Chapter 1:
Avena's Point of View:
It was so different, and yet it still stayed the same in a sense. Only when you got into the heart of the streets, did New York City look different. Businesses and shops, they came and went like that of an old flame.
Glancing once more at my cell phone, I saw 15 new text messages from my sister and brother.
I heavily sighed as I started to type out a text message to them both:
"I am here, just stop freaking out. We'll fix this, if we can. ~A"
"First 'imer?" I heard from the driver up front of the taxi that I hailed down from the airport.
"No. Just …visiting family," I said, feeling like if I said too much it would all be real.
"Ah, well, family is family," he agreed with me.
"Yeah," I glanced out the window.
The darken night sky made it all feel hushed. Like the day time was for people to see New York City, but during the night it felt a whole lot different. More intimate…personal… and in your face.
Again, my phone exploded with lots of text messages from my siblings.
"…ya sure everythin' alrigh'?" the driver asked me, glancing in his rear view mirror.
"Yeah. Just…worried siblings that think the sky was falling," I said back, pressing hard on a button and it all shut down.
"Ah. Got a niece who's like that," he chuckled.
"Do you know…any gift shops that might help with my freaked out siblings?" I asked him, looking into the mirror.
"All of them are closed but, the Evolution Shop is great for whatever you need," he told me.
I nodded and said "Thank you,"
He nodded his head and continued to drive. We drove past the Museum of City of New York and headed down 5th Ave until we got to 128 E 64th Street.
When the taxi driver stopped and we both could hear the screaming and yelling from inside, he just whistled long and low.
"Sorry that you have to go into that," he told me.
"Same here," I said, giving him the cash that I had on hand.
I was an odd one when it came to money. Sure credit and debit cards were easy to have on, but I just liked having cash on me.
"Good night Ma'am," the taxi driver said, seeing me refuse what tip I gave him.
"Good night sir," I replied back, getting out and getting my luggage from the 24 hour and 16 hour flight.
I glanced around the street; no one was there, no one was out and about. Then again living in the gated community Lenox, made sure that no one was out at night.
Walking to the black iron gate that circled around the small landing, I sighed; pressing the doorbell round button. The yelling and screaming from within had stopped, silence and then hurried feet down the 4 story townhouse.
It was left to me from our Great-Great grandfather who always had the right touch of getting rich. Like a stock market was about skyrocket, he buy into it before it did. If he was going to take a big chance with a company; back then Microsoft, he would buy into it. It was always those kind of things that made him rich.
So the townhouse that I stood in front of was his home until he passed away a few years ago. Until I was named the person who got his stocks, his people of the stock market and the house on top.
"Finally! Get in here!" I heard my brother snarl at me when the old wooden door swung open.
"Ace, leave her alone!" my sister hissed at him, pushing her way to me.
I just walked forward, hugging her as I brought my luggage with me.
"Ow! That was my ankle you great lump!" Ace snapped, walking further into the building.
"Thank you for coming, Ave, come on in," my sister said, pulling out of the hug.
"Hey, I'm here. What's going on?" I asked, closing the door after getting the last of the luggage inside.
My sister wasn't really related to me. She was adopted into the family when the doctor stated that my mother couldn't have children. So Kelly Anne was adopted into our family.
Kelly had beautiful strawberry blonde hair, emerald green eyes with a light brush of freckles dotted across her face.
"Things aren't going well," she said to me in a hushed whisper.
"What do you mean? Where's Alice?" I asked, looking around for my niece.
Alice was Kelly's oldest daughter. Kelly had her a few years ago.
"She's with her father," Kelly forced out.
It was then that I saw that she didn't have her ring on.
"Kelly…?" I asked, my mind flying with scenarios of what was going on.
"Nick and I decided to have a divorce when I caught him in bed with the woman that handles our shares," Kelly told me, closing her eyes.
"What?" I exclaimed in shock, but then pushed it aside when I saw her shoulder's shaking.
Gently pulling her into a hug, the dam per say burst forward from my sister. I held her until her sobbing calmed for now. She walked to one of the bathrooms in this townhouse. It gave me time to think over everything that she told me.
Why did Nick do this? What could have pushed him this far? Why?
Now that the "wool" was off of my eyes, I thought through all of the memories of them together and saw the "cracks" there. It made me gasp as we all knew that this was a marriage done by our Great-Great Grandmother. She had tried to get me into a arranged marriage a long time ago but, when I came to this very house; alone, I made sure she understood where she stand with me.
Let me leave my life or, I will never talk or see you again. Is what I put to her. She didn't like it one bit, but I kept my cool and got up. When she realized that I wasn't "Playing" around with this, she backed off.
After that, our Great-Great grandmother kept her distance and we were never that close again. It was fine by me since I wasn't that arrogant and cruel.
My younger siblings however, weren't so "lucky" as I was. She didn't make the same mistake like she did with me, of them.
In a way, this was a mess that was created by her. Nick or Nickolas Arlott; son of the governor of New York City and multi millionaire. He was everything that our great-great grandmother wanted.
