Painful Redemption | T. R.

Chapter Twenty-One

Penelope and Tiernan were not long in arriving for dinner. Perhaps they only missed the welcome toast, but nothing more. The moment she saw them, her heart began to beat so fast in her chest that she thought it might jump out at any moment. Worry and guilt were clearly visible on her face, but the couple smiled genuinely at her when they passed her. They had more relaxed faces, though they admitted they were definitely a little worried about Isidore. Tiernan stroked her shoulder affectionately, while Penelope waved a hand in mid-air. "Take it easy," she had said, pointing her gaze to a distant spot in the room where Tom stood with his back straight, a twisted smile on his face. He sipped from his goblet, looking Penelope straight in the eye. He was clearly challenging her, but Anastasia was too busy looking for safety to realise it. "I know you didn't want to leave."

Paradoxically, the dinner turned out to be chaotic for the sole reason that Anastasia learned about another facade of Tom that she had never seen before.

Probably because she had never paid too much attention to it at previous dinners, or because she was too busy simply living the evening with her date rather than staring at Tom the whole time. But the surprise was really big and totally unexpected, in every way.

It seemed that the compliments and admiration of everyone present made him feel purely happy. Which, in itself, appeared to be a little twisted. But for once, the smile on his lips didn't seem to be so forced. Quite the contrary. And besides, he had done something that had left Anastasia speechless, simply because the two were, first and foremost, in constant competition. Certainly, one had the qualities the other did not, and vice versa. And yet, when someone introduced a speech about awards and recognition, Tom was keen to point out that the girl deserved them as much as he did. No, he didn't say she deserved them more than anyone else, but it was a start, wasn't it?

She didn't know and couldn't understand what Tom's real intentions were in saying those words and behaving in such a friendly and gallant way towards her and in front of other people, because even when they were left alone, he maintained the same attitude towards her. So the girl did not come to suspect that there were so many dark double aims.

She was clearly wrong.

Tom had stepped into the room already unnerved by the fact that his powers had proved to be virtually useless on the girl. Sure, he'd gotten her up and dragged her into the corridors, but the magic had ended there. So he had come to the conclusion that he had to use the other greatest power he possessed: his charisma. Nothing more, nothing less.
He had brushed against her, taking her hand in his, holding her body to himself to dance together as he whispered in her ear. Tom was aware that he was, objectively speaking, an attractive guy. He could read it in the eyes of anyone who stood next to him for more than a second. And that clearly worked in his favour in many circumstances.

According to his calculations, this would have been enough to soften the situation enough for him to take the reins and start moving his pawns again. Every day he took a step closer to Anastasia. Sometimes she was a little suspicious, at other times totally unaware of everything because she was genuinely interested in getting to know him. If only the girl had remembered how in the beginning she was constantly under his power. But fortunately, he had already taken care of that problem quickly, without arousing suspicion. And she didn't remember a single moment of it. For her, it was all natural, and that was another point in favour of Tom wanting to know her secret more than anyone else.

By that point, everyone thought that his had become a mere childish whim and that perhaps it was time to let go and start really worrying about his plan to rise to power. Yet he felt that this secret could change many things. For better, for worse? This he could not foresee. But he was willing to risk it for answers.