Getting everyone outside for Lexi's speech was easy. I didn't know why anyone would listen to the lies she was going to tell them. I waited with Vincent in the crowd unaware of the trouble she would cause for the both of us. It was tiring to dodge every question thrown at us. Or every reporter shoving mics into out faces. Jenni had wandered off to escape, so I couldn't pass Vincent off to her. I found one of Lexi's friends and told her to keep him away from the cameras.
In the house, security guards were guarding the doors. I looked around to see the people I had least expected to be here. Especially someone Lexi seemed to hate with a passion. I didn't want to get caught by her, so I just found Kathryn and Cameron.
"Kathryn, it's good to see you again." I tapped her shoulder. She turned around to hug me.
"How is my favorite little cousin?" I whispered.
"Il va bien," She said. "Can't say the same about myself."
"As long as you're healthy." I turned to Cameron who had his arms crossed. "What? Are you about to tell me the wedding date?"
"No." He chuckled. "I haven't even thought of it yet."
"You have to tell your best man when you decide."
"Who said you were my best man?"
"...I did."
"Hm. You're fortunate I like you."
I laughed at this. It was good to be on terms with my future cousin. We may not like each other at times, but I didn't want to be on his bad side forever. He wasn't stuck up like most of my cousins. He also didn't try to keep Kathryn away from me.
Cameron, Kat, and I found a seat in the living room. I wouldn't be standing up for this meeting. Nope. Not today. Everyone followed out lead, making sure to leave space for Luca and Lexi. Wayne entered the house with Adrien and Luca's ex. The same slut from this morning.
"Where's Lexi?" Wayne asked immediately upon seeing her absence. "I thought out hostess would be here first."
Everyone shrugged. Even I didn't know. Cameron whispered something to Kathryn. She rolled her eyes and pinched his arm. It was good she hasn't changed a bit. After her engagement, I expected her to hate me and spend most of her time with Cameron. She did nothing of the sort and kind of kept her relationship on the back burner for a while. She was just as annoying as she was five years ago.
The front door opened again and loud music spilled in from outside. Every head turned in annoyance before realizing who it was coming in. Luca and Lexi walked to the open spot and sat down. She scanned the room to find me. I expected her to look surprised, but she was more annoyed than surprised. I guess she must have figured this out on her own.
"Where's Brad?" Wayne growled.
"...Being the temporary host," Lexi snapped.
Wayne immediately took this as his cue to start and got right into it. I was barely listening half the time, but I do know that the next person who entered this house was someone none of us missed.
"I find this mishap...interesting. Your brother and his wife are here tonight working secretly as agents from the NYIA," Wayne continued. "Have you seen them since they arrived?"
"To the party? No." Lexi shook her head. "I did notice that when I invited them to a couple of parties when they arrived last week, they would go. Made up some excuse about meeting some friends."
"Friends who could have something to do with what they're hoping to find tonight." He pulled out his phone and began typing away. "I'm sending out the list of suspects to everyone. If you don't get it, either you changed your number or I deleted it."
"Or you never got it."
Leave it to Lexi to make unnecessary comments. Everyone knew she and Wayne were close before she met me. Even if she never mentions every knowing him, we all know. They had each others number. She just wanted us to think they didn't.
Before Luca or Wayne could say anything, they door opened again. I didn't bother looking, knowing it would be a waste of my time. The gasps that floated around the room got my attention really quick. I thought it was Jenni, but I knew she was never coming to find me again. Then I thought it was Fae. It could have been. Lexi may have invited her to come. That's when I actually looked.
Samantha?
Lexi stood up and I noticed she was blocking Luca from Samantha's view. I would do the same too. Almost everyone had a history with Samantha. Most of these coincidental meetings involved the police and money. Barely any of us made it this long without seeing her every once in a while.
"What are you doing here?" Lexi growled.
"...The same reason you're here," Samantha said calmly and closed the door. "I was invited, therefore I came."
"You weren't even supposed to be in my house."
"How is everyone?" She completely ignored Lexi and looked around the room. "It's nice to see some familiar faces tonight."
Lexi clenched her fists and took a step closer to Samantha.
"I don't remember inviting you here," She snapped. "Do us all a favor and make yourself disappear."
I had never seen Lexi this angry. It was scary, but a little sexy. I found myself desperately wanting me to help Lexi. If I were her husband, there was no way I'd allow an ex to disrupt her party. Especially on her birthday. Yet, here is Luca doing the exact opposite. I bet he was the one who invited her.
"Lexi..." Samantha finally acknowledged her. "Invites like these don't just show up at my door everyday."
The tell tell gold design on the invitation was recognizable. No one could mistake it for another invite to another party. There weren't any other parties going on tonight. Not that I know of anyway. The fact that the gold had her name written at the top in Luca's handwriting said it all. He had invited her.
"Anyway, I do know one thing--"
"No one asked for your opinion," Kathryn butted in. "Why don't you get out like Lexi asked. Even I don't understand how the guards let you in."
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Kitty Kat. How's your dad doing? Or should I ask about my mother?"
