But there’s no warmth here. No soul. This house was built to impress, not to nurture.
It should be a place filled with Sunday laughter and cooked birthday cakes. A real family home. Instead, it echoes with silence and the ghosts of things never said. At least, for me.
Marlowe... well, Marlowe grew up under a very different roof, even if the address was the same.
I glance to the side of the room where the white vase used to sit. The one Marlowe smashed, and I stupidly took the blame. I thought it would be a punishment like the others, but I was very wrong. That was the day everything changed. That one vase gave me my first broken ribs and was the last day that I could play with my sister. I swallow the lump in my throat at the rotten memory and look to the woman in question. The evil bitch who I wish I could murder with my bare hands. Sure, my father is the one who hurt me physically, but it was all down to his wife’s requests and manipulations. At least we know where Marlowe gets her skills from.
“Don’t just stand there staring like a creep,” She sniggers from her chair at the right of my father. “Sit,” If I could snuff her out with my stare I would. I send that hate to her through my facial expression and I watch in satisfaction as her icy exterior flickers with fear for a second. It has been that way ever since that night three years ago. The night that both broke and made me.
Like the vase I was forced to clean up all those years ago, I too was broken beyond repair. Or so everyone thought. Instead, I embraced the art of kintsugi and just like I fixed the vase I hide in my room at the back of my wardrobe, I glued myself back together, flaws and all. If you were to look at my blackened soul, you would see the fissures of gold where I have patched myself up. It might not be perfect, but it is better than laying in crumbs, useless.
“For god’s sake Ruellasit down!”My father shouts from the head of the table. Unlike Delphine, I still obey his orders and I make my way to the furthest chair away from them both. I place my hands in my lap and sit up straight as to avoid any complaints about my nature. Delphine may be terrified of what I am capable of now, but Archibald Astor is a different story. Not much scares him. Not even murder. And no matter how strong I get, or how much I do to protect myself; my father still scares me. Every time I am in his presence, I feel like that terrified little girl again, the one that suffered too much all alone.
“Miss White seems to think there are no issues for moving forward with the plan,” My father starts.
“But I…” I try to disagree, but I am cut off with his hand in the air.
“She says you have shown no signs of another outburst in the past three years. That you are stable and can attend university as discussed,” He sits back in his chair and motions for the server behind him to fill his whisky glass. I stay quiet and watch as he knocks back the amber liquid, silently wishing he would choke to death on it as I track its pathway down his throat.
Archibald Astor is the head of the family, and sole heir of pharmaceutical legacy, Astor Medical. A legacy of doctors, chemists and a whole lot of money. A profit that was tripled under my father’s reign as CEO when he took the business to a new era. AstorRX.
What the public doesn’t know is that this new branch feeds directly into the wrong hands and lines my father’s pockets heavily. As the oldest child, I should be learning the ropes of the business, the legacy I would be taking over in a fair world, but as a child born from an affair, I am not allowed anywhere near it. My second name isn’t even listed as Astor on my birth certificate. Not that I am complaining, if I had a choice I would be long gone by now.
Father’s eyes lock with mine and a little vulnerability is glimmering behind them.
“You have to find out what happened Ruella. I need to know where my little girl is,” My heart breaks a little at the care he has for another, just not for me.
“No one at that fucking university will talk and there is no one on my payroll who can get in, that place contains the best of the best, the future leaders of the world, so it’s completely impenetrable from the outside. Even without the status of the students and faculty, I can’t force it out of them. I do business with half the students’ parents for Christ’s sake,” He scoffs as Delphine’s eyes fill with tears. “I even tried to get someone in as a lecturer, but there is no space for any more faculty members. The best way in is as a student. So,youwill attend Marrowton Academy and use whatever force necessary to find out where she is, people won’t even give you a second glance,”
I bite my tongue until it hurts.
“Someone must know something. I don’t believe the shit the head keeps telling me. She wouldn’t drop out and not tell us. She wouldn’t just leave,” He pauses to clear his throat. “There won’t be any fallback on the family as you won’t be connected to us, so be as ruthless as possible. You won’t be there to really study but I still expect you to pass enough examsto stay until the end of this. Understand?” His gaze hardens, and the monster is back.
“On one condition,” I surprise myself by saying.
My father sneers in disgust. “You are in no position to bargain,”
I shrug. “If I don’t do this, then you beat me as always. What’s new? But if you agree to my conditions then you could get everything you ever dreamed of?”
I watch as he grinds his teeth, his jaw tense as he thinks.
“What is your condition?”
My stomach tightens as I think I may finally get something for me.
“When I find out what happened. Dead or alive. I want out!”
“Out?”
“Out. Out of this house. This family. Out of this miserable fucking life. We will never see each other ever again,”
He chuckles and Delphine joins in as my cheeks redden with rage. Even in moments like this they ridicule me.
“Hell, to never see or hear from you again I will even throw in a little incentive now you have been cleared by the doctors,” He grins, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “If you find out what happened to Marlowe. You are out for good, and I will hand you a cheque to start off a new life far away from here,”
“Deal” I say quickly before he changes his mind. I stand knowing this discussion is over but before I leave, I point my finger towards my father as he sits like a king he thinks he is. “I want that in writing,”
He nods as he gestures for the server to refill his glass again.
