Lured into Lies by Melanie Martins
Chapter 24
Amsterdam, December 3, 2020
Petra Van Gatt
I didn’t call Matthew today. Not because I didn’t enjoy the time we spent yesterday co-studying, but because I haven’t been able to focus on pretty much anything since I woke up. My heart aches knowing in two days I have to make a decision. I wonder if Alex has already called Amanda and brought her to the Netherlands. I feel tempted to call him, but what am I gonna say? Is Amanda here? Do you want to marry her? If not, why are you doing this to yourself? Maybe we can fix our problems together once we are married. But what if it only gets worse? Someone starts knocking on my door, and the sound of it pulls me back from my thoughts. I just hope it’s not Matthew who took a flight overnight to come here. “One second,” I say as I go and crack the door open. “Oh, that’s a surprise.”
“Good afternoon, Petra,” Margaret greets with a frigid tone. “May I come in?”
“Sure…” I guess I don’t have much of a choice now that she is here, so I just step aside, letting her walk into the living room.
Margaret paces around, observing the decor and the paintings on the walls. “This a beautiful place you’ve got here.”
“Thanks.” I close the door behind me and ask, “Um, do you want some tea or water?”
Margaret turns to face me, her expression telling me nothing. “My son intends to marry Amanda if you don’t come back.”
My gaze drops to the floor at the directness of her words. “I know. Yara told me.”
“And what do you have to say about it?”
I ponder for a moment, pressing my lips together. “It might be the most reasonable thing to do,” I say sincerely. “If Alex gets married to Amanda, my mom won’t expose anyone, and you won’t have to worry about your family’s secrets going public.”
“I guess I should rejoice myself, then.” Margaret takes a few steps in my direction before adding, “Yet seeing my son so heartbroken doesn’t bring me any joy. After all, I know he wants to marry you, not Amanda.” We look at each other in the eye, but we are both used to hiding our game and our torments like professionals. “But what about you? Do you still want to marry him?”
“Your son turned out to be someone slightly different than I thought I knew…”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
I draw out a breath, looking away for a moment, before meeting her gaze again. “A part of me, yes… But the other…”
“I know my son is not perfect,” Margaret begins, her tone switching to a more caring one. “I know he’s made a shit ton of mistakes in the past.” My eyes widen at her foul language. I’m not used to hearing any improper words come from her mouth, so when I do, I still get slightly uncomfortable. “But I can assure you of one thing: I’ve never seen him so happy and fulfilled since the day he has been with you.” An acute pain strikes my heart at her declaration, and tears start forming in my eyes, but I push them back with a sniffle. “You are his whole world, his everything.” I dig my head down, closing my eyes to tame the climbing emotions, but Margaret reaches out and brings my chin up to face me. “Don’t take that away from him.” Her words both heal and destroy me at the same time. My heart feels so damn empty; the uncertainty about Alex and I is killing me.
“Marrying him could be so deadly.” My lip quivers as I speak.
“I know,” Margaret says, not even trying to hide her plan if Mom speaks up. I don’t know how she can have the audacity to come here, and admitting without any ounce of shame or guilt what she is up to. Blowing out a breath, she then adds, “Well, since you no longer intend to marry him, then I suppose I can get my heirloom ring back.” She reaches down and takes my hand. Holding it up, she looks at the ring and says, “I’m sure Amanda will love it.”
* * *
Alexander Van Dieren
The last thing I need after a video call with our finance department is for Roy to step in and ask me how the preparations for the wedding are going. He doesn’t typically ask questions unless there is some sort of secret agenda behind it, so it was either Petra or Tess who called him and shared some confidential info about us. And despite my best attempt to hide it, I’ve got the feeling he knows something is off.
Yet here he is playing pretend with me as he says, “I’ll be landing tomorrow evening in Amsterdam.” He then pauses, gauging my reaction. Since I don’t make any comment, he proceeds, “Should I go to your house on Saturday before heading to De Haar with Petra?”
“Yes, the civil ceremony is at three p.m., so kindly be here by two,” I tell him, like I know nothing.
“Great,” he mumbles, waiting for me to confirm his doubts. Since I don’t do so, he then just ends the phone call. “Well, see you soon.”
“See you soon.” And I hang up with a victorious smile, not telling him shit.
