Natasha's pov:
"I know, which is why you're gonna do what you do best." He replies with a sly smirk after his words. What could he be planning this time?
"Which is?" I urge him to elaborate.
"You're going to sneak out." He finally says with a proud smile at his idea.
"Seriously? I'm pretty sure that they'll know I'll be at the party when they find my bed empty." I turn down his idea immediately.
"Theoretically yes, but what if you supposedly found some blackmail on the twins and used it against them. You could use it as leverage and force them drive you to the party. They'll have no choice but to accept your offer." He figures out and starts pacing around me thinking.
"And where am I going to gather said blackmail from?" I find a loophole in his plan.
"From me." He stops pacing around and answers my query. "Like I said earlier, I used to be close with your brothers. I have specific pieces of evidence against them. " He admits whilst rubbing the back of his neck.
"Like what?" I urge him in disbelief.
"Ah but I can't tell you that Ms.Perfect." He adds on. He wraps his veiny hand around my bare waist and continues to guide me through the park. Is this man really trying to distract me?
"And why's that? I'm the one trying to sneak out remember?" I contradict him.
"Because I have certain information that your brother's wouldn't want you to find out." He rebuttals back with a solution.
"Ohh I get it. If you tell me the information, then the blackmail is useless." I show my understanding. He nods to my words with a proud grin.
"Smart girl." He compliments.
I smile at his praise. I liked it when he complimented me. It felt nice. "Okay, okay, I have to admit Mr.Mysterious, your ideas aren't all bad." I admit. His ego is probably going to skyrocket after hearing that.
"You know, you aren't all bad either." He sillily shoves me in the arm. He chuckles along to my words and I laugh a little after watching him. He shakes it off and we complete our stroll through the park. "It's nearly 2pm." I state as we walk towards the car park.
"Does that mean that you have to go?" He puts on a fake sad face.
I playfully push his arm and he acts hurt. I giggle at his childish behaviour and answer his previous question. "Yea, I don't want to but I don't want my biological brothers to suspicious either." I reason. He simply nods to show his understanding.
"If you don't mind me asking, why do you call them your biological brothers anyway?" He politely asked.
I hesitate for a moment before answering his query. "If I'm being completely honest, it's because I don't feel like I fit in yet. They were a little distant towards me within the first few days but they warmed up to me, I can't say the same. I do enjoy their presence and everything, but things have just gone by too quickly for me to comprehend. You know?"
He nods his head again quietly and lets me continue my rant.
"Between losing my mum, and moving to Brazil, things haven't exactly gone to plan." I take a sigh and begin again. "After the divorce and when I moved to the U.K, Flynn and Seb were the ones who helped me fit in. They make me feel like I belong. I got along with them and we've been inseparable ever since."
His hand rubs my back as we walk.
"Even though we're not related through blood, it feels that we are through heart. I think that I just need time to settle in with my biological brothers before I can call them my proper brothers again." I conclude.
"You take as much time as you need mk?" He assures me.
I smile at his kind gesture. Shortly after, we reach the car. He once again, opens the car door for me and lends me a hand as I get in. Such a gentleman. He scurries to his side and plops in. After that he hits the gas pedal and before I know it, we're off.
I rest my head against the leather seat. Its coldness soothes me. I also notice Nico's hand work its way onto my thigh. I like how it feels. I gently place my hand over his. He playfully smirks at me. I flash a cheeky grin back at him. Even his mere presence is able to brighten up my day.
He really does have an effect on me.
Time Passes:
I bask in his warmth. We made small talk here and there but nothing major. It's been 20 minutes and I can already recognise the road that we're on. My house only a 5 minute drive away. I wish he took a longer route so I could admire his perfectly chiselled jaw a little more.
"I'll text the twins the blackmail as you walk in." He mentions.
"Thank you Mr.Mysterious." I smile at him. "Do you think that this is really the right approach? Maybe blackmail isn't the best solution." I express my concern.
"I highly doubt that Vincent Morales would let you attend the party anyways. I also sense that your brothers are a tad bit possessive of you. Which means that they would probably say no when they hear about boys and alcohol." He explains his reasoning.
"You are good at proving your point. You should definitely take up debating." I offer after hearing his answer. He just chuckles at my words.
"I'll do it if you'll do it with me." Nico counter offered.
"Of course!" I exclaim joyfully.
"Good. I need my partner in crime by my side, always." He said.
I smirk at his sweet words. I like being his partner in crime. His possessive grip on my thigh tightened. The things in my stomach are fluttering again. Shortly after, he pulls up outside my gate. "See you tomorrow?" I clarify.
"Will do. See ya Ms.Perfect." He says as I get out of the car.
"See you!" I shout as I quickly scurry into my house. As I walk towards the front door I turn around to find that he hasn't left yet. His eyes still lingering on me. I flash him a smile and I hear his car zoom away. I unlock the front door using my key and go inside.
"How was it?" I hear a deep voice question me.
I shriek in worry as I turn to find Xander leaning against a nearby wall where I couldn't see him. I place my hand over my heart and inhale and exhale. "You surely know how to scare someone." I pant still in shock.
