Chapter 5

Rose’s POV

I stood outside Rebecca’s house, in awe, gazing up at the grand structure, my mind completely blown. The refreshing ocean breeze blew past us, lifting our hair and clothes, calling it to play in the wind. I was amazed, completely and utterly amazed.

She had left our house with no money, with just the clothes on her back and she’d ended up living here, on a water front property. The lot itself would have been expensive, my family would never be able to dream of purchasing it, but the house that sat on the quaint bit of land left me even more mind boggled.

It was huge, looming above me like a skyscraper, yet at the same time very colourful and the type of home you’d find on a beach. I couldn’t even comprehend it all, the views she must wake up to in the morning, the beautiful salty smell of the sea, the beaming sun smiling directly down on her, the golden sand practically in her backyard.

The street was filled with many other large houses, home to many prestigious families and rich couples. It was known as a friendly family street, and I could see why.

Her house front was speckled with trees, swaying gently in the breeze, thousands of exotic plants and pretty flowers forming a striking garden.

The large, spotless windows that filled her walls gave us a view into her spacious home, filled with luxurious furniture and the newest gadgets. I could hardly breathe, a wave of jealousy surging through me, frozen and shell shocked. This must have cost her a fortune!

“She’s done well for herself, considering she left with nothing,” Ty finally found his voice. “I bet she has a pool and all.”

I chuckled, trying to laugh it off, but deep down I knew it was true. She’d become a rich snob, presumably, and had left our family behind in the dust. She was lucky I hadn’t tracked her down properly and demanded some cash, since me and my Mum were stranded in a financial mess while she was living it up in the land of luxury.

“So, are we going to stand here all day or are we actually going to go in there and talk to her?” Damion asked from my side, before starting the journey up her glorious driveway.

We all followed him, feeling small compared to her magnificent entrance way housing her towering front door.

Damion pressed the doorbell, as we all stood in silence, listening to the ringing chimes that echoed through her house (I’d call it a mansion though). We all waited patiently for someone to come and answer the door, but for minutes there was no answer.

As Damion went to knock the door, in hope that her buzzer was broken, a sharp voice rang in our ears.

“I don’t want whatever it is you are trying to sell, so if you would please, step away from the door and leave my property at once,” it snapped.

“Actually, we aren’t salesmen…” Damion called back, as Haden inched closer to me, as we waited for some form of reaction.

Slowly, the sounds of heels slapping against the floor grew closer to us, before someone flung the door open in one magnificent swing. Opening it revealed Rebecca, stood up straight and holding herself with pride, one hand on her hip as she glared at the people who’d interrupted her.

“Hey, Becks,” Damion grinned, looking her up and down.

She was wearing a long, purple dress that just screamed “business lady”, her eyebrows plucked to perfection, each curl of her hair miraculously in line, outlining her angered face. I watched as her blue eyes widened, her face paling at the sight of us.

“What in God’s name are you doing here?” She uttered, drawing back and glaring at us from beneath her eyelashes. “I don’t remember getting in contact with any of you.”

“We’re here to talk, no one invited us,” Ty murmured, staring back at her.

She pursed her lips, as if debating on what to do, examining us. Her eyes danced across my face, taking extra care to take a closer look at her fully grown sister, as she gracefully stepped back, slamming the door closed in our faces.

Damion’s foot snapped out just in time, as if he was used to this sort of thing, and jammed itself in the door, stopping her from shutting it fully.

“Well, you could at least say hi before slamming the door in our faces!” Damion yelled, trying to keep it open as she applied more and more pressure, delicately trying to kick his foot out of the way.

“Leave this instant, Damion!” Rebecca yelled back, from behind the door, as she rammed herself into it, trying to block us out.

Damion pushed back, with all his might, using every last bit of his strength to push the door open. The door smashed against the wall inside, screaming on its hinges, sending Rebecca flying as it tore open, stumbling across the hallway in her heels.

Damion stepped inside, the rest of us unsure if it was right, she could get pretty angry when she wanted to, and I didn’t feel right entering her house without permission. But what other choice did we have? There was no way she’d ever invite us inside…

Rebecca backed away from him, raising her finger to point at him.

“You take a step closer and I will phone the police. You are breaking and entering my house, this is an offence. You really think I want to see you? Believe me, you are the last person on this planet I want to see, at the moment,” she shot, her voice clipped and filled with venom.

“Rebecca, we just want to talk,” I assured, approaching her slowly.

“I do not want to hear another word. You think I want to talk to you either? You think I want to see any of you? If you have come begging for money, then back off. I am not giving you a penny, I have worked for this and I am not about to give it all away,” she shrieked, still shuffling away from us as we drew closer.

“We didn’t come for money, Rebecca. We just came to talk, like I told you. We’re here to help you, not steal from you,” I tried to calm her down, but nothing was working.

