The Dawn

Chapter 1

12 years later

Perth, Australia.

Ria's PoV

I yawned and lazily stretched my arms and legs. The blanket wrapped around my body felt warm and soft. I turned over to my side and rubbed my eyes open a bit to check the time.

The little pink clock on my dresser ticked to 8, accompanied by the morning sunshine pouring in through the window. I gave a disgruntled grunt and laid flat over my back.

Usually I'd be up and in a rush, sprinting towards my wardrobe and the bathroom, all the while putting on clothes, brushing my teeth and trying to shove a waffle down my throat. Then I'd put on my coat and slip on boots and be running through the streets to catch the bus to work.

But now all I could do was to reel in bed, because I got fired from work like a week ago. The company I used to work for, a travel agency, got caught helping some bad guys involved in human-traficking. And then the investigations started, with the CEO going into police custody and the employees getting fired.

Andrea, my sister, was really upset that I lost this job too. According to her, I couldn't retain a job for more than a month. Or for more than a "week", as she had put it. It was my fifth job in 3 months and it had been really hard to get recruited. And this time, it wasn't even my fault. I mean, all the other times sure, I was the one to blame for getting fired but not this time.

I shoved my flailing thoughts aside and dragged myself out of bed. Stumbling into the bathroom, I gave a silent gasp as I stared at my reflection in the mirror. My hair looked like a crows' nest and there was drool on my chin. I made a face and ran the faucet for a nice, warm bath.

After I was done with washing myself and brushing my teeth and putting on a fresh pair of black jeans and a baby pink sweatshirt, I walked over to the kitchen. My apartment wasn't exactly luxurious or spacious, but it was exactly what I wanted. The walls were painted a bright peach colour. The kitchen was open planned, while there were two bedrooms each having its own bathroom and a lounge with couches and stuff. A nice, cosy place for myself. I moved in here about 6 months ago, after being a third wheel between my sister and her husband at their house for over 4 years.

I fixed myself a good, healthy breakfast of eggs, milk and bread. I plopped on the kitchen stool and began to devour my breakfast like a hungry, mad woman.

The doorbell rang as I was dumping the dishes into the dishwasher. I quickly wiped my hands and I hurried over to the door. I peeked through the eye-hole and saw Devon Grant, my brother-in-law.

I quickly pulled out the chain and opened the door. He walked in, holding a brown bag full of groceries and fully dressed.

"Morning sleepy head!" He said, placing the bag on the kitchen counter-top. I shut the door behind him and c****d my head.

"Why are you here this early? And don't you have a job to go to?" I asked. Devon was a lawyer by profession and in addition to that, he was also the owner of his own lawfirm. He was not only my sisters' husband, but also our saviour from 12 years ago. For that, both of us are heavily indebted to him.

"What? Can't I visit my sweet, unemployed sister-in-law?" He feigned mock hurt.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "You know, I'd have bitten your head off by now but since you brought me all these nice groceries first thing in the morning, I think I'll spare you."

I moved forward and collected the items to put them away. Devon took a seat on one of the kitchen stools.

"Want to eat something? Did you have breakfast?" I asked, crouched infront of the fridge, shoving the tomatoes in place.

"Na,' he said, dismissing my offer with a wave of his hand, "Your sister gave me a pretty full breakfast before I left. I can still taste the honey syrup." He smiled.

"How are they doing? Andrea and Hailey?" Hailey is my niece and Devon and Andrea's 2 year old daughter. A really sweet little baby girl.

Devon laughed as he replied, "Amazing. Both of them. Hailey just learned the word 'foofie' after she watched Madagascar and now she calls everything 'foofie'."

I laughed. "Well tell her that her aunt will visit soon."

"Do you have another job interview today?" He asked.

I shook my head. "Nope. I failed the last one and no more calls came in for today," I sighed. "Looking for a job is hard. I've failed at least 4 interviews in the past 2 days."

"Well you don't have to worry about starving, I mean, I got you covered for that." Devon quipped.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I know Andrea made you buy all that stuff and drop it off here."

"Hey! She did not. I mean, she did mention it but I brought all this for you all on my own." He replied indignantly.

"Well in that case, thank you. But it isn't my fault I lost my job."

"This time, you mean." Devon added, raising both of his eyebrows.

"Oh come on! Even you admitted that getting fired from GMCS wasn't my fault." I grabbed the carton of orange juice from the fridge and took a direct swig.

"Sure. Gage was so wrong in firing you even if all you did was just to let loose about a dozen storage rats in his office." He sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"Hey. In my defence, the dude was a womaniser and treated his employees like dirt. Someone had to teach him a lesson." I laughed and added, "At least his cat Whiskers had a good time."

Devon looked at me incredulously. I winked at him. He shook his head and got up from the kitchen stool.

"Well we can't have you unemployed for long. You trained in management not for nothing. I'll try to find you a better job as soon as I can."

"No vacancies at your firm?" I inquired as I fiddled with the open mouth of the carton.

He shook his head. "Not right now. And I can't fire anyone just to make room for you. It would'nt be fair."

I sighed. "I know. I know."

"Don't worry. We'll figure this out. I better get going now. I am a busy person you see." He mockingly smiled at me.

I made a face at him. "Yeah yeah go away. I'm going out to meet Vienna anyway."

He gave me a mock salute with his hand and then left, swinging the front door shut behind him. I finished the remaining juice and then dropped the carton into the trash can.

Being unemployed can be horribly hard sometimes.

I walked over to my best friend, Vienna Summers' bakery, which was only a few blocks down my apartment building. A very down to earth and lovely girl, she ran her own bakery. Her parents died when she was young and since then, she's been living with her only guardian, her paternal grandmother. She had dark brown hair and her eyes were a pretty dark brownish colour.

