Fatal Alliances: Chapter 8

Fiancée? What the hell was Vandermir doing?

Whatever was going on in that head of his better have a good reason. I’ve never seen him so calm and collected before, the way he said it seemed so real.

“She’s a little shy.” Adrian continued with a soft sweet laugh.

Did he laugh? What a strange sound.

“I can see that.” The old man replied, looking almost impatient and discontented but held a cheap smile upon his face, “What’s your name may I ask?”

Vandermir then looked at me and gave a smile. He smiled? This day was becoming so frightening, I mean, since when does he even start doing that? That smile even seemed so charmingly gentle and genuine. And his eyes, they hid that coldness, that sharp murderous gaze was gone. Instead, they beheld a tender, lovable affection towards me. At that moment I realized his eyes were the most alluring shade of grey ever. He was actually really handsome. His gaze on me almost made my knees buckle and it wasn’t because of the heels.

Suddenly, I felt him squeeze my hand tighter.

Oh right, my name.

“Juliet Greene,” I answered as I turned to the man, giving him one of my most graceful smiles, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. O’Neil.”

“The pleasure’s all mine, Miss Greene, although I wish I had gotten to you before Vandermir here.” He laughed as if he made a joke and walked away leaving me with a frown upon my face.

Did that man really think I’d set my standards so low? Being with him? Ew.

As we were going to get to the table where Finny and Ricardo were, a number of individuals approached us. Adrian surprisingly told the same story to everyone who asked who I was. To be truthful, it was maddening me every time he said it. Who did he even think he was to be saying that? Did he think it was some sort of joke? Who gave him the right? I wasn’t just some girl he could use like that. The urge to take my heels off and slap him in the face with them was becoming irresistible by the minute. And this constant mingling about business and unimportant information such as the type of grass in their front yard was apparently a big thing with these people. I just wanted to scold Vandermir so badly but I didn’t want to make a scene.

Finally, we arrived at the table, when suddenly someone pulled a chair for me. It wasn’t Adrian. It was Donnie.

“Please have a seat, Mrs. Vandermir.” He teased with a grin on his face.    

“Oh shut up,” I stabbed back at him softly as I swiftly turned to Adrian who held a scowl on his face.

No one’s attention was on us, so maybe it was okay to get mad at him. I didn’t care anymore, yet I still spoke quietly.

“What’s wrong with you?” I hissed, “Who the heck gave you the right to call me your fiancée?”

“Let me guess, O’Neil got involved?” Donnie asked Adrian, completely overlooking me.

“Yes, but this airhead here can’t understand a thing.” Adrian scoffed at me and walked away.

What an unpleasant man.

Finny patted the seat next to him, keeping his innocent smile on his face as I took the seat.

“Please don’t be so upset, Juliet. Adrian did the right thing.” He said warmly.

“Excuse me?” I replied in disbelief, “The right thing? Are you nuts? Do you know the difference between right and wrong?”

As I said that, I deeply regretted it. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that so harshly to him. 

You really are an idiot, Juliet.

“I’m sorry Finny, I- I didn’t mean to,” I said, feeling very depressed about the whole situation. I felt like I was not only annoying everyone else here but also myself the most.

What I was curious about was that Finny blindly trusted Adrian. He always thought Vandermir’s decisions were the right ones.

“You really must be foolish if you hadn’t asked him why he did that.” Ricardo inputted.

“I did ask,” I mumbled but knew I hadn’t asked in a very nice way. That made me feel even more miserable. I was actually a horrible person. This feeling was eating me alive. Regret. 

“I told you already Kit Kat, just try not to piss him off too much.” Donnie smiled as he sipped his wine.

“Anyway, I’m glad that he did call you his fiancée,” Finny smiled, “You don’t know how nasty Mr. O’Neil can get when it comes to young girls.”

“What?” I asked.

“O’Neil’s a man who when he wants something, he takes it. And I have a feeling Adrian got a sense that the old man took a liking to you.” Donnie answered, “If it’s one person he knows not to mess with, it’s Vandermir.”

“Oh,” I said regretfully and annoyed with my stubborn non-listening ways.

This was so embarrassing. I never felt so angry with myself.

Way to go, Greene, you’ve really outdone yourself this time.

“Don’t be too hard on yourself, Julie.” Finny smiled, placing his hand on mine.

Nothing could stop me from feeling this miserable, I hated all of this. I hated these heels, this function, these people who only kept staring at me and whispering amongst themselves. I just detested this situation I was in. How I wished I was home sitting in front of the television in my pajamas, watching a chick flick with Mrs. Dawnly while eating ice cream Sundaes and Jenna’s terrible homemade cookies. I hadn’t even noticed when Finny slipped away to meet someone and Donnie took his place.

