'Leya!' I look at the door, waiting for it to burst open since someone is calling my name from down the hall. 'Cataleya!'

'In here?!' I'm not falling for another one of Hunter's traps.

Yesterday he tried to lure me into the hall so he could talk to me, by making Noah shout for me as if he needed something.

I'm not falling for that shit again.

'Why are you still in your room?' Isabelle asks as she finally walks into my room.

Her eyes roam over my body, over my injured leg, and back to my face. 'Are you in pain? Do I need to tell someone?'

'I'm fine.' I smile at her concern and climb out of the comfortable couch I pushed in front of the window.

It was hard as fuck, but I didn't want to ask Hunter for help. And since he wouldn't let Noah or any of the others near me before I talked with him yesterday, I had no other choice.

'How did you get past Hunter?' I ask, moving towards my bed. My leg still kind of hurts, but it needs more time to heal. 'He's out for business, sorry I didn't come by yesterday. He was really being a piece of shit.'

'It's fine.' I had some time to think.

Not only about how I was going to get out of here, but also about everything that happened at the party. Or before that.

'How are you feeling?' She walks over to the bed and takes a seat on the edge, 'Do you need anything?'

'I'm fine Isabelle, you don't need to worry about me.'

'You got fucking stabbed at a Russian party, of course, I need to worry!' She looks at my leg again, mostly at the bandage peeking from underneath the shirt I'm wearing.

'I can't believe you didn't catch a face.' Noah chimes, who was apparently standing at the door, 'And what the hell did you do to your room?'

'I rearranged it so that I won't have to leave this room if I wanted a change of scenery.' I answer honestly, softly smiling at him. 'Also, how was I supposed to know someone was going to stab me?'

He rolls his eyes and walks over to the bed as well, basically shoving Isabelle off the bed, to take a seat himself.

'And why don't you want to leave this room?' Noah asks while Isabelle glares at him. I keep my eyes on the both of them, knowing they're secretly up to something.

Especially Noah.

'Because she doesn't want to talk to Hunter.' Isabelle answers in my stead, 'And didn't you say she would be safe because she was going with you two?'

'Your point?' Noah stands back up and steps closer to Isabelle, who's not backing down. 'She got stabbed.'

'And she made it out alive.' He says matter-of-factly. 'She still got hurt.'

He grunts and looks at me for help, but I'm not getting involved in their shit. He rolls his eyes and looks at Isabelle again.

'If you didn't want her to get hurt, maybe you should've come yourself.' He pauses to add to the dramatic effect and slowly grins at her, 'Oh wait, you're scared to go to Russia.'

'You know why.' She sneers, giving him a little push. He stumbles back and keeps his eyes on her. 'Because you're scared.'

'Noah.' I say warningly. Isabelle's eyes fill with tears, but he's not done yet. 'At least she tries to move on from what happened to her.'

He looks ready to kill, words on the tip of his tongue, aimed to hurt her. 'Noah, stop.'

'She's being pathetic again-' 'She's not, you're just being a piece of shit, now get the fuck out.' He looks at me in shock, he probably didn't expect me to kick him out. But he overstepped.

'Are you kidding me?' He steps away and looks at both of us. 'Does it look like I'm joking to you?'

He scoffs, mumbles something under his breath, and leaves the room, not turning around once.

Isabelle drops on my bed and takes a deep breath, quickly brushing her tears away, before looking at me.

'You didn't have to do that.' She whispers, her voice a little uneven. 'He deserved it,' I say, moving closer to her, 'Are you okay?'

'I just don't get why he has to be such a dickhead towards me.' She mumbles, wiping another tear away.

I know those two have a love-hate relationship, but I don't think I've ever heard Noah talk to her like this before.

As if he was trying to hurt her in the worst way he could verbally do.

'I mean,' She turns towards me and brushes her hair out of her face, 'He's always annoyed with me, especially when they come back from a trip, but lately, he's been more annoyed than ever.'

