Julian Sark was quickly typing on is computer. His blond hair was closely shaven to his head and his immaculate white suit with black collared shirt underneath did not have the slightest cress in it. He exemplified perfection in every sense of the word.
His mission was simple. Kidnap April Winthers, the only daughter of a rich white family in New York City. The family was currently vacationing on the Mediterranean on their private yacht for their daughter's 21st birthday. Tonight there was to be a ball for all of her father's clients in Europe at a ballroom in Gibraltar, Spain. All Sark had to do was get the girl and take her to a Covenant safe house also in Gibraltar. It wouldn't be that difficult. His British charm would seduce her over a glass of champagne. Then he would lead her back door and then place her in a van.
The only complicated part of this mission was that he could not hand her over to the Covenant. Her kidnapping was in order to ensure a ransom of sorts from Winthers' father. His mission's success would only help the Covenant's end game and he could definitely not let that happen.
"Mom, I want to wear the blue dress. The black one is just so, ugh!" April Winthers exclaimed. Her mother, Patricia, wanted her daughter to wear the black full-length, long-sleeved gown that would only reveal her neck and face. April wanted to wear the light blue strapless, straight gown that show off her assets, more or less.
"April Michelle Elizabeth Anne Winthers! Do not argue with me. This ball is to ensure your father's standing with his clients. And besides this ball is black and white. You cannot wear blue. It is just not in the dress code." Patricia was right. On the invitation, the party's dress code was specified to be in black and white attire.
"Well I just won't go then," April announced. She sat down on her hotel room bed and crossed her arms.
"Oh yes you will."
"No I won't."
"Yes you will."
"No I won't. I am not going unless I get to wear the blue dress."
Her mother gave up. "Oh I give up. I am just going to have to take this up with your father then."
"Fine," April responded indignantly. The threat wasn't much of one. She knew that her father would do anything she asked him to do. He would side with her.
Patricia turned the door of April's room and walked out. She marched down the corridor of the penthouse and opened up her bedroom where she found her husband sitting down at a desk.
"Harry!" He looked up into his wife's angry face. "Your daughter refuses to wear her dress. She won't go unless she gets to wear her blue dress, but that just is not possible because the ball is specified to be in black and white."
"Let her wear the blue dress," he said calmly.
"But..."
Harry cut off his wife's protests. "Patricia I am too old to let your quarreling with our grown daughter occupy my thoughts. If she wears the blue dress then she will stand out among the rest of the party's guests and frankly I prefer to have my daughter stand out. She is special and I want to highlight that."
In the Winthers household, Harry's decision was final. Even if it was based on the fact that he knew his daughter's stubbornness and that she would not even go to the ball if she did not have her way. And frankly he needed a united front of his family for the ball tonight.
Patricia left her husband. She was completely disappointed with him. Why did he have to give into April's every want? First it was boarding school in England, and then it was a university in South Africa, after that it was fifty thousand dollar donation to the Save the Manatee Foundation in Florida. Nothing could ever be for the good of the family.
"Your father said that you could wear the blue dress," Patricia said solemnly.
"Good. I have to get dressed now and if you could leave that would be absolutely wonderful," April responded with a sarcastic influxuation in her voice. Her mother complied with her daughter's wishes.
"I knew Daddy would pull through," April thought quietly aloud. She knew that if her father had told her to wear the black dress that she would and that she would put a smile on her face for the two hundred people at her father's European company party.
Quickly she slid into the light-blue gown that she had bought earlier that day. She looked at herself in the mirror deciding on what to do with her hair. The consensus was to leave it down, straight: no muss, no fuss. She put on a light dab of concealer to cover up a small brown birthmark underneath the left side of her chin. A swish of blush and an application of lipstick later, April was almost ready. The last thing she had to do was put on shoes. This was a task. It was either the Prada heels or the Prada heels. She decided to go with the latter Prada heels.
Ten minutes later, April was walking down the steps of the most exquisite and expensive ballroom in Gibraltar. She was excited, but then again she had been through this a million times before. But still she did get a little shiver up her spin when everyone in the room had their eyes pinned on her.
"She is absolutely gorgeous," James said quietly, turning away from the bar to look at his target. His elbows held him up against the counter, giving him a causal appearance.
He watched April shake hands with her father's associates and their wives. After about fifteen minutes, she made her way over to the bar and stood next to the man who would turn her world upside down.