The CEO’ s second choice novel Chapter 23

　　Elena

　　Ugh, the sun is too bright. Did I fall asleep next to the pool again? I slowly opened my eyes, trying to register where I was, but everything was too blurry. Gosh, did I get sunstroke or something? My throat felt absolutely parched and I could do with an ice-cold juice right about now. I try to sit up and blink back the blurriness, and thankfully it worked some.

　　And now I wish it didn’t; I was in a hospital room.

　　How did I get here? What happened? I got up from the bed, intending to walk towards the bathroom I had seen and fall forward onto the floor hard. “Ah, shoot,” I say, heavily disoriented and trying to get up from the floor, but my body would not reciprocate. I felt incredibly weak and dizzy from the fall. Tears prick the corners of my eyes at the uncertainty. Why couldn’t I remember anything? Why did my body feel so weird?

　　The door in front of me opens as I try to lift myself up again, “Elena!”

　　Was that… was that Sebastian? A pair of strong arms pull me up from the floor and I immediately smell his familiar Tom Ford scent. “Sebastian?!” I croak out with uncertainty and I look up into his eyes, those honey-coloured hazel eyes I was running away from. My bottom lip starts to tremble and I throw my arms around his neck, snuggling into his nape as he picks me up.

　　Oh my gosh, I missed him. I missed him so much.

　　As he lays me back onto the bed, he looks at me strangely and I could feel something was off. He had concern for me in his eyes, but beneath that was something else, something dark. “What day is it?” I ask him, confused at his appearance. He sits on the armchair next to the bed, “It is 7 pm on Sunday evening. Do you remember anything, Elena?” He asks me as he rests his elbows on his knees and stares up at me.

　　What? I had slept the whole day away?

　　I tried to think back, but everything was all fuzzy. Why could I not remember anything? “I left my room to go out and met the hotel concierge on the way. I asked him about my missing cell phone… that’s all I can remember. I…” What was wrong with me? Why couldn’t I remember what happened? Tears ran down my cheeks for some unknown reason and I felt a shiver down my spine.

　　Then it hit me; Sebastian was in Tenerife. He found me after a week of vacation. I look at him and shame washes over me.

　　“Sebastian, I-”

　　“Not now, Elena. We can discuss it later. For now, I need to tell you what happened on Saturday evening.” He says and regards me with an expression I never thought would grace his face; betrayal?

　　“I arrived in Tenerife on Saturday afternoon and eventually found your hotel after searching, but you had left for the evening. I searched the area for a few minutes and eventually found out that you left a cocktail bar with an American man.” He says, and I noticed the anger that flashes in his eyes as his hands balled into fists. My eyes glanced down towards his hands and I noticed that they were bruised. This made me frown, and he saw that I was looking at his fists in confusion.

　　Wait, I left with someone? Why don’t I remember this?

　　He flexes his fingers again, “This was caused by me beating the American unconscious as I pulled him off you.”

　　My hands fly to my mouth and I shake my head, “No! No, I would never!” I exclaim, horrified at what he was explaining. I would never sleep with a random man from a bar—heck, I had been saving myself for marriage after all this time!

　　He nods sadly, “I know that, Elena. You were drugged at the cocktail bar. The American had paid the bartender to slip something into your shandy.”

　　As soon as he says this, I jump from the bed and blindly rush to the bathroom. I tried to empty my stomach contents, but nothing came out, so I painfully dry-heaved. Someone drugged me at the behest of a sexual predator who had done God knows what to me. I immediately feel Sebastian behind me, rubbing my back. I didn’t want him to see me like this, but at this moment, I truly did not care.

　　I fall back on the bathroom floor and feel Sebastian’s arms folding around me in a comforting embrace. Sobbing into his arms, I hold him tighter and let my emotions run freely. All the hurt, uncertainty, worry and anxiety all bubble to the surface as I hold onto him. “Shh. C’Est bon, petite Marguerite,”(It’s okay, little daisy). Sebastian consoles me while speaking in French and I find myself calming down a bit.

　　His voice truly was honey-drenched.

