Elizabeta placed her fingers to the side of her glasses, lowering them from her face and rubbing her eyes. She had been researching ways to properly disappear- if a person wanted to start a new life (if she did, the new one would probably be as awful as the old), if they wanted to escape from a bad family situation (her family was dead so it didn't apply), or if they had accumulated too much debt (sadly, she was that person) and it wasn't coming out as smoothly as she wanted it to.
First of all, she was doing it completely wrong. Websites upon websites were telling her to cut off any and all relationship ties, and that wasn't what she was doing in the least! She had Roddy on a leash, Bella as an accomplice, and Gilbert eating out of the palm of her hand. Elizabeta may not have been living in the world for too long, but she sure as hell knew that what she was doing right now was anything but cutting off ties.
Second of all, a person had to disappear slowly, ever so slowly, from the face of the earth so no person or machine could track them; and wow, she sucked at disappearing, seeing as her and Bella's faces were plastered over every media network on this godforsaken planet. Elizabeta began to scratch her head in frustration and growled, not caring if she looked like a complete lunatic. It's not like anyone would see—
"Do you need some tea? Acetaminophens?" Elizabeta glanced up from her distress to see Bella standing timidly behind the kitchen's doorframe, her eyes slowly focusing on the stressed girl in front of her.
"No, I'm just—having a midlife crisis," She replied half-heartedly, a weak smile gracing her face.
"But you're twenty-three. Twenty-three year olds don't have mid-life crises, Liz." Bella crossed her arms and moved towards her friend, eventually seating herself in the chair opposite of Elizabeta.
"Well, there are exceptions to every case." Elizabeta rubbed her eyes again.
Bella slowly reached over and twisted the computer towards her, her green eyes quickly scanning over the laptop's contents. Her eyes immediately darkened.
"You don't want to do that," The blonde murmured quietly.
"Well it would certainly be easier for both of us if I had just done it right."
"Elizabeta—"
The brunette quieted her with a look. "And you know this isn't the only reason I'm looking this up. We're not finished. They're not finished. We need to get this over with and leave as soon as we can." She ran her fingers through her hair in frustration. Secretly, deep in that jumbled heart of hers, she was also afraid. So afraid of what would happen if they didn't go. But she would never tell Bella that; she was Bella's solid rock and didn't want to show fear that wasn't called for.
"I know. I'm scared Liz, I really am. But we haven't seen them in years! Why would you think they would ever come now?" Bella folded her hands neatly together, trying to comprehend why her friend was so worked up over them.
"I just- have this feeling. Right here, y'know?" Elizabeta tapped her head and sighed, not knowing how else to put what she was thinking.
"How do you-"
"Hey Bella, do you remember back when we started doing all this god-awful stuff?" Elizabeta reached back over and shut down the laptop, its screen slowly dying and becoming black. When she shut the computer, she shifted her eyes up to her friend, seeing how Bella's face balanced between confusion and bliss.
"Yeah, I do." Her voice had a smooth quality to it now, the soft lull of her tone making it easy for them to slip back into their shared memories. . .
- 6 years ago -
The satin material of Elizabeta's dress felt as if it were a second skin. She smoothed out the dark green material over her legs and adjusted the thick necklace over her collar—the strapless-ness way of the dress not blocking sight of the jewels—and her red lips curving upwards into a smile. Tonight was the night she would pay off the debts that had been haunting her for months. When the young girl looked into the mirror, she almost couldn't recognize whose eyes she was staring at—her own, or the eyes of the devil's bride.
From the way her hair fell carelessly from her head to the pointed black heels on her feet, she looked almost as refined as she wished she was.
"Time to go!" Bella called from the next room from the hotel they were staying at. Bella's small, golden curls caressed her face as she shook her head back and forth, adjusting the diamond (fake diamond, actually) earrings until they jingled sweetly by her ears. The blonde girl sported a cerulean dress that seemed to flutter around her, the shell-like short sleeves giving it a refined look to it. Her lips were a persuasive pink in contrast to Elizabeta's ravishing red.
"I'm coming, hold on a second," She replied, lifting the bottom of the dress slightly off of the floor and meandering to her waiting friend.
Elizabeta went through the smallest bag that was in the room and took out a USB drive, slipping the object in between her cleavage. She quickly looked around the room before leaving, and made sure that nothing of theirs was left behind, right down to the hair from their brushes. The few amounts of belongings they had were packed up in bags, ready to leave whenever they wanted to. And in actuality, they would be leaving on a plane out of the country the next day.
