Fatal Alliances: Chapter 50

Arriving back at Adrian’s place made me feel as if a huge weight had been taken off my shoulder, the weight of the partnership, my parents, and the past, Rocillie being my father, and everything that unsettled me. Somehow, I felt like I could just move on now. The weight was taken off me, I felt light, too light as I entered the house with Adrian and the others. Everything seemed to be so blurry, I felt weak, lightheaded. ‘What was happening?’ I thought as I placed a hand on the side of my head. The room turned dim, dimmer, and completely dark.

My body ached as I shifted myself on what seemed to be a bed. I felt so confused and dizzy. Where was I? How did I get here? Looking around, I noticed that I knew this place, the room. This was the room I stayed in at Adrian’s. Did I faint? That’s what it felt like? I couldn’t even remember anything I was doing. Sitting up, I gulped down the glass of water which was at the bedside table. It felt nice, to have it flow down my dry aching throat. I stood up a bit, feeling a bit groggy but kept myself up as I held on to the table and took a deep breath. This was probably the longest day of my life. Opening the door to exit the room, I was startled a bit by Finny who was now about to knock.

“Oh Julie, I didn’t mean to scare you.” he laughed softly.

In a soft hoarse voice, I smiled at him, “That’s okay.”

“I know a person isn’t able to control it but don’t ever do that again alright, you don’t know how scared we all were. How are you feeling now?”

Taking a deep breath, I felt a lot better, not as energized but still fine. Nodding to him, he flashed me a cheeky smile in return, “I think you should go outside.”

“What?”

“Trust me, I think you’ll love it.” His voice was childish and sweet as usual.

With that being said, he casually walked back away. Huh, that was odd. Descending the staircase, I wondered what he was talking about. Well, no better way than to find out, I guess. Opening one of the back doors, I found myself in a large backyard. At the side, I saw Donnie and Ricardo speaking with each other along with Barney, his dad and that guy I met in North Carolina, one of the official guys who helped Adrian- Gabriel I think his name was. Finny suddenly appeared right next to me, touching me gently on the shoulder.

God, he should really stop doing that. It’s frightening.    

“Over there.” he pointed at a wooden table with a girl sitting on its bench. I could only see her back because she was turned against me.

She almost looked like… no. What would she be doing here? Somehow every step I took closer to her, I shortened my breath. I was only three steps away from her as she turned around and showed her trademark worried face.

“Jen?” I breathed feeling so many emotions mix within me as she stepped closer.

My sister looked at me as if I was some like of foreign being. I honestly didn’t know how to feel at the moment, it just felt so surreal.

“You stupid crazy girl!” she cried pulling me into the tightest, most relieving, embrace I’ve ever experienced in my life, “You did all this- and you didn’t tell me about anything? You went through- You- God…”

“I missed you, Jenna,” I said with a tremble.

“I missed you too, Jules,” she sobbed slightly pulling away to cup my face with her hand, “I want you to know that I love you okay and I don’t care if we don’t have the same father because you’ll always be my sister- not half-sister, my miserable loving little baby sister.”

Her damp face displayed pure pain and love.

“You knew?” I asked stunned that she knew about that.

“Yes, about some kind of partnership, and our mother, and our father…about this man named Rocillie- he’s you’re-“

“But- h-how- the partnership-“

“That would be me, Juliet.” Mrs. Dawnly’s voice exhaled from behind. Turning around, I saw the old lady that took care of me with watery filled eyes, “I knew, I knew everything from before.”

“What?”

“Mr. Dawnly had told me everything a long time ago. I’m so sorry I- I didn’t know how to tell

you, darling. We decided not to, but when Frank died and when I went to London with your sisters, I just had such a sinking feeling. I called home and when there was no answer I thought you must’ve been staying at the hotel you were working in, so I called there to enquire about you as well and they told me you hadn’t been there. That’s when I began to realize that something was wrong so I inquired about Mr. Vandermir as well knowing that he had something to do with that cursed partnership Frank told me about. Juliet when they told me that he wasn’t there, I knew that it had something to do with what I feared to tell you.”

She walked up to me trying to smile but began crying instead.

“It’s not your fault, Mrs. Dawnly.” I replied in a soft voice wiping her tears, “You shouldn’t cry so much, it’s not good for your health.”    

“I finally managed to get in contact with him.” she sighed.

“Him?”

