Chapter 2 Suspicion

(Sybil’s POV)

I gawked at John, hurt by his words. “Trapped you? If I remember correctly, you were the one who decided that we should get married.”

“That was before I knew how devious you were,” he spat, his eyes narrowed. 

“You only pretended to agree to the contract. I should have known you would do this to me!”

“Do what?” I didn’t like this side of him at all.

“Try to saddle me with a little brat! Then it would be impossible to make a clean break when our time is up.” John shook his head in disappointment at my perceived deception.   

I couldn’t figure out who could have possibly poked holes in all the condoms. All I knew was that I wasn’t capable of such a vile thing. “How many times do I have to tell you that it wasn’t me?”

He glowered at me and shifted so that we were no longer touching. “I know it was you. Nobody else ever touches my stuff.”

That last part was true. 

For as long as I’d known him, John was always a very private person. It was very clear from day one of our marriage how territorial he was. 

He trusted only me to clean our room, and didn’t want the maids anywhere near his personal belongings. They could only enter our room to bring us things or to relay messages, never to clean. He had a problem with people invading his space.

Well, not everybody. 

I could think of exactly one person besides me whose head he didn’t bite off for getting too close to him. His mother. 

That woman had never liked me. When she found out about our marriage contract and that I would be living in her house, she had accepted it on one condition. Because I had a considerably lower social status than her family, she expected me to work as her personal maid. This in addition to John’s insistence that I still work as his secretary, but from home.   

“Maybe your mother did this,” I suggested.

He let out a snort. “My mother? Don’t be ridiculous.”

“It’s the only thing that makes sense. What’s to stop her from coming in here when she knows neither of us are in the room?” It was her house, after all. She could do whatever she wanted.

“She has never liked you, for one thing.” He was being unusually blunt. I knew I wasn’t exactly his mother’s favorite person, but until tonight, he had always tried to downplay exactly how much his mother despised me. “Do you seriously think she wants you to have my kids?”

Now that I thought about it, I reasoned that it couldn’t possibly be her. Then who?

John stood up and turned to leave. 

Our conversation wasn’t finished, though. I wanted us to clear things up, even if he was refusing to believe that I hadn’t been the one to put holes in all the condoms. 

“Where are you going?” I asked, trying to grab his hand. “I think we should talk about this.”

He didn’t say anything. All he did was wrench his hand out of my grasp.

His phone suddenly rang. He sat back down and answered. The volume on his phone was high enough for me to hear a woman’s voice on the other end, but not enough to make out what she was saying.

I noticed a smile creep up on his face as he was talking to the mystery woman. It was the same kind of smile that he usually gave me, but a lot more affectionate. “So you’re finally back,” he said softly.

I raised my eyebrows, silently imploring him to tell me what was going on and who he was talking to.

He ignored me, exchanging a few more pleasantries with the woman, no doubt listening to her talk about what she had been up to since they last spoke.

I cursed myself for the overwhelming jealousy I was feeling. I had no right to feel that way. It wasn’t as though we had married for love. He probably still thought of himself as a single man, free to live life however he pleased, seeing whomever he pleased. What he didn’t seem to realize was that I wanted something more. 

“I am on my way,” he said, before hanging up. His smile disappeared as soon as he remembered that I was in the room.

“Who was that?” I asked.

He just silently got up and left the room, averting my gaze.

I leaned back against my pillow. To think that I had been wondering earlier if we could possibly have a real marriage! It was clear at that moment that he didn’t love me. He obviously didn’t trust me, and of course there was this other woman, whoever she was. What was she to him?

I couldn’t believe how stupid I was to think he would ever want me that way. All I knew was that I couldn’t go on like that anymore.

One of the maids, Mary, came into the room, interrupting my thoughts. I could see that she was carrying a glass of water and a pill.

“What’s this?” I sat up and eyed the pill suspiciously.

“Mr. Rutherford’s orders, madam. He insists that you take this.” She handed me the pill and the water.

I knew what it was. He was making absolutely sure that our impromptu night of passion didn’t result in an unwanted pregnancy. 

I was surprised that he would even have morning after pills in his possession, but then again, he had made it very obvious tonight that he didn’t think I was capable of taking the appropriate steps to ensure that I would not become pregnant. He was nothing if not careful.  

I had a feeling that Mary had been given clear instructions to make sure I actually did as I was told, and that she would stand there watching me like a hawk until I did so. 

Under her watchful eye, I dutifully swallowed the pill.