Madness (Completed)

Do You Know?

Jack and I sit together, watching the rain for hours until the sky had finished weeping on the land. Then, of course, I had to break the moment, I just had too much in my mind.
"Jack... I'm sorry, but I just remembered that I wanted to talk with Maddie before the wedding." I say, slowly pulling myself out of his grip.
"Okay, will you be staying the night there or? I'm just asking because I want to know how much dinner to make." Jack explains. He let's his hands fall to his sides as I turn and sit in from of him.
"I'll come back, I just want to talk to her real quick." I say with a nod.
"Okay. I'll see you soon then." Jack says with a nod. I lean and kiss him on the cheek before I push myself off the couch and onto my feet.
"I'll see you soon. I love you." I say before I start for the door.
"I love you too Violet! Be safe! When you get back I'll probably have dinner ready." Back shouts from the couch. I nod and put my hand on the doorknob.
"Okay, I can't wait!" I respond as I walk outside and gently close the door behind me. I then go down the sidewalk that will lead me to my destination.

I soon pass by Maddie's home and then focus my eyes on where I'm really going to go. As much as I hate it, sometimes I have to lie to Jack. I need to see Shane, I need to find out what secrets he has planned for us. I don't want to have the marriage between us just be his plans and his ideas. I want to actually have a say in what he does, especially when it involves my friends. I walk through the doors of the police station and knock loudly on the door at the back. For some reason there is no security guard, but I'm sure someone will answer me. A young girl with bright blonde hair swings the door open. Her hair is in a broad that goes almost down to her waist. I look to to her eyes, they are much lighter than mine, but still a lovely green. She has a small name tag under her hair that reads 'Elise'. Oh, she's Shane's new assistant.
"Hi, I'm Violet, here to see Shane." I explain in a polite tone. She looks much younger than me, I guess that's why I'm being nice today.
"Oh, of course. He told me you'd be here for the meeting. Follow me, I'll take you to the meeting room." Elsie says, as she quickly turns and holds the door open for me. I walk inside and wait for her to lead me. I forgot that he invited me to this, although it does give me an excellent excuse for me to talk to him. Although, I think I'll wait for him to finish hosting his meeting before I start asking for all his secrets. Elise leads me down a hallway, much like the one that leads to the actual jail cells. But we do pass the door where all criminals are kept... And where Ian is being held... I take in a deep breath, he's behind bars. He's trapped, so no one has to worry about him anymore. Shane has amazing security in there and no one will ever escape; including Ian.
"Miss Violet, here is the room. Mr. Lancaster was just about to begin, but he was waiting for your arrival. Would you like me to introduce you to the crowd?" Elise asks me politely with a tilt in her head.
"No, I don't want to bother you too much. Thanks for taking me here, I'm sure I'll be seeing you around soon." I say with a nod. Elise nods and turns around and begins walking away. I turn back to the door in front of me, I didn't even notice it at first. I guess I was too busy convincing myself that Ian was trapped. I grasp the doorknob and twist it, allowing my entrance. A large table sits in the middle of the room and about twenty men sit around it. Shane stands in front of them all, leaning against the wall with his eyes locked on me. I recognize Rupert and Harley in the group of men, but the rest are complete stra sewngers to me. In front of each man lies a number, they go from one to eighteen. The one in front of Rupert is 15 and the one in front of Harley is 7. I can only guess that it represents the districts as Shane said there was eighteen of them. Shane clears his throat. Oh, right, I've been standing here for a while just staring at people... I take in a deep breath, I've always hated crowds, but here we go.
"Hello everyone. I'm Violet, Shane's fiancé." I say as I close the door behind me, I know how that annoys Shane to have doors open.
"And, she will be attending this meeting to learn how business works around here. Please, dear, take a seat here, you need the chair more than me." Shane says as he pulls out a chair at the head of the table that happens to be in front of him.
"She's late..." One of the men with the number 11 mutters under his breath.
"Well, as you may have noticed... My wife is quite a bit pregnant and has a hard time going around the town. Please forgive her lateness, I know you all have business, but we enjoy your presence in our wonderful capital." Shane replies to the man, but keeps his gaze on me. I sit in the chair Shane had set for me and nod at his statement.
"Always humble Shane, but I enjoy being here." The number 17 says with a bright smile.
"We enjoy having you Charles, we enjoy having businessmen like yourselves here as well. It is so much easier to talk with all of you here, so, shall we begin?" Shane questions, glancing around by he table. His hands land on my shoulders where he rubs them softly. Gotta keep that public image going.
"Go ahead Shane." Harley says with a grin. I look up do I can see Shane as he stares at all the men with a casual smile. However, I can see small sweat beads on his forehead that show his nervousness. But he's very good at hiding it from everyone else.
"Thank you, so, to begin, I think we should talk about the status of District 4, more commonly known as The Serene, previously owned by Carter James Lancaster." Shane says, taking his hands off me and crossing his arms. Wait, Lancaster? Are they related?