　　I reach for the tissue paper and blow my nose. After discarding the tissue into the toilet, I turn to him, “I guess you no longer have a pure bride,” I say, looking down as my lip trembles again. Sebastian pulls my chin up and looks at me with warmth, hiding anger, “If that man had taken your virtue, he would be dead by now.” He says and I realise what he meant. He picks me up and carries me back to bed where I sat up and looked at him. I know he was upset with me. I didn’t expect this; I expected nonchalance.

　　“You saved me,” I say incredulously. It felt stupid to say something so incredibly cheesy, but it was true; if it wasn’t for Sebastian arriving when he did, I would have been violated in the worst possible way. Smiling at him sadly, I start with what I hope was the right thing, “Sebastian, I needed to get away from you-”

　　“Elena, no not here-”

　　“No, you need to hear me out before I lose my nerve to finally be honest with you. I needed to get away because I was slowly losing my sanity being in that villa all alone. Then after 3 months, you started acting kindly towards me and treating me as more of a person. It was only two days and I already found myself growing closer to you.” I looked at him as I said this and noticed the surprise on his face, so I continued. “I can’t allow myself to grow close to you because after five years I need to leave this marriage. I want to do so without the guilt that I would be hurting you and losing what could be the best thing to happen to me.”

　　I watch his expression darken at my truth, and I bring my hand up to his face, cupping his cheek in my hand. “I cannot fall in love with you, Sebastian.”

　　Sebastian sits back in his chair and regards me with annoyance, “So you would rather run away from home with no prior notice? Having the household worried sick about you while you galavant around the canary islands?” He says, with such anger that I pull my hand back from him. Why was he so mad at me? I was only being honest with him—didn’t he say he prefers honesty? “I told you I would start acting more like a spouse, even though this marriage is fake, and you’re still unhappy. If you want us to go back to hating one another, all you had to do was say so, Elena.”

　　Okay, this is not how I pictured this going at all. He was taking it even worse than I could have imagined.

　　I nod, “Yes, it would make living with you easier.” I say, jutting out my chin in defiance and crossing my arms in front of me. Sebastian gets up from the seat next to me, “Whatever the Bratty Heiress wants, she shall receive. I will be back with clothing for you. We are leaving Tenerife immediately.” He ordered and before I could protest, he had left the room.

　　What the hell? I roll my eyes and sit back in bed. The only thing going through my mind was that I had just ruined whatever could have developed between Sebastian and I.

　　***

　　As soon as Sebastian picked me up, I realised that he was not joking about leaving immediately. We were on our way to the airport and driving in silence. I stole a glance during the drive, but he only remained impassive and silent. Wow, okay when I said we should go back to how we used to be, he really meant to turn the coldness up a notch.

　　We arrived at the airport but took a left towards the airstrip and the car came to a pause. The driver gets out to open the door for me and Sebastian walks up next to me. He takes my hand and leads me to his private jet.

　　He owns a frigging private jet. Father’s firm owns one, but we don’t use it for personal use, we usually fly first class when we go anywhere. He lets me walk ahead when we reach the steps of the jet, and I feel his eyes on my back. This flight will be a hell ride of 4 hours worth of silence.

　　As soon as we took our seats, we were off.

　　Sebastian turns to me, “I forgot to mention, we have been invited to The Winter Ball on Friday.” He says and I groan inwardly. This was the last social event before the Social Season starts in March and everyone always tries to outdo each other with their attire.

　　“I see,”

　　“You are a Dumont now, so you need to dress appropriately. I have arranged for a designer from Dior to come past the villa on Tuesday to have a dress made for you.” He says and I roll my eyes at him and look away. “Yes, sir,” I answer as annoyance bubbles in my chest. God, this man is obstinate.

　　Sebastian gets up from his seat and my heart drops when he goes on his haunches in front of me. I refuse to look at him, but he takes my chin in his hand and turns my head. “Careful, Elena. Roll your eyes at me like that again and I will use my tongue to subjugate you.”

　　If anything could shut me up, this was it. I felt the blush creep over my cheeks and he raised his eyebrow at me, waiting for my reply. When I nod my head, he gives me that incredibly sexy lopsided smile, “Good girl,” he says before getting up and walking back to his seat.

　　I was rendered speechless by his admonishment, so I decided to shut up the rest of the flight home. No one had been able to reign in my bratty behaviour like that before, so what made Sebastian so different from the rest?

　　I resume looking out the window and close my eyes thinking of Sebastian and his tongue punishing me.