Chapter 17
On the terrace, Anastasia waited for Xavier to speak, a lingering tension hanging between them since they had left the scene earlier.
“Xavier,” she called him. She’d never seen him react that way before, ever since she met him.
But for an unknown reason, she wanted to know what he was thinking about. “Look, you didn’t have to act like that. I appreciate the fact that you gave him the beating he needed but now, they are going to be even more suspicious of me,” she added.
All of a sudden, Xavier wrapped his hands around her waist and hugged her. Despite the heels she was wearing, Ana’s head could only reach his hard chest.
Surprised by his actions, Anastasia remained stiff. Xavier buried his neck in her shoulders, breathing in her scent. This was the first time they had gotten this close, and surprisingly, Ana didn’t feel uncomfortable.
“Are you sure you are alright?” He asked her, his voice holding so much concern that Ana couldn’t tell if he was actually concerned for her or was just pretending since they were married. “Tell me,” he urged.
He released her from the hug and gazed into her ocean-blue eyes, which were now pooled with tears.
A single tear slipped from her eyes, and he lifted his hand to gently wipe it away from her cheeks.
A smile crept on Ana’s lips before she said, “I didn’t feel scared, Xavier. It felt good to be able to talk back to those people. I enjoyed every single reaction of theirs when they saw me back there. I love the fact that I’m no longer scared of them.” More tears poured from her eyes which got Xavier confused.
“Then why are you crying?” He asked her.
Anastasia chuckled lightly, wiping her tears from her eyes.
“These are tears of joy I guess p>
Xavier’s confusion deepened even more.
Women, you can never understand them.
“Please, can you not do anything further to Jack?” She requested. Seeing how he’d beaten Jack up, Anastasia sensed that there was more where that came from.
“Who’s Jack?” Xavier asked, his eyebrows curling up in confusion.
“The one whom you’d just beaten up,” she replied. Now, she was the confused one.
“Don’t tell me you still care about those people. I thought you were willing to hurt them just as much as they’d hurt you p>
“Believe me when I say if I didn’t need anything from them, I would have tied every one of them to a chair and cut out each of the body parts every day until they died. But I need Jack for something,” she replied. Xavier gave her a questionable look. “Michelle invited me to the Harrison’s mansion tomorrow p>
“And what do you plan on doing once you get there?” He asked, curiosity laced in his tone.
Ana strode towards the edge of the terrace as she watched the paparazzi patiently wait for some tea. If only they had been allowed in the party, the fight that had just occurred would have been on the news immediately. But she was sure that some of the party guests recorded it.
“I will snoop around the house, and see if I can find the property papers that I signed months ago. I’m sure they have already shared my properties among themselves. There should be something in their house that can help me with my revenge. I’m sure of it,” she said with assurance laced in her tone.
Xavier could sense her determination and knew he couldn’t stop her. He was certain that Michelle inviting Ana over to their house was part of a plan. Since they weren’t sure if she was Ana or Selene, their actions wouldn’t be overtly harmful, but he still didn’t trust them. He was confident Ana had already considered this as well.
“You need to be careful,” He said. “I’ve already told Kace to be your bodyguard. He’s going to go with you everywhere,” he added, leaving no room for any disagreement.
“Wait, does he know p>
“Yes! Don’t worry, he’s the only brother I know I can trust and so can you,” he assured her.
Ana nodded, biting the bottom of her lips slightly and Xavier couldn’t help but stare at it.
Ana looked up at him and he moved his eyes away, not wanting to be caught.
“We need to go back to the party,” she said. “I’m sure now that they are starting to talk about how we know each other,” she sighed.
“Selene.” Ana heard someone call her name. She scanned the crowd before her eyes fell on Mark.
“Mark p>
Both of them shared a hug, while he and Xavier shared a handshake afterward with Xavier glaring hard at Mark.
“Will you relax? I’m gay,” Mark whispered in his ears with a teasing smile on his lips. “Looks like you are already getting attracted to her,” he added ever so softly so that Ana wouldn’t hear him.
“Watch your mouth, Mark,” said Xavier.
Mark raised his hands in surrender before he climbed up the stairs to wish the owner of the party a Happy Birthday.
The both of them found a seat and sat down together. Xavier didn’t care anymore about needing to pretend not to know her. He’d taken his eyes off her only for a few minutes and she was harassed. He wasn’t going to leave her alone again.
Other influential guests who wanted to talk with him were immediately turned down.
The guests were starting to get curious about their relationship.
Out of nowhere, Kace settled on the seat opposite theirs, his face etched with worry.
“Where did you two go? I’ve been looking all over for you. We have a big problem at hand at the moment,” Kace said, the words rushing out of his mouth without control.
“Will you calm down? What’s wrong?” Xavier questioned him.
Kace took a deep breath before he opened his mouth to speak.
Kace turned to Anastasia and said, “Michelle invited you to their house right?” He didn’t wait for her to reply before he continued. “Well, it’s a trap. I was eavesdropping on their conversation earlier and they’ve set something up to find out if you are Anastasia or Selene,” he responded, looking at Ana whose heart was starting to beat rapidly in her chest.