“There she is!” Niklaus loudly exclaimed, pointing at me with the end of a large metal spoon. “Zoe, Kyle, this is the girl that’s stolen my brother’s rotting heart.”
“Her name is Catalina,” Alaric corrected his brother firmly as he pulled out a chair for me to sit.
“Awe, you are pretty,” the woman named Zoe admonished with a friendly smile.
Compared to her I looked like someone had put a russet potato in a silk dress. She was a gorgeous dark-skinned woman with a head full of thick spiral curls.
Beside her was Kyle, a well-groomed ginger with an equally friendly smile.
“Aren’t all Alaric’s women pretty?” Rebecca asked in a flat tone.
“No, because you used to be one and your bitter bitch behavior makes you ugly,” Niklaus retorted cheerfully.
No one said anything about him calling her a bitch, they simply laughed. I guess this was a normal thing for them. He’d called her a witch the first night we met. I cast a curious glance towards the end of the table. An additional two people sat there completing the dinner party.
A blonde with hair two shades darker than Rebecca’s and a brunette. I knew right away that it was one of them responsible for the obnoxious laugh I’d heard upstairs. Of everyone here I expected me to look the most out of place but these two had me beat, which was saying a lot.
They wore matching dresses—one black, one red—both were low-cut to show excess cleavage. You could tell they weren’t designed this way. Someone had taken a pair of scissors to the fabric and then tried to sew their mistakes away. Maybe I was the only one who noticed?
“Amber and Patricia,” Alaric introduced them as he claimed the seat beside me.
I nodded in greeting and then turned my attention to the spread that had been prepared for tonight. I had been smelling the aroma of food since I woke up for the second time.
Red sauced pasta rested in the center of the table. Vegetable dishes and a bowl of breadsticks, as well as a side salad, took up space beside it. I wouldn’t deny that I was impressed by Alaric’s cooking skills, but the food was hardly the reason I begrudgingly came down here.
As the dishes were passed around and he loaded my plate for me, topping it all off with a glass of water. It didn’t escape my notice everyone else had wine.
After my failed attempt at leaving this morning, I knew I was going to need help. He still had possession of my cellphone so calling anyone wasn’t possible and besides the police, there was no one for me to reach out to.
I didn’t think that was the right route to go either. Alaric had all but told me to call them before without any hesitation. He was undeniably confident with his stance in this situation. I was afraid getting the cops involved would cause even more issues for me. I could barely handle the ones I had now.
This dinner should have been my way of getting what I was seeking. Amber and Patricia didn’t seem competent enough to do anything more than panic on my behalf.
As the meal proceeded the two of them took turns openly flirting with Alaric and his brother. What had begun irritating me was now making me feel embarrassed for them. Neither was getting any kind of reaction. Why had they even been invited?
Feeling defeated and over this entire day, I mindlessly picked at my food. I wondered if Alaric would care if I excused myself. There wasn’t any reason for me to be down here. I would not be getting help from any of these people.
Zoe and Kyle were Alaric’s friends. They could be aware of his true colors and that wasn’t a gamble I was willing to take. Niklaus was his brother so that eliminated him automatically. Rebecca was too much of an unstable wild card for me to rely on. Every few minutes she was throwing daggers at me with her eyes. don’t know why she was giving me the territorial treatment again.
The last time we spoke she had openly warned me about the same man she wanted for herself. A slight nudge against my arm broke the concentrated stare I had aimed at my food.
“How does it taste?”
“Fine.” I scooped up another bite of pasta and popped it into my mouth. It honestly tasted far better than that. I wouldn’t have eaten this much if I thought it was gross.
“Fine? Is that all I get?”
I lifted one shoulder in a shrug. I wasn’t going to sing him praises. He leaned towards me, bringing his face closer to mine. “You can join in on the conversation. I swear they’re all harmless,” he teased.
“Yeah, we’re so glad to finally put a face to the name we’ve been hearing so much about,” Zoe chirped.
I looked across at the table at her. “You’ve been hearing about me?”
“Everyone knows about you,” Niklaus answered.
“But not how crazy you are.”
All attention shifted to Rebecca. Her attitude was fucking trash. I didn’t typically engage in catty confrontations. I hadn’t dealt with it in high school but was now forced to because this woman was threatened by my presence. I put my fork down and used the provided linen to wipe around my mouth.
“It’s sad you feel the need to be such a moody bitch for his attention. Is it working? Are you feeling noticed now?”
“It’s never worked and she’s not worth noticing. No one is as long as I have you.” He directed his coolly spoken words at Rebecca, reaching over to hold my hand.
Niklaus looked around the table with a wide grin. “Look at you, Cat. You fit right in.”
If this is what fitting in was, I could confidently say that I wholeheartedly preferred solitude.
“Ignore her. She’s like this with all—most people,” Zoe reassured with a friendly smile.
I shrugged again, not caring about any of this.
“You’re his girlfriend?” Amber asked. From her tone, I could tell she was genuinely asking.
“No,” I said at the time Alaric gave my hand a gentle squeeze and replied, “She’s my soon-to-be wife.”
