Chapter Leaving Everything Behind
Mireille looked back at Dante while James walked forward, holding her small luggage with him.
“Dante.” Mireille stopped walking on the stairs and Dante stopped too, a few steps away from her.
“You promised that we will have a lengthy talk when you are back. We… We haven’t had any talk yet.” Mireille pointed out.
“Mireille?” James called, having reached the end of the stairs.
“Just a minute.” Mireille said to him and returned her attention to Dante.
James groaned lowly and Dante grabbed Mireille by the wrist.
“Give us a minute, James.” he said to James and walked back up the stairs without waiting for a response from James.
Dante and Mireille stopped in front of his room and Dante breathed in and out deeply.
He gently pressed her back against the door of his room and lowered his head slightly to look carefully into her beautiful hazel eyes.
He felt his heart wrench for the thousandth time that day, knowing that he would not see these beautiful eyes as frequently as he used to.
“Princess.” Dante called and Mireille looked at him with eager eyes, her heart aching to get a positive response from him.
She wanted him to tell her that he equally loved her and hold her back from leaving with James.
“We cannot be together.” Dante crashed all her hopes with those four words.
“I do not want to hurt you but I have to tell you the truth. We cannot be together, Mireille.”
Mireille lowered her gaze, breaking their eye contact as she did not want him to see the tears that had quickly gathered in her eyes.
“Look here.” Dante raised her head slightly, making her look up at him.
“You will find a better man out there, Princess.”
“I won’t, Dante!” Mireille raised her voice slightly and quickly brushed away the tear that slid down.
“I won’t find a better man out there. All my life, you… You are the only man I can confidently say I have felt love for. I feel everything for you, Dante.”
Dante pulled away from her, not wanting her eyes to break his resolve to let go of her.
“James is waiting. You should be on your way now, Princess.” Dante said to her and without waiting for a response from her, he walked away.
Dante let out a shaky breath and closed his eyes for a second before opening them right back and walking away, away from the only woman he ever loved.
*
Belinda was huddled up in her bed, her phone ringing next to her and her hair in a mess. She was still wearing the dress she had been wearing the previous day.
Her phone buzzed as it turned to a missed call. The door of her room opened and Ditto walked into the room.
“You won’t pick your call, Miss Belinda? It’s Miss Mathieu calling your phone” Ditto pointed out, peeking at the phone.
Belinda just shook her head in response. How could she pick up the call and talk to Mireille when she (Belinda) had put her (Mireille) in danger just last night?
Although Ditto had not said anything to Belinda, she understood that Jonas had intended on getting Mireille. He either was planning on kidnapping her or killing her.
It finally made sense. The fact that he had always asked of Mireille and seemed more interested in Mireille. It was because Mireille was somehow his target all these while and she had almost gotten Mireille killed!
If Ditto and Dante had not intervened last night, Mireille would be in grave danger, a danger that she (Belinda) had pulled her into.
“Oh god.” Belinda sighed and palmed her face.
“Who in the world is Jonas exactly? Wh… Why would he want to take Mireille away? Why would he have used me to lure her out?”
“I was such a fool.” she scolded herself.
“He clearly never loved me. Everything he did was to get me to bring Mireille out to him and he eventually got me to do just what he wanted.”
Ditto rolled his eyes at her words.
“Are you sure Jonas does not love you at all?” Ditto asked.
“Are you blind?” Belinda raised her head to look at Ditto.
Ditto’s brows arched in reaction to her words.
“He clearly used me! He used me to bring Mireille to him!”
Ditto’s brows relaxed and he chuckled softly before his look turned grim.
“He loves you and that is exactly why I wish I could take your life.” Ditto said, staring into her eyes grimly.
Belinda shivered and a smile parted Ditto’s lips.
“You look terrified but you don’t have to be. I was not given the permission to kill you just yet so you would remain alive until I finally get the permission to get rid of you.”
“What the hell are you saying?” Belinda coiled and Ditto stepped back.
He was sure that Jonas had feelings for Belinda because that could be that only explanation to him wanting to hide her from him.
Silence fell upon the room for the next few minutes until Belinda broke the silence.
“Do you know why Jonas was after Mireille?” Belinda asked.
“I don’t know.” Ditto replied in a tone that made it clear that he was lying.
“What about you and Dante Romano? You guys… You guys killed so many men and you haven’t been arrested. What are you guys? Are you involved in some…. Some dangerous organisations of some sort? Is that dangerous organisation why Jonas is after Mireille? And is that why you guys can get away with killing?” Belinda asked more questions, wanting nothing but to clear all the confusions that was clouding her mind at the moment but Ditto remained silent.
“Are you….”
“Oh, shut the fuck up!” Ditto groaned, shutting her up.
Belinda flinched slightly at his raised voice.
“Whatever questions you have, gulp it all down… Now.” he said in a threatening tone that made Belinda subconsciously gulp down.
