A New Family

CHAPTER TWO

RAIN’S POV

I was still standing when he got closer.

That was the first problem.

The second problem was that the man smelled so good I nearly forgot my own name.

His cologne had no business doing that. It was calm, expensive, and rude. Like him.

He stopped in front of me and looked at me for a second, not in a hard way.

“Sit, Rain.”

His voice was smooth enough to make me obey before my brain caught up.

“Okay.”

I sat quickly and awkwardly, clutching my small handbag like it could save me from embarrassment. He sat across from me on the couch opposite mine, one ankle over his knee, easy and composed, like men like him were born in rooms like this and never once felt out of place.

Meanwhile, I was trying not to stare too openly.

He was even more unfair up close.

“Let me introduce myself properly,” he said. “I’m Lucien Vale.”

I blinked.

He continued, “You can call me Mr. Vale or Lucien. Whichever makes you comfortable.”

“Hmmm.”

Brilliant, Rain.

He looked like he noticed my lack of proper words, but he did not make me feel silly for it.

“I own Vale Holdings. More specifically, Vale Real Estate.”

My eyes widened before I could stop them. “The Vale Real Estate?”

A tiny smile touched his mouth. “Yes. That one.”

“Oh.”

That was all I had.

Because what else was I supposed to say?

Sorry, sir, I have seen your company on the news before and I’m pretty sure people like you don’t exist in real life?

He watched me quietly.

I swallowed. “Your company is… big.”

“Is that your polite way of saying I should have mentioned that before now?”

My mouth fell open a little. “No. I mean— yes. No. I just…”

He saved me.

“You don’t have to be nervous.”

“Hmmm.”

There I went again.

He leaned back slightly. “You should feel comfortable here, Rain. This is your home now.”

I looked at him.

I do not know what showed on my face, but something must have, because his expression changed just a little. It became softer.

He went on, “Rhode will attend to you soon. She’ll have a room prepared for you, run you a bath if you want one, and make sure you get anything you need. Food too. Whatever you want.”

“Hmmm.”

Dear God.

He almost smiled again. “You have other words, I hope.”

That pulled a nervous laugh out of me. “I do. I think I just left them outside.”

“That happens.”

His tone was so dry I nearly laughed again.

I pressed my lips together and looked down at my hands. “I’m sorry. I just… I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t need to say anything impressive.”

“That’s good, because I don’t have anything impressive.”

“You’ll be fine.”

Something in me eased at that.

I looked up. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

The room went quiet for a second, but not the painful kind.

Then he stood.

I stood too because I did not know the rules in rich people houses and I was not about to disgrace Matron Celestine.

His eyes flicked over me like he was stopping himself from saying something. “I have somewhere to be.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“My niece will be with you shortly. Thelma will show you around.”

My head lifted. “Your niece?”

“Yes.”

I nodded quickly. “Okay.”

“If you need anything, ask Rhode.”

“Hmmm.”

That got the smile this time. A real one, brief and dangerous.

Then he turned, adjusted the cuff of his sleeve, and walked away like he had not just ruined my peace.

I kept staring until he disappeared.

Then I sat back down slowly and pressed my palm to my chest.

“Jesus Christ,” I whispered to myself. “What is this house?”

I looked around again, properly this time.

Everything was too much, it was clean and beautiful. Even the air felt expensive.

My bag looked like it had wandered in here by mistake.

I laughed under my breath, then covered my face for a second.

“A new home,” I murmured. “A real new home.”

It still did not feel real.

I thought of the room I had been managing before this. The leaking ceiling. The broken fan. The landlord who knocked like he wanted to fight. The nights I went to bed with garri and prayer.

And now this.

A couch so soft I was scared to lean back too hard.

A man who looked like that telling me this was my home.

I clutched my rosary in my hand and whispered, “Thank you, Lord. Please don’t let me mess this up.”

“Rain?”

I turned so fast I nearly twisted my neck.

The girl standing there stared at me.

I stared back.

Then both our mouths fell open at the same time.

“Thelma?”

“Rain?”

We shrieked.

She ran at me and I ran at her and we crashed into each other in the middle of that giant living room, hugging like fools.

“Oh my God!” she yelled.