"The limousine is already outside, and the soirée starts at about ten thirty. You remember what to do, right?" Bella patted her dress and hair one final time before facing towards her friend. For the last few months, the word 'friend' was almost insufficient to describe how close the pair were.
"Yes. The man we'll be looking for goes by the name of Julius Vargas," Elizabeta recalled, the notes and photos she had of the man popping up quickly from memory. "He's the proprietor of one of the biggest oil companies in the country." Elizabeta flicked her hair and began to walk with assurance. Bella's steps were more calculating; longer steps that matched Elizabeta's.
"He's also quite the charmer." Bella grinned. "Most especially with women, which'll definitely be much more in our favor." Her voice began to become hushed once they were within range of the limo. A man opened the door for them and they quietly thanked him, slipping into the seats with ease.
"The most we'll be able to get is around seventy grand without them noticing. Charm is the key; as if we aren't charming already, but that isn't the point." Elizabeta waved her hand as if to disperse her joke. "We have to be calm, cool, collected, and most importantly, thorough. Nothing's worse than leaving any loose ends tied up."
Elizabeta was trying her best to remain calm, her face staying serene and serious- the face of an adult, although she was a few months away of legally becoming one. Her face was serious, but her green eyes glittered with the prospect of actually putting into practice what she had preparing for months. Although she didn't feel proud of having to turn to committing fraud for quick money, both her and Bella had run out of options. Their debts were piling up, and if they didn't pay for it soon, they could have records of felonies before finishing high school!
Her eyebrows furrowed at the prospect, but she quickly smoothed them. Now was not the time to be thinking about stressors, she chastised herself. Now she had to put on a pretty face and wean out money as quick as possible.
"Here. I was able to get ahold of some microphone/hearing devices to communicate easier." Bella took out two little black chips from her bra and passed one of them to Elizabeta, quickly putting her own little chip into her ear.
The brunette carefully looked at the device between her fingers, glancing between it and her friend.
"What do you mean by 'got ahold of'?" Elizabeta queried carefully.
"Someone let me borrow it," She replied easily, adjusting the device in her ear.
"And by borrow you mean-"
"I stole it." Bella's voice sounded like a child's.
When the pair arrived at the place of the soirée, their necks had to crane backwards just to take in half of its size. The gathering was held on the outskirts of town, where the frequencies of shopping malls and boutiques became less and less, and in its place were concert halls, high class stores, and fine dining restaurants. They were actually going into a museum of the Italian arts; the arts of the Renaissance.
Thanking the driver and relieving him of his duties for the time being, Bella walking first into the building to avoid being together, and Elizabeta walked a few minutes after, slowly but surely up the steps through the marble arches and into the open doors, the scent of perfumes and wines-the smell of high-class- enveloping them both. Bella didn't feel that they necessarily stood out, but the looks of others said otherwise. Older women would shoot them quick, envious stares, and the eyes of the men (it really didn't matter what age) would linger on them a bit longer. But to both of them, it didn't really matter. Their eyes were trained on one man.
And that man seemed to be the life of the party.
Julius Vargas, owner of Vargas & Company, was surrounded by men in strapping suits, and women in trailing dresses. They all had wine glasses in their hands and false smiles on their faces. Only it didn't seem like he noticed. A cheery man in his early thirties, he looked completely enthralled with the people surrounding him.
Bella and Elizabeta acknowledged each other with the tiniest of nods and split up, Bella beginning to be chatted up by some older men, and one of them looked to have a bit of a balding problem on his head. Elizabeta on the other hand wasn't approached by anyone- her stoic composure and elegance made her intimidating to anyone. One of the waiters that was walking around offering red wine on a tray slowly walked by and she reached out for the glass flute, her fingers curling around the stem of the glass.
The waiter stopped and quickly glanced at her, his eyes scanning her face- especially her eyes. "Don't you look a little young to be drinking?" His voice was just as boyish as his face. He actually looked right about her age, she noticed, when she took a closer look at him.
"Don't you think you're a little too young to be waiting tables and asking young ladies about their drinking habits? Very scandalous." Elizabeta kept her forest green eyes trained on the waiter, his face slowly going from peach to cherry red. Her lips quirked into a smile as she took a sip from her wine glass.