I wouldn't say Noah's always annoyed around Isabelle, but he's certainly acting differently around her.

'Have you talked with him about it?' I ask softly. She shrugs and takes a shaky breath.

This shit is obviously bothering her.

'Every time I try to talk to him about it, he jokes around. As if it doesn't mean shit to him.'

The fact that I know exactly how she feels right now, stings a little.

But I know Noah cares about her.

'And when I asked Hunter, he said I shouldn't be pressing him about it, but I can't just let shit like this slide anymore.' So she went to Hunter with this?

'Isabelle, can I ask you something?' She nods and looks into my eyes again. 'Do you like Noah?'

'As friends, yes. More than that, no fucking way.' I almost chuckle at the way she says it because it's as if she has been waiting to say it for years. 'I just-' She sighs deeply, obviously troubled, 'before he used to have this thing with Brooke, we used to be so close.'

'Why did you guys stop being so close?'

'He was too busy with Brooke and work, he barely had any time left. So I decided that I wouldn't bother him as much.' She says, dropping on her back. She stares at the ceiling and thinks for a second.

'He cheated on Brooke, so she decided to travel. Everyone let her go because she needed to stay as far away from all of us as possible, and that broke him because he couldn't beg for her forgiveness. And he's still salty about it.'

I go silent, not knowing what to say to help her. Maybe I should talk to Noah about it as well, see what's going on?

'Anyways!' She says, suddenly energetic again, 'Do you want to go for a walk?'

'I don't know...' I don't want to risk bumping into Hunter because he'll keep talking until I'm back in this room.

'Hunter isn't around for at least another hour, so we can take a quick walk around the grounds and get back before he returns.' Isabelle says. As if she can read my mind.

'Fine.' Some fresh air would do me good.

So I quickly put on some shoes and follow her down the empty hall. It's raining a little, but we should be fine for a little walk around the house. 'We should grab some umbrellas, wait here.' She says, running to the other side of the house.

I stay by the door and look at the big walls. They're high and the trims are painted gold.

'Cataleya!' I turn to the high-pitched voice calling my name and notice Jade running my way. 'Where are you going?' She asks, a little panicked.

'I'm going for a walk with Isabelle.' Her eyes widen and she looks around, probably looking for Isabelle. 'Where Isabelle?'

'I think she's grabbing some umbrellas.' Her mouth forms an O shape and she starts nodding. 'Can I come?'

'Outside?' She nods and bats her lashes at me, not that it will convince me, because I don't see why she wouldn't be allowed to come with us in the first place. 'Sure, just-' She runs off before I can even finish my sentence, heading to her room.

I smile as I watch her runoff. Noah walks into the hall as well, looking at me with a frown. 'Where are you going?'

'Jade, Isabelle, and I are going for a walk.' He raises his brows and he tilts his head a little. 'Unchaperoned?'

'I didn't know a chaperon was a necessity?' He smiles at me and shrugs. Noah obviously wants to join us for our little walk, but I can't have him being mean to Isabelle again.

'You can join, only if you apologize to Isabelle and if you'll behave.' He dramatically gasps for air, places his hand on his heart, and steps back. 'I'm always behaving towards her!'

I simply frown at him and cross my arms in front of my chest. He chuckles and shrugs. 'Fine with me.'

'What is he doing here?' We both turn towards Isabelle, who's holding two black umbrellas in her hand.

'He had nothing to do and wanted to tag along.' I can hear Noah gasp dramatically, but keep my eyes on Isabelle, who's frowning. 'Well, I only grabbed two umbrellas-' 'Cataleya and I can share.' Noah chimes as he tries to reach for one of the umbrellas.

'I'm not sharing an umbrella with you.' Isabelle smiles at me, before turning to Noah. 'She doesn't want you around.' She chimes, before pulling me closer and hooking her arm around mine.

Jade comes running our way, with a pink princess umbrella in her hand, and pokes Noah with it. He groans and rubs his ass, running after Jade who's already outside.

