Chapter 05
12 years ago {2008}
"Mommy, why does daddy hate us?" I asked as my mom, while my brother, and I lied on the grass as we stared at the sky.
"Your daddy doesn't hate us princesse, he just has... problems" She replied as she smiled at me before she got both my brother and I a sandwich that were from the basket
"Then why does daddy hurt us?" My brother asked as he grabbed the sandwich taking a bite from it
"He's just angry okay?" She replied as she had a bittersweet smile plastered onto her face
"Will you ever hurt us?" I asked as I looked at her with curiosity in my eyes
"I'll never ma princesse et mon prince" She replied as she kissed the top of both my brother and I's head.
LIA {present}
——
"No!" I responded as I slammed the table causing everyone to look at me some with a tint of curiosity in their eyes
"Do you think our supposed lawyer should be a 'mother' who left her kids because she was scared of going to prison?" I asked as I continued to stare at the lady who was my mother.
She was looking so elegant, her jet black hair made into curls as it made its way freely down her shoulders. She had all this expensive jewelry and clothes. It made me furious knowing that she had all the necessities to survive and yet she didn't think twice about leaving her children without coming back for them.
"I admit I was wrong for what I did in the past but this is also my job, I can't let any personal feelings about anyone in this room affect what I'm supposed to do especially if it's because of my daughter" She finally spoke as she analyzed me as she stared at me from my face down to my shoes as I rolled my eyes
"First of all, I am not your daughter. Secondly, fine do your job but I sure as hell am not staying in this room" I spoke as I got my things and stood up
"Lia stop, we have to cooperate remember?" Ares whispered with a scared look in my eyes
I shook my head in response to him as I continued making my way out the door. I took the next step and all of a sudden I felt a sharp pain in my neck causing me to drop to the floor and yell.
"Merde" I yelled out causing Ares to quickly come and assist me as the others continued to stare at me, with a tint of pity which was once curiosity in their eyes, scared that Kllian will get angry at them as well.
"Stop being a bitch and cooperate Laurent" Kllian spoke
I looked at him with anger in my eyes. He only smirked and responded to me with a blank yet demanding stare. I scoffed and continuously muttered under my breath foul words hoping that he would hear some of it, I sighed knowing that he was still in charge and I sat on the chair ignoring the pain still left in my neck.
They continued to discuss about things and assets of having a lawyer by our sides are. Most of them are positive but even I was having doubts. I looked back to the woman that was speaking in front of me.
I was full of anger, envy, curiosity, and happiness now that I've seen my mother, and it made my thoughts even messier than it was before.
As we left the room, I cannot help but think about how she got here. It was impossible that she knew about this institution before well at least I think, and yet even I don't know my mother anymore. I continued to be deep in my thoughts right before someone snapped me out of it as I bumped into him.
"Sorry" I spoke as I looked at him and his set of hazel brown eyes that was once again, intoxicating to say the least.
"Oh, hey Lia" he spoke as he waved his hand while he smiled showing his pearly white teeth
"Xander, hi" I replied as I gave him a small smile as well
"We're still on for tonight right?"
"Tonight?" I asked thinking about what tonight was for
"Yeah tonight, for our date? You didn't forget, did you?"
"Uhm yeah! I totally remembered, and yes we're still on" I said as I smiled
"See you tonight then" He spoke as he closed off the inches between us as he gently placed his lips on the top of my head
I continued to stand there for what felt like hours until I saw Lennox leaning against the wall staring at me
"Tsk" He managed to utter out
"What are you looking at?" I asked annoyed
"Nothing" He spoke as I rolled my eyes while I continued to walk back to my room
LENNOX
——
"See you tonight then" He spoke as he closed off the inches between him and Lia as he gently placed his lips on the top of her head.
I leaned against the wall looking at Lia who was still frozen in shock at what happened.
"Tsk" I unconsciously muttered out as I blankly looked at her face who stared at me shock for a second and quickly composed herself once again
"What are you looking at?" She asked clearly with frustration in her eyes as her forehead crumpled creating lines while I silently chuckled
"Nothing" I spoke still silently chuckling as she made her way back to her room
Una donna così unica, è strana ma inebriante tsk
I made my way back to my room right before I saw my father looking at me, I went near him as I stared blankly at him as well.
