The Girl They Forgot To Kill

Chapter 3

Alvin didn’t sit.

"You don’t get to sell me, Dad." His voice was low, but it cut through the dining room.

Richard didn’t move. He just sipped his wine. "It’s already done."

"Then undo it." Alvin stepped forward. "I’m not marrying her. I’m not marrying anyone you pick."

Bianca flinched at the word. Her hands tightened in her lap.

Richard set his glass down slowly. "Watch your tone. You walk out of here, the press still runs. You embarrass me, you embarrass the company. And her father."

"I don’t care." Alvin looked at Bianca for the first time. She wouldn’t meet his eyes. "You want a merger, do it yourself."

Richard stood. "Alvin."

Alvin was already turning. "Don’t."

"Alvin!" Richard slammed the table, glass rattled. "You leave this room, you’re defying me in front of her."

Alvin paused at the door. He didn’t look back. "Then consider me defiant."

The door shut hard behind him.

Richard stayed standing. He picked up his phone and made a call.

~ ~ ~

JUNE’S ROOM, 8:42PM.

The walls were thin as always, Outside, buses honked. She could hear people's voices, they sounded really happy. June laid on the mat, knees to her chest. '11:47pm'.

Three hours till she goes back to that place. She couldn’t stop thinking about the door clicking shut. About his coat in the puddle, about going back.

Her notebook was open on her stomach. With a cheap pen she was drawing the necklace, a spider, legs curled around a dark stone. She didn’t know why she remembered it so clearly.

Maybe because it was the thing that almost killed her.

The door creaked.

Her stepfather stumbled in. Tie gone, shirt untucked and smelled like beer and sweat. It was a disgusting sight.

"What are you drawing?" He snatched the notebook. Saw the spider, and tossed it on the floor. "Waste of time."

June sat up. "I was just.."

"Shut up." He sat on her mat, she shifted back. His hand came up and brushed her knee. "You think you’re too good now? Working for rich people?."

June pulled back. "Don’t."

His face changed. "Don’t what? Don’t touch what’s mine?."

"I said don’t." She pushed his hand away.

The slap came fast. Her head hit the wall, then the floor. Pain burst across her cheek, warmth trickled down. Blood.

He stood over her. "Never defy me again. You hear?."

June didn’t answer. She couldn’t.

He left the door open behind him.

She laid there, holding her face, staring at the spider drawing on the floor.

~ ~ ~

AT A BAR.

Loud music filled the air, people with their filled glasses and several gorgeous women.

Alvin was in a corner booth, tie loosened, third whiskey in front of him. He wasn’t here to be picked up.

A blonde in a red dress slid in across from him. "You look like you need company."

He didn’t look up. "I don’t."

Another one, laughing, touched his shoulder. "Come on. Smile for us."

Alvin finally raised his eyes. It was Cold. "Get your hands off me. And get lost before i say something you’ll cry about."

They left.

He drank anyway.

~ ~ ~

The rain didn’t cool him off.

Alvin shoved his hands in the pockets of his luxurious coat and cut across the parking lot like the puddles owed him money. Headlights flashed once.

His driver was already there, door open, umbrella angled wrong on purpose.

"Sir."

"Office."

No other instructions. The driver just pulled into traffic.

Alvin’s phone buzzed. Then again. Then three times in a row.

DAD; "Where are you. Bianca is still here."

DAD; "You humiliated us."

DAD; "Be home by tomorrow or i’m going to do something you don't like. You know what i'm capable of doing, son."

He didn’t answer. He let the screen go black.

Marriage. A contract his father had been drafting since Alvin was 20 and 'too reckless to take responsibly.'

He wasn’t reckless. He was just done being traded. Too bad his mum ran away, she was supposed to be his only hope at surviving without being bossed around by his father.

The car slid to a stop in front of HAWSON AIR. Empty at 10pm, except for security and the people who worked too late to have a life.

He didn’t go to his secret room. He sat in his office. He poured a drink, not because he needed it, because it was the only thing tonight that didn’t come with a signature line.

His phone lit up, it was an unknown number.

"You were right to walk out. Dinner tomorrow? No parents."

He stared at it for five seconds, then called.

She picked up on the second ring. "Alvin? I just thought.”

"Save it." His voice was ice. "If this is about marriage, tell your people i'm not interested.”

She paused. "I didn’t."

"Then don’t call me again unless it’s to tell your father the deal’s off."

He hung up before she could answer and dropped the phone on his desk.

Outside, the city was wet and lit up and none of it belonged to anyone but him. At least on paper.

He wasn’t interested in marriage.

But he was very interested in making his dad lose his mind. And if she got caught in the middle, that wasn’t his problem.

~ ~ ~

WHITMORE MANSION.

It was past 11, the house was too quiet. Bianca found her dad in the study with the lights off, just the desk lamp on, papers everywhere.

He looked up when she came in. "Couldn’t sleep?."

"Could you?." She sat on the arm of the chair across from him. He sighed and pushed a folder away. Red ink on every page.

"We’re out of options, the Bank called today. They're giving us just Three months to pay up our loan."

Bianca didn’t answer.

Her dad rubbed his eyes. "The Hawson's. If Alvin agrees to marry you, they’ll back us. Save the company, save the jobs."

She flinched. "You want me to."

"I don’t want this." He cut in, voice soft. "You know i don’t. I know what he’s like. Ruthless, i’d never ask if there was another way."

He reached over and squeezed her hand.

"But i need you to try. Talk to him. Get him to say yes, not for me. For your brother, for everyone who's depending on us."

Bianca stared at the floor. "And if he says no?"

"Then we lose everything."

He let go and leaned back. "Go to bed, baby girl."

She nodded and left, his words following her down the hall.

~ ~ ~

11;47PM

The building was quiet. Only security cameras and the hum of AC.

June pushed the door open with shaking hands. Her cheek was bruised, covered with powder that didn’t quite hide it.

The office was dark except for one lamp.

And Alvin.

He was on the leather couch, shirtless. A girl was on top of him, he was thrusting in and out of her like a mad dog and the girl kept moaning like an horny b***h.

Both of them stopped when the door clicked. The girl scrambled off, grabbing her dress.

"Out." Alvin said. No emotion.

She ran.

June’s hands flew to cover her eyes. Too late, she’d already seen him, his d**k, the whiskey on the table, the way his chest rose and fell. Most especially his huge b***r.

Alvin wore his pants and remained shirtless. He leaned back. "You can open your eyes. Or take a picture, it’ll last longer."

June dropped her hands. Her face burned. She looked at the floor and grabbed the mop.

Silence. Just the sound of water and his glass clinking.

"Why are you late?" He sounded drunk.

"I’m not. It’s 11:47."

"What happened to your face?."

June couldn't bring herself to answer. He stood, walked to the bar cart, poured another drink. "Talk, cleaner."

"I fell." She lied.

He watched her. "Clumsy."

She was wiping the desk when her elbow knocked the bottle of the previous wine he drank. It hasn't finished though. It hit the floor and shattered.

June froze. "I’m sorry, i..."

Alvin picked up part of the glass. Turned it in his fingers, then in one quick motion he dragged it across her cheek, right under the bruise her stepfather left.

Pain, it was sharp. Blood spilled.

"Accidents have consequences, cleaner." He said quietly. He dropped the glass. "Clean it up, including your blood."

June pressed her hand to her face so it'll stop bleeding. She didn’t cry, she just kept mopping.

Alvin sat back down and drank, watching her bleed. He smirked.