But I guess, it wasn't what my sister wanted.
"What am I going to do?" she barely uttered the words out as her whole body wracked with sobs.
"We'll get through this, Kelly. There will have to be a way"
"Ave," She interrupted me, pulling back.
Dread pooled in the pit of my stomach.
"In order to get out of this marriage, I have to forfeit my inheritance. All of it goes to you," she whispered, sinking down into a chair.
"But, I can easily give it back to you," I countered to her.
She slowly shook her head 'no' to me and said "In order for me to "learn" my lesson of this, Gram put in her will, upon her death it would go into effect that If any of us wanted out of our arranged marriages… we will learn what it takes to earn the value of what money truly is,"
"What?" I exclaimed, sinking to the floor in shock.
"You, you were the lucky one of this family. You put your foot down when you saw that this wasn't fair for you. Gram excludes you from this clause of her will. And you can't put this into a bond or whatever else for me. If you do-"
"If I do, what the fucking hell are they going to do about it?" I cut her off, my anger surging then.
Kelly looked up at me with tears trickling down her face like that of a small creek; dread swam within the pools of her eyes and said "You will be disowned from this family,"
"What?" I whispered, my mind not completely wrapping around this yet.
"If you make any kind of accounts or whatever terms that they use, you will be disowned by this family. No bonds, CD's, or whatever else, you can use to make your way in this world. Gram's silent anger for you still holds true," Kelly explained more to me.
Suddenly I felt just as small and unsure as Kelly has felt for weeks now. My mind racing on what we could do.
"But, you're getting a divorce…" I lamely stated, looking up at her.
"I have always been different then you or Ace. I've looked around and I may not be able to live here in New York City, but I will still be able to live in the State of New York," she said, smiling now.
I stared at my sister for some time. I didn't know how she got this courage but, whatever was helping her through this, I wanted to be part of.
"What do you need me to do?" I asked, getting to my feet and standing up.
"Help me find a house for me and the kids," she said, getting up too.
"Sure. But, what about Nic- the …ex husband?" I asked her, wiping away my tears with a cloth.
"He will not fight for our children. He even stated that he hates children. He will pay for their monthly child support and college funds but, that is it," Kelly said, looking at the ground.
Ace walked in, looking devastated about something.
"Ace," She began but was stopped by him wrapping her in his arms.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked his voice oddly soft.
"You overheard the entire conversation," I stated to him.
"Can you blame me when it has worked out so well in the past?" he retorted back.
Kelly looked at us and had a small smile on her face "What do you know that we don't, Ace?"
"Avee is the one who is truly free of all of this damn mess. In a way, I'm somewhat in that boat, but also not. I was lucky that I fell in love with someone and she fell in love with me too. The moment that you sign the dotted line of your divorce, Kelly, we cannot help you," Ace said, looking at the ground.
"I know, and in a way, I'm welcoming it with open arms," she told us both.
"You are?" I asked her.
She nodded and then explained "It's just one more reason why I won't carry on this stupid tradition, like Gram had to do with her grandparents. It means that I'm breaking the chains that held me prisoner of who I am. I can finally be …well, me,"
Ace glanced over at me as I then said "If that's what you need, that's what you need,"
"Where do you want to live, Kelly?" I asked of her, trying to figure it out.
"She can't live anywhere near the city. She wouldn't be able to afford it," Ace interrupted.
"Kelly?" I asked, ignoring him for now.
"Somewhere that is …affordable and …out of the city," she forced out.
Shaking my head, I walked over to her and asked "But what do you want?"
"4 bedrooms, 2 or 3 bathrooms, doesn't matter if it's a 2 story or ranch style home. Anything will do, with a garage," she then told me.
A smile spread across my face as I then said "I can work with that,"
Ace smiled too and we all got to work on our phones.
It was a few hours but we were narrowing it down. From across the state, a different state, to just outside of New York City itself.
"Yikes! This house is nowhere near the city but still that much for it?" she said, shaking her head.
"What can you afford?" I asked her next, looking up from my phone.
"Gram had put aside close to $800,000 dollars if it came to this. I would like something that is close to $600,000 dollars," she said, her eyes looking down in shame.
"Then I think I have the perfect house for you and the kids," I told her, walking over and showing her the house.
"Oh my!" she exclaimed in awe.
She looked through the pictures and said "I wish I could buy it, but it's on a slope and a very busy road. If this was out on a flat piece of land, then yes I would buy this in a heartbeat,"
So our search continued. But, she kept going back to that little house across the Hudson River, in Nyack. On the 1091 Route 9w S.
It was a beautiful house though. 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms with 1669 square feet.
"Ave," She said, biting her lower lip.
"Just go and look at it if you like this house so much, Kells," I told her, grabbing her cell phone.
"But, what if-"
"Did I help you at all of buying this house? No. Now, make the call or I will," I cut her off, dropping her phone in her hand.
She sighed and then dialed the number to the agent.
"Hello, I'm Kelly Piers and I was wondering if I could take a tour of the house that is for sale near the Hudson River?" she said to the agent on the other line.