"What?" I asked blankly without even caring if I was sounding politely or not
"I need you to do something for me" He spoke in a sternly manner as I looked at him this time with a tint of curiosity in my eyes
"Find out more about the Laurent's and their history" He spoke this time in a softer tone not letting others to accidentally hear
"Didn't you do that already?"
"It was wiped clean"
"Then how do you expect me to gather the info?"
"Get closer to the younger one"
"Lia?" I asked as he nodded in response
"You'll also be guarding Kalliah with Nerion at her 'date' tonight"
"Why can't her brother or just Nerion guard her?" I asked as my face crumpled like Lia's earlier
"Her brother isn't good at combat and you and I both know Nerion is too reckless without someone guarding him as well and you were the only one available" He spoke as I sighed and nodded
"Don't forget what we spoke about Hallari, check her background" He spoke before leaving as I nodded in response
"So, are we going to be guarding the princess?" Nerion asked from behind me causing me to lose my composure for a millisecond
"Tsk" I muttered as I saw him eating a bag of popcorn
"Are we?" He asked once again as I nodded in response and walked to my room still with unanswered question in my head while Nerion continued to talk about irrelevant things of which I ignored.
Why was my father so concerned about their past? They can't be that much of a threat. Sure, they have a past with their mother but their family can't be that dangerous. Tsk.
I asked myself as I remembered how Lia looked when her mother walked inside the room earlier and how she slammed the desk with so much anger and frustration in her eyes. Who are you really sprezzatura? I sighed in frustration as I bid goodbye to Nerion and entered my room.
LIA
——
I woke up as I felt my phone buzz causing me to grab it and look at my notification.
From : Xander
Good morning! Let's meet at my hotel tonight 6:30, see you there ;)))
I smiled at the cute emoticon he typed in. I looked at the time and saw 5:00 PM, Saturday as I sighed and saw how much time I wasted.
I quickly showered and got dressed for my 'date' tonight as I texted Kllian about the details tonight. I continued to get dressed as I heard a knock at the door. I opened it and saw A.M. and Heccariah with a makeup set.
"Hey?" I spoke still confused as to why they're here
"Hey girl!" They spoke with a big smile plastered onto their face
"What are you and Heccariah doing here?" I asked A.M. as she pointed at Heccariah
"We'll be helping you get ready for your date! And please call me Aria" She responded with a bigger smile as I nodded and opened the door wider signaling for them to come in.
They asked me to sit in the vanity seat as Aria prepared the makeup set while A.M. prepared the curling iron.
"So, are you both coming with me?" I asked breaking the deafening silence
"No, close your eyes" Aria answered as she continued to put eyeshadow onto my eyelids
"We're still doing a mission and unfortunately we can't help you with yours until we finish ours or if it's really urgent, like all hand on deck type of situation" She spoke chuckling at the end while she curled my hair as I nodded.
"Done!" They both exclaimed as they showed me the finished product
"This is actually beautiful, thanks" I spoke as I looked at myself in the mirror.
I looked different from how I usually looked, my eye bags were covered with concealer (as Heccariah said) and blush, as they added highlights to both my nose and cheeks as well as the corner of my eyes.
They added smoking red eyeshadow to my eyelids and black to both the outer and inner corners of my eyes and a little shimmer on the middle, they matched the smoking red dress which I wore. They added eyeliner and mascara as well. Finally, to top it all off, they added dark red matte lipstick which got the look together.
"Oh, and lastly" A.M. spoke as she got a beautiful necklace with a small hold plated diamond hanging in the middle with an L engraved at the back
"Lennox wanted to have you this" She spoke once again
"Lennox?" I asked confused as to why he gave me a necklace
"He said that it had a recording device in it" Heccariah spoke as I nodded
I finished getting ready as A.M. and Aria bud goodbye saying they were late for their mission. I quickly put on my earpiece and tested it. I added a thigh belt with 3 knives and my Glock 27 semi-automatic handgun.
