at chapter 5
“I see the world getting darker every time I see the light of faith slowly fading away, letting the corruption grow.”– Khiem.JORDAN POV“All you do is disappoint me. That’s all you fuckin’ know. Look at your brothers. As soon as they graduated, they’d been drowning in job offers. Dan has a nice promising girlfriend, Kory just took the biggest project of his life. Then you…” As always, my dad didn’t give any fuck about the fact that I almost died.No. He was too angry to even focus on that matter alone. And that’s why he has been chowing my head ever since I arrived home from the hospital.“Can’t you just be my son and make me proud once? You can’t even be like your brothers.” The ol’ man’s voice rattled through the vast living room of our home, setting a heavy weight in my chest.Except Jenkins were not my brothers. They were the nice cousins I was always compared to. And no matter what I did, I could never live up to their effortlessly perfect life.“But Papa, Jord is a victim. He was shot, and…”“Naked? Are you telling me that whoever shot him stripped his clothes off and shot him, then threw him in the middle of the street before driving off? Is that what you are telling me, Yelena?” He redirected his scorching temper to my sister, since all of us were in his vicinity, making us his targets.Win a game over my dad and the whole household of Rothschild would feel the burn of his temper.“I mean… that makes sense. It could have happened that way.” Yelena- who always knew how to stand up to him- shrugged casually, crossing her legs elegantly before casting a warm smile at me.Except that’s not what happened.I was the one who took off my clothes, then had the most intense and best sex in all my life before getting shot in the foot, with my dick still half hard.Not that I would tell them that. My dad would die of a heart attack. But not before strangling me with a pillow in my sleep and making it look like an accident.“Have you seen the polls? No matter what I do, the pictures keep resurfacing. Now the whole world knows that I can't keep my house in order. Everything is ruined. Everything.” He dramatically threw his hands into the air and continued pacing up and down.If I were, to be honest, my dad was a dick.His indifference was what made me want to shut my dick in the car door.You don’t get that indifferent with your kids. All he cared about was battling with the politicians of America and a seat in the White House. The ‘royal’ seat as he put it. And with elections just a breath away, he was no different from someone who had escaped from a mental asylum.“We can hold a press conference and…”“And say what? That I have a loser of a son who only knows how to disappoint me?” My dad spat, his words feeling like a very loud slap in my face.Only if he knew just how hurtful his words were.“Mr. Rothschild, please listen.” Diana Bogle- my father's campaign manager and the only sane person enough to get to my father to actually listen- called out from where she sat, her eyes pinned on my father who was losing half of the remains of his balls.“We can hold a press conference, or a charity gala just to steer the tabloids in a different direction.” She suggested, and I sang praise when 5 seconds went by without my father’s scream.Finally. Someone spoke sense into him. And it can only be Diana.“If we’re going to do that then we will have to do it sooner. I am not having all the hard work go down the drain because of this…” The words seemed to be stuck in his throat, and I waited.“Papa that’s enough” Yelena cut him off.“You have scolded him, and he saw his mistake even though there was no mistake, to begin with. But really, enough.” She put up her hand in the air for my father to see.As though a spell had been cast on him, he only glared at me before shifting his gaze to Diana.“When do we do it?”~~~I repeat, My father is a dick.And I am my father’s son.Those were the two conclusions I came up with as the week folded by. With the tabloids raging and my father still breathing down my neck, making sure that I remembered just how disappointed he was with me, I came to terms with the decision of ignoring him and everything that had Thomas in it.I was a disappointment, better live as is.Even now, seated on my balcony with a drink in my hand, my bad foot cradled on the ottoman under a very bright sun of a summer day, I made it my business to ignore his voice that was parading down the hallways as he screamed about this and that.If this was the future president of the United States, so help us God.“Care if I join?” Dan who was suddenly beside me asked, heaving a loud sigh as he dropped into one of the recliners,“You were going to either way.” I shrugged, taking a sip of my beer before setting it on the small table on the right side of my chair.He scoffed.“How is it? Does it hurt?” He nodded to my foot, a big dot of redness coating the bandages.“No. It’s actually tingling.” Note the sarcasm. He just laughed.Daniel Jenkins was so weird. And I liked him for that.He was not predictable, always moving in the shadows. He was a true definition of a pariah, and whatever he said always took a seat in the front of my mind because it was accurate and exactly the way it is.“Pops is pissed.” He addressed, his gaze staring outside blankly.“When isn’t he pissed? We all know of his temper that rages all the days of his life.” I responded, wrenching a hearty laugh from him.That wasn’t funny.But again, he was Dan. The man had the oddest and driest sense of humor and always managed to laugh at all the inopportune times.“Jordan, your father would like to see you in his office.” The voice called from the door, I turned around to find Diana standing by the sill, staring out to where I was outside the bedroom.Somebody needed to teach these people to stop infesting my room without knocking.