Ace walked away to go some food as we both know that Kelly was a social butterfly with everyone. Walking into the kitchen, I smiled as I snatched the already made sandwich and hurried away.
"DAMN AVENA!" I heard as I wolfed it down, smiling.
"It's a what?" Kelly said when she and this agent were talking a lot.
Ace looked over at me as I shrugged my shoulders at him as he was eating his second sandwich.
"Whoa. So it was built in 1898, a Colonial single-family house and it's been on the market for 166 days?" Kelly said, looking at me.
Knowing how I like to search houses for fun, and watch TV shows on how to sell houses, I knew that something was up. I searched on my cell of the area.
"Mmhm…" Kelly hummed, listening.
I walked over to her, showed her my phone in the text messaging area with "Ask her to see the house and if it has to do with the road and slopping of the hill,"
Kelly nodded and asked "May I schedule a walk through? And is the slopping of the hill driving people away from buying this house?"
I leaned away from the phone as Kelly had to do this on her own.
"I can stop by on Tuesday," she said confidentially. "Thank you so much, see you then,"
She hung up then and smiled hugely.
"What?" Ace and I said together.
"She wouldn't come forward on whether the slopping of the hill or the road are the causes, but I am going to go see this house," she said excitedly; her smile was infectious.
"And we can get by the non-helping clause," I said, looking at Ace.
"Just be careful," Ace warned me.
"How about," Kelly spoke up then "that I do a video call with you? Would that work?"
Ace shook his head and then told us "If the agent says something, like another person was there with you, then you won't get anything from the divorce,"
"So she has to go in alone on this walk through? That's…fine. I can hook up with you later in the afternoon," I told Kelly, not sure if this was the right course.
"That… would be …much …better," Ace fished for his words.
Kelly smiled and then asked me "So how can I whittle the price down?"
"Look at the other housing prices within that area. Write out a letter to the current owner. It may sound silly to do, but it has worked in the past. Also, know the limit that you know that the owner won't go past. It being on the market for 166 days is very long. So getting the price down to 450,500, let's say here, is probably your best bet that the owner won't go past. Also, tell the owner that you will fix anything that the inspection person finds," I rattled off.
"What do you mean?" Ace asked of me curiously.
"I mean, that adds more to the price then you wanting it go down. Also, if the owner if leaving anything behind, they probably won't if you get the price down. And if they leave something behind, keep in mind that it's not going to last long. Very rarely does that said item ever last longer than 2-3 years," I answered him, looking at Kelly.
She nodded, typing away on her cell on my tips.
"Alright, so fix whatever the inspector finds. Ask if the owner is leaving behind anything. Write a letter to owner. Whittle the price down to a reasonable price for the owner. Anything else?" she asked, looking at Ace and then to me.
"Is this the house that you want?" Ace asked her, his face calm.
"I can easily see myself and the kids there," she said, putting a lock of hair behind her ear.
"Go in with an open mind. Just because the current owner has it their way within the house, doesn't mean you have to follow that style to the T," I reminded her.
Kelly nodded and then said "Well, thank you for doing this with me,"
"No matter what anyone says, you're our sister," Ace said, smiling with bread crumbs dotted all over his mouth area.
"How about you two can tell me, besides Kelly's divorce, why I'm really here?" I asked of them, smirking.
Both Kelly and Ace suddenly looked away and sheepishly tried to get out of this.
"I'm waiting," I smiled at them both.
"Want…want to go to a high school reunion?" Ace asked, trying to smile.
Shaking my head, I then said "You really called me out here to head back to the hell hole that I never wanted to go back to?"
"Uh…yes?" Kelly said, glancing at Ace for help.
"I hate that school," I told them both.
"We know," Ace said bored.
Heavily sighing I then said "Fine, I'll go. But that does not mean that I will behave,"
"But, Avee!" both of them begged me.
"No. If I am going in there, I am in there with no holds barred. Besides, wasn't it Nichol stated loudly that I would be nothing after graduation?" I put my foot down.
Kelly and Ace nervously stared at one another and nodded to me.
Smiling like the cat got the cream; I walked over to my suit cases and walked to my room.
"This is going to interesting," I heard Ace say behind me.
Author's note:
Hello! Hello! Liked this story so far? Give it a follow! Is it your favorite? Why thank you, you are too kind. No, really, you are too kind for favoriting it. Want to tell me what you honestly think of it. I got my shields ready, so don't be afraid to give me a review!
Disclaimer: I do not own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles nor do I make money from this.
Yes, I know. I've updated before the end of the year. Well, with some late nights and just needing some kind of out let, I wrote this up.
What version of the Turtles? Bayverse Turtles.
Pairing? Leonardo/OFC.
Rating: Mature
So I put in this fanfic a arrange marriage inheritance theme because it's interesting to write up. Plus, it's not that far fetch of people actually doing this.
And yes I know! The turtles aren't in this chapter. Stick around and find out what happens next!
Merry Christmas!
Alonia143