Chapter 8 So in love with her

• Kade
• I was in the lounge, along with my uncles, aunts and cousins as we waited for my father so we all could go on this hopeless train-wreck of a family vacation. What is he even thinking anyway? That this will turn out peaceful?
• Half of these people want his wealth and since I could remember he never let us speak with them. He never even let them enter any of our houses before so this was definitely strange to me, that was why I isolated myself and sat far away from them while drinking a glass of wine.
• Immediately Klyde entered the lounge, I heard loud laughter soon after. He was talking to our cousin - Nicholas and Bart Jr and they were so invested in whatever bullshit joke he was telling that I looked away in disgust at how dumb they were to think Klyde gave a damn about them.
• It was obvious something serious would go down today and Klyde was trying to get the favour of the rest of the family - like the desperate man he is. He didn't even like making cars so I couldn't understand why he was so desperate to head the company alone.
• This same thing happened with my father and Uncle Bart senior, but my uncle got outvoted by the rest of the family because he was "too softhearted" to carry on with the family business. In my opinion, Uncle Bart was not the loser the family try so desperately to portray him as. Instead he's a hero, he gave up everything to be a better dad to Nicholas and Bart Jr and that to me was a smart move - unlike our father that did everything to win his brother and dumped us with our mother.
• Seeing Klyde made another thought pop up in my head - Viola. I couldn't get her out of my mind all through the night. Immediately I got in my room last night I took a shower to clear my head but all I could think about was her. Why the hell would she return looking so goddamn beautiful?
• And what on Earth was the sexy red dress for? Did she go on a date with Klyde? Of course she did... She must've been so thrilled to be getting married to that swine.
• This morning however, I decided that I needed a distraction from Viola. She had no right to shred my heart in pieces and then return only to creep back in to the remains of my heart - absolutely none!
• " Look at my baby brother!!" I heard Elizabeth squeal as she ran towards me and hugged me tightly. She grinned from ear to ear as she looked at me but I could still see through her make up that she was stressed and this was probably the first time in a while that she's smiled this wide since she got married off to that bastard Duke of Vercixe, and I would be an absolute devil to let my usual melancholy get in the way of her happy mood by not acknowledging her.
• " Is that my little-big sister?!" I teased and lifted her from the ground so easily making her giggle. I found myself smiling too because she was the only one of us Harolds that I didn't hate - not even one bit.
• She arranged her hair and tried not to laugh as she scolded me. " Is that a way to treat a duchess?" She said, lifting her chin up in feigned ego and I pulled her to myself for an embrace and whispered in her ears, " in my opinion, duchess these days is another word for prisoner. I hope you're okay."
• " I am currently pregnant with his fourth child so... I guess I'm okay." She said touching her stomach. The bastard was so obsessed with a male child that he got my sister pregnant literally a month after giving birth.
• "What the hell is his problem?!" I exploded and everyone stared at me in surprise.
• " Oh, I see you found your way here Elizabeth!" Klyde said and Elizabeth glared at me.
• " Thanks to your temper he saw me!" She hissed at me before she turned around and beamed a fake smile at Klyde.
• " Don't waste your smile, I'm sure you still hate me." He said when he finally reached where I sat, isolated from the rest of them.
• " Wow, you're pregnant. James is definitely a man," he said and sat opposite me.
• " And this is why I despise you. A man kills your sister's fiance and manipulates his way to marrying her then he turns her into a male baby making machine and you call that being a man?" Elizabeth asked as she folded her hands and glared at my bird-brained brother.
• " It's your fault for not being faithful to your fiance and falling for a Duke. If you had shunned him, he wouldn't have been so desperate to have you. Poor guy was willing to do everything to get the woman he wants. So what if he wants a son? Give him one already." Klyde said and I could feel the blood in my body boiling - I swear I could.
• " How could you-"
• " Elizabeth, let's not talk to an imbecile today." I said and got up to leave but Klyde cracked up and that just pissed me off.
• " Don't bother. I'll leave you two, I've actually got a woman that I'm actually willing to do ANYTHING to get and she's waiting for me in my bedroom so bye losers." He said and left me and Elizabeth standing in awe at what he'd just said.
• " He's such a child!" Elizabeth said as she sat down and rubbed her protruding stomach gently.
• " Are you okay?" I asked noticing how stressed she seemed. She had told me that the doctor warned them against having another child because the chances of both her and the baby surviving will be lower than before.
• " I'm fine, don't worry about me. Instead, how are you? I know that Viola marrying Klyde must be so hard for you." She said as she arranged my hair for me and I smiled.
