Loving The Temperamental Adonis
Chapter 143: Decided to stay

Chapter 143: Decided to stay

Mia was wrapping herself in the robe after her relaxing shower when it occurred to her that she could at least find her smartphone Neil had hidden and call Rayne and Owen to let them know she was safe so they wouldn’t worry about her and send a search team.

Stopping beside the bed, Mia laid her hand on Neil’s forehead, watching him breathe steadily. His temperature felt closer to normal, and his breathing was deeper now, in the steady rhythm of exhausted slumber. The rush of relief she felt made her knees weak as she turned to add logs to the fire place to keep the room warmer.

Satisfied that he was warm enough, Mia left him to sleep and went to look for the smartphone, closing the door behind her gently. Deciding the bedroom he had slept in was the best place to begin looking, she opened his bedroom door and stopped short, staring in wonder at the incredible luxury spread out before her.

Mia had thought her room with its stone fireplace, mirrored doors, with a large king size bed, was the absolute height of luxury, but this room was four times as large and ten times as lavish as the one given to her. Mirrors lined the entire wall on her left, reflecting an enormous bed with huge skylight above it and a gorgeous white marble fireplace opposite the bed. One thing that caught most of her attention was the ceiling; it had an illusional effect of a gray, gloomy sky that looked so real.

As Mia walked in, she felt the soft black carpet beneath her feet. Her eyes soon fell on a small button next to the wall of the mirrored wall. Curious, she pushed the button, and to her surprise, the mirrored wall slid open, revealing a spacious bathroom with marble floors, double sinks, and luxurious showers and tubs. What surprised and shocked her at the same time, was the fact that the bathroom was so spacious it was divided into two with a glass center. Each of the side had it’s own sink and its own enormous shower and it’s own tub with gold fittings.

As Mia stared at the two divided bathrooms, three things occurred to her at the same time; one was the fact that the bathroom was exactly the modern bathrooms built in for married couples, and the other was the fact that one of the bathrooms had a feminine touch to it, and lately she realized Neil had brought a woman here before from the line of feminine, half-used, shower products in the glass cabinet.

Swallowing the lump of jealousy that rose up to her throat at that realization, Mia walked out of the bathroom and headed for the door to the walk-in closet that was already left opened to look for her phone. After a thorough and exhausting search of both the closet and all the drawers in the bedroom, Mia gave up the search and instead gave into the temptation of borrowing one of the female dresses she’d seen in the woman closets next to Neil’s.

It was a one piece red dress with a silkly expensive fabric. She chose the dress partly because it was sure to fit her and partly because she had a helpless urge to look nice if Neil woke up before morning. Though for the past years, she had bought beautiful dresses, she’d never gotten one as sexy, and elegant as this red one. It had a long sleeve with it’s waistline hugging her tightly, and a long slit, revealing her long legs.

Mia was pulling the zipper wondering where on earth he had hidden the phone when she remembered that there was a small closet in the hall, the one with a deadlock on it. She went straight to it and tried to turn the knob, and when it proved to be locked tight, she tiptoed into her own bedroom. She found the key where she expected it to be—in the pocket of his soaked trousers.

The locked closet contained an enormous stock of wine and liquor and on the cabinet, she found her phone laying there where Neil had hidden it in plain sight.

Not wasting anymore time, Mia took the phone into the living room, plugged it on the charger, and sat down on the sofa, her legs curled beneath her. She had already dialed Owen’s number when she realized the enormous mistake she was probably making, and she hastily tapped on the end screen to disconnect the call. Since kidnapping was a federal offense—and Neil was an escaped murderer—it stood to reason that the Military and the authorities would probably be close to Owen waiting for her to phone, so they could trace the call and get to Neil.

At least, that was what always happened in the movies. She had already made her decision to stay here with Neil and to let destiny handle whatever came along, but she absolutely had to talk to Rayne and reassure her. Through out all these years, Rayne had stood by her side like a family, they’d done everything together, thus it was only natural that she’d be worried sick about Mia, not to mention Rayne was going through her recent heartbreak with that jerk, Max, and Mia had promised to be there for her.

With a satisfied sigh, Mia dailed Rayne’s number and, to her relief, Rayne picked up on the first ring and her worried voice rang out through the phone.

"Oh my goodness, Mia! Is that you?!"

"Yes, Rayne. It’s me." Mia didn’t realize how happy she was in hearing Rayne’s voice, until she felt the wetness on her cheeks.

"Where are you? Do you have any idea how worried everyone is about you? Owen has not rested ever since the day you disappeared. Gosh, are you alright? Tell me where you are and I’ll inform the military_"

"No!" Mia exclaimed, startling Rayne on the other side of the phone. Gentling her voice again, she said, "Please don’t tell anyone that I called you. Keep this a secret."

"A secret? Are you with Neil Wayner? Is he threatening you to stay with him? Don’t you dare hide anything from me, Mia. We have to get you back to safety. The entire world is thinking you are his accomplice, we_"

"Rayne," Mia interrupted her worried rambles, "Yes I am with Neil, but trust me when I tell you that he’s innocent of all the crimes he’d been accused of." She assured, "I am safe, he’s not keeping me against my will and I want you to know that I’ll come home when I see fit."

