Eliana beams at me when I turn to face her, my twin sister, and double. I could not help myself; I threw my arms around her and inhaled her familiar Dior scent. “Eliana!” I gush, not being able to control my emotions upon seeing my sister. She was a little puffy on the face and her belly was showing, but she still had the same air of poise around her.
“I haven’t seen you in almost three months and you turn into a beautiful lady.” She jokes as she takes in my appearance and nods in appreciation. I give her a light slap on her arm, “You know as well as I do that this isn’t exactly how I expected my last few months in England to be.” I shot back a retort but then noticed her smile drop.
“Ah, I’m sorry, Eliana-”
“No, I deserved that and so much more,” she starts and takes my hands in hers. “Elena, I forced you into this life, and for that, I will be eternally in your debt. I did not expect the family to trade me for you if I had known that I would have rejected Sebastian’s proposal.”
I look at my sister and a wistful smile crosses my face. She was lying, I could tell. But why would she need to lie to me? We used to tell each other everything before Eliana felt the need to become secretive.
I return her smile and shake her head, “You had to follow your own happiness, Eliana. I applaud you for that. You and Robert have looked into the face of duty and spat in it.” I say with a laugh, “And if the both of you are happy, then I am happy. I will have to make this marriage work, whether I want to or not as duty calls for it. I have forgiven you, Eliana. You can rest easy.”
My sister looks at me with wide eyes and flounders over her words, “Elena! No, you don’t have to pretend to forgive me!”
I shake my head, “I am not pretending, Eliana. I have forgiven you. Now please rest assured, I do not hate you. You will always be my sister and the one I love above anyone else.” I say with sincerity and wrap her in my arms again. There was no point in wallowing anymore, I would take my mother’s previous advice and make the best of this dead-end of a marriage.
Eliana shoots me a naughty smile, “By the way, I saw the way Sebastian looked at you when you had your first dance. Did something happen between the two of you?” She asks me, and I feel the warmth creeping into my cheeks.
If our dance fooled Eliana, it must have looked like a genuine first dance shared between a couple who were in love.
Shaking my head, I answer her, “ No not at all. We had to make it look real.”
Eliana laughs at my reply, “Sure you did, heck you even danced to your favorite love song, and I just bet that was your idea as well.” She says then sees my blush deepen and bursts out into a fit of giggles.
“Stop it!” I cry out, my cheeks hurt from smiling so much already and Eliana just would not stop giggling. My sister then looks at me seriously before placing her hands on both my arms, “If anything develops between you and Sebastian, please don’t feel guilty. I never loved him,” she says then I could see she was contemplating her next lines. “And I do think he only proposed to me out of duty. There were subtle things I picked up all through our relationship, Eliana. Sebastian is in love with someone else, and it was never me.”
I frown at this revelation of hers, could it be true? Sebastian looked pretty broken up about the split, and whenever I looked into his eyes I could sense the betrayal there. However, I won’t tell her this, she did not need to know.
I spot Robert out of the corner of my eye and gesture to my sister, “Does he treat you well?” I ask her.
Eliana nods with a smile, “He really does. I love him more than I ever could explain. We got married after I left the Wiltshire estate, you know. We had to.” She says but then frowns when he calls her over. “I think he wants us to leave. There must be issues with Mirabelle and Spencer. My number is activated again, I will text you constantly. I love you, Elena, and wish you nothing but happiness.”
After that, she strides off and I realize what she just told me. She was married to Robert now! WHAT?! Well, at least she was a Dumont now, something my mother had groomed her to be.
I shake my head and decide to get away from everyone for a few minutes. This was a big mansion, so hopefully, I do not get lost in the process.
Making sure no one sees me, I saunter up the massive staircase just off the foyer and make it to the landing without tripping over my heels.
I take a slow stride through the mansion hallways and am amazed at the modern furnishings and architecture. Dumont Hall was built in the 1880’s I would have expected them to keep the original finishings, but whoever redesigned the mansion did so with impeccable taste.
Hey, I might not like the stature I was born into, but I still know when to appreciate interior decorating.
I pass by one of the bedrooms and stop in my tracks, my face going red.
The sounds coming from the other side of the door were clearly a couple in the middle of sex. Grunting, groaning, and stifled moans echoed through the door and I found myself curious as to who would be so bold to have sex in one of the Dumont’s smaller spare rooms. I tiptoe over to the door and slowly ease it open. The lights were on inside and my eyes immediately fell on the couple on the bed; then my smile drops from my face and I felt pale.
I wish I had never opened it. I wished I had just walked past it and ignored the sounds of sex echoing through the door.
Sebastian had a blonde on her knees in front of him while he took her from behind. Her head was thrown back in ecstasy and I recognized her as the woman from Sebastian’s office. He grunted and groaned and I found myself frozen on the spot.
Damnit, Elena! Look away! Turn around and close the door!
I mentally will my body to move, but then Sebastian turns his head my way and our eyes meet, locking me in place. The grin drops from his face when he sees me, but he continues to slam into the blonde, over and over again. Finally, I found my bearings and ran out of the room as fast as I could, putting the dreadful scene behind me.
I had just walked in on Sebastian having sex with his mistress.