Chapter 13

Ophelia

  

  A few weeks after the accident, James decided to go back to Paris, he tried convincing dad to let me go with him, but that was a dead end. Dad was not letting me leave which pissed off James. I overheard several arguments between dad and James and James swore he was never coming back. I’m still not sure why it was such a big ordeal and every time I ask dad or Noah and Oliver about it; they tell me not to worry about it.

The past several months have been very tough though. I’ve been talking with a psychologist twice a week and she’s helping me deal with my emotions. It took a while before I let Sam, Chase or Tyler come to the house. I didn’t want them to see what had happened to me. I could not bring myself to talk about what happened with anyone other than my therapist. Damian comes up almost every day and sits with me on the balcony. He’s been amazing and it’s been nice getting to know him even more.

After secluding myself for months and making up tons of excuses of why I wasn’t leaving the house, I finally decided that today was the day that I was going to get my life back. I texted Sam, hoping that she would be free.

    Me: Hey girl. You got plans today?

    Sam: Why have you finally decided to leave your house?

    Me: Yes. I’ve been secluded long enough, it’s time to get back to my life.

    Sam: Well, I still don’t know why you secluded yourself anyway.

    Me: I promise I will tell you one day.

    Sam: You better. I’m starting to think my best friend hates me.

    Me: I don’t hate you. I’ve been going through some things that are hard to talk about

    Sam: You know you can talk to me about anything.

    Me: I know. I’m sorry. I needed some time.

    Sam: Okay. Well, I don’t have plans today, what do you want to do?

    Me: Spa day sounds good to you?

    Sam: Hell yes! Let's do it. Where do you want to go?

    Me: Let's meet at Paradise Spa in Montreal. 

    Sam: Awesome! I will meet you there!

 I walked into the bathroom and took a quick shower then went into my closet and pulled out a pair of black lace panties and matching bra. I put on a pair of skinny jeans and a blue fitted scoop neck short sleeve shirt. I picked out a brown leather jacket and a pair of brown heel ankle boots. I went into the bathroom and put my hair up in a messy bun. 

I grabbed my phone, and my purse then went downstairs to dad's office and knocked on the door. 

"Come in." I heard from the other side of the door. 

I opened the door and dad was sitting behind his desk talking to Jax, Damian, Noah, and Oliver. 

"Am I interrupting something?"

"Not at all sweetheart. What's on your mind?" dad asked.

"Well. I have been in the house long enough. I would like to go meet Sam in Montreal for a spa day."

Dad leaned back in his chair; I could tell by his facial expression that he didn't love the idea of me leaving the compound. "On one condition."

"Okay. Name it." 

"You have to take extra security. At least four extra guys." 

"Okay, fine," I said, rolling my eyes. 

Dad nodded and looked at Damian, "Get some guys together." 

"Yes sir." Damian got up from his seat. He gave me a glare as he walked by. I don't think he was incredibly happy about me wanting to leave the compound, but he had no choice.

Damian pulled around with the Escalade followed by two other vehicles. I walked out the front door and got into the passenger side front seat. He didn't say anything as he drove down the driveway and out the front gate. 

"Is there a problem? I asked, finally breaking the silence. 

"Nope. Just wish you would've said something to me before you went to your father." 

"Why? What does it matter to you if I want to leave the compound? I have been home for months and have not left for anything. I wanted to go out and do something." 

"Your safety matters to me Ophelia. What part of that don't you understand? I know you've been home for a while. But I mean damn, have the fucking spa come to you. You've done it before." 

"Are you fucking serious right now? Are you pissed because I want to go out and do something? I want to get my life back Damian; can you not understand that?”

"I understand that fine. I'm trying to keep you safe. It's still not safe for you O. Do you not realize that or are you too spoiled to fucking care?" 

"You know what. If you don't like it, you can fucking quit. I don't need you telling me what I can and can't do. And if you're going to get pissed because I want to go out, then you obviously don't need to be my bodyguard." 

"O, that's not what I meant. I'm worried about you."  

"I don't give a fuck what you meant. Do your job or I'll tell dad to find someone who will and someone who won't bitch about it. If you want to keep me safe, how about this time don't let me get kidnapped." 

"That’s not fair Ophelia and you fucking know it." 

"Shut up and drive. When you drop me off, you are more than welcome to leave," I said, as I crossed my arms and looked out the window. 

I seriously couldn't believe that he was giving me so much shit over this. Just for that, after our spa, I’m going to get Sam to help me ditch the security.

We rode in silence the rest of the way to Montreal before finally getting to the spa. Sam had just given the valet her keys as Damian pulled the truck up and came to a stop. I didn't even wait for someone to open the door. I jumped out of the truck, walked over to Sam and we went into the spa. 

"You don't look happy. What's going on?" Sam asked.

 "Some bullshit. I need your help though." 

"Name it."  

"I want to get a hotel in Montreal for the night. So, when we are done here, I need your help to ditch them. I want to go out tonight and celebrate the 21st birthday I never got to." 

"I will call Chase and have him get us a suite at the Four Seasons and I'll tell Tyler to bring us some clothes for the club. I'll call the girls and have them meet us too. How's that sound?"

"Fucking perfect." 

Sam stopped and looked at me, "But I need something from you."

"What?" 

"You need to tell me the real reason why your party was cancelled and where the hell you disappeared to."

