Chapter III

After Talon had readily agreed to the plan within the span of three seconds, Ariana know she was cornered by the Navarro siblings with no where to run to. Thankfully, before she could be dragged further into Quinn's scheme's, the actress was whisked away by her parents who called and asked her to go back to the hospital since they had just arrived and they wanted to check up on their eldest son. 

Before she left, Quinn ensured to leave enough money to split the bill in half. Ariana polished off the last of her wrap and fries before paying the bill and leaving. By the time she got home, she was too tired to do anything so after her night routine, she threw herself on the bed and fell asleep in less than a minute.  

•••••

The next morning, Ariana found herself hailing a cab and giving the driver the address to her father's house outside of the city. Usually, the cabs didn't travel so far out but the hefty tip into the jar was enough to willing make him take her anywhere. Heck, if she wanted to go to Geelong, he would happily oblige.

Landon had called his daughter that morning and offered her breakfast. As much as he was a workaholic, his daughter was important to him and if it meant he wouldn't step foot into the office until ten, so be it. Living in a million dollar mansion in a gated community just outside the city, life for Landon was anything but quiet. After his divorce, when Ariana was 6, Landon married an Australian woman named Vanessa when Ariana was 10 and two years later they had two boys to keep the house staff up and on their toes.

Landon Jr. and Blane.

The terrible twosome.

Ariana chuckled to herself at the mention of the twins who were twelve years younger than her. The two eight year olds kept their parents quite busy on a daily basis, even Ariana had to admit that they were quite a handful whenever they visited her in the city. 

Ariana wasn't sure why her father wanted to have breakfast at the house but if it saved her another morning of Cup of Noodles, she was down. Thinking about it, Vanessa's pancakes sounded real good right about then. The woman wasn't even her mother but her love went beyond her two sons and she embraced Ariana as her own daughter. Awkward couldn't describe the atmosphere when they met the first time at the airport or sat around the dinner table, but a bottle of champagne and a box of Belgium chocolates from Landon's secret stash seemed to pave the way for the two.

"Miss? We're here, but the front entrance is blocked." Ariana looked up from her Pinterest feed at the cab driver's voice. He was looking at her through the rear view mirror.

Since the gated community was home to quite a few socialites, there was a tight security check point. Four guards stood watch outside the tall gate, two of them handling the opening and closing of the gate, one observing and checking who was going in and out while another sat in the guard booth with his eyes glued to the large monitor.

"That's alright, I can handle it from here." Ariana assured him. She dropped another bill into the jar before exiting the car.

"Miss Montmorency," The guard instantly recognized the beautiful young heiress stepping out of the taxi. "Good morning."

"Good morning to you too Felix," Ariana greeted him pleasantly.

"Going to your father?"

"Yes sir,"

"Come on in."

Seeing that she was managing fine, the taxi driver gave a small toot if his horn before driving off. The guard, Felix, walked Ariana to the gate, and after she exchanged pleasantries with the other guards, the large gate was open for her to enter.

The gate community was like a country neighborhood except it was lavish and extravagant. Each house had it's own gate with guards and a long driveway which went on for God knows how long before actually stopping at the front steps of the respective expensive households. Landon's mansion was the sixth one and after a ten minute walk, Ariana arrived at the front gates.

There were four men, two on each side of the tall entrance, guarding the gate, beyond it was a sleek black car was parked and waiting. The man were dressed in black from head to toe, with sunglasses and a face of cold determination. Despite their crisp suits, it was evident that a number of weapons were concealed cleverly on their person. If you weren't trained to spot it, one look at these men and you'd think they walked off the set of Men In Black and were harmless.

Ariana ignored the men and walked to the private keypad. They weren't going to bother her. For one, the very fact that she got in meant that she had approval from the front gate, and two, they knew better than to approach their boss' daughter without cause. One complicated password, one eye scan and one finger print scan later, the keypad beeped and the red light turned green before the gate started to slide open. On the other side, an elderly man stepped out of the sleek black car.

"Ah, Miss Ariana," The elderly man pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and gave a curt bow of his head to the young heiress.

"Mr. Wilson, it has been a while," Ariana smiled at the familiar butler who had served her father for as long as she could remember.

She may not remember much from her early years but she did remember the warm and friendly butler. The Wilsons and the Montmorencys came from old money and their roots ran deep. After Landon and Rachel's divorce, the old butler decided to faithfully follow after his master wherever he went, eventually settling with the family in Melbourne continuing his job as a majordomo.

"Indeed. I haven't seen you in three or so months,"

"I've been lying low in the city,"

"So your father says. I think you're hiding out from the terrible twos,"

"Did they break another window playing baseball in the kitchen again?"

