Chapter 8

Blair’s folder was still in my hand when the one and only Cristo barged into my office, a somber look on his face that showed no evidence of relaxing anytime soon.
“Lilith,” his voice was deep and strained. “There’s only so much I can take. Please tell me you had no hand in this.”
“I’m insulted that you would think so low of me. Sit down.” I reprimanded, gesturing to the seat before my desk with the folder in my hand. He breathed deeply and sat down. I waved the folder around with a look of displeasure on my face, and I felt like I was going to scold a child. “If I was truly as crazy as you believe then I wouldn’t be your matchmaker. You know very well who was behind this, Cristo.”
“It’s not like there’s hard evidence against Blair on this.”
I raised my brows at him, wondering if he was joking or had forgotten the recent past. “You didn’t have any evidence against me, and yet you dared to walk in with such an accusation simply because you’re angry at me for supposedly sleeping with another man.”
“I know what I saw,” he insisted, staring down at his fists.
“Look at me.” I scolded, “Hey, look at me.”
His brooding eyes bored into mine with an intensity that sent jitters down my spine, but I snapped out of it. Admittedly, I cared for Cristo a lot but I was starting to get annoyed with him because at this point, all I saw was a man simply sitting back and biding his time for the ticking time bomb to blow up.
Just what was he trying to do?
“Cristo, putting the bullshit regarding me aside, I don’t think I like what I’m seeing here.” I stated bluntly. He gave me a dubious look, one that I countered with a quirk of my brow. “You know? The whole ‘saving everyone but yourself’ situation. I can count on one hand how many times you’ve actually done anything to protect yourself, even though you’ve always come to my rescue each time.”
“Wow,” he deadpanned and rubbed his forehead.
“I mean, seriously,” I shot back at him as the big picture started becoming clearer to me. “This whole time I thought maybe my life was messed up, which is why you and I couldn’t get anywhere.”
“We couldn’t get anywhere,” he pointed an accusatory finger at me, “because you were emotionally shut off!”
“For good reason!” I smacked the folder onto the table. “Cristo, when have you ever succeeded in making your own life better? Let’s not forget why I got into all the trouble I did in the first place!”
“You’re blaming me for Blair’s–”
“Yes!” I snapped, narrowing my eyes at him. His face fell, eyes filling with hurt and sadness as he put his hands up in surrender. Falling back into his chair, he stared at my chandelier with a blank look in his eyes as if he was re-evaluating everything that had happened in his life.
“Maybe if you’d taken care of Blair the minute you found out she sent Marcus after me, maybe we wouldn’t be here,” I said with a light quiver in my voice. “You can’t protect others if you can’t protect yourself. I was stalked, humiliated, and almost kidnapped. My business is on the line. Quite rich that you’re giving me shit for even trying to move on. You’re lucky I’m the kind of person who faces these situations head on but…what about Suzan?”
I threw my hands into the air, frustrated and downright concerned for her, “She’s so…so…just so soft and diplomatic. She’ll never confront her troubles head on, much less trace this maliciousness back to the root. Do you really think you two are going to be a good pair if you can’t muster up the courage to nip such issues in the bud?”
He groaned at the ceiling, “I didn’t think Blair would go this far.”
“Because you’re still hung up on her,” I laughed darkly.
Cristo’s head shot up and looked at me, offended, “I’m not, Lilith. She and I go way back, I can’t just cut her out of my life.”
“Not even if she completely ruins it and other people’s in the process?” I demanded. “Wow. You really don’t care for anyone but her.”
“Don’t decide my feelings for me.”
“I’m not, I don’t have to, it all shows in the way you act,” I snapped. “And now poor Suzan, someone you think is so great, is going to bear the brunt of it for as long as Blair lives. Some kind of love you have for people.”
“Do not pretend to understand what goes on in my head, Lilith,” his voice rose.
I cocked my head, giving him a good hard look, “So, what’s your plan, huh? Wait until Suzan gets hurt, do nothing about it and then mope around when she gets fed up and leaves?”
Cristo only glared at me silently, but it was all the confirmation I needed that made my face drop. He looked away with a grunt under his breath, knowing he was caught out.
I couldn’t breathe.
“Cristo…” I let out a shaky breath, “what the fuck are you up to?”
“Blair’s bound to give up at some point, right?” he huffed, his knuckles white from gripping the arm rest so tightly. “Everybody else will back off when they realize the one thing they wanted backfired. My parents will give up hope. Blair will get caught red-handed when she loses her mind. It will go to shit so…so irreparably.”
There was silence in the air that felt so heavy, I thought I would choke.
“Then I can escape for good. No one will bother me anymore.”
“That’s not how it works,” I uttered cautiously.
His eyes hardened on me, “You don’t know what it’s like, Lilith.” He got up from his chair, towering above me as he slowly stepped closer. “All this…this pressure, to take on something that’s not even mine to begin with.”
“Then what is yours?” I demanded, looking up at him with squared shoulders. “Your life is right in front of you begging to be owned. You keep playing this running game where you…you wait for someone to blame.”
“It’s the best way to go.”
“You’re a coward, Cristo,” I seethed venomously. “A coward who will let a sweetheart like Suzan get hurt. You let me get hurt. And you just continue to sit back and take it?”
Cristo’s lips turned upwards in a way I couldn’t put my finger on. It was a typical smirk of his, but there was a shadow behind his mouth. I didn’t quite recognize him anymore.
His hand slid towards me, fingertips gripped me right under my chin as he gazed deeply into my eyes with a kind of rawness that made my heart erupt with flames so intense that my body sizzled up like a steak from his touch.
He whispered, “You could do it, couldn’t you?”
With that, he turned around and left, leaving me a confused mess.
 