“If you want to keep your head, Belinda, then keep all those questions and everything you saw last night to yourself forever. Understood?” Ditto asked.
“Y… yes.” she nodded.
The next day
James tells Mireille she no longer has to work for Dante. She is still arguing about this when she throws up.
Mireille was all dressed up for work even though it was still very early in the morning. She knew she had to be out very early if she wanted to get to Romano’s corporations early enough.
She thought of Dante for a second but soon shook it away and plastered a fake smile on her face. She had been rejected by him, not once and not even twice but thrice now.
It was clear to her now that she would never be his lover and Mireille was going to try hard to get over him. It would be easier for her to get over Dante if Belinda was by her side but Belinda had not picked any of her calls nor replied any of her messages.
Mireille however planned to go to Belinda’s home to see her once she was done with work.
“I am strong. I am capable. I do not need Dante to survive.” she said the words to herself, took a deep breath and then grabbed her small bag.
She glanced at the cute blue teddy bear at the side of her bed. She had actually bought two pieces of the teddy bear and kept one with herself.
She picked the teddy bear, kissed it softly and returned it to its place beside her bed.
Mireille walked out of the room and shut her door behind her. She contemplated waking James up to tell him she was going out but she decided against it.
She had however only taken a few steps away from her room when the door to Jame’s room opened and he stepped out.
“Mireille?” He seemed surprised to find her all dressed up so early in the morning.
“Where are you off to? It’s still so early.” he pointed out.
“I am going to work. You know I work for Dante, right?” She asked and James pressed his lips into a thin line.
“Hey.” he whispered, taking steps closer to her.
“You are no longer working for Dante.” he informed her.
“Wh… What do you mean by that?” Mireille asked.
“We live quite far away from the company. You can find another job soon.” James replied.
“I have a job there, James. I just can’t stop working.” Mireille said to him.
“You should find the termination letter of the employee contract in your mail, Mireille. You don’t need to work for Dante anymore.”
“Did I ask you to do that, James? Oh god.” Mireille dropped her bag to the floor and shut her eyes, trying to keep her frustration in check.
“You can’t just go behind me and have my job taken away from me!” She yelled at him.
“This is for your own good, Mireille and…”
“No, this is not for my own good!” Mireille cut him off.
“You do not understand me, Mireille but I can assure you that all of this is for your own good.”
“So I am supposed to go back to being unemployed once again?” Mireille asked him.
“No, I actually have plans for you and….” James stopped talking, noticing that Mireille clasped her right hand over her mouth and her left over her stomach.
She rushed back into her room and James rushed into the room after her.
Mireille hurried into her bathroom and threw up.
“Hey, are you okay?” James asked, rushing into her bathroom along with her.
Mireille nodded, rinsing her face and keeping up a strong facade.
“I am fine.” she said to him and headed back into her room.
James followed after her with a concerned look still on his face.
“You see? You have been so stressed out these days that you have fallen sick. I will call the doctor.”
“No, you don’t have to.” Mireille raised her hand in the air to stop him.
“Don’t try to argue. I am going to call the doctor.”
“Don’t.” Mireille grumbled.
“I am really fine. If there is anything not making me fine at the moment, it is not sickness, it is you.” she said to him and James signed softly.
He watched Mireille sit at the edge of her bed and he walked up to her, then crouched in front of her.
“You know I love you, right?” He asked but Mireille gave no response to his question.
“You also know that you are my only family and every thing I do is to keep you safe because I… I don’t want to lose you, Mireille.”
“James, you are also my only family. Should I keep you in here, stop you from exploring the world just because I do not want to lose you?” Mireille asked.
“I am not going to keep you hidden somewhere anymore, Mireille and I will no longer stop you from exploring the world but you have to do one thing for me.” James looked into her eyes as if trying to convince her to give in to whatever he had to say.
“And what is this one thing?” Mireille asked.
“Leave the country to Austria.” James replied and surprise clouded Mireille’s face.
After thinking about his sister’s safety all night, James had concluded that the best thing to do was to take her away from the country to somewhere else where Dante didn’t have enemies who would do anything to hunt her down. He had eventually decided on Austria.
“Are you being serious right now?” Mireille asked, taken back.
“Yes, Mireille. I am being very serious right now.”
“I don’t know how you think, James!” Mireille got up from her seated position and headed to her window.
James got up too and walked up to her. He touched her shoulders gently.
“I promise that if you go to Austria, I will let you do whatever you want over there. You can work, you can have all the freedom you want, Mireille. It’s a safer place for you.” he said to her.
“Please think about this, Mireille. I promise never to disturb your life activities if you listen to me this one time. You don’t have much here anyways. You can go there and start life afresh. Make friends, find an awesome job, find a great guy and do whatever you want. It sounds great, right?”
Mireille remained silent, different thoughts running through her head. Could leaving everything behind and going to Austria be a good option at all?