Hey there! This chapter's probably going to be longer and wayyy brutal. Please forgive me ahead of time for taking so long to post this, and probably the chapters to come as well. It seems I've entered a bit of a rut when it comes to writing. But be patient and I'll try my best not to let you down! Okay here we go kids.
The music slowly began to dwindle as people started to file out. After the uncomfortable little incident, Gemma spent the rest of her birthday glued to Elicia's side, even dancing with the older girl several times. Now, as the night ticked into early morning hours, she and her father stood by the door with Carter, seeing out the last guests.
"Thank you so much again for coming, Mr. and Mrs. Chambers." Gemma held the elderly woman's hand firmly, smiling warmly at her. "Oh, Gemma, you were always such a gentle girl. I can't believe you've already grown to be such a fine young woman. You'll go so far with your father's company. My husband and I expect great things from you." Mrs. Chambers squeezed Gemma's hand, the pink haired girl blushing in response. Gemma nodded at Mr. Chambers respectfully before the couple left. Once the door was closed, Gemma let out a small sigh of relief.
"You okay, Gems?" The tealette had approached with enough time to catch her friend's sigh. Gemma wasn't really okay, but she didn't want to worry Elicia, so she nodded gently. Truthfully, Gemma was exhausted and nervous; something in the pit of her stomach was telling her that there was something amiss. She looked around, suddenly aware that her father was gone. Gemma turned to where Elicia was, ready to ask her where her father was, only to find her older friend suddenly missing as well. She unconsciously took a step back, toward the door. She was certain that there was no way her friend and her father could disappear right from under her nose so quickly without her noticing. Right as she was about to panic, Tripp appeared at the top of the staircase.
"Oh, uncle Tripp! Have you seen my father? Or Elicia, for that matter? I could have sworn they were both right here, but I guess I was in my own little world and they must've wandered off.." She trailed off, her voice softening at the end. As she spoke, Tripp walked down the steps, no emotion on his face. Normally, he'd tease her about losing her head if it weren't attached, and this silent treatment he was giving her was rather eerie. As he reached the bottom step, Gemma searched his face for any sign of emotion, finding only the smallest traces of amusement dancing in his eyes.
"U-Uncle Tripp?.. Are you alri-" She was cut off by the man's sudden look of disgust.
"Oh, Gemma. Are you really that naive?" He scoffed at the look of confusion he received. "You honestly think that I could just let you walk right in and take what's rightfully mine? Do you even want to be head of the company? You aren't cut out for the job. I am. My bastard brother should've given it to me in the first place. I honestly don't know what the old man was thinking, planning on leaving something so valuable and profitable to someone so young and pathetic." Gemma's eyes were wide as she listened to her uncle go on. She felt a flurry of emotions, but the most prominent one was hurt. "Listen, I don't like you talking about my father that way. He's your brother, shouldn't you just trust that he's making the right decision?" At that, Tripp burst into an almost psychotic sounding laughter that made Gemma wince.
"Like you would have any idea what's best! That's a joke!" He quickly regained his composure and stepped closer to his niece. "Here's what's going to happen. You're going to marry Carter. And then, the company will go to your husband. He will then hand it over to it's rightful owner: myself." Gemma shook her head, not believing what she was hearing. As long as she's remembered, her uncle was the one teaching her the ways of running the company. She stood in front of him, shocked.
"There's no way I'm marrying him. And you can't make me. I don't know what got into you, but you're acting ridiculous! Tell me where my father and Elicia are. Stop all of this nonsense talk." Gemma was honestly scared. Her uncle had a crazy look in his eye, and with the way he was talking, she just wanted to make sure her family was safe. Her uncle shook his head, laughing darkly.
"Oh, darling," he stepped close enough to reach out and place a hand on Gemma's warm cheek. "You will marry Carter. Because if you don't, then I'm going to kill your dear friend Elicia next." Gemma's eyes widened, and she was about to scream at him for being a psycho, but then she took note of the word 'next.'
"Next..? What do you mean by that? Tripp what did you do!" Gemma raised her voice, growing frantic as she roughly slapped his hand away. The man just leaned his head back and laughed deeply.
"You think I'm going to make you marry and then still wait by patiently when the company is so close to being mine? No, my dear. I'm going to kill my brother. Tonight. Ah, before you start bawling and acting irrationally, let me tell you where you can come into play. Depending on your compliance, you can either be the reason your father dies peacefully and without pain, or the reason I drag his death out slowly." Gemma was surprised to feel the hot tears running down her cheeks as she listened to her uncle. He was insane. Her beloved uncle was standing before her on her birthday, telling her that her dear father was going to die no matter what, and that she had to be married and lose the thing he worked for so hard in his life.
"No. Tripp, you're scaring me. I'm not going to marry anyone, and you won't be killing my father." Gemma forced herself to speak as calmly and as reasonably as possible. Her uncle simply smirked at her, tilting his head slightly before speaking.
"Have it your way, then. Carter, bring him down." Immediately, Carter came out of a door at the top of the grand staircase, dragging her unconscious father with him. "As you wish." Carter smiled evilly, before pushing the limp man down the steps.
