A Cookie for the Big Boy

Chapter seven

"So why am I here Nikolaos?" I ask him, playing innocent.
He closes his eyes and takes deep breaths, controlling himself.

"You are here because you have been kept in the dark for basically your whole life." He answers, looking at my reaction.
"Details please." I frown at him.
"Well, I'll keep it short. Basically Leonard, Sean, you and I we have, how do I say that, a special bond, maybe. Our parents built an empire. They have accomplished to earn a lot of money with business and we all inherit their businesses. Well, except you. We have some sort of partnership that was signed years before we existed. With only four members in this partnership we didn't expect a thief under this contract. And as I searched your name after I complained about you, I found out more and more. Which only put more questions in my mind. Recently a huge amount of money disappeared from our bank account. And I thought...."

"That I stole that?" I interrupt him.
"Do not interrupt me, miss Brooke. And yes. I mean why wouldn't I? Sean and Leonard wouldn't do that and we don't know you." He looks at me.
"Have you not seen my apartment? I didn't even know anything about a partnership." I stand up, throwing my hands the air. I am not a thief.

"We know that now. You've been kept in the dark for your whole life." He states.
"So, that means my whole life is a lie?" I ask in disbelief, looking him straight in the eye.
He locks eyes with me, nodding silently.
"And what do you want from me now?"

"Your dad was the leader of the partnership. He kept all the papers and contracts. After he died my parents didn't know about you. They came second and took all the papers they could find. But what they never found was the passwords file. It's the most important one, so your dad must have hidden it pretty well. Anyhow, someone must have gotten a grip on that file and slowly but effective is robbing us. And we can't do anything. In order to find that person with the file we need your help. We need every information that you have from your parents." He answers.

"I don't know. I don't know shit about my parents I can't help you I'm sorry." I sit back down.
"We need you. After we find the robber you can live with higher standards. You can afford your own house and whatever because you're a part of the partnership." Blondie says, squeezing my shoulder.
"I may live poor and this sounds really good to me but I really don't know how I'm supposed to help you." I sigh.

"We will have to visit your grandparents and get some information. And I think you'd be better to ask them about your parents than three strangers." Sean says. I look up at him, deep in thoughts.
"Listen, you'll always be with us. There are no risks for you, but for us and the partnership we could get down." Darmetir says.

I look at him and nod.
"Okay. I'll help you guys." Blondie wraps his arms around me and squeezes me.
"Thank you." He breaths out and I pat his back.
"So can I go home now?" I ask.
"Oh no, my people completely destroyed your place yesterday. You'll sleep here until we find the thief." Sean says and I gasp.

"What? No. Why did you destroy my apartment?" I ask.
"We weren't sure." He shrugs.
"What about Lacey? What happened to her?" I ask Blondie.
"She's fine, she won't even remember. You can call her if you want. It's not like you're in prison. You just sleep here, you can do whatever you want." He answers and I nod.
"Okay, then I'll take a little walk." I stand up.

"Other than going outside." He says and I furrow my eyebrows.
"What do you mean?"
"We are not exactly in danger, but we should always be together, just in case this thief is not only a thief." He answers.
"That's bullshit. I've never been attacked or kidnapped before you guys." I protest.

"Just fucking stay here. Don't be stupid and risk being kidnapped again." Darmetir hisses and leaves the room. I glare at his back.
"Just ignore him. He has his temper. After all his parents fought for this partnership he is not willing to give it up that easily and so are we." Blondie tells me I nod.

"Alright, you should get some rest if you want. We'll leave too." Seen says.
"Wait where are you going?" I panic. I don't want to be alone with Darmetir.
"Home. This is Niki's penthouse not ours. Don't worry he won't kill you." He ruffles my hair and puts his jacket on.
"Alright." I stretch the word as the both of them leave me alone in this big room.

I attempt to find the kitchen after my stomach growls loudly. I'm still in this huge shirt with no pants as I make my way towards the hallway. It is so creepy being in a strange house that is so huge. I open one door and find a fitness room. Yeah, why fucking not?

I open the next door, seeing a nice bathroom. I sigh, imagining me in that huge bathtub. I close the door and see another door. There are so many doors I don't even know where to continue. I decided to go with the easiest and fastest way to find the kitchen.

"Nikolaos!" I yell and hear him groan behind a door.
"What?" He snaps.
"Where is the kitchen?" I yell back. Seconds later a door opens and he steps out. His white button up shirt halfway opened and his sleeves are pulled up to his elbows. I try not to look too much at him when he leads the way to the kitchen.

"What do you want?" He asks, opening the fridge.
"Food, what else?" I answer, sarcastically.
"Then go make yourself some." He snaps and goes back towards the room he just came from.

I roll my eyes and stand up, trying to find some food.
As I reach up to investigate I hear footsteps behind me.
"What are you trying to do now?" He asks annoyed as he opens the cupboard for me. I can feel his hot breath on my neck.
"Only dishes." He states and takes a step back.
I nod when I turn around to look at him.

"Just don't play stupid and make yourself some cereal or something like that." He says and leaves again.

What the hell?