Cassandra's pov
Time went by and it was already Sunday morning, I was too tensed and escalated not because of the incident that occurred on Tuesday night but because my grandparents as well as Vincent's grandparents decided to come over.
They used to stay in Brooklyn during their prime business time, but after they passed down the business to my dad and Vincent's dad- Matteo they moved away to the outskirts of town. They both stay close by, as they brought farmlands together, next to one another and grow different types of crops, they are pet animals like rabbits, horses, cows, etc.
But I have no idea what they have been up to now. I lost connection with them when I moved to UK, I never even called them once in those 5 years as we were never truly connected. Forget them I did not even have proper conversations with my parents only.
They both started the family business together but as families grew, businesses got separated from one another. After they settled in their respective farms they would visit us every two months once and stay for a week or two. Both families would have lunch on weekends at one of our houses during their visits. It was usually a home-cooked food, flowed by barbeque dinner.
Also, I am not a big fan of seeing Vincent today nor will I be ever ready I think, after the stunt I pulled at the club. That idiot named Simon came and started dancing with me all of a sudden. No offence for dancing with me but the problem was when it started to rub his body with mine and started to say sexual remarks in my ears.
I did ask him to stop but he told "Yes baby I will stop only next morning, today I want to shake it off with you, you are the hottest and gorgeous chick in the club and I want you underneath me in my place, on my bed" I got so provoked and splashed a drink on his face. In all of the mess, Ryan had to come in between to get punched. Later, I started to hit him with glasses and I even see Avery helping me, by kicking him.
Then a hefty guy with a man bun and a man with tattoos all over his body advanced towards me. I was least bothered but Vincent started to pull me but I was not gonna go down without a fight. I hurt them pretty badly by throwing glasses towards them and I even hit a guy with the metal tray and started to curse him.
Then I felt someone picking me up and I was seeing the word upside down. I understood by my position that someone was carrying me on their shoulder and my stomach was in contact with the person's shoulder. This infatuated me much more and I nag more. The same person carried me out, I felt it to be a familiar cologne that hit my nostrils but never tried to guess whose it was. After which I come face to face with Vincent. He gave me a look, which told better shut up now or you will bear the consequences. I instantly obeyed had to obey him after the spank he gave me. i was shocked, when I wanted to react, everyone else come out.
I was so embarrassed by the whole event and Vincent carrying me on his shoulder and him spanking me I could not utter a single word and gave him my most innocent look and puppy eyes which he will always melt for or more likely used to melt for years ago. He did not say a word but Aiden dragged me to the car and made me sit with Hazel in the back seat and locked it with kid's mode.
This rose my bile but I bit my tongue hard and sat there without a word. The things that triggered me the most were Vincent's encounter and Hazel sitting next to me. I guess I never hated anyone in my life as much as I hate both Vincent and Hazel. I regret even thinking about how Vincent was my first love. I still remember the day like it happened yesterday.
The word that made me hate him for my lifetime is 'You are unfit for love, I cannot even stand you for a minute, how do Aiden and your parents love you, not to mention you being the most spoiled brat, forget about me you are the most unfit girl in the world anybody can love, you can't seriously deserve my love. I seriously hope the one who loves you makes a correct choice in his life.' This was only a bit of humiliation he did to me.
Later in the morning, I see myself on the bed, I guessed I fell asleep in the car and Aiden carried me to my room. Later that day I got a lot of scolding from Aiden but he did not tell my parents, which I am very grateful for or else my parents would have screwed me over.
I know I am a sassy person but I usually don't act like that, I try to control my anger. What triggered me was once in the UK, I, Avery, Ryan and Chole went to a party and someone spiked Avery's drink and took her to a room and some stranger did save Avery. But Avery was in a bad state for a month and took counselling to help her heal. This made me more self- consciousness at parties. There in UK only, when we went to a party the next time a boy started to touch me inappropriately while dancing and I remembered Avery's state, of what had happened before and I kicked the guy where the sun does not shine but later Ryan had to take care of the matter whiteout paparazzi knowing.