I went down the academy and saw Kllian outside waiting for me with both Nerion and Lennox.
"They'll be your guards for today" Kllian spoke as I nodded with hidden frustration inside
We all got inside except for Kllian and drove off in Lennox' Black AddArmor Audi RS7 car. We mainly drove in silence before Nerion decided to break the deafening silence.
"So, you look good amore" Nerion spoke as Lennox looked at rear view mirror getting a glimpse at Nerion while I rolled my eyes
Lennox was driving the car while I sat in front trying to avoid Nerion as he sat at the back.
"I still don't get why I'm at the back" Nerion spoke once again this time pouting
"Because I want to avoid you" I replied as I rolled my eyes
"Why? Don't you want me amore?" He spoke whispering into my ear as I looked at him with frustration in my eyes
"Tss" We heard Lennox mutter causing both Nerion and I to stop from bickering
"Why can't he just pick you up?" He whispered just enough for me to hear as he referred to Xander
"He wanted for us to just meet inside since he said he needed to do something" I responded
"Tsk" He once again muttered under his breath
We continued to drive in silence as Nerion slept peacefully and Lennox continued to drive without a single peep from his mouth. We reached the hotel, it was a beautiful, it was a modern hotel with about 100+ stories. It had the name Moreau inc. plastered onto the sign in front of the five-star hotel.
Lennox told me that they would be staying on the other hotel in front of Moreau inc. so that they could get a better view of us. I nodded, and turned on my earpiece as well as my recording necklace and once again tested both of them before going inside the hotel.
I went into the room that Xander gave me, as I opened the door, I saw him half naked as he put on a shirt before he saw me while I immediately closed the door. I heard him chuckle inside as he opened the door once again this time fully clothed.
"Come in" He spoke with a big smile plastered onto his face
"So, why are you staying at a hotel?" I asked
"My family were visiting from France. They wanted our family to get together"
"So, until when are you staying here?"
"Depending on how long my family would stay, maybe 2-3 months?"
"Hey just something I found similar, your surname, isn't it the same as the French gang, the Manque Moreau?" I asked trying to get more information out of him
"Umm yeah, let's not talk about it yeah? It's irrelevant anyways" He answered as I nodded to his request
We continued dinner before it was almost 9:30 and we both decided to finish up since I still had to go home. I went to the elevator where Lennox and Nerion told me where we will meet.
I entered the elevator only to see Lennox without Nerion. He was just staring at me as I went inside the elevator clicking the button to the ground level.
"Where's Nerion?" I asked as he responded with 'in the car'
We were once again filled with awkward silence when I thought about what Xander and I talked about and how it confirmed my suspicion. He is related to the Manque Moreau, it does have something that can relate him to the robbery of weapons in the institute but what motive does the gang have?
The only thing that I know about the gang was that they were partners with my father back then, if they were connected to my father still then that would explain why my father got out of jail, but still what's their motive if they're both related to the robbery?
My thoughts were replaced with confusion when Lennox pushed a button which stopped the elevator and I was shocked when he pushed me and pinned me to the elevator wall as his face went closer to mine.
LENNOX
——
"What are you doing?" Lia asked as she lost her composure before building her composure back once again but it allowed me to see some of her emotions
Confusion. Frustration. Pain. Anger.
"Who are you really?" I whispered in her ear as she raised one of her brows and rolled her eyes
"Like I told all of you, I'm Kalliah Laurent" She answered still a bit flustered at what I did as I leaned in closer
I felt her hot breath as I smelled her intoxicating perfume. I looked down at her lips while looking back at her green eyes.
"I'm curious about you sprezzatura" I spoke as she smirked
"Curiosity killed the cat, darling" She spoke still having a smirk plastered onto her face
"It's a good thing I'm a tiger who loves risks" I responded causing her smirk to fade away in a second
We stayed and stared at each other like that for what felt like minutes before my phone rang as I looked at the Caller ID, seeing Nerion's name, Lia pushed me as she scoffed.
"Guess we'll continue this next time princess" I spoke with a smirk
You're harder to crack than you think sprezzatura