"Parakeet is looking your way, E," Bella's voice crackled from the ear piece.
"Who?" Elizabeta's lips curled and her eyebrows knitted together in confusion.
She could almost hear the eye rolling on the other end. "Vargas, who else?"
"So Parakeet is his codename? Why?" Elizabeta moved towards the table of snacks to avoid the people that were beginning to crowd where she was.
"Because he talks a lot, okay? Anyway stop talking because he's still looking at you." Bella quickly mumbled out the rest of her sentence before she stopped talking altogether, seemingly occupied still by older men.
Elizabeta brushed the edge of the plate that held appetizers with her fingers, trying to focus and keep her attention completely centered at the task at hand. They had been planning this for months; it was almost unbelievable that their plan had finally come to fruition. Bella and Elizabeta had assumed right away when they were planning that seduction would definitely come to play and work towards their advantage. The thing was, they weren't sure who Vargas would go for.
Elizabeta parted her ruby lips slightly. Now they knew for sure who he had picked.
She carefully swept the room from left to right, her eyes slowing down when they landed on Julius Vargas, his mouth curving into a smile. Elizabeta's lips quirked before she finished with her scan and moved away from the table. Of course, just giving him a smile wasn't enough. Julius was looking at her, his eyes boring a hole into her, but it just wasn't exactly enough.
So she raked her fingers through her auburn hair, shooting Julius a sensual look.
If he had a tail, it would have definitely been wagging by now. Bella snickered through the ear piece.
Elizabeta began to walk out of the room through one of the multiple doorways. It actually led to a room full of marble statues-nude statues to be exact. Several of them were sealed behind glass boxes, the statues looking down and away to the outside. For a moment, Elizabeta forgot what she was doing there in the first place.
"I bet it's lonely behind those glass prisons," She murmured, gently touching the glass. The statue she was in front of was a woman sitting down with clothing draped over her (all made of marble, of course). If eyes could speak, hers would have been muttering secrets behind the glass. The woman reminded Elizabeta of herself in a way, and it was a bit comforting to know she wasn't alone in the world.
"Yes, but how best to preserve beauty than in captivity?" Elizabeta turned towards the voice to see Julius Vargas walking towards her, one hand in his pocket while the other gestured towards the woman.
"It would be a very sad existence nonetheless." She turned her body turned towards Julius'. Elizabeta brushed some stray hair behind her ear as she furrowed her eyebrows in concentration. She knew it would take her a while to gain her flirtatious composure again since he caught her off guard.
"If it's any consolation, it would be a crime to put your beauty inside of a glass box." Julius gave her a crooked smile and reached over to take her hand and put it to his lips. Elizabeta noticed that his eyes were a very dashing shade of hazel. In fact, Julius Vargas seemed very dashing from head to toe; he didn't look like he was in his early thirties, she mused.
"And why is that?" Now her voice had become more taunting and daring.
"Because true art and true beauty is never meant to be kept hidden." Julius kept ahold of her hand, his eyes never wavering from hers.
"Are you flirting with me Mr. Vargas?" Elizabeta slipped her hand from his, a false look of shock on her face. She was just as good at this game as he was.
"Ah, please don't call me Mr. Vargas; it doesn't sound lovely when coming from your lips. Call me Julius, Miss-"
"Violet. Violet Carranza." False names were something that both Bella and her had decided to make up in order to keep themselves as unnoticeable as possible. Elizabeta began to walk towards the other art pieces and stare at them in awe, her eyes widening at the detail and intricacies in the marble.
"Do you like that statue? One of my ancestors hand-crafted it herself. Although she was ahead of her time and was declared an unfit artist by her peers and was told that she couldn't do art, as long as God was watching her. A bit of a sad story, really." Julius stood next to Elizabeta, his hands shoved back in his pockets again. She turned to face him, and noticed that his usual cheerful face had now turned solemn.
"She was able to create such beautiful masterpieces, so I don't think it's sad, really. All I see is passion, and that's what really creates art, no matter what anyone else says." Elizabeta's cheeks flushed slightly, embarrassed that she had spoken so rash. She looked up at Julius to gauge his reaction, maybe disgust for assuming so much about his family, but she only saw awe.
"Yes, yes I suppose that's true," He replied softly, rubbing his chin in thought.
