Chapter 26
It turns out there would be a theme, after all.
Masquerade.
The invitations had been sent. Close friends, casual friends, people from around town, and even complete strangers – everybody seemed to be invited to my 18th birthday. Plans upon plans had been made in order to make the night special. For me especially.
Eli – the creative little genius he was – had figured out how to shoot all kinds of birds with only one stone. That stone happened to be the greatest event that would ever hit Alistair. By the time we had finished our brainstorm, Genesis had been full to bursting with notes and ideas. And by the time he had climbed out the balcony and into the streets when Daddy came home from work, my earlier rage had been completely forgotten.
I now knew what to do. My confidence came slamming back into me, confidence that had momentarily dwindled at Nathan's immediate rejection to my body on the night I had tried to kiss him. Now I was back in full form, ready to ensue chaos that would feed the monster brewing under my skin.
This was it. From the moment I had stepped into Alistair's gates, I had been building up to an intense crescendo. Soon the waves would fall, crashing down on those who ever dared defy me, and those who stood as obstacles towards what I wanted most.
Nathan was mine. Alistair was mine.
I would finally have it all.
***
"Whatever you do, don't rush into an early marriage," Gwyneth emphasised her words using her fork, waving it around in the air. Daddy had invited her over for dinner just as he said he would, and Gwen had invited Jess Nathan just as I thought she would. The news of Jessabel's pregnancy had been a huge surprise to her, though not as much as it had been for Nathan. Now that she was getting used to the idea of a new little Griffin – Griffin, not Ericson. Never Ericson – she became excited at the prospect of being a grandmother at only 38. Though she could never be excited at the fact that her daughter was only 20.
Jess was an early baby too, she told me.
Jessabel sighed wearily, setting down her knife to pat her mouth with a napkin. "Mom, Nate and I have already discussed this." I relaxed after she said that, not wanting to know how long my self-control would last if they started discussing the 'Mr. And Mrs. Ericson' topic. Surely somebody in this dinner table would end up dead if it were brought up.
Gwen nodded, satisfied with her answer. "Good. And make sure you get enough vitamins and antioxidants, too. You want your child to have a strong set of teeth."
"Strong teeth run in my family, Gwen," Nathan smiled broadly, snapping his lovely straight teeth for emphasis. I seemed unable to take my eyes off of him.
"Manners apparently don't," Jess muttered, leaning over and gently wiping sauce from his chin.
"So are you guys coming next week?" I asked loudly, breaking through their intimate moment as effectively as if I had stepped right in between them. Jess turned towards me, her eyes politely curious.
"No, I don't think so," she shook her head. She reached for the water on her side of the table, taking a long sip. "Won't be much fun with a fetus inside me."
"Don't call he or she that," Gwen snapped.
I could control the anger when it came full blast, and I was ready with a fake gasp, my clenched fist being the only sign of distress.
No. They had to come. Both of them.
"Don't listen to her, Renee. We'll be there," Nathan smiled, having absolutely no recollection of our previous encounter and being as easy going as always. His grin alleviated my anger. It alleviated everything.
"Nate," Jess objected. "I'm pregnant-"
"I know. That doesn't mean we still can't come." It was fun watching him argue with her. It was always nice to know that I could drive a wedge between them. "You don't have to drink anything besides soda."
"Soda is terrible for your body. You shouldn't even be drinking it," Gwen complained into her food.
Daddy looked amused. "You can't stop your daughter from doing everything, Gwen. The baby is barely an embryo at this stage."
"Pleeeeease come. Please? You're my only cousin. And eighteen is a big deal." I gave her my best pout and hoped beyond hope that Nathan could convince her to come. It was either that or I was dragging her by her precious hair.
I would gladly do the latter.
Being the weak little bitch that she was, Jessabel caved. "Okay. But I have nothing to wear. And we'll only be there for like ten minutes."
"Fifteen?" Nate asked.
"Twelve."
"Okay deal."
Could I do what I was supposed to do in less than ten minutes? Challenged accepted.
I clapped my hands together, squealing the girlish squeal I saved for circumstances like this. "Perfect. It's still light outside, too. Let's go now – the little boutique down the road is open 24 hours."
I was able to rope her into shopping. It was imperative that we did this, which was why I had put up such a fight. In the end I won, and we ended up driving to the place Yuri, Becca and I had stopped at during one of our many shopping errands. It was a store full of designer collections, and was cute and trendy enough to be deemed acceptable to my Venetian theme.
"What about this one?" I asked, holding up a tight crimson dress that ended well above the upper thighs, held up by two straps that meant to rest at the very edge of your shoulders. Jess stared at the piece with wide eyes.
"Umm, no thank you."