"Why is everyone asking about my mother? She's fine. My dad's fine. There's nothing to worry about."
Yeah. What was up with people asking her that? My tante and oncle are fine. Was there something I didn't know about? Everyone is acting weird today. Ever since Lexi took the drive they've all been antsy and accusing.
"Samantha..." I stood up. "Get out. I think I'm speaking for everyone."
"He is," Cameron agreed. "Except Luca. I think he wants you here."
"...Isn't this awkward." Samantha laughed and put the invitation back in her pocket. "I'll see you guys later."
"Get off my property while you're at it." Lexi crossed her arms.
The silence swelled as they stared each other down. I really hoped they wouldn't fight. It would be hilarious, but we couldn't risk a scandal. Not after Lexi revealed Vincent to everyone. They'd think of anything to break us further apart or get us back together. Right now I wasn't hoping for either.
Sam finally took the hint and left. The music blasted us again, but no one moved. I was pissed this was happening. Lexi looked like she wanted to heave Luca off a cliff. I looked to Wayne who hadn't said anything the entire time. He had adopted a stoic expression, so his opinion on the matter seemed to be interesting to know at this point.
"Luca," He started. "...why did you invite her?"
"I swear to you I didn't," Luca denied almost immediately.
"We're all going to die," Kat muttered.
⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️
After the meeting, Lexi and Luca sort of disappeared. I didn't question it nor did I care. I did happen to find Jenni who had found Vincent. No one mauled her about being with me, so I was happy to see she was still enjoying herself. I told her how the rest of the meeting with and filled her in on what my job was. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Wayne told me all I had to do was sit back and look pretty. It was hard. Especially when I was having cameras and mics shoved in my face every dang second. Trying to fit in with the rich people was like sticking myself into a freezer. The atmosphere wasn't pleasant, so I had to leave. I guess having a child out of wedlock still wasn't accepted. Couldn't agree more.
I offered to get us to drinks and Jenni agreed. They wouldn't leave their spot until they got them. As I was getting closer to the drinks, I happened upon Luca and both of his exes. What a surprise. I was going to interrupt them, but the drinks were close enough to where I could hear them and not have to listen too hard. The music was loud, but Isabella had finally allowed Juan t o turn it down.
"It's not at all surprising she told it all herself," Sha'Kayla was saying. "I told you she was a whore. Sleeping around with everyone."
"Sha'Kayla, I told you not to call her a whore," Luca warned. "She's in for a rude awakening. The divorce is supposed to get finalized next month or so. She wants joint custody."
"She doesn't deserve to take care of them."
"Kaykay, I want Champagne. It's right by the house."
"Alright, I'll be back."
"Get me one too," Samantha spoke up.
"Whatever."
I pretended to be getting drinks as Sha'Kayla come from beside the shed and stomped past me. I knew it shouldn't have taken this long, but I wanted to find out what they were going to do next.
"Now that she's gone, why don't you move out with Lexi and come live with me," Samantha said.
"Really?" Luca asked in disbelief.
"Duh. Luca, I still will do anything for you."
I finally got what I needed and went back the way I came. I don't know if my eyes were deceiving me, but I swear I saw them kiss. At this point I was praying a camera was around to catch this. I hadn't found one following me, so I wasn't sure there were any. When I made it back to Jenni and Vincent, a streak of sparkly red streaked past me.
"Here. I'll be back again," I said. "I promise you it won't take too long."
"Are you going after Lexi?" Jenni asked.
"Yeah. I think she saw something she wasn't supposed to see."
"...Oh. Go ahead."
I assured her that was all I was going to do. Jenni rolled her eyes and told me to go. This had to be a life or death situation. If Lexi saw what I thought she saw, then we were all in trouble. Especially Luca. The backlash he would get would affect more than just their marriage. Imagine Lexi's companies going down under. I wouldn't live to see the end of it.
I ran into the house knowing she was in there. There weren't many people inside, so I knew it had to be people who didn't give two ships about Lexi. That's when I heard crying from the kitchen. No one was saying anything, so I assumed the person was alone.
When I walked into the kitchen, all the staff turned to me. I recognized Cameron automatically. He ran over to me explaining how Lexi just went berserk and started throwing all her China and glasses around. He couldn't stop her, because she had threatened to throw something at him. What was the problem? I'd take any hit just to stop her from killing herself.
"Go get Kathryn," I ordered. "Make sure she brings her first-aid kit from the truck."
The room unfroze as two waiters scrambled into action. Cameron ordered the rest of them to clean up what they could while he went to get more glasses from his car. I settled with making sure no one was in the house anymore to calm Lexi down. I didn't want any prying eyes.
"Lexi," I said softly. "Why are you doing this to yourself? What happened?"
"Ele não me ama mais!" She cried out. (He doesn't love me anymore!)
I already knew who she was talking about. No questions asked.
"Vamos. Não precisamos falar sobre ele. Eu preciso te limpar." I stepped closer to her. Her hand tightened around something and I saw blood flow again. "Lexi." (Come on. We don't have to talk about him. I need to get you cleaned up.)