'You ready?' Isabelle asks as I stay inside and watch Noah run after a little kid in the distance. 'Yes.' I step outside, right underneath the umbrella, and stay close to Isabelle.

We follow Noah and Jade, who are slowly headed to the right side of the house, and talk about how stupid Noah looks right now.

He's literally running after a five-year-old.

'Tell me more about Brooke.' I don't know why, but she sounds nice. And I want to know more about her, and since I'll probably never meet her in real life, Isabelle is really my only source of information.

And Noah, but I doubt talking about his ex with me is something he wants, and Hunter, who I don't want to talk to ever again.

'She's amazing.' Isabelle says dreamily, 'She's honestly the most kindhearted person I know.' She hands me the umbrella so she can grab her phone and shows me some pictures.

Brooke Steel looks nothing like her uncle, unlike Hunter who kind of resembles him in some weird way. She indeed looks very kind. And innocent.

'She stayed with me on the island for a long time.' She chimes, grabbing the umbrella again. 'Why did she leave?'

'People knew Hunter was coming to the island and they tried following him,' She pulls me towards the huge grass-field, behind the house and starts walking on the little path on the side going all the way around it, 'So he bought another island and moved me around to keep me safe. But Brooke wasn't allowed to stay.'

There's a line of big oak trees on our right, going around the field and the path we're walking on.

I see... We walk in silence for a while, not awkward, just silence. Enjoying the wind rustling through the leaves and the sound of the rain, rippling on our umbrella.

'What about you and the Curzio's?' I almost stop walking, but she pulls me along so that I won't get wet. 'What about them?'

'I heard rumors that you were close to Rafael.' She says, playfully wiggling her brows. 'Close to him? No. No one is close to him apart from his cousin and old friends.'

'Are you sure, because I-' 'I'm sure. There's nothing going on there.' She looks at me and nods, awkwardly looking at Noah and Jade, who are walking our way, all the way at the end of the field.

How did they get there so fast?

'I'm sorry.' I say, pulling Isabelle a little closer. 'It's fine, I clearly overstepped and I'm sorry.'

'No, you didn't. I just-' A sigh leaves my lips, and I wonder where it's coming from. 'I don't like to talk about it.'

'It's fine, we can talk when you want.' If that ever happens.

'Did you like them?' She asks after a while, making me look at her with a billion questions going through my mind. 'As friends, I mean.'

'Oh, yes. Everyone is amazing.' Apart from Rafael. 'I would call them my friends.'

'Then why did they give you up?' Give me up? 'What?' I ask, not understanding what she's talking about.

'Isn't that why you're here? Because they got rid of you?' I stop walking, pulling my arm out of her grip. 'What?'

The rain touches my face and I try ignoring the cold sting.

She steps closer to me, making sure I'm covered from the rain, and nods. 'Is that what they told you?'

'Basically, that's why I'm asking you now. Because I know they keep things from me.' I look ahead, noticing that Noah lifted Jade on his shoulders. They lied to her?

'Hunter took Neveah and Celine, then let Celine go and told us that he wanted me in return for Neveah's life. We took the deal and then he said he was going to let me go.' She frowns, but I can see the puzzle pieces falling into place through her eyes. 'And that's when my mother found you, sold you, and then Hunter bought you?'

'Yes.' I say, not understanding why they would be lying to her. 'That's why you want to leave! They told me they saved you or something.' What?

'It all makes so much sense now.' She mumbles, looking at the slowly inching closer Noah and Jade. 'Why would they lie to you?'

She takes a deep breath and bites her lip awkwardly, debating if she should tell me, when she suddenly stops walking. 'Look, I just want you to be careful, okay?'

What? 'Hunter has some issues and you don't want to anger him too much, okay? Just try to stay on his good side. Please?'

'What kind of issues?' I ask, feeling something creep over me. The way she's talking right now is making my skin crawl.

'What are you two talking about?' I almost jump because of Noah's sudden voice in front of us and look at Isabelle, who's smiling.