"Oh, come on!" I cried, pretending that I gave a fuck. "It'll look hot. I promise."
She scratched her arm nervously, eyeing the bits and pieces around her. Her ridiculous height gave her a certain gawkiness that made me smirk. "Wouldn't it be a waste? I'm only going to wear it once."
I shrugged, putting it back on the rack I had found it. "Maybe. Or you might wear it again. Who knows?"
"I prefer that one," she pointed to a shapeless ivory dress, void of anything interesting that could make her stick figure shape appear anything but.
I wrinkled my nose. "Ew."
It took an awful long time before we finally found a dress that we could both agree on – a blue, lacy, and yet devastatingly elegant Elie Haast gown that buttoned up at the collar and had a slit to the left. I quietly seethed as she picked it up and made her way to the change rooms, her thigh-length hair billowing behind her.
That dress would look gorgeous on her.
But it would look even better on me.
"It that the one you want?" I asked through the door, watching her pale feet shuffle as she took off her jeans. I comforted myself with the thought of her swollen, gigantic body in a couple months' time. Nathan wouldn't find her very attractive then.
"Yeah, I think so." Perfect.
I had to be as quick as lightning in order to do a little shopping of my own, but I managed to get my own purchased packed and payed for before Jessabel came out of the changing rooms, wearing her boring jeans and sweater.
"You're not gonna show me how it looks?" I asked, acting confused and a little offended.
She smiled wryly, shaking her head. "Nah. Let's go home."
She looked inquisitive when she noticed the bag I carried, and in return I gave her a broad smile and pulled out two elegant Venetian masks, one a feathered blue and one being a simple black. "To go with your outfit. And Nathan's," I explained.
She smiled genuinely then. One of the most genuine smiles she had ever given me. In another life where Nathan had been mine from the start instead of hers, Jessabel and I could probably have been friends.
But this was my world. And in my world, Jessabel had to be eliminated.
One.
***
The week brought plenty of surprises with it, including the return of an old friend. Georgia May had travelled long and far to get back to her hometown, and the girls had been overjoyed to see her again, showering her with hugs and squeals as she left the airport.
"Oh my God, oh my God!" Yuri shrieked, hugging the poor girl so tightly she looked to be suffocating. "I can't believe it's you! We've missed you so much."
While she still resembled the fair-haired, dewy-eyed Christian lesbian that I had set to ruin, there were subtle changes to her appearance that only I had the capability of noticing. Her skirt now went below her knees and almost to her ankles, different to the days when her skirts and dresses had been as short as mine. The strange pendant around her neck had been replaced with a cross, and a purity ring now adorned her left hand. She wore less makeup, and sat with her spine as straight as a ruler.
Whatever that convent was doing, it was doing something right. She looked as pure and untouched as a snowflake.
"I'm only going to be here for a week – after that, I go straight back." I watched as every single one of their faces fell.
"Can't you stay longer?" Sal pleaded from the back seat of Yuri's car. I sat at the front and refused to sit anywhere else, watching their conversations through the rear view mirror.
"If she can't stay, she can't stay," Yuri snapped at her sister. "We'll still show you a good time. Renee's party will be epic."
"Can't wait," was her barely-there reply. "So how are things going? You know, without..."
Suddenly the mood in the car changed. Tammy and Cora were a touchy subject in our group, and we preferred not to talk about it. But this was Georgia, who had been a member of the group too. She was as much a part of the grief as we were.
"Fine, I guess. The funeral was over a month ago," Becca answered.
"Oh, I would have come down if Dad had let me. I read about it in the paper. I mean, can you even believe that something like that could have happened to the both of them?"
"I know," Becca sniffed, feeling everything all over again. "We grew up together – all of us. It's still so weird sometimes, because there's only us left. We really, really miss you Georgia."
"It's not the same," Sal agreed.
The mirror gave me a comfortable view of Georgia's porcelain face – looked to be fighting back tears, the sadness in her eyes cutting so deep into her. "I miss you too. I miss everyone. I never wanted to leave, you know that." Her voice sounded choked, and it cracked several times.
I had to ask. I had to.
"Do you still miss her?"
I saw her flinch and sit up straighter, giving me her glossy stare. "I-I don't... I don't know how to answer-" There it was. The memory of Shanelle, her former best friend and lover, still killed her on the inside. I could tell by her face, in that split second, that a little part of her had died when she left Alistair. A little part of her had died when she was forced into a convent, never to see the person she loved more than anything again. It probably killed her, too, to be sitting here talking and catching up and feeling the gnawing gap that had been left beside her. Shanelle had always, always sat beside her. Never anywhere else.
If I were anything like the others, I would have felt remorse.
