Chapter four

Zack Laurel

The soft music from downstairs reverberates throughout the entire house and calms me an usual way.

I stare at my self in the mirror to make sure Sabrina did a neat job with my hair and her performance is as always, spick and span.

I shuffle my way out of my room and walking past her room, I hear some girlish chattering and I can make out who it's coming from. Amelia.

I jog down the spiral staircase and the music gets clearer as I make a right turn for the large living room.

Dimly coloured chandelier lights casts a warm and nightly glow over the enclosed collosal space.

The golden decorations twinkle sharply under the lights as they stretch out to every end of the room in complex twists.

Mutiple drink fountains seat at every corner on fancily styled tables, bubbling with assorted brands of expensive drinks.

Royally styled tables and chairs amass the hall from where my eyes stretch out to.

I can see Uncle Bruce standing next to father.

Rade and Chance tag in beside his wife exchanging graceful compliments.

Uncle Bruce the only surving blood relation to the Laurel ancestry.

All are six feet under the layers of the soil.

It only takes ruthlessness to conquer in our world.

The rest of the room is littered with business associates and their well-to-do wives in spot-on gowns and glamorous jewelries.

"Chase! Come over here"

Aunt Sue calls out as she sights me at the drink fountain at wall edge.

I fill my cup and trudge over to them.

It's going to be the usual boring tittle-tattle between rarely seen relatives.

Nothing more to it.

"Young man, why didn't you come to greet your uncle and aunt?"

Father shoots me a warning glance.

"Oh come on Vance, cut the boy some slack"

Uncle Bruce intervenes before placing his hand on my shoulder and giving it a hard squeeze.

"Good evening Uncle Bruce and Aunt Sue. Welcome to our house"

I say using the kind of perfect courtesy father likes.

"Oh thank you honey"

Aunt Sue coes motherly.

"Man! Look how tall you've got. And you've gotten these manly facial hair"

He exclaims as his fingers trail my face and I cunningly remove it.

Too much touching.

"Last time we saw you guys, was that like nine years ago?"

Aunt Sue rolls her eyes over my towering height of 6'5.

"Come here, give your Aunt a hug"

She pulls me into her petite frame and her perfume finds it way up my nostrils.

Feminine peach crap.

"When are you getting married, coz I don't see a young man anymore"

She jokes and hits her husband hard, laughing out loud and others join in.

"Marriage is not on my agenda for now Aunt Sue"

I say plainly and unamused, and I'm delighted as, when my phone rings in my pocket.

"Excuse me"

I walk off and leave them to their prattle.

"What's up man?"

Cason asks and I hear a tinge of naughtiness in his tone, I brace myself for what's next.

"I'm well, thanks"

I play the gentleman card and I hear him scoff out loud.

"Oh please, how's the little angel, hope you haven't done anything to this one?"

My blood boils at the mention of her.

"It's not yet time to present her, she's still in her room. You guys on your way?"

I change subject matter.

"Yeah give us five minutes lover boy"

I hang up before he says anything else.

Same old Cason. Naughty and bent.

Never changes.

I spot Brittany standing with Rade, giggling at some shit he said.

"What time did you get here?"

I ask when I turn up beside her,

I cross my arm over her little waist and pull her to my side.

Rade smirks understandingly as I shoot him a warning glance and scampers walks off.

Not with my property Rade.

Not with her.

"I didn't see you when I came, so I asked your brother and now here you are"

She smiles, exposing her cheek bones more as she peers up at me.

"I was on a call with someone then"

I breathe against her lips.

"Where's your sister?"

She suddenly questions, expectation sparkling in her cat eyes.

Bile rises in my throat as rage courses through my veins.

"She's in her room getting ready"

I maintain calmness.

"I bet she's a beauty. Can I see her?"

Her eyes light up with anticipation.

Britt has always been a inquisitive cat in contrast to her shadiness.

Just like light and darkness in the same glass.

"You can't see her until she's presented. Those are the rules"

I manage a smirk to hide my growing anger.

"Oh is that now?"

Gregory - the chief Butler - climbs unto the raised platform and announces his presence by clearing out his throat.

"Good evening Ladies and Lords. It's the moment we've all been waiting for. With deepest pride and greatest pleasure, we present to you Lord Laurel's newest daughter!"

A clapping and cheering crap follows to usher them in.

Amelia comes out, then I see her.

Face to the ground.

Britt squeals like a rat beside me, beating her palms together rapidly.

A dark velvet sheath gown clings to her petite frame fraying down in shocks of midnight blue, slightly touching her delicate curves.

Her hips sway without effort as she glides down the spiral staircase.

The tigh-high slit on her dress exposes her long legs as it weavers open and shut as she drops down from the stairs.

Father walks over to her in short and steady strides.

He extends his palm as he steps in beside her, trying to look good with his step daughter.

A shy and timide girl.

Pathetic.

She hesitates before placing her tiny hands into father's big and rougher one's and they make their way to the stage.

"Good evening everyone. Well you know Camarilla - my late wife, may she rest on, on the wings of eternity, wasn't able produce someone I could call a daughter.

And as I'm ageing faster than the old hills"

He confesses honestly and laughter erupts from the crowd before he completes his statement.

"Yes as I am ageing faster than the good old hills, and i wouldn't be able to have a peaceful rest in the great beyond knowing that there is no one else to fill up the motherly vacuum my wife left.

I had to get me something.

So let's welcome, the newest Laurel daughter, Nesrin!!"

Shouts of jubilation, salvage the crowd as he steps to the side and hands the microphone over to her to address the crowd.

I see her hand trembling as she gets a hold of it.

I hear some noises coming from the back and Cason walks in with the guys.

I give them a green light to where I'm sitting and they strut right over and settle down on the empty chairs beside us.

"What's up blood?"

Cason hits my shoulder roughly.

"Is she the chick on stage?"

"Yes"

I answer wryly, my eyes glued to her.

Her chest makes rises and falls with her face still stuck to the ground.

"What's wrong with her?"

A voice questions from the back as silent seconds drag by.

"What a shame!"

Another remarks and I can make out the voice.

Father's business associate - Lord James.

"Why isn't she saying anything?"

Cason nudges me lightly at the side.

"I can't tell"

I stare simply.

Tension rises in the air and father's eyes grow dim, pleading silently with the crowd.

The mummerings grow louder and she runs off the stage.

Pushing every obstacle in her way.

Amelia runs after her as she makes her way up the stairs.

She leaves everyone in a stun and steals the cheap show.

Cason and the guys pin their gaze on me, their eyes already asking too many questions that I don't want to answer.

Shit.