Fake smiling.

'Nothing, just some issues I have with my tampon.' Jade looks at us with a frown, while Noah looks at us with wide eyes. 'Okay, well... Can you stop and take Jade back inside? She needs to pee.'

'Why can't you-' 'Because I want to talk to Cataleya.' Oh...

Isabelle sighs and turns to me, waiting for my say in this. I nod and watch as she picks Jade from Noah's shoulder, before heading back to the house.

We're further away than I thought because the house is at least fifteen minutes away from where we're standing right now.

Noah steps closer to me, making sure the umbrella is covering me as well.

'I would offer to hold the umbrella, but you're too tall.' He chuckles and continues to walk further away from the house.

'It's fine, I wanted to talk to you about something.' He says, getting straight to the point. 'Okay, tell me what you wanted to talk about.'

'Since Hunter is out and we're finally allowed to go near you again, I mean he has a busy agenda so he's working on a lot of things right now and he has to get certain things done and-' He's going to ramble about Hunter... 'Noah.'

He nods and takes a deep breath, before looking at me again.

'Has Isabelle talked to you about me?' Oh... 'No, why?' I ask, not wanting to expose Isabelle about what happened.

He sighs desperately and stops walking, keeping the umbrella above me as I take a few more steps and slowly turn to him. 'Does that bother you, Noah?'

'Yes!' He shouts annoyed, handing me the umbrella as he walks towards one of the trees on our right. 'How come she doesn't talk to anyone about it?' What?

'What do you mean?' I ask as I walk over to him, trying to somewhat cover him with the umbrella.

He's just too tall and I'm not going to keep my arm up the entire time. 'I like her and she doesn't even realize it.' Oh damn...

'You like Isabelle?' I ask a little shocked. 'Mhm.'

'As in like like, or just as a friend like.'

'You know what I'm talking about Leya, please don't make me say it out loud.' Oh... Oh!

'Why were you so rude to her earlier?' He shrugs and steps closer to me, grabbing the umbrella so that I don't have to stand like an idiot all day.

'Do you think she likes me?' When I asked her, she said she only liked him as a friend. 'I don't know.' If I tell him no, he knows we talked about him, and if I tell him yes, I might be wrong.

'So she never talked about me with you?' He asks as we continue our walk. 'No.' For some reason, I feel like I can trust Isabelle more than I can trust Noah.

Because she didn't know why I'm here with them in the first place. Does Noah know?

I don't doubt he doesn't.

'I wanted to ask you something as well.' He nods and straightens his back, looking like he didn't just confess his feelings for Isabelle to me. 'What happened to the letters I gave you?'

'I sent the first three out last week, just as you asked me to.' How come there's no reply?

To none of them?

'And the others?' He turns to me and smiles. 'I sent all fifteen of them so far, no reply Cataleya.'

Maybe I overstepped that night, I mean, I know I did. And I regret lashing out at Neveah the way I did. But why isn't she responding?

'Do you remember the address?' He thinks about it for a second but nods when he remembers. 'Some house in Paris, I'm not sure if they got it though.'

'Okay, thanks.' So she's mad at me?

I get that.

I deserve that.

Especially after what I said.

And she was right, even though she didn't say shit.

I was stupid for thinking it wasn't a trap.

'What are you two doing here?' My eyes widen as I hear Hunter's voice from behind us. 'Well...' 'I thought I told you to make sure she was resting, especially with her leg-'

I pull Noah along and continue walking, not letting Hunter talk to him or me.

'Leya...' Noah mumbles, trying to get me to stop. But I won't.

Hunter follows us and chuckles. 'Still ignoring me, I see.' God!

'I think you two should talk so that he can tattoo me later...' Noah whispers to me, and I shake my head. 'I have nothing to say to him, apart from the part where I'm leaving.' Wait- Tattoo me later?

'You're leaving?' They say in unison, Noah pulling his arm out of my grip and turning me to face him.

