Laughter bloomed in my chest as I raised my left and right pinky fingers to each of them, "You are lucky to still have your pinkies, had you lost them in a mission, you wouldn't be able to get me to promise shite!" I beamed as they intertwined their little fingers with mine.
"Trou du cul," [arsehole], mami curse in French under her breath.
She's not wrong, I am a an arsehole for hiding this for so long and only telling them one day before moving out of the country. But had I told them before, they would do everything to try making me stay. "I love you!" I said in English, my first language, and they both halted.
"Je t'aime plus," [I love you more], mami said softly in French.
"Ich liebe dich am meisten," [I love you most], papi added in his mother language German, in our lil tradition.
Sigh, "Make a room for us in your haunted house," mami snorted.
Giggling, I nodded, "I will. Mine will still be bigger though," with a wink, I knew I had finally gotten them to lower their guards and push their anger with me moving to Scotland, away.
"Tell us again how long you will stay in Edinburgh," papi asked.
"From three to five months. As soon as the reform and restoration are done, I'll tell you, then you come to Edinburgh, stay at my place in there, and go to Callander with me. Don't worry, I'll keep my promise and only move there after your… inspection. By then it'll be another place entirely after all I'm planning for it, and you will love it!"
Mami clicked her tongue stubbornly, "Tsk. Let me do one thing!"
I turned my eyes to hers, "Alright, what is it?"
"Leave the picking of the cybersecurity company with us!"
"Yes," papi agreed. "We'll feel safer like that."
"Of course," if it'll lessen up their worries, then it's fine with me. "You look that for me, it'll help a lot minimizing time, but make sure to get the best one. Then you pass the contact to me and I'll take care of it all."
"Good," both purred, but I could tell they are still unhappy with it.
"But please, find us a son-in-law," mami gave me a judging glare. "Don't scare the boys away in your time in Edinburgh and when you drop by London, or in the lil village even. Give them a chance."
I gasped embarrassed, "I don't scare them away."
"Yes, you do," they said instantly, at the same time, done with me.
"You always scare them away," mami gasped.
"You have a bad habit of being closed off, judging them at the first sight, being obnoxious, too intimidating, and that always scares the poor men away from you. Be a lil bit more agreeable, yeah?" Papi gave me that look that tells me he is being extremely serious. "You are 27 years old, Lea, and you will turn 28 in 8 months, in the next June 7th, that's the best age to get marry and have kids, which helps as you want kids and you're already settling down. But you hasn't even dated yet, it's absurd."
I held the urge to roll my eyes, "I'm not changing for any men, papi. If I have to act like I'm agreeable, it won't be me. The right won't will go after me no matter what, and I'll only be with someone who is worthy of me, considerably stronger than me, and rich on his own so he won't try to prey on me. He'll also have to be okay with my three different works, and be able to deal with my personality, my temper, and shortcomings. As well as be hot, good in bed," with a big cock, please, "taller than me with heels, intelligent, with at least two degrees, fluent in at least English, French, and German, and also exercise a lot."
Mami gasped in dismay, "Those only exist in books, Zalea Selene!"
"Elle!" Papi groaned offended. "I'm right here."
"You're my height when I'm with heels, Die Sau," [Bastard], mami mocked him in German, which made it an even bigger mockery. "Lea has something for really, really tall guys, she probably got that from Cat, though where Cat was 1.76m, Lea is just 1.67m," she burst out laughing, mocking me this time and I gasped. "Besides, it's the fact that you are my height if I use high heels is why I decided on marrying you. I like to be able to look at you at the height of my eyes."
Papi's pale skin turned strawberry red, "Elle," he pouted, his tone entirely different from how he had just called her, softer, lovelier.
"Ew," I stood up. "Ew, ew, ew. I'm still here, hello?"
"Why are you still here?" Mami snapped bluntly. "We are having a connection, hello?" She mimicked my last word, but with a French accent on the English word, making it cuter.
"Ew," I scowled. "I'm off. I'll be in my place packing. Go date."
"Oh, we will," papi whispered softly, turning to mami.
"And I'm still here," I scoffed, turning around and leaving mami's office where we had been meeting each other, closing the door on my way out. "How are they still this disgustingly lovey dovey?" I gasped in English. "They got married 22 years ago, come on. How are they in this lil eternal honeymoon?" I fully cringed. "It gives me the creeps."