“My, you look lousy, kitten.” Donnie leaned back as he spoke into my ears, “I would feel the same way anyway, I mean, if my sister lodged a missing person complaint for me and some random guy with money and power bribed the officers to forget about it. I would be pretty damn bitter about it.”

“What?”

“It’s a good thing I got there in time though.” He said with a stiff laugh, “Your sister’s beautiful by the way. It’s a shame I didn’t get a chance to speak to her.” 

“You did what? Oh God, Jenna…” I muttered, feeling tired with all this irritation inside me.

“Tell me about her though,” Donnie continued, “What’s she like? She seems to be older than you? Am I right? I honestly could not take my eyes off her but she’s nothing compared to how appealing you are. But still, she is quite a looker, very delicate.”

It wasn’t delicate, it was stress and worry. I was sure about that. When she’s worried she gets so fragile and thin, she doesn’t eat and gets herself so pale and sick. But if staying away from her and the rest of my family was what I had to do to protect them, then I wouldn’t think twice about it. No matter how much I actually wanted to be with them. I just needed to talk to her, I needed to tell her I’m fine. Even though I didn’t feel fine, I just needed to assure her nothing would happen to me.

“Was….was she crying?” I asked him dreadfully. If there was one thing I hated, it was seeing her cry. She cried so much when her boyfriend broke up with her. And why? -Because she wasn’t spending all her time with him. Because all she cared about was her family, which was not true. Jenna tried so hard to make that relationship work, but that guy had been so unfair to her. All he thought about was himself. And to think they were going to be married. I wanted to break that guy’s nose so badly for doing that to her, but Mrs. Dawnly held me back. If it wasn’t for her, that guy would have been a nose-less sucker by now.

“Like a river.” He smiled, answering my question, “But don’t worry, I can meet her and explain things to her.”

“You’ll do no such thing,” I snapped, “Don’t you dare go anywhere near my sister.”

I didn’t trust him, I trusted Finny, but not these other three men. Not one bit.

“Don’t you ever stop with your pointless arguments?” I heard Adrian say as he took a seat next to me.

I didn’t know what to do. I was mad he was putting the fault in me so easily, but I was conflicted about whether I should apologize to him for being rude without knowing the truth earlier.  

“Useless piece of….” I heard him mutter and fade.

Nope. No apology for him anymore.

Not too long after, everyone sat down to eat. It was the most uncomfortable experience for me, I mean, having strangers constantly stare at me made me lose my appetite. I mindlessly munched on the few appetizers, but with every bite I took, I felt the guilt that Jenna hadn’t eaten anything. How could I be so heartless and sit at a table filled with the highest quality dishes while my sister probably hadn’t had a bite of a muffin for the day yet? Suddenly, I began coughing when I realized what was in my hand.

Oh my God. No, no no no no no. This can’t be happening. Not a shrimp roll, anything but shrimp. Greene, this really isn’t your day.

“Damn it,” I mumbled as I dropped it back on the plate.

I didn’t know what to do, I was allergic to shrimp and….I ate it. This really was one of the dumbest things I ever did. I needed my allergy meds now, otherwise, the pain would start. Whenever I ate shrimp the allergic reaction I got to it was quite odd, I’d start becoming really pale and get this insanely agonizing pain in my stomach. It would be as if my insides were melting and crushing against each other. It was one of the things I could not bear, God- I had to do something. First, I needed to calm down, I just needed to wash my face. Who cares about my makeup anyway?

“Excuse me,” I said as I got up but regretfully looked at the ground and instantly felt wobbly. These heels were no friend either.

You can do this, you can do this, Julie. Just walk quickly to the restroom, don’t look down, walk steady and straight, keep your head up, avoid people trying to talk to you, pray that the pain doesn’t start halfway there, and hope that someone in the restroom has some sort of med that could help you right now. Simple as that.

Although the restroom was right there, it felt like forever. The seconds felt like hours to me and everything was in slow motion. Finally, I had my hand on the door. Yes! The inside was quite large and it was such a relief to see that the ground wasn’t transparent. What freak would put transparent flooring in a restroom anyway? I stood just looking at myself in the mirror for a moment. Breathe in and out. Everything would be fine. My face was already beginning to pale. What was the sense of washing my face anyway? The pain’s going to be from inside me. My brown eyes were dimming, I felt like life was being drained out of me.

“How long are you just going to be staring at yourself?” I heard a girl’s voice next to me which slightly startled me.

