Chapter 3 — sullen past

11 years ago

The man was tall, firm and slim. His fine blue suit was patterned in midnight stripes, the same color as his blue eyes that shone through mine. His dark gray beard was cut perfectly to fit his mysterious demeanor—but the way his hair was slicked back in the way of a rich man that could afford his personal barber showed, he was definitely well known. I didn't know who the middle aged man could be—might be another donor, not that the orphanage had many of them.

Jasmine, the children's supervisor patted my head, before smiling back at him. "Her name is Isabella Flitz, her happy soul came to us when she was just three, dropped right off by a lady who had found her in front of the orphanage's porch."

The man grunts. "And her parents?"

"We tracked her mothers home, found out her mother was in the city but suddenly left, no one really knows why. I assume she had financial problems. We tried relocating her in New Jersey but she covered her tracks … I assume she wants nothing to do with Isa—but she left her a long silver chain necklace, I assume it's her way of making sure her daughter remembers her."

The man looks down on me, his eyes scanning my short frame. He bends down until we're face to face. "How old are you?"

"Six."

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

I look away in thought, before giggling to myself. "I want to be rich, and go to Paris and see the eiffel tower."

Jasmine looked at me stunned, but she was used to my random outbursts of joy.

I was surprised to see the man smirk to himself. "Would you do anything for that dream?"

I nod. "Anything!"

The man looked at Jasmine, he gave her a nod of approval, and Jasmine smiled brightly. "My name is Samuel Eclipse," he had told me. "But you can call me father."

"Wake up."

My eyes slowly opened, it unblurred until I saw Victor staring at me from the other side of the seat, his hand was near my cheek. When my eyes stumbled upon his fingers brushing my hair, he quickly tensed, snatching it away. "I was trying to wake you," he says.

It takes me a moment to register our surroundings. "How long was I asleep—wait, are we in New York?"

He shakes his head. "Sophia was feeling hungry, we're in front of Jover Lake's Restaurant, Sophia went to get us a reservation."

"Oh."

Victor goes back to his seat, checking his phone, not meeting my eye. I shuffle in the cushion, wiping the dried drool on the side of my mouth. Talk about embarrassing.

I look out the window, a big wooden mansion sits at the edge of a wide river, trees extend its horizon. "How many hours are we from the city?"

"About two."

I looked at the sky, still foggy from all the post-summer rain, but from the way the sun shined brightly in the east, hidden away from the clouds, I'd say it was the afternoon. "What time is it?" I asked.

"A quarter after two … Don't you have a phone?"

I shake my head. "Father never let me have one, I have a flip phone for calling and a laptop for schoolwork."

Victor looks at me stunned, as if it's the craziest thing he's ever heard. "Seriously?"

I frown. "Yeah, why does it matter?"

"Well … I don't know, I found it weird—but on a real note you need one, phones are important when you're in the city. Do you have a credit card at least?"

"I'm underage," I reminded him. "My mother froze my debit card." Luna had said that since I was going to be a part of the Vemoure family, then there would be no need for me to use the Eclipse Families account. I expected Louis to have given me a new card already, but both father and Louis never mentioned it in their meeting.

Victor ruffles his blonde hair. "Don't worry about it, I'll get you a phone."

"What? No you don't—"

"Sophia just texted, she said come inside."

Before I could say anymore he was already out of the car.

—

The inside of the restaurant was beautiful, it wasn't one of those opera houses with gigantic chandeliers where you sit down and feast while the entertainers sang, but it was peaceful, with its fireplace lit brightly at each corner, gigantic glass view of the lake, and calming piano music. Everything about the restaurant, set in the middle of nowhere, felt like a hidden paradise.

I picked at my mushrooms. I ordered a plain pasta with vegetables but I wasn't feeling very hungry, Sophia was the opposite, she had pleasantly eaten the rest of my pasta along with her steak and mashed potatoes. Victor had ordered a side of collard greens, he wasn't very hungry himself.

"Are you two on a diet," Sophia asked, sipping her martini.

"I ate my fill," I assured her.

"You have to eat more, or else you'll get lanky like that waiter standing over their, flirting with that uglyass guy near the bar—"

"So," I cut her off. "What else can you tell me about my fiance?" The more I knew about the man, the more prepared I could be for the next few months.

Sophia shrugs. "I can't give you too much info, he's sort of classified, even in the family. Like I said he's hardly ever home, I only see him a couple of times a year, once a month if he's in the city."

"Well, how old is he?"

"Nineteen."

"What!?"

I didn't understand why I was so shocked—heirs can be any age, I bet if he was five I would've still been married off to him. I must've assumed a gangster heir to his grandfather would at least be in his 30s or 40s, he's not even twenty years old.

"He's so young," I said. For some weird reason I felt a little more relaxed.