But remorse was a foreign thing to me. Georgia and Shanelle deserved everything they had gotten.
"Well," I offered, trying to brighten up the topic of conversation and steer things to go exactly where I had planned them to. "You must be starving. Yuri, pull into the shopping centre over there." I swivelled around my seat, grinning from ear to ear. "First we'll get lunch. After that, we completely reinvent the old Georgia May. I'm talking hair, nails, clothes – everything. You're back in Alistair, and we're going to make sure that you go out with a bang."
For the very first time, she smiled the smile I had always remembered; big, blinding, and too wide for her face. "Okay," she answered breathlessly. "That sounds fun. Though you realise that I won't be able to wear half the stuff once I go back-"
"Who gives a shit? You're here and you're here noooooow!" I yelled out of the window, letting the wind rush against my face. I was the ultimate picture of fearlessness, and that took immense pressure off of everybody's chests. My skills were back in motion, and soon I had manipulated everybody into being as excited as I appeared to be.
But I had one job, and one job only for today.
"What would you like, pretty lady? A simple trim?" the lovely hairdresser asked, his strong, skilled hands brushing the hair from my neck and eyeing it the way a sculptor would eye a block of marble. He was the same hairdresser I had been going to for a while, someone who had familiarised himself to my tastes and did my hair justice. He knew what he was doing, and I was sure of that.
"I want it bleached white." My answer was blunt and straightforward, leaving little room for arguments. I scrutinized the dirty golden tone of my hair – a tone that I used to love, but now despised. And certainly a tone that would give away everything. "All of it."
Marco blanched and widened his eyes, wondering why I would take beautiful, soft hair and corrode it with peroxide. "Are you sure about this? Bleaching is permanent stuff. Why don't you just-"
I gritted my teeth, feeling the minutes tick away. The angrier I got, the less he would find me cute and endearing, and the less likely he would walk out this shop a whole man. I was tempted to let him feel my wrath, every single ounce of it. But he was not worth my time and energy. "I Don't. Care. Bleach it now."
That was all it took. Without another word nor glance, he set to work. I relaxed back into my seat, letting the hours pass by counting the sets of tiles on the wall and wondering if Nathan would find this look prettier. My friends had spread out all over the place in order to do their own shopping, but I spied Georgia beside me, getting her hair brushed and coloured into the most vivid shade of red I had ever seen. Looks like she had really taken my advice to heart.
Two.
***
"Are you sure she'll turn up?" I muttered under my breath, feeling the chill of midnight air. Street lamps buzzed above us, giving us the bare minimum of light we needed. Eli's long legs kept in time with my fast strides, and together we made our way outside the gates and into the 'rural' community.
On foot.
She said never to travel in anything else.
I didn't dare resist her orders and travel via Eli's motorbike, despite the ache in my ankles. Getting the message from her was challenge enough – it had taken several letters disguised as junk mail, and I spent hours doing as Eli asked, cutting out every second word and piecing it all together.
And now we would meet. At last.
My mild irritation had been drowned out my sheer excitement, bubbling into my nerves and making my heart beat tenfold. I was irritated – and still am – at the fact that Eli hadn't told me of his plans before. He had been hiding her under his sleeve, waiting for the appropriate time to mention her and the various benefits she came with. Now it didn't even matter.
This woman – if I played my cards correctly – would be my ultimate salvation. My angel. Or my angel from hell, to be more accurate.
Eli halted in his steps, grabbing my arm and pulling me towards him. The streets were dark and harshly quiet, with only one or two cars driving past every half hour or so. The paparazzi were nowhere to be found – that I was sure. "Stop. Give me a second."
He pulled out the envelope tucked in his coat pocket before I could protest. Throwing his trademark devil smirk over his shoulder, Eli sauntered to the post box and pulled the hatch down.
"Wait," I smiled. He watched me eerily as I slithered the envelope out of his clever little fingers, leaving a noticeable lipstick mark as I kissed the name written underneath.
Chloe Newman.
When I said I would be inviting everybody, I meant everybody. This would be the perfect trap – Chloe, despite all the attempts she'd make, would not be able to resist the temptation of a Venetian nightclub event, lured in by the thought of masks and heavy smoke and darkness. I could feel it in my bones. Chloe would respond to the invitation, and come crawling into my hands.
Then I would have her trapped.
Eli laughed darkly, tossing the envelope into the box and gripping my wrist possessively in his warm palm. His breath washed over my face, smelling of cigarettes and heavy alcohol. "Three," he whispered, before claiming my mouth as his own. We kissed heavily underneath the full moon, and I enjoyed every minute of it, curling and twisting our tongues expertly together. Our bodies knew each other well.