“Anything important?” I wasn’t trying to be a dick, or at least anything resembling my father.“He insisted.” And with that, I knew there was no way out.Heavily, I sighed, before struggling myself up, then reached from the crutch that was leaning against the glass doors.“Good luck,” Dan piped in, earning himself a sneer from me.Limping and hopping on one foot, I made my way out of the bedroom and joined Diana.“Don’t.” A warning fled my lips when she reached out to support me, and she quickly withdrew her hands from me, not saying a word. Silently, we walked further and further down the spotlessly clean hallways of my home, making our way to the office. At long last, we arrived in front of brown wooden double doors, and the man standing guard was kind enough to push them open for us.My father was sprawled on his big leather office chair, his head leaning back while he stared at us from the corner of his eye. I could feel strong resentment from his gaze, burning and scorching my skin.“That looks awful. Do you need to go to the hospital to get it checked?” He cares? Hell must be freezing!“Nah. I am good.” I cut him off bluntly, wrenching a scoff from him. Just like that, the good mood was quickly flushed away.“So…” Diana commenced after I lowered down to the seat opposite him. She didn’t bother sitting. She probably had ADHD. The woman hardly sat down.“We received an invitation from the Cattanio-Aldermen household.” She beamed like she had announced the best news in the world ever.“And?” My dad asked impatiently,“They wish to help us with the Charity gala, at their household in Beverly Hills.” the words pulled a very bright smile on my father’s face, and in an instant, he shot out of his chair before rounding the desk, then pulled Diana in a big hug.“How did you get them to agree? Working with them is like, hell. With them on my side, I already won the elections.” My father drawled, slapping Diana on her back softly before pulling off from her, then held her at an arms’ length.“Except, I didn’t reach out. They did. And they invited us for dinner tomorrow at their household, to discuss the plans for the gala and see what conclusion we can all come up with. You working with them is enough to take the tabloids off Jordan’s back and focus on something else. Their empire will benefit from the gala, and so will your campaign. Being in their good books guarantees us a seat in the White House. ” She finished with a smile, and Tom literally lost his mind.“Brilliant. That is so fuckin" brilliant.” You could have sworn he was already appointed as the president.“And what does that have to do with me?” My hands rose slightly from my lap as I stared at them.“This is your mess.” He pointed a finger at me, indignation covering the buoyance and the excitement.I really pissed him off this time didn't I?“And you’re going to clean it.”What could go wrong? The Cattanio-Alderman were the most influential people in all of this America, if not the entire world. Although they wore smiles and greeted everyone like Saint Maria, something about them was just off. Let’s see, four parents, I am talking about 3 men and 1 wife, their 3 daughters, and the eldest one who avoided the media like a plague,And oh, money. They were the richest people in the whole of America, if not the rest of the world.No one had that kind of money unless it was dirty money.But, what did I know?CHAPTER 6“Humans are cruel, and everyone has darkness in their hearts that leads to bad things to happen; some more than others.”–Timothy Long MELODY POVElegant piano taps played softly in the background, interluding with the disturbing clanging of knives and forks against the Chinese plates.The steady breeze of a summer evening acted as a pacifier, brushing off my shoulder gently with it's fingers massaging my scalp. The flames from the lanterns and candles danced with ease in their cradles on the stone patio, embracing the wash of the soft blast. Aside from the loud chewing sounds and loud hums and murmurs that made me think of planting a knife in someone's palm, it was really a beautiful night. The plan had been simple, too simple for the words. Get the Rothschilds hooked on us, fund one of their campaigns, and make them win the elections by nook or crook. I had expected some obstacle, a few restraints along the way, and some bloody convincing for it to go down, but then nop
CHAPTER 7 “I believe that a good man does badly with good intentions. But does a bad man do bad with no intentions? Or good with bad intentions?” — Jean Anturez JORDAN POV YOU HAVE GOT TO BE SHITTING ME. Those were the exact words that left my mouth when we all stepped into the renowned Cattanio-Alderman household and my eyes stumbled on none but Laura Fuckin’ Alderman. Just like the night before she planted a slag into my leg, she wore a beautiful pearly smile, the one that lured the weak into her trap before she busted the little fantasy that loomed around her, revealing her very dark and ugly core. Our gazes collided and darkness had swirled in her eyes before she gave me a spine-chilling smile. It wasn’t the evil kind of darkness; it was a mixture of what I’d call amusement and something I was still trying to decipher. Her smile had been almost contagious, stepping in front of her whole family and taking up the role of the eldest daughter of the wealthiest family in all of