"All of the grandkids in the Vemoure family are under the age of twenty-five," Sophia says. "Hunter Vemoure, my elder brother, is 25, he runs operations in the city along with my father Silver."

"Operations? Is that like … gangster stuff?"

"Drug stuff," she said with a smile.

I forced a smile, suddenly feeling uneasy. "What about you two?"

"I'm twenty-two, and Victor's eighteen."

My eyes shot toward Victor who was drinking a glass of water. "You're eighteen? You look so … old—not like old old, but I thought you'd be … older."

"I tend to give off the impression," he said with a smirk.

"Doesn't that mean you finished high school a year ago?"

"I skipped two grades, and I started early when I was still living in Moscow. I graduated high school when I was 15."

My jaw was on the floor.

"Don't look too stunned," he says, crossing his legs. "It's not like it was hard."

I almost scoffed. And here I thought I was a star student.

"Why'd you become a gangster?" I asked, a little offended.

He didn't answer me, just stared at the glass in his hand. "I'd like to die with a bang in some alleyway after a huge shoot-out, and not as a depressed old wondering if an afterlife even exists."

"There's nothing wrong with dying old," I told him.

"But there's a lot of things wrong with dying with regrets. I won't have any."

He gets up, placing his glass down. "I need to use the restroom," he says, then walks away from us.

When he walks down the hall to where the kitchens are, I lean over to Sophia. "What's up with him? Why'd he choose to be a gangster, do you think he really wanted to?"

Sophia twirls her glass. "My father thought he had talent, Victor's always been good with a gun, a legendary sharpshooter in the underworld. The whole family has unique traits. I was good in combat, I was trained at a young age to fight deadly, but I didn't want to work in operations with my dad, so I got into business with my mom. My dad didn't care so much, he was more focused on my brother anyway."

"But … What makes him so different?"

Sophia shrugs, leaning into her chair. "He's always liked the thrill, although I think that might just be his way of coping. I don't expect you to get it, after all, I did tell you that our family was a tight knot, but in truth, he and his sister were always seen as outsiders."

I frown, intrigued. "Outcasts in the family?" Well that sounded familiar.

Sophia looked around. She looked paranoid, as if she shouldn't tell me more. But she went on. "Him and his sister Veronica were raised by their father, a retired Russian gangster named Georgie, who was once associated with a mob in Moscow that my grandfather, Louis and my father, Silver, were trying to destroy."

"Wait … so Victor isn't a true Vemoure?"

"That's the twist, I was young at the time but I remember Louis's rage pretty well. My aunt, Vivian Vemoure had left the family years ago. From what I know she didn't want anything to do with the family's dirty business and so she left when I was just an infant. Years later, when my father went to Russia and returned, twins were standing by his side—a blonde and a redhead, Victor and Veronica."

"So what happened?"

"Vivian was spying for the mob, she had a relationship with Georgie who was trading vehicle parts for the mob—for their meth lab. Georgie started off by helping Vivian with the in's and outs of Moscow, I guess … they got intimate and they had their twins. But after they were born, Vivian had left, the twins were left in the care of Georgie, who—when Louis and Silver had arrived in Russia, looking for blood—had been killed by my fathers gang. Victor and Veronica were taken to the US, under my fathers care. Vivian on the other hand, till this day is still missing."

I leaned back, trying to register everything. "Silver and Louis killed Victor's dad?"

Sophia placed her martini down. "Yes—but he was an enemy, he had conspired with a betrayer of the Vemoure Family. The moment he banged up Vivian, he dug his own grave. Loyalty means everything in our family."

"But … Victor, he stayed?"

"He didn't have a choice Isabella, it was either play the game or be killed. Victor is a gangster by blood, even me, we were born into this, and no matter how much he wants to escape deep down, the gun will always be in his hand, and he will shoot anyone who threatens his family, does that make sense?"

"No, it doesn't," I said. "None of it does." I stood up, causing Sophia to place her martini down and give me glare. I exchanged looks and started walking away from the table. What the hell is wrong with her? What the hell is wrong with Victor? And here I thought my family was fucked up. How could someone do such a thing to a child. And how could Sophia be so calm about it?

I was so busy in my thoughts that I bumped my head into someone's chest. I was surprised to see Victor looking at me confused. Victor pushed my shoulders back with a strong grip, he searched my face. "You ok?"

I didn't know what to say, what even was there to say? Clearly everything Sophia told me were sensitive things he wouldn't want to talk about—how could she even tell me in the first place? No matter how much they believe in loyalty, killing someone's parents is just cruel. To think Sophia would downgrade such an act makes her even more villainess, ruthless just like every single one of them.

I push Victor away and run to the restroom. When the door closes I slump down on the wall, trying hard not to think of my biological mothers last words. My head was pounding, and I was starting to remember my only memory of her voice. "The Devils Are Coming For You"

The devils already have me.