THEY LIVED IN the woods.Well, at least that's what it looked like. It was only a few minutes' walk away from Downtown Diner, and behind it were a lot of trees. It looked more like a cabin than anything, but one look inside told me it was much more lavish than that.The house reminded me of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Justin was definitely Grumpy. Parker was definitely Happy. I was still working on Drake.I was sleepy. Not the dwarf sleepy but just sleepy in general. It was probably past one in the morning and I was more than ready to crash.The outside of the house had a small flight of stairs leading to the front door. By the looks of it, it was single-storied. It was a light brown color, and it seemed to be made of wood.It looked beautiful. A few yards to the left of the house, there was a small lake. So small, that it was a pond. The rest wasn't visible because of the dark.Even as Drake fished out the keys from his pocket and started unlocking the door, I stood where I was.
I IMAGINED ARIA Black to be many things.I imagined her to be beautiful. Funny. Sly.But she was nothing but angry.She was fuming. Yet, her anger didn't seem to be directed at me."What is she doing here?" she hissed at Justin, black hair whipping as she turned around."Aria let me explain-""You know Justin, I never said anything before, but seriously? Autumn Shade is your new toy?""I'm not his toy," I said firmly, although still confused. The mere thought of being affiliated with him made me mad."Then why are you here?" she seethed. She was scary.I threw my hands up. "I don't know, okay? They basically told me a bunch of random things about my father and wouldn't leave me alone," I point accusingly at the three boys. "They might as well have kidnapped me. It's not like they gave me much choice.""Kidnapped you?" she turned to look at her brother. "You kidnapped her?" Aria shook her head. "I can't believe you dragged her into this. I can't believe what she did meant nothing to you
I SHOT UPalmost instantly and followed her.I wanted to get out of that room. Scratch that, Ineeded to get out of that room. Another minute in there and I might have resorted to making a secret network of tunnels like the Parker Tunnels inLiv and Maddie to get to different places.
IT WAS THE same lake I saw that night, except now it could be clearly seen in daylight. There was a wooded ledge that led slightly deeper into the water which was so transparent that the bottom easily. Trees surrounded it, making it seem like a forest, which would make sense considering the cabin-like house. In a distance, rising above the trees were jagged mountains, covered in snow, their black rock only partially visible.The sight was something I had seen only
"CAN WE TRUST you not to run away? Like, again?" I was jolted awake early in the morning just because Justin, Drake and Parker had to go to college.I ought to be angry, but I was overwhelmed by surprise by the fact that Justin was educated. I had told him as much, to which he just glared. He seemed incapable of doing anything different for a change. I was convinced that anger management classes were on his everyday schedule.As sad as it was, I was used to glares. I was accustomed to receiving them from everyone who couldn't tolerate my father. I never glared back. I found hostility pointless. That was another reason I wasn't the perfect candidate for running a company- my competitive spirit was rusty."I told you once and I'll tell you again," I sighed through my nose, "I am not going to run away." Not without proving to you that you're wrong about my father."I don't trust you," Justin said bluntly, face blank. "I say we get a cage," he suggested to Drake and Parker. I looked at hi
EVEN THE NUTELLA got more attention than me.Why did that thought even cross my mind? I knew it.I knew it. These guys were probably drug addicts and I was high on Nutella."What do you mean? Is there something mixed in-"
"COME ON IT'Salmost noon."Parker came into my room and found me sleeping, he made a mission of waking me up. I had only pulled the wondrously white sheets over my head, b
"YOU HAVE TO teach me," Parker said, bursting into the room suddenly- so suddenly that I almost jumped out of my skin.I looked at him, puzzled. "Teach you what?"He gave a blank look like it was obvious what he was t
I WATCHED AS Justin's face fell. He knew it was pointless to fight further."Okay," was all he said.The look on his face in this moment would haunt me forever. It was plain, undiluted sadness that reflected on his fa
I FROZE INplace, paralyzed from shock.He's here. Right in front of me.He was lounged on a chair, unmoving, eyes fixed on
THE MORNING WASchaotic.Al tripped over his feet multiple times before he reached the door, mumbling about having to meet someone somewhere, and beingincrediblylate. Shocker.