CHAPTER 8“Advantages never come free. You have to create it the way you want it.”— Ashish PatelMELODY POV“A masquerade? Not so bad.” I nodded to my three fathers who were seated on their office couches like kings they were. It would have been crazy in the eyes of the world and the gods for three grown-ass men to share literally everything. But this kind of thing is the only thing I have known since I spoke my first word.It was either three of them or nothing. As puzzling as it was, I found it highly fascinating that the three of them could be so close, despite... Everything. Their past; considering that Daddy used to be Dada and Papa's sworn enemy. Add the mere fact that the three of them loved one woman. I have read stories during times of severe boredom, but I have never come across a tale of a woman with three husbands. Not even the gods were that blessed.And I am saying blessed because they all loved her to death. The men would literally die for Mommy. And honestly, if I d
CHAPTER 9“Be careful of success. It has a dark side.” — Robert RedfordJORDAN POV“You should keep their eldest daughter busy, son. We can’t let this opportunity slip through our fingers.” The itch to scream was hot and unforgiving beneath my skin as my father repeated the same words for the umpteenth time ever since they disappeared into the office that night.Get Fuckin’ close to Melody Cattanio.“And why would I do that? I don’t even know her.” I retaliated using the same words I spouted whenever he threw that phrase into my face. I did know Melody. To some extent of course. Nobody in this world could actually say they knew that girl all too well. She was a sin wrapped in a mystery, and not even a hundred years would be enough to fully study her. At least that's the conclusion I drew after spending a few seconds of her sitting across from me, and not me inside of her. “We all saw how you two looked at each other. You can't stand in front of us and swear that nothing has ever ha
CHAPTER 10 “I have a perfect cure for sore throat… cut it!”— Alfred HitchcockMELODY POVEvery man filtering through the door could make a fine husband. And if I was desperate enough, I would sew my own wedding gown and tie one of them by my side right fuckin' now.The lobby was buzzing with California Elites and the members of “high-class society”. I wasn’t surprised when Jada Pinkett Smith herself showed up, even more, when nobody seemed to be fazed by her appearance. You had to be one hell of a rich sick fuck to see Jada Pinkett and not lose your shit and start asking for selfies and whatnot. But my focus wasn’t on women. I don’t need women and their wantons. No shades at the lesbos… But men… Yahp. Those creatures are amazing. And they smell nice too. With the rim of the glass on my lips, I scanned the crowd stealthily while taking small sips. The wine settled in my stomach with a wave of warmth, heating my chest pleasantly as I continued my survey.My eyes landed to my right,
CHAPTER 11"It's almost as if we each have a vampire inside us. Controlling that beast, that dark side, is what fascinates me." - Sheryl LeeJORDAN POVIt felt like being dunked into a pool of molten lava.The chlorine as it sipped into the plastic cast and passed the bandages into my sore wound. I tried for the laps, kicking the water and breaking through the surface, but a cramp decided to grasp me by my muscles, rendering me immobile. I became a lump of breathing meat under the bright blue pool water. The only thing I saw before I sank to the bottom was a glimpse of red and sparkly heels as they retreated, the sound of them hauntingly ringing in my brain.My chest burned as my lungs fought for air, and for a second there, I thought this was it.What a pathetic way of dying. What a lot of things I am going to miss in life. I opened my mouth and tried to resurface, only to fail miserably. A firm arm snaked around my chest and pulled me up. We broke through the surface in what fe
CHAPTER 12“The heart of another is a dark forest, always, no matter how close it has been to one’s own.”__William WordsworthMELODY POVHazel eyes, rainforest, and hot muscles.That’s the definition of distraction in all forms of the word and I hated it.The things I felt for Jordan Fuckin’ Rothschild had to be all inhuman, and I found myself having a hard trying to wrap my mind around the whole thing.Normally, anybody who carried just a fraction of what HE possessed would be unalived, thrown into the sea, and contributed to the marine food chain and survival. One thing I understood intimately was that in this line of work, distraction was suicide, and we all know I don’t do well with all that.But there was something burning low and unhurried deep within the foreign folds of my being that prevented me from planting a bullet between his eyes. It wouldn’t even cost a lot, just one bullet and all of this… All of this madness would be gone and over with. But he was my pawn. My boardi
CHAPTER 13“The more we deny that we have a dark side, the more power it has over us.” __ Sheryl LeeJORDAN POVAll the air that was going down my pipe got trapped in a balloon, causing me to heave out and start coughing frantically.A smooth hand found my back and started patting softly, but the coughs never seized. “Ahhhmm… I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to startle all of you. It was just… Oh, silly me.” I watched as the hostess got up and poured a glass of water before rounding the table and walking to me, then held it up for me, an apologetic smile on her face. “Thanks.” I wheezed as I took the glass and gulped down the whole liquid down. WHAT IN THE ACTUAL HELL?“I was just… Oh, my word. This is embarrassing.” Mrs. Cattanio-Alderman laughed off nervously as she started walking back to her seat, her face flushed and making her look 20 years younger than her actual age. “That’s actually a good idea.” My dad jibed in, and I stopped myself from throwing the empty glass at his head.