𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 || 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐇𝐚𝐰𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞

Twelve

❥ 𝐈 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐀𝐓 𝐀 𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐒.

What was I supposed to do? Be like, "hey Dad! Missed ya after a.. 11 years! Thanks for trying to kill be by the way, I know you missed me too."

"Oh, let's not act so surprised now," Vincent said. "We all saw this coming from miles away." He grabbed my— Grant by the shoulder and shoved him into a chair.

Something wasn't right.

It didn't look like they were working together.

"You two aren't—"

Vincent laughed, cutting me off. "No, sweetie, we've never been. I don't know where you got that from." He eyed Grant with a harsh glare. "I was now finally able to track him down, after all these years."

Grant scoffed. "We haven't talked since she died."

She. My mother.

This was a little too much for me to handle. "I'm leaving."

Avery grabbed my arm before I could walk down the steps. "No, you aren't."

"She's right," Vincent pipped up. "The party's just started. Besides, don't you want to see your boyfriend again?"

Grayson.

The call of his name had me turning around immediately. "Where is he?"

Vincent smirked. "The poor thing. Had to hit him up a couple of times to shut up. So much blood." He knew what he was doing, trying to get a reaction out of me.

And it worked.

"Fine." I shrugged my arm away from Avery. "Let's do this."
—
❥

"The rules are simple," Vincent explained. "You each play two matches." Toby, Avery, Grant, Eve, and I were all sat around the table, listening to Vincent Blake list out the rules of this chess match.

This was fucking insane.

He explained what we would each get, and when it was my turn, something in his face gave.

"You look so much like her," he whispered.

"Don't go there," Grant warned.

"It was you who went there," Vincent snapped. "She never wanted your love, but that didn't stop you, did it?"

Avery and I both made eye contact at the same time. I wasn't a mind reader, but I knew they were talking about my mother. Was Vincent in love with her?

"Why are you here?" I said to Grant. My dad. Although he hadn't been present my entire life, that was what he was.

Anatomy.

He didn't look at me. "I had no choice, his men tracked me down." Grant glanced at Vincent, who had a smug smile plastered on his face.

"Oh, don't look so betrayed. You didn't try to kill your daughter If I remember correctly?"

"Enough," Toby cut in. "This is getting ridiculous. What the hell do you want with the girls?"

"I just find it strange." Vincent was ignoring Toby. "Toby cares so much for a girl that isn't even his blood, yet Grant couldn't care less about his own blood. He tried to kill her."

I wanted to fight him, tell him that wasn't true, but it was, wasn't it? I'd been fighting the truth this whole time, since the second I discovered Grant was my father.

He didn't love me. He saw me as a liability.

"Ah, there he is." Vincent turned his attention to the stairs, and when I fixed my gaze to where he was looking, I saw Grayson.

Bloody.

"Grayson," I said, panic filling my voice.

"Sit down," Vincent ordered.

He should know, I don't like to be told what to do. Not by anyone.

I stood up, pushed my chair out, and ran over to Grayson. I could already see one of Vincent's men coming after me, but I didn't care.

All I wanted to do was see him. Make sure he's okay.

"What happened to you?" I asked him.

"You shouldn't be here," Grayson said. "I was handling this on my own."

Typical Grayson. Cant even except that him here to see him. "Are you serious right now? It doesn't look like you're fine."

"You promised me—"

"Yeah, before I knew you were a psychopath!" I threw my hands up anger. "What the hell, Grayson?" This boy always found a way to test me.

The bodyguard took Grayson to the corner to sit in a chair, and I knew I was at a loss.

I was going to have to play this game. Or I would never be able to go home— to Hawthorne House. Everything was on the line.

But, maybe I wouldn't be able to make it back with Avery and Grayson, but at least they'd be able to make it out alive.
—
❥

a/n:

next chapter is THE chapter...