“Mr. Vandermir. I asked him about you, I told him that I knew about the partnership- I assured him somehow that I did and that’s when he told me that’s he’s trying to end the partnership, that he’s taking you to sign your part off, and he’ll keep you safe. Juliet, you don’t know how happy I was, how scared I was, but relieved that someone was looking after you. I know you think you’re an independent young lady but in the business with Rocillie, it’s dangerous.”

I sighed and turned away, “I’m not independent. I never was. I’m a weak, frustrating, childish, emotional hypocrite.”

“You’re not, Julie. You’re real. No one is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes and has flaws. That’s what makes you human and you. You are a beautiful, smart, brave girl with a too-big heart who went through so much. You cry and whine and get upset but that’s okay. It’s okay to not be okay. Being soft is a strength, not a weakness. I want you to know that. I want you to know that people may judge you but that’s only because they don’t understand you, what you’ve been through, the soul that you are.”

I didn’t know what to say again. Mrs. Dawnly somehow always knew what to say.

“I was just scared that you would get hurt, Julie.”

“Rocillie did nothing to hurt me. I agree he did terrible things and trust me when I say this Mrs. Dawnly- he is being punished. He’s getting what he deserves. I just… I just wish it wasn’t like this.”

“I know how he is Julie, he’ll never hurt you- not his own daughter- never. But I also know how shrewd a man he also is. I wanted to meet you, Juliet, I wanted to see you again- you’re like my own daughter. I can’t just leave you. I- I had to tell Jennifer, I knew I had to tell her everything, it was her right to know. As much as I didn’t want to, I told her. Only after I talked to her, we decided to contact Mr. Vandermir again and meet you. And besides, we’re a family, we couldn’t just leave you- even if we knew you were within safe hands.” 

I took a painful sigh as Jenna held my hand and spoke with a sad smile, “Thank goodness it’s over now and that everyone’s safe.”

She was right. Thank goodness it is over. I was grateful and thankful for everything right now.

“He told me.” Mrs. Dawnly suddenly smiled, not a painful kind of smile though.

 “What?”

“About this.” Jenna teased wiggling my ring finger.

Before I could even say a word, Finny came up to us in his cute boyish gentleman-like manner,

“Forgive me for interrupting but maybe it’s time for us to head inside. It’s really cold out here and it’s getting dark. You all wouldn’t want to catch a cold or anything. Julie, you already know how you like to get yourself sick.”

“Tell me about it.” Jenna laughed.

Ignoring their comment, I went into the house nevertheless. Finny seemed to make Jenna and Mrs. Dawnly’s stay far more comfortable than I’d ever thought he would. He was such a charismatic person, who could not like him? I mean, he always gave off these positive vibes and happiness. It was so contrast to Adrian who seemed to be intimidating and cold at first impression.

Where was he anyway? Walking through the house, I finally spotted him. He was kneeling on the ground looking at something on the table with a small child. Getting closer, I realized that it wasn’t just any small child, it was Nina.

“Julie!” she screamed happily as she noticed me looking at them from afar.

The look on my little sister’s face was pure joy and innocence. God, I missed her so darn much. She ran up to me, tugging me down to her level as she threw her tiny little arms around my neck. Nina was always a little short, thin, small, pale but a pretty little angel.

“Hi, little butterfly.” I teased kissing her on the forehead.

“Where were you?” she suddenly asked sadly in her pouty face, “I missed you a lot, you always keep disappearing. Promise you won’t leave again.”

“I promise my little snickerdoodle.” I smiled, pinching her full rosy cheeks.

It was nice to be with Nina again, it was like having a little Tinkerbell run around the house throwing pixie dust on everyone pretending she could grant wishes and fly. I laughed remembering that she did that one day except she substituted the pixie-dust for glitter. Poor thing had to get scolded by Jenna aka the wicked witch of the west as she would like to call her.

“Look what we did together.” Nina continued as she showed me a picture coloured with crayons.

“We?”

“Me and Mr. Adri.” she beamed pointing towards Adrian who had gotten up.

“That’s lovely. I didn’t know Mr. Adri was even capable of holding a crayon.” I giggled.

As I was about to walk up to him, his phone began to ring.

“I have to take this,” he stated as he suddenly exited the room.

He just completely ignored me. No, I shouldn’t think like that. Adrian was a busy guy, I’m sure the call was really important. He had other responsibilities, yes, that’s what it was. I shouldn’t feel so down about it. At least that’s what I tried telling myself.

