It was rare that all the Mikaelson siblings would be in one room together. Freya and Finn, as the older siblings hadn't spent a lot of time in the house, mostly due to the fact that they were a lot older than their youngest siblings. Elijah was born many years after Finn, and many years before Klaus, meaning he was never around too much. Klaus, Kol, and Rebekah were all born a year apart each, and they were the closest of the seven. Henrik, their youngest sibling, had just been added to the family and he didn't have a chance to find out where he fit in just yet.
It seemed the exception that would bring them all together, was their parents. Mikael had already left, back to Europe on business. While Esther had put her youngest son in Finn's arms, and prominently left.
It had gone unspoken between all the royals and the Mikealson siblings, that the next few days were going to be set aside for a specific purpose, to discuss what the next steps in their family were going to be.
Everything was tense and no one had spoken a word that morning. The breakfast was completely silent except for the sound of food being passed around and cutlery scraping.
Freya had finally put her foot down and spoke up. "Somebody better start talking, now."
Klaus and Kol shook their heads and motioned towards Rebekah. Their blond sister glared at them for throwing her under the bus. "Well, I'm sure we all know what our mother's been up too."
"No, I don't think we do." Elijah interrupted, looking at Finn and Sage from the corner of his eyes. "Rebekah, why don't you elaborate for the rest of us."
"I don't think that should be my responsibility." Rebekah said, crossing her arms petulantly.
"No, no, no." Kol cut in, smiling smugly. "You're secrets, you're plan, you tell Finn and Sage."
"Tell us what?" Sage finally snapped, getting annoyed about her in laws talking about her.
"Bloody hell, our mother had an affair." Klaus finally yelled. The reactions were varied, of course Kol and Rebekah already knew and continued to eat their food. Elijah pinched the bridge of his nose in an annoyed manner and grumbled under his breath. Freya, who also knew, threw her head back against her chair and rolled her eyes. The worst was Finn and Sage, neither of whom knew anything until that moment, Finn had almost crushed his wine glass and Sage dropped her fork.
"Does this mean we can start drinking now?" Kol asked.
Katherine was absolutely ecstatic. Her father had finally had enough of Antonia and when the girls had gotten back that night, her room was empty and she was nowhere to be found. He didn't elaborate on what had happened but it was clear she was no longer allowed back in the penthouse.
As for the matter of where Tatia and Elena would be living was the more complicated part. Katherine of course was staying, and she was an advocate for Elena to stay as well, but as far as she was concerned, Tatia meant nothing to her.
After a long debate, a lot of miscommunication between Antonia and Georgi, and the girls playing messenger. Elena was staying with Georgi after Katherine had begged her father, pulling every card and trick she knew. Although, despite her efforts, the tipping point was when Elena had simply stood up and announced she didn't want to move. Of course it was a move bolder than she was used to and immediately retracted back, looking at Georgi and asking if he was okay with that. He reassured her that he would love to have her and that he would support whichever decision she made. Antonia had tried to protest this, but Georgi threatened to get lawyers involved, knowing she would definitely lose, Antonia backed down.
Tatia on the other hand would be moving out to live with Antonia in whatever apartment Georgi would put them up in. She wasn't stupid, she knew Georgi, who although saw her as a daughter, didn't accept her like Katherine or Elena, and she knew Katherine would torment her at every chance she got, so Tatia saw it best to live with her mother. The only catch was that Antonia would be completely cut off, but Tatia wasn't. She would remain at Constantine and have full access to Georgi's money with Elena acting as a proxy, which also meant Elena was allowed to moderate all her purchases. Something Tatia was pissed about. It couldn't have worked out better for Katherine.
The only issue with Antonia not living in the house, was that Elena and Katherine would have a harder time investigating whatever scheme Antonia had in plans for their inheritances.
But it was moving day, and Katherine decided since it was the beginning of spring break, all the schemes could be set aside for a while.
She still hadn't gotten a chance to properly show Elena the room that she had made up for her, and decided today would be perfect.
