Chapter 3

I gave myself a once over in the mirror before I left; smoothing out the material with my left hand and pushing a bobby pin further into my hair with my right.

The dress that Letty and I picked out was beautiful. Sleek, elegant and absolutely gorgeous. The jet black material clung at my hips and flowed freely at my feet. Mia had done my make up; light and natural, accentuating my eyes, using a dark eye-shadow.

"Are you finished yet?" Mia yelled from the other side of the door, "You're going to be late"

"So what if I'm late?"

Silence.

"Exactly."

I heard shuffling, and mumbling coming from outside, before Letty burst through the door.

"Are you ready?"

I picked up the small black bag and sighed. "Yup. It's now or never." I quickly rushed out the door, before I changed my mind.

"You want to take these with you?" Letty jangled my keys in the air, causing me to turn around and giggle nervously.

"Yeah, I think I'll need them" She handed me my keys and we walked downstairs.

I could hear the TV blaring from in the living room, and stopped halfway down the stairs, grabbing Letty by the arm and pulling her towards me. "Can you like, distract them, or move them into the kitchen?" I pleaded to her.

She just laughed and pulled me down the rest of the stairs. Only Dom was in the living room, sprawled out on the couch. One leg resting up on the back and the other falling off the couch, onto the floor. He didn't notice when Letty and I walked into the hallway.

There was mumbling coming from the kitchen and we knew straight away that it was the rest of the guys.

I pulled Letty towards me again and whispered to her, "I'm getting out of here before anybody comes out and sees me." Letty laughed again, this time getting Dom's attention. Crap.

He turned the TV down and I saw him eye me up and down. "Cassie?"

"Yeah. Hi Dom. Bye Dom. Bye Letty" I grabbed the door handle and tried opening the door, but Mia snuck up behind me and shut the door again. "Mia, I'm going to be late" I whined.

"So what if you're late?" She mimicked my previous actions. I just glared at her and tried opening the door, again with no luck.

There was a booming laugh from the kitchen and I turned to face Vince, Leon and Jesse walking towards us.

"Holy crap! Cass? Is that really you?" Jesse stopped mid-step, obviously shocked by what he saw.

"Nah! I'm the reincarnation of the virgin Mary" I rolled my eyes, and pushed Mia's hand off the door.

Vince snorted, amused, and lifted up the beer he was holding to me. "Yeah, but you're no virgin."

I grabbed the bottle and took a sip. The cool liquid sliding down my throat. Vince walked up to me and wrapped his arm across my shoulders. "Ya clean up good Cass."

"Thanks," I said sarcastically as I shrugged him off, "keep your eau de stench of me, Vince"

I smoothed out my dress again, more out of nervousness rather than making sure the dress was sitting properly. The attention that I was getting now was not something I was used to and I definitely wanted to get out of there.

I looked around the room again. Jesse was still shell shocked, his features frozen, and Leon was just standing next to Vince quietly. His lips were slightly parted in an Oh-My-God, shocked expression and his eyes played over my body, slowly.

Dom whispered something to Letty and I heard a car horn outside, before she grabbed my hand and pulled me out the door with her. I heard the guys say 'good luck' to me as I left but I didn't respond. I sighed and resisted the urge to run back into bed and curl up into a ball.

Letty stopped when she saw the Limo parked in front of the house. "He sent you a limo?"

"Yeah, he wanted me to 'show up in style'" I said sardonically.

As we walked to the limo, Letty pulled me closer to her into a hug. "You know, you really do look good."

"Thanks babe"

"Be careful ok." We both sighed as I got in the back of the limo and it drove off.

………

The limo pulled up next to the large building, and one of the men standing at the front of the building opened the door for me. It felt strange to receive this kind of treatment; never was I used to having somebody open the door for me, or be nice ... unless they wanted something.

He extended his hand and I reluctantly placed my hand in his, as he helped me out of the car. A cool breeze hit my face, and I shivered slightly and wished I had something warm to cover myself with.

"Thanks" I mumbled as I walked into the lobby.

I looked up at the ceiling, almost getting lost in its beauty. It was adorned by a large crystal chandelier that dropped down, suspended by thick, gold wire. As the light shined through the crystals, the various colours of the rainbow hit the cream coloured walls. I seemed to trance out, watching the colours move around the walls; as the crystals moved with the slight breeze came from outside.

I could feel a hand grab my elbow, and drag me away, but I was too transfixed on the chandelier. When my mind finally realised what was happening I spun my head to face my father, dragging me further into the hall. There were more people gathered here and the sound everybody talking at once made my ears ring.

"Who are all these people?" I said, yanking my arm away from my dads grip, and stopping to smooth out the creases in my dress.

"Associates."

"Who the hell in their right mind would want to associate with you?"

He shot a warning glare at me, trying to scare me. I giggled at his lame attempt and walked over to the small bar in the corner, and called to the waiter. He raised his hand to signal he'd be there in a minute and I turned around, once again facing my dad.

"Don't you want to associate with your associates?"

"I'd like to introduce you to a few people."

"Will I have to be nice to them?"

He sighed and shook his head slightly.

