Chapter 2 I Need Your Help

• LYLAH
• He's my enemy, the bane of my existence, and the boy who tortured me from kindergarten to university. Everywhere I went, he followed, stealing my first position and every damned prize from me. At home, it was still the same. My mum loved him more than she loved me. He basked in all the attention he got from our parents until I couldn't have it anymore.
• After our parents died in an accident during my last year at university, I left home, completed my studies and started my business from scratch. I wanted to show the world I could do everything my stepbrother has ever done. Most importantly, I wanted to escape being regarded as his shadow and the second best.
• Following in my footsteps, he also established his business, first as my rival, before he joined the underground world. I knew all about that because I always kept tabs on him.
• Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
• I needed to know his movements so I could always be ahead of him, and it helped me. I succeeded five years alone, building up my empire until I got three bars in the city, all single-handedly opened by me. I didn't use a cent from my trust fund.
• I would have, though, but I couldn't. Kaelin had all the documents. I would have had to go home to ask for it, and that was one thing I vowed never to do until I had no choice.
• The second high-ranking mobster boss was after my life. He had proposed a collaboration with me, but I refused, and that was the beginning of my suffering.
• I got threat messages, and once, I was almost knocked down by a car. He didn't stop at that. This time, he had one of my bars shut down, and intends to do the same to the other two.
• I couldn't fight him legally. The men of the underworld ruled the city. There was so much a lady could do alone.
• I hated the gender inequality in this place and the way the wealthy always toyed with those under them. He knew I wouldn't win, and was letting me know the extent he would go, the extra mile he would walk just to get me out of business.
• At that moment, the only person who could help me was the same man I vowed never to have anything to do with. Kaelin. My step-brother.
• As the head of the Mobsters' association, or whatever the hell they called it, getting George to pull back wouldn't be difficult for him.
• However, going to him was something I didn't want to do, not after all the harsh words I said to him. He deserved them, though.
• It took getting another bar shut for me to seek him out. My hands shook as I drove to his villa. He still hadn't moved from the house we grew up together in. Though he had enough money to live in the best building in the city, he always went home to that old villa, which had seen over 5 centuries. It was his family's house, passed down from generation to generation. It was his inheritance, but that wasn't his reason for staying there. No one knew.
• He hadn't made it a secret how much he hated the place and couldn't wait to leave it someday.
• It came as a shock when I learned he was still living there, contradicting the words he always spoke as a kid. I couldn't understand why he stuck around and didn't care. Kaelin had always been a complicated human. Understanding him was something I had never achieved.
• I parked my car in front of his gate and got down, looking around the familiar place. I shook my head when memories of the past tried to resurface.
• Pushing them down, I continued towards the gate. I knocked on it, and a guard looked out before he opened the gate. He didn't ask who I was, which was a bit… Odd seeing I haven't been here since Kaelin took over.
• Ignoring him, I strode into the property and inhaled the sweet scent in the air. The flowers were in bloom. Kaelin must have kept my garden despite everything.
• I pushed back another memory as I walked up the stone path to the villa. The grey paint was already peeling, and the house looked like it might not last another decade, but Kaelin hadn't done anything to bring it back to its former glory.
• The property was still as it was when I left it. Nothing changed. It was as if I had gone back to the past, to the time when I still lived here.
• When I got to the front door, I knocked and let myself in when I didn't get any response. The house was eerily silent, and the dim lighting in the foyer didn't help at all. It made it seem like I was in a cheap horror flick.
• I couldn't see beyond what was in front of me, so I had to use the knowledge I had of it to make my way up the stairs and to the second floor.
• “Kaelin!” I called out, looking around the hallway. “Kaelin?”
• “In here.”
• The response came from his father's study. I hurried towards it and ripped the door open, stepping into a place I had only been thrice in my life.
• The room still smelled faintly of old papers and cigarettes. Just like the house, this place was untouched by time. Everything was in place, from the books lined on the shelves to the couch and coffee table. The only change was the man sitting behind the mahogany desk.
• Instead of his father, Kaelin sat in his place.
• “Stepsister,” he called out with a smile, getting to his feet. His blue eyes sparkled with amusement, and his lips lifted in a smirk.
• Kaelin still looked just like the bad boy he had always been, with his grey hair tied up in a man bun and a few strands fanning his devilishly handsome face.
• “What do I owe the honour of your visit?” He continued when I didn't say a word, walking around the table, to the front. He didn't close the distance between us. He just leaned on the table, folded his arms, and crossed his legs. The black jeans he wore tightened with his stance, the same with the black shirt, which looked like it might burst. “So?” He raised his brows. “Why are you here? I know you are not just here for a courtesy visit. That doesn't sound like you."
• I gulped, drew in a deep breath before I uttered the words I never thought I would say. Especially to him. “I need your help.”