“You people are insane. I would never associate myself with you ever again, I am not part of that horrible family anymore,” she snapped.

“Yes, you are. We are your siblings, and that’s never going to change!” I reasoned.

“Actually-“she was cut off by my impatient brother, Ty.

“Look, I know you don’t want to see us, but we need to talk to you. You could be in danger,” Ty spoke clearly and calmly, in an attempt to get her to listen and relax her slightly.

“You people have no manners. You could have called, rather than breaking into my house… You-you-you criminals!” She roared, stuttering as she tried to think of the right word to describe us.

That certainly wasn’t it.

About to fight back, we were stopped as a little girl came toddling down the hall. Her black hair reminded me of my Mum, yet she was so young, barely over two or three years old. Rebecca scooped her up, turning her nose up at us in disgrace.

“Mummy! W-who are these people?” the girl giggled kicking her legs, as she was picked up.

Mummy? Rebecca had a daughter?! Why had she never told us? I couldn’t believe Rebecca had a child, and more importantly I was an Auntie.

“Holy shit,” Damion cursed under his breath, completely gobsmacked like the rest of us.

I elbowed him sharply in the stomach.

“Don’t swear in front of toddlers!” I scolded, raising my eyebrows at him.

The sweet sound of a child’s laughter rang in my ears, as my niece giggled in Rebecca’s arms, flinging her head back in delight. I couldn’t help but smile, it felt like music to my ears. She must have found me hitting Damion funny, and I had a strange urge to do it again and get more of a reaction but I stopped myself, not wanting to come off as mean.

“Mummy, who are they?” The girl asked again, after she’d calmed down a little.

Rebecca paused, thinking deeply about telling her daughter who we were. She must have told her sometime that she had other family! She couldn’t have just pretended we didn’t exist, we were her family, and she had grown up with us. She glared at us, before looking back at her daughter, her hardened gaze softening.

“Um…” she stuttered, looking between us again. I baited my breath, hoping she’d let her daughter know that she had Aunties and Uncles. “No one you need to know, darling,” she finished, biting her lip and holding herself back from revealing who we really were.

“Bull sh-“Damion yelled, stopping himself from swearing at the last moment when I glared. “Bull poo. I want my niece to know that I’m her Uncle. Is that bad? Don’t you owe us some sort of debt, after locking us out for so many years?”

“What’s a U-uncle?” her daughter asked, testing the new word out with her mouth. “Uncle, uncle, uncle.”

Rebecca’s eyes widened, giving us a look so angry it could kill, as she realised she was stuck in a bad situation. She didn’t have much choice.

“They are my old family,” she spat out, as if it tasted disgusting, seething with rage.

Her daughter mumbled something, but I couldn’t make it out as she was already trying to fit her whole fist in her mouth as she chewed on her fingers thoughtfully.

“Well, that girl there is your Auntie Rose. The boy there is your Uncle Tyler and the boy next to him is your Uncle Damion,” she explained cautiously, pausing when she reached Damion’s name before quickly spitting it out. “And that is Rose’s friend.”

I was surprised she’d actually told her who we were, considering she avoided us at all costs for years on end.

“I guess you guys might as well sit down. I am sure you have as many questions as I do,” she hissed, leading us through to her living room much to her distaste. We’d basically forced ourselves in, and she didn’t like it one bit.

The walls were full of photos of her daughter, smiling and wearing different fancy outfits, along with a few framed wedding photos. You learn something new every day. My sister was married.

We all took a seat, while her daughter crawled over to her toys on the floor.

“So, what’s her name?” I asked, sitting on the edge of her posh looking couch.

“Victoria,” she smiled as the name passed her lips, lighting up her face at the mention of her daughter. “So, when you said I was in danger, did you mean it? I want to get this over and done with, and if I am in danger then I want to know about it.”

“Yes,” I said, ignoring the last part. “We all are.”

Explaining everything was no easy task, with Rebecca sighing and groaning and asking question after question in her curt tone.

Rebecca sat in silence as we gave her some time for it all to sink in.

“I know, it’s a lot to take in,” I smiled, waiting for her to say something. Her face was masked well, showing no emotion, completely blank.

“I knew I should not have trusted you desperate, atrocious, foul-smelling lamentable mistakes by our parent’s reckless exchange of genetic material!” Rebecca snapped. “I want you out of here immediately.”

“Rebecca!” Ty yelled, angry that she’d just insulted us in her snobby terms. “She’s telling the truth!”

“Oh, of course she is. We are all being stalked, and you know what, I have a pet unicorn in the backyard! Want to see it?” She scoffed, shaking her head. “You expect me to believe her just because my crack head “brother” says she’s telling the truth?!”

She was beginning to lose her temper.