'I am.' I say, keeping my eyes on Noah instead of the blue eyes burning through my skin.

'Since when?' Hunter asks, sounding a little annoyed.

They both look at me, but as I said, I'm not talking to Hunter.

'When did you decide you were going to leave, Cataleya?' Hunter asks, taking a step forward.

I keep my eyes on Noah, ready to run if Hunter gets too close.

'Leya, tell me when you decided to leave?' Noah asks politely, trying not to freak out. 'The moment Hunter decided to take me out of Russia before I could talk to Federico.'

My body starts boiling again and I quickly look at Noah, realizing that he has a gun in his back pocket. Just like everyone else.

'But he-' 'Noah, please tell Cataleya that she needs to grow up and talk to me if she has something to say.' I can't contain my little chuckle as I take a step back and fight the urge to keep myself from looking at that piece of shit.

'Are you kidding me?' Noah asks, looking at Hunter. 'Tell her.' Hunter says.

Noah looks at me and takes a deep breath. 'Hunter said-' 'How about you tell him that I already said all I wanted to say and that I want nothing to do with him anymore.'

'You're being so childish!' I quickly grab the gun from Noah's back pocket and aim straight at Hunter's head. 'Say that shit again.'

Noah stumbles back and the right side of my body starts to get wet because of the rain. 'Go ahead. Say that shit again.'

I ruined my friendship over this piece of shit. Because I thought he was going to let me be free, but he ruined it all.

'Leya, I think you should-' 'Shut the fuck up Noah.' I should kill him. I should just shoot Hunter right here and now. 'Do it.'

But the fact that he wouldn't mind, makes me even angrier.

He doesn't give a single shit if I would kill him right now. And he does not deserve a quick death.

I lower the gun and throw it on the ground, 'Go to hell.'

'Cataleya if-' I grab the umbrella from Noah's hand and continue walking down the path, ignoring Hunter's calls as he shouts my name to get my attention.

I walk around the big field, trying not to turn around to slam my fist so far up Hunter's ass he'll taste it in his fucking mouth, and head back to the house.

It's at least thirty minutes from one side to the other, if I walk fast, but my leg is starting to hurt a lot more than I thought it would, so I start walking a bit slower.

'You're faster than you look.'

Oh.

My.

Fucking.

God!

'But now there's no one who's going to safe you.' I turn around, not wanting him to have the overhand because I'm not looking at him, and frown. 'We need to talk.'

I start walking backward, heading to the house and keeping my eyes on him at the same time.

'Cataleya.' His voice is as cold as ice and his eyes, they're like ice as well. Freezing me, right where I'm standing.

'We need to talk.' He repeats, before taking a deep breath. As if to calm himself down.

'There's nothing more I have to say.'

'You can't leave.' He says, ignoring every word of what I just said, 'There is still a threat.'

'A threat that's small enough to take me to a party!' I shout back at him, feeling anger boil inside of me. 'Was there ever really a threat?'

'Do you think I lied to you about the bounty on your head?' I watch his every move, trying to see what he's trying to do next. 'I don't know what to believe anymore.'

'Do you really want to leave?' There's something else, apart from annoyance, in his voice. Something like worry or regret.

'Yes, and you won't stop me because-' 'I promised, I know.' He says, brushing his wet hair out of his face.

He's looking classier than usual.

'But why didn't you tell me you decided to leave.' Noah appears behind Hunter and holds an umbrella above both of them.

Where it came from, I have no idea.

'I don't have to tell you anything.'

'So you were just going to leave without saying goodbye?' I nod and cross my arms across my chest, squeezing the umbrella between my arms. 'Yes.'

'That's rude.' Rude? 'And heartless.' A scoff escapes my lips and Hunter raises a brow at me.

I know Isabelle told me to stay on Hunter's good side, but I really don't care about that shit right now.

'You know what's rude and heartless? Acting like you were going to let me meet Federico, knowing that it's the only reason I stayed in the first place!' I shout, fighting the urge to shove him to the ground.