"What? Mia, I don’t believe a word you say. Have you lost your mind!" Rayne burst out. "That man is a psychopath_" Mia didn’t hear the rest of what Rayne said. She was already switching off her phone and putting it away and blinking back tears of sorrow and uncertainty. For a moment she’d forgotten that she’d been engaged to Owen, and hearing that he was worried to the point he hadn’t slept made her feel more guilty at the fact that she’d chosen to stay with Neil.

Moreover, by telling Rayne that Neil waa not keeping her against her will, she had inadvertently forced her to assume that she was Neil’s accomplice. Shaking off the depression settling over her, Mia reminded herself that Neil was innocent and that was what really mattered right now. Helping an innocent man to stay out of prison was not immoral or illegal, and it was not a betrayal to her poor late mother.

Getting up, Mia added wood to both fireplaces, put the phone back in the closet, then went into the kitchen and spent the next hour cleaning up all the mess Neil had made, and then she decided in making a delicious stew to warm him up when he awoke. She was cutting up potatoes when she realized that if he knew she had made a phone call, she would have a difficult, if not impossible time convincing him that her friend, who was also the sister of his rival, was trustworthy and wouldn’t tell the authorities nor her bother she’d called. Since he already had enough to worry about, she decided not to tell him.

Finished with the cooking, she wandered into the living room and sat down on the sofa, the television still on so that she could hear if there was more news that would interest Neil.

It was funny, in an awful ironic sort of way, she thought with a faint smile as she stretched out on the sofa, staring up at the ceiling, all the years she’d spent hating on Neil Wayner for not just breaking her heart, but for killing her mother, and now she was praying for his fast recovery in a lone, huge cabin in the middle of the mountains.

For the past five years, she’d lived a lonely life despite being surrounded by lots of fans who looked up to her, she’d had sleepless nights trying to look for ways to be successful, to clean her name from Neil, yet today, she was willing to let go of everything she’d worked hard on to be with him. Just months ago, she’d envisioned a loveless marriage with her childhood best friend, where she’d imagined having his children, who would grow up knowing their mother never wanted their father because she fell in love with a man responsible for their grandmother’s death. Those thoughts had always made her feel like the worst woman to ever grace the face of the Earth.

She had always been tempted to break off the engagement due to those thoughts, but because Owen was a nice man who’d loved and took care of her when everyone turned away from her, she’d thought she could put up with everything and make him happy.

Now, as she thought about her past and her chaotic present and uncertain future, she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: In all these years, she hadn’t stepped out of line once because she didn’t want her fans in the whole wide world to think badly of her again. Now that she was about to stray from the path they’d made for her, she knew there was no way to ever clear her name unless Neil’s name was cleared and the real culprit was caught.

However, if Neil’s name never got cleared, Mia thought wryly, her decision of staying with him was going to violate not only moral principles, but probably the laws of their country, and while she would be staying with him, the entire news media would be providing gossip about it for the entire world’s entertainment—just as they were already doing, dragging her name along with Neil’s to the mud!

Mia looked somberly at her hands where her ring finger was now empty because she’d removed Owen’s ring after her shower. She’d made a silent decision to give it back to him if they meet again. She knew he’d be heartbroken and she hated the fact that she would be the reason, but...

Neil was innocent of the cold-blooded murder he was accused for, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was expected to do something about it to prove that to everyone and restore his name again.

Rolling over onto her side, Mia tucked her arm beneath the pillow, watching the flames leaping in the fireplace. Until the real murderer was discovered, no one in the world, including the people she considered family, was going to condone anything she did from now on. Of course, once Rayne and Owen also realized that Neil was innocent, they’d approve completely of everything she had done and might yet have to do.

Well, probably not everything, Mia thought. Owen wouldn’t approve of her falling in love with Neil again, if what she felt for him was actually love, and he definitely wouldn’t approve of her sleeping with him. With a mixture of quiet acceptance and nervous anticipation, Mia realized that loving him was actually out of her hands; sleeping with him was already a foregone conclusion unless he had drastically changed his wishes since last night. Although, she rather hoped he’d give her a few days to know him better, to know him more than she knew him before.

Beyond that, all she could do was try to guard her heart from needless pain and to refrain from doing or saying anything that would make her even more vulnerable to being hurt by him than she already was. She wasn’t an utter fool, after all. Long before Neil had gone to prison, he had lived in an elite world of luxury populated by glamorous, sophisticated people, where he could do as he pleased with no one pointing a finger at him.

She’d read enough about him in articles before he went to prison to know that the man she was with in this secluded mountain house had once possessed fabulous homes and villas of his own, where he attended lavish eventy with elite people and international business tycoons. Not to forget the fact that even the president had been willing to pay and give anything to be able to meet the infamous Neil Wayner.

He was the world’s mysterious man no body had been able to figure out, but as destiny had brought them together now, she wanted to be able to do so.