Aubrey 41

 Chapter 41

***

**This chapter is sponsored by Virginie. Thank you ❤️

***

Back inside, Aubrey wandered around adventurously. She needed to organize her thoughts. She wanted to deny this embarrassing realization. The hall where Murfrio had held the reception earlier was now alive with dancing. Aubrey carefully positioned herself among the people seated around her.

She tried her best to keep her eyes on the happy dancers, but the man's face was not easily forgotten, nor was the shocking realization that came to her when she saw him. The moment she saw him, standing with his back to the night sea, his expression impassive, as if he were alone in the world, she realized.

He could save her, and he could destroy her at the same time. Aubrey shook her head vigorously. It was a realization she didn't want to believe. She still couldn't believe the thought that had so suddenly burrowed into her mind and settled so clearly. Maybe her brain, pushed to the limit, had gone insane.

"I'll have one, too."

Aubrey grabbed a glass from a staffer walking around with a tray full of cocktail glasses and took a quick gulp. Then she tried to keep her gaze fixed on the dancing men and women. She really tried.

"Did you see? The Count of Lavonne is here."

"What?"

She couldn't help but listen to the murmur of the women behind her.

"Something's wrong with Lord Hemburg’s wine bar business, I'm afraid, and he thought to barge in on the party. It's a little too arrogant, not knowing where he came from."

"Well, I don't know. I thought he was cool."

"Did you fall in love with his face, too?"

"The Count of Lavonne is handsome, it's true, and he's built up his own business early on. If it weren't for his talent, he'd be nothing more than a begging bastard by now."

The two women's conflicting opinions seemed to mirror the world's gaze on Khaled. A successful businessman from humble beginnings, or an undeniable troublemaker nonetheless. Whatever he became, one thing was certain. He was a survivor, and that was the path she wanted to take.

With that thought, Aubrey hurried to her feet. It didn't matter if her head was going crazy. The man who had boarded the cruise after Murfrio. Aubrey needed him. She wasn't sure about this run. She turned back to the place earlier, but the two men were nowhere to be seen. Aubrey bit down hard on her lower lip and looked back at the sunroof, which seemed to burst with light.

That's when the ridiculous shenanigans began. The ship was already out in the middle of the ocean, so surely Khaled would be on board. Aubrey looked around the room where he might have been. 

Sweat poured from her pores as she walked back and forth between the sweltering indoors and the cooler outdoors. Still, Aubrey didn't stop. But nowhere to be found was Khaled. Not a single hair was to be seen, as if he had evaporated.

"Are you Miss Aubrey Sandalwood?"

A sailor in a white uniform approached her and asked. When Aubrey said yes, he pointed to where the lively music was coming from.

"Lord Hamburg’s wine party is being held on deck. His lordship is looking for the lady. The Count of Ravant is there as well, so please come with me."

"Uh, excuse me, I have to use the powder room."

Aubrey didn't want to be in the presence of Murfrio and Jeffrik, not even with a knife at her throat.

"I'll show you."

"No, no. I can go alone. Tell my aunt and uncle I'll be right there."

Aubrey stepped back, and then asked the first thing that came to her mind.

"Do you happen to know the Count of Lavonne?"

"Yes. He was the last man aboard."

"Do you know where he is?"

"He's in his suite."

And he was kind enough to show her where the suite was located.

"Thank you, and please tell my aunt and uncle that I'll be right there."

Aubrey hurried inside and began to pace toward the suite on the fourth floor. As she ascended each floor, the music faded away. The people coming and going grew sparse. Finally, in the hallway that led to the suite, Aubrey paused to catch her breath. 

Khaled Karnus would be in the suite at the far end. The clerk's comment about the room's large windows being very inviting echoed in her mind. Finally standing in front of the door, Aubrey knocked and stepped back. The second she waited for the door to open seemed like an eternity. Now, she realized, she'd done a terrible thing.

"Ha..."

Just as she was about to let out a breath tainted with anxiety, the door opened. Khaled, who was looking deeply uncomfortable, narrowed his eyes even further at the unexpected visitor.

"What can I do for you?"

"...... I have something to tell you."

And then he was silent again. Unable to look him in the eye after coming all this way, Aubrey could only stare at his pursed lips. But she knew his eyes were digging into her.

"Come in."

He said and held the door wide open. Aubrey swallowed hard and stepped inside. The suite was more opulent and cozy than the staff had made it sound: a large living room and a bedroom off to one side. It was more like a home than a ship's cabin. 

The door closed behind her and Khaled pushed past her to the brown couch. On a table the same color as the couch was a bottle of Saccharum and a wine glass. The glass was half-filled with a clear red wine. He sat down on the couch and puffed on his cigar out of habit. His hard eyes stared at her.

"Don't stall, tell me."

Was this man's voice heavy? No, it sounded dark. Aubrey spoke in a slow, raspy whisper.

"I have a favor to ask."

At that, Khaled smirked. Aubrey thought she heard something he didn't say. "Why do you ask for so many favors, and can you please stop asking for them?" She asked, and he said something similar.

"I'm sorry, but I don't want to hear it."

"I apologize for what happened before. I was rude, and I'm so sorry."

