Chapter 18: The Back Story
A heavy wave of exhaustion washed over Isadora the moment they left the boutique. The adrenaline from the confrontation had drained away, leaving her feeling hollow and spent. The mansion, with all its cold opulence, was beginning to feel like the only sanctuary she had.
"Jane, can we just go back?" she asked, her voice weary. "I'm a little tired now."
Understanding, Jane instructed Samuel to drive them home. The entire ride, Isadora kept her eyes closed, not sleeping, but replaying the ugly scene in her mind Chloe's tantrum, Cynthia's venomous words, the sting of being called a "bed warmer." Jane, thinking she was asleep, remained silent.
When they arrived, Isadora moved on autopilot. She gathered a few shopping bags and walked into the living room, her gaze fixed ahead. Sebastian and his friend Jake were seated, deep in conversation.
"Hey," she murmured, not breaking her stride, and continued straight upstairs to her room. A parade of household staff followed, carrying the multitude of glossy bags.
Jake watched the procession with a wide, appreciative smirk. "Well, well, aren't you taking your role seriously? You're spoiling your wife rotten. All this shopping just for one day? And I know women and shiny new things she'll be going for another round soon. Good thing you have the money, my friend."
Sebastian simply smirked, a thoughtful glint in his eyes as he took in the sheer volume of her purchases. "I guess she didn't hold back." Then, almost to himself, he mused, "Does she think this will make me angry?"
Jake burst out laughing. "Look at you! Don't you know women only shop for three reasons? One, they need new things. Two, they want to feel like they belong. And three," he said, leaning forward with a knowing look, "because they are pissed at their husbands." He laughed again, thoroughly amused.
Jane was the last to enter. Sebastian's smile faded as he took in her subdued expression. "Jane," he said, his tone shifting to one of command. "I thought you'd be out all day. What happened?"
Jane hesitated, glancing between the two men. Seeing her struggle, Sebastian's voice softened, though it held an edge of impatience. "Jane. Tell me what happened at the mall."
So, she did. She recounted the entire event with painstaking honesty the confrontation with Chloe and Cynthia, the vile insults, the threat to take the dress by force, and how Jay had stepped in. She didn't embellish or soften Cynthia's final, cutting words: "…she called Miss Isadora a 'bed warmer'."
Sebastian's expression remained impassive, but a muscle twitched in his jaw. "Thank you, Jane. You may go."
Once she was gone, Jake leaned forward, his playful demeanor gone. "Okay, what are you not telling me?"
Sebastian let out a long, heavy sigh. "The day she came to the house, we were supposed to go to the bureau and register our marriage legally. But Mr. Anderson called in a favor."
"Her father?" Jake asked, surprised.
Sebastian nodded. "Yes. He asked me to please not do it. He said she was still too young and asked if I would give her a few more years two or three to adjust. You know I just wanted to get my grandfather off my back, so I agreed. That's why we're not lawfully married yet."
Jake absorbed this, his brow furrowed in deep thought. Before he could respond, Sebastian's phone chimed with a specific tone reserved for one contact: Zack. He stood abruptly. "Let's go to my office."
Jake followed him upstairs to a spacious office down the hall from Sebastian's bedroom. Sebastian closed the door, sat at his desk, and turned on his computer, his movements sharp and focused. Jake took a seat opposite him, waiting silently.
Sebastian opened the email from Zack, titled "Anderson Background Check." He clicked through the attached files images, scanned documents, and transcribed interviews. As he read, his face grew sterner, his knuckles white where they gripped the edge of the desk.
"What is it?" Jake asked, sitting up straight, sensing the shift in the room's atmosphere.
Sebastian didn't answer immediately. He finished scanning the last page, then leaned back, running a hand over his face. He explained his earlier curiosity about Isadora's lack of possessions and how he'd asked Zack to look into the Anderson family finances and her history.
The report was more damning than he could have imagined. It detailed how Isadora had been dropped on the Anderson doorstep as a baby. How her father had wanted to send her to an orphanage, but her grandfather had forced him to keep her. She was raised by a nanny who later disappeared under mysterious circumstances. It described years of systemic abuse beatings from her father, psychological torment from her stepmother. There were photos, taken secretly by a former housekeeper, of the crisscrossing scars on Isadora's back.
The report concluded with the revelation that her grandfather had reached out to Silas Walker to fulfill their old pact, seeing it as her only chance of escape. Andrew Anderson's initial resistance and his subsequent "favor" to delay the legal marriage now seemed deeply sinister a final act of control.
Both men sat in stunned silence, the weight of the report pressing down on them. The shopping spree, her flinching demeanor, her desperate need to be a ghost it all made a terrible, heartbreaking sense. Sebastian was flooded with a profound sense of guilt. His coldness, his pragmatic distance, now felt like a cruelty.
Jake stood to leave, his usual levity completely absent. He placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "You should get to know her, Saba. You don't know… maybe she might be someone you can rely on, too." He didn't wait for a reply, simply heading for the door. "I have someone waiting for me," he said, a hollow echo of his earlier joke, and shut the door behind him.
Sebastian was left alone with the ghost of Isadora's past. The images of her scars were burned into his mind. He stood and walked downstairs to the kitchen, where Mrs. Luna was already planning the evening meal.
"Mrs. Luna," he said, his voice unusually soft. "Please don't make dinner for Miss Anderson and me. We will be eating out tonight."
A genuine, happy smile spread across Mrs. Luna's face. "Of course, Young Master."
Sebastian turned and went back upstairs, a new resolve firming within him. The future was uncertain, but his course was now clear. He was going to his wife's room not his contractual obligation, but the woman he was only just beginning to understand. He was going to ask her to dinner.