Chapter 20

April 2nd, 2016.

Life didnt change here, not even for a second, my schedule was always the same: wake up, shower, prepare breakfast, eat breakfast, spend time with Arabella, do some little chores, go back to sleep. The same thing everyday, I was getting tired of this monotonous life. Even Luke had stopped texting me as frequently as he did, like I didn't cross his mind very often anymore.

I sighed and looked around the empty kitchen and lounge.

A few of the girls were no longer in the house, Desmonda had sent them off to a big party a mobster, from another cartel, was having this weekend. They were there to serve as hostesses but I think everyone knew what they'd be really serving.

It wasn't right though, from what I knew, the girls were specifically for Empire mob members. Desmonda would get in big trouble if my father were to find out about this.

I sighed again.

At this point, I didn't care. As long as she didn't give me any trouble, I wouldn't snoop around her business. Luckily, she had ignored me since Luke brought me here.

Today, was the second day in the month of June and I was extremely sulky. Today, was supposed to be a special day in my life. I was turning +1, today was My Birthday. But look at me now sitting on the dining table looking anything but happy.

As if on cue, my phone vibrated. I picked it up to see it was a text from Luke.

'Happy 22nd Birthday princess.'

He added a cake, party caps, and kissy emojis.

I smiled. My mood lifting instantly, I thought he had forgotten.

I unlocked my phone and replied.

'You're coming over right?'

My phone vibrated instantly.

'No. It'll be suspicious if I leave.'

I typed furiously and hit send.

'But its my birthday...'

It took almost five minutes before my phone vibrated with his reply.

'Listen princess, we've come a long way to blow this up. Just so you know, your father has been in your room all night, I'm worried about him. He's not himself anymore, I've got to stay back and take care of the mob for him. I hope you have a great day, I'll text later.'

It took every ounce of self-restraint within me not to smash my phone to pieces. Somehow, the world seemed to revolve around my father and his decisions.

I buried my face in my palms, trying to stem the flood gates, recalling my past birthdays. It was the same thing every year for as long as I could remember, but I never got tired of it. I would wake up, receive a big hug and a kiss from my father, even though I was older every year, to him, I was still his little girl. I would spend the entire day with him and Luke, sometimes we'd have a private party, other times we'd just go out. Then, I'd spend the next two weeks opening all the presents I got from mob members. Even when I moved to London, it didn't change. Although Luke never came along but it was still the same.

A tear slid down my cheek and it dawned on me that it wasn't entirely my father's fault. I didn't know why James Baddo wanted to tear my life apart. He had taken my freedom, now my happiness and something deep within me felt he wasn't going to stop until he had my life.

What did I do to deserve this? In all the 22 years of my life spent on this earth, I had never treated someone unjustly, so it definitely wasn't karma. I knew the Empire and the Sanctuary had been at it for years now but not for power, the feud between my father and James Baddo ran very deep, it was something personal. The cause of their animosity remained a mystery to me, even Luke didn't know the reason, what he did know was that James Baddo wouldn't rest until he had stripped us of everything.

A popping sound attracted my attention.

I looked up to see Carlotta sitting on the far end of the dining table, filing her nails and chewing gum without a care in the world.

I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I didn't hear her walk in. Carlotta seeing me in tears sparked something within me. Enough of this self pity, I would not wallow in self pity today.

I stood up, walked to the cupboards and got the ingredients I needed to bake a cake.

-----------------------------------------

45 minutes later.

I was sitting down with a large cupcake in front of me. While getting the ingredients, I stumbled on an unopened packet of birthday candles, God bless whoever never used it. I took out one, put it on my cake and lit it.

The candle was halfway down now, I couldn't bring myself to blow it out and I was crying again.

Arabella walked in with shopping bags.

"Hey chica."

"Arabella..." I wiped my tears away with the sleeve of my shirt before she noticed them "... how was shopping?"

"Good, but exhausting." She plopped down on a chair and took off her sunglasses. "What are we celebrating?" She asked, when she saw the cake.

"Nothing." I sniffled.

"Nothing? You have a cake in front of you, come on Ophelia, tell me."

"Well...its nothing important, its just...today is my birthday."

