Chapter 2

"It's my birthday, Caroline. You can't ditch your best friend on her birthday" Nadia reasoned with me.

"I'm not ditching you, Nadia. You know what they're like. They'll never allow me to go" I told her, apologetically.

Nadia opened her mouth to argue, then stopped. There was nothing to argue about. And Nadia of all people knew it best.

I wasn't allowed to even step out of the house without my dad's permission. No matter how much I wanted to be with my best friend on her special day, I can't. His guards would be dragging me back home the instant he finds out I was out partying with Nadia. And she knew it.

She was the only person I could open up to in all these years. We met three years back, at 'Mike's Coffee shop', the cafe at which we currently work. I had been working here for a year when she joined. We hit it off almost immediately.

I turned away from her when a customer stopped by the counter for his coffee order. I passed him his frappuccino, which was the last drink order of the day. When I turned back to Nadia, she was still staring at me with hopeful eyes.

"Do you want me to talk to them?" She asked with a very convincing smile.

Remembering how the only few times she had talked to them had ended into a very heated argument, I shook my head, "no Nadia, you're not going to fight them." I took off my apron as the last customer walked out of the cafe. Nadia did too.

"Someone has to. You can't be trapped with them forever," she said, angrily. Her anger was more 'for' me than 'with' me. Talking about my family would always affect her temper. She hated them. Maybe more than I did. That fact always made me happy. It was good to have at least one person who genuinely cared.

"But, I can't run," I forced a smile. Not that I have not tried.

8 years ago after that night when I had seen my mother for the last time, I had tried to escape. Every day after that incident, I had tried asking dad about her. He never answered. When I would keep nagging, he would hit me. When I ran away from his home the first time, he sent his guards to bring me back home. When I ran away the second time, he caught me and I was locked in my room for two days straight. The one time I tried to report him to a cop, he twisted the whole thing around and labelled me as a crazy child. It was then I realized, I can't really run away. He had money, which brought along a lot of power and influence. His connections were everywhere and there was no one I could go to. So, I stopped trying. Trying only made it worse. Not only for me but also for the people who helped me.

Nadia must have seen the hopelessness in my eyes because she quickly engulfed me in a hug. "I'm sorry I can't make it better" she whispered, tightening her grip around me.

"You make it better," I told her. Working at this cafe was the only time I felt at peace. It had taken a lot of begging for him to allow me to work outside his own company. In fact, Julia convinced him to let me take a job at the cafe. She didn't want me at her workplace in their office. My presence made her sick. And the feeling was mutual.

"Enough of me," I said, breaking the hug. "Go away now. You have a birthday to celebrate."

Mike, the cafe owner, came towards us from the kitchen. He gave Nadia a bag and wished her a happy birthday for the second time today. She peeked inside the bag. Her eyes twinkled seeing her favourite blueberry cheesecake in it. "Thank you, Mike," she beamed at him.

"Now if you ladies step out, it's closing time," he said gesturing with his hand towards the door.

"You're not going to the party?" I asked him. Our friends at the cafe were throwing a small party for Nadia at the nearest club. It wasn't going to be much, just a few drinks and random conversations but, it was more than enough. Though it was amusing to know the only person to not get totally hammered would be the birthday girl herself as she was allergic to alcohol.

"My daughter's school called a while ago, she caught the flu, I need to look after her. I already apologized to Nadia for missing it" he said and Nadia nodded her head to confirm his claim.

"You didn't have to apologize though," she said.

"I hope Lily gets better soon," I said as Nadia and I headed out of the cafe.

"You're going back to the jerk family?" She asked and I chuckled at the title used. 'Jerk' was her go-to word for every bad person on Earth.

"I have to pick up some jewellery for Lahaina and then yes, I'll be going back to the jerk family," I confirmed.

"Lahaina? I hate her," she twisted her lips in disgust. I know, Nadia. You hate all of them.

A few months after Dad first introduced me to Julia, he married her in a small ceremony at the nearest church. It was that day she introduced me to her daughter, Lahaina. Apparently, she had a daughter from her previous relationship too.

Even though I never liked Julia for replacing my mother, that day I was happy to meet Lahaina. I had always wanted a sibling and I was excited to get a sister. It took me a few days to realize she was no better than her mother. It took me another few days to realize that Dad and Julia didn't love each other. She married him as he was a good businessman who could take care of the funds she inherited from her father after his death, and he married her because the merger was going to increase his company's stocks exponentially.

"Enjoy your day!" I waved to Nadia as she got inside the cab. Pulling the car keys out of my purse, I made my way to the parking lot.

Julia had ordered me to pick the jewellery from the store for Lahaina. According to her, the shop was close to my cafe but in reality, it was much closer to Dad's office. She just didn't want to do it herself. Neither did her beloved daughter.

Saying I was treated like dirt in my own house wouldn't be an exaggeration. On the other hand, Lahaina was my dad's princess. I still could not figure out if he really loved her or if it was just because of her womanly charms that helped him get more business acquaintances.

As soon as I got inside the car, my phone started to ring. I sighed looking at the caller ID. It was Julia.

"Did you get the jewellery?" She demanded as soon as I answered it.

"Not yet. I'm on my way" I told her. Putting the keys in the ignition, I gave it a twist to start the car.

"As expected, you sloth. Can't you hurry up!" She snapped.

"I will if you just end this call" I countered.

One thing I have learned living with them is to never speak anything against them. Yet, there were times when it got hard to control my anger and irritation.

"Oh dear God, the girl is finally speaking. Come back here and we'll see what we could do about that" she threatened.

It wasn't her that I feared, it was dad. Usually, he ignored me. Even at the dinner table, all three of them would be conversing with each other ignoring my presence. Initially, it used to bother me but not now. The ignorance was fine with me. It was the attention that scared me. A single mistake or a wrong word in front of him could land me into deep trouble. I never understood why he hated me that much nor do I know why he hated mom.

The call ended. I kept the phone back in my bag and pressed the accelerator. The road was almost empty. It took me less than fifteen minutes to reach my destination.

The Parking was almost full. The only place left for me to park was between the other two cars. Parallel parking had never been my forte. Though, there was nothing else I could do. With slow, careful movements, I aligned my car to the empty space. With even more care, I steered in. Just a little bit more and...

I heard and felt the hood of my car hit the one before mine. I quickly turned down the ignition and hurried out of my car to assess the damage I caused. Please only be a minor bump, I prayed to myself.

My eyes went wide in shock seeing the car in front of me. It looked ridiculously expensive. Moving a bit closer, I realized it was a Bugatti. A freakin' Bugatti.

It was just minor damage, my prayers were technically answered, but I knew better than that. Even a small scratch on this car would cost a fortune. And what I did wasn't just a scratch. There were scratches, in plural, and a dent on the side. Not to forget the taillights that were slightly cracked as well. On close observation, it did not look like a minor damage at all.

"What the hell did you do to my car!" came an angry roar.

Holy Crap!