Arielle
I felt like I was floating on a cloud. I was dreaming, but then I wasn't, and then I was again. It felt like forever before I regained consciousness completely. Once I did, I opened my eyes groggily to glance around the room. Once my memories returned to me and I realized the situation, my face turned bright red.
I had woken up in Isabelle's room alone. I squinted around the room. The curtains were drawn, but the bright light was still peeking through them. That meant that I had likely only been asleep for an hour or so. My questions were soon answered because Isabelle walked into the room. She was perfectly dressed in a cashmere sweater, a white top, and a skirt that reached to her lower thighs. She didn't seem to notice that I was awake and began to rummage through the drawers. She tossed some things into her bag and I watched her. Once she was done, she turned around to face me and my face turned red again. My eyes widened, giving me the impression of a deer in headlights.
The edges of her lips twitched a little bit and she reached into the drawer again before pulling out some leggings of mine and a hoodie of hers. Then she tossed them in my direction. "Put those on. There's no need for underwear." She smirked.
I swallowed nervously. "Wh-why?"
"We're going to the estate. Father says he needs to see me. We'll probably be there for the rest of the week since we have that meeting on Friday as well." She reminded me before smirking. "Unless you'd rather go in what you're wearing now: essentially nothing."
I scowled at her and sat up on the bed, hugging the blankets tightly to my chest. This made Isabelle roll her eyes, but she didn't say anything as I pulled the hoodie over my head and put the leggings on as well. I made a face because I really wanted to get cleaned up first. "You can take a shower once we're there. Father said it was urgent." Isabelle turned back to the bags.
I reached into the nightstand beside the bed and pulled out a hairbrush to fix up my hair a little bit. Like Isabelle, I had also begun to keep some of my clothes at her father's estate. It was simply the most convenient for the current situation of moving back-and-forth.
Once I was finished fixing my hair, I made my way to the bathroom to wash my face and put on my wig. I definitely felt sore down below, but now was not the time to worry about that. Even though I didn't have to disguise myself at the estate, I usually did during car rides just in case. When I came out, Isabelle had already packed everything that we would presumably need. I slid my phone into my pocket and followed her out.
We didn't talk very much on the car ride over and I listened to my music. Once we arrived at the estate, I made sure to check my demeanor. I pulled the wig off and slid it inside Isabelle's purse. Although almost everyone at the estate had been quite kind and welcoming so far, I couldn't fully feel at ease.
Isabelle dropped off the car to the valet and we headed inside. I kept my head lowered and walked in after Isabelle. I didn't say anything and played my part. Once we walked down the entrance hall, I could see from the corner of my eye, Dominic Versailles standing by the doorway of the sitting room. His expression was difficult to read it, not that I dared to take a second glance. He started to walk over to us. Isabelle turned and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Go upstairs to my room. I'll meet you up there later." She handed me her bags and ushered me off.
I quickly took them and bowed respectfully to her father before hurrying up the flight of stairs. At the top of the stairs, I could see Marcel and Francis standing in front of Dominic's office. Marcel nodded to me expressionlessly and I reciprocated. I didn't bother making eye contact with Francis and quickly hurried into Isabelle's room. I practically breathed a sigh of relief once I was inside.
I set the luggage down on the floor. There wasn't actually much, just two bags because we had most of the stuff that we needed here. I started to unpack some of the bags and I noticed that Isabelle had brought along some paperwork. I took it and sat down on the bed.
At first I thought that it was just papers that she had to mark. I didn't understand the first couple of pages, because it seemed to be just numbers. Afterwards, there appeared to be a series of correspondences and addresses. Next to each correspondence, there was a date and time listed. I flipped a few more pages. One page had a symbol on it in the corner. I immediately recognized it as the symbol that had been on Tristan Vincenzo's knife. That was when I realized that this must have been the information that Isabelle had gathered on the double agent.
I quickly slipped the documents back into the folder and returned them to the bag, feeling very guilty about snooping. I knew that she had her reasons for not telling me the details and they were good reasons as well. At least I hadn't seen any names or any other photos that could be incriminating. I took several more deep breaths, but before I could really think about the situation, the door flew open. I froze and my head snapped to the doorway. Marcel was standing there with an indecipherable expression. "Is-is there something you needed?"
He started to walk over to me until he stood in front of me. "Come with me."
"Wh-What? Why? I-"
"Don't ask questions." He grabbed me by the upper arm roughly and pulled me to my feet.
Just then, Francis stuck his head in the doorway, making me freeze at the look on his face. "Everything alright, Marcel? You know if she's not cooperating, I could-"
"It's fine." Marcel interrupted with an impatient look. He started to pull me towards the door and I didn't even try to struggle because I knew Francis was following behind us. I didn't say a single word as he dragged me down the flight of stairs. I knew more likely than not, he was doing this for show so it would be smart of me to cooperate. However, I couldn't ignore the feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach though.
