Ever since Arianna left her room, she felt Mimi giving her a knowing look and was highly tempted to pluck it out. It was making her uncomfortable. But then, she wasn’t the only one, even Marcel’s soldiers somehow seem to have known what transpired between her and Marcel last night and weren’t even looking her in the eyes.
Oh God, please tell her that she hadn’t exactly performed a porn show for the entire base last night. Now she thought about it, they did it in the gazebo where there were high chases anyone could have stumbled upon them in the act. If they had, they hadn’t bothered to interrupt them last night – but saw it all, apparently. Arianna wished the ground would open and swallow her up. This was embarrassing.
The only person Arianna found strange was Winters. She seemed fine? With the way everyone was looking at her this morning, she assumed that the girl must have heard the news and would give her the stink eyes out of jealousy. But that apparently wasn’t the case.
Even when Marcel had his hand around her waist and drew her to his side while going over the plan, she had hoped to see traces of mad rage or jealousy, but there was none – and she was a bit confused.
Either Winters was a hundred percent good at hiding her emotion or there was no emotion to hide in the first place – Winters had been goading her along and she was the fool to fall for it. It had been a ruse all this time.
Arianna had to give it up for Winters because she helped her realize her feelings for Marcel. Or maybe that had been the plan all along and Marcel might not be totally innocent – he must have a hand in it.
“We should pray,” Victor suggested as soon as we were over with the briefing and everyone looked at him as if he had finally gone mad – including Mimi.
“What do you mean to pray? We are about to break into someone’s house, you think God answers that kind of prayer?” Winters was the one who asked him. Apparently, she thought it stupid as well.
“You would be surprised to know God answers all kinds of prayers made with a pure heart and earnest expectation whether you’re a sinner or not. ” He retorted, leaving Winters dumbfounded.
“That same Bible said the prayer of a sinner is like a filthy garment unto him,” Arianna countered with a verse and had everyone staring at her like she was an alien creature.
“What? I’m a Christian,” Arianna shrugged and Marcel took a huge gulp out of his coffee.
Yep, she was, all thanks to her uncle. Back then, when he had a big project coming up, he would go to the church and make large donations hoping for the priest’s prayers and God’s blessing as well. The man didn’t have any business skills and had to rely on the experts around him to be efficient enough to lead the company.
Her father on the verge of death had only made his brother her legal guardian till when she grew up hoping he would take good care of her. In one word, the man was supposed to submit and vacate the seat when she was twenty and old enough to lead.
But then, her uncle had no intention of doing so in the first place and showed it in his actions like not letting her read anything about business administration or even taking up a course related to it in the university, not to talk of going to a business school. The entire family leeched off her. They took what was supposed to be hers.
Arianna has no intention of taking back the business since it was collapsing anyway. Her uncle finally led it to its death. She was patiently waiting for her trust fund which she knew every one of them had their eyes on.
Perhaps, her father knew this might somehow happen because rumors have it that the trust fund money was worth more than the company in total. Her father had put all of his resources into it and though Arianna was scared of claiming it in the past when the time came, she wasn’t anymore. With Marcel by her side, who would stand in her way.
In one word, her uncle might have forced her along to church to beg for miracles, but she found solace there. God finally answered her prayer by giving her someone who could stand by her.
“Hmmm, a Christian being with a sinner,” Victor alluded to her and Marcel and she glared at him intensely.
But then, the young man didn’t give up on the argument.
“Well, since you know your Bible well, then you should remember that God has mercy on whom he decides worthy of it,” And with that verse, he won over her.
Arianna turned to Marcel, “Tell him this is stupid,” But Marcel merely shrugged. He was letting his cousin have his way with this one.
Arianna glared at him, day one of them being together and he had already chosen his cousin over her. She could already see it, this relationship of theirs was doomed to fail.
With his gleaming white teeth, Victor celebrated his victory and went on ahead with the prayer. He prayed mostly for their safety and the success of their mission.
“Amen!” They concluded and everyone spread out like bees. There was literally nothing for Arianna to take along except the USB and the lighter – Marcel gave her a much smaller one – since they would be searched thoroughly before they’re let in anyway.
However, they had to look like regular humans which is why Marcel had a purse prepared for them they would submit upon reaching his father’s place. As expected of women, most of the contents of the purse were make-up stuff and a phone.
They wouldn’t go through their phone else that’s an invasion of privacy, but if that were to happen, the device was relatively safe and wouldn’t incriminate them.