His wife? It took all of my willpower not to openly gape at him. The table's attention shifted back to me. Immediately uncomfortable, I mindlessly reached for my water. The glass was cool to the touch. I brought it to my mouth and took a generous sip.
Patricia gave me a studious once over with the fakest smile, I’d ever seen painted on her overly red lips.
“I didn’t even know you were dating anyone, Doctor Schuyler.”
I almost choked on the current sip of water going down my throat. This was my first time hearing him called that.
“Alaric,” he corrected her. “And you wouldn’t. This is my personal life. We don’t have that kind of relationship, Patricia.”
What the hell? His light-hearted tone had me side-eyeing him. He caught me and winked, mouthing the word, see. I rolled my eyes and took another drink. I didn’t bother adding my input. I had no desire in participating in whatever this was. The whole charade was exhausting me mentally, more than I could have anticipated.
“Did you miss that he was once married too?” Rebecca questioned sarcastically. “Her sister is the one that made him a widow.”
Another look from Alaric had her hastily diverting her attention to her half-eaten salad.
Amber gasped dramatically. “Oh, I’m so sorry. We had no idea. As he said, we’re not close. Nik is the one that invited us.”
“I thought you two could use some good company,” Niklaus replied to her.
For this girl not to know about Meg, she and Alaric weren’t even acquaintances. Which again made me wonder why she and her friend had been invited tonight. They were coming off like patients of his.
I rubbed the back of my neck, physically feeling the effects of this evening. Sleep sounded wonderful right now.
“Uh, how about we switch to a more dinner-friendly conversation,” Kyle suggested with a short laugh. His attempt to lighten the mood went ignored.
“Yes,” Zoe agreed. “There’s no need to discuss that here and now, Bec. We all know the story.”
“It’s not a story it's simple facts. Why do you guys always hide what Meg di
d? It wasn’t any of our faults.”
“What did she do?” I was genuinely curious.
“Does anyone want dessert?” Zoe suddenly asked.
“She ruined his life and then her crazy ass had to take it a step further and off herself.”
I dropped the fork I had just picked up. The clatter of metal against porcelain was loud enough that I immediately reached for my water again to downplay the reaction.
Killed herself.
Meg killed herself.
All the food I’d consumed sat in my stomach like a slab of concrete, causing it to cramp. There was too much for me to take away from this confession.
My head felt heavy. The stares being lobbed my way prickled my skin.
Unable to meet anyone’s eye, I mumbled something of an excuse and shoved away from the table, hurrying out of the dining room. The speech in which I wanted to move and the one my body produced were drastically different.
“Get her out of my house.” I heard Alaric command someone. A commotion began directly after.
I kept walking.
Each step took more effort than it should’ve. I needed to get somewhere quiet, somewhere I could sit down. My entire body felt…off. I’d nearly made it to the bottom of the stairs when I was lifted off the ground.
I sucked in a breath and wrapped my arms around Alaric’s shoulders. “W-What are you doing?”
“You won’t make it up the steps like this.”
Like…this?
My head rolled to rest on his shoulder. “Don’t drop me,” I slurred through a whisper.
He cradled me like a precious doll that weighed nothing and carried me up the stairs. As my eyes closed I felt something wet on my face and realized I was crying.
CHAPTER FOUR
I knew she would never make it through dinner. My only oversight tonight was her consuming the water as quickly as she had. Her participating at all was more than likely due to her desire to escape. She seemed intent on learning that was never going to happen, the hard way.
Nonetheless, this was a necessary endeavor. Catalina was severely anti-social. That’s what her mother had said when discussing our deal.
I was curious to know just how bad it was. Socializing would be a more frequent occurrence in her life now. I refused to let her hide away anymore.
I turned my head to ensure she was all the way asleep. Her two-tone hair was fanned out on the pillow. Most of her beautiful face was concealed by the duvet. I’d taken the liberty to strip her down to nothing but her bra and underwear so she would be more comfortable.
Slowly standing, I removed her cellphone from my back pocket and plugged it back in to charge. It wasn’t my intention to cut her off from the outside world. She’d eventually learn that she would never experience it without me.
It’s not like she had anyone to call. Chloe was obsolete and her mother would bend over backward if I asked her to.
There wasn’t anyone else from her previous life to rely on. All she had now was me, and that was all she’d ever need.
I flipped off the main light and left her to sleep off the effects of her drink. She may be upset with me when she woke up and understandably so. I told her I was going to stop doing this. It was my goal to wean her off these special drinks and never let them near her lips again, but there were a few more loose ends to tie up.
I prepared myself for what came next, plastering a smile on my face as I re-entered the dining room. Everyone was still here minus Rebecca and my brother who had yet to return from seeing her out.
“I’m sorry about that.”
“Don’t sweat it. Family drama, it happens.” Amber waved a hand in the air and fixed me with a seductive look I knew all too well.
This woman was so far beneath me I forced a brighter smile to hide my disgust.
“Well, now that you’re back. I’m going to ready the dessert.” Zoe clapped her hands enthusiastically and stood up.
“Your house is really beautiful,” Patricia remarked, doing a show of looking around the room.
