Dester finally decided it was time to serve dinner and invited everyone to join him in the dining room. The table was well set and each guest's name was on it. Brianna noticed that a few seats had been added to the large table and that her brother and his wife sat on them. Dester sat at the head and Brianna on his left, while Henry was placed right in front of her and to Dester's right. No one asked about the first wife.
Dinner was served, and the conversation became more cheerful, as the men were no longer talking about their business problems. They were talking about their marriages and how they met their wives, who smiled flatteringly when they heard their husbands talk about the love they felt for them.
"I bought my second wife." Dester said, and silence descended like a rain that doesn't make a sound before it arrives.
Brianna didn't mind the rudeness, but it seemed that her allies didn't approve of her attitude.
But Dester was already too visibly drunk to notice and continued.
"It wasn't very romantic, but she didn't give me the chance to be a gentleman... What's more, my beautiful future second wife is imported from Ireland. Let's hope she's worth the price and the trouble she's caused me, and gives me lots of children." Dester said, and raised his glass in a toast, and when he saw that no one was with him, he shook his shoulders, and drank the entire contents of the glass, holding out his arm so that the employee, who wouldn't leave, could serve him more. She filled his glass.
"Well... Thank you for the invitation and the dinner, but we have to go. We've left the children with the nanny." One of them said, getting up and leaving with his wife, which caused everyone else, except the brother and his wife, to do the same.
After everyone had left, and only Dester, Brianna, Henry, his brother and his wife were left, the waiters began to clear the table, and Dester smiled like a fool, while Henry stared at him with a coldness that would freeze an entire ocean, and his brother looked at her, furious.
Brianna was waiting for the moment to leave, because she felt that the tension her fiancé had caused at dinner had not gone away with the guests.
"Henry... Please... Call one of my men and ask him to take my fiancée to the house where she lives. I'll have a few more drinks in my room. And I'm sure my brother will pester me as long as I can hear him." He said, and staggered off with a bottle of wine.
Allister went after him, and his wife waited for him to climb the stairs, and handed Brianna a napkin, before retreating behind Allister.
Henry was left alone with Brianna, and after she saw the phone number written on the napkin and tucked it between her breasts, she thought that Henry and she could take advantage of that moment to talk, but Henry immediately called one of the men and asked him to take her home, and didn't say goodbye.
Brianna returned to the house, totally annoyed that she hadn't had the chance to talk to Henry. She liked his flirting and everything about him. Since he seemed to only offer his friendship, he could at least be a good friend. She went into her room and changed quickly. Just as she was turning off the light to go to bed, she heard a knock on the window. She went to it and opened it, curious, thinking it was one of the squirrels, but she smiled happily when she came across the pair of blue eyes, and moved aside to let it jump inside.
That day was unforgettable for Brianna; as well as spending a few hours a day with Henry, she also spent the night.
"Henry! Have you gone mad? If Dester finds us..." Brianna said quietly, but her eyes sparkled with happiness at Henry's arrival. It's amazing how the eyes reveal the true feelings of the soul.
"I thought I'd put you to bed." He said, sounding like someone else.
"So, what are you waiting for? Put me down." Brianna said and opened her arms, waiting for him to snuggle in.
Henry came over and took her in his arms and laid her on the bed, lovingly. After turning off the light, he lay down next to her. Henry was still wearing the same clothes from dinner. He crossed his arms behind his head.
"I'm sorry for the humiliation Dester put you through tonight."
"If that's what brought you here, I'll thank God that Dester committed that atrocity." She said smiling, but then became serious. "Don't worry about it, Henry. I'm so used to the way he treats me that I don't mind. I think my heart is already thick, like an iron shield, caused by the calluses from the pain Dester causes me."
"I won't let it happen again. He won't hurt you anymore."
"How are you going to do that? You can't stop him. Dester likes to practice his aggression on me. He won't stop for any reason."
"How can you resign yourself to living in this situation?" Henry asked angrily. "I'll distract him while I get you out of here. I'll find a way so that he no longer has the opportunity to visit this house."
"That would be great, but I'm afraid it's impossible. You won't be able to add enough obstacles to stop Dester or control the addiction he's developed to assaulting me on his visits."
"I'll come with him. Dester won't have the courage to assault you, in front of me and... I'll kill him if he tries."
"He won't accept you accompanying him, and even if he did, he wouldn't stop at hurting me in front of you. If he felt comfortable telling you what he was doing to me, it's because he trusts that you won't move a muscle to stop him."
"Maybe... His brother..."
"Don't waste your time. I saw in his eyes that he hates me."
"Have you met him before?"
"No. But I know why he hates me."
"Can you clarify that for me?"
