Mistakenly Eaten

111. Betrayal

1 hour ago:

Althea walked through the bushes of the island like a ninja. She had deliberately worn a dark color, so that no one would be able to notice her in the dark of the night and she also did not wear her heels even when she was inside the mansion, so that no one could hear her clanking against the marbled floor. She remained quite precariously cautious as she made her way towards the said corner of the island.

As she was passing through the shrouding trees, she heard slight rustling of twigs and leaves behind her and remaining cautious, she even turned back to see if it could be a human being or someone from the mansion, who might spot her in that place but luckily, every time she turned around she could simply find a cricket or an owl chirping against the tree barks.

She became very satisfied that no one from the mansion was following her, as she finally made her way towards the yacht and got on to it, remaining carefree and oblivious to the fact that as she was getting on the yacht, watching her hidden in the bushes was Serena, who smirked at the perfect opportunity that she had gotten in her hands. It was time for her to put her plan in actions.

Althea may have thought that she would get to enjoy a night of full on a yacht with Nicholas but little did she know that Serena had plans of her own, to ruin what could be perfection for Althea.

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As Salva walked towards Althea’s room, pumped with adrenaline and high on hopes that he would get to talk to Althea and express his feelings in a way where he would ask her out politely and wait and see how she was going to react.

Down the hallway, he saw Fiona walking in to his direction, looking quite distorted and confused.

She remained lost in her trance, so lost that she kept her head low and did not even bother to stop or look at Salva, who stood waiting for her to notice him, all the while she simply walked passed him.

“What’s up with you?” he called her out, grabbing her shoulder and finally bringing her mindless feet to a halt.

“Huh?”

Startled she turned around and looked at Salva, surprised to find in that corridor at that hour of the night.

“What are you doing here?” she asked him, looking around the place and finding Salva to be alone.

“Umm, I was on my way to see Althea. But why are you so lost? Is everything alright?”

Fiona nodded.

“Yeah! It’s just that the girl that you are looking for is not present in her room.” She told him, quite disappointed at the news herself.

“What?” he asked, slightly stunned, as he turned to glance at the door to Althea’s room, that seemed quite tightly locked.

“Yeah! I actually came to see her but she isn’t in her room. Might be somewhere in the garden or probably on the beach. She is a late night wanderer, anyways. What are you doing here? why do you want to see Althea?”

Fiona inquired and Salva gently rubbed the back of his neck.

He had been quite frank with Fiona ever since he could remember and sensing that she and Althea had become quite good friends, he decided to get an expert opinion on the matter.

“Umm, I actually wanted to ask her something.”

Fiona c****d, at him.

“What? What do you want to ask of her?”

“It is something a little personal and I am glad that I could get your opinion on it.”

“Wait! My opinion? Salva, you do know that I am the most indecisive person, who is dependent on the slightest of her decisions on other people. Because my own decision making capabilities are zero and…”

“Do you think Althea would be interested to go out with me?”

He blurted out the words, while Fiona was in the middle of her own argument. Fiona’s choked on her own words, as the realization dawned upon her what Salva had ended up saying.

“What?” she asked, completely taken aback by Salva’s words.

Sensing her surprised and poker expressions, Salva did not feel great either about his question or the entire situation regarding him asking Althea out.

“You know what? Never mind! Forget I even asked that stupid question.”

He started to walk away but Fiona immediately rushed to cross his way and stood in front of him, spreading her arms out to prevent him from getting away.

She smiled brightly, as she noticed the blush on Salva’s face.

“Oh my God! Salva, are you blushing?” she teased him, making him roll his eyes and look away.

He hated how right Fiona was and he also reviled the fact that he was blushing hard at the mere mention of asking Althea out.

“I told you to forget it.”

He was about to push past her again but Fiona held his arm and pulled him back.

“Wait! I am just teasing you. Because, I don’t think I have ever seen you be this jittery about a girl before. My God! Salva you really do like her, don’t you?”

Salva rubbed the back of his neck, shifting his weight between his feet. His gestures and body language made his quite clear to Fiona that she should not wait an answer from him.

“You know what? Never mind.” She scoffed.

“You do really like her.”

Salva looked at her for a moment and then succumbed to her intrusive questioning, nodding his head to her statement.