She was tall, about my height, with hazel eyes and light brown hair. Her posture seemed a bit snobby with her hand on her hip and arched eyebrow, but her voice seemed young, she was probably roughly around two years younger than me. Nothing could change the fact that this girl was my only hope.

“Sorry, I just….I’m not feeling so well. Do you by chance have any allergy medications or anything helpful?”

Her face kind of softened as she studied me, “Oh! You’re Vandermir’s fiancée, right?”

“Uhh, yes…” I said a bit awkwardly as I kept my hand on my stomach as if that could prevent the pain.

“Wow, you’re not what I was expecting. I mean, you’re a little…um….well actually you’re perfect but I think you should have done some more makeup and style your hair better than that, it’s hideous. But…. You are pretty enough for him.”

“Thanks?”

This girl was insane, I simply asked if she had something to help me and she went on about Vandermir and me. She could simply tell me no.

“Oh right! I forgot about you!” She laughed, “Well, I have a painkiller, you want that?”

“Yes, I’d take anything at this moment.” I smile gratefully as I took it from her.

She looked me up and down with her hand on her chin, “What’s your name anyway? I’ve never seen you around at any of these parties. Did he pick you up off the freeway or something?”

Wow, she seemed like a terribly nice person. If only I wasn’t feeling like this right now, I would show her how to be terribly sweet as well.

“No, he didn’t. And I’m Juliet.” I smiled.

“Oh, what a cute name, I’m Alexandria. I hope your little love story with Adrian doesn’t end like Shakespeare’s tragedy, Juliet. I still don’t see you two together but anyway, love is so strange. I’ll give it a month tops, by the way, love the dress.” She giggled as she left.

And I thought I was bad. A taste of my own medicine? Huh, she actually gave it to me….literally.

As I walked out the door after taking the tablet, I saw Donnie and Finny nearby. Maybe I should ask them when they were planning to leave. I couldn’t stay here any longer. Suddenly I felt someone bump into me, but Finny caught me up, “You alright there?”

“No.” I stated truthfully, “When are we planning to leave?”

“In a bit, Ricardo went to umm…..have a talk with someone important about this….issue we’re having.” He smiled innocently with a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his neck.

“I hope you guys aren’t planning to leave just yet!” I heard a newly familiar voice warning from behind me.

It was the same girl from the restroom.

“My, Donnie, you look hot.” She said quite boldly.

Wow, this girl was really…..out there.

“I’m glad you all could attend the party. Daddy just wanted to have this so badly.”

“You wouldn’t say,” Finny replied. There was something about his look which seemed questionable though, I never saw him look like that before. It seemed as if he caught a wind of something suspicious. His smile was oddly smirk-like. But maybe it was just me and my crazy symptoms acting up.

“Anyway, we should catch up later. Bye Donnie, bye Juliet.” She said as she put emphasis on Donnie’s name and she winked at me as she left. I noticed this ring on her finger though, it looked really similar to one I had when I was younger. My parents had gifted it to all their daughters but when they died; I remember all the rings disappearing. Mrs. Dawnly said that they probably had been robbed, but I highly doubted it. My parents had told me that it was a really rare stone but there she was, waving around her finger with the ‘rare’ stone ring on it. Anyway, that was so long ago. And a similar ring she had to mine was the least of my worries.

“Who is that girl?” I asked curiously. She was a bit odd, but strangely, she was kind of cute and funny.

“That’s Alexandria Blake, her dad owns the majority of the ski resorts in the North and has his own chain of companies that manufactures toys. Basically, she’s a little stuck-up Barbie, she has a little bratty sister too. I personally wouldn’t go for her, her dad’s over-protective. He’s crazy and I don’t need that.” 

I arched an eyebrow at him and smirked, “I find you not wanting to be with a girl hard to believe.”

“You wound me, love,” Donnie replied as he grinned and walked away.

Suddenly, Finny’s phone rang and he headed in the opposite direction leaving me behind. Alone. It was as if today was simply unlucky for me because within a minute my locket fell off my neck. On the floor. The transparent floor. Damn.

This day just keeps getting better.

I needed to pick it up but didn’t want to look down nor stoop down for it and because of these cursed heels, I just knew I would fall by wearing them. And this excruciating pain I was in was almost unbearable. For a moment, I turned around to walk away and forget it but I stopped because that locket meant so much to me. I couldn’t just walk away from it. I needed to face my fear. I needed to pick it up. As I turned around, I bumped into someone but he held me in his arms in balance.

Vandermir.

“I have it, don’t worry.” His voice kissed my insides as he placed the locket back around my neck while grazing his long elegant fingers tauntingly on my skin, giving me this weird yet pleasurable tingly sensation inside me.

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