*****
Now it was 12 pm and I started to get ready for lunch. I opted for a creamish-white off-shoulder corset dress and let my hair down, also paired it with white wedges and a beautiful ring gifted by my maternal grandparents. I used to be too close to them but after my grandpa died my grandmom was in a very bad state and our relationship started to tear apart.
I walked down towards the dining room and saw everyone seated but I did not see my grandparents as well as Vincent's grandparents there. Today our family sat on one side of the table Dad followed by Mom and Aiden. The other side of the table was occupied by Lorenzo's family starting with Matteo, Sienna, Nicklaus and Vincent.
With a frown, I entered the room and everyone greeted me and I returned it with a big smile. I was followed by Hazel and well she had a transformation I guess she looked out of her league as well as uncomfortable from looks. But who knows looks can also be deceiving. She wore a pink dress that reached her mid-thighs and paired it with white heels. And Surprisingly she let her hair completely free which she rarely does as she always pulls her hair up in a ponytail.
As I reached Dad and I gave them a peck on their cheeks, then returned it on my forehead. I and mom both hugged each other. Next, I moved to Aiden but he stood up from his place and hugged me and told that I was looking stunning as ever and left his seat and helped me in and moved to the next seat beside me. I was really grateful for him, as I didn't want to sit in front of Vincent, though if Aiden did not move I would have left the seat for Hazel, so no problem.
The waiters brought in our food and arranged it on our plates elegantly. We all were having pleasant conversations. Before starting lunch, I asked Aiden where are grams and gramps were.
"About that they had some emergency on the farm and they will be not joining us for lunch but they will surely be here by evening" he said a bit uncertain. We all started our lunch.
"Nicklaus where were you last week I did not see you at all for the past month and you are not the type to miss out on a party is it?" Aiden questioned.
"Yeah about that I took a month's break from work and just went to enjoy Italy and I guess I missed out on the hottest topic of the party." He said with a wink in my direction.
Nicklaus is actually an illegitimate son of Matteo; I have never seen his mother but from stories I have heard she stays in Italy. And no Matteo did not cheat on Sienna or according to them not directly. Sienna actually had some complications during Vincent's birth so she went back to Italy for some time as her mother would help in taking care of the child as well as her, basically like post-pregnancy needs, also her mother was a well know gynaecologist in Italy.
After 5 months when everything was right, she came back but was divested to the core. She got the most shocking news any woman can get from her husband. She got to know that her husband was overly drunk one night and forced himself on Bianca thinking she was Sienna.
Nicklaus's mom, Bianca was a maid who Sienna brought with her from Italy for help, basically like a friend. When she got to know the news she wanted Bianca to abort the child but Vincent's grandparents got to know the child was gonna be a boy so they did not let anything happen to the baby nor Bianca. They looked after Bianca well until delivery and after delivery they kicked her out without even showing Nick's face to her, forgetting it, she didn't even hold him.
She went back to Italy and after 6 years without any hope of seeing Nicklaus or Matteo, she married a baker and lives happily with a son and a stepdaughter. After Nicklaus grew up he did not want to stay away from Bianca nor leave his father, so he had a good relationship with both of them and he often visited Bianca in Italy and her new family members also accepted Nicklaus with open arms.
Here feeling betrayed Sienna left for Italy to stay with her parents but after 10 years of pleading and begging she forgave Matteo and moved back to Brooklyn. She does have a formal relationship with Nicklaus but you know there will always be bad blood between them. Now they all stay under the same roof but you never know who will murder whom and who will get killed in the crossfire. But by the looks, I feel the air has changed and things are pretty well within themselves.
"Cassie, what are you going to do next? Are you planning on getting married or do you want to study for some more time? I mean you do have to ... you know" Mrs. Lorenzo asked with a glint of hope in her eyes.
"Our Cassie is not getting married now." Both Dad and Aiden stated at the same time in a duh tone. I was startled for a second at their sudden reaction. There I see Vincent choking on the glass of water he was drinking and Nick was controlling his laughs. Mr and Mrs Lorenzo were quite shocked and Hazel looked so pale as if she had a mini heart attack.
But my mom got the hint of a situation I guess, which of course I did not understand and she spoke "Ohh don't mind them Sienna they are just overprotective of their princess and seeing her here after a long time made them react that way. Please everyone continues with lunch."