"Well, they broke the Madam's antique vase from Egypt, put blue hair dye in your father's shampoo the day of an important meeting and scared away another nanny by dropping a mouse into her lap." Mr. Wilson waved dismissively like he was talking about a trivial matter. "Absolutely nothing to hide from. You have perfectly innocent angels as siblings."

Ariana laughed at the older man's sarcasm. Her brothers were at it again. It didn't matter how much time out their mother gave them or how many action figures their father refused to buy them, the terrible twosome didn't seem to change. Mr. Wilson shook his head with a chuckle before opening the back door of the car.

"As per usual, your father sent me to pick you up."

The gates Ariana had just entered was only the second layer of security her father had set up. The drive to the house was another ten minutes and it was well guarded by men who were camouflaged in the trees and bushes. The path to the mansion was long so there was always a private driver that would take people from the front entrance to the entrance if the mansion if they didn't have a driver of their own. In Ariana's case, her father would always send Wilson with the driver whenever she visited. Ariana got into the car and ten minutes later, she reached the front door. A small group of maids were waiting at the door to greet her.

"Welcome home, Miss Ariana." They warmly greeted. Even though Ariana lived in the city, to Landon, the mansion was as much her home as it was his.

"Yes, it's good to be home." Ariana looked up at the front door and chuckled to herself. For the first three months after the drama with Stephan, this house had been her safe haven. Her father sheltered her from the cruelty of the world without a question.

"Your father is waiting in the sun room for you." Mr. Wilson explained as he stepped out of the car behind Ariana. She nodded and followed him into the house.

The foyer was a large open space with white tiles on the floor. On the left, a large closet was built to accommodate the coats and umbrellas of the guest, while a large corridor leading to interior of the house was on the right. After dropping her coat in the closet, Ariana ventured into the house. The interior was flood with light four to yow large glass windows so during the day, it seemed like one was directly outside in the sunshine. Walling into the sun room, the first thing to catch her eye was the table top covered in food.

Pancakes!

"Big sis!"

Before Ariana could register where and who called out to her, two figures charged at her and toppled her onto the floor outside the room. The three fell into a heap of tangled limps and laughter, the two pairs of small hands squeezed the dear life out of the bigger figure in excitement.

"LJ. Blane." Ariana laughed at the two eight year olds lying beside her in a fit of giggles. "You're up early,"

"Sadly, we have to attend the seven hour prison today," LJ, the more serious twin, spoke up first with a regretful sigh.

Landon was the older identical twin by three minutes and was usually the more responsible of the two. With tanned skin and green eyes like their father, whenever LJ sported a serious look, he really looked like a younger version of Landon.

"Do you mean school?" Ariana chuckled at his description. 

He nodded his head with a fretful frown, causing his older sister to laugh at him and ruffle his unruly chocolate curls. It was then Ariana noticed that both boys were still in their Batman pajamas with messy curls and faces still half asleep. Maneuvering her hand between the two boys, she held up her phone to check the time.

6:55 am.

Usually the boys went to school for 8:30 and they had at least a half hour drive so it was expected that they were up early.

"Dad said you were coming here," Blane spoke up, his face more childish and boyish than his brother's. "Are you staying for the week?"

"No, just for breakfast,"

"Can we stay with you this weekend?" Blane pouted up at his eldest sibling. "Mom has a weekend trip, Dad is working late on Friday and George is going on a weekend camping trip with his parents, so we don't have anyone to play with. Can we build pillow forts and watch Avengers?"

Before Ariana could answer, a deep amused chuckle came from a few feet away. "I would ask why you're all on the floor but knowing the two rascals I call sons, I wouldn't waste my breath,"

Landon stood a few feet away from them, fixing the cufflinks of his shirt while dressed in a three piece dark blue pinstriped suit. His green eyes looked at his children in amusement while his dark chocolate curls were pushed back with hair gel with the promise of becoming an unruly mess once he finished his meeting with his board of executive directors. Those old geezers could drive someone to the brink of insanity.

"Hi dad," As if rehearsed, the three siblings greeted their father simultaneously, neither of them making an attempt to move from the ground.

Landon shook his head at them, lifted his feet to walk over his kids and entered the sun room without a second glance.

"Boys, your mother is waiting on you in the kitchen, release your sister and go get your breakfast. You've been late once already for the week." Ariana ruffled the hair of her brothers and ushered them in the direction of the kitchen. Bidding the mirror images goodbye with promises of letting them visit her on the weekend, Ariana got up from the floor and entered the large sun room.