Where did that come from? All we were doing was talking, trying to warn her and protect her and her family. We were being nice and she just blows up in our faces.

“Mummy, what’s a crack head?” Victoria yelled, grinning at the word.

Oh no.

“Well Vicky, some people really like to…” Damion began to explain.

“Don’t dare talk to her, Damion! And her name is not Vicky, it is Victoria. No variations. Victoria and only Victoria. In fact, I do not want you to ever talk to her again. She is not your child, she is not your niece, and she is not even related to you!” Rebecca barked.

“Wow, calm down, sis. We came here to warn you, not to be yelled at,” Damion replied, trying to keep his breathing under control and not snap at her again.

“Stop calling me that. I am not your sister. I am not part of your family. I disowned you long ago. I am part of the Windsor family now. I’m married, remember,” she stated, raising her hand and pointing out the huge diamond that shone on it.

Another stab of jealousy.

“What’s so wrong with us?” Damion asked, angry that she was being such a bitch.

“What isn’t wrong with you?” she smirked, sitting back in her chair and crossing her legs. “You are a family made up entirely of foolish criminal minds, poor uneducated swine’s, living your silly dead end lives. No jobs, just drugs. No nice possessions, just debt. No Father, just an evil prison inmate. No sister, just a crazed psychopath. No Mother, just a depressed mess hardly holding at the seams. No brothers, just scary monsters who have no future in life… No family, just people who used to live together. No love, no trust, no nothing.”

Sadly, she was telling the truth. What had we become? What had happened to our old lives, our old family?

“I am disgraced of you, I am embarrassed I was once a Bane. That is exactly why I cut all ties with you and married into another family. Me and my husband, we are the complete opposite of you guys. We are money making, hard headed business people, with intelligence seeping out of our ears,” she explained.

Just then, a man strode into the room, dressed smartly in a suit, swinging a briefcase by his side before dumping it in the corner. I recognised him, he was the man kissing my sister in the wedding photos, and he was the one helping her cut the cake. This must have been her husband. He had an air of arrogance around him, a dazzling smile that was sure to charm anyone in his road.

“Rebecca, you didn’t tell me we had guests,” he grinned, making his way over to us.

“Oh, Victor, you are home early. These guests were just leaving,” Rebecca smiled back, nodding her head towards the door.

“Rebecca, don’t you understand?” I cried out, trying to get her to understand the situation. “Don’t you get it?! We. Are. In. Danger.”

Rebecca turned to look at me, her eyes full of boiling hatred and hostility. I was starting to get annoyed. All we were trying to do was help her and she was being a bitch about it. An aggravating, stuck up, rich bitch.

“What is she talking about, honey?” Victor asked, awaiting answers.

“She is lying. These are my siblings, you know, the crazy ones I told you about,” Rebecca muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration.

“I wouldn’t call us crazy!” Damion denied. “Well, Kara being an exception…”

“They basically broke in, dear, and they are blatantly refusing to leave,” Rebecca continued, blanking out Damion.

Now she was lying! Okay, fair enough we did kind of appear out of nowhere and arrive uninvited but I wouldn’t call it breaking in.

The man looked aghast, taking a step back and frowning.

“I think it’s time for you all to leave!” Victor roared, pointing our way to the door.

“Oh yeah?” Damion stood up, trying to act tough. “And what are you going to do if we don’t leave?”

“I’ll call the police. I’m sure they would love to get their hands on you, Damion. You might even get some bonding time with your stupid, little Father.” Victor barked, rearing his head back in anger.

I shot up and jumped between the two raging men, knowing that if I didn’t then Damion would knock some teeth out and rearrange Victor’s face. Even though Victor deserved it, and I would have done it too if I was in Damion’s shoes, the last thing I wanted was Damion locked up.

“Come on, he’s not worth it, Damion. Let’s just go,” I said, hoping he would listen to me.

“Fine,” Damion huffed, stepping down from the fight.

“Oh and Rebecca, you have a brilliant choice in men!” He yelled sarcastically before storming out the room.

********

Damion gazed out at the vast landscape before him, the fog emitting from the ground, casting a ghostly look over the estate. An eerie silence spread out in the dim light of the evening, as he slowly dialled the dreaded number into his phone.

He hadn’t wanted it to come to this, but what could he do now?

Pressing his mobile to his ear, he patiently listened to the ringing on the other end.

Did he really want to do this? He didn’t have any choice.

A click signalled that someone had answered, and he took a deep breath, knowing he was closing someone’s fate.

“I think it’s time…”

Hi, I hope you enjoyed again! I apologise for the lack of picture quality, it’s been slipping lately, since I’ve been so busy.

What does everyone think about Rebecca then? And Victoria? What about Victor? I’d like to hear opinions and feedback.