'Cataleya-' 'You got stabbed and you needed medical help, did you want me to let you bleed to death!' He replies, raising his voice just like I did.

'I wasn't going to bleed to death and we could've handled it there!'

'We could not-' 'Admit that you took me out of there on purpose!' He rolls his eyes and looks at Noah for help, but he simply stands there and keeps the umbrella in place. 'I did not.'

'You don't want to let me go, do you?'

His silence says it all.

'I'm going.'

'Why are you being such a pain in my ass?!' He groans, his fist balling and his knuckles turning white as snow. Oh god...

I step back, ready to run, despite the pain stinging through my leg. I'll run.

I'll run as fast as I can.

'If I'm being such a pain in my ass, you'll let me go.' I mumble, making sure I don't fall and hurt myself more, as I slowly back away.

'I told you, you can leave whenever you want, I'm not going to stop you.' He says, keeping his eyes on me. 'Then I don't see the problem.'

'You're right.' His fists disappear and the color slowly flows back into his hands, allowing me to breathe for just a second.

Because he steps forward, trying to reach out to me, but I step away quickly and keep my eyes on him.

'Noah,' Noah's back straightens as his boss calls his name, 'make sure Cataleya gets the help she needs for her departure.'

Noah's eyes widen for a second before he looks at me again. 'Hunter, are you-' 'You heard me.' And with those words coming out of his mouth, he disappears again.

Noah stays with me for a while, before nodding and running after him.

My leg hurts like shit, but I have to walk all the way back to the house.

Or I could just leave?

No.

I can't just leave.

Especially not without saying goodbye to Isabelle. Or Jade.

And I need to come up with a plan. I need to know where I'm going exactly.

When I finally make it back to the house, it finally stopped raining. Hunter and Noah are discussing something down the hall, but I head to my room instead.

'You have that meeting with the council soon.' I hear Noah say as Hunter grunts annoyed because of it. 'I know, now go get everything ready for her so that she can go back to LA.'

I close the door behind me and look around the room. Everything I moved, is back into its original place.

And Isabelle is sitting on the little couch I moved in front of the window, which is now placed against the left wall again.

'Hunter changed your room, I think.' She says, looking up from a book that was lying somewhere on the desk.

'I'm leaving.' I say, her eyes widening as she processes what I'm saying. 'What? When? Is he sending you away?'

'He said that I was allowed to leave whenever I wanted, so I decided that I want to leave.'

'Why?' She asks, stepping closer to me, 'Don't you like it here?' Oh...

'I like you and Jade, but that's it. I don't like being stabbed. And lied to.' I answer honestly.

'Hunter didn't lie about meeting your father, Cataleya.' I ignore her and head to the closet to grab a simple bag that I can fill with the necessities.

'He decided to leave because he was afraid you would bleed to death.' She says, trying to stand in my way as I head to the dresser. 'I wasn't going to bleed to death.' I groan as I throw my bag onto the bed, 'Plus, he lied about allowing me to meet Federico. He took that from me, even after I told him how much it meant to me!' Which feels stupid.

I hate that I let him in, that I let him see that part of me.

'He took me out of there so that I would stay with him until he came up with another plan, another lie to keep me here.'

She shakes her head and drops back onto the couch. 'Hunter is a lot, but he's not a liar.'

I stop looking around the room and turn to her. 'Weren't you the one who just said they're lying to you?'

'He didn't lie to you, he would never lie to you!' She exclaims, clearly convinced that Hunter Steel wouldn't lie to me. 'And why is that?'

'Because he loves you!' She looks at me as if I'm insane, but she's the insane one here.

I don't doubt Hunter feels something towards me, he admitted it the last time we talked about it, but it's not love.

How can he be in love with me? He barely knows me?

'He called me a pain in his ass, I doubt that he loves me.' I say as I drop on the couch next to Isabelle.