Chapter 288:
They're werewolves
Brianna took a deep breath. She didn't care what he would think. Henry needed to know what kind of danger he would face if he dared to help her.
"Dester's brother hates me because women like me don't usually become wives to men like them."
"Women like you?"
"Humans."
Henry was thoughtful for a few seconds.
"I understand, Brianna. It's crazy, but I believe it. I know that Dester isn't human. He's... I've seen situations where... If he were human, he'd be dead. Not to mention the impressive speed that he sometimes can't control, the whispers I speak and he hears, as if I'd shouted. One day, a man fired a few shots and hit him in the head and chest. Dester didn't go to hospital."
"How do you know that? Did you see him get shot?"
"I did, Brianna, because I was the one who shot him."
"Did you want to kill him, Dester? I thought you were friends..."
"He thinks I'm his friend, but I'm not. I approached him, and when the opportunity arose, I hid in the shadows, wearing a mask, and just shot him. I stayed all night watching the house, and no one different came in or out. Early the next morning, I removed the mask, hid the gun and entered the house. He was sitting in the living room, healthier than before."
"And yet you stayed close to him? Why didn't you run away? Why did you... Shoot him?"
"He killed my family, Brianna. I'm here to get revenge."
"What else do you know about these creatures? I learned that they're animals not long ago."
"I don't know anything about them, apart from what I see in movies. I wonder what kind of wolf bit Dester..."
"I don't think they're turned into monsters by wolf bites. His brother is also a werewolf, and... Some of the women in this house have children who were born werewolves."
Henry looked at her with a smile on his lips.
"You have so many arguments, and so many reasons, that it's hard to have a duel of tongues."
Brianna smiled too.
"We learn to be like that through life."
"Sometimes the way life teaches you is very hard..."
Brianna looked at him longingly. There was sadness in his words, but it wasn't just that. Something in his life had left a mark on him forever, not the death of his family, and that made her understand that her time in that man's life might be brief, but it should bring him greater meaning and comfort. She would make all the difference. Why not choose the option of staying with him, since she was willing to die in order not to have to stay with Dester? With Henry, she knew they would live intensely, happily, fulfilled, full... Even if only for a short time, it was still better than all the other options.
"You... Henry, I know you don't believe in magic, but the two of us are an option. Even for a short time... We could..."
"No, Brianna. Don't finish that sentence. I don't want you to think for a second that there's a future with me. I was brought up in the dirt, I like the dirt, and I don't want to drag anyone down with me. I can't have any weaknesses or distractions. I want to conquer the world, like my ancestors did.
Brianna thought again. She wanted him, if only for one night, but she didn't have the courage to ask him. Henry was already sacrificing too much for her. She couldn't ask for anything more. It wouldn't be fair. And thinking of the girl with the green eyes and the straight blonde hair, curly at the ends, that she had seen that day, and as she looked at the trees on the other side of the lake, she fell asleep.
The next day, Brianna woke up and found herself alone in bed. Her window was open. Henry was gone. She smelled him on her pillow, and that made her miss him. She got up and changed. Then she took the pillow and put it in the closet. She didn't want to run the risk of one of the staff taking it out to wash it and losing Henry's perfume. That night might never happen again.
She went to the counter and was surprised to see Henry and Dester sitting there, distracted by a conversation, and they hadn't even noticed her. Even though she wasn't that close to them, she could smell the bath on Henry. He seemed very cheerful that morning. She approached and made herself known with a hiss. They both looked at her, but only Dester stood up and held out his hand to her.
"Come, my dear bride. Sit beside me." Dester said, also sounding very happy that morning. With a humor that was uncharacteristic of him.
Brianna approached and sat down, ignoring the outstretched hand, and began to serve herself in silence, already expecting a new aggression, which didn't come, surprising her again.
"Brianna, I have something to tell you." Dester said in suspense, sitting down again without seeming to notice her indifference.
"I'm listening."
"My friend here has given me a few days in Búzios, Brazil." He said, pointing at Henry, who stared at her openly, without fear of Dester misinterpreting. "My brother's wife insisted that they should go with me, and so.... My brother doesn't like you. You're an understanding young woman, and I know you won't hold any grudges."
"Good." Brianna said, not knowing what that really meant. She didn't even know what Búzios was.
"But I want you to know what I'm going to do for the few days I'm going to be in that place."
"Do you really think I need to know?" Brianna asked wryly.
"I'm going to train a woman some things that I'm going to do with you on our wedding night. My friend here told me about some things I hadn't tried yet, and Sarah, a wonderful woman, agreed to teach me the art of sadomasochism. It really interested me, because it made me understand why I take pleasure in torturing you... I'm going to get ready to make our wedding night the most pleasurable of my life, and the most painful of yours."