CHAPTER 9

Tessa finally entered her room, inside the Wood family's main mansion, only family members and the elders in the family were allowed to stay here. 

She have no siblings so she have always been alone in the house, grandfather used to keep her company, but now he was gone. She doesn't have a good relationship with her father, he was always busy.

Jeremy was the son of one of the elders in the mansion, they grew up together in this lonely place. 

He was the obedient type, so he always got her in trouble, because she liked to explore off-limit areas, later she learned that he was being paid by her father to watch over her. 

No wonder her father knew all her secrets. 

Tessa took off her clothes and entered the bathroom, she was horrified when she realized what her family does for a living, she was traumatized for days, she knew she didn't belong here, and she would have to escape one day.

If only she had been more observant then. 

According to Jeremy, her family had never killed an innocent man, and they don't associate with illegal business. 

Her family offers protection and reasonable loans, they kill evildoers because of their nature in the business. The Wood family have many enemies, and it only got worse when her grandfather died, plus her disappearance. 

Her father lost a lot of money trying to find her, he fell for some enemies traps, and so the Wood family suffered a great loss. 

If she had been obedient then, she wouldn't have discovered her family business before the introduction time, she would have been part of it already. 

She was to be blamed for everything that had happened in this past three years, and she would fix them. She would make her grandfather and her father proud. 

She would lead the Wood family back to their initial height. 

Tessa switched on the shower, she came out after an hour inside, the maid had already brought the masquerade outfit to her living room. 

She was to pick one among the ten dresses, majority of the dresses were black, she didn't have a favorite color, but she felt black would be better for the occasion, and black was suggested on the invitation card. 

After a proper assessment of all the clothes, she decided to go for the blue Jade dress. 

It was eye-catching and very fitting, she didn't want the maid to make any adjustments to the dresses, time wasn't really on her side to begin with. 

Tessa watched herself in the mirror when she was done putting on the blue Jade sheath gown, which featured a bateau neck, with floral patterns. it was made of smooth fabric and decorated with black sequins. 

Her eyes were still on the black outfits, but after putting this on again, it felt like this was the right dress for her, she didn't want to look too cold, and mysterious, and she believed many people would be going for black, she would be standing out by putting on a different color. 

Tessa put on her facial mask, which only shielded her eyes and her nose, she was truly stunning. 

"Time to get the show running"

Tessa displayed a half smile. 

The black limo stopped close to Rose Berry Hotel, the hotel valet opened the door and helped Tessa out, Jeremy came out from the driver position, handed the limo key to the second valet, and walked to Tessa. 

He was put in charge to watch over Tessa. 

"I have received information that there are currently three kings of war in the party, they are putting on red military outfits"

Jeremy gently held Tessa's right hand as he escorted her inside the hotel, Tessa's eyes moved around the premises, she was expecting cameramen and perhaps some media house, but none of them were there. 

It seemed this party was kept a secret from the public, after all, the kings of war, and gods of war hadn't been revealed to the public yet, she heard that they would be announced very soon. 

As for the outfits, the men were to dress according to their ranks, what a showy party, the king of war was to be dressed in red military uniforms, and so on. 

The next rank after the King of war was the head commander, she heard many of them would be present, the next rank after the head commander was the commander. 

These were the three titles to look out for today, and maybe, a God of war would be present, they say a God of war would be putting on white.

Tessa didn't want a God of war to attend the party, if one came, he/she would steal the show completely. 

She heard that some of the head commanders and commanders were subordinate to some kings of war, and some kings of war were also subordinates to some of the gods of war. 

In other words, some of them were more influential than others. 

"I would take it from here"

Tessa freed her hand from Jeremy's gentle hold, she walked majestically into the building, entering the elevator that ascended to the upper floor. 

The elevator door opened and Tessa came out with a different expression, like a queen meeting her subjects for the first time. 

She came out from the elevator and got the attention of everyone chatting in the corridor that led to the party Hall. 

The chatting in the corridor stopped immediately Tessa came out, her dress got the attention of everybody, she was putting something different, something not even on the recommendation list. 

Tessa didn't glance at anybody's face, the main catch would never be standing in the corridor, they would be inside the party, in the middle of the party taking the spotlight. 

She reached the entrance door, finally, she raised her head to see that everybody was already chatting, and getting to know each other, different colors of military dressing could be seen, the green color for the head commander, the blue color for the commander, and the gray color for the mayors. 

Every single military person was crowded with women, but the most gathered people were the people in red. 

There were only four of them yet they carried more than half of the population. 

This was not a party at all, it was a show of rank, superiority, and power. 

She came late, but she would make her presence felt.