Chapitre 9: Now or never

Lindsey started telling her what she wanted to know. "Xavier is the son of Oliver and Melissa Walker. They both belonged to the most respected family in this town." Basing it on Lindsey's face, she had a lot of information about them.

"Oliver?" Now, she was confused. All this time, she thought Rafael was the father of her friend. She tried to recall her encounter with Xavier and Raf. She discerned that Xavier never once called him father or dad. She just assumed that it was their relationship.

"Xavier's father. He died two years ago in a surfing competition." Lindsey also let go of the sandwich she was eating as she continued on her story. It appeared that she was quite involved in their life as she related what she knew.

"After the accident, Melissa was devastated by the loss of her husband. It was rough on her, so Rafael did what he could to help her recover from the tragedy." Lindsey took a deep breath. From her angle, she could see some tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

"Rafael? How come you know so much about their family?" Her curiosity was taking over her again. She wanted to get more details about Rafael's involvement in all this.

"Because I helped raise those boys. Oliver and Rafael are twins." Lindsey clarified. "They are the sons of our former boss. When their father died, Rafael took over their businesses. He now owns this resort. Oliver assisted, but he was more interested in his passion for surfing than running a business."

That was news to her. She would not have thought of that in a million years. Finally, it made sense now. In this case, her assumption that Rafael was married was wrong or not. He might still have his own family.

"This Rafael guy, what about his family?" It was more than likely that he was already married too. Although, he still did look young based on his appearance.

"Oh no. Rafael is still young and very much single." Now, Lindsey was looking at her funnily, making her assessment of the situation. "If you're wondering about Xavier, Oliver was a young father. He got Melissa pregnant when they were just seventeen."

That explained a lot. Now, what to do with all those information. She mused to herself. If Xavier was ten, then that would make him around twenty-seven. He was indeed still young. She concluded.

When she remained silent, Lindsey got more interested in her reaction. "What is this all about?"

"Nothing... I was thinking of Xavier and what he had gone through. It had been almost a week since I last saw him. I think I miss my friend," she reasoned, hoping that she was more convincing than what she felt. Although she was not lying about missing that little adorable boy.

"Is that all? I remembered Gerry telling me that you and Rafael had a heated argument the other day because of Baxter." She could see that Lindsey was fishing for a reaction from her. "He would not stop talking about it." Linsey kept eyeing her as if she was examining her lie.

That traitor, she thought. Gerry knew all this time, and he left her to deal with his boss on her own. Not that she could not defend herself from him, but if he had told her about the dog earlier, then he would have saved her from the unwanted encounter.

"Yeah, it was a misunderstanding," she took her lemonade, trying to relieve the dryness in her lips. "Rafael started accusing me of kidnapping Xavier and Baxter. The nerve of that guy." She could not help the irritation in her voice as she recalled how they met the second time around.

"Rafael would do anything for Xavier, even with that dog of his. Baxter was originally Oliver's dog," Lindsey said. "He is a good guy and a great boss. I'm sure you just started on the wrong foot," Lindsey tried to defend his boss, hoping that would change her view of Rafael.

"Well, he should not start accusing people just like that," she insisted. "Anyway, can I ask you another question?" She ran her hands through her hair, only to remember that she had cut her hair short.

"Sure, what is it about?" Lindsey asked, trying to analyze her movements. There was something odd in the way she was acting and she contemplated if it had something to do with his boss.

Knowing about this new information about Rafael, something flickered in her mind, just like a light bulb. An idea that she could not ignore.

"Does he keeps track of the guests here?" she asked impromptu.

"As far as I know, not personally. Rafael has people who handle that. He had other businesses he has to attend to." Lindsey was now very curious about what she was thinking.

"Ok. That's good." She whispered to herself. She suddenly stood up and started pacing the wooden patio floor.

"What?" Lindsey barely heard her, but she did. Sky's pacing was starting to make her dizzy, but she could see the wheels in her head spinning. In a week, she was beginning to understand this young lady in front of her, and she could see that she had something up on her sleeves.

"Nothing important," trying to dismiss her earlier question. "Just indulged me for a while," she continued when Lindsey appeared unconvinced.

Sky knew what she was concocting in her mind was not a good idea, but she felt she had to do it.

That afternoon, alone in her villa, she contemplated whether to proceed with her plan. Knowing that Rafael was not married and very much available, she figured that it was about time she taught him a lesson.

She tapped on the card in her left hand and stared on her phone. She already placed Rafael's number on the screen. All that was left for her to do was to type a message or make a call.

"Come on, you can do it, Sabrina, Sky... Sky..." She chanted on her own while still reminding herself of her new temporary identity.

She would make him understand that making a judgment on other people without any foundations was not good. Not because she pretended in her profession did not mean that she had no integrity.

Well, thinking about it, she suddenly realized that her integrity just got flushed in the toilet when her secret affair got splashed in the news for all the world to see.

She wondered how she would be able to get back to her life. It had been a week, but the news about her and Brad just kept escalating. More pictures of them were spreading, even compromising ones. With the elections still a couple of months away, Margie said that this scandal was not likely to end soon.

As long as Brad was running for his re-election, his enemies would keep using this information to smear his campaign.

She quickly shook her head to erase the memory of Brad. She needed to forget about him. She had shed enough tears for the man who did not even deserve it.

In the end, she decided to type a short message to him, having no nerve to call him. It was now or never, she said to herself.