“Wow! I honestly, never imagined you with someone like Althea or even Althea with someone like you but you two are quite good looking and you guys would make one heck of a couple and…” she gasped out loud, as her words made one realization dawn upon her after the other, “If you two get together and she also likes you than Nicholas gets a chef for free without having to go through all that trouble and oh my God! Althea and I would never get out of touch. You know how bothered I was because for the first time in my life, I have found a real and true friend, who is so genuine and just the most amazing soul ever.”

“And is the most radiant person in a room. Her energy is just something so magnetic and she just shines so bright that anyone would be blinded by her aura and how can one not help but just fall to their knees for her…”

Salva paused his words and looked up at Fiona, who grinned looking up at him confessing his love for Althea, so profoundly.

“Wow! I thought you just liked her because she was pretty and hot but I did not know that you actually liked her.” she teased, making Salva shrug at her.

“Well, she is not in her room right now, why don’t you wait for her or maybe, catch up with her first thing in the morning and then ask her out. Gosh! I am so excited.” Fiona chimed, clapping her hands together.

Salva gulped audibly, slightly still disintegrated and anxious.

“Do you think she would say yes to me?” he asked and Fiona shrugged.

“What? Why wouldn’t she?”

“What do you mean?”

“Come on, she is single and you are good looking and you two are on an isolated island. She is ought to say yes to you. And besides, Althea is a nice girl, who has been love deprived all of her life. If she sees the right guy, she is going to go for him and I don’t think I can see a better choice for her than you.”

Salva smiled at the positive reinforcement that he had received from Fiona and pumped his fist up in the air, feeling jacked up and enthusiastic about asking Althea out after receiving positive remarks from Fiona, who knew Althea on a more personal level compared to everyone else.

“Okay then! First thing in the morning, I will ask her out.” Salva told Fiona who nodded with excitement.

“Perfect.”

As the two parted their way and Salva made his way towards the kitchen, he found Serena also standing by one of the stations and, pouring herself a glass of juice.

“Orange juice, care for some?” she asked, looking at Salva with a very sleek and plastered smile.

Salva was still awry of the lady. The last interaction that he had with her was quite a cantankerous event.

The way Serena had exploded with agony and had blurted out poison against Salva’s family name, it had only tainted his heart against the lady and made him believe that she was not as sincere as she pretended to be.

So, the smile that she had on, was definitely quite dubious for Salva to consider as a genuine one.

He shook his head plainly at her and went towards the pantry, grabbing an apple for himself.

He walked back inside the kitchen and saw Serena still holding that smile up at him.

“Are you still mad at me, for what I said before you left?” she asked and Salva simply shook his head, not wanting to get in to any argument with her.

He went Spain to inform his parents about Serena and what she had ended up saying but once he was there, he decided against his better self to refrain from involving his parents at that point. He decided that the problem was between him and Serena and that was how it should be handled and the best way he considered handling it was to corner away from the woman and mind his own business.

“You know, you are Nicholas are like my own children and if I say something rude to you kids it is only because I am looking after you two and say it like a mother would. All of you are like my children and I am only looking out for you kids.”

Serena tried to sugarcoat her way towards Salva’s heart and the guy only nodded gently at her.

“I get it.” he spoke softly, ready to walk out of the kitchen but Serena called him, making him turn back and glance a look at her.

“Are you sure you are not mad at me anymore?”

She sounded desperate and anxious for an apology and Salva decided not to prolong the matter anymore.

He simply nodded his head at her and turned to leave but Serena was quick enough to come ahead and stand in front of him, with her arms spread out like a hawk on each of her side.

“Say it, that you are not mad me. I don’t have any children. So, you guys are all that matter to me.”

Salva sighed, understanding that how the woman gave everyone a special place in her heart and in return she also simply wanted that in everyone’s heart.

He nodded and smiled gently at her.

“Yes! I am not mad at you.”

Serena couldn’t help but hold her excitement and patted the boy’s cheek.

“Good boy! I know you can not stay mad me forever.”

“Well, I am kind of tired because I was traveling the entirety of last night so, I would call it a night. See you tomorrow.”

“Oh of course, you must be tired.” Serena scoffed, keeping the conversation completely and entirely casual.