"Shane, not to be rude, but aren't Carter and yourself siblings?" One of the men at the table questions. I still stare at Shane in shock, so I'm not sure who exactly said it. Well, you learn something new everyday, right? Like, the man you're about to get married to has a phycopath brother who kidnapped you. You know, normal things. I take in a deep breath, I guess I'm going to have more to talk about with Shane than I thought.
"Yes, Mr. Garrison. But I do not hold any ties to him, I was a the one who banished him as most if you know." Shane responds in a slightly annoyed tone.
"I know Shane, but, my real question is this. Why did you put your kid brother in charge of a district when he had no training or qualifications? I think that would have been an obvious mistake, even to you." The man known as Mr. Garrison points out in a confused and annoyed tone.
"Yes, it was a mistake and I admit that. But now it's over, and it was a mistake, in the past. That's where I'd like to keep that." Shane says as he paces slowly back and forth behind me.
"But there are thing he did that can not be kept there. Like all the lives he cost us, files say that he kidnapped hundreds if not thousands of strays. And all the names are written in here, but there is one that sticks oitbto me more than the rest; Violet Clark. Description: long brown hair and green eyes. Now, who does that sound like Shane?" Mr. Garrison says, his eyes staring into my soul.
"Yes, he did kidnap me, but I'm fine now. What does that have to do with anything?" I snap at him. He shouldn't be saying this stuff and he knows it. There's a reason Shane called this man by his last name and not his first. This guy is a total dick.
"It shows that Shane, even after his wife was taken, doesn't see that his decisions are ruining the districts!" Mr. Garrison shouts, standing from his chair and pointing am angry finger at Shane. I push myself to stand in the way and shake my head.
"I am fine. It may be true that Carter did awful things while he was in power, but Shane took care of it. He banished him from all the districts and took all that power away, even though it was his own brother. Do you know how hard that was? Do you know even a little bit of hardship remotely like that? Do you know what it's like to hate your family so much for what they've done? Do you know what it's like to just hate your last name because you share it with your family? Because that's how I feel every single day. So, don't you tell me that because Shane was being a good brother he was a bad person. Because he was being so much better than I ever had." I say angrily, trying hard to hold back tears. But through my efforts, a few tears fall down my cheeks and I fall back into my chair. Shane quickly goes to my side and almost pounds his first through the table. Mr. Garrison sits down at that one.
"Thank you Violet, for that wonderful defense. I think that Mr. Garrison with from now on, think twice before he speaks badly about me. Although, today I don't wnat to talk about mistakes and my brother. Today we need to talk about the future and who will become the new leader of District 4. So, do we have any suggestions?" Shane questions. I wipe away my tears as he speaks, I can't be weak next to him. Shane then creeps his hand to mine where he grasps it sweetly. I look up at him and he mouths the words 'thank you'. I nod and he mouths 'are you okay?'. I nod again and take in deep breath.
"Shane er- Mr. Lancaster-"
"No, please call me Shane. I don't want to trouble you with my long last name, Johnny." Shane states with a small laugh.
"Oh, Shane then. Do you think it would be possible for us to do an interview type for the position? And I think we should do it with citizens from District 4, so that they could get used to the job quicker as they know what goes on there normally." Johnny says. He is a small boy, although he wears a suit quite well. He is slender and has a higher pitched voice than the rest, and his number is 2. I might even say that he's younger than me, which is interesting.
"That is a great idea Johnny, thank you for your input. I told you all he'd be a good businessman." Rupert says with a large grin.
"Yes, it was excellent, we'll make you one of us yet." The number 14 man chuckles.
"However, who will we have run these interviews?" Shane questions, glancing around the room.
"Excellent question Shane." Harley states as all the attention in the room turns back to Johnny.
"Uh, someone from one of the offices could do it... Right?" Johnny says in a nervous tone and a slight shrug if his shoulders.
"True, but no one is running that place right now." The number 8 man says.
"No, I run it now. As I am Carter's next in kin and the leader of all Districts, it would logically fall to me." Shane says, crossing his arms, taking his hand away from me. I guess even he gets tired of acting sometimes.
"Oh, that's right. Good call Shane." The man previously known as Charles says with a smile.
"So, it's settled then? We will have Shane hold interviews in the District 4 offices?" Rupert questions in a deep, gruff voice.
"Yes. I will contact them immediately. Thank you all for having this meeting with me. I will be in my offices if any of you need me, but I will now officially dismiss this meeting. I hope to see all of you again soon. Good afternoon to you all." Shane says with a smile. He nudges my arm up and I get the signal. I get up from my seat and push it in. I stand by Shane and wrap my arm around his.
"Get out of here. Fast. Wait for me in my office." Shane whispers and pushes me towards the door. I start walking as quick as I'm able, getting passed most of the men who are now getting up from their chairs.