophisticated enough to stand beside him, and I had to be that one.
"Oh no, you have such beautiful features; I only enhanced them." I want to ask her if she was bluffing and if the bruises were beautiful as well. "Even with the byrsies," she adds as if she were reading my mind.
"Thank you," I say. I do not know what I am supposed to say in response.
"I will go let Mr. Theo know that you are ready," she said with a bow before walking out. I step out of the chair and stare at myself in the mirror. I walk to the door and open it before Lucien can knock on it. His hand hangs midway as he stares at me, his eyes gliding up and down my body.
"Do you need something?" I ask when the silence became too much for me to handle. "I can get it for you," I say, pointing into the room, and he shakes his head.
"Oh no, I just wanted to see you… like this," he responds, now focusing on my face. I wait for him to continue, but he just stands there awkwardly, one hand in the air and the other clenched by his side.
"Here I am," I say, letting out a nervous chuckle as I open my arms wide for him.
He nods and drops his hand before pressing his lips together. "Have fun at the party, and if you need anything, just ask Theo." He turns and leaves me standing there.
I almost shouted in his back that he was a jerk. What was that just now? He had said he was not sorry for kissing me, and he now acted as if I were wearing a brick. Theo appears almost immediately, as if they had timed it and stood in front of me.
", you look so stunning." His words dripped with honey and kindness, the kind that made a woman blush.
"Thank you," I say, trying to sound normal and not hurt by the fact that Lucien had just ignored me.
"Shall we?" He asked, stretching his hand to me, and I nodded, taking it as we walked out of the house, hand in hand.
LUCIEN
I stare as Theo and leave the house hand in hand. I should have told her how stunning she looked in that dress, but I could not trust that I would be able to hold back. That is, he would stand there and compliment her and watch her leave without holding her back. I wait until they have left the compound before I walk back inside.
"Hello, boss," the bodyguard said over the phone.
"Keep an eye on and update on whatever she does." It's a command. I don't want her to get too cosy with Cassian at any point tonight, and I trust Theo, but I am not sure if he would get the job done tonight.
"Yes, sir."
"If Cassian even so much as touches a hair on her body, let me know." I pull the phone from my ear and drop it onto the table in front of me.
I try to pay attention at work, but nothing I do works. I cannot take my mind off and what she looked like when she left the house. It hurts my soul too deeply.
My phone begins to ring, and I light up when I see that it is from the bodyguard. My heart drops into my stomach as I realise this could be bad news.
"Boss, the Mrs. is currently on the dance floor with Cassian Wolfe." The words fell onto my ears, and I wondered why he had waited this long to tell me.
"Can you try and get her out of there?" I ask, standing up, ready to go save her. I am not sure if I can even leave the house yet, but I think I can manage just so she does not get to dance with him.
"No, sir, I am afraid that there are too many people on the dance floor, and it might make a scene if I do." The image is imprinted in my mind even though I have not seen it yet. "What do you want me to do?" he asks, even after what he had just said.
"Let it be," I say, taking the phone from my ear and settling back into the chair. I sway from side to side to calm my bubbling heart, but none of it works.
I take up my phone and want to call her, but she is not mine to chase. I stare at the screen until I get a message from an unknown private number. It is a link to an article.
My eyes glance through the article; Cassian had done this, I know he did. He brought out there to make fun of her and me.
I scanned the article once, and my eyes settled on the headlines once again. "IS MRS. VEXLEY A BETTER MATCH FOR MR. CASSIAN WOLFE OR MR. LUCIEN VEXLEY?"
And underneath the heading is a picture of them on the dance floor, looking like a couple, and none of us, because there is none. And there they were, looking like a real couple.