"Lady Selene," their steward, Mr. Gervais Haillet, bowed to me.
He calls me Lady because my parents had a Count and Countess title in Scotland, and as their only daughter, I'm a Lady and technically a Countess in their place now that they died. It's a title they bought for £10.000.000 each, though, so we don't have a real county to take care, though you could say all the patrimony I inherited from them, give how huge it was, is our county. But it's cool, gives lots of privileges, and I have a 'Countess' added in the front of my name, in all of my documents.
But I'm not part of the actual nobility of the United Kingdom. So, no paparazzi and people eavesdropping on my life unethically. Which is the best, as I absolutely hate crowds, and well... people. I'm antisocial.
Not an introvert, I'm very extroverted, but antisocial regardless.
'The Countess' is also how I go by in MI6 and Interpol. It was my birth mom's codename, I just borrowed, it helps a lot, especially when she was of a high rank inside it. My birth dad's codename was 'Black Mamba', after the deadly snake, though, deadlier and not as classy, but catchy.
I'm 'The Countess' and 'Black Mamba's only daughter. They were legends in MI6, so people know I'm a legacy, but don't know who I am, as inside there, only the highest ranking agents know our names, everyone else talks through codenames. Our personal information is also protected by a system of cryptic cyber security, by the main team of hackers of MI6, and even more protected if one also has ties on Interpol like I do.
No ordinary person would ever be able to learn who I am.
Countess Zalea Selene Theriot Ackermann is an architect genius from old money, born in Edinburgh, Scotland, who bought a title for herself, whose parents are the CEO and CFO of the SCTC (Subercaseaux Chapelle Theriot Conglomérat), owners of Yves Saint Laurent, Prada, Armani, Dior, Valentino, Jimmy Choo, Versace, Lancôme, Céline, Puma, and Bvlgari. Which is mami and papi's work on the outside, mami being the Chief Executive Officer, and papi the Chief Financial Officer. The company mami inherited from her parents.
I'm not their sole heiress though, they have a son, my lil brother, Yves Kristofer Theriot Ackermann, 6 years younger than me, from June 9th, two days after me. He's 21 years old, went to Oxford at 16 for Business and graduated at 20, and is currently in Harvard for his 3-year-long MBA. He is a sweetheart, born in London, he always followed us when mami and papi moved around in my first degrees.
To my humiliation, he's dating Sera's younger sister, whose from the same year as him but from August 10th, Ebony Emmeline Blanchet, or just Mel for us close relatives, as she's like a lil sister to me, and they date since they were 15 years old, before they both got early accepted in Oxford, when she went for Law, and later they moved together to the US for their master degrees, which she's going for her LL.M. (Master in Laws) also in Harvard, but as it's an 1-year-long course, she'll go for 2-year-long MS (Master of Science) in Arts Administration in Boston University, which is less than an hour away from the city of Cambridge where Harvard is, since my bother's is 3 years long.
He'll inherit SCTC, and she'll be our corporate lawyer.
I have Yves Saint Laurent, Prada, and Bvlgari in my name; Armani, Dior, Céline, Jimmy Choo, Valentino, Versace, Puma, and Lancôme are on my brother's. Mami and papi made the will when I was 21, and they wanted me to also have Jimmy Choo and Versace, but I refused, because I already knew Yves would end up together with Mel and she's absolutely obsessed with both Versace and Jimmy Choo.
Besides, I also inherited Mercedes-Benz and Ferrero from my dad, as well as Givenchy, Brunello Cucinelli, and Loro Piana from my mom and that's a total of eight luxury brands in my name, the same amount as in my brother's. Though my brother will still administrate Saint Laurent, Prada, and Bvlgari for me, having 40% of the money from the three brands going to the SCTC bank account, and we made a deal that when he takes over as CEO, I'll pass the administration of the five brands I inherited from mom and dad to SCTC, I'll give him 20% of the money from them.
As of right now, my birth parents' friends take care of them for me. Uncle Logan Gallagher is the acting CEO of JLR and Ferrero, and aunt Maya Howard is the acting CEO of the three fashion brands, and I have the position of chairwoman. Then, when Yves take over SCTC, he'll be the new chairman for me, though everything will still be in my name, since it's an annoying work to me, even if it's a lesser one and I like fashion.
Well, counting that, I actually have four works.
Hah, take that Julius from Everybody Hates Chris.