PULLING MY COAT ON, I JOGGED DOWN THE STAIRS. I WAS LATE. I was so fucking late. Dalton was never going to let hear the end of this.
"Going out again? What is this… your fourth night in a row?" I clenched my jaw.
"Keeping tabs on me now?"
He dropped his stack of paper onto the coffee table, "yes…is it a crime to want to make sure that my sole heir and the future face of my company isn't making a mockery of our family name?"
The business.
What else could give him the idea of keeping tabs on me?
It was never about me or my well-being. It was always about him and the damn company that I was bound to inherit from him once I turned twenty-five. I would work under him after I graduated which would lead me to get his job.
Nothing ever mattered to him but that damn building.
Not his wife or his son.
Then again my mother would have to be home for him to give a shit about her.
Calvin Laurent had one image and that was his company. Behind the dark brown hair and styled brown locks, was the shell of the father that I grew up to know and love.
The husband that my mother had given up so much and married.
It was no shock to the world that the Laurent name wasn't wealth until my father decided it was. My mother, on the other hand, held twice the power that our names do in the UK. A nobleman's daughter married a lowlife commoner who had nothing in his pocket.
She gave up a comfortable life. She gave up security and her relationship with her family because of her love for my father.
We were a picture-perfect family but somewhere down the line, something changed in them both. My mother was home a lot less and my father…wasn't my father anymore.
I was confused about what had happened exactly but as I grew up, I simply stopped caring and stopped being a son to them unless it was for a picture.
"No, I would hate to tarnish your child's name in such a way." I spat back grabbing the rest of my stuff.
"Also, Roman is back…so whatever you and Edmund are planning better keep it quiet…would hate for news to get out to him and then Lana."
"They're both back?"
I nodded, "landed last night."
Backing away from the living room, I headed straight for the car
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The heavy bass of some pop song, burst into my ears as I pushed past the sweaty bodies of college kids. Without a doubt, Dalton invited the entire student body of Cambridge University and London here tonight.
From the sight of things, the party had been going on for a few hours. Everyone was either drunk or high and buried in some corner or room getting laid in someone's bed.
"Took you long enough to get here…you said you were right behind me." I rolled my eyes shoving off Dalton's arm.
"What the hell were you thinking about running off like that, you fucker? Haven't you had enough to drink tonight?"
He had the worse alcohol tolerance out of the three of his, yet he still manages to walk on two feet despite being wasted. What possessed me to agree to have pre-drinks with him? I don't have the slightest clue of an answer.
Unlike his little sister, Dalton was less put together in his life. Having his father's business to bounce back on he wasn't much of a worker for it. His father wasn't going to give it into the hands of his youngest child and only daughter.
Blair wasn't cut for the business world. The world was too cruel and corrupt for her to be a part of it. Not that anyone believed she really wanted to take part in any of it.
She wasn't cut for the crap they pulled with their business. And she never would be.
Dalton never wanted her entangled with it either, so he kept all business talk out of the house. He went even as far as threatening his father he would back down from his position as an heir if he bought up the talk of business around Blair or under the same roof as her.
"That would require brain cells that he doesn't have Laurie." I clenched my jaw, straying my gaze to Roman's tall grinning frame.
"You two need to stop calling me that before I file a harassment claim against you both."
"You can't file that Laurie. It's would risk you two great friends. and you don't want to be stuck with Isaiah for the rest of your life now do you?" I rolled my eyes nudging Roman's arm off.
I hated being touched. It was a rare thing for me. Allowing or accepting anyone to touch me.
"It's good to see you well, Corbin. You had me worried for a bit when you went MIA on me."
I cleared my throat, "I had personal things to sort out…sorry."
He chuckled, "don't mention it. We all have our own things to deal with…and then some of us drink it away rather than deal with it." he eyed Dalton who was swaying in between two girls.
"Looks like the gremlin decided to show up."
Both our heads snapped towards the voice watching Lana walk up to her brother's side,
"What did I say about roaming around here alone? Where's Ford?"
"Oh, relax would you? He's getting the car; I was coming to tell you I'm heading home so
I can give Ford the rest of the night off. I still have to go and see Blair."
