Ugly girl

Chapter 5

Three Years Ago

I sit at the long, twenty-seater dining table as my adoptive father, Lucien Valentine, stands at the head, toasting his business partners for another job well done. I have no idea what the job was or if it was even legal. I’m only fourteen, but I’m old enough to know that he’s a bad man. A very bad man.

I’ve tried listening in on the details of their deals before but I’ve never learned much. Lucien likes to use big, intimidating words that have no place in a child’s vocabulary. But what does it matter? I’m just a girl and girls aren’t privy to that information anyway. We’re here to be seen and not heard. My brother, on the other hand, he’s going to take over the family business one day. He’s their shining star while I’m probably going to be used for a deal or for breeding the next Valentine heir.

I hate it here. I always have. Blake and I don’t belong, but it’s not like we’ve got anywhere else to go. Blake doesn’t remember what happened. He was only three at the time, granted I was only four, but I was nearly five and I remember it like a movie that’s been playing on repeat since the day it happened. I remember their faces, their names, the way the kid begged not to do it. Blake wouldn’t remember the blood splattered on the wall or the way those strange men hauled us out of our home. Blake probably doesn’t even remember mom and dad. In fact, I’m pretty sure he considers Lucien and Maria our real parents and I don’t have the heart to break it to him. Maybe when we’re older.

We were stolen, or bought, or…I don’t know. But what I do know is that my parents, my real parents, were murdered in cold blood and a week later, we showed up here. That couldn’t be legal, right? Something shady must have gone down. No kids would ever be relocated to people like this especially when we most likely have more family back home…or maybe they didn’t want us.

Lucien’s loud, booming ‘cheers’ has my attention snapping back to the head of the table to where he holds his glass up, high above our heads. Every single one of our guests raise their glasses while Blake and I do the same.

I can’t help but notice Maria, our adoptive mother, beaming up at her husband from his side, as proud as punch. She’s just as bad as he is, in fact, probably worse because she turns a blind eye to all the bad he does and doesn’t do a damn thing about it, all while pretending to be a perfect mother.

Maria Valentine is all about the looks, what other school mothers think of her, what her hoity-toity country club friends think, what the next-door neighbor’s plumber thinks. She’s the worst, and so is all her plastic surgery. To her, everything has to be perfect and if something doesn’t fit in with her lifestyle, then it simply doesn’t exist.

I can’t wait for the day Lucien gets caught and she’s forced to admit to the world that things aren’t as she makes them seem. Geez, I can’t imagine how it’s going to go down when the world realizes we aren’t her real kids. That’s going to be an exciting day.

My glass is placed back down on the table and I concentrate solely on the five-course meal that I’m about to devour. There’s nothing worse than these business di

Two hours later, I lay on my stomach in the very center of my bed. My legs swing back and forth as I look down at my phone, chuckling as I read over my best friend’s text. Luce and I have been joined at the hip since the day I started school. She’s everything to me and I don’t see a day where that would ever change.

My hair hangs in wet ringlets over my shoulder, dampening my bed as my music plays softly in the background. A knock sounds at the door and I reluctantly look up from my phone to see one of our housekeepers peeking her head through the door. “Excuse me, Miss Skylah,” she says, bowing her head. “Your presence is requested in your father’s study.”

My jaw clenches. I hate it when they refer to him as my father. He’s not my father. I had one of those and he was brutally murdered in front of my eyes. I shake my head. “I’m in my pajamas, I can’t see him now.”

“Miss…,” she cringes. “I insist.”

I let out a sigh. In other words, she’d lose her job if she didn’t come through with his request and despite this request being all on me, she’s the one who’d suffer the consequences. I pull myself up off my bed and toss my phone down.

“Do you know what he wants?” I ask as she holds the door for me.

“I’m sorry, Miss. I do not.”

Of course. I don’t know why I’d ask such a stupid question.

Wanting to get this over and done with, I skip past her and throw myself down the stairs. I never got a chance to respond to Luce’s text and if I don’t respond within three seconds, she’s bound to send another, demanding an explanation. She’s going to make an incredible CEO, boss bitch one day.

I hurry through the big house while doing my best not to run. Maria will have a hissy-fit if I’m caught ru

I get to my father’s study and throw the door open only to find he’s not alone. There’s a man here, one of his business partners from di

“What are you wearing?” Lucien demands in distaste, standing from his expensive chesterfield couch as his eyes rake up and down my body with strange darkness that puts me on edge.

I glance down, unsure of why he sounds so put off. It’s not like he’s never seen me in my pajamas before. It’s cold out so I’ve got my winter pajamas on. I’m completely covered up and respectable. I don’t understand. “They’re my pajamas,” I explain. “I was just about to go to bed when you called for me.”

Lucien looks positively pissed off but when his business partner stands and looks over me, the anger seems to fade. The man walks forward, his eyes still sweeping over my body, taking in my face, my neck, my new curves and making me feel more uncomfortable than any fourteen-year-old girl should ever be made to feel. The man holds his hand out and I reluctantly take it, knowing Lucien would have something to say if I was to decline. “It’s a pleasure to officially meet you, Skylah,” the man says, hungrily.

I nod while glancing at Lucien in confusion. What’s going on here? “Um, thank you,” I say, trying to play the polite daughter role.

“Skylah, this is Marcus Mahony,” Lucien says as though that name should mean something to me. “Marcus and I have been in discussion about the future of our families and you’re lucky that he seems to have taken a liking to you.”

I shake my head, not understanding why dread is filling me as I release Marcus’s hand. He steps around me, circling me like I’m some kind of prey. “Umm…okay.”

Marcus steps into my back and places his hand at my shoulder. He trails it down my back and skims it over my ass, making me jump away. My eyes bug out of my head and I look to Lucien for some help. Why is this man touching me? That’s not okay. “She’s responsive,” Marcus comments, glancing up at Lucien who nods in agreement.