[BOOK 1]
"We played with the devil at midnight, but masked by who we really were with charming smiles."
Heirs of the richest families come back to the Wellington mansion for a reunion. The Wellington mansion is where everything happens to the bigges...
Soft red velvet carpet sinks under my heels as I enter the room, while Marie and Adam explain the Midnight Madness challenge to the rest of the heirs.
Claire bumps into me harshly almost knocking me over. "Oops, you were in the way Vivian Claire pauses. Just stay out of my way and we won't have any problems."
Bridget rests her hand on my shoulder and gently leans in forward with sweet perfume wafting in the air. Wearing a sleek black dress, stunning diamond earrings, and dark red nails for contrast.
"Evening, Vivian I hope things go well for you tonight and Claire's attitude is truly distasteful"Bridget says, looking her up and down sizing her up for some competition.
I hope for the same for you as well, Bridget I say, giving her hand a gentle squeeze and making way to find a seat amongst the crowd.
Looking over to the left-hand side of the room, to find a mini bar with a few people wanting cocktails or alcohol to soothe or settle into their system for the night. While others gather around the round table to play classic card games.
"Ah, just the person I need to play this game with me" Daniel pauses. "Because Chase and Ashton don't wanna play with me, I think they're not being good friends."
Daniel and I weave through the crowd finding an empty round table with a deep red tablecloth, while I sit down on the opposite side watching Daniel shuffling the cards with precision.
"With the way you're shuffling those cards, I'd say you go to casinos a lot" I say, resting my arms on the table and taking off my promise ring slipping it into a small pocket of the dress.
Rolling up the sleeves of his dress shirt wearing two silver rings on his ring finger and middle finger.
"I mean, you're not wrong it's thanks to Ashton and Chase dragging me out to casinos on Saturday nights sometimes" Daniel responds, with a sly smile on his face and placing two rows of cards in front of me.
Watching as he places two rows of cards in front of me, then leaves the rest of the deck in the middle between us.
Daniel grabs a card from the deck only to find a joker and puts it down, breathing a sigh of frustration.
"It's okay, Danny I'm sure you'll get something next time" I say, grabbing an Ace from the deck and switching it out with a card before me.
He looks at the card and raises his eyebrows in amusement, leaning back in his seat with an unreadable expression on his face.
"I hope so too, Vivian maybe I'll even beat you at your favorite game who knows?" Daniel says, grabbing a number two card from the deck and swapping out a random card.
I look up at him and smile, while the overhead light shines faint shadows over our hands as we play. Sounds of alcohol flowing into glasses, sudden roars of victory coming from surrounding tables.
"I wouldn't get too cocky now, never celebrate your win too early" I respond, placing a number five card at the end of the first row and smiling in satisfaction.
Before I even grab another card from the deck, two bodyguards appear on either side of me, and look at the both of them with a straight face.
"Ms. Hawthorne your presence is needed by Mr. Lincoln in a private wing of the manor we're here to escort you" the bodyguard said.
Leaping off the high chair and landing steadily on my feet with one bodyguard in front of me and another following close behind. Weaving seamlessly through the crowd and entering a part of the manor I've never seen before.
"What is this part of the manor?" I ask, looking at the rather plain walls and nothing else standing out to me.
"Well, Miss Hawthorne, this part of the manor is still under construction it's still not clear what the Wellington family will do with it" bodyguard says, entering first into the narrow tunnel and maneuvers carefully throughout.
Coming down the last flight of steps and to find Chase, his dress shirt messy, eyes fills with exhaustion, and mumbling something to himself but others might think he's on the brink of going insane.
"Chase, what's going on? Why did you want me down here?" "You know I have a thing for tunnels" I say, looking around the close space and seeing a table scattering with magazine cutouts, newspapers, some black & white, blurry photos.
"I'm aware of that by the way, will you help me with the disappearance of my father?" Chase asks, his eyes pleading for help, answers, and the things that he doesn't know about it hoping that I might have answers.
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A/N
Thank you for reading this chapter!
Who's your favorite character in this scene so far!
