Chapter 26: A Villain
A Villain
ERIC’s POV
“Go,” I told her and watched her run off. Dennis walked in on me and I found myself smiling while still staring in the direction Rayne had left from. I turned to him, my stern expression returning abruptly.
“Sir!” He bowed slightly.
“Take your men and go after her. Keep me posted.” I said to him, turned, and walked upstairs.
RAYNE’S POV
The driver drove us down to a store downtown. We had to go there instead, since the Lawn’s were there already. Elaina and I were escorted inside once out of the car by a female attendant who said Mrs. Lawn had asked her to walk us inside. And the chauffeur left at once.
The girl walked us past a few dress sections and I couldn’t help but wonder why the entire store seemed empty.
“Why does everywhere look so… empty?” I asked the attendant.
“It’s often this way around this period. Whenever the Lawns are shopping, no other shoppers are allowed inside.” She replied and for a moment I was left speechless.
“Here!” She said, ushering us to a room whose door was closed.
“Seems LA has quite some fascinating cloth stores. I should think of relocating.” Elaina whispered to me and I laughed. I knew she was only kidding. The Elaina I knew would never forsake her career over anything. Especially not for a reason as frivolous as fascinating cloth stores.
She led us into a waiting room and subtle chattering filled the air, welcoming us. I glanced at the faces, both familiar and unfamiliar and I felt my heart begin to race. I noticed a girl sizing me up with a look of something deep in her cat-shaped eyes from amid the women and I wondered for what reason she had her eyes, particularly on me.Property © of NôvelDrama.Org.
“Rayne dear, Elaina.” Mrs Lawn called sweetly when she noticed us walk in which was kinda immediately we walked in. “Come dears.” She said, spreading her arms wide open invitingly. I returned her smile and walked into her embrace. Her arms around me were gentle and her smell was a unique fragrance of rose and someone faint…
“Hello, Mrs. Lawn.”
“Welcome my dear.” She said in her usual sweet tone.
“Is that my granddaughter-in-law?” I heard a strong although gentle voice ask and when I turned in the direction it came from, Grand Mrs. Lawn was just stepping out of the dressing room. I smiled and walked over to her. She wrapped her surprisingly strong arms around me, embracing me in a hug.
“Hello Rayne,” Jessica said immediately as I pulled away from great Grand Mrs. Lawn’s embrace. I smiled at her and returned her greeting. I said hello to everyone in the room including the strange faces.
“Rosslyn, Bianca, meet Rayne, the new daughter-in-law of the family, and Elaina, her cousin.” Mrs. Lawn introduced me to an older woman who seemed to be around the same age as Mrs. Lawn, and to the girl from earlier who hadn’t removed her eyes from me since I walked in. She was making me nervous, so I smiled at her. She returned it, but not in the same way I had given her.
“And Rayne, meet Rosslyn Harper and Bianca, her daughter. They are like family to us, so you’d probably be seeing them often.”
That wasn’t a piece of good news. I had a hunch that the Bianca girl didn’t like me already.
“Hello, Rayne.” The woman’s smile at me was equally as scary as her daughters, making me wonder if it was something that ran through their bloodline. But I still smiled at them. All of this just felt awkward.
“Come, dear, come sit with me.” ERIC’s mother said, holding out a hand to me. I took it and she helped me to a seat next to her. I glanced at Elaina and saw that she had already made herself comfortable beside Jessica, sitting as poised as the model she was.
“Ann couldn’t make it, she’d have loved to meet you.” Mrs. Lawn told me.
“It’s fine, we already met,” I replied to her and noticed her brows drag up in surprise. “We met yesterday. Eric and I went to her dress store.”
“Oh!” She said, “That’s great. I’m sure she must have been really excited.”
I just nodded in response. She really had been overly excited. And it still was difficult to understand why. I wasn’t some sort of celebrity they all should be delighted to see. I was just an ordinary girl. I looked away from her, fiddling with the black card Eric had given me. I was already getting uncomfortable, but thank goodness Elaina was in here with me. She was the only reason I hadn’t come up with an excuse to disappear. Trying to distract myself from the so much sophistication going on, I found myself looking around everywhere. An attempt to divert my attention to something that would make me comfortable. I found myself staring at a red.
“Bring that Valentino dress over here.” I heard Bianca say, snapping her fingers at an attendant. The girl pushed the dress hanger forward. “Rayne!” She suddenly called me and I locked eyes with her across the room. “This would look good on you.” She said, flashing me a mischievous smile. “It’s just a million dollars, I’m sure such an amount is nothing to spend on a piece of dress. I mean, you are the wife to Eric.”
Her smile of mischief and her tone were giving off the vibes of a villain in a romance-themed novel.
“It’s just two million dollars, I’m sure Eric gave you a card to cover your expenses.” She pressed on. It was obvious, at least to me, that she was trying to instigate something. But I couldn’t tell what it was.
I looked around the room and saw everyone looking in my direction. I didn’t know what to say to her, and just when I opened my mouth to speak, Elaina answered in my place.
“Rayne doesn’t like the color red so well. I’m sure you wouldn’t spend that much amount on something you don’t like.”
Bianca turned to look at her and they both locked eyes for a while before Bianca looked away.
“Is that right dear?” Mrs Lawn asked and even though it wasn’t true, I had to nod.
“I prefer purple.”