The funeral was a somber, quiet, and quick affair. In all, there were not more than twenty people present as they stood under the scorching sun that late afternoon at the burial ground to bury Victoria. Carol stood beside her father and Belinda, who had not acknowledged her presence since she arrived at the house this morning. She had also not acknowledged the money that Carol had sent to her, not that Carol cared one bit. She had done her part and that was that. There was a tension between the three of them, Carol, her father, and Belinda that kept mounting until it threatened to burst. Her father was supporting Belinda, who did not look like she needed any support at all. She stood stoically beside Donald, her face impassive, all but looking like a dam about ready to burst. Carol stole glances at her warily, wondering if she was mentally fit to be attending the burial.
A few paparazzi were lurking around the graveyard while the ceremony was going on. Carol glanced at them and sLater that night, it began to rain very heavily. Donald came into Carol’s room, where she was just laying down, and doing nothing in particular. He sat heavily on the bed, grief lining his weathered features, and shook his head.“I’m so sorry about Belinda, Carol. I’ll like to think that she’s just grieving, but we both know that that is not the case. She’s just an evil person. Don’t let her get to you. I don’t let her get to me anymore.”“It’s okay, dad. I’m already used to it. You’re the only one who would have to cope with her craziness from now on, I’m afraid.” Carol said smiling at him. He did not smile back.“She served me divorce papers this evening.”“What? Wow. Anyway … um, I don’t know what to say. Is that good or bad? For you, I mean.”“I don’t know. It’s good, I guess. We’re practically strangers. She blames me for everything single thing that goes wrong in her life. I’m fed up with the marriage and I guess that she is too.”“Well, that’s good then. Are
As soon as Carol got home, dropped off the stuff that she traveled with, and took a shower, she changed her clothes and approached one of the drivers so he could take her to Sacramento to see Mr. James and Jessica. Luckily enough, they were admitted to the same hospital so it would be easy to just drop in and see them.“What did you say, ma’am?” The man asked in surprise after she made her request known to him. Carol looked him up and down, sure that he had heard her very clearly, but was just being difficult for reasons known to him alone.“Is there a problem?” She asked at last.“You want to go on a drive all the way to Sacramento?” The man asked again in surprise.“Yes. I believe that that is what I said. Why does that seem to surprise you so much?”“Because Boss Sebastian would not like to hear that you took the car to travel on such a long journey when you could easily use one of the planes. He’ll have my hide for that, ma’am.” The man said respectfully, while Ca
That day, Sebastian did not come back home, and neither did he call Carol to inform her that he was not coming back home. When she called him to find out about his whereabouts and if he had any plans of coming back home, he did not take the call, and it went straight to voicemail. At first, she had been so scared that something might have happened to him, considering all that had been happening lately, but then, when she had gone downstairs to ask the drivers and security people if he had said anything about being late, they had given her the number of his new bodyguard so that she could call him. Carol supposed that she was overreacting a little, but then, she had just buried her very lively and vivacious younger sister to murder, which had still not been solved, so she guessed she was entitled to a little overreaction.Once she reached the man on the phone, he assured her that Sebastian was fine and was in a meeting, after which he would visit Jessica before coming back. She ha
By the time it was ten in the morning and Sebastian had not called Carol back or even come home, she was seriously pissed and irritated. What was he feeling like anyway and why was he suddenly acting the way he used to when they just newly got married? So all this while, he had been using her as a substitute for his beloved Jessica, after making a song and dance about how he wanted he and Carol to at least be civil to each other? Now, the second Jessica came back into his life, he discarded Carol as though she were a sack of hot potatoes, and it was now so bad that he could not even be bothered to be polite enough to return her calls? Although everything inside Carol urged her to try calling him again, she did her best to resist the urge. She refused to act like a pathetic, attention-starved puppy who would manage whatever scraps of attention that the almighty Lord Sebastian managed to dole out to her. If she was being truthful to herself though, she knew that she missed hearing his v
There was silence for a minute or two while Charlotte wracked her brain furiously for an appropriate and believable explanation, but could not come up with any. She had gotten carried away and had said more than she should have. It was Jessica who had told her that Victoria told her that Sebastian married Carol because his uncle had promised to help him find Jessica if he did so. Of course, there was no way that she was going to tell Carol that. When she could not come up with a reasonable explanation, she groaned inwardly at what she knew she would have to do immediately. She would have to murder, or at least render this woman unconscious and kidnap her right here and right now in this car. This had not been in her plans at all and it was a major inconvenience, to say the least. She glanced at Carol to find her watching her with a questioning gaze, suspicion, and more than a little fear clearly app
“You married into such an interesting family. When I said we needed to gossip, I had no idea that the gossip would be so interesting.” Charlotte told Carol, pretending to be amazed while thinking to herself how gullible this woman was.“I’m telling you. So, anyway, to the real gossip, and the reason why I need advice... It’s that Jessica woman.” Carol said, feeling horrible about bringing this up, but unable to help herself.“What about her?” Charlotte asked, pretending not to really care when in reality, her heart was beating a mile a minute at the mention of Jessica’s name. That girl had the power to make everything go to shit once she regained consciousness ... if she ever did, that is, and she was one of the major reasons that Charlotte was here. She needed to get as much information about her, such as which hospital she was admitted to and stuff like that.“Well … I mean … I don’t know how to say it, and I feel horrible even thinking it, but I don’t like her at all.”“What’s so ho
She glared at him and without saying anything, moved past him and was about to enter the house, except that she did not get far. He held her hand and dragged her back to face him. Carol stared him down angrily, still not saying anything. Her heart skipped a bit just looking into his handsome face. It was the first time she was seeing him since she came back from the burial, making it the first time she was seeing him in almost four days. It felt like it was four months instead of four days and without anyone telling her, Carol knew that she was in serious trouble. When Sebastian saw that she was not going to say anything, he had no choice other than to speak first.“Are you not going to apologize?” he asked.“Apologize? Apologize for what? Apologize to whom? You’re really impossible.” She said incredulously, dragging her hand away from his and shaking her head in disbelief.“I called you several times, but you didn’t answer the phone.” He said, a look of confusion creasing
“Oh my God, Sebastian! I’m so sorry.” Carol said, placing a hand over her mouth in shock. All this while, she had never thought about something like that. All she had been thinking of was what would happen when Jessica came out of her coma. “Yeah. He was just advising me about it and whatnot, but it got me thinking about a lot of things, which I’ve been trying really hard not to think about before. Jessica put me as her power of attorney, something I did not know before now. She also left instructions that if it so happened that she was in a coma for more than a month, the life support should be unplugged after a month and three weeks. Carol, this is the end of the second week. If she does not come out of the coma before then, I’d have to give my consent for her to be taken off life support. I don't think I can do it." He finished, his face strained and unshed tears in his eyes. “Jeez! That’s scary. I hate that you have to bear such a burden, especially as it i