The Lone Dove #1 ✔️

01. An Enemy of the Elite

Stevens, my personal, well-acquainted guard and second-Father stands next to me, holding the black umbrella above my head as I read out the small, little words I had to give. I swallowed, I stared up, I tore away and I broke. Glass shattered like bones in my skull, it could all be heard, it just couldn't be seen.

Four SUVs. Black, tinted. Well-protected and secure.

This is not a game John Parker played with me.

This is not a game he told or left behind.

A game of life.

A game of death.

He chose the wrong game.

And I was left with the only game left.

I wore a thin black trench coat, not accounting for just how cold the rain was on the very day it chose to run rivers along each and every stone. The umbrella removed, the sniffles arose from James and Jenny, a maid and a guard, both closest to my parents, both agreeing to take guardianship of me if something were to happen. Like he could see it, like he could touch the expensive blood running through his veins and out where it shouldn't have been.

I didn't get to see the crash, the tilt of the crime scene.

I didn't get the chance.

They say specialists were on it.

They say it is of top priority to find who did this.

It's been months and no person was held accountable, no arrests were made, no signs of activity, no idea who or why...but theories were tragically made.

I was thirteen years old, led to his grand office at the Parker's Computer Manufacturing and Software designing enterprise by guards all flanking me like I'm the Queen of England. Signing papers I understood, but feeling numbed because they were only constant reminders that my parents had passed on, that whatever history they had, whatever memories they made...were gone too. Stevens has been with me since my birth...but it just wasn't the same.

I wasn't the same.

When I read on the companies and assets we owned, a book was handed to me.

I sat down and I read, another game, read and memorise as much as possible.

I came across the 'C' section and stopped, "Celestial, that was my Mother's maiden name?" I murmured, we didn't speak much of the name. At least, I don't recall hearing so much about such a name.

Stevens sat across from me and the lawyers holding my parents' will, he stares at me softly, warmly, tenderly and sadly, I saw it coaxing his eyes, not falling from the surface to stay strong for me, when I wish he wouldn't, I wish to cry with someone too, "When your Mother's brother lost ownership of his half of the company, and your Mother's Mother had passed, it was passed down to her and Celestial became one with Parker. I watched it happen when your parents were teenagers." He said to me.

I looked at him, "Why didn't my Father mention this? This and a few other names I don't recognise. Why wasn't my next remaining family the brother? Mom's brother, what was his name?" I asked him.

He looked uncomfortable, "He was not mentioned in your parents will, they wished for you to be with someone closer. I cannot be your legal guardian, child. Your parents appointed James and Jenny to be your guardians, to be a part of their family, Terry and Lia." He whispered to me, hand reaching to cover mine, I looked up at him.

"I have to move out." I whispered. It was no question. I knew I had to.

He pressed a kiss to my hairline, "Be strong, sweetheart. We'll get through this, one day at a time." He murmured.