THE SUSPICION

Always pay attention to your surroundings, sweetheart. It's never just what meets the eye.

***

CHAPTER XXVII

*****

LA BRUJA HATED me.

If it wasn't obvious before it was painfully on Friday. I originally suspected it first when I was given my timetable for the day, filled to the brim with all the tasks she knew I didn't like, but it become an obvious fact when she had spent the whole day looking over my shoulder to make sure I was 'keeping up'.

I wouldn't have had a problem if she did it to other maids as well, but it was just me. It got worse every time I'd have to make a trip up towards Daniel's room to do something for him. She would hang around like an annoying fly and listen in to our conversations, making it virtually impossible for me to do anything with him. The only thing I could safely do was thank him verbally for intervening but not in the way I wanted to.

That night as I lay in bed, I couldn't help but wonder if this was going to become a normal everyday occurrence.

Luckily, waking up on Saturday, all thoughts off La Bruja had escaped my mind and I instead focused all of my energy on the day ahead of me with Anna.

"Araceli, just pick something. You've tried on every dress in this store," the blondie complained as I frowned at the red dress I was wearing.

It had a sweat heart neckline with off the shoulder sleeves that literally fell off the shoulders. It wasn't necessarily tight against me but still brought out my curves as it reached mid-thigh. Although it was nice, it wasn't the dress for me.

"I'm trying to find one that looks nice on me," I said, walking back into the changing room and taking it off. I pulled on the dress that Celeste had given me and put all the rejected outfits back on a hanger.

"All of them look nice on you."

Rolling my eyes, I stepped out of the changing room, bringing the outfits out with me.

"Come on. Let's go to a different shop."

"But I'm bored! All I'm doing is following you around."

And that she was as she walked behind me while I made my way around the shop and put the garments of clothes back on the rack.

I turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow. "You know you could always, oh, I don't know, shop for something too?"

She scoffed and looked at me as if I had three eyes. "If I do that, babe, I won't be allowed to complain anymore."

I shook my head and turned around in an attempt to hide the smile playing at my lips. She sighed and followed me as I walked out of the shop and into the nice, Saturday sun.

"How about we take a break from the clothes and head over to that accessory shop over there?" I asked her, pointing across the narrow street to the shop peeking behind the corner.

She followed my gaze and then sighed as she looked at me. "Doesn't that look a little expensive for us, Ara?"

I wasn't going to lie, it did look expensive but not for us. The windows gleamed with the afternoon sun and gave us a clear view of the interior, showing elegant pale pink walls with polished white floors and black, leather sofas. Black shelves and displays were adorned with sparkling pieces of jewellery and perfume bottles.

I felt my definition of expensive was different to most. To me, cheap didn't have meaning unless it was a clearance sale.

I wouldn't be caught dead spending money on target clothes. Not because of the fact that they were cheap, but because of the fact that you were getting exactly what you were spending your money on.

All the clothes were worth every cent and if I was only paying two dollars fifty for it, it wasn't a steal. It was me buying something for two dollars fifty, worth two dollars fifty that wouldn't last long long or didn't give me the same look or comfort as the ones that cost forty fives dollars.

It was quality over quantity any day.

Expensive was when you were paying more for less. And I didn't do that either.

"Come on," I said, grabbing her hand and pulling her along with me past the bustling crowd of shoppers. "We'll buy one perfume bottle. Not the whole store."

I could almost feel her rolling her eyes behind me, but I only smiled and continued dragging her along until the cold air from the AC of the shop hit our clammy skins.

"Well, at least there's one benefit from coming in here," she muttered bitterly as she stepped beside me.

I shook my head and ignored her and instead focused on scouring the shelves for something I knew I was going to really like.

"You really don't like spending your money, do you?" I asked her, turning around just in time to catch her dousing herself in one of the perfumes that were left open for display.

Her face went red with embarrassment and she carefully put the bottle down, looking around to make sure nobody else saw her.

"I don't like spending my money aimlessly," she continued on, pretending that nothing had happened.

I followed after her, opening my mouth to tease her when something on a far shelf had caught my eye. I found myself walking towards it without even thinking until I was right in front of it.

I stared down at the silver chain, slowly rubbing my thumb over the small medallion with the Virgin Mary etched into its cool metal.

I couldn't help but think back to Daniel and the modest silver chain with the cross that Jesus had died on.

He would appreciate a thank you present, right?

I picked it up and turned around, ready to make an impulse purchase but instead ended up bumping into Anna who was looking over my shoulder. She glared at me for my clumsy move before looking down at the pendant in my hand with a raised eyebrow.

"Another rosary? Don't you have enough of these already?" she asked, picking up the chain and hanging it off her thumb.

I grabbed it out of her hand and glared at her. "You unholy cow. This is not a rosary."

I marched over to the desk as she snickered and followed behind me. "Oh no. I'm so sorry. Oh dear lord, Jesus Christ, forgive my poor tainted soul," she joked.

I kept on ignoring her and instead waited for the desk attendant to ring up my items so I could leave.