Katherine had jumped into Elena's bed early that morning and pushed her. "Wake up! Wake up! It's moving day!"
"Not now." Elena grumbled into her pillow and reached behind her to push Katherine off her bed. "Go away."
"Sorry, Lena." Katherine said unapologetically, proceeded to grab her blanket and yank it off. "I have a surprise for you!"
"No surprises," Elena muttered, "I hate your surprises."
"This is a good one." Katherine promised and forced Elena out of her bed, and stuck a blindfold on her head.
"Okay, this is getting a little weird." Elena said, her voice thick with sleep.
"Shush." Katherine demanded and led her down the hallway to the new bedroom Elena would now call hers. The one she had previously been staying in didn't really have much to it, nothing that really made it hers. She led Elena to the next floor and let her stand in front of the doors, pulling the blindfold off with a flourish. "Open."
"I don't get it." Elena said, staring at the doors blankly. "What am I looking at."
"You open the doors." Katherine said with an obvious tone. "It's not rocket science."
Elena rolled her eyes but swung the doors open to reveal the new room. It was bright, that was the first thing she noticed. The walls were a light shade of blue, almost white, in fact everything in the room was a shade of blue, white, or gold. The bed in the center of the room had a vintage white frame, a white blanket with embroidered flowers, and an array of blue pillows. There was a white desk in the corner, a white book shelf, and a large vanity similar to the one Katherine had in a darker wood. There was a small sitting area closer to the front, with a sweet little coffee table in the middle. One side there was a door that led to her very own en suite, and the door on the other side led to a new closet.
"Why am I looking at the guest room?" Elena asked.
Katherine scoffed in disbelief and shoved Elena inside. "It's your room."
"My room?" Elena asked, a little awed. "I thought my room was downstairs."
"Well, you've officially moved in, thought you'd might like this better than the plain one downstairs." Katherine said dryly. Elena turned around with a wide smile and pulled Katherine into a surprise hug, one that the other girl returned awkwardly. "It's just a room."
"Trust me." Elena said softly. "It's not just the room I'm happy about."
"How could you not tell us!" Finn shouted, stomping his foot and pointing accusingly at Klaus, Kol, and Rebekah.
"Because you're unhealthily attached to our mother!" Kol shouted back.
"That is not fair," Finn retorted.
"Why not!" Rebekah snapped. "Is that all you can say now that you don't have our mother to defend you! We don't contradict you because we can, we contradict you because you're a sycophant!"
"Rebekah." Elijah cut in, stepping between his three younger siblings and Finn. "Finn is right, you should've told us," to which Rebekah glared and turned her nose up, but then he turned on Finn, "and you shouldn't be attacking them because you put our mother on a pedestal."
"So you agree that Rebekah made the right choice in going to see that man that our mother had an affair with?" Finn questioned Elijah.
"That's not what I said." Elijah corrected him.
"You can't play both sides, Elijah." Kol snapped, "it's him or us."
"There are no sides!" Finn shouted.
"From where I'm standing, it looks quite like there are." Klaus added unhelpfully, to which Kol laughed in agreement. From there the arguments just continued among the five middle Mikaelson children, quips and jabs flying across the dining room.
Meanwhile Freya and Sage were sitting in the living room, staying out of the arguments. Sage mostly because it was a Mikaelson matter, and even though she had married into the family and taken the name, she knew better than to get involved when the siblings went at each other like this. Freya, being the oldest, raised most of her siblings, would let them pick at each other until they needed her.
"So, how's Keelin?" Sage asked Freya causally. Freya sipped on her wine and rolled her shoulders back.
"Fine." Freya murmured back, but the expression on her face said otherwise.
"What's going on?" Sage prodded.
"Nothing." Freya responded.
"Oh come on," Sage urged and nudged Freya with her knee. "Is everything okay between you two?"
Freya sighed and twirled her blond hair. "Everything is, off, I guess."