I pulled back after one last bite at his bottom lip, dragging him by the nape of his jacket and making our way over to the football stadium – the same stadium I had slaughtered Trevor Dakota in. I shivered at the memory.
She was sure to be here now. Watching. Waiting. People like her were not to be kept waiting.
Her flight had just arrived, Eli had whispered into the back of my ear as we picked the doors open, trying to adjust to the sudden darkness as we climbed the many stairs and entered the stadium itself. Rows upon rows of seats formed a perfect semi-circle around the football field, littered with plastic and garbage and whatever else the maintenance had been too lazy to clean.
She wasn't very hard to spot.
The first thing I noticed was the crimson trench coat paired with highly expensive pumps. She was not alone, nor did we expect her to be. Two giant men, both dressed in black, stood in perfect position as she gracefully uncrossed her legs, beckoning us forward with just the tip of her glove.
My breath caught in my throat. It was her. It was really her.
"Were you followed?" The ice in her tone ran like ice in my veins, and I couldn't help but slightly gawk, understanding everything she had done and everything she now represented.
"No," Eli smiled, bending over to plant a kiss on her smooth cheek. "You look lovely, godmother."
"It's been a while. Well, well, look at you now," she smiled back also, though none of it was genuine. Cersei was the ultimate picture of a wanted billionaire, pristine and meticulous and absolutely void of emotion.
But Cersei wasn't her real name – that much was obvious. She used to go by another name, a name that was now highly feared among the residence of her old town.
Aurora Hockley.
There were only very few people in the world whom I revered as much as her. Whatever I could do, she could do twice as effortlessly without a single drop of blood spilt. Cersei had even gotten away with one of the most notorious kidnappings the world had ever seen, and kept every penny she had earned. Now she hid in shadows, changing location every couple of months and going by a different name each time.
She was perfect. She was everything I wanted to be and more.
As if sensing my thoughts, her baby blue eyes slowly moved to me.
"Ahh," she smiled again, showing off her sharp canine teeth. "And you must be Renee. A pleasure. Though it would be quite a shame if your little plan were to go up in smoke."
"It won't." That I was confident about. I had doing my planning and re-planning, and nothing about my plan and my party would go amiss. I knew it. "The police won't know a thing."
She cocked her head to the side, her eyes widening. "And how do you know this?" Her voice, however sweet it was, held a dangerous tint that I didn't like.
In response, I dropped the bag I had been carrying beneath her feet. "Because you'll be making a profit. And I don't throw money around."
The bag carried over half a million dollars in cash. The money had come from both Tammy's family savings and Daddy's own, but it would all be worth it in the end. I watched for a sign of surprise on her face, some hint that I had surprised her and that this was not what she expected.
All I got was a nod. "Lovely. I'm sure you already know my terms?"
I nodded, having memorised it by heart. "We're allowed only one stop at a gas station to change. Then we'll ask for a guy named Clive, and he will give us everything we need. Our cellphones will be discarded at the door before we take the long route to the airport. By then the flight will be ready. This needs to be done in under fourty-five minutes."
Her eyes sparkled with something other than contempt, and I felt a warm feeling spread across my chest. "Very good," she breathed. "No doubt you have all the equipment, too."
I made a sound at the back of my throat, not liking being doubted. "Of course."
"Then I guess we're done." Her guards stood up before she did, and I stepped aside, making room for. But she didn't take the nearest exit. Instead, she leaned into me as close as she dared, giving me a copious view of her barely-there surgical scars. She didn't look pretty and harmless now – at that moment I was reminded that this was the same woman who had cheated Alfred Ericson out of everything he had.
"This is merely a favour to a godson. Don't you ever forget that." Her voice was colder than anything I had ever felt, leaving goose bumps along my arms. "You better hope this works out. You better hope that it's worth it. And most of all, you better hope that the police don't catch trail. Is that understood?"
"Yes," I breathed, nodding furiously, wanting to win her trust. I needed her trust. "Absolutely. Nothing will go wrong."
"Good. But just in case, let Valeria here be a little reminder of what could happen if you're not careful."
Before I could comprehend her words, a bone-chilling scream filled the air as a woman was thrown from above us, flailing and bound to her elbows, before her insides splattered across the cold pavement. I suddenly found it hard to breathe.
Four.
Everything was complete.
***
Author's Note: As of today, I've been on Wattpad for two years. Yay!
For those who haven't read White Lies (and this is why it's important that you do, otherwise you miss things) Aurora Hockley was the mother of Jennifer Hockley. Jennifer had been kidnapped by a man her mother had driven crazy. That man happens to be Nathan's father. Do you see what I mean?
Lily x.