This Is Where I Want To Be

76. First Night Back

Juliet

When Louis told me, I was going alone... I nearly broke down. The veil hid a lot of things... Especially that I was holding on by a thread, knowing no one could help me. Knowing I was all alone.

I didn't even want to go into the old house to show Louis everything. I just turned away from him and got in the car Marcus left. Louis and my dad talked for a bit. I knew I was being unfair towards him... He wasn't doing anything wrong. They probably wouldn't even allow him on the estate... If Marcus could not protect me. What did Louis think he could do?

***

"Will you be okay? I can stay with you a few nights." My dad tried to soothe me...

I was considering it but only took his hand and held it. "No... I best get this over with. I don't know what I was thinking. How I made the assumption that Louis would join us. No one here would accept it." My dad squeezed my hand. "How do I get over assuming the best in every situation? Or even making wrong assumptions. Trusting that they aren't lying to me...."

He sighed. "Only by experience, Julie."

It was quiet for a bit. "We haven't talked in a while, Dad. Is there nothing you would like to say to me... And not that you're proud of me, please. Because right now, I feel like an utter failure. Forcing us off the compound and now sending you guys back."

"Juliet, I was sentenced to stay here for nine hundred years. Whether you were born in that time or not. It didn't make a difference. In the eyes of En-gannim... I'm a criminal. That's not on you."

"I feel like all I do is bring drama into your lives. We were so peaceful until we met Marcus."

My dad chuckled. "Puberty is a bitch." I laughed lightly.

We were already at the main gate of Qadir's estate. They opened without question, setting me a little at ease. Maybe my dad would be able to come and visit. Sneak in my mom. I remember when Marcus and I stopped in front of the main house. My dad made a left and kept driving down a lane. We followed the little road until it bent. Coming out to a small parking area in front of big red wooden doors. "How do you know where...?" I remember my dad was there that morning. He was in Marcus's study. I would be going into the house where everything happened. Sadness wanted to grip my heart, but thinking about Caleb... Not seeing him ever again made me numb. So, he was a good buffer for me. Not to lose it completely.

"I'm sorry, Julie." I nodded, examining the front of the gates to Marcus's house. Two guards opened for us and led us through. My dad walked first, with one guard in front of him and one behind me.

The style of his house wasn't at all what I had expected. Outside the gate, it was one world, and in there another. It was beautifully designed. Everything surrounded a pool and yard and a massive patio. I was stunned. That wasn't at all what I thought Marcus would like. An under-roof walkway surrounded every building and connected the whole house. I frowned when I saw how many rooms there were along one wall. And when the guard showed me into the last one that was a little bigger than the rest, I knew it was for more wives. All the doors were closed, though, and I wondered if Marcus wasn't hiding a wife after all.

We walked through the door, but the one guard didn't leave, watching us. My dad had a look around. The room was spacious. Open plan. The first thing you saw was the koi pond that ran through the middle of the room. A cute courtyard was behind glass doors to the right. From the mountain behind the house, water flowed down the rocks, feeding the pond. A little bridge connected one side of the room with the other. There were cupboards and space for tee service and a desk.

On the other side of the room, a massive king-size bed was stacked on a small wooden palate close to the ground. It looked almost identical to Louis's one in our glass cubicle in France. Nothing was behind my room but the mountain that spanned up into the sky. Steep, rocky, and unclimbable. I turned to my dad and shrugged.