Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

“Flowers grow out of the dark moments.”

– Corita Kent

MELODY POV

As It Was by Harry Styles busted loud and savagely through the speakers mounted into the walls of the gym at my parents’ house. As the song slowly but harmoniously drifted to the end, I punched the button on the treadmill, causing the pad to decrease its pace until it came to a complete stop.

Just in time as the song finished.

I hopped off the treadmill and yanked the pink towel that was draped on the arm of it, then hung it around my neck and started to walk towards the door. Some unrecognizable sound started rumbling out of the speakers, but I was quick to slap the screen on the wall, putting it to an abrupt stop.

I exited the gym and came into a narrow hallway of our very big house, then started to walk down to where the chatters came from.

The kitchen.

My parents' house was an ultimate Architecture dream, elegant and styled to perfection. Insanely big, with world-class tech and security drones flying around.

It was a house owned by 1% of the population, the kind that could be a museum when the owners passed on. That’s how big and lavish it was.

I stepped into the kitchen to find my sisters conversing softly. As usual, Giana was protruding on the kitchen island, her feet folded beneath her in an Indian style and her iPad in her hands. Their gaze flitted on me,

“Did you hear this? Everybody has been talking about it and it has no signs of stopping.” She started, as soon as I walked in. Her lean finger quickly scrolled down the screen before shoving it in my direction.

“That hunk from your school was spotted naked in Fairfax, the night of your graduation, right on your street. Every girl I know can’t stop fawning over him. And I totally get it. The man has a nice ass. And balls. And I am a fan of both.”

“Giana,” I warned staring at her through my lashes, then reached for the iPad. Leigh-Marie, my youngest sister who was only fifteen only let out a fit of restrained cackle before busying herself with her Kindle, trying so hard to ignore the fact that her sister just mentioned balls.

And not just balls… the meaty saggy ones.

Only two years apart, but the two of them couldn’t be any more different. Take polar opposites and put them in one room, you get Giana And Leigh-Marie. Where Gia was lean, Leigh was curvy. The sexy kind. Her body shape mirrored our mom's, except she went deeper in the curves department. Where Gia was loud and crazy, Leigh was chilled and down to earth.

But one thing remained, they were my kids, and I would fuckin' kill for them.

I have done it before, and I would do it all over again.

Found the stalker that was harassing Gia and chopped his dick before forcing it down his throat... His mates who encouraged the whole thing lived up to tell the tale!

“What?” She drawled defensively raising her hands to her sides.

“Word has it that he is hotter than the top three most handsome men in the world. Like take Robert Pattinson, Hrithik Roshan, and Kim Tae-Hyung… you get Jordan Rothschild.” She added a dramatic point of her finger to the device in my hand.

“Who are those people?” Leigh raised her eyebrow, her eyes still glued to her Kindle,

“Are you kidding?” She was mortified,

“I know Pattinson. Twilight? Right?” I asked glaring at her through my lashes. The look on her face was shocked enough that you would have sworn we have grown some extra heads.

“You guys seriously live under a rock. Only books, and no TV. Unbelievable.” Yahp. My sister was pissed that we didn’t know the men she was talking about.

“You’re right.” I closed the screen before placing her iPad on the table, then grinned at her,

“He does have a taut ass. And balls too.” I agreed, only to cause Leigh to go down again laughing. Her cheeks flushed a nice shade of red that she tried to hide by dipping her head further into her chest.

A whole week and the news of my bird running around naked were still a hot topic. I should say, I was proud. The effect was much more hyped than I had anticipated. And it was good. I walked to Leigh and pulled her to my sweaty chest.

“Ewwww. You are sweaty.” Giana was the one who retorted, her nose scrunched up in a disgusted look.

“And she is not complaining.” To nail my words, Leigh wrapped her arms around my waist, then stuck her tongue out to Gia who only scoffed.

“Seriously?” A wide grin was on her face, but she was concentrating on disguising it with a look of mortification. And much to her dismay, she loved me too much to even try.

A good blink later, she was the one who was rubbing herself against mine, her expensive Chanel shirt soaking with my sweat.