"How nice of you to finally join me, my beloved daughter." Landon was already sitting at the table and piling his plate with food.

"Nice to see you too father," Ariana scoffed.

She flopped down next to him and started filling her plate too. For breakfast, French toast, bacon, eggs, pancakes and a fruit bowl was laid out in the table with orange juice. Although they had maids and other household staff, Vanessa made it her duty to do breakfast every morning before going off to her law firm. Ariana stabbed a pancake from the main plate and dropped it onto her own, picking up the syrup and starting to smother it in sweetness. Landon shook his head at her, watching her stuff her face before she turned to him. 

"So, why did you want to meet here?" She chewed. "Why not the office?"

"Girl, clear your mouth before speaking." Landon glared at her in disapproval.

Ariana rolled her eyes but nevertheless, she chewed and cleared her mouth before repeating her question.

Landon took a sip of his juice before putting it down and clearing his throat. "Can't I invite my daughter over for a simple chat over breakfast?"

Ariana gave him a pointed look. 'Yeah, right'. Noting his daughter's sarcastic look, Landon sighed. Usually he invited her out for lunch in the city so she had every right to be suspicious of him. 

"A business proposal from Tanner Company came in yesterday." Landon informed her.

The door opened and Mr. Wilson entered the room with a laptop, a pen and a large binder. He set them down next to Ariana, gave the two a curt nod then left the room as silently as he entered. Ariana raised her eyebrows at the binder. 

"Look it over and tell me what you think," Landon suggested.

Unknown to most people, Ariana was Landon's secret weapon. Having graduated with a fill business degree by nineteen after rushing through high school to help Stephan run his company, Ariana was ahead of her time. When she started running the company alongside Stephan, the investments of Harper Corporation skyrocketed.

She could spot a hoax from a mile away and her accuracy in numbers was deadly. Nothing could get past her and despite the hundreds of investment proposals which came her way, less than an eighth of it were given approval. After the breakup and Stephan took over, the investments and stock trade began to dwindle, leading Landon to a hunch that his daughter was the main drive behind the company's success. 

So he investigated.

His hunch was proven right. His daughter was a genius in the business world. For her protection,  he was quick to blacklist her achievements in Harper Corporation. If anyone found out about her talents, she would find herself in a tough spot as everyone would want to get their hands in her knowledge and there was a high chance she would be in danger.

Not wanting to put her skills to waste, Landon made his daughter his personal consultant. Whenever there were large investment deals and negotiations, he would seek her opinion on the matter before bringing it up with the other directors of his company. Half the time, the conversation didn't make it passed the door of his private study.

Ariana picked up the large binder, set it near her plate and opened it. She started to read the proposal carefully, circling certain parts with the pen. Landon let her work on her own timing. While she went through the proposal, he texted his secretary to reschedule his meetings, answered emails and shoveled food into his mouth; multitasking at its finest.

Ariana had gotten through half the file for the construction of an enormous six-floor mall when a frown appeared in her face. She looked over the number, adding and subtracting them quickly in her head before arriving at a final answer which wasn't what was written on the paper. The estimated revenue and cost of the project was outrageous and clearly falsified.

In some places it was edited to look pleasing and in other parts it was exaggerated. To the average eye, it seemed normal and fine to use at least 400 million to open an enormous mall like that. But Ariana knew better. She wasn't just good at her job, she was great at it. After estimating the cost of manpower and materials needed to construct the mall, pay off the governmental fees in addition to the cost of signing partnership deals with other companies, opening a six-story mall in that area should not take more than 300 million.

"How long has Tanner Company been around?" Ariana looked up from the binder.

"About ten years," Landon didn't pause his rapidly moving fingers on the keyboard. He gave his daughter a quick glance, noting her displeased expression, before turning back go his screen and wrapping up his email. She had found something. "What did you find?"

"A scam," Was her simple response before she shoved another forkful of pancake into her mouth.

From the writing on the paper, Ariana could pick up the arrogance of the writer. The words were full of confidence even though they were lies. Whoever wrote the proposal wasn't a newbie and this wasn't the first time they wrote something like that. She couldn't sense any first time anxiousness or hesitation in the writing. It was bold and to the point— something which would have been considered an admirable trait if it was done with good intentions.

Hitting 'send', Landon put down his phone and picked up his glass of juice, looking at his daughter and motioning his free hand for her to speak. She chewed and swallowed quickly, washing everything down with her own glass of juice before speaking.

"This is a stupid project."

And just like that, Landon's usually aloof exterior cracked and an amused smile appeared on his lips. He folded his arms across his chest "And what credentials do you have to say so?"

