Silence was soon to descend after Rose left the both of them alone. Without a second thought, Arianna took her friend into her arms and hugged her tight.
“I’m so glad you came for me. You don’t know how much I missed you so much.”
“I missed you too,” Mimi said, resting her chin on her shoulder. Her hands holding Arianna’s waist explored further up her ribs and she said with a displeased look, “You lost weight.”
Arianna pulled back, saying, “It doesn’t matter.”
Looking around, as if there was another person in the room aside from them, Arianna then took her hand and led her to the bed and they sat down on the edge.
Arianna started her interrogation by asking, “How’s Marcel?”
“What do you think?” Mimi asked her, “He’s mad of course. Although, I’ll say he’s handling it well by burying himself in work and ignoring everyone else. Victor says he drinks himself to sleep every night and wakes up every morning with a hangover. He seems to believe that Marcel might become an alcoholic soon. ”
Arianna’s heart throbbed at the thought of Marcel becoming an alcoholic and knowing that it was all her fault. She didn’t mean for all of this to happen. How was she going to atone for what she had done to him?
“This is all my fault. You were right, Mimi. I should have told him the truth all this while and perhaps, it wouldn’t have come to this point.” Arianna felt remorseful. No, if there was a way to turn back time, she would do it and prevent everything from going awry.
.....
“Of course, it’s your fault. However, everyone makes mistakes, Arianna. What we have to do now is figure out how to clear this mess because believe me when I say I’m affected as well. I hardly spend time with Victor nowadays because he’s trying to help Marcel grieve properly,” Mimi shrugged,” Even I don’t know what that means. ”
“What do you think I should do?”
“First of all, the both of you have to meet and sort this out before I sort it out myself and none of you are going to like the method I use.”
Arianna did not doubt Mimi’s words one bit because she had atypical ways of solving problems sometimes.
Mimi reminded her, “I’m a pregnant woman, Arianna, and my baby needs its father, every day.”
More like you need Victor every day, Arianna read between the lines.
“Moreover,” Mimi went on to say, “You said that I’m your ticket out of here. All we have to do now is think of a plan to bust you out.”
“It wouldn’t be for long though...” Arianna moved closer to her saying, “My mother doesn’t know that I know about it yet, but Marcel summoned Eric and I think it has to do with Elijah.”
“Oh, that,” Mimi said.
“You know about it.”
“Victor doesn’t want me to know about the details, he’s using the baby as an excuse and that I shouldn’t stress it. However....” Mimi fluffed her hair with pride, “With my connection, it wasn’t hard to get. All I know is that members of Luciano’s family want revenge for the lives of their men lost thanks to Elijah and although the deed is carried out in Marcel’s name as the head, the truth is that Daniel is the head of the committee overlooking the case.”
A chill traveled down Arianna’s back knowing that this wasn’t going to end well with Daniel involved. If that was the case, then her plan of running back to the base and living with Marcel again was futile. With tension this high between her family and Marcel, her mother would gladly conclude that Marcel had kidnapped her once again and no doubt would escalate into a war.
What was she going to do?
“Eric left already with his men. We have to know the details of their meeting. Did they reach an agreement? Or whether the conflict escalated? Only then can we be able to plot a way for me to meet with Marcel,” Arianna told her.
With Natalie around, there was no way she could leave today. Also, her mother was not a fool and was extremely cautious. She must know already that she and Mimi were up to no good.
“As much as I hate to say this, but I might need Elijah’s number,”
“What?!” Arianna was alarmed. Why would Mimi want that bastard’s number?
She lowered her tone this time, “Why?”
Mimi never does things without a reason.
“I have a feeling that your mother doesn’t like me much and might try to stop me from coming in the next time and I don’t think there might be another truck for him to hide under the next time.”
“You did what?!” Arianna was horrified, looking at her friend with wide eyes.
Best
Mimi shrugged it off, “I’m good. Look, nothing happened.”
“You crazy woman!” Arianna shook her hard. She was dumbfounded. What was she going to do with this dumb friend of hers?
However, Arianna was filled with emotions that she simply hugged the crazy girl instead.
“What am I going to do without you?” Arianna wondered. Mimi has been such a faithful friend to her.
“So this is the plan...” Mimi told her after they were done with their emotional hug.
” I think Elijah is feeling guilty for what he did -”
“As if,” Arianna scoffed. She was never going to trust him ever again.
“The point is I might be able to exploit his guilt.”
“Okay, keep going.” Arianna was interested in the plan.
The both of them drew closer and whispered their plans. Both of them made contributions; nodding their head when the idea seemed feasible and shaking their head when it was the opposite.
By the time they were done, there was a glow to Arianna’s unhealthy pallor compared to before. She felt confident now and for the first time in a long time, believed that things would go well. All they had to do was make sure Natalie would not be in the way of their plans.