“Girls.” My favorite person walked into the room, high on 7 inched heels and overlooking the world.

At 47, my mom didn’t look any day older than 30. And that just put her on the top of my favorite list. She was a beautiful woman, standing at 5 foot 3, she was a lush pile of caramel skin and taut muscles, a nice ass that put a big roof on her head and paid bills. Just a look at her and you’d understand why she had 3 men as her husbands.

Yahp! Three very handsome men. Two of them are identical twins.

All of the gibberish aside, my mom was a looker. And I was jealous that I didn’t share even the slightest strand of DNA with her. But that didn’t make me any less of her child.

“Your fathers are losing their minds in the lounge I can’t even hear myself think. I came here to relax, to ease my nerves. But what’s happening is the exact opposite of it.” She shook her head as she walked to the fridge and withdraw a carton of juice, screwed it open, and quenched her thirst. Try that and you’d have one of her husbands breathing down your neck with a gun or machete.

No guarantee of seeing tomorrow’s sunrise.

“Why? What’s happening?” Furrows found their way on my brows as I stared at her. She finally stopped drinking and took a good puff of breath, placed the box back into the fridge, and turned to us. She walked to the edge of the island and placed her hands flat,

“Same old news. Except that this time, it's a different group.”

My heart skittered to a stop.

I knew damn well what she meant.

“Where?” The room was still, with just Mom and I talking. You would have thought that the chatty Giana was not among us.

“New York. With the elections coming, people just keep getting brazen and brave. They are idiots to think they’d keep double-crossing your fathers and actually get away with it.” She shook her head in disbelief, her eyes staring out blankly.

Something hot and very gooey trickled into my bloodstream, spreading a rampage of warmth all over my body. Anger rose like bile and settled in my throat, my mood shifting instantly.

“Oh, sweet child.” A warm look settled on her face before she rounded the island, then came to stand in front of me. Her hands shot up to cradle the sides of my face,

“You can’t shoulder everything. We all know that one day, somebody even more powerful will take over. Someone more powerful than your fathers combined. It’s inevitable. We aren’t mortals. The least we can do is to try to secure a good life for you and your children.” She smoothed, trying to pacify the burn inside.

She didn’t know that everything she just mentioned was like adding gasoline to the burning fire.

Mortals, power, children!

“I know you worry about me Mother, but I won’t sit and watch my fathers’ legacy be stolen by spineless fuckers. That’s a bad word. Don’t let me hear you say it.” I directed the last sentence at the two beings that were now focusing their attention on me and Mom.

Mom chuckled before dropping her hands off my face.

“What am I going to do with you?” She knew there was no way she could talk me out of it. Word has it that she was some bad bitch at one point, chopped people’s dicks before shoving them down their throats.

And I was my mom and dads’ daughter in all ways you can imagine.

“You know you love me.” I grinned, feeling the animosity curbing just slightly. She booped my nose and started to walk out of the kitchen,

“Of course I do. Giana, get the hell off my island.” And with that, she was out.

“Why does she smile when she talks with you but uses bad words with me?” Gia asked as she jumped off the island, but a look on her face was contradicting her words.

"Because she knows you are responsible for everything that went wrong with planet Earth.” Leigh fired, wrenching a loud cackle from out of me.

She was quiet, yes, but her comebacks were solid enough to scorch you nice and well. That, she never failed.

“Flake you.” Gia flipped her off as she walked to the cupboards and retrieved a glass, then opened the fridge before pouring herself the same juice mom had just drunk.

I laughed harder.

“Nina go away. You are making this place stink.” She directed her anger at me because I was an easy target. I only raised my hands in surrender before clutching the ends of my towel on either side of me.

“Fine. See ya.” With the same door that Mom left through, I exited the kitchen as well. The warm, lovely look on my face was quickly replaced by a hard stoic expression, hard enough to scare the nightmare straight to where he resided.

The maids that were carrying folded towels whimpered upon seeing my quick transition, quickly piling to the side and creating a way for me.

They knew better than anyone to be in my way when I was like this. As I said, Laura was approachable, lovable, and liked by many.

Mel on the other side…

She was the incarnation of the devil herself.

Talk about split personality.