Fifty-SixNathan I yanked off my trousers, holding them up in the air. The same butler who had approached me the first time, appeared again to retrieve it. I studied his form quite well. He was of average height and looked every bit like a normal American middle-aged man. He must've noticed that I was scrutinizing him, because he quickly bowed and walked away, fading into the background. "So what's the plan?" I mumbled walking through the crowd of men and women fucking like a bunch of honey rabbits. "I need to find Noah," "How do you know, he'll show up?" Cameron asked. "For all we know, he's probably passed out in a bar," "He'll show up. He's trying to protect Mom and Dad. He can't afford to piss off Eduardo," I replied.Pretending to be interested in watching couples doing the dirty, I checked the faces of the men, subtly, one after the other. None of them was Noah. Where the hell was he? Eduardo had only invited fifteen men to his stupid orgy party. Why the hell couldn't I fi
Fifty-Seven Chloe"...And he just dropped this and walked off," I explained to Addison. She swallowed the noodles she was eating so she could speak. "See?! I knew he was shady. Shady old man. I can't believe we allowed Adele to smile at him like that. Right baby?" She cooed at Adele who sat on her thighs, pouting because we wouldn't allow her to eat noodles. I looked down at the card and flash drive. "He seemed pretty serious, Addy. He knew so much about me." "He's a stalker, that's what," Addy said. "We should report him to the police," I was afraid but somehow I didn't think we needed to involve the police yet. "What about the flash drive? Shouldn't we check it out first?" Addison shrugged. "What if they're filled with dick pics?" "Addison!" I yelled, reaching across the rug to block Adele's ears. "Oh please," she rolled her eyes. "She watches Cartoon network does she not? The name of that guy that follows Batman around is Dick. How's this any different?" "It's different be
Fifty-EightNathan'You have to survive Nathan. You have to fucking survive and if I have to tear the world apart, I will!'Noah's words from the day before rang in my head as if played constantly on repeat. I couldn't get his words out of my head. Survive? What did he mean he would tear the world apart for me to survive? Was that what he had been doing all along, trying to help me survive? Fuck. Had I been seeing it all wrong? I closed my eyes trying to think about what had happened the day I went to my parent's house. They had behaved nonchalantly at first. All of them. Noah had pissed off some crazy mafia dude and my mom had still been making fish sauce, dancing, and shaking her hips like everything was fine. Dad had slept like a baby and the only time Noah had looked serious was when we were outside by the pool. When he 'disowned' me. You have to survive Nathan...... If I have to tear the world apart, I will!I sighed, rubbing my forehead. When he made things public to the me
Fifty-NineChloeMy knees knocked together nervously as we waited in the reception room. I was a nervous wreck, but fuck if I could control my knees. I glanced at David, wondering what I would do if all he said turned out to be true after all. He claimed I wasn't Chloe Tristan. That mom and Dad had stolen me off when I was a kid. Fucking hilarious. It was absurd and unbelievable and yet here I was in a fucking hospital."Relax Chloe," David muttered soothingly."Since I met you, you've said that to me like a gazillion times," I told him, rubbing my hand on my thighs so I could calm my shaky legs. "Because you're always so wound up. It's easy to see how Tristan and his wife have treated you," he muttered and I looked away. "Stop talking about my parents like that," I said timidly. I had no idea why I was defending them. They had treated me badly... Sometimes. But we had good memories too... I think. Crap what was this? Some memory lane trip? I shook my head and faced David. "Why
SixtyNathan."The media is going crazy!" A director yelled. "They're calling you a ruthless person and a cruel son!" I was at another board of directors meeting. Unlike other meetings which weren't about me, this one was. It had been five days since my parents died and no one had seen me mourn in public. I had them buried away from prying media eyes and so all they had was the information that they were buried. Nobody knew how or where. And they were dying to know. With the press in the dark, everyone else was in the dark, and my directors? Well, they couldn't take it anymore. They were dying with suspense and had called a board meeting over something that wasn't of their concern.Fucking Nitwits. I stared blankly at the director who must have started the whole thing. "They disowned me. I don't see why I have to mourn them for a long time," I could see the horror on his face as he blubbered. "B...but we do not want such bad publicity for the company! If you look bad, we all look
Sixty OneChloeI was back. South Carolina stared back at me, with its pretty blue skies and natural landscape. The air was the same. Fresh especially in the mornings like this. My stomach turned queasy as second thoughts plague my mind. Could I really follow through with the plan? "Hello, Carolina! Your bitches are back!" Addison screamed as she alighted from the plane ruining my moment. "Yayyyyyy!!!!" Adele cheered in David's arms as he climbed down the stairs as well, a wide grin on his face.I had to be the only one who wasn't excited to be back. "So," David said, looking at me, "Think you're ready for this? I told you two months ago that you don't have to do it if you are not ready." I gave him a small smile. Right, he had. "I'm ready, I wouldn't be here if I wasn't." "Alright! Now that you've all done your sour sappy moment, Let's get going!" Addison cheered, urging us forward. "I don't even get why you're excited," I mumbled as she pushed us toward the airport. "Bitc-
Sixty TwoNathan The water cascaded down my hair to the rest of my body. I sighed at the soothing feel, feeling all my muscles groan and creak with soreness. Pouring a bit of shampoo I massaged it into my hair, washing off the grime and dirt that came from training at the gym. The shower was the only place where my head wasn't noisy. It was weird because usually, it should be the opposite. I felt at peace there, concentrating on every droplet as it ran its course down my body. It was healing. Exactly what I needed. When I felt clean enough, I stepped out of the shower and into my room. I had moved out of my apartment the night after Noah died. All I saw in my fucking dreams was him saying Chloe's name before he died. It had been two months since then and I didn't have a clue. Not one. Even if I wanted to find Chloe, where would I go? I had searched the whole of South Carolina years ago, but she had been nowhere to be found. He had to have left the state or even the fucking countr
Sixty ThreeChloe"Ready?" Addison asked as we alighted from the Camaro. I, her, and David. "I wish everyone would quit asking me that," I mumbled looking up at the building before us. "I'm already a nervous wreck, I don't need a constant reminder that I'm new at this." "Just checking in," she muttered and we both chuckled. My parents' company stood right before my eyes. The sign at the top of the four-story building read Tristan and co Winery. I pursed my lips in indignation. "Two years ago, it used to read Montgomery Wines." David said, "The bastard didn't hesitate to rope all the directors to his side once your parents were dead and carved his dirty name on their legacy." How could he be so greedy? Was the money he lynched off the Benjamins not enough? How could he even face my parents after stealing their child? It was a plain old-hearted felony. "Let's go in, shall we? It's time Tristan saw a ghost," I said, pressing my lips into a fine line. I was Arabella Montgomery. And