Chapter 06

QUINN

"No way!" I gagged to emphasize how disgusted I was by my mother's selection of dress and mask for the ball. The world would have to be ending for me to wear the nasty pink, girly frock she picked out and my brother was right, the mask was way too revealing, "Mom, how about I pick something to wear."

She narrowed her blue eyes in on me. My mother's blue eyes were much different from mine. Her's held a green hue around the pupil before subtly fading into a murky blue, "You better not use this as an excuse to back out of the ball." She warned in her pixie voice which I couldn't take seriously.

My mom was short and adorable in all sense of the words. Her strawberry blonde hair was cropped short and left in natural waves, and her button nose and pouty lips made her look like she belonged on a cast of Tinkerbell. She had laugh lines etched along with the corners of her lips which was expected since she was a bubble of love and humor. In most ways, I came out like her.

I held my hands up in mock surrender and shook my head fervently, "Never! I'll be there but I need a better disguise and a dress that suits my taste. I don't want to look like I've stepped out of the seventeenth century, mom."

"And what's wrong with that. I think the style is cute with the mask," she gestured to the frilly pink monstrosity with pouty lips, "I thought you'd like it. Do you not like pink?"

Venus let out a bark at that and I imagine that bark meant 'Of course she does not.

I little laugh tumbled out of me and I patted my bed to let her know that she could jump up. This evening, my father had sent one of our drivers to pick me up and bring me to our home in the Hamptons. This was risky but mom wanted to see me and, to be honest, I missed her and my room and the house itself. I knew Venus missed it too. She went crazy as soon as we entered the front door. 

"Mom, I liked pink when I was like six," I gestured to the brown keyhole neckline dress I wore, "I've changed since then."

She crinkled her nose, "You dress like you're depressed with life."

I gasped, then let out a giggle, "Mother, this is my work attire. I've got to be prim and proper otherwise my boss, you know the guy that acts as if he farts freaking candy floss, yeah he would turn into the terminator and try to wipe my existence of this planet."

"How did I raise someone as dramatic as you?" She mumbled under her breath but I caught the question and playfully pulled at her cheek. Swatting my hand away, she quizzed, "How will you find a dress in time? The ball is tomorrow night."

"I know, I'm sure Delphine has some dresses that I could borrow in my size," I answered with a shrug of my shoulder. Delphine was the designer that designed most of the dresses we wore. We had everything custom-made for us and on the rare occasion, we would use other designers.

"I hope so. Your father has refused the press entrance to the ball so I doubt they will see you. They will be outside trying to get pictures of everyone coming in but since you're staying here for the night they won't be able to get any pictures of you," she murmured, tucking a lock of hair that escaped my bun behind my ear, "now, you know dinner time so freshen up and come down." With those words, she scratched Venus behind the ear and then left the room.

Releasing a sigh, I flopped back in bed with my collection of stuffed animals. My room looked like any ordinary teenager's room with its walls full of posters and photos. The color scheme was aqua blue since I went going through a mermaid phase in my life. Somehow, I never changed the color since then. The posters I had up consisted of a High School Musical wild cats poster of Troy Bolton and Chad Danforth. Also, one of One Direction because I had this major crush on Zane Malik. Everyone went for Harry but Zane did it for me. The rest of my wall was dedicated to my best friend, Miranda. She was the only person who truly knew who Quinn Harper was, or is. The only one who truly knew my family.

I had asked my parents to enroll me in a normal school growing up because I didn't want to be surrounded by rich, pretentious snobs all day. Everyone just thought it ironic that I was named Quinn Harper after the daughter of the billionaire, Theo Harper. Only Miranda knew the truth and, to be honest, she found out on complete accident. The crazy chick followed me home one day. Her parents had just bought her a car and she used it to her advantage. Miranda's family was well to do. So well that they managed to send her to Bali for her summer. I would have accompanied her if it weren't for me spying on Mister Pain-In-My-Freaking-Ass.

The words he had told me earlier in the week had been bugging me. He told me that I was too kind for this world. Initially, I expected that to be an insult but what followed perplexed me. He warned me not to let them steal my kindness almost as if he cared which sounded absurd.

Right? Because, why would he care if they snatched my kindness away?

The rest of the week had gone by awkwardly after that. He barely spoke to me — which, in all fairness, was the usual — but even when he got mad he didn't take it out on me like he usually would. The man confused me but I decided that for this weekend I wouldn't focus on him too much, even if I had to try to avoid him as far as possible.