She takes a deep breath and shakes her head at me. 'Well, he cares about you. A lot. And I know he would do anything to make you happy.'

'If he wants to make me happy, he would've let me go the day he got me.' Isabelle looks at the wooden floor and takes another deep breath. This time trembling a little.

'I didn't know it was that hard for you to be here.' What?

'I don't mean you or Jade or Noah-' 'I honestly thought you liked it with us.' she says, looking at me again. 'I do.' I honestly like it with them, just not Hunter.

It's like he's keeping things from me, after showing me how open he can be at the start.

'I just don't like Hunter.' And I miss my mother. And Neveah.

'Cataleya, please don't go.' Isabelle says, her tone suddenly more desperate than before. 'Isabelle, I-' 'Please, please don't go.' She exclaims as she drops on her knees in front of me. 'I like you and I don't want you to go, please!'

A small smile creeps to my lips and I help her up, 'Why don't you come with me?' I like her as well and I think she could stay with us for a while.

With Veah, my mom, and I.

Her eyes widen and she steps back in shock. 'What?'

'You could come with me, stay with me and my mom for a while, until you find your own place and-' She turns around, her breath faltering as she tries to process all of this.

'You would-' She turns back to me, tears falling down her face, 'You would take me in?'

'As I said, I like you, Isabelle. I don't see why not.' I say.

Within seconds, she jumps into my arms, hugging me tightly. 'Thank you.'

I wrap my arms around her and smile, kind of wondering why she's not using Hunter as an excuse to stay.

I mean, they've known each other for so long...

I shake the thought out of my head and walk back to the bag on my bed.

'Go pack your bags, we'll be leaving soon.' I say. And without answering, she rushes out of the door, probably headed to her own room to pack her bags.

I start throwing a bunch of things into the bag and think about everything that happened between me and Hunter.

'What the fuck is your problem?' I frown at the angry voice beaming through the door and look up, coming eye to eye with Jordan.

Oh god...

'Isn't this what you wanted?' I ask while throwing some extra stuff in my bag, 'My departure, to get rid of me?'

'It's my biggest wish come true.' He says sarcastically, grabbing my bag and throwing it on the floor. 'What the fuck-' 'But I don't like the terms your leaving on.'

'Pick up my bag, put it back on the bed, and get the fuck out.'

He simply looks at me and stays right where he is, in the middle of the room. 'What do you want?'

I know he won't leave if I don't ask. 'Isn't this what you wanted?'

'Why are you being so difficult towards Hunter?' He asks, a little more annoyed than I expected him to be. 'He lied.'

'He has to go around everything he has planned, just to satisfy you, and then you have the audacity to leave?' What? 'He is a busy man with a busy agenda and then you do this?' Busy agenda...

Noah said something about that as well.

'He didn't have to do any of it, and I have no idea what you're talking about.'

'He was going to get Federico to come over here, but now, since you won't talk to him and since you're leaving, he has to cancel it all again.' He groans, rubbing his temples.

'What?' Is all I'm able to bring out as his words sink in. 'Talk to him because he's being very difficult right now.' He says, walking towards the door.

'Oh and Cataleya,' He says as he stops in the hall and turns around to face me, 'you still need to leave.' Asshole...

I take a deep breath and fight the urge to run after and beat the shit out of him. But I somehow am able to contain myself.

Probably because I'm angrier at Hunter right now.

I storm through the halls, hoping that his meeting is over already, and secretly not caring at the same time.

The door slams open as I storm into the meeting room, a few old men sitting around a table, and Hunter at the end of it.

He looks at me and takes a deep breath, before looking at the other men at the table. 'What is it, Cataleya?' He asks, his voice as formal as can be.

As if he's closing off a deal that will alter his entire life.

This was stupid. I should've just packed my bags and left, why am I- 'Gentlemen, would you give us a second?'

They all start murmuring, making my skin crawl at the way they're looking at me.

But despite their mumbling and soft protests, Hunter heads over to me and gently pulls me into the hall, closing the doors before turning to me.