"I'll take that as a yes"

The waiter came around and I ordered a drink. He brought me the drink twice as fast when he saw my dad's red face.

"Jeez, will you relax. I need a drink to calm me down a bit. What, don't tell me you don't drink?" I knew he drank, I'd seen photos of him from years ago, when he was happily married to my mother and they threw parties. He always had an alcoholic drink in his hand, and could drink anybody under the table, or so I heard.

"Just don't embarrass yourself."

I raised an eyebrow knowing exactly what he meant. Don't embarrass ME. I opened my mouth to say something when we were greeted by a man, probably one of the 'associates'. He was small and lanky; only about 5'6, shorter than me, and skinny. His bowtie was larger than his head and his suit looked like it cost him a few hundred dollars, but it didn't fit him like it should. He eyed me up and down, smiled slyly, and extended his hand towards me.

"Jonathan Kelpps. Junior Executive. And you are?"

About to kick you where the sun don't shine! I forced a smile onto my face and shook his hand. "Cassandra Dunn."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." He brought my hand up to his lips and kissed it lightly. I felt my stomach turn and I quickly retrieved my hand. He smiled and looked to my father. "She's a feisty one."

"She sure is." He looked to me and smiled through clenched teeth. I sighed and took a large sip of my drink, hoping this would end soon.

Jonathan turned to me again, still smiling slyly. "Your father says you'd be a great asset to this business. Have you thought about his proposition yet?"

"Proposition?" I looked to my father who was standing, looking at Jonathan bug eyed. "What proposition?"

"Uhh ..." He quickly excused us and dragged me into one of the back rooms in the hall. "I was going to ask you later on tonight, after you felt more comfortable, if you'd like to work for me."

"Work for you doing what exactly?"

"Well, you'd take over the business after I resign."

I stood there for a second, contemplating what that meant. When he left, I'd take over the business. A business I knew nothing about.

"Of course you'd have to make a few changes in your life." He said, as though it wasn't a big thing at all. "First we'd have to go on a trip to New York to get you acquainted with my business partners, and then you'd have to leave those people that you hang around with." He waved his hand in front of him in a 'and that's that' sort of manner.

I blinked, waiting for what he just said to fully register in my mind. "Wait a minute. I don't care how appealing going to New York sounds, but I'm not leaving 'those people'. They're like family to me."

"No they're not. They're just a group of bums who can't find a decent job. You're better than them."

I felt my blood boil, and I knew my face was turning red. "Is that why you came back? So you could try and change me and paw me off to those assholes out there?"

He looked at me through dark eyes, scaring me right down to my bones. I crossed my arms across my chest, hoping to make myself look as though I wasn't intimidated by him.

"You're going to ruin your life! If you come and work for me, you'll have a great future ahead of you."

"It's my life. I can do whatever I want. And who are you to tell me what to do, and who I can spend my time with?"

"I'm your father."

"I wouldn't give a fuck if you were the king of England."

Before I knew what had happened, I felt the sharp pain against my cheek, and the pain surge through my neck as is snapped back and to the side.

I shifted my head back to face him. He was just as angry as I was; his jaw clenched, and his eyes black and soulless. I swallowed hard, trying to keep myself from doing something stupid.

"You know, I'm glad I never got to know you," I said, balling up my fists. I quickly turned and headed out the door.

"If you leave now, you'll never get a second chance. Imagine what you could have, how successful you would be."

"Unlike you, I don't give a shit how successful I am, or how much money I own" I slammed the door behind me and pushed past all the people.

My chest began to hurt, as though something was being pushed against it. My breath began to speed up, as did my heart; the beats pounding in my head, and thumping against my chest. I held my hand to my chest, hoping my heart wouldn't jump out. It was then I realised I had been running. Running away from what I could have become; running from my father.

I stopped and looked around. It was just darkness around me. The road was empty, with only little spots of road illuminated by a few street lights, and the only things around were the moths and various bugs that were attracted to the light source. I turned to look back at the building. It was still visible; the lights flowing out of the windows, and silhouettes of people standing by them.

What now? Where was I to go now? How was I meant to get home? I was picked up by a limo, and that was how I planned on getting back.

My hands were shaking now, and I tried my best to stop them; taking deep breaths and telling myself to calm down. Nothing was working. The more I tried to calm down, the harder my heart beat against my chest. Still struggling, I rummaged through my bag and called the only person I knew I could rely on.

………

I had already pulled the pins out of my hair, and my shoes sat beside me as I sat against the cold brick wall. My stockings were starting to tear around my feet and I was certain I looked like crap.

I wiped away the last of tears as I heard the car screech around the corner. Even in the darkness, I could see the sunshine yellow shape coming towards me. I grabbed my shoes and slowly got up, stumbling slightly and forcing myself to hold on to the wall for support.

Leon stepped out of the car and looked at me, his face plastered with worry. My face fell and I looked at my hands that were still trembling. My bag straps seemed to be the only things that were able to calm me, even for a second, as I played around with them between my fingers.

My eyes started to burn again and I quickly closed them, forcing the tears that threatened to spill to stay put. I felt rather than saw Leon's presence in front of me, before he pulled me closer to him and I started crying again.