“Wait, so…” Lyra sounded as distressed as I was, “does that mean he’s forgiven you or-or what?”
Shaking my head, I sighed, “I don’t know what he meant.”
“I think you should clarify with him.”
“Honestly, I think he was telling me to take Blair on,” I seethed. “Whether I like it or not, this is still my fight more than anything.”
“He’s not a child you need to be pushing obstacles out of the way for.”
It had been a good few hours since Cristo and I had last seen each other, and I was starting to cool down and see sense. There was something I hadn’t acknowledged about his dynamic with Blair. It was abusive. She was abusive to him in some indiscreet ways and was possibly holding something against him.
Cristo wasn’t an idiot. He couldn’t be someone who just sat back and let things happen to him. The man already had a great career and public presence that kept him afloat without his parents’ help. He had cousins to support him, and great friends. There was something stopping him from fully reaching out for his freedom, which is why he was willing to let things implode so catastrophically.
And it all had to do with Blair.
She knew too many people, and would go to any lengths to do whatever it took to keep Cristo under her thumb. I knew that if there was any way I was going to take her on completely, it needed to be through the one who knew her best.
So far, Cristo was the only one who really had all the answers, but he seemed too tired to really put up a fight anymore.
I needed to confront him sooner or later about this. There was a panic in my heart that just wouldn’t calm down. The kind where you know you’re about to truly lose someone. Funny thing is, I wasn’t even worried about losing Cristo to Suzan.
I was only worried about Cristo losing himself.
As my feet carried me to my car with Lyra rushing to keep up, I thought of all the times we’d spent together before calamity had struck. Sometimes I wished I’d let him in, but there was so much to lose either way with no guarantee that Cristo and I would have lasted.
Even right now, there was no knowing if he really wanted me.
Did I want him? I couldn’t be sure but…I wanted a shot, at least. I wondered if he would give me that opportunity should I get him out of this hellish situation he was in.
Man, I felt really bad for Suzan being pulled into all of this, but if I could get her out of it quickly then she would come to appreciate it in the long run. First, I needed to get her out of this mess and I only had a week to do it.
“Are you sure it’s appropriate to barge in on Suzan this way?” Lyra panted as she started the car.
I nodded, “I have to make sure she doesn’t get too hurt in the process. We can’t afford her family coming after us.”
“That is a very good point,” she reasoned. “Are you sure she’ll back off so easily?”

“I think you’re smarter than most people,” I told Suzan as she sat down on the couch across from us. Her house was spacious and homely, and on any other day I would’ve stopped to admire it and indulge in small talk before getting to the point.
Suzan chuckled and elegantly picked the cup of tea from the butler’s tray, “It’s a lovely compliment, Lilith. I just have to try to be humble about it. Are you alright, though?”
“I’m fine,” I shook my head lightly. “I’ve been really concerned about you since the incident, though.”
“Well, my friends spoke up for me and attested to the concerns of the tabloids,” she sipped on her tea delicately. “Although…I will admit, this is not something I would like to deal with on a regular basis.”
“That’s what I’m worried about,” I sighed. “I’m sure you know what I’ve had to put up with over the past few months.”
“I saw that,” she nodded apologetically. “You’re very strong for pulling through it all. I’m not sure how you do it.”
Slowl,y pulling out the folder from my bag, I placed it on the table and slid it towards her. If anything would sway her, it would be evidence.
“It all came from somewhere,” I sighed. “I’d like to warn you about what you’ll be signing up for if you plan on spending your life with Cristo.”
Suzan’s eyes rested on the folder. She was frozen in place, her face blank as if she couldn’t decide what to feel. I knew that look, and I knew just how she felt in that moment. Confused, possibly even torn, with the decision to expose herself to the darkness that I’d laid out before her.
Her voice was calm and soft, “Isn’t this something Cristo should’ve told me himself?”
“Do you know him well enough to make any judgement on that?”
We fell into silence again as the cup remained steadfast before her lips, steaming gently against her skin. She finally took a sip, setting the cup down on the table as she waved her butler away. With a nervous hand resting on the arm of the couch, her fingers tapped the surface.
I felt sorry for Suzan in that moment, because I could see how she was doubting everything.
“I’ve always been very naïve, you know,” she muttered, subdued and despondent. “I just…have this idealistic approach to everything. I get obsessive about things and think about the extremes. And, you know…this whole time, Cristo felt too good to be true.”
As I listened on, I knew I’d done the right thing by coming here. I was right about Suzan being smart and self-aware. She knew she would do what was best for herself and pull out of this situation on her own
Or so I hoped.
“So, you can see why I want to give this a fighting chance.”
“What?” I looked at her blankly.
She sighed and clasped her hands together, thoughtful and quite literally exuding Mother Teresa’s energy. “I don’t like giving up without putting in any real effort of my own,” she explained. “I mean, that’s something my whole life is built around. And whatever Cristo’s situation may be, I’m sure deep down he is a good man willing to make things right for himself if he was…persuaded.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“Could you leave this here?” she requested softly. “I’d like to go through it once I hear Cristo’s point of view on this situation. I might be able to think clearer that way. Right now, I’m having difficulty separating my emotions from logic. Afterall, I’m a long-term thinker.”
“Of course,” I said and got up slowly. “Take care of yourself, Suzan. I’m rooting for your happiness…and safety.”
“You mustn’t worry so much,” she smiled at me sweetly. “I know how to pick my battles.”
The Billionaire Matching Club Books 1-6
Detail
Share
Font Size
40
Bgcolor