"Daddy!" Gemma winced at the harsh cracks she heard and tried to rush to her father's side as he landed on the last few steps, but Tripp grabbed her arms and held them tightly.
"No, no. You made your choice." He pushed the distraught girl back violently, causing her to land roughly on her bottom. Carter walked down the steps toward them, stepping lightly over her father's body. Her uncle approached the unconscious man and pulled out a knife. He looked down at his older brother with pure disgust. Without warning, he lunged for the man's face with the knife. Gemma gasped loudly, sobbing and jerking forward to run to stop her uncle, but was quickly restrained by Carter. Tripp was blocking Gemma's view, so she was unable to see what he was doing to her father.
"Tripp! Quit it! He's your brother!" Gemma was screaming at the top of her lungs, feeling sick to her stomach as she heard her uncle's maniacal laughter. Tripp stood back and looked at his niece, grinning slightly. Gemma's mouth popped open in horror, and she screamed again, wailing on Carter and spouting off incoherent nonsense. Tripp looked down at his brother who was starting to regain consciousness. He smirked at the man below him, whose face was now bloody and lacked lips.
As the man became more clear minded, he was overcome with pain and began making little whimpering noises. "Oh hello, Nathaniel, I see that you're up now." Tripp leaned down close enough so that the bloody mess of a man could hear him. "I always hated that fucking smile of yours." Nathaniel's eyes darted around frantically, catching sight of his sobbing daughter, and immediately he tried to sit up and go to her. Tripp pushed him back roughly and scowled.
"I'm sorry, brother, but you're not going anywhere else. Honestly, I promised your darling daughter that I would kill you slowly, but after having to hold all my anger back for so many years, I don't know how dragged out I can make this." Tripp sighed, tapping the bloodied knife against his hand rather dramatically. Suddenly the man plunged the knife into Nathaniel's gut, earning a gurgly cry from his mutilated mouth. Instead of removing it, Tripp slowly forced the knife to drag through his brother's stomach, humming casually.
Still held back by Carter, Gemma screamed over and over, begging her uncle to stop. She couldn't believe it. Part of her was convinced that this was just a cruel dream, and she kept pinching her hands, desperate to wake up. Tripp turned his head toward her, and sighed.
"Oh, alright. You win, my sweet niece. I was getting ready to do this anyway." The younger brother ripped the knife out of Nathaniel's stomach, looking down at his brother with pity. "I'll run it well, brother. I promise." Tripp smirked, and quickly slipped the knife across Nathaniel's jugular. Tripp sighed contentedly as the blood spurted out, then quickly stood up and wiped his face with his pocket square. "Oh, what a mess." He shrugged, then turned to his silent niece.
"Now, will you agree to marry Carter?" He kneeled in front of the unmoving girl and stroked her cheek, wiping her father's blood across it. Inside of Gemma, something snapped.
"Listen here, you insolent swine. I will not marry this disgusting man, nor will you ever be in control of my company." She spit harshly at him, scowling deeply. Tripp simply smiled, wiping the soiled knife on his expensive suit.
"See, I didn't want to kill you. I rather adore you, believe it or not. Unfortunately, it seems you're leaving me no choice. Don't worry though, I won't make it all painful like I did to your old man. I'll kill you swiftly." The moment the last word left his lips, Elicia came bounding through a pair of doors, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.
"Tripp! Don't patronize her.. Just do it. I don't want it to go on any longer." Gemma's eyes widened and she suddenly felt a wave of nausea wash over her. She refused to believe that tonight was real. There was no way that her uncle could kill her father, and there was no way that the girl she'd looked at as a sister would be in on it, much less agree to her murder.
"Leesy..?" Gemma held on to a single strand of hope that this was all just a nightmare, and any minute now she'd wake up. Her friend shook her head slowly.
"I'm sorry, Gemma. Tripp and I love each other.. I just want him to be happy, and.." She trailed off, choking back a sob. Gemma's expression instantly hardened. She was shocked that her usually rational friend was behaving this way. She broke eye contact as Elicia approached her, Tripp seemingly pausing his plans. Gemma didn't look back at Elicia until she was right behind her, holding her shoulders.
"It really is better this way, Gems.." Without any warning, she felt two simultaneous jabs, one from the front and one from behind. She looked back at Elicia, mouth open in shock. Her friend cried silently as she yanked the knife from Gemma's back, as Tripp pulled the knife from her front. They both stepped back, and Gemma fell over with a soft thud. Tripp grabbed Elicia's hand roughly, pulling her away from the scene before she could say anything, and Carter followed them silently. And then, Gemma was alone. She tried to think clearly as she felt blood pouring from her body, but she was getting dizzy fast. She silently cursed the three who did this, wishing that she could live through this to make them pay for killing her father and ruining everything.
Gemma sighed softly, slowly falling into unconsciousness. Her eyes fluttered closed a few times, but she fought to keep them open for as long as she could. Soon, though, it was too hard, and her eyes slowly started to close for the last time. The final thing she remembered seeing was the little spider from earlier, crawling toward her.