It was kind of like a little party inside the house, with everyone gathered in the dining room just drinking, eating, and chatting. Mrs. Dawnly and Jenna seemed to be having quite a laugh with Barney’s dad while Nina was showing Barney her drawings. As I sat at the counter stool, opposite Finny and Donnie who were carrying on a ‘God knows what’ conversation that never ended, I noticed Adrian was about to walk up to me when suddenly Gabriel pulled him aside to talk.

“Sitting alone doesn’t seem like too much fun.” Ricardo said to me with his ‘smirk smile’ as I would call it.

“It’s not.”

“Well, at least have something to drink and pretend like you’re not bored.” he chuckled as he poured a drink for me, “Don’t worry, it’s non-alcoholic. Adrian mentioned your specific tastes.”

“Thanks.” I smiled as I pressed my lips to the rim of the elegant thin glass.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t get the opportune moment to congratulate you. Trust me when I say this but your presence has done some drastic changes in him.”

“Is that good or bad?” I laughed knowing whom he was talking about.

“Let’s just say, things should turn for the better.”

“I’ll take your word for that.”

“Oh,” he smiled as he touched his glass to mine, “Welcome to the family Mrs. Vandermir.”

Mrs. Vandermir? Huh, that was a new taste in my mouth. Mrs. Juliet Vandermir. I kind of liked it. The thought seemed to have an embarrassing effect on me as I tried to suppress the blush from slashing across my cheeks. Ricardo gave a soft laugh at me before he left and as I turned to the side, I noticed Finny flashing me a delightful smile and Donnie smirked,

“Somehow I knew this was going to happen.” he teased.   

“Oh, so now you two choose to mind my business?” I scolded playfully.

The entire evening was the same. I wasn’t even getting a moment to talk to Adrian nor did I think he was even getting a chance to speak to me. It was just hopeless so I decided to just go upstairs and take a shower, forget everyone because they were all like little Whac-A-Moles in my way anyway.

After doing just that, I walked along the empty hallway as I heard the distant laughing from everyone downstairs. Honestly, I was glad they were enjoying themselves. Everyone just went through so much, it was time to find happiness again. I walked into the library in the hopes of finding a good book to read but my attention soon turned to the music room through the other door. It was a beautiful little room. Sitting at the piano, I wondered if I remembered how to play this. I hadn’t played in such a long time anyway. My fingers trailed along the elegant polished keys of the smoothly coated black instrument. Slowly, I tried to play.

Wow, I did remember. The sound of the notes I played formed into a pleasant classical song I had learnt when I was younger. It was lovely to play like this again, it made me feel as if I was back to the simpler times again, when Jen and I used to compete who’d play better.

“You play as beautiful as you are,” a velvet-like voice complimented.

Adrian leaned casually at the edge of the door, gazing at me with his magnetic smoky grey eyes which caused me to suddenly stop.

“You scared me.” I laughed softly.

“I had no intention,” he smirked as he shut the door behind him.

Somehow, I felt a rush of my blood as he did that, “Why’d you close the door?”

“I think you know why.” His voice turned to a wicked tone as he sat next to me at the piano, “I don’t like being interrupted when I’m with you.”

“It happens too often.”

“Well, we’re alone now.”

He was so close to me right now, his rich spicy cologne danced on and off him, his black shirt which sleeves were rolled up just at his elbow seem to compliment the intensity of his eye colour almost as if you could fall into the depths of his soul by just looking into them, and his hair- well it was in its usual ‘neatly tousled’ look if that’s how I should describe it. I pushed the strands of hair behind my ear feeling for the first time in my life shy- of his being next to me.

“I didn’t come in here to stop you,” he smiled probably taking note of the way I was feeling, “So continue.”

“It won’t be any good again.”

“Don’t discredit yourself, you still feel nervous around me?”

“No-no, it’s not that I just…” I trailed feeling my throat go a little dry.

“Well, that’s going to be a problem after marriage.” he smiled.

“I’m not nervous, really.” I lied as I felt goosebumps to what he had just said.

He chuckled, “I know when you’re lying to me.”

“I’m not lying I’m just… fabricating the truth.”

“We should really do something about that nervousness.” he stated tilting my chin towards him and keeping a dominant hold on my jawline, “Let play a game.”

I slapped his hand away playfully, only to give a questioning look, “Excuse me?”

“I meant on the piano. Play the notes I play on this octave at a higher octave on your side. If you win then I’ll follow your orders for an entire week, but if I win-” he stopped and grinned roguishly melting his words into my ear, “Well, I’ll have to decide yet.”

“That seems highly unfair, Mr. Vandermir, placing your terms of that deal quite vague to me.”