Lugging my lazy bones out of bed, I trudged my way into my adjoining bathroom to freshen up as my mother had asked. I used a wipe to remove the little makeup I had on and then completed my skincare routine. Once I was done, I shrugged on a pair of sweats and a baggy tee before leaving the bathroom. When I entered my bedroom again I found my brother sprawled on my bed, playing with Venus. She absolutely adored him. After all, Danny had bought Venus for me when I desperately wanted a puppy.

"You could knock to announce your presence you know," I grumbled, patting my thigh in a gesture to call Venus over.

He waved me off, running a hand through his dirty blonde hair which tousled the locks out of the neat state he had them in, "Should lock the door next time."

I glared at him deadpan, "Seriously, you're so annoying," giving myself a once over in my full-length mirror, I quizzed, "have you told dad yet?"

"About the Asher Holdings deal?" He clarified.

"Yeah, about that and the reason he shouldn't be doing business with them. You know, Gunnar was about to pitch to them at the ball tomorrow night but when he did his investigation he decided against it. In his mind, if this all blows up it would be better if it takes Harper Architecture down with it," I said, looking at my brother over my shoulder, "I'm not a very business-minded person but even I know that this is a bad deal."

"And dad's very hard-headed. I'll speak to him after dinner. Wouldn't he be proud of his son bringing work home for once," came Danny's sarcastic response, "but remember, Quinn, always keep in mind whose team you're playing on."

"I know," I grumbled, turning to meet his concern-riddled face, "you can relax, I'm looking out for you guys. Can't you see that?"

"Yeah, but seems like you're looking out for Astor Designs too. Should I be worried about something happening between you and the dick?" He cocked a questioning brow at me and I scrunched my nose in disgust.

"No, God no!" I feigned a gag, "his attitude is rotten and I'm pretty sure he has a stick shoved up his ass."

My brother chuckled, "Or maybe a dildo. I'm almost certain Katie uses a strap-on on him and he's probably into that shit."

Covering my hands over my ears, I grimaced, "Ew, gross. That's imagery I didn't need floating around in my head. Now, every time I see the vexatious woman I'm going to be thinking of that."

"Try not to laugh in her face, she hates that!" Danny howled in a fit of laughter, cluching his stomach, "if I were you, I'd place a whoopee cushion on the chair she's about to sit on and then video her reaction."

"That's so lame," I deadpanned, "but she does look like the type to fart candy floss and rainbows. It's so damn annoying I just want to slap her in the face."

"Oh, my non-violent sister is having very violent thoughts," he teased, rolling out of bed and running a hand down his dress shirt and slacks, "look, I know Katie. I'm not obligated to tell you how, but I do. Trust me, leave her alone because she's a spoilt brat that can ruin your life in ten seconds flat without even lifting a finger."

"Mind telling me how you know that?" I quizzed, planting a hand on my hip and resting all my weight on one foot.

"I'm not obligated to tell you that," he said, holding his hands up in mock surrender as he made his way out of the room.

I sped after him, hot on his heels as I whisper yelled, "You fucked her, didn't you?"

"Language, little sis." He chastised over his shoulder with an evil smirk tugging at his lips, "and so what if I did? Just listen to me and don't get on her bad side. It's better to just stay neutral with her."

"Neutral, what does that mean?"

"It means," he slowed his pace to meet my stride as he rounded the corner leading to the dining room. I could already hear the classical music playing, "you don't have to be nice to her but you don't have to be...not nice. Tolerate her and she will tolerate you. Most importantly, don't mess with what she believes is hers."

"You mean like Gunnar?" I mumbled under my breath, a deep frown settling onto my face. Katie did look like the type to go after a man like Gunnar and sink her claws into him with no mercy.

"Exactly," he nodded curtly, "you've lasted longer than any other PA. Don't give her doubts as to why you've lasted this long."

"You don't have to stress about that. There's honestly nothing to worry about on that front," I asserted as we entered the dining room. Father was already seated at the head of the table and mom was seated at his right-hand side.

"Ladybug," my dad called, a bright smile splitting his lips, "have a seat, they cooked your favorite." He gestured to the dishes of prawns and crayfish displayed on the table.

My brother pulled out my chair to which I smiled in appreciation. He took his seat beside me and we all said a quick grace before digging into our meals. We didn't have those awkward family dinners. My brother and father barely got along but they put their pride away when it came to appeasing mom's rule of having dinner as a family. I think that was the one thing I loved most about my family, the fact that we could put our differences aside to make another happy. Because, we did believe that no matter what, we would always be blood.

Mistakes would be made but nothing could tear us apart. Not unless that mistake was massive — a mistake that could destroy us all.