"Wow! Happy birthday, sweetie!" She got up from her chair and hugged the life out of me "And you say it's nothing big! How old are you?"

I looked away, feeling very shy. "Twenty-two."

"Whoa. And here I was, thinking we were the same age, I'm 23. No worries, we're still going to celebrate." She went to the cupboard and brought down a bottle of wine and two glasses. She opened the bottle, gave a whoop when she popped the cork, and filled the glasses while singing the 'Happy Birthday' song.

That brought out a smile from me. I got plates, cutleries so we could share the cake.

"Alright, Ophelia, make a wish." She said, raising a glass to me.

I closed my eyes...then I blew the candle out.

Dear God, I want a happy life.

We ate the cake, Arabella telling me how she'd celebrated her 22nd birthday with glitz and glamour in the house.

"Give me a second." Arabella left the kitchen and ran upstairs.

She came down a few minutes later with her hands behind her back.

"Close your eyes."

I closed them.

"No peeking, Ophelia, I'm serious."

I put my hands over my eyes.

She placed something in front of me.

"I was going to give this to you anyway, what better time to give you than now. You can open your eyes now."

When I opened them, I saw a bag in front of me, one of the bags Arabella came in with earlier.

I pulled out a fine red lingerie set, complete with suspenders. The lingerie set had the word 'hot' written all over it. It was beautiful.

"You like it?" Arabella asked

"Yes. Thank you, Arabella."

"You're welcome sweetie, I'm glad you like it. Red enhances the colour of your skin, it brings out the colour your eyes, with your hair down you're going to give that gorgeous underboss of yours something to remember for life."

What the...She thinks Luke and I are... No...No.

My face flushed red in embarrassment and I buried it in the lingerie.

Carlotta huffed.

Arabella ignored her. "He's coming over right?"

I lowered my head. "No..." Tears welled up in my eyes.

"Oh, my poor baby..."Arabella cooed, she hugged me again and I sniffed. "...don't cry."

"You think yourself special, don't you? You think yourself so special, he should leave whatever he's doing to come see you because it's your stupid birthday." Carlotta spoke up in her awfully familiar honeyed voice.

I disentangled myself from Arabella and wiped my tears away. "Is she talking to me?" My voice shook with a mixture of sadness and growing anger.

"Ignore her." Arabella whispered.

Carlotta dropped her nail file on the table and faced me. "Oh, I'm talking to you ..." She got up from her end of the table, crossed the distance and stood in front of me "....who do you think you are? I've been watching you, you act like you're better than the rest us..."

That's because I am.

" ... but you do the same thing we do, you immature, lousy, little piece of shit picked from the gutter. He's going to use you and dump you like the others and when he gets tired of you, he'll come running to me." Italian accent dripped off her every word.

I stood up and attempted to claw her face out but Arabella held me down. "No, Ophelia, don't stoop down to her level. You're better than this."

"Whatever, losers." She flounced out of the kitchen.

I've known him for twenty-two years and he hasn't dumped me yet! I wanted to shout at her retreating form but Arabella was right, I wouldn't stoop to her level and blow my cover in the process.

I composed myself and turned to see Arabella looking at me questionably.

"What?" I snapped at her.

She raised her hands in surrender. "Nothing... I just thought you'd be crying your eyes out because of her last statement. "

"I have nothing to cry for."

"Really, you're not scared he's going to dump like the others?."

Luke really had a wonderful reputation here.

I gave her a look.

"I won't say another word..." She made a zipping motion with her hand on her mouth "...in the meantime, here." She opened my palm and placed something cold inside.

I opened my palm and saw a gold chain with a locket. That's what she went upstairs to bring. I opened the locket and saw it was a one picture locket.

Its beautiful, too beautiful.

I looked up. " Arabella I can't take this, you've given me so much already and this looks expensive..."

She cut me off.

"It was important and expensive, it was given to me by someone special..." She stared into space for a while, a story for another day. "... Anyway I don't need it anymore, I want you to have it..." She closed my palm around the locket. "....please?"

I nodded and she gave me a big smile.

"Now, let's go upstairs and try out these babies." She picked her shopping bags from the dining table and walked upstairs, I followed.