I too gave them a wide smile along with a nod and looked at Aiden staring at Vincent as if ready to kill him and Vincent had a tight-lipped stern face. By the looks, it felt like they were trying to communicate something. It was tough to decode their silent communication. I lightly shifted towards Aiden to lessen the tight atmosphere and tapped him on his shoulder softly but I guess he had other plans and he snapped at me so badly the entire table went silent.
"What? What is it, Cassandra? And no you are marrying Vincent or anybody for the time being. No more arguments and I hope I made it clear to everyone"
"Jeez god, what is wrong with you and stop yelling because even I know to yell and that definitely won't be good. Yeah by the way I am damm sure I am not marrying anyone as off now" I was literally yelling at him.
"Ohh god sorry Cassandra I just got a little bit... but never mind and I am sorry and just let's continue with lunch everyone and do forget about this" he said in a confused tone.
We continued our lunch in silence this time and a knife was enough to cut the tension in the air. I can see Vincent clear his throat and Nick offering him some water.
"thanks but no thanks I didn't want water but I have some announcement to make, I mean we have some announcement to make" he said with uneasiness.
"Ohh my god, bless these children, Lord please you have to show mercy on them" I guess Nick went mad he started to say such nonsense.
"what's wrong with you Nick?" Sienna questioned throwing a glare at him.
"Ohh nothing's wrong aunt, I guess your boy finally found love but it's not Cassandra but Aiden I guess. Forget guessing I surely know about it."
I literally started to chock on the meatball I just placed in my mouth. I started to cough loudly and was literally crying as I was unable to breathe. Aiden tensed next to me Mom got up from her place and gave me water but that did not help anything but rather worsened my case as I split water on my plate, due to heavy cough and I also dropped my glass on the floor, with water splashing all over the place.
I guess the meatball got stuck in my throat. I hear people talking to me but I am not unable to concentrate on anything. I can feel death is nearing me and that's because of some stupid ass meatball. My vision started to blur due to tears.
I felt someone pull me up from my chair and I could feel Dad rubbing my back to help me smoothen up. The person who pulled me up bent my head to face the ground and hit me on my neck very hard that I was touching the floor any second now. But I was caught by the very same person and was pulled up. And yes the meatball comes out.
I got to know the person was Vincent from the cologne he usually wears. He was placing a hand on my stomach and the other hand a bit below my collar. I was pressed to him, my back facing his front.
I closed my eyes and tried to control my breathing and after a minute I started to shuffle so he can let go of me, which he actually did and I felt the loss of his warmth. Aiden hugged me and questioned me if I was alright followed by others. I just nodded as I was feeling my throat to be too sore. I drink water which Dad offered me.
"Ohh Cassie I am so sorry" Aiden told me.
I was shocked was an utter statement. I have seen both Aiden and Vincent with a lot of girls and also heard about the rumours of how girls enjoy their night with them. I know it's gross but in school, it was an honour to have a night with the boys from the football team so everyone would barge about it. But now when I hear such statements I will seriously fall into a coma. I do not know if the girls lied or if these two turned out bisexual.
"what the hell do you even mean by sorry? Seriously you two are dating" I yelled at the top of my voice so that the entire Manson could hear me.
"what no no I told you sorry because I could not help you and I seriously don't even have an idea of what Vincent has to tell."
"ohh so sorry Cassie I shocked you and nearly killed you if not for Vincent but no worries I would have saved you with the help of YouTube. And yeah, Dad and Aunt I guess your boy does find interest in Aiden but for sure is smitten by women. Yeppppp I also feel bad that I am not getting a brother-in-law."
"you dumbass you might be happy with a brother-in-law but I do want a sister-in-law for sure. I literally doubted the girls who were spreading rumours of their night with these boys." I said with a huff.
"Ohh here I thought you were dying because Aiden took your place." He was smirking like an idiot he always is.
"Enough of this when I meant two of us I meant about myself and Hazel. And surely not Cassandra or Aiden" By the time Vincent completed his sentence, I was too lost and blinked my tears stinging eyes. For once I doubted Hazel and her diamond ring shining bright in her finger.
*****