I took a deep breath and thought about it for a minute. Maybe it was time I told Sam the truth. She had always been such a good friend, and I hated lying to her like I had been doing. I knew I needed to tell her. It was killing me having to lie to her so much. 

"Deal. I'll tell you everything you want to know." 

"Alright. I'll get everything set up."

Once we got to the counter the receptionist took us straight back. Our first stop was for a full body massage. They brought us each a glass of champagne, told us to get undressed and that our masseuse would be in shortly. We drank our champagne, got undressed and laid on the massage tables, then a few moments later the masseuses came in. She worked pure magic over my whole body. It felt so amazing, all the tension that had built up the last few months was finally being released. I needed this more than I realized, it had been so long since I had a full body massage.

After our massage it was on to the mani/pedi, which was also amazing. It had been so long since I had done my nails and they looked like crap. While we were sitting down enjoying our pedicures Sam looked at me, "Okay. Spill." she demanded.

"Here? Right now?"

"Yes. Right now." she said, pursing her lips. 

I looked at Sam and could feel the tears starting to form in my eyes. 

"O. What happened?" 

"When we left Montreal that day after our shopping trip. I was kidnapped." 

"WHAT THE FUCK?"

"Sam. please, shhh." I was petrified at how loud she was being.

"Sorry,” she whispered. 

"Some of my dad's rivals took me and Damian. They locked us up way out in the woods in an old paper mill."

"Oh my God. Why?"

"From what I could gather, they wanted something from my dad. But I don't know what." 

"How long were you captured?"

"Almost a week. It was the worst. For a little while Damian and I were locked up in cells next to each other, but they moved him, and I actually thought he was dead."

"Why didn't you tell me this sooner?"

"Because they didn't just kidnap me, they also ra –"

"OH MY GOD NO!" Sam interrupted me before I could even finish my sentence. 

"Yeah." I whispered, as tears ran down my face. 

Sam didn't say anything for a moment. She sat there holding my hand and crying with me. 

"I didn't tell you this sooner because I was trying to process it all myself. I didn't want you to see what they had done to me." 

"O, I had no idea. I am so sorry that happened to you." 

"This is why I need a night out. I have been in that house for months, sitting there with my thoughts and talking to the therapist. I can't do it anymore. I am so talked out and I have cried more than I ever thought possible. I just want to get out of my own head for the night. I know Damian is going to be pissed when we ditch him, but we had this fight on the way up here and I am so tired of everyone telling me they are only trying to protect me. There is no protecting me from what already happened. What's done is done. I need to move on from it. I can't keep letting it control every aspect of my life. I need a night away from that house." 

"I cannot even begin to act like I know what you are going through. I can promise you; we will make this the best fucking night out. Mitch can hate me later. I don't give a fuck. We will celebrate that 21st birthday the right way."

“Oh you know you will be on his shit list for a while.”

After our mani/pedi, we went to the salon. I got a wash, a trim and had them style it for the night. They softened my curls a little and let it hang over my shoulders. Then the makeup artist came in and did our makeup. As I looked at my reflection in the mirror, I was already starting to feel so much better. When everything was done, we paid for our day and Sam had an idea. 

"Do you have a rear exit that we can use? We are trying to avoid some people out front." she asked the makeup artist.

"Actually, we do. Follow me."

We walked out the back door leaving Damian and the other security out front waiting. Sam knew her way around Montreal, so after we picked up her truck from valet, we took several different roads and avoided the guys out front from seeing us at all. We both turned off our phones so that Damian couldn't have Ben track them. I hoped that would at least buy me a few hours. We came up a few blocks away from the Four Season where Chase worked as a hospitality manager, but Sam didn't pull into the Four Seasons.  

"Where are we going?   

"Well. You know good and well Damian will be looking at all our normal spots. So, Chase actually booked us a hotel across town at Le Mandarin." she smirked.

"Are you serious?" 

"Yep. You said you wanted a night out. Knowing Damian, he would find you in a few hours. So, Chase and I decided to throw him off for a while."  

"Perfect." 

 When we walked into our suite, it was huge. Floor to ceiling windows lined the room. There was a large sitting area with a massive sectional, an electric fireplace, and a beautiful dining room table. There were two rooms in the suite, one on either side of the sitting area. The rooms were beautiful with a wall of windows that overlooked Montreal. There was a large king size platform bed opposite the windows. Each room had its own bathroom with a Jacuzzi tub and a large walk-in shower with glass doors. 

Sam and I sat on the sectional talking while we waited for Tyler to come with our clothes. He and Chase were going to be coming with us tonight, so he brought Chase some extra clothes also. Tyler was wearing a pair of extra slim blue slacks, a white dress shirt and a matching blue blazer with navy velvet loafers. He brought me a criss cross backless pink mini dress with sequins and a plunging neck along with a pair of silver mirror strappy stilettos. He brought Sam a metallic criss cross backless mini dress with a pair of silver cross strap stilettos. As nighttime fell, I was pleased that I had still not been found. I knew I would probably be in trouble when I got home, but I didn't care. 

A few hours later Stacy, Emma, Eve and Casey arrived at the hotel, it was so good to see them, it had been a while. Chase came to the hotel after he got off and took a shower and got dressed. Tyler had brought him a pair of slim black slacks with a navy-blue dress shirt and his black velvet loafers. 

Chase had also reserved us one of the hotel's limos for the night. We all got into the elevator and went down to the garage where the limo picked us up and took us over to the nightclub.