Punishment

Waving goodbye to Michael, Melina turned to open the front door, only to find Andrew was holding the door open for her already.

"Greetings miss Melina." Andrew said as Melina walked inside the house. "The master is looking for you."

"Oh…" Melina had a feeling it had something to do with today. However, Andrew's blank stare was giving nothing about why her father wanted to see her suddenly. "Is father in his office?"

"Yes." Andrew replied, closing the door behind Melina. "Shall we get going?"

"Yeah." Melina nodded, wanting to get whatever lay ahead done.

Andrew escorted Melina to the study, making her feel a little like she was going to the principal's office after behaving badly. As they got to the giant doors, Melina felt a wave of nervousness hit her.

Andrew knocked on the door and said, "Master, miss Melina is here."

"Come in." A voice replied from within the study.

Andrew opened the door for Melina and she stepped inside, Andrew closing the door behind her. Leaving her to whatever fate before her. She glanced at her father who was typing something on a black laptop, his face giving nothing away.

"Take a seat, Melina. We have some things to discuss." Her father said, not looking up from his work.

Melina quickly took a seat, placing her bag on the floor, besides her feet. She watched her father as he picked up a few documents, reading through them and making notes on them.

After what seemed like an eternity, he placed his fountain pen down and finally looked at Melina. "Can I ask how school was?"

Melina felt a pang of fear hit her as she glazed back at her father. She knew where this was going but felt a slight bit of relief that Alice had prepared for this earlier.

"Um…it was fine. We had training day and Alice and I had a little accident with my wings so we got sent home early." Melina replied, trying to restrict fidgeting with her hands.

"Ah yes. Ms. Grayson did call saying that you were being sent home early." Her father nodded. "You didn't hurt your wings, did you?"

"No, Alice just cut up her hand." Melina answered, thankful Alice's bribe had somehow worked.

When they had first gone to the reception office, Melina didn't believe that they would get away with it. But somehow Alice had gotten Ms Grayson to agree to sign the papers to let them off school earlier. She had no idea how Alice had done it and she kind of didn't want to what Alice had bribed Ms. Grayson with.

"That's good." James exclaimed before a small smile appeared on his face. "I see you're learning from the best, seeing as Alice got three people out of school with a hand injury."

"You know?!" Melina blurted out before immediately covering her mouth as she realized what she had just said.

James' smile widened slightly, a twinkle in his eyes. "Melina, your father is the head of a criminal family. A criminal family that deals with bribery and corruption. And seeing as I've been in the business for many years, I know a thing or two when it comes to lying and bribery."

Melina felt the fear come back, wondering what was going to happen. "I..I'm sorry."

Melina looked at her father nervously, waiting for the punishment to come but instead he burst into laughter.

"Oh Melina. I don't think you understand me." James laughed. "I'm not upset. In fact I'm proud to see that you're catching on and have a bad side. I was worried you would be too good, seeing as you grew up in the human world."

Melina stared at her father in confusion. He wasn't mad at her like a normal parent but instead happy to see that she had a bad side. Melina tried to process it, taking her a few minutes.

"You're not upset…" Melina murmured, finally finding her voice.

"No, I'm not." James said, suddenly getting serious again. "The world we live in is a dark place and ours is even darker, even with you not joining the family business. You are a good person because of your upbringing and it worries me that our world will hurt you because of that. However, it seems that you do have what it takes to survive this world. You just need to nurture it.

"Of course, I don't mean for you to behave like your brother Kai. I'm happy you can bribe people but you did ditch school so you're grounded for two weeks."

Melina opened her mouth to argue but closed it quickly. She had done some bad things and considering her father was letting her get away with a lesser punishment, she decided to just take it. Even if she didn't understand her father's moral compass with bribery being okay and ditching school not.

"Okay." Melina sighed.

"Good. Gabriel will be taking you to and from school and Michael will be making sure you don't skip school. Both have been briefed already and won't be accepting bribes so don't try." James said, picking up a document.

Melina felt herself get angry at the sound of Michael knowing what was going to happen. And he even had the nerve to walk her home without saying a single word about what waited for her. Michael was going to get a piece of her mind when she saw him tomorrow.

"Anyway, I didn't call you here just to discuss what happened at school today. I called you here to let you know that Jason and I will be going on a business trip for a few weeks. I'm having someone stay over because I don't trust you alone with Kai seeing as what you're capable of."

"Who is coming to stay with us?" Melina asked.

"It's my-" James started, a shout interrupting him.

"Where's my niece?!" A female voice shouted as the door of the study slammed opened.

"...sister and your aunt." James finished, sighing.

Melina stared at the woman who had barged in the study suddenly, a little shocked. James was one of the scariest people she had met, yet this small woman in a black, thigh-length, high heels and sunglasses had no fear.

She smiled, removing her glasses as she looked at Melina with her sharp black eyes, making Melina think that the woman looked like one of those rich aunts from soap operas. She walked inside, heading straight for Melina.

"Well if it isn't my little niece, all grown up." The woman exclaimed, pinching Melina's cheek lightly. "You look just like your late mother. May her soul rest in peace."

"Mena please…" James sighed, his face darkening a little at the mention of Melina's mother.

"Come on, James. You can't deny that she looks like her mother. Such a strong woman considering she was human." Mena said, taking a seat next to Melina. "Does the girl even know anything about her mother?"

"Mena…" James growled, a warning look on his face.

"Fine, I'll stop. But you need to talk to your daughter about her mother one day." Mena rolled her eyes before turning to Melina. "Anyway, mind telling me what this is about you being grounded."

"Mena, you weren't listening again." A voice replied. "James said it was because she ditched school."

Melina turned to see a ripped man with piercing emerald eyes and long black hair with green streaks leaning against the doorframe. He wore a t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, but that didn't hide what he was. A high elf.

Melina had never seen one that looked like a bodybuilder, but then again all of the high elves she had seen were her teachers and they were willowy, playing on the Fae stereotype she had seen in novels.

"Ditching school." Mena smirked. "Looks like you really are my niece. Doesn't she seem so, Robert?"

The elf nodded his head before he walked over to Mena, standing behind her and placing his hands on her shoulders.

"Mena…" James growled again.

"Calm down. I'm just playing around. Melina will face her punishment like a Rana. With pride and dignity."

"I should have asked Mullian instead." James sighed, looking like he had given up dealing with his sister.

"Well, you can't. He's busy and babysitting is going to add more stress to him." Mena said simply. "Plus Melina is going to need a Rana female around her. Who else is she going to have to talk about boys."

James glared at Mena, not needing to say a word about what he thought about Melina talking about boys. She noticed Mena smirked at James' reactions, figuring that her aunt was probably doing this to tease her father. It was quite weird watching, seeing how her father was a serious man who didn't express much.

Except when his sister said things, it seemed.

"Come on Mena, enough games." Robert said. "There is still much you need to discuss with James."

"That's true…" Mena paused for a second, getting serious suddenly. She looked at Melina before turning to James.

"Melina, do you mind leaving us for a few minutes?" James requested.

"Um…sure…" Melina replied, standing up, figuring that they were going to talk about mafia business. It was the only time her father seemed to not want her around.

It made her upset a little, but she also understood that James was trying to protect Melina in his own way, even if she did want to know what was going on.

Walking over to the door, Melina closed it behind her, walking back to her room, all the while curious about what was being said in the study.