LIFE OF THE PARTY |ELITE|

2.08

"How would you describe your relationship with Samuel, Cordélia?"
"We are friends, you should know it, you've asked me this question a hundred times before."
"But you weren't as good friends as you were before, no? Because of Nano? Because he resented you for not helping them and you because his brother killed your best friend."
"I'll stop you right here, my friendship with Samuel did not change because of what happened, no. I know better than to judge people on their relatives, Samuel isn't his brother, I am his friend, it's not going to change. I offered to pay an attorney for Nano but both of them refused, so you are very wrong."
"Does Guzmán know that?"
"What?"
"That you offered to help his sister's murderer?"
"What I do with my money does not concern him, it's no one's business but mine and my accountants."

    Cordélia stumbled back at the view, it was impossible, he could not be here, not now, not after all this time. She held Graham's arm a bit tighter, trying to gather some strength and bravery to speak up after hearing her nickname for the first time in almost ten years. Her brother was standing in front of her, Louis was here, in Madrid, in her house.

"Did you miss me, Lili?"
"What- what are you doing here?"
"Well, father is dead so I figured I would come and visit my little sister."
"You- you figured you'd come visit? You left ten years ago Louis! You don't just show up to someone's place after ten years and hope they will welcome you with open arms. What the hell is wrong with you?"
"Lia? What is going on?"

    The duchess turned around, her eyes meeting Guzmán's, she had completely forgotten he was there, she could not deal with all of this now, she just wanted peace and quiet, but she knew she wouldn't have that, so she did what she had to do.

"I need to deal with this now, I swear I will explain everything to you tomorrow, but right now, I have to take care of this. Carlos, please show Louis the way to my office, I'll be here in a minute. Bridget, please bring us some tea and sandwiches."
"Of course, Miss Cordélia."
"Lia, what-"
"Guzmán, please just go, please."
"Call me if you need anything."

    The Spaniard kissed her cheek and exited the house, confused, leaving the girl with her cousins and this stranger. She watched her chauffeur escort her brother to the other room before she turned to her cousins sighing. The duchess nodded that she was okay and made her way to her office, ready to face her brother, or at least she thought so. Louis was looking at the bookshelves when she entered the room, his fingers softly tracing the back of her very precious books, she crossed the room, her head high and sat straight in her chair behind the desk, she would treat this situation like any official business she had to treat.

"What do you want, Louis? Father is dead, if you're here for his will, you'll have to turn to our grandfather for that, I don't deal with this."
"I came to see you."
"Well, you saw me, how about you go back from where you come from now?"
"Is it so crazy that I want to see my sister?"
"I'm not your sister, Louis."
"I bet a DNA test would make you lie."
"Blood doesn't make a family; you've lost the right to call me your sister when you left ten years ago and never came back."
"I'm glad you had the perfect princess life, but I had to leave, Cordélia, you have no idea what it was like to live with this man, not all of us are bloody duchesses."

    The brunette's eyes widened, he could not be for real right now, he could not come into her house and disrespect her like this. She rose from her seat, walking up to him and snatching her book from his hand to hit him with it in the shoulder, her anger visible in her mismatched eyes.

"You don't get to come here and tell me that you had it hard, Louis, you don't get to use our abusive father against me, you want to know why? He was just as much as an asshole to me than he had been to you. I'm not going to let you stand here and claim that I had a perfect life because you have no idea what my life was like. I'm glad you found peace when you walked out of our lives, but my life was a disaster."
"Are you really going to blame me for it? Are you really willing to go this low, Lili?"
"I never blamed you for leaving, Louis, I am blaming you for abandoning me with him, for not showing up when mum died, for never coming back, but not for leaving. She raised you; she accepted you despite the fact that you weren't her son, she never treated you differently even if you weren't her blood, and you didn't even come back to pay her your respect. She died and you couldn't care less about her, couldn't care less about me."
"You think he would've let me leave if I came back? Did you know the man at all, Cordélia? I could not just show up."
"You were a bloody adult, Louis! All you had to do was be here for your family!"
"I did what was best for you by leaving!"
"How?! How was you leaving what was best for me?! I was eight, Louis, I needed my brother! I needed you to hold onto your words and call, to hold onto your words and come back!"
"You're overreacting, I'm here now."
"I was a child whom in a matter of months lost both her brother and her mother! I was a child whom out of nowhere was cut from everything she had ever known! Where were you when she died? Where were you when I passed out under our father's fist and woke up in the hospital with doctors telling me I had a fucking lupus? Where were you when we moved here and an older student raped me? Where were you when I tried to kill myself? Where were you when I needed you? I don't fucking care that you are here now, I don't fucking need you! All I need is for you to leave and never come back because I built myself back up and I don't need you!"
"I'm not leaving, not this time."
"I don't fucking want you in my life. How hard is it for you to get inside your damn brain? I mourned my brother a long time ago, you're just a stranger to me now. Leave my house, go back to wherever you come from and go be someone else's family."