Was this even working on her? I knew Lexi to be stubborn, but would she really hold a piece of glass in her hand like that? She had her whole life ahead of her. She had kids to take care of. Without her, they would grow up without her and with Luca. No telling who he was going to marry. Plus, I couldn't let her die on her birthday.
"Você tem seus filhos para cuidar. Largue o copo e podemos voltar para Luca juntos." I held out my hand for assurance. Please work. (You have your kids to take care of. Drop the glass and we can get back at Luca together.)
A few moments later, I heard a clink. Yes. She had dropped the glass. Kathryn appeared next to me with her first-aid kit.
"Carry her up to her room. I'll make sure we get her back to the party," She said. "If someone finds her missing, there are going to be rumors all over the place."
"You brought me a dress shirt too?" I asked.
"I never come to parties unprepared."
The next few minutes were the worst minutes of our lives. Luca didn't come to see where she was at all. That was expected of him. I didn't want to make a scene about it, so I just let more people back into the house. The guard at the stairs was making sure no one knew what was happening upstairs. Kat stayed with Lexi to make sure she stayed conscious.
Cameron seemed to have heard about everything, because when I returned to the kitchen he was there helping with the clean up. The staff were sent outside to make sure nothing needed to be done. We couldn't risk the guests thinking something was going on inside. Everyone had been sworn to secrecy and the kitchen was back to normal in no time.
"Any reason with why she would do this?" Cam asked.
"Lexi has always bee suicidal. No one knows why," I said. "She saw Luca, so he must have done something to make her mad."
"I already know what."
"Me too. Or I think I do. He was talking to both of his ex-sluts."
"There's no time to worry about him. Just make sure you find the drive. It could be here. I'm not saying it is, I just need to check this place off." Cameron turned around and happened to run into Cameron.
"Oh." I stepped in between them. "I'm sure you both know each other. Cameron and Cameron. Same spelling. Two different people."
"We know," Cameron rolled his eyes and went back into the kitchen.
Cameron smiled and headed to the door.
"I'll go make sure Sha'Kera and Hayden aren't up to anything," He said and left.
Kathryn came down as Cameron left. She was carrying her first-aid kit and my old shirt. When she saw me she half smiled and nodded. Lexi was fine.
"She needs a little rest, but we need her back out there immediately. You can get her to come down. She won't listen to me."
"You think she'll listen to me?"
"Better you than me. I'm not the person she wishes to see right now."
Kat left without any other explanation. I debated on whether I should really go up there and check on her. I had no choice when Cameron came out the kitchen again.
"They're looking for you and Lexi. Something about an interview." He rolled up his sleeves. "You had better speak to Lexi about replacing those glasses. I paid a fortune for those."
"Don't worry. When she comes to, she'll realize her mistake and ask to make it up to you."
I walked upstairs and began to subtly check every empty room. Lexi had her door closed, so I assumed she was still changing. When I walked out the last free room, she opened the door. I casually walked in and was shocked by her attire. If I hadn't leaned on the doorframe, I'm sure I would have fallen from the shock of her beauty.
The new dress was different from the last. It was sleeveless and allowed her more free movements. It was a deep purple, like a bruise, with gold glitter decorating the bodice fading into sparkles further down the skirt. She seemed to have found white gloves to cover the bandages on her hands. Lexi finally looked like a queen tonight.
I stood up straight and offered my hand to her. Instead she walked up to me and planted a kiss on my lips. I was stunned and a little sad it ended too fast. Lexi left me at her door with my head in the clouds. Was this better than the kiss at the company? Absolutely not.
"Lexi!" A familiar female voice exclaimed. I rushed downstairs after Lexi. "It's been along time, hasn't it?"
Oh, no. I tried to turn back around without being seen, but I didn't make it far. Karli waved at me, causing Lexi to look back at me.
"I didn't know you were actually coming," She squealed. I turned back and smiled at her. "Lexi, I didn't know you knew my boyfriend."
"Boyfriend?" Lexi asked.
"Ex actually. I'm sure you must have met his girlfriend already. She's so pretty. Not as beautiful as you, but more nice on the eyes." Karli laughed nervously. "...It's so great to see you again, big sis."
"Where have you been all these years?" Lexi took her hands. "Last I heard, Brad had taken you to Mexico with him."
"Oh...I went abroad for college in South Korea."
"Really? Did you get to say hi to Tae-won?"
"Yeah...Um, about that. Tae-won's dead. His son kind of took over and he sort of...hates our guts."
"What?"
Lexi shook her head. I don't know if she actually cared or not. From what I heard, she couldn't care less if Tae-won actually died because of her father. The girls finally hugged, giving me leeway to try and move to the bottom of the stairs. Karli winked at me. I shuddered and sort of wiggled my way around them.
"Oh. I sort of want you to meet someone." Karli pulled away from Lexi. She waved to someone out of my view. When Lexi saw the person, she gasped and nearly fell backwards. I turned to see who it was.
"I'm back, chienne."