“So you don’t want to play, Miss Greene?”

“No- no, I accept, only because I’d enjoy making you my minion for an entire week.”

Adrian gave a contented smile as he started off with a small, classy piece. His long fingers looked graceful and elegant as he played as if he had been some kind of mastermind behind this piano. God, maybe I shouldn’t have accepted his stupid game. No, I wasn’t going to just give up. I never did that in my life and I won’t start now. I copied his notes as I played on my octave. Every piece he did got harder and harder. No, don’t give up. He stopped as he finished a certain fragment of a classical piece. As I was about to finish, he hooked his right pinkie finger onto my left one as I had touched his hand when playing.

“You cheated!”

“Why would I do that?” he asked arching his eyebrows and directing his eyes to my guilty finger,

“You came one note further on my side, that isn’t in the rules of the game.”   

“I don’t believe you.” I turned my head away in frustration.

“Don’t be such a sore loser, Greene. You stand by your word, don’t you? I like people who do.”

“Well, I’m not trying to please you.” I scoffed as I got up.

“You’re not?” he asked a bit stunned with a playful smile while getting up as well.

I looked out the small balcony glass door and turned back around to him, in frustration, only to hit my hand into his marble-like chest. As I was about to pull away, I realized that my bracelet had gotten hooked onto his shirt button. Damn it.

He suddenly sandwiched me between him and the door.

“Adrian!” I scolded softly.

“Go ahead, undo it.”

“W-what?” I asked feeling my cheeks burn up.

“I’m giving you permission.” he winked.

I felt like I was blooming beneath him as I raised my trembling hand and used my other hooked hand to try and get my bracelet out instead of unbuttoning his shirt. It was hard to stay steady because I literally felt like my bones were melting being so close to him. He rolled his eyes and slightly curved his lips upwards, “How long are you planning to take?”

“I don’t know,” I snapped back feeling somewhat irritated, “How long are you planning to glue me to the door?”

“Just until you do what I tell you to do.”

Taking a deep breath, I grazed my tentative hand on his chest feeling every sculpted outline, how metaled he was. He closed his eyes as I did that and buried his face into my hair. I almost forgot what I was doing.

“You smell divine,” he stated in a raspy voice while pressing me firmly in a protective stance.

At that moment, I undid his shirt button and got my bracelet out. I laced my arms around his chest as I suddenly felt the door opened behind me, dropping us back. Adrian kept me up and steady as we stood at the small balcony under the cold dark sky.

“I hardly ever come out here.” he exhaled as he slowly released me and leaned forward on the railing.

“I like it here.”

“Julie, I don’t have any plans of staying here, in this house, in Montana.” he sighed keeping his gaze forward.

I didn’t need to ask him why he didn’t want to stay because I knew. It was too painful to him, the memories, his father. And I wasn’t going to force him either. He was so damaged. Honestly, even I didn’t want to be here for oddly the same reasons- just different circumstances. Now that I think about it, I realized how similar Adrian and I actually were. We both came from well-off families who got broken, both got wounded and broken because if that, built walls over ourselves to prevent the hurt, got it somehow ruptured by each other, but thankfully fixed it and stopped the agony. At least that’s how I feel about him. He made me somehow stronger. 

“I’m going to go back- at the hotel in New York, I’ll take you with me. You’ll be with your sisters as well and Mrs. Dawnly.” he continued.

“I think it’s best for everyone.”

He turned to me with those endless drowning grey eyes, “If you felt like I had ignored you with that phone call then I’m sorry.”

“What?” Was he talking about in the room with Nina?

“I just can’t help it. Having you in my life is going to change a lot of things, I’m ready to change it. Hell, I can’t wait.” He smiled holding my shoulders, “It’s just, I’m always on these tight schedules, and it’s going to take time for me to adjust to that. I’d fixed my life in such a way I won’t have time to think about anything other than work.”

 “I realized,” I said with a small soft laugh.

“But I’ll change that, for you, for us.”

If someone had told me when I’d first met Adrian that he was the man I’d spend the rest of my life with, then I would have probably thrown a fit and stabbed myself. But right now, it was different, real. And, as for the past, someone once told me- don’t dwell on it too much. I should move on. As I rested my head on his shoulder, I closed my eye just for a minute, just to remember this. And as I opened them back, I didn’t just open them to any minute. I opened them to the first minute of my new chapter, my new life, with Adrian. Somehow, I knew that it wouldn’t be any regular relationship. Nothing could be regular with him around. My new start, well…

It was going to be interesting.

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