WE JUST SAT there on my bed, holding each other until my chest stopped heaving with heavy breaths."You don't have to hold on to this. It's not your duty. It was wrong of your father to do this to you," Lola reminded me."I know, but I want to try," I said. I wante
AFTER A WHOLE day of meetings, I fell onto my bed, exhausted and ready to go to sleep, but Lola had other plans for me.She barged into my room at midnight, her hair unbound and swishing. She looked nowhere close to sleepy. Her dress was still wrinkle-free after a whole day of work, and I wondered how she pulled that off.She shut the door excruciatingly slowly, and I had a feeling this was going to be bad."Um, what happened?" I asked her. Lola no longer came over at this time at night.When she turned to me and away from the door, I almost fell off the bed when I saw the fire in her eyes. I had done something majorly wrong.She took a deep breath. "Al told me," she said, and I immediately regretted not telling her before. I was pretty sure that Al had also gloated because I'd told him first. If Lola hated anything, it was being told about something second. They always had been petty when it came to each other. Always competing."Oh," was all I said."Oh my god, Auttie!" she exclaime
2 MONTHS LATERDRESSING PROPERLY WAS the hardest part of being the new CEO of Shade Enterprises.No more loose shirts and jeans because a meeting apparently required you to be dressed in a 'civilized' manner, whatever that was supposed to mean.I, Autumn Shade, who hardly owned a single dress, now had a cupboard full of them along with various suits. I didn't know if I was ready for a sacrifice of this magnitude. The heels were the worst part.Managing the company for just a couple of months was already weighing heavily on me. I didn't know how my father did this for such a long time.When the police had finally reached the Shade Mansion and announced that Christopher Shade would be taken into custody, my father didn't look surprised or angry.He only looked for me."Where is she? Where is my daughter? Is she safe?" was all that he had asked, and for a moment I had forgotten about everything he had done wrong. I wanted to fall to my knees and beg him to forgive me for what a horrible d
WHEN A BLACK Mercedes that I knew all too well pulled up in the driveway at an alarming speed which was likely to leave tire marks, I got in before the driver could get out.Al stared at me for a good minute and when he finally opened his mouth to say something, I cut him off."Just drive. We have to be quick." One of them may come home soon.He must have sensed the urgency in my tone because he immediately started driving away from that cabin-like house that I'd started to consider my safe haven. I looked at it until the last of the brown wood it was made of was camouflaged into trees.That's what I liked about Al—he saved the questions for later because he trusted me, and it made me feel worse about not telling him about all this.He drove at top speed for a few minutes before he pulled up at the side of the road; curiosity brimming."What happened?" he asked, looking ahead. He must have anticipated that it was something bad. "Did they hurt you? Because if they did—""No," I whisper
WHITE WAS A depressing color, I'd decided. It was too empty, too constricted. It wasn't the best color to be around when someone wanted to know something for certain. The entire hospital was white, and the longer I stared, the more I thought—something I really didn't want to do now because my thoughts were my safe place no longer.I was at the verge of losing my mind and running out of the hospital screaming when Justin finally came around the corner. He was still wearing the same clothes, although they were crumpled now. His blue eyes looked dull and tired."She's fine," he said hollowly. He even sounded tired. He sat down in the chair next to me, which was also frustratingly white.The relief that flowed through me was like a drug—calming, numbing and decreasing the pressure in my chest until it was only a dull throb of dread for what I knew I had to do next. "I need to talk to you," I said, voice low enough to not be heard by the people seated around us.Justin sensed it—the strai
HE GOT OFF of the couch he had planted himself on, wincing as his feet touched the ground, which usually happened when you'd been sitting for too long, and I suspected that part of the reason he didn't want me to see what was on that drive was that it would require him to go retrieve it.I sat down in his spot just to taunt him."What does it have? Files? Emails?" I questioned Parker, my curiosity getting the best of me when Drake hadn't come back for a long time.Justin chuckled like he knew I would crack, and I elbowed him. Parker spared a curious glance before turning his attention back to what I asked."It's CCTV footage. Blurry, but evidence indeed," he said.I wondered why my father would have committed murder knowing he would be captured on a camera. He couldn't have been that stupid. Even if there were cameras, he would have seen to it that the footage was completely obliterated.Parker seemed to catch onto the silent question, because he answered, "William had set the cameras