"First of all, M.I. already has the biggest shares in Imperial Mall in Melbourne and Sky Arc Mall in Sydney. Those two malls combined already outweigh the revenue from this proposal so it's technically a waste of our time." Ariana shut the binder and leaned back in her seat. "Secondly, the project is a bottomless pit. It's going to suck money and resources, the more you put in, the hungrier it gets. The annual revenue will be lower than expected, the benefits would be horrible, M.I.'s reputation would be ruined for investing in such a project. In addition to that, the money doesn't add up. An excess 5 million dollars is being cautious, 10 is pushing still pushing it but a bit reasonable, but 100 million is definitely an eyebrow raiser."

The room grew quiet. Landon had a blank look on his face as he stared at his daughter who seemed to find more interest in her food than him at the moment.

"What do you suggest?"

"That's for the old geezers to decide," Ariana shrugged nonchalantly. 

Landon hummed with a thoughtful look. The two continued eating in silence, Landon resuming his work on his emails while Ariana scrolled through various designer brand websites. If she was going to attend Seraphina's party, she would need something suitable to wear. She knew her father would pull strings for her if she needed but she wanted to stand on her own two feet. Seeing that she had finished her breakfast and it was only 9 a.m., Landon decided to catch up with his daughter.

"Do you have plans for today?" He questioned her as the maids cleared the table. 

"Not exactly," Ariana dropped her fork. "I might hang out with Ryan today, depending on how her schedule goes. She's got a big race for NASCAR coming up so her trainers have been pushing her to the limit,"

"Ryan? Hardy's girl? The one with the crazy hair?"

Ariana chuckled. "Yes, the one who had hot pink hair last year."

Ryan Hardy was a race car driver, a shocking choice of career for a girl whose father was a detective and her mother owned a restaurant. To describe Ryan, think Billie Eilish meets Miley Cyrus. She was definitely crazy but she had a chill personality, the type of person who knew the best places to hang out on a Saturday night and the best clubs to hop into after a stressful week. What her racing fans seemed to love most about her was her hair. Ryan's hair was always undergoing some type of transformation, whether it was an unusual hair cut or an obnoxious color of hair dye which would cause her to be seen from a mile away, she wasn't afraid to try it and her fans loved it. 

Landon didn't know how the close friendship between his daughter and the brilliantly colored hair girl really began but he had to admit, she was a good influence, being one of the few people who stuck around after everything that happened in Ariana's past. From what Ariana had told him, the two met one afternoon when the hot pink haired girl nearly ran over Quinn who was carelessly crossing the street in the park. What happened after, Landon couldn't understand between the exaggerated dramatics of the Navarro actress and his daughter, but whatever it was, it sparked the start of a friendship.

"Okay. Besides that?" Ariana shrugged in response to her father's question.

Most of her days were spent either at her apartment, test driving cars with Ryan or hanging out with Quinn whenever she had time off. Some days she would be at her father's office looking over business proposals but those days were rare since he only called twice or three times a month. 

"What do you for yourself?" Landon continued calmly.

"What do you mean?" Ariana looked at him quizzically. 

"Well I know you're either with Hardy or Navarro, so I'm asking what do you do for yourself. Shopping? Hanging out with other friends? There's got to be something..."

Ariana sighed. She knew her father had eyes on her at all times she she wasn't surprised to know that he knew exactly who she spent most of her time with. What did she do for herself? She really didn't know. The past year had been rough on her and as much as possible she tried to stay out of the public eye. If she didn't need to leave her apartment, she really wouldn't. 

"There really isn't,"

"Hmm..." Landon trailed off. He was quiet for a second or two before speaking up again, his words surprising his daughter. "Why don't you start your own company?"

"Huh?" Ariana's brow wrinkled in confusion, the abruptness of her father's statement confusing her for a second. 

"You're twenty with a degree in business, way ahead of most people your age," Landon momentarily turned his attention down to his phone which chose that moment to ring, his secretary's name displayed on the screen. "You're intelligent and you've got a good head on your shoulders. Instead of working for me, you can work for yourself. Start a company or something. And if you need money, you know I'll give it to you without question,"

By then he was out of his chair with his phone in his hand and heading towards the door. The call from his secretary was important and as much as he hated cutting his time with his daughter short, he was needed at the office. 

"I expect you to make good use of your degree," Landon stopped in the door way and turned around to face his daughter. "Starting a company would give you something to do at nine to six on most days, and besides, you're not your mother Ari, neither is she here to scold you and put you on time out. You're your own individual,"

Swiping his thumb across the screen of his phone, he answered the call on the last ring and left the room, Ariana staring at him wide-eyed, wondering how he even knew.