He sighed, "fine, don't stay out too late and lock the doors when you get home. I still need to update the system."
She nodded before calling out for Dalton who came stumbling over, "you'll be dearly missed Lani."
"You see this boys…this is the goodbyes I look for from you." she huffed before turning back to Dalton, "I'll be thinking about you Dalton. You'll be missed dearly too." they both broke out into grins and started laughing.
God, they were idiots.
"Okay, I'm off, have a good night gentlemen and drink responsibly. Don't do anything I would do."
They were also disgusting as well
"Stop eyeing my sister, would you? You're not getting in her pants like every other chick that's come your way."
Lana was more than just a mere hook-up. She was going to be more than just a mere hook-up. If I ever got the opportunity, she was going to be more than anyone else was. She wasn't some one-time thing.
She was a fire that could never be put out.
She was everything I wanted to be in life. She was so gifted and so resilient. She knew the ins and outs of so many situations at any given time she had. I looked up to her.
She was the very thing that kept me going. That made me work on better harder than I ever was before.
She was impossible to disappoint but my biggest fear was that. To disappoint her. to have her look down at me.
"I wasn't eyeing her and for your information, I would pick someone else for a hook up than your sister. I'm not looking to getting into a fight with you just yet,"
I pushed past the crowded bodies and headed to the bar. Roman followed behind me as I grabbed two glasses and a bottle of whiskey from the shelf.
The beauty of having money?
We had an endless choice of whose house and which one we wanted to host these parties in. We kept them away from our family homes as much as possible. We were three of the most influential families so far.
We had our dark and dirty secrets buried in our family homes. We couldn't just have everyone walking in and out of it.
Especially Roman's. I can't remember the last time I went to their house. I don't think I ever went to their house.
"Are you still going to go through University?" I asked, pushing him a glass.
"Yeah, I finalised my transfer today so everything should be set for the new week."
"And Lana? Is she going to university?"
He sighed, "I would like her too. I forced her to take some classes of her choice to get her into it slowly, but you know Lana? I highly doubt she'll stick to it. I just need her to get out there after the last two years."
Despite being the only one in contact with them over the years, I still had no idea what the hell was going on in their family. Every day was a new rumour from them. People whisper around saying that their parents got divorced and they hijacked their father's company while he was going through it all.
Some say it was a complete set-up on their mother's behalf so she could get away from her husband and leave him with nothing.
There were worse ones than these. One of their father's underground works is bribing and blackmail.
There was one of murder lingering around their name as well, but no one knew if anything was true or not,
If there was one well-known thing about the Azad family, it was they knew how to cover up their tracks perfectly so if Khadir Azad was arrested for blackmail and murder, it would have to be told from an insider.
His kids wouldn't turn on him. He was their source of income but his wife on the other hand…I wouldn't put it past her if they did divorce.
"She's been through so much over two years that I'm surprised she's still standing before my eyes sometimes."
I chuckled, "it's Lana. She's never been a quitter no matter how hard shit got for her."
"She's not the same person anymore, Corbin. Hell, I don't even know who she is anymore, and I'm terrified she doesn't either."
"She'll come around, Roman. She's stubborn. She needs time to process and work things out on her own before she comes to anyone."
I wasn't the best at comforting. Even after all these years, I sucked at being there for my friends. the only thing I could ever offer them was silence. To sit with me and not have someone throwing a million questions at their faces and saying things that'll hurt them or giving unwanted opinions.
The silence was my strong suit in every situation. It was all I knew and all I grew up with. Silence.
Nothing but the sound of the creaking floorboards underneath my feet and the flipping pages of my nanny who was also a college student at the time.
"I hope so…I pray she does because god knows I can't go through it all again Corbin."
The poor guy looked defeated and tired all at once. I'd never seen him look like that before in my years of knowing him
The first time she let go.
The first she ever unleashed everything that was in her mind to the world.
I wasn't there to witness it, but the horror story Roman told me about. The way his voice shook. the way I could hear the fear in his voice everything he spoke about was enough to tell me whatever it was…whatever happened with her was far worse than anything we'll ever see in the movies.