Aubrey tried to remain calm. It didn't matter what the man had done to her in the past; she needed him. His help, to be exact, even if he was a fucking horrible man.

"If you apologize, I'll accept it, because that's the gentlemanly thing to do."

"...."

"But so what, Miss Sandalwood. I'm not a gentleman, just as you're not a lady."

He said, as if the memory of calling her a lady didn't exist. The smoke from his cigar wafted toward her. With a sneer in his eyes.

"I need your help, Count."

Aubrey said, clutching her shawl with one hand.

"Working on a screenplay, will you give me another chance?"

She was thinking of writing a screenplay for a play and making money from it. Khaled Karnus had promised her generous support on the condition that she write a screenplay, and she would be paid for it, if not more. Aubrey planned to use the money to get out of the mansion and try her hand at anything. She wasn't going to stay in the mansion like a doll, traveling the social circles that didn't suit her.

"I know it's ridiculous, and I know you're fed up that I've said no so many times and now here I am, and I get it, but I really need the job, so why don't you just give me a chance?"

Khaled stared at the woman, who continued to speak without interruption. Then his tightly pressed lips parted.

"And what would I get in return?"

Their conversations always went like this. Asking for a favor and wanting something in return. It wasn't a normal relationship to begin with. Aubrey spoke, unfazed.

"You want......."

"You mean you’re going to give me what I want?"

"..."

"You're so easy to negotiate.”

At the same time, he dropped the cigar he was smoking into his wine glass. The red glow went from burning to black in an instant.

"I'm sorry, but I don't need you."

"...."

"A deal only works when both parties want something from each other, and since I don't want anything from you, this deal can't work."

"Did you ever want anything before?"

At that, Khalad raised one eyebrow, looked at Aubrey for a moment, and then spoke.

"Before that, I was having fun."

Not wanting to let his words get the better of her, the man was playing with her to the point of insanity. Aubrey asked, trying not to get crazy.

"Not now?"

"No. No. So I'd like you to leave and stop getting on my nerves. You came to this party for a reason, didn't you?"

"......What do you mean?"

Aubrey didn't understand his words. She hadn't come to this party for a reason; she'd simply been invited, and yet she'd been dragged half-heartedly to a place she'd intended to decline.

"You don't mean to tell me that I was dragged here without knowing anything about it."

Looking at Aubrey, who now looked genuinely flustered, Callard ran a hand through his hair frustratedly and let out a heavy sigh that sounded like he was exhaling smoke.

"Do you really have no idea why that fat man is hosting such a raucous party?"

"..."

"He's looking for his third wife, mobilizing this giant cruise ship, scooping up my liquor, and setting off useless firecrackers."

The unthinkable was happening. Suddenly, Aubrey remembered Jeffrik begging her to behave, and Barbara's face when she told her to attend social events instead of studying.

"How long are you going to pretend you didn't know anything?"

The dark blue eyes now seemed to look at her with contempt. As if she could be so naïve about the subject. With that, Khaled rose from his seat. He strode briskly across the living room, brushing past her. The faint scent of his cologne lingered on the tip of her nose.

"Get out."

He grabbed the doorknob. His back was to her, urging her to leave.

"Just give me a chance."

Aubrey grabbed his arm urgently. His biceps felt harder than she'd expected. It felt like it would be impossible to hold his biceps with one hand, even with two.

"Just give me a chance, and I'll do anything."

Aubrey meant it, and if he asked her to take off her clothes, she would. If she was going to be Murfrio's third wife, it was a hundred times better to give this man whatever he wanted, whether he was a savior or a destroyer. Instinct screamed at her to take either of his hands. She couldn't live like a chained animal.

"I don't want to be the fat man's third wife, even if I die soon."

Khaled grabbed her arm and glared at the clinging woman, close enough to touch if he got any closer.

"Yes. I'd rather not die, so......."

At the same time, a knock sounded outside the door where they stood. "Miss Sandalwood," the voice called, unfamiliar. It sounded as if a sailor had come up to find her who hadn't come when he'd waited. Aubrey wordlessly tightened her grip on his forearm. A bicep so hard she thought if she bit it her teeth wouldn’t make an imprint.

"You said I reminded you of me."

The man's face changed, just a little. Aubrey seized the moment.

"You said you didn't want me to do something as stupid as you, over and over again, so you can help me."

"...."

"You know best how hard I'm trying, how desperate I am, don't you?"

Aubrey realized the man was shaking. No, she was sure he'd taken at least a few blows. The man tended to her dying self and carried her back to the mansion. Aubrey thought that was the last bit of compassion he had left. Poor bastards just couldn't get past the poor bastard.

"So...... give me one last chance."

So I'm going to take advantage of it.

I'm going to use the way your eyes remind you of your horrible past every time you look at me, and I'm going to use it to get out of this goddamned world.

"I'll do whatever you say."

Aubrey moved her hand without taking her gaze from him. She gently covered the man's large hand that gripped the doorknob, and she looked back at him, her dark blue eyes locked with his.

***

To donate for extra chapters for my series or to tip me visit my kofi page 

https://ko-fi.com/doradora