"It's one of my finer qualities if I don't say so myself." He admires himself. I roll my eyes at his egocentric behaviour. He lets out a little laugh at my response. He repeats himself. "So? How was it?"
"It was actually pretty nice! We went to a park and ate some acarajés." I gleam by picturing the memory.
He scoffs and said "At least you ate something, that's a start." His eyes wander down towards my torso. "Where's your hoodie?" He asks in a whole new tone. Where did the happy Xander go?
"It was Nico's remember? I took it off to give it back to him." I reply truthfully.
"That wasn't part of the deal." He stares in a sterner manner.
"I only took it off like an hour ago, it's not that big of a deal." I justify my reasoning. His mouth opens to say something but his phone pings with the sound of a notification. Nico must've sent the blackmail. A smirk works its way onto my face. I watch Xander's face change from annoyed to frustrated all within a second.
One would hate to be in his position right now.
He glances over the text, looks back to me, and back at the text again. I hear loud footsteps make their way towards us. It's Xavier, and he does not look pleased. "Blackmail? Really?" He asks offended. I shrug my shoulders at his question.
"I don't even know what Nico sent you but apparently you don't want me to see it right?" I ask for clarification. The twins both share a glance at each other before redirecting their gazes towards little ol' me.
"No we don't." Xavier responds with a defeated sigh. Xander clenches his jaw tighter.
I smile at his words. "Perfect! I'll be ready at 8 and I'll be waiting in Xander's car." I add on. Their brows furrow deeper. My grin widens at their reaction. Oh how I loved malicious planning.
"Don't you think that this is a little too far? It's only a party." Xander shrugs whilst putting his phone back into his pocket. "It might be, but there's no way in hell that Vincent would ever let me go anyways." I finalise my reason. "It doesn't hurt to try before you blackmail your brothers." Xavier reasons with me.
"I'll give it a try, and remember that you guys are my biological brothers." I make sure that they understand their place and make my way towards Vincent's office. Was I really behind too unreasonable? Is going to a party really worth all this chaos? I knock three times on the door before I hear Vincent grunt "Come in." in a nonchalant way.
Maybe now is a bad time..
I push open the oak slab and take a seat in the cold leather chair that I'm familiar with. He finally looks up from his screen and says "You're back. How was the museum?" I unconsciously bite my fingers and answer him untruthfully.
"It was good. One of the cheerleaders made up to me and even apologised." I lied.
His eyes study me a little longer and then go back the monitor. I rub my wrists together in nervousness. "So.. I've been wondering.." I begin. He interrupts me "No. You're not allowed to go to the party on Saturday." I'm in complete, utter shock.
"What? How did you know?" I ask in pure disbelief and amazement all at the same time. "Xavier and Xander already messaged me and I figured that it was only time before you asked to attend too." He explains whilst his eyes still glued to his screen.
I nod my head but then it hits me. "But I saw on the group chat that they are going. If they can go why can't I?" I state the facts aloud.
He clenched his jaw and replies with a hint of annoyance laced within his voice "Because they're responsible. You're only a child Princess, you're not mature enough to handle a house party with booze and boys."
I roll my eyes at his unfair response. "I'm not a child! I'm literally only a year younger than them, and may I remind you, that I'm in the same year group as them." I fight back.
"You're just a child Princess. It feels like it was yesterday when you and I were playing Barbies together." He tries to reason with me. Does this chap not realise that I'm 16 YEARS OLD.
"I'm not a child anymore, oh my days. I haven't touched a barbie since I left Brazil and I have been to multiple gafs before, it's nothing new." I shrug and lean back into the chair.
He groans in frustration and finally looks away from the glowing screen. "You're. Not. Going." He sternly finishes.
"Yes. I. Am." I reply back with the same energy.
"No you're not and that's final!" He finally shouts. I flinch at his response. I've never seen him this annoyed at me before. It's scary. I can feel liquid developing in my tear ducts. "Go to your room and only come down for dinner." He orders frustratingly and sighs again.
I get up, holding back tears, and leave his oak office.
I hope he rots there. After I stormed out of his office I go to my room. I slam the white door shut and crawl into bed. I drape the covers over my body. It's just not fair! Vincent treats me as if I'm still 5, when I've obviously changed. He ignores that and he's treating me unfairly compared to the twins.
It's just not right.
I need someone to rant to since I've been banished to my room. I've already used most of my social battery with Nico earlier so I'm gonna a text the people that I don't need any energy to have a fun time with.
You guessed it, Flynn and Seb.
Authors's pov:
Hey loves! Hope you all had a great week. Sorry for the filler chapter but I have big plans for upcoming chapters. I'm so happy we reached 2.5k reads! Thank you all so so much this is truly a dream come true. :D I just let you know that I have created a Tiktok account and the user is: avstroscomet
I post things about this book and booktok in general, don't hesitate to check it out, thanks!
What do you think of Vincent's behaviour?
Do you think that the plan is going to work on Saturday?
Does anyone ship Naico? creds: ykisthywopp for the idea 💗
Word count: 2200