“I mean of course you traveled the entire night and then coming home to a big news about Nick and Althea and everything that happened at the south west coat and is still happening…”

Serena lowly whispered in a comical manner to Salva, who felt quite puzzled by Serena’s words.

“I don’t get it, what are you talking about?”

Serena pretended to be quite surprised that Salva was not adding up the words that she was saying and she continued to act as innocent and blatant as she could.

“Oh! Wait, I get it. Nichoals must have told you that he has not told anybody yet about him and Althea and he asked you to keep it a secret as well, right? I get it…” serena snorted a little punctured laughter.

Keeping her latent motive as masked as she could, very shrewdly she feigned the fire that she knew could burn the entire house down within a glimpse. But she would make sure to use that flame to burn Althea and had her thrown off the island.

“Him and Althea? What about him and Althea?”

Salva asked, afraid that once again Nicholas might’ve had a fight with Althea while he was gone. The fact that the two could be romantically involved, was not even slightly or remotely anywhere present at the top of his head or even in the wildest of his thoughts.

“The two are romantically involved. Now, come on Salva, don’t tell me you don’t even know that.”

Serena acted playful but her words only threw a big bulldozer of ice right over at Salva’s mind, freezing him and paralyzing him entirely.

Serena continued speaking for a while but paused, when she sensed that anything that she spoke was only slipping past Salva’s ears.

She snapped her finger in front of his eyes, startling him out of his daze.

“Hey!”

Salva snapped out of his trance and looked up at Serena.

“What do you mean that Althea and Nicholas are…”

“You didn’t know?” Serena acted quite conspicuously shocked.

“How could Nicholas not tell you? I thought that this morning when he took you to his office, he told you everything. About how there was an intrusion on the island on the south west coast, where Althea was about to be abducted by a bunch of random Russian men and then, Nicholas shot one down and even took a bullet for her…”

“Wait!” Salva breathed heavily, having an extremely hard time, wrapping his head around the reality and the facts and information that Serena introduced him to.

“Nicholas shot someone?”

Salva asked, completely bewildered.

Serena nodded, acting as innocently naïve as she could.

“You had no idea? Please, don’t tell me you had zero idea and…”

She gasped, placing her hands over her mouth and acting entirely noncompliant to the fact that she had told Salva everything on purpose.

“And what happened after Nicholas ‘shot someone for Althea’.” Salva requested, clenching his jaw tightly, all the while a feeling of betrayal yet anger gushing through him.

“Well, I think Nicholas did it only because he realized that he loved Althea and the two even went together on a date on a yacht and…”

Salva couldn’t just stand there and listen to Serena tell him how his cousin, his brother and his best friend, for whom he would take a bullet for betrayed him in such a horrendous manner.

Furious he dashed out of the room, leaving Serena exasperated but she only pretended to be so, all the while she felt happy and satisfied that the bull’s eye that she had tried to hit on, had ended up on the very right target.

Salva rushed up the staircase and went right towards Anthony and Martha’s room, both of the two who were resting in their bed, all cozied and romantic.

Martha was glad that finally their romance had ignited but much to her dismay the loud pounding at the door, startled the couple.

Anthony moved away from her and put on his shirt, getting the door to see if there was some sort of emergency and Martha also covered herself up with a robe, sobering up right away.

The loud pounds on the door, were quite echoing, as they even attained Selena’s attention, who was busy working on her laptop but listening to the pugnacious sounds, Selena also got out of her room.

Anthony was yet to open the door when Selena first opened hers and listening to the sound of her door, Salva turned towards her, finding her on the island.

He c****d in surprise and Selena chimed, waving her hand at him.

“Oh! You are back on the island. Dad told me, I couldn’t get to meet you in the day, was in my room the entire time working on a project…”

She explained to him but Salva could care less about her existence since, a bigger surprise was still reverberating inside his mind, that had shaken up his entire soul.

Anthony opened up the door, attaining Salva’s attention.

He was too confused and flabbergasted but above all, he was jetted with anger.

“Did Nicholas shoot a guy on the island, while I was gone? Did he get shot as well?”

He asked Anthony, who was entirely taken aback by Salva’s sudden questioning at that later hour.

Anthony realized by looking at Salva’s condition, that the boy was definitely shocked at the news and that’s why Nicholas had asked everyone on the island to not to mention the incident to Salva who would obviously be worried just like he was at the moment.