"Off?" Sage repeated, motioning for Freya to elaborate.
"We've been dancing around the subject of my parents." Freya said hesitantly. "We haven't moved forward with any wedding plans because of them."
Sage bit her lip and turned towards her sister-in-law, "do you know why Mikael's so against it? It's-it's, not because Keelin's a girl, is it?"
Freya rolled her shoulders back and shook her head, Mikael may be a lot of things, but homophobic was not one of them. Freya had been openly bisexual since her Constantine days, and she made sure her parents knew, whether they accepted it or not. To be honest, she didn't really get a reaction out of either of her parents. Her mother had simply nodded her head and went back to Paris. Her father didn't even blink an eye and took a business call halfway into the conversation. Almost like he knew even before she did. If it had been anyone else, Freya would've been offended, but they were her parents, if anything, she was grateful they didn't make such a big deal out of it. "Of course not."
"So?" Sage pried on, poking Freya with her foot. "What's the problem then?"
Freya sighed and ran her fingers through her blond hair, that was the million dollar question, because she really didn't know.
Singapore was humid and Caroline was not happy. Her hair wasn't reacting well to the heat and she could feel the sweat making her clothes stick to her skin.
"Come on, Care." Stefan said, pulling her into the air conditioned hotel.
"Mr. Salvatore, Ms. Salvatore, welcome back!" The hotel manager greeted them, shaking Stefan's hand and kissing the top of Caroline's. He was a petite Asian man who worshipped the ground they walked on. "I'd only heard that the two of you were coming on such short notice, but I have the penthouse suite all set up for you."
"Thank you, Mr. Chan." Caroline said politely. "If you could have all of our things brought up and book me an appointment at the spa as soon as possible would be perfect."
"Of course, Ms. Salvatore, enjoy your stay." Mr. Chan said hurriedly and scampered off to do as she asked.
"Spa, really Care?" Stefan asked.
"What?" Caroline snapped. "It's been a hard week okay? And my hair is still frizzy."
"We've got more important things to do." Stefan said, but kissed her cheek anyway and waved her off. "I'll meet you for dinner."
Caroline smiled and made her way up to the hotel room to change out of her clothes before heading to the spa. She knew that the second she'd mentioned it to Mr. Chan that'd she'd have an appointment in the next ten minutes, even if he had to bump someone else out.
After walking into the spa and having a woman bring her to the back and getting her settled in a private massage room. Caroline couldn't help but replay the exact memory that had gotten her and Stefan in this exact position.
Two weeks ago, The Salvatore Penthouse
It was a rare day in the Salvatore house when their parents were home, and today happened to be one of them. Giuseppe Salvatore had flown in earlier that night, demanding that all the kids be home for dinner. Liz was exempt from this, seeing as she had a ten hour surgery. Damon, Stefan, and Caroline were so used to it that they didn't bother mentioning her absence.
It wasn't even the dinner that was the problem. In fact Giuseppe was being more attentive than usual, asking about their days, their social lives, their aspects. Caroline talked mostly, telling him all about Klaus, to which he just nodded along too, her latest social events, and what her plans were for senior year.
Giuseppe praised her and showered her with gifts, it wasn't exactly a secret that Caroline was his favorite. She was the one with the squeaky clean record, perfect reputation, and flawless presentation.
As for Stefan and Damon, he had varying feelings towards them. With Damon, Giuseppe was a little harder on him. After all, the company was supposed to go to him. Except Damon didn't really want it. He was content to spend all the money and drink all the booze he wanted without the work. Stefan on the other hand was better, but not quite enough to make it into Giuseppe's good graces. He'd gone through a bit of a power binge with Klaus a couple of years back, and now spent his days making up for the consequences.
It was around midnight when Giuseppe went to bed and Caroline slipped out of her own to snoop around his office. She padded down the stairs quickly and into the doors before anyone noticed her.