We walked all the way to the end of the hall to the room that Dominic Versailles was standing outside of when we arrived. Before I could react, the door was yanked opened and I was shoved inside. I lost my balance and fell onto my hands and knees. I was about to stand up, but Dominic's cold voice stopped me. "Stay."
I turned my head to glance at Isabelle who was sitting behind me. Her face was also expressionless, but had drained of all its colour. I knew her well enough to know that she was terrified. This made bad feeling in the pit of my stomach worsen. I turned my head back to the front and kept it down.
"So she was sent by them."
My blood ran cold at the words, knowing exactly what he meant. I opened my mouth to speak, but it felt dry and I couldn't force any of the words out. I willed my eyes not to tear up. I knew the situation was bad. I knew I had messed up.
"Father, I-" he held up his hand, cutting off his daughter.
The room was filled with silence for a moment. "Ma Cherie, I trusted you." The tone of disappointment was evident.
"Father, look at her! She's shaking like a leaf. Does she look like the type of girl that would join them?"
"It is not a question of whether. The situation is that she did join them." He spat. "She then proceeded to break into my office and you lied about her being your student who needed help. Then, you snuck into the basement and went through my private files. Do you realize that your actions could have put everyone here at risk? You deceived me instead of being honest, knowing what that vile fils de pute has done."
Isabelle stood up abruptly and walked over to me. "Ce n'est pas juste, papa! She is my student and she did need help. If someone had taken maman or I, you know perfectly well that you would have done just about anything to get us back."
"And that is what I'm doing! Do you forget that that's exactly what they have done?!"
I squeezed my eyes tightly shut and tried to control my shaking. I could tell that I was on the verge of a panic attack. Tears had started to drip down my face. I had messed up everything. Now I had put Isabelle in the way of her father's wrath. I found it difficult to focus on anything until I felt a pair of hands being placed comfortingly on my shoulder. "Hey, hey..."
I didn't respond and everything in the room went silent. After a few seconds, I felt myself being picked up and set down on the couch. "Tu l'aimes..." I heard Dominic Versailles voice cut through the silence as a gentle hand rubbed soothing circles down my back and wiped at my tears. His tone was one of disbelief.
It was met with silence. Isabelle pulled me to her tightly and turned my face towards her chest. "Oui, papa." She said in a firm tone. I could imagine that the look in her eyes would be equally fierce, matching her tone. Although I wasn't sure what they were saying, it seemed as though the conversation had calmed down. Despite this, it did nothing to assuage my guilt. The storm was far from over, even if we had dodged this particular bolt of lightning.
Eventually, I opened my eyes and blinked back tears to see that I had been moved from the couch and was now sitting in Isabelle's lap. Dominic Versailles had his head in his hands. He seemed at a loss for words for several moments. "You say her family was taken." His accent seemed especially heavy right now, likely due to his stress over the situation.
"Her sister." Isabelle kept rubbing circles into my back.
"And what do you plan on doing with those files?"
"Meet with him. See if he knows anything or has any information that we might be looking for."
"And she," he pointed to me, "she knows of this informant?"
"No father." Isabelle reassures firmly. "I have not spoken of his identity and the meeting will be in secret. I know we need to protect the identity of our informants."
Dominic Versailles rubbed his forehead. "I have not contacted that informant in years. I cannot even be sure that his allegiance is still with us."
"If it isn't, then he would be a fool to agree to a meeting here." Isabelle pointed out. "Father, I haven't forgotten our purpose. It so happens that our goals align as well." She nodded at me. "And you know that mother would want me to help."
Dominic Versailles was silent for a moment. Then he spoke almost too quietly for me to catch. "Et elle voudrait que tu laisses l'amour pénétrer ton cœur." He sighed.
I glanced at Isabelle in confusion and she didn't say anything, but a hint of a smile appeared on her face. "I promise that I will update you as soon as the meeting is over on Friday."
After a few moments, Dominic Versailles crouched down to my level and I could feel myself tensing up. "It is a good thing that you did not bring that knife back." He glanced at Isabelle for a moment before looking back at me. "I found it on the estate grounds right before the raid."
"Wh-What?" I dared to speak. "He-he said it was stolen during the raid."
Dominic chuckled humourlessly, ignoring my comment. "I had it examined. There was an explosive device. I had it disarmed and they sent over the report. Once it exploded, it would release toxic amounts of carbon monoxide gas into the air. Colourless, odourless, and lethal."
My blood ran cold again.
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*edited*
Hey everyone,
Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. I needed someone to translate some of the French phrases for me. I really don't trust Google.
-Cindy