Chapter 1

#The_Funeral

_Vicky_

Three months earlier, I would’ve laughed in Michael Kane’s face. Three months earlier, my best friend was still alive.

The sky was gloomy and dark as expected. It had been raining nonstop for two days now and it wasn’t helping my mood either. Three days ago I lost the one pillar and anti-depressant that I had, my best friend Connie. She called that morning, several times, but I was too busy dealing with my own problems to attend to her. I was in the midst of a heated argument with my fiancé. I thought it could wait. I thought I could talk to Connie once I’d calmed down and solved my own problems, but I thought wrong. When I finally got to sit down and call her back in the afternoon, the phone was switched off. I was in the living room then, and as I tried several times to reach my best friend, the heartbreaking news came up on the news channel. Her accident, and her untimely death. No one knew what happened, or why she was speeding on a highway on a busy Monday. She crashed the car and her life ended, my best friend who was barely 25 lost her life.

If I had picked the call that morning, maybe, just maybe she would still be alive.

“Aunty… I’m hungry.”

Little Gracie tugged at the hem of my dress. I looked down at the two-year-old who was leaning against my legs with her hands holding my thighs for support. The rain was still pouring down and the place looked damp and wet. I especially hate weather like this.

I bent down and picked her up, holding her against my chest while trying to hold the umbrella at the same time, but it didn’t work. The umbrella slipped and fell on the wet grass and the rain drizzled on my hair. I tried to cover Gracie’s face so she wouldn’t get wet and at the same time pick up the umbrella, but it was impossible. I would have to drop Gracie in order to pick up the umbrella.

I groaned gently. The wind blew against my already dull and pale skin and I winced.

The pastor was taking too much time and wouldn’t round up the funeral in time.

As the wind blew past me in an alarming way, I caught a scent that smelled distinct. It was a cologne I had not smelt in years. My face tightened as the scent became stronger. ‘Please not him…’

I desperately prayed to God, but it seemed luck was not on my side. Soon a towering figure stepped beside me and bent gracefully to pick up the umbrella that was on the ground. He held it up against my head, shielding both Gracie and I from the rain I detested.

I groaned and bit my lips.

I glanced at him for a few seconds, my eyes moving back to the priest as swift and fast as possible.

“If it isn’t Michael Kane. Seems I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, otherwise I would not be standing next to you right now.”

I grimaced.

Mike chuckled softly, but his face remained cold and I could tell his frame had not changed. He is still the cold and arrogant beast I had grown to detest and hate so much.

Connie disliked Michael, but she didn’t hate him as much as I did. After all, he is her stepbrother.

The Kane family is known to be the biggest conglomerate family in the entire country, but somehow the youngest daughter is sidelined. Connie was born illegitimate. She was the product of Henry Kane, Michael’s father’s infidelity. Connie’s birth had caused a great turmoil for the Kane family and somehow it had destroyed the family. Connie’s mother didn’t want her child to suffer, so she fought until the child was accepted into the family. She just wanted to give the best for her child. She died of cancer years later. Michael hated his younger sister since childhood. Her arrival had made his mom suffer. She fought constantly with his father and had to be locked up in a mental hospital afterwards because she was starting to harm herself and those around her. Michael grew up cold. He inherited his father’s cold and arrogant demeanor and ordered everyone around like puppets.

Five years ago my sister Jane was dragged through the mud by her subordinates. She worked in one of Michael’s agencies as an actress. She was signed to his agency. She made some poor life decisions and dated a man who was secretly married to another woman. When the news came out, my sister’s image was destroyed. The stories turned. Everyone pointed fingers. The man pushed all the blame on her and said she seduced him knowing he was married, when in fact she did not know. He was a romance scammer and she fell for it. Everyone chewed on her, the press, the media, the keyboard warriors, everyone. Her once loyal fans turned on her. She lost all her roles, got all her sponsorships and endorsements cancelled, and was blacklisted in the industry. No one wanted to listen to her own side of the story. She was already the villain. Her agency, Michael’s company, didn’t even try to help her. They too abandoned her. They terminated her contract, said she breached it by creating such a huge scandal. My sister only had me. We were orphans.

That year we had called and called Michael, Connie and I. We called and tried to reach him, to ask for help, so he could intervene and help my sister Jane out, but he didn’t even pick our calls or return them. Our messages and emails were left unread.

My sister ended her life. The threats were becoming too much. People were now physically attacking her.

I hated Michael to the bones then and I still hate every ounce of his existence.

The same thing has happened to my best friend, the last pillar I had left. She has left me just like Jane did.

I didn’t know when a tear slipped out of my eyes.

I was crying, while holding Gracie in my hands, the man I hated most stood beside me, holding an umbrella over my head. Not offering any words to console me, not even an apology.

I didn’t notice that the priest had finished all the rites and everyone was already leaving. I was just lost.

“Here, use this.”

His cold and unapologetic voice cut across the cold air.

I looked at him. He was holding out a white handkerchief, offering it to me so I could use it.

My jaw muscles tightened.

“Go to hell, Mike.”

I snapped and walked away, holding little Gracie tight as if she would fall or slip out of my grasp.

***

As we sat directly opposite each other in Connie’s living room while her lawyer read out her will, my mind was cloudy and I felt as if I would drown any moment. His unbearable cologne filled the entire room, as if he is desperately trying so hard to tell me he owns the room, as if he is trying to leave a trail of his existence, reminding everyone of how insufferable he is.

I didn’t care about any property. I just wanted to get the little girl and get out of here.

I know my best friend would leave her daughter in my care. She knows I will love Gracie with all of me. She knows I will never let any harm come to the baby.

She can’t possibly leave the baby for the Kane family to take care of. They will ruin the girl’s future.

“Miss Smith?”

The lawyer called, snapping me back to reality.

“Ye…ss.”

I stuttered.

“Your best friend named you legal guardian of her daughter, Gracie.”

He informed me.

Relief washed all over my face.

Thank goodness. I can’t imagine any other person getting custody of the little girl my best friend and I raised. She is our baby. Gracie knew she had two mothers. It’s either mommy or aunty Vicky.

“And…”

The lawyer added, dragging out his words as if trying to leave us in suspense.

“And co-guardian, Michael Kane.”

He said.

I could hear the trumpets scream loud in my head. What the actual heck!

How could Connie even think of making me co-parent Gracie with this atrocious man?

What was my best friend thinking? I felt wronged and I was livid.

“Over my dead body!”

I yelled, banging my hands against the desk as I stood on my feet. I glared at Michael, my face burning red with anger. Michael just smiled. “Careful, we’re all out of those.”