Sometimes she did this, looked through his work to see what kinds of deals he was making under the table. Sometimes she just went into the office and sat in the chair because she missed her father, though she wouldn't admit that. Although, her most frequent reason for going into his office was to get into the drawer he used to keep all the property keys locked up. Unlike Marcel, who let Davina have full access to all the houses he owned. Giuseppe kept all the properties under lock and key, mostly because he didn't want Damon and Stefan using them for personal amusement.
She ruffled around his table, seeing if he'd left the master key to the drawer somewhere, but no luck. He probably took it with him. She was crouched on the floor when the door opened and couldn't see who it was. Except he could see her.
"Care?" Stefan said, peering down at his sister. "What're you doing?"
"Looking for the key to the house in Hartford." She said, standing up and dusting off her night dress. "What're you doing in here?"
Stefan walked over to his dad's shelf, and pulled down the curtain covering a small area. A couple bottles of alcohol and glasses hidden behind it. "Looking for the good booze."
Caroline crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "Right, like all the booze isn't good booze. Fess up, what're you looking for?"
"Keys to the house in London." He sighed.
"Going to take Rebekah out there?" Caroline asked, raising her eyebrows. "For what?"
"You know what." Stefan said, not meeting her eyes. "No matter what her siblings decide, she wants to go."
"Well we're outta luck." Caroline said, dropping into the desk chair. "I can't find the master key."
"You can't pick the lock?" Stefan asked, sitting down in the chairs in front of the desk
"I'm not Kol." She quipped.
"So now what?" Stefan said, pouring them both a glass of bourbon. "We snatch it off dad while he sleeps?"
"No." Caroline said. "I'll do what I usually do and nab Lily's keys. I was just hoping it'd be easy this time and he would leave them in here."
"Grab the London ones too?" He asked, she nodded and raised her glass to him in acknowledgement. He smiled at her and kicked his feet up, accidentally tipping over the bourbon bottle. "Shit."
Caroline and him both reached out and started wiping away the liquid before it could reach any of the important documents on his desk. They got lucky and the bourbon only seemed to hit the small trinkets and family photos on the corner of the desk.
Caroline reshuffled the papers, double checking to make sure none of them were stained. If their father found out they were in his office, he'd be incredibly mad and probably cut them off for a week. One of the papers near the back had Damon's name on it, and being the nosy person she was, she couldn't help but pull it out.
"Hey, look at this." She said, handing it out to him.
"What is it?" Stefan asked, wiping away the last of the alcohol.
"I don't know." Caroline shrugged. "But it's got Damon's name on it."
Stefan snatched the paper from her outstretched hand and scanned it over. "What the hell?"
"What, what?" Caroline demanded, peeking over his shoulder. The paper didn't seem too unusual to her. It looked like a regular contract with a real estate company from Singapore. "It's just a contract."
"Caroline," Stefan said and pointed out a word to her, "it's definitely not just a contract."
Caroline peered down at the paper again and gasped, a hand flying to her mouth. It wasn't just a contract between businesses. It was a marriage contract that their father was writing up between Damon and the daughter of the Singaporean company.
"He can't do that." Caroline said. "There's no way."
"He would cut Damon off." Stefan told her pointedly. "You don't think Dad wouldn't threaten to cut Damon off in order to force him into this deal?"
"Damon would never do it, threat or not." Caroline said. If anything, they would continue to support Damon if it came down to it. "Mom would never agree to this either."
"Unless she never knows." Stefan told Caroline. "What do we do?"
"It looks like the deals have been made." Caroline said, noticing the signed signatures. "Dad's leaving in three days for Singapore, we'll take the plane first and beat him there."
"That's your brilliant plan?" Stefan questioned. "To follow Dad there?"
"No." Caroline said, smacking his arm. "We can go find out who the girl is and see what kind of deal it is. I mean, maybe the marriage is just a contingency or something. Business politics really aren't my forte."
"Then what?" Stefan asked.
"Well, depending on how it goes. We either resort to extortion or blackmail." Caroline shrugged.