Of course, it was fucking nice. I lived here, didn’t I? To someone like her, I’m sure this was like a mini-resort. I flashed another smile and nodded. “Just wait. You haven’t gotten to see the best part yet. Now if you can excuse me again for a minute, I’m going to see if Zoe needs help.”
Understanding my true meaning, Kyle nodded at me discreetly and took over with the two girls. I grabbed both my dish and Catalina’s on my way to the kitchen. Zoe was sitting at the island waiting for me. She lifted her head away from her phone when I placed the dishes in the sink.
“She okay?”
“She’s perfect.”
I turned the water on and rinsed everything leftover down the garbage disposal.
“She didn’t know about Meg?”
“You saw the way she reacted. What do you think?”
Her groan was drowned out by the grinding of the machine.
“Alaric,” she admonished as soon as she could hear herself speak again. “That’s not right.”
“Given what we’re about to do, it seems rather trivial.” I went to the lock pad that sealed off the basement door and entered the four-digit code to activate the fingerprint scanner.
“That’s her sister.”
“You know better than that Z. Those two didn’t have anything to do with one another.”
“But--.”
“Meg’s mother was the trophy wife and Catalina’s was the hired help fucking the wealthy husband. And you know how Johnathon is. With that piece of shit running the show those two were doomed to have a shitty relationship from the start.”
I placed my thumb on the screen and looked back at her. “Why does it matter how her sister died? Dead is dead.”
Her curls bobbed as she shook her head at me. “Alaric, you are the most brilliant man I know but--.”
“Don’t let your fiancée hear that.”
She laughed. “You really do have a heart solid as stone.”
“No. I simply view things differently than you.”
“Okay. Let’s go with that.”
“If I had a heart of stone, I wouldn’t have committed my body and soul to the woman currently sleeping upstairs.”
“Soul?” she questioned.
“You know it’s been over a year since Megan died? Having to pretend she didn’t drop dead more than a few weeks ago is a pain in the ass.”
She laughed and clicked her tongue. “You always did say, good things take time.”
“I still do. All bountiful harvests were sown with patience. Catalina is worth the headache.”
“So is what we’ve been doing to keep our family's fortune going.”
“That it is.”
The lock pad released a low beep, the digital screen flashing green twice followed by the locking mechanism undoing itself.
“Where’s Demitri?”
“He’s already with our pilot. You know what to do. We’ll be down with them shortly.”
She gave me a two-finger salute and then quickly slipped through the door to go downstairs.
My task now was to get the girls prepped. On the counter beside my stove was a small two-tiered stand holding up a double flavored cake.
I would never lie about dessert. This was the least I could do for these people. A small parting gift of sorts. My mother had them specially ordered from a place they could only dream of being able to afford. It was a delicacy they should feel most grateful for.
I pulled back the thick satin cloth to double-check that everything on the bottom tier was in place. Two capped paralytics rested between shined silverware. I recovered them and carefully carried the dessert stand into the dining room.
Amber clasped her hands together and let out a sound of excitement. “Ohhh, that looks amazing.”
“It tastes even better,” Kyle enthused.
I sat the cake near the center of the table and then eased the cutting knife out from beneath the satin covering.
�
�Chocolate or lemon?”
“Whichever you like the most,” Patricia replied.
“I’ll have the same as her,” Amber said.
I quickly cut two slices of lemon and placed them on the dishes specifically set aside for this. Niklaus returned just as I was setting the plates before the girls.
“Is it dessert time already?”
“What took you so long?”
“You know Bec. Sometimes she needs…” he shot a look in Amber and Patricia’s direction.
He didn’t need to say anymore. His dick had handled the situation for him. I couldn’t care less about that. Rebecca had been passed around our whole circle at least twice.
My only qualm was that he had another woman to look after now and until we dealt with Bec officially it was in his best interest to be careful. I wasn’t the only one she felt possessive of.
“We’ll need to get rid of that sooner than later.”
“Just say when,” he replied flippantly.
I’m glad he was on the same page as me. I had given too many warnings to let this ever happen again. She was extremely bitter she no longer had the honor of sucking my dick but was too greedy not to stop riding my brothers. If that’s all she was doing, we wouldn’t have a problem. It was her animosity towards Catalina that I wouldn’t tolerate.
“Oh, this is good!” Patricia exclaimed.
“It is,” Amber agreed around a mouthful of half-chewed cake.
“I told you.”
Niklaus slipped his hands in his pockets and watched as I started clearing more of the table.
“Hey, where’s my plate?”
“Waiting for you to get it yourself.”
Kyle reached across and pretended to help me. He discreetly removed one of the paralytics and gradually worked his way behind Amber’s chair.
She began angling her body towards him. Before she could turn all the way he had the needle inserted into the lower portion of her neck. The smile on her face transformed into an open-mouthed shock. A glob of lemon cake fell onto her lap.
“What the fuck?” Patricia yelled. She jumped up as if to defend her friend. It was already too late for her to act.
I grabbed the second paralytic and passed it off to my brother.
Melodic Madness Page 4