Someone knocks on the door of my study, and I instruct whoever it is to come in. As the door opens, my eyes land on Mom. “Yes?”
“I’ve got someone here for you,” she says with a calmer voice than usual.
I crease my brows in curiosity, but my heart jumps when Mom widens the door and Petra emerges beside her.
“Hey,” she utters shyly as she walks slowly in my direction while Mom closes the door behind her, leaving us alone.
I stand up from my chair and go to greet her. “Hey…” I blink twice to make sure I’m well awake and not dreaming. “Um, I don’t know what Mom told you, but I didn’t know she went to see you. I know you wanted to be left alone and—”
“Is it true you were gonna marry Amanda if I didn’t show up until tomorrow?” she asks, her gaze laced with worries I’ve never seen before.
“Yes,” I breathe as we stand at only inches from each other. “If we weren’t meant to be, I wanted to be able to move on.”
Petra keeps looking me in the eye but doesn’t say anything further. Yet I can see how my intention to move on is something that struck her to the core. “While I was in a coma, I was trapped in a nightmare where you were married to Amanda and my mom was telling me you had moved on.” My heart sinks into my gut as I hear her telling me this for the first time. “I’d rather be mad at you while being your wife than live in that reality again.”
A chuckle escapes both of us, but the last part is everything I have ever wanted to hear from her. I gaze into her eyes and mumble a soft, “Thank you.”
Our lips get closer at every heartbeat, but before I can close the small gap between them, Petra puts a hand on my chest, halting me. “I need you to make me a promise though,” she begins. “And I need you to keep it as long as we shall live.”
“Tell me.”
My eyes drift down to her glossy lips, and I watch them moving as she says, “No more lies. No more secrets. And no more deaths.” The request seems way harder to agree on than I expected. “I can forgive the mistakes you made in the past, as long as you promise me you won’t repeat them in our marriage.”
I don’t answer straight away, I remain fixated on her blue eyes and how much I’ve missed them. “Alright, I promise.”
“Alex,” Petra keeps looking me in the eye like she wants to see my soul. “I’m serious about it. If something happens to my mom, and I learn you are an accomplice…” she creases her brows, looking down for a moment. “I’m not gonna take it well.” I frown immediately at her words, but before I can add my two cents, she continues, “I won’t say anything to Jan about his daughter, even though I believe he has the right to know where her body is, but don’t you darekill my mom.”
Considering how we left off, I was expecting the worst, but I think I can work with that. “Fine. No more lies. No more secrets. And no more deaths,” I repeat to her, already trying to figure out how to do so. But of all three, I believe the third one is the one that matters the most to her. And the hardest to abide with. “Can I ask you something?” I say, smoothing a lock of hair behind her ear.
“Sure.”
“Did you really think about leaving me?”
The right corner of her mouth slightly curves up. “I might have thought about it, yes.”
“And what made you come back?”
She claps her arms around my neck, her gaze on mine. “I’m your everything, no?”
“Damn right you are.”I bring her closer to me, her warmth tempting me hard, and I lean down to rest my lips on hers. Our mouths fuse together, and that’s all it takes to feel alive again. Her mouth is an irresistible invitation to heaven on earth; it binds your soul to it, and makes you believe in forever. Without holding back, my hands cup her face, and I deepen the kiss, my tongue fondling hers. She moans at our growing pleasure and fists my shirt, pulling me as close as we can be. If a kiss could speak, then this one would tell her how much I missed her. Heat explodes around us, and my pulse hammers against my chest. I grunt in bliss while my hands go down to cup her butt, lifting her up. Then I sit her on my desk, my lips never leaving hers. Wrapping her legs around my waist, I lean in and nibble her bottom lip before tracing a line of kisses down to her chin and neck. A quick moan escapes her as I’m about to suck her flesh, but at two days away from the wedding, it’s better not to leave any marks on the skin, so I go back up and bring my mouth to hers, claiming her lips. Then I hear the sudden sound of my belt buckle unfastening; my breathing is elaborated, but I make the conscious effort to open my eyes and say, “You have no idea how much I missed you.”
“But I just left for two days.” There’s something about her sweet little voice that makes me smile, especially when she has her hands on my boner.
“Without much hope of you coming back, it felt like an eternity.”