"Why don't we ask Dad about it?" Stefan pointed out. "Maybe we should follow him first and demand answers from him."
Caroline bit her lip and nodded. "Alright fine, we confront Dad in Singapore, and if that doesn't work then extortion and blackmail."
"Why Singapore?" Stefan questioned oddly, although agreeing with her plan.
"I don't want Damon to know anything." Caroline said. "The further away Dad is when we confront him, the less chance he has to talk Damon into it."
"So that's it?" Stefan argued. "We don't tell Damon, we don't tell Elena, we don't anyone?"
"Everyone's got enough to deal with." Caroline waved him off. "If we handle it ourselves, no one has to know. Less chance of it getting out and becoming a problem."
"Do you know what you're doing?" Stefan asked her rhetorically.
"I'll call the pilot." Caroline said, ignoring his question. "We'll leave after debutante's over."
All the Mikaelson children were laid back on the living room furniture. Freya sitting upside down with her feet hanging off the back of the couch. Elijah, ever so elegant, was sitting at the piano idly tapping keys, but his jacket was gone and sleeves rolled up. Finn was next to Freya, but he was right side up, staring off into space. Klaus, Kol, and Rebekah were all laying on the floor, Rebekah in the middle of her brothers.
"I mean, what if they get divorced?" Kol just spat out, but her tone was lazy. "What, would Mother get half the fortune?"
"I don't think he'd ever divorce her." Freya said, craning her neck to look down at Kol.
"You're all talking like he knows." Finn cut in, shutting them all up. "He clearly doesn't."
"You don't know that either." Elijah said unhelpfully. "For all we know, he could have a mistress as well."
"We can't prove that." Rebekah argued. "The only reason we found about Mother's indiscretions is because I heard her on the phone."
"Or the felony you committed." Klaus added on, nudging her in the ribs.
"It was only a tiny one." Rebekah defended, thinking back to the file still in her room.
Finn rubbed his forehead and looked distant. "I don't even want to know."
"Maybe we should go see, what was his name?" Freya said, twirling her hair. "He'd probably spill more secrets than our parents."
"That is an idea I'd highly vote against." Elijah interjected, looking oddly at his oldest sister. "Why would you think that would make anything better?"
"I'm just saying, Beks has a point." Freya shrugged.
"Thank you!" Rebekah called, smiling at her sister. "After all, us girls have got to stick together."
Freya smiled down at her, reaching over to pat Rebekah's head. "Cute."
Kol shot up like he'd just had the most amazing epiphany. "We should make mojitos."
"Can you refrain from killing your liver for more than a day?" Elijah sneered, but it was in a good natured big brother way.
"No." Kol said seriously. "Niklaus threatens to rip it out every other day, so I have to use it while I still have the chance."
"Well, stop making remarks about Caroline and I wouldn't have to threaten to tear out your liver anymore." Klaus snapped, glaring at his brother.
"How did we get from our mother's affair to this." Finn commented, pinching the bridge of his nose.
As usual, they ignored Finn's input, and bickered back and forth. Discussing whether or not Kol's quips warranted Klaus' threats. Which somehow led to Rebekah bringing up that Kol shouldn't complain, because she and Klaus were always bailing him out. Then Elijah cut in, and pointed out that Klaus and Rebekah weren't much better. Rebekah wasn't very happy about that, and ended up dragging Finn and Freya into the fight, hoping one of them would take her side. But all that did was create even more petty arguments. It was going to be a long week for the Miakelson siblings.
Damon, Elena, Katherine, Enzo, and Davina were standing in front of Bonnie's house. Davina and Enzo at the front, Damon and Elena directly behind them, while Katherine leaned on the rails. Davina knocked on Bonnie's door, they waited as the door swung open and Bonnie peeked her head out. "Why am I not surprised."
"Nice to see you too, Judgy." Damon quipped while Elena elbowed him in the side.
