(A N)
I want to thank Angel and LovleySOS SOOOOO much for their help on this- I have Lovely to thank for an amazing chunk of the work, actually. xD Thank YOOOOU, girls! Ya'll are amazing. :)
"Coo, coo."
A bug-eyed pigeon blinked at Ian Kabra from the overhanging roof.
Ian wrinkled his nose in disgust.
Shoo.
He shook his head slightly at the disturbing bird and motioned it to leave with a quick flick of his hands.
It cocked its head, but made no attempt to move from its lofty perch.
He gritted his teeth in annoyance.
It was completely ridiculous, Ian thought bitterly, that he, a person of high breeding, was forced to wait outside a home that could easily fit 100 times over in the Kabra mansion, while a filthy fowl ogled at him.
Another pigeon fluttered ungracefully next to the first, but not before relieving himself dangerously close to Ian's shoes.
They stared at him, with smug, almost mocking expressions in their beady eyes.
Ian ignored them, and glanced down instead at Natalie, who stood primping and preening into a handheld mirror. Relaxing slightly, he allowed a small smirk to pass his lips.
Seeing his younger sister act like a spoiled child star, even after months of extreme poverty was almost comical to Ian.
Their sparse new life had taken its toll on his sister, both mentally, and emotionally.
Yet through it all, she still found time to fuss over her appearance.
As if sensing his gaze, Natalie looked up.
Resentment and cunning glinted in her rich amber eyes, and Ian had no doubt that she was cooking up a petty plan of revenge in her Lucian brain.
It didn't matter at any rate- whatever her plan was, Ian wouldn't be around to see it in action.
He sighed, and slipped a hand stealthily into his pocket. With an almost reverence he fingered the one-way plane ticket hidden between the folds.
The single one-way ticket.
He winced, imagining Natalie's fury when she found that she was being manipulated into staying at Attleboro, but the situation couldn't be helped.
Shady business deals conducted in the heart of London was no place for his nosy little sister- she could get into trouble, and he did not have the time to watch out for her.
At least here, among family, Natalie would be cared for- whether she liked it or not.
When Ian, a young, and extremely successful entrepreneur in his own right, realized that he would get no financial assistance from his parents, he turned his Lucian skills to conning people out of millions, as a real estate broker.
Almost immediately money started pouring in, and as he held the first check in his hand, Ian had allowed himself to think that things just might turn out alright.
Unfortunately, their good fortune had taken the Kabras one step forward, and then sent them stumbling several feet back.
Many of the people and companies Ian had neglected to pay during the clue hunt demanded their money back, but Ian flatly refused to give them a cent- it wasn't his job to pay anyway- his father, Vikram, held Ian's credit cards.
Things were quiet for a while, and Ian went on with his business without another thought.
Then one day, Ian found a sinister threat slipped neatly under his door.
At first, Ian had laughed it off as a joke, but when more and more of those little notes appeared, some containing pictures of himself and Natalie with fresh blood splattered around their edges, cold fear started to creep into Ian's heart.
In a desperate effort to stop the reign of terror, he was forced to pay back the debts with his new found wealth, or risk the wrath of some very powerful people.
It worked; the threats ceased to appear, yet even now, in America, Ian found himself still looking over his shoulder- half expecting the people around him to have deadly weapons hanging at their sides.
Due to an extremely prosperous deal sealed with a Korean couple before Ian's departure, things were looking up for the Kabras.
Now any money they earned in the future would be debt free. No longer would they be forced to live in musty hotel rooms or consume disgusting boxed meals.
Ian shuddered remembering the day he'd choked down a particularly nasty meal of rubbery broccoli and pasty macaroni and cheese.
Six months of poverty had been rough on the Kabras, who were accustomed to having the very best at their fingertips.
The many resources the Lucian branch had provided the Kabras with during the clue hunt were no more.
No more fast acting poisons, no cutting edge technology, no finances- nothing.
Ian and Natalie hadn't won the clue hunt as they'd promised the Lucians that they would, and in return, the angry members of the branch had shut them out.
Ian and Natalie had no connections, and no one seemed willing to help them...that is, except for Amy and Dan Cahill.
Ian felt a small twinge in his stomach. Even after all the horror his family had caused the Cahills, they had still offered to let him and Natalie live with them for as long as they needed to, no questions asked.
It amazed Ian that anyone could be kind enough to let people who'd technically tried to murder and betray them into their home. It was just so...nice. He would never understand their kindness.
Unfortunately, the Cahill's naivety would be their downfall.
Only one more deal stood between the Kabras and unadulterated wealth...and yet following it through was proving harder than Ian had ever imagined.
Natalie had been pressing her brother to sell the land on which Attleboro now stood for months, but he had put it off; making excuses, telling himself that another house would come on the market, that buyers would lose interest in a place so large and imposing.
A place where she lived.
Ian didn't particularly like looking back on the clue hunt, but he remembered many aspects of it, anyway. He often found himself thinking of it at night, which aided his loss of sleep.
...For whatever reason, the most prominent person that stood out in his memories was Amy Cahill.
-It seemed almost foolish to him how kind and naive she had been during the hunt, trusting so easily. How kind and naive she still was, really. Yet, throughout the clue hunt, Amy and her brother had surprised Ian and Natalie again and again by more or less keeping pace with them, and even coming out on top at times.
They were an oddly persistent pair, and in the end, they had had something that Ian and Natalie didn't. Something that had led them to victory.
They had had hope.
Especially Amy Cahill.
Even now, waiting at her doorstep, Ian remembered the feeling of chilling fear in that moment of the clue hunt when he had been atop Mount Everest. When Amy had saved his life instead of the Janus serum. Ian couldn't recall ever feeling a fear as deep as the panic he had felt in that moment. Because in that moment, he'd sworn that he knew she would chose the serum over him. It would have been the natural choice...
After all, he was her enemy. He'd made sure of that when he broke her heart and her trust earlier on in the hunt.
But Amy Cahill hadn't let him die.
Ian remembered the feeling of her grabbing on to him, pulling him upward, rock ledge and snowy ice digging into him through his suit as his hired men rushed to help. And the Janus serum had crashed down below him on the rocks, and he was safe- and, with a final glint in her jade green eyes, Amy Cahill was gone.
What kind of a person, Ian thought often -and a strange feeling would tug at his gut whenever he thought this- would be kind enough to save their enemy over a prize?
But Ian would always brush off that thought and replace it with one more worthy of dwelling over...like his and Natalie's current financial state, even though that was quite a headache.
Ian's gaze sharpened as someone fumbled with the latch on the other side of the door, and he felt his chest tighten.
For some annoying reason, his mind, for just a split second, rushed him back to Korea, in the clue hunt- when his lips had lightly glided over Amy's.
"Showtime." Natalie whispered at his side.
Ian flinched guiltily, shaking images of the clue hunt out of his head. He needed to fix his attention on the present if he was going to fulfill his plan. The past would only weigh him down with its confusing emotions.
He imagined Amy opening the door, the blush already heating her cheeks, her quiet gaze downcast- hiding the fire in her spirit. It would be so easy to manipulate her- child's-play for a Lucian.
Yes, he thought to himself, allowing a small trademark Kabra smirk fill his face.
Showtime.