Anthony reached out for Salva’s shoulder and gently pressed it, “You look in a state of shock. You need to relax. I will tell you everything.”

Irritated at being chastised, Salva shrugged off his uncle’s touch.

“No! I need an answer to my question and did he actually do it for Althea?” he asked again and Martha stepped forward, as she heard those words.

She had not known exactly what had happened at the coast and all she knew that there was some aggression in which some bullets were shot by which Nicholas also got wounded. But the way Salva put his words, it only sounded as if Nicholas had taken a bullet for his love for Althea.

“He did not take it for Althea and…”

“Then why would he shoot someone when Althea’s life was on line? I know Nicholas. He gets sick when he sees even the slightest blood. There is no way he would mindlessly shoot someone.” Salva aggressively emphasized on his point.

“Nicholas didn’t shoot someone.” Martha pointed out, describing the information that she was given by her husband and daughter.

Anybody who was not at the sight of the shooting was told off that the man was shot by one of the guards after there was an attack on Nicholas and that was what Martha was told. Selena, however had found the truth from Althea and Fiona themselves but she was told by her father to keep things hidden from her mother, who would otherwise get worked up and worried over the slightest and the most minor things.

“Fire was opened back on the intruders, as a response to Nicholas getting wounded.” Anthony informed Salva, who still did not believe a word coming out of their mouths.

He knew better than to trust his uncle, who was notorious amongst them for being belligerent regarding to hiding the truth from them ever since they were little.

For a good amount of their lives, Anthony had hidden it perfectly well that the two big families, the Santiagos and the Francescos were some regular rich business studded families, while they were two of the biggest mafia names in the world.

“No! I made a mistake.” Salva shook his head, realizing that Anthony can never be a reliable source of information.

With that Salva began walking towards the west wing of the house.

Anthony could sense what Salva could be going after for, or more precisely, whom Salva could be going after.

“Salva, listen to me. It is quite late. We should talk in Nicholas’s office in the morning.”

Anthony tried to stop the man, who was maddened and on the loose.

Salva did not care for Anthony’s single call and simply sprinted his feet forward and reached out for Nicholas’s bedroom.

Selena and Martha also kept their paces fast and followed closely behind Anthony, who kept on trailing Salva.

Without thinking twice, Salva opened up the door to Nicholas’s bedroom and somehow did not feel surprised but only disappointed to find the room to be entirely empty.

“He’s not here.” Salva grunted underneath his breath.

“He could be in his office or anywhere in the garden…” Anthony tried to reason out with him but Salva was reminded of the fact that even Althea was not present in her room and at the same time, Serena had given him a possible hint where the two could be.

His heart didn’t want to believe it but his mind pressed that even if it were false, then for the sake of his own peace, he needed to see it with his own eyes, where the two could possibly be.

Salva turned around and began walking towards the staircase and Anthony followed right after him.

“Salva, where are you going?”

He called him out, standing on top of the staircase, while Salva climbed down and crossed the main foyer, grabbing opening up the door but paused the moment he heard Anthony’s question.

Serena also got out of the kitchen at the same time and spared a glance at the hallway above the staircase, where Anthony and his wife and daughter stood perplexed and worried at Salva’s abrupt action. She then looked down at Salva and saw that he was standing just by the door and the moment she heard him reply Anthony’s question, a wave of satisfaction jutted through her system.

Fiona also walked out the living room, hearing the entire commotion happening in the main foyer and along her came Andrew. The two stood opposite to Serena across the main foyer, looking confused at the people standing above the main foyer and Salva, who stood by the door. His words, leaving Andrew and Fiona entirely baffled.

“Salva! Come back, let’s talk. Where are you going now?” Anthony pressed on his question and Salva only groaned back in agitation, holding back his urge to shout, as he snarled quite a loud, with his voice echoing through the entire foyer, making his stance quite clear to everyone.

He expressed his anger and disappointment all together, signifying the people of the house that it would not be a good idea to stop him at the moment and he better be left alone.

“I am going exactly, where I know I would find both Nicholas and Althea.”

With that he loudly slammed the door of the house and finally left, wandering in to the dark of the night.

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Is Salva's anger justified?

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