'Are you okay?' He asks, for some reason sounding worried. I nod and pull my arm out of his grip as I try not to freak out at what I just saw.

The council.

They were all old and bald.

They are the ones that basically decide for him, the ones that ruin his life.

'Why didn't you tell me?' I ask, trying to hide my weirded-out feelings.

I don't even have to specify what he didn't tell me because his eyes widen. 'Who told you?'

'It doesn't matter who told me, you should've told me.' I want to hit him so hard, but I don't want to get too close either.

'You wouldn't let me near you, nor talk to you.' Right... I can't entirely blame him, I guess.

'Tell me now.' He rolls his eyes and leans against the wall, before looking at me again. 'It's not like it's going to happen, you're leaving anyway.'

'Tell me.' I repeat, bracing myself for whatever he has in mind to convince me again.

Something flashes through his eyes. Something like hope.

'You're not leaving?' He asks, his voice dripping with excitement.

'That's not what I said.'

He takes a deep breath and heads to the big window on the other side of the hallway, before turning back to me.

The lighting falls perfectly on his shoulders, it's insane how good he looks right now. But I'm angry at him.

'I asked Noah to convince Federico to come here because of what happened. He didn't believe it and didn't want to at first, but something convinced him to take this opportunity to meet you.' He says, keeping his eyes on me to catch my reaction.

But I stay as still as death.

There's no way he did all of that.

'And why should I believe you?'

'You don't have to. I'll cancel it all because you're leaving anyway.' He says, turning back to the window behind him, 'The council doesn't like that very much.'

'What?' I ask, slowly stepping closer. 'You needed permission for that?'

'Yes,' He chuckles and looks over his shoulder, at me, 'He's a foreigner, they don't like foreigners.' Oh...

'So I had to make sure they were in on it, which took a lot of convincing, but now I have to cancel it again.'

'I didn't ask you, so don't blame me.' I say, not liking the direction this conversation is going. 'You didn't have to, Cataleya.'

"I want to give you the world..."

That's what he said the last time.

'Did you cancel it yet?' He shakes his head, turning his entire body to face me. 'Not yet, because you came storming in.' Okay.

'Why didn't you tell me?' I ask, stepping away from him since he's staring at me too intensely. 'You wouldn't let me explain myself, so I didn't have the chance to.'

'I still feel like you could've told me, somehow.' He rolls his eyes playfully and looks at me with his arms crossed across his chest. 'Am I wrong?'

'Did you want me to write it on paper and slide it into your room at night?' I can imagine him doing that. If I asked.

So I nod.

'You could have.' I answer honestly, trying to keep the image out of my head.

'Well, now you know.' He mumbles after some time, slowly heading back to the door. 'Hunter.' I say, stopping him from opening that door.

I hate that I am willing to see if he's telling the truth.

I hate that I am thinking about staying for another day, just to see if Federico is actually coming.

'When was it supposed to happen?' I ask, making something flash through his eyes. 'Don't get your hopes up-' 'Wednesday.'

Two days...

'Am I still allowed to leave after that?' I ask, keeping my eyes on his to see what's going through his mind.

But there's nothing.

'You're always allowed to leave, little bee.'

I nod and take a deep breath, knowing I'm probably making a big mistake. Again.

But I want to show Federico what the type of person I become. Without him.

'I'll stay.' I say, turning around so I can walk back to my room, 'But after meeting Federico, I'm going.'

'As you wish.' When I look over my shoulder, I can see Hunter slipping back into that meeting room.

I am staying to meet Federico.

After that, I'm going.

----

A/N: Okay so listen up, before all of you go to the comments to MURDER me, she needs to stay with them a little longer!

And she'll meet her dad for the first time, let her rub her life in his face okay!

Anyways, thank you for the love and support, I can't stress it enough!

Don't forget to vote and comment, let me know what you thought about this chapter!

I hope you have a wonderful day, and I'll see you in the next chapter!