"That will be fifty-nine dollars and ninety-nine cents, love," the brunette behind the till said as she smiled sweetly at me.

"Hold on... sixty dollars for that? When I could just go on amazon and buy the same thing for a tenth of its price?"

I fought the laugh that was fighting its way up my chest as I pulled out my purse and paid the lady. She gave Anna an amused smile but didn't answer her which I believed was for the best.

We waited a couple minutes for her to box and bag the items before we decided to leave the shop because Anna was seriously starting to make a fool of herself.

"If it makes you feel any better," I began as we walked down the pathway of the outdoor mall, "There's a store having a seventy percent off clearance sale down the road."

The blonde beamed at me and latched onto my arm. "Why didn't you say anything earlier? Lead the way, friend."

***

"What's wrong?"

"Pablo just texted me."

I frowned and leant over the table to look into Anna's phone screen as she frowned at the display.

Unable to see anything, I sat back down and asked, "how does he have your number?"

She looked up at me and shrugged before looking back down at her phone and beginning to probably type a reply. "He says he's going to call me."

It didn't even reach a second before her phone began vibrating in her hands. She quickly answered and held it up to her ear.

"Hey Pablo." There was a long pause after her words of greeting, during which she shared a confused and almost worried look with me. "Yeah, she is." Another pause as she nodded her head and listened closely. "Okay."

"What did he say?" I asked as she took the phone away from her ear. Surprisingly, she handed it to me.

"He wants to talk to you."

I nodded and took it from her, quickly making sure to glance down at the screen to check it was Pablo before holding it up to my ear. "Hello?"

"Araceli, is that you?" his familiar voice rang out from the other side of the phone as I rolled my eyes.

"Who else would it be?"

"Please, Ara, I'm being serious. This is really important."

My stomach dropped at his words as I gulped and nodded as if he could see me.

"What did he say?" Anna mouthed to me, but I could only shake my head and gesture to the phone.

"I need you you to casually look around your surroundings. Don't look suspicious; don't act like you're trying to find someone. Just look around and tell me if you see any men," Pablo said.

My heart sped up as I followed through with his requests, keeping a fake smile on my face as to not alert suspicions towards us before looking back to Anna. She stared at me helplessly, waiting for me to give her information.

"Pablo, I'm in a crowded place. I see a lot of men," I hissed into the phone as the look on Anna's face only became more confused.

"Do you see any suspicious men?" he asked as I rolled my eyes again and placed my elbow on the table, leaning my chin onto my palm.

"Define suspicious."

"Just men that don't look that they belong there. If they're in black, or they're buff and look like they can fight or if they have an earpiece. Do you see anyone that fits that description?" he asked as I glanced around again only to be met with nothing.

"No."

"Good. Now I want you and Anna to get up wherever you are and get yourselves home as if nothing happened."

"But we took a bus! We're in the next town over," I said into the phone, on the verge of freaking out as my mind started to go haywire.

What if someone wanted to kidnap us? What if they were really good at disguise? What if they knew what was going on already?

"Calm down first of all," Pablo said into the phone with a soothing voice, making me close my eyes and take a deep breath. "Just get up and leave. You're most likely safe. And when you get onto the bus, you'll be safer. Don't cause a scene; don't look suspicious. Just smile and leave."

"Okay."

"We're hacking this phone as we speak so whatever you do, don't switch it off." I opened my eyes and looked at Anna who looked like she was silently screaming at me to tell her what was going on. "Don't talk to any strangers. Just make sure you get onto the next bus coming down here as soon as possible. Okay?"

"What's going on, Pablo?" I cried. Was it a crime to want to know what exactly I was running away from?

"I'll tell you when you guys get back. For now just make sure you get back."

I sighed and agreed before saying my goodbyes and cutting the call. I handed the phone back to Anna who looked at me with confusion.

"What happened? What's going on? What did he say?"

I flashed her a fake smile and gathered my bags as I got up. "Come on, let's go finish our shopping."

"Ara-"

"Come on."

The tone I used left no room for argument and, begrudgingly, she got up and followed me towards the exit of the mall. Even as we left and made our way to the nearest bus stop, she didn't comment on the fact that we didn't finish our shopping.

In the hour and a half that we sat waiting for the next bus, I couldn't help but jump and look over my shoulder at every small thing. I had no idea what was going on and who we were running from which only made me feel more pity for Anna who was even more clueless than I was.

As soon as we got onto the bus, I wasted no time in spilling the beans.

"I think there's someone after us."

*****

You don't have to read my A/Ns. Like there's literally nothing important in these unless I tell you there is at the top of the chapter.

I don't why I'm just saying this now but I was reading someone complaining about long ass A/Ns that have nun to do with the story and I was sitting there like "shit, that me."

Lmao anyhoo

I don't know if I should update again because I've got a bonus chapter lined up for next next week but it's between Monday and Thursday's update, but I only publish bonus chapters on Saturdays jus cus

Anyhoo I'll suffer in silence and leave yall to your business.

Oh yeah, btw V in the video is just ❤️❤️