• " Don't do that Elizabeth. You're changing the subject. You said you couldn't have a fourth child, why would you keep the baby if it would mean you risking your life or the baby's? Doesn't he know about the danger of this?" I asked, holding her hands that I noticed were shaking.
• " He wouldn't listen Kade. He needs an heir and this is my last chance to give him one."
• " Yeah but this could also be your last few months on... Earth. Do you really want to have this baby but then in the end there's no one to take care of her?" I asked and she smiled wryly.
• " It's actually a boy this time. Besides, it's not like it's impossible that I could have this baby and still survive." She explained and I sighed.
• " You should've spoken up about him abusing you like this from the start. He's being selfish!"
• " It's okay Kade. I can do this, my nurse said as long as I have peace of mind at a sixty percent then I should be alright, it's all because I'm always so stressed living with James that child birth is so hard for me." She said and removed her hands from my grip.
• " This vacation is a ticking time bomb Elizabeth. You should go somewhere else with your friends or something." I said to her, she could tell from the look in my eyes that I was literally begging her but she was also stubborn just like Klyde and me.
• " I don't have friends. The only one I had is currently in an unfortunate situation of being married off to an idiot while the idiot's brother is in love with her." She said and tried to drink a glass of wine but I snatched it from her making her roll her eyes.
• " I hope you haven't been drinking?" I asked and she sighed.
• " I haven't but I'm starting to get tempted now."
• " See? It's this family! It's not good for you and secondly, I'm not in love with Viola." I said and she smiled.
• " You're still so cute when you deny your feelings for her." She said, getting up and I got up as well.
• " Please stop Elizabeth. I can drive you back to Vercixe and join the family later." I said and she just ignored me and went outside the mansion.
• " It's so...dull out here. Won't they repaint the building a different color? It's been white and teal for too long." She said and I grunted at her ignoring my plea.
• " Elizabeth?" I heard our father say and we both looked at him. He was getting very old now - almost ninety two years old but that didn't make me feel anything. He didn't even have a single black hair left on his head, but his green eyes were still so full of live. Fitting for a greedy man.
• " Father, good morning." She said and he smiled at her.
• " You're glowing" he said and I scoffed. Was he so blind that he couldn't see the pain she was passing through by marrying that lunatic
• " Something wrong boy?" He said in an irritated tone and I just ignored him.
• " Tell everyone to come out, it's time we left." He said to Tom and he quickly left.
• " You will soon learn to fear me Kade, but by then it might be too late." He said before he walked past me and got in his car.
• " What the hell does that mean Kade? Have you been disrespecting dad?" Elizabeth asked and I smirked.
• " Every chance I get." I said and she giggled. The rest of our family were already coming outside little by little and they were so loud and annoying.
• " I'm glad I have you around to get back at him for every-"
• I didn't hear the rest of what she said because I could hear Klyde yelling at someone from within the mansion.
• " Oh my God.." I heard a woman say and when I looked I saw Viola bending down as she seemingly tried to catch her breath.
• " You fuckin' bitch!" Klyde yelled again as he came out of the mansion dressed only in his boxer shorts and launched at her.
• " Don't touch me! I'm never having sex with you!" Our father said in a high pitched voice from his car and everyone who was outside stared at him and then they all burst out laughing - including him. What the hell was this? He's never pulled a silly prank like this before. I cringed at how he thought he was being funny. Wasn't it a little to late to try to be the dad that teases his children?
• " I believe that's what she's trying to tell you Klyde so go fix that bulge of yours and wait until you're married before you ravish her." He added when the laughter died out.
• " Miss Walden..." He said and the door to the car he was in opened so that he could she could see him properly.
• " Umm... Hi?" She said nervously and he smirked.
• " This is how it is in the Harold Family - we're all crazy! It's nice to meet you but we have a flight to catch." He said and the door shut itself while my cousins gushed at how cool father was.
• " Oh please...what's cool is the car." I said and held Elizabeth's hand as I walked her to my car and got her safely inside before I entered the driver's seat and prepared to drive out.
• " Are you seriously leaving her with your brother?" Elizabeth asked and I groaned.
• " For the love of - Elizabeth, I don't give a fuck about Viola!" I said for the thousandth time to her but she just sighed.
• " Too bad, you're so in love with her but you won't even admit it. If you could just let go of your ego I'm sure you could get her back." Elizabeth said.
• " I'd rather die than get back with Viola." I said, ignoring her gasps