“Oh my God!” I yelled back.

She pulled away and held my shoulders. “What are you doing here?”

“I live here now!”

“What?”

“I was adopted!”

“What?”

We both screamed again.

She dragged me into another hug, bouncing in place. “No way. No actual way. Uncle Lucien showed me your picture and I nearly died.”

I pulled back. “Your uncle is Mr. Vale?”

“Yes!”

“Lucien Vale?”

“Yes!”

“The Lucien Vale?”

She started laughing. “Rain, how many Lucien Vales do you know?”

“I don’t know! Maybe rich people have levels.”

That made her laugh harder.

I held her arms and looked at her properly. “Wait. You mean you’ve been coming to that bookstore for all those months and you never told me your uncle was that Mr. Vale?”

She tossed her hair. “And you never told me you were going to become my cousin.”

“That is because I didn’t know!”

“Well, now you know.”

We started laughing again.

It felt so good I could have cried.

Two years ago, when I worked in that tiny bookstore, Thelma used to come in almost every week. At first I thought she just liked books, but later I found out she mostly liked talking. She would buy one novel and gist with me for thirty minutes straight. Somehow, we became friends from there.

Not best friends, because life got in the way, but the kind of friend you remember warmly. The kind that made hard days less ugly.

And now she was here.

In this house.

In my life...

“This is insane,” I said.

“I know.”

She grabbed my hand. “Come on. I’m showing you everything.”

She started pulling me along before I could even catch my breath.

The house was too big. That was my first real conclusion.

“Who needs all this?” I asked as we walked down a long hallway.

“Apparently my family,” Thelma said.

“This is not a house. This is a small country.”

She laughed. “You haven’t even seen the east wing.”

“There’s a wing?”

“Rain.”

“There’s an east wing?”

“Focus.”

I kept shaking my head as she took me around.

I stopped dead.

“Thelma.”

“I know.”

“No, seriously. Thelma.”

“I know.”

I turned to her. “People live like this?”

She grinned. “Apparently.”

“I’m not surviving this place.”

“You will. Just don’t start apologizing every five minutes. Uncle Lucien hates that.”

I frowned. “He does?”

“He thinks people apologize too much when they’ve done nothing wrong.”

“Huh,” I said.

She looked at me sideways. “You like him already.”

“What?”

“As your new dad, of course,” she said quickly, laughing. “Relax.”

“Oh.”

Why had my heart jumped like that?

We kept walking.

She showed me the kitchen, the breakfast room, the indoor gym that I had no use for, the back terrace, and then finally her closet.

She dropped onto a chair in the closet and kicked off her slippers. “Sit down.”

I perched on the edge of a bench like everything around me might reject me if I got too comfortable.

She noticed, of course.

“Relax,” she said. “Nobody here is going to chase you out.”

I smiled a little. “I’m trying.”

“You don’t have to try with me.”

I looked away fast. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

There was a small pause.

Then her face brightened again. “Seriously though, when Uncle Lucien told us he wanted to adopt someone, my mother and I were shocked.”

I looked back at her. “He told you?”

“Not everything. Just that he had made up his mind.”

“And then he showed you my picture?”

She nodded. “The moment I saw you, I shouted. My mom thought I had lost it.”

I laughed. “You probably did.”

“Maybe small.”

I looked around her closet again, still half in disbelief. “So this is really happening.”

“It is.”

“I have a rich dad now.”

She laughed so hard she bent forward. “Rain!”

“What? I do.”

“You sound like you want to frame it.”

“I do want to frame it.”

She pointed at me. “You are crazy.”

“I’ve suffered too much to act normal.”

“That is fair.”

She suddenly lowered her voice even though we were alone. “A few days ago, I overheard Uncle Lucien talking to my mom.”

I blinked. “About me?”

“I didn’t hear everything.”

My fingers tightened in my lap. “What did you hear?”

She chewed her lip for a second. “He said he had some kind of debt to pay.”

I stared at her.

She continued, quieter now. “And the only way to pay it was by adopting someone.”

My mouth parted slightly.

“What kind of debt?” I asked.

She shook her head. “I don’t know. That was all I heard before my mom saw me and sent me away.”