Ria
She had finally managed to get her younger sister to open her bedroom door; the silly girl refused to open it till she threatened to bring Claude to break it down. When Tara flung open the door, Ria stepped back in shock. Her sister looked terrible. She must have been crying, for her eyes were swollen and her nose was red.
Tara tended to be too dramatic, thought Ria privately but her mother had gently reminded her that it was part of being an artist. Ria did not think so but she did not want to disagree with her mother.
“Being a teen had its ups and downs,’ mused Ria as she watched her sister flounce to the bed and throw herself down like a heroine in an old movie. There had been too much happening around her in her growing-up years for her to have the luxury of being too much of a drama queen herself. Mumma had been kidnapped, Pappa had been caught and kept prisoner by a mad woman and Mumma and Philippe had freed him with of course, help from Uncle Schwartz!
She sighed as she looked at her younger sister with her blonde locks bobbing about her head, the look of abject misery on her face making Ria smile inwardly. it was time to get to be the Big Sister with the broad shoulder to cry on.
Watching the emotions chasing across her younger sister’s face, she thought about the previous night True, Tara did not feel included when Dom and Lou were with her; they tended to talk boy stuff. As for Claude, he was definitely contrite for having been so boorish towards his kid sister earlier but Tara had frozen him off and refused to give him the time of day. She was a lonely little soul, and Cole had effectively wormed his way into her affections last night by playing the concerned big brother, thought Ria crossly.
She had been more than a little worried about the way Cole, that creep, had targeted Tara, sensing that she was the weak link among the Delano siblings. His devotion to her throughout dinner had sent off alarm bells ringing in Ria’s head. Now as she stared at her sister whose mass of blonde hair was an untidy mess, her grey-blue eyes drooping, Ria felt her gut tighten.
“Baby, what’s wrong?’ she cooed, reaching out to enfold her sister in her arms.
To her surprise, Tara stepped away and said in a stony voice,
“Go away. I was to be alone.’ Ria managed to put a placating smile on her face but she was churning with anger at Cole.
“No, baby, tell me. Are you unwell?’ She stepped closer and before Tara could move away, she touched her sibling’s forehead. The child’s body was hot and Ria felt her eyes widen in alarm.
“Baby sis, you are running a temperature!’ she gasped but Tara flinched and said on a half sob,
‘Like anyone cares around here.’
She turned away a bit. Ria entered the room fully and said, hiding her annoyance with her sister’s theatrics with difficulty,
“Why do you say that, sweetie?’
Stop trying to charm me! I hate you and I hate Pappa!’ Tara sank onto her bed, sobbing as though her heart would break.
Ria stared at her in astonishment; Where had that come from? Pappa?
She sat down cautiously beside her sister,
“Hey, munchkin,” she said, using the pet name their Mumma used for Tara,’ What’s up?’
“Pappa hit Cole!” screamed Tara, dropping her hands from her face, glaring at Ria,
‘I saw him! Last night! Poor Cole could barely walk…’
Ria stood up fiercely, her hands in tight fists,
“POOR COLE?’ She cried in anger and astonishment, ‘Poor COLE?’
*
Dr Shah was very explicit when he spoke to Lucien after examining Proserpina. He fixed the Boss with a glare as he said in his heavily accented English,
‘ Your wife needs to be relaxed and calm during her pregnancy.’
Lucien’s shoulders stiffened as she glared at the old man but this was one person who refused to be intimidated by the Mafia Don.
‘She has gone through a lot,’ he said,’ And her body is not as strong as it was; mentally also.’ he spoke in a blend of Indian English which was quaint.
Lucien frowned. He knew what the old man meant.
Following her kidnapping and subsequent imprisonment, the horrific experience of being put up for sale, publicly paraded, half naked, before a gaggle of greedy men, Proserpina had suffered a major breakdown.
She had almost been sold into the white slave trade by the men who hated Lucien.
Giving birth to triplets soon after that had only added to her plight. When Lucien had disappeared soon after, it had been Proserpina who had believed he was still alive and had come in search of him to East Europe.
Yes, she had constantly been suffering because of him, he thought, the familiar feeling of guilt coursing through him. And the revelation that Cole was his son, had not made things easier. He hated the fact that Britney and Cole had invaded his private space, his hallowed space, his home. And he wanted to murder Cole for laying his filthy hands on his innocent wife.
Now he nodded as the doctor went on,
‘…so you have to come, after all, you have never attended a single sonography.’
Lucien looked at the man blankly. What was the old geezer gabbing about?’
The doctor looked at his blank face and snapped,
“I was saying, tomorrow, I want to do a sonography on your wife; you need to be present.’
Lucien nodded. True, he had never been there for her during any of her former pregnancies, when she had been carrying his children. He wanted to make it up to her this time. The doctor nodded curtly and thrusting a prescription into his hand, the old man shuffled out. Philippe, who was waiting outside, immediately escorted the doctor out.
*
Cole
He lay on the bed, cursing his luck.
The sight of the delectable woman who was his step mother had made him react and now he was in the doghouse.
Britney was sitting at the table, her hands shaking as she dialled a familiar number.
‘Cole…blew it…’ she said timidly in response to the curt question asked by the person at the other end.
*
There was an ominous silence. Then Paval’s voice came,
“In the name of all the Saints…’
With that, Paval threw his phone with such force that it hit the wall and broke into pieces.
‘Get me Dusak!” he roared