I pushed the door open and walked in to find her behind the glass case, putting up her freshly baked batch of chocolate and strawberry muffins.

"Yayy! More free muffins for me!" I exclaimed excitedly, reaching for one.

She slapped my hand away. "Hey! These aren't for you. Get your paws off of them." She scolded.

I rubbed my hand that stung a bit. "Ouch. That hurt. So who exactly are these for then?" I inquired, slightly annoyed that she would'nt let me have one.

She placed the tray on the counter and turned to look at me excitedly. "Some people from a huge company, whose name I can't seem to remember, are having a small business meeting in my bakery! Their secretary booked yesterday. It's going to be about 5 people or so."

"What's so exciting about that V?" I asked her. I liked calling her that.

"Umm business meeting equals to hot men in suits. Where are you lost?" She asked me, untying her apron.

I smiled. "It's only you who could've thought that. But don't you think they could've had this meeting in a cafe or something? Why in a bakery?" I wondered out loud.

"Yeah I thought that too. But then again, who am I to kick away such a great opportunity?" She giggled in excitement.

"Stop. People might think you're 12 not 22." I told her. She gave me a wink before quickly hustling towards the kitchen.

"I better prepare the cookies. They might get here any moment now."

"Wait. So the meeting is right-" before I could finish my sentence, the door of the bakery swung open and walked in 4 men, all wearing black tuxedos and looking like Armani models. Too stunned by their beauty, the entire bakery began to look at them in awe. One of them stood out the most in them and I could easily classify him as the hottest.

He had brunette hair, perfectly styled. His eyes were a striking dark grey colour and he supported a jawline so sharp it could cut glass. His body was well built and he looked the strongest among the 4 men. He wore a dark grey suit and a neatly fixed grey tie over a black dress shirt. But even still I could practically see the six pack abs from beneath all the clothing.

I watched as the four of them gave the bakery a weird sort of look.

The door behind them opened and in stumbled a very clumsy looking girl. She wore a dark red professional suit and heels, her hair was up in a messy sort of bun. The poor thing looked extremely run-down, clearly from running errands. The brunette turned towards her and gave her an extremely annoyed look.

"May I talk to you for a bit outside?" He said in a thick, Australian accent. Even if his tone was enough to make a grown man cower in fear, I had to admit his voice was deep and husky.

The girl nodded weakly and pushed the door open, letting him out first and then following behind him.

V ran out from behind the counter and ushered the four men to a table. I trained my eyes out the window where I saw the brunette giving the poor girl a reason to be sorry for being alive. She looked like she was ready to drop dead at any moment while he just seemed to keep yelling at her. I felt a tang of anger. Why did he have to be so harsh on her? The girl looked like she was struggling to keep up with him anyway. And now he felt that it would be best to make her feel even more horrible. I shuddered.

Boy would I hate to be in her shoes.

V talked to the men and her charm began to work, as the guys' uncertain expressions turned to smiles. I admired her skills because she would always succeed in making her customers comfortable.

Riley, one of the waitresses, brought them hot beverages. The men thanked her and took their glasses. In the meantime, the door swung open again and brunette walked in followed by the clumsy looking girl.

After that, I kind of lost interest and plopped down on an empty table. I had brought my laptop with me to continue my job search. I opened it up and drowned myself in looking for a suitable job I could apply to with my qualifications.

An hour or two passed by. V continued serving her guests while I paid no attention to anything happening around the bakery. I was just about to click on a link advertising for a job vacancy at a hotel when suddenly I was interrupted by a huge yell.

"You uneducated fool! How can you forget to bring the file? I told you how important it was for today," Brunette, who had now gotten to his feet, was yelling at the girl. "You clumsy i***t! First you screwed up the reservations and now you forget the damn file! God you test my patience."

The other three men had already left the bakery. It was only this guy and who I assumed was his assistant, remained.

As he continued to belittle her infront of the entire bakery, I couldn't hold my anger in anymore. The girl looked on the edge of a full nervous break down.

"Hey!" I yelled, interrupting his tantrum. He broke his gaze away from her and looked at me.

My heart skipped a beat but I was too angry to focus on that. I got up from my seat and marched over to him. I heard V faintly call my name from behind, but I was too concerned about the stuck-up brat to listen to her.

"If you want to tell her that she made a mistake, it can be done in nicer way. Must you be a douche to her infront of everyone?" I angrily said. There must've been at least 15 people in the bakery at the moment, all of whom were watching us with there mouths hanging open.

"I believe I wasn't talking to you." He replied.

That only riled me up more.

"Of course you're not. But I was. And you better listen. You apologize to this girl for calling her all the mean things that you did and then take this," I gestured to him and her, "outside. No one here wants to hear it and certainly no one cares what went wrong."

My sarcastic speech seemed to tick him off and bring him to the peak of his anger. He glared at me menacingly.

"You listen here. I never asked for your opinion and I certainly don't care what you think. So you might as well mind your own beeswax before I lose my temper on you." He replied hotly.

"Oh yeah? I'll see what happens when you do lose your temper, just like you lost your brain!" I yelled. He angrily moved towards me and I too, moved forward to size him up.

Sensing the increased tension now, V and her workers quickly moved in to break the fight up. She pulled me behind as I continued to glare at him.

The brunette dude glared at the girl, who was still quietly standing off to the side, and at me, before storming out of the bakery. The girl quickly took some money out of her purse and dropped it onto the table, before scrambling after the guy.

I clenched my fist in anger. Boy do I know who I hate in this world more after the Wilson siblings.

The brunette here.