Chapter 17— Darkness By Choice

"What was that all about?" Ciara asked, her gaze questioning

"What was what?" I said in the most vague way possible.

"That attitude you gave out there?" She said, pointing at the door "Even at the gown shop, what was all that about."

"Look, Ciara, I don't know what you are talking about right now; I need to rest now."

"He's just trying to be nice, you know, act his part as a husband."

"I am glad, you said that Ciara, ACT, so you see this is all an act," I said collapsing on the couch "I don't have to pretend that I like him, or pretend that we are marrying each other for real,"

"Really? Ciara? You think this is all just a contract marriage to him?"

I brought out the contract details and flung it in her direction. "Here, take a look, Ciara. Can you see all the conditions in it? It's a contract marriage, and it's just going to be for five years." I paused, and heaved a deep sigh "At least that will be enough for me to carry out my revenge on the Lorenzos"

Without looking at it, Ciara said, "Hey, you requested this contract; it wasn't him."

"But he signed it didn't he?" I asked harshly

"Would you have agreed to Marry him if he hadn't signed?"

She was right, if he hadn't signed it, I wouldn't have agreed to marry him. I just couldn't bring myself to trust a Lorenzo anymore, not after what I had gone through in the hands of Marcel, not after the humiliation I experienced at a Gramps birthday party.

"Ciara, please,-"

"Diana, I know when a man is in love"

"Wouldn't you have said the same thing when you first saw Marcel?"

"That's the difference, babe; I didn't say anything about it."

"So what? You are a good judge of character now? If you are, why didn't you warn me about Marcel? At least you saw him almost every single time in our seven years." My voice began to break.

I thought I had moved on from the heartbreak, but I hadn't, coupled with the going back to an orphan thing, and the family's humiliation.

I guess everything just came weighing down on me at that very minute.

"I... I... I thought you were happy, Diana. You always came back from every date and every visit smiling, and then you moved in with him; I never heard you complain about him once..."

"It's fine; what's the essence of crying over spilt milk? It's been spilt already."

She was right; I never came to Ciara with complaints any day, even when I noticed a few things, but I overlooked them, thinking that I was probably being paranoid about little things.

There were certain times he would show up at the house wearing a woman's scent, or should I say a woman's scent had taken over his scent, but I always assumed that it was because of the business.

He had to see a lot of people, and most of them, especially ladies, would need a hug instead of a handshake.

Even when I kept on getting this particular scent from him, not changing, I still had excuses for him; he probably had multiple business deals with this person.

It never occurred to me that he could be cheating on me.

Crazy right?

But that's not even the craziest thing.

The first time I was introduced to Sabrina. No, let me rephrase that; the first time Sabrina was introduced to me as the biological daughter of my adopted parents, I perceived that same scent.

But do you know what my excuse was?

I am sure you could guess it.

I concluded that only the Lorenzos had the right to own a particular scent, strictly belonging to them only. No one else in the world uses it.

They could achieve this easily because one of their thriving companies was their cologne and deodorants company.

Stupid right?

At least now I know better. No longer in the dark.

Honestly, I chose to be in that darkness and all for whatever reason because I chose to love someone wholeheartedly. Because I chose to do right by my seven years relationship? I needed things to work between us because I fantasised about being happily married with my twin babies in our arms.

Was that so much to wish for?

Going through all that, trusting Raphael was something I didn't want to do; I couldn't afford to fall into the wrong hands, at least not without gaining anything from it.

I never gained anything from Marcel; I barely even asked him for monetary things, and he barely even got me gifts.

I guess I should have suspected then, but I was too blindly in love with a cheat.

If I am going to marry the eldest son of the richest man In the whole of New York City, at least I should gain something from it.

Call me a gold digger if you want but I don't care.

That's what I am going to do whether anyone likes it or not.

Though deep down there was something weird, something seemed to want to erupt but I wouldn't let it.

I was done being the good girl everyone wanted. Besides, if I wanted my revenge plans to be successful, I needed to change who I was; like they say, the only constant thing is change.

So, I would change into something that would be greatly feared. I needed to If I wanted to get the truth about Why Raphael is being treated like an outcast In his own home.

Though you wouldn't guess because he's always reserved and composed, besides, he is stinkingly rich now.

Why he wanted to marry me, I wasn't quite sure, but whatever the reason, I didn't want to know anymore.

"Hey Diana are you even listening to me?" Ciara's voice came pulling me back into reality.

I jolted back, my tongue clicking the roof of my mouth. "I am sorry, I just zoned out for a bit." I said.

"Zone out for a bit, Diana? I guess you are really tired if you call thirty minutes a little time to zone out, Diana; I had been talking to you all those minutes, and you weren't paying attention to anything I said."

"I am sorry, Ciara; what were you saying."

She scoffed "I can't believe you right now Diana, I certainly cannot deal with this attitude right now too, so I will advise we retire for the day, you are exhausted from the day shopping" Ciara's voice laced with anger, as she turned to leave "goodnight" her tone, cold.

I watched her go into her room, slamming the door.

What did I just do?