Lavister Hall

“Where is Bernard?”

I asked the maids that were busy dressing me up. This night was the most awaited one.

“He went out with your father.” One of the maids replied.

I just wanted to ask certain things about Lavister Hall. It's not like I trust him or anything. Tonight's whole plan is completely unknown to him.

There was dead silence in the room. The only sound I could hear was the ticking of the clock. My heart was beating at a fast rate. I started to have indolent thoughts again.

Calm, calm. Relax.

Suddenly the door opened.

“You are still changing?” It was Fina.

“I am almost done.”

She, disregarding any sense of moral obligation, burst into my room and sat on the sofa with her legs crossed. Dismissing the fact that I, the upcoming head, was still in the middle of changing while being surrounded by maids, she acted as if she owned this place.

I got what she was trying to do and I really appreciated that. She must have thought that I might not be doing good mentally with all this pressure, so she burst in to divert my attention.

“You are not going to change?”

“You don’t need to worry about me. There is still plenty of time for us.”

“Us?”

"Sophia and I were discussing what to wear. She seems pretty excited about this event."

“When did you two get closer?” I asked with a surprised expression.

"Just recently. Sophia took the initiative and started a conversion with me. We barely talked before that."

“That’s good to hear…I guess.”

That’s weird. Sophia suddenly approaching Fina? Don’t tell she was trying to get the information on father’s order.

It seemed like Fina understood my troubled expression.

"You need not worry." She said with a smile.

After maids were done dressing me up, we spent some more time talking in my room.

Someone knocked on the door.

"Looks like it's Sophia. Well then, Nicolo, see you at the hall." She went out as she waved her hand.

I could see my little sister standing outside with her head down.

"Geez."

Things could be really awkward with her at the ceremony.

I put my legs on the table and kept staring at the wall in front of me. I was going through the plan one more time.

Time passed by and the awaited moment arrived. I was accompanied by guards, butlers, and my brothers. A special red and black tuxedo suit was prepared for me and it fitted me just fine.

A white car was waiting for me outside. I sat on the back seat and we started to move. We were surrounded by a bunch of jeeps, filled with men holding weapons. Security was more tight than usual.

It took us 15 minutes to arrive.

Lavister Hall. I was staring at the front gate.

“Getting nervous?”

"Shut up, Riccardo.”

I was already feeling weird about having a protocol like this. I took a deep breath and start moving. The guards opened the doors for me. The bright light blinded me for a second. Even though I was blinded, I could hear soothing music playing. My vision started to come back and what I witnessed was a beautiful hall brimmed with the lights of the chandelier. A lot of familiar faces.

"Hey, Nicolo. You looking nice in that suit." Fina called me out.

"Thanks."

Fina was wearing a maroon masquerade gown, looking beautiful as always. Sophia was standing alongside her, wearing a similar dress. I tried to give an awkward smile but she turned her face away. I was expecting that.

I ignored her and went to greet our guests.

“Nicolo, my boy, look at you. You were just a kid the last time I saw you.” Mr. Salvatore spoke as his wife was standing and smiling.

"Hehe! What about you, uncle? You look healthy as usual."

"HAHAHA, you think so?"

I don't remember much about Mr. Salvatore; he owned a mill in Lower End so his worth was high enough to be in this ceremony.

Similarly, I greeted other nobles that were present in the hall and the ones that had just arrived. This was getting exhausting. At least this hall was chill with an air conditioner otherwise, I would have been dead by now.

I took a break and grabbed a glass of what seems to be Bloody Mary, a light alcoholic drink. Just then, someone put his hand on my shoulder. I turned around. It was Marsia and Valentino.

“Yo!”

The hall was so big that I didn’t even notice them.

"Where is Risa?"

"There." I turned my gaze in the direction pointed by Valentino.

"Oh, my darling Fina, it's been so long. I really missed you." I should have expected that.

Risa was hugging Fina tightly while my sister seemed to be really confused. She was not aware of the close friendship between Fina and Risa. Fina didn't even mind her over-the-top behavior in a place like this.

“How are things on your end?”

I whispered in Valentino’s ear.

“They will start things the moment your father begins the ceremony. Speaking of your father, where is he?”

“He went out with Bernard a while ago; he still hasn’t come back.”

"That's something to worry about. We need to be more cautious." Valentino spoke in a concerning tone.

He thought for a second and turned towards Marsia.

"Marsia, you come with me. Nicolo, we are taking our leave. We will handle things regarding your father, you just need to be on high alert. Inform us if you feel any disturbance. Trey is sitting in the right corner of the hall; just tell your concern to him."

“Understood.”

"See ya." Marsia slightly waved her hand and they both mixed with the crowd.

I leaned my back on the wall and took a sip of Bloody Mary. It was alright.

"You must be Nicolo's younger sister. What's your name?"

I saw Risa, after playing with Fina, now shifted her attention towards my sister.

“So…Soph….phia”

“Sophia! That’s a cute name. Come with me.”

Risa grabbed Sophia’s hand and went off on her own journey.

"She is acting a bit different today." I said as I stood beside her???.

"Of course. That's because of me."

"What do you mean?"

“Nicolo.” Fina said that in a surprisingly serious tone. “You should give more attention to her.”

"Huh?"

"Care to know how we got this close?"

“How?”

“About 2 weeks ago, I found her crying in the middle of the night at the top floor of the mansion.”

I was sweating.

"I think you know why. I don't intend to pry into your family matters but it just hurts me to see her cry like that. I am observing her for a long time and now, she always seems to be a very lonely person. Her brothers are mean to her. Her father doesn't care about her because she is a girl. She probably misses her mother a lot as well. No real friends either. It must be hard on a kid like her. I tried to approach her multiple times but it didn't work. That night, she was vulnerable that helped me get close to her."

"I slapped her that night. That must have been really heartbreaking especially from what you just told me."

"Definitely. That's why I asked Risa to spend time with her."

“Good call on that.”

"Stop mocking me. You should consider it more prominently."

"But Fina, did you think what would happen to her when you leave High End tonight? You leaving her like this will surely hurt her more."

"I did think about it. The only option is to come back for her after the takedown."

We were whispering at this point.

"That's the only option, I guess. We can't take her with us as it's way too dangerous."

"Obviously, not. I would rather leave her crying rather than taking with us."

There was still time sometime before the clock hits 12. Father still hasn't arrived yet. The music was rather nice so I was getting into the mood. I turned towards Fina and pulled my hand out.

"Care to dance with me?"

"Oh my! Quite a gentleman, aren't we?" She was chuckling. "With pleasure."

With that, she grabbed my hand and we started dancing in the center of the hall. All the eyes were focused on us as I was the main person in this ceremony and Fina was my fiancée. Both of us received some elite training so our dance was elegant enough to make others speechless.

Every other couple stopped dancing because of us as we danced through the center of the hall. I spotted my little sister, who was with Risa. It was kind of hard to tell but her facial expression told me that she was both happy and sad at the same time.

After making few more rounds, we stopped because we were exhausted at that point.

The entire hall was filled with applause. That went on for a while. After that, I, along with Fina, Sophia and Risa went to the next floor and sat on the balcony. It was getting a bit uncomfortable there with all those people and I needed some fresh air.

"That dance was quite something." Risa said excitedly.

“Of course, our dance training was hell, right Fina?”

"It still gives me chills thinking about that. But, at least, it was worth it."

Just then, a pebble came flying at us. We looked down, it was Trey.

"It seems like he is calling me. Fina, come with me for a second." With that, both Risa and Fina went out.

I was sitting alone with my sister on the balcony. Crap, this was getting awkward.

FINA!!! Why did you leave me in a situation like this?