🎲🎲🎲 More than a game 🎲🎲🎲
~~~ Beyond jilting ~~~
🌺🍀 Book thirty five 🍀🌺
💐 Jasmine’s standpoint 💐
I nervously tapped my foot on the floor as I waited for Hans’ girlfriend to come downstairs. I c@m£ to see her, I was worried about her. I baked some ice cream cookies for her, my way of comfort. Phoenix thought it was unnecessary, but I nee-ded to do it to ease my worry.
“Will you st©p fidgeting,” Phoenix sighed. “she’s not a monster you know, just a mourning girl.”
“I know, I’m just nervous, it’s not everyday I get to meet a powerful person…”
“Iris isn’t powerful, just a teenage girl who happens to be the soul heiress of someone powerful,” he said with an eye roll.
“You see her that way because you knew her before she bec@m£ that person, she is still a friend to you. But to me, I haven’t spoken to her in person once, but I know who she is. That means the way I see her is different, far different from the way ‘”you” see her. Plus, I’m worried about the way she has been fairing, has she been going to school?”
“The funny thing is that you