"Can I help you guys?" Bonnie asked with a yawn, it wasn't all that early, but it was the beginning of spring break for the New Yorkers and Bonnie tended to sleep in when she could.
"I hope so." Davina said, smiling widely at Bonnie. In fact all six of them were looking at her curiously, and Bonnie had the sense to step back. "Get dressed, meet us in the limo in ten minutes."
Ten minutes later, after Bonnie had pulled her hair into a bun, threw on a pair of jeans, a sweater, and grabbed her purse, she was sitting in the limo of whichever royal it belonged to. They were all still eerily looking at her, and she was worried.
"So?" Bonnie asked. "Is someone going to tell me what's going on or is this a pseudo kidnapping?"
"All the Mikaelson's are locked up in the penthouse." Katherine explained vaguely, clearly there was more to that story, but Bonnie wasn't about to dig too much into it. "Care Bear and Boy Wonder are in Singapore for the week, doing some outreach work for Mother Salvatore."
"So, while they're all gone, and it's spring break, we thought we'd take you on an adventure, Bonnie Bennett."
"Why do I get the feeling I might regret getting in the limo?" Bonnie asked rhetorically.
Somehow in the midst of all the Mikaelson chaos, going from yelling, to a strange calmness, they'd gone back to yelling.
"You had no right!" Elijah snapped at Rebekah.
"So now you're on his side?" Klaus demanded, pointing an accusing finger at Finn. "A moment ago you weren't too keen on picking a side."
"Well I changed my mind." Elijah snapped.
"What would rather have had me do?" Rebekah interjected, standing between all her brothers. "So what if I went and confronted him for being a homewrecker! He admitted to it!"
Finn pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. "You got lucky, Rebekah." He sneered in a condescending tone. "What if he decided he didn't like that a child was patronizing him and used it to ruin our family. What could that do to us? To the business?"
Rebekah really hadn't thought about her actions in the moment and took a step back, sighing with her arms cross. Finn had a point, but she would never admit it outloud.
"Right, and if you had it your way, what would you have done?" Kol demanded. "Ignored it? We all know you'll sweep anything under the rug to keep up the reputation."
"Right because if I didn't, the rest of you would all drag it through the mud and we'd be the laughing stock of Manhattan!" Finn hissed.
"I don't even think it matters that she went anymore." Klaus said, forcing all of them to back away from each other. It seemed that in all of their yelling, they'd formed a kind of circle and were all flushed red. "What I think we need to do now is figure out our next move."
"We are doing nothing." Elijah said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "If what Rebekah says is true about the meeting, then we shouldn't provoke it anymore."
"Or we need to find a way to ensure he stays quiet." Kol said. He was wondering how he'd gone from not wanting to help, to being on Rebekah's side.
"Well Kol has a point-" Klaus said, but was cut off.
"I do?" Kol said in disbelief. "You must really care if you're agreeing with me? Of course I'm always right though."
"Kol." Klaus snapped, slapping him upside the head. "Stop interrupting me."
Freya sighed and pinched her nose, exasperated. She'd heard them drag on and on for days and it was getting to the point where everyone kept switching opinions and taking sides. Usually they could figure out their own problems, but sometimes they needed their big sister to put things into perspective. She had to admit that they'd each had valid points, but also irrational ones.
"Shut it." Freya shouted, effectively cutting them all off. "You've had days to work out your problems, pulling out petty arguments, attacking each other, and here we still are. With absolutely no end."
"What do you propose, Freya?" Elijah asked, turning to look at her. In fact they'd all turned to look at her.
"We either go or don't, those are the options." Freya decided, hands on her hips. Like she was talking to the ranks of her army back in Constantine and not her siblings. "The majority decides for everyone."
It was nice to be young and rich. Sure it wasn't everything and there were definitely more important things in the world, but all the perks of money could certainly be alluring.
Like all holidays, Spring Break was one that the royals took very seriously. Unlike the other holidays, this one didn't have a preset plan, like a fancy dinner or the Christmas hunt. Spring Break was free for all, and that's what made it the perfect holiday to really introduce Bonnie and by some extension Elena as well. The girl may have been a part of Manhattan for a few months, but the royals have had years to revel in money.
As soon as they'd picked up Bonnie, the six of them got on a plane and headed straight for Qatar. The plane ride wasn't exactly exciting, but landing in Qatar was. They'd landed around sundown and it was breathtaking. The city was illuminated in beautiful colors, people were everywhere. To any person, it almost seemed like they'd planned the moments to perfection just to see the beauty of it all.
"Come on, come on, come on." Davina said excitedly, pulling Katherine and Bonnie with a hand on each girls' wrist. They'd just gotten to a villa that Marcel Gerard owned, which of course Davina was free to use at any convenience.
"So you live in a townhouse and your dad owns a villa in a foreign country?" Elena asked, pushing her sunglasses up in a very Katherine like manner.
"Yeah, but we have a few other properties too." Davina said, bouncing her way up the front steps. "Well, I live in the townhouse, there's this villa, the house in the Hamptons-"
"It's a chateau." Enzo corrected Davina, looking directly at Bonnie and Elena.
"The penthouse in Singapore." Davina listed off. Tilting her head, trying to remember what other properties her dad owned. "The plantation in New Orleans."
"Which has its own zip code." Katherine cut in, waving her arm to the side to tell the butler, who'd been waiting for them, to put their bags in the foyer.
"There's probably a few I'm leaving out." Davina shrugged, flipping her hair over her shoulder.
"Well, alright." Bonnie said, puckering her lips and nodding along. "So what exactly are we doing in Qatar?"
"We are going to take you to a party." Enzo said, him and Damon both throwing an arm around her.
"We couldn't go to a party in New York?" Elena asked, thanking the man who was carrying the copious number of bags Katherine and Davina had packed just between the two of them, even offering to help him make more room.
"This is a special party, Pretty Girl." Damon said, wrapping one of her arms around his and leading her away. "Trust me, it'll be fun."
"I didn't exactly pack for a party." Bonnie said, in fact she hadn't packed anything at all. The only thing she had on her was the purse she'd grabbed with her keys, her phone, and forty dollars.
"Don't worry about that either, Bon Bon." Katherine reassured her. "I've got it covered. She and Davina grabbed Elena and Bonnie, pulling them up the stairs and the boys following behind them. She pulled them into what was clearly Davina's room, with the large computer setup and clothes.
"We're taking you both to an underground party." Davina said excitedly.
"It's more of an auction." Damon said, dropping into Davina's desk chair and kicking his feet up. "The parties are just a bonus."
"Like the one in Monaco?" Elena asked.
"Not quite." Katherine smirked. "Have you ever seen those really old and expensive paintings, artifacts, or jewels?" Elena nodded. "Well, most of it is fake."
"What?" Bonnie asked, a little confused.
"A lot of the real stuff was stolen and replaced with exact replicas." Enzo explained to her, dragging a silky fabric across her arm, causing her to turn around and look at him. "Usually, the real ones end up in the underground network, being sold to the rich and powerful, so while tourists get to look at the replicas, we get to enjoy the real ones."
"That's crazy." Bonnie said. "And no one knows?"
"Of course they do." Enzo said. "Most of the people are in on the scam, it's just no one talks about it." He wasn't going to elaborate and Bonnie wasn't going to ask.
Katherine instructed both boys to help her open all the bags they'd brought, and line up all the cases of shoes. She scanned it for a moment before grabbing an extravagant burgundy dress. It was covered in butterflies and tight. She threw it at Bonnie. "For you, Bonnie."
"You want me to wear this?" Bonnie asked, holding up the dress. "This will cover nothing."
"Hey." Davina hissed. "That's my dress." She said with a laugh. "Put it on, you'll look great, you'll also have to fit in."
Katherine nodded at her and shoved her into her bathroom, then disappeared back into the pile of clothes to grab a blue dress for Elena. A black one for herself, and a pink one for Davina.
They had all varying patterns of butterflies, different designs, different colors, but it all meshed well together. They also all varied in length and style, Elena's was floor length and had thin straps, Katherine's was short and skin tight, and Davina's was short and flowy.
Enzo and Damon had a similar ensemble, both wearing flowy white shirts and tan colored pants that tapered off at the bottom.
After Bonnie slipped on the dress, she had noticed it wasn't as short as she thought it'd be and was quite comfortable. "What kind of party requires me to dress like this to fit in?"
"Come here." Davina said, patting the spot next to her at the vanity, an array of makeup already set up. "I'm going to paint butterflies on your face."
"It's a theme party." Katherine said as she put on her eyeliner. "I don't really know what the exact code word was, but I can guarantee you that everyone is going to be dressed up as something nature related."
"Right." Bonnie said, nodding along. "Sounds plausible."
"We also kind of need you to do something." Enzo said, wincing at her.
"What?" Bonnie asked, shaking her head furiously. "No, no, no."
"Please?" Davina begged.
"No." Bonnie said, crossing arms. "Is that the only reason you brought me? For a favor?"
"Of course not." Damon said, offended. "We brought you for her judgy look too."
"Damon." Elena hissed, smacking his arm. "He's kidding."
"We didn't just bring you for a favor." Davina reassured Bonnie, readjusting her head so she could paint the outline of the butterfly wings on Bonnie's upper cheek. "I wanted to bring you to have fun, the favor's just kind of an extra thing. If you really don't want to do it, you don't have to."
Davina looked so sincere and genuine, that Bonnie sighed and narrowed her eyes. "At least tell me what it is."
"There's this necklace that I want." Katherine said, waving over to Elena and hooking a bracelet around her wrist. "It's super rare, obviously. I've been waiting for it for over a year."
"We just need you to bid on it and do the exchange." Enzo explained.
"Oh." Bonnie said, tilting her head. "That actually doesn't sound too bad."
"Don't be fooled." Elena cut in and crossed her arms, glaring at all of them. "There's more, why can't you do the exchange yourself?"
"Smart, Pretty Girl." Damon said, planting a kiss to her cheek. "A couple years back, we were here, same party. Someone tried to out bid us for a painting that we were buying for Klaus' birthday, and it didn't end well."
"Meaning?" Elena prodded.
"Meaning it started with an argument, which escalated with a punch. Then the authorities were there. Which resulted in our banishment." Katherine said vaguely, but her face clearly showed she was thinking back on the night, a small smirk on her face.
"If you're banished, how are we getting into the party?" Bonnie asked.
"They don't really enforce it unless we try to buy something." Enzo told her, adding a chain around her neck. "It's totally fine."
Famous last words, right?
They were shouting again, screaming over each other. One after another, all their voices echoing across the walls of the penthouse. The second Freya had declared they needed to choose, Finn refused to go, and that just set them all off again. Freya slammed her hands down on the foyer table, creating a resounding crack. They all stopped for a moment, turning to look at her.
"No more screaming." She snapped, glaring at Finn. "No more patronizing," she said, looking right at Elijah, "no more petty arguments," she hissed at Klaus and Kol, "no more victimizing," she said pointedly to Rebekah. "Our options were London or nothing. Instead, you're all shouting at each other, like you have been for days."
"I shouldn't go!" Finn snapped, but lowered her voice when Freya glared harder at him.
"Finn's out." Freya decided, then pointed at Elijah. "Verdict?"
"We shouldn't risk our family over this." Elijah said, backing up.
Freya nodded and turned towards Klaus, Kol, and Rebekah. "Don't bother, I already know what you three want to do."
"That just leaves you then, Sister." Klaus said, his tone hardened.
Freya bit her tongue and pursed her lips. She's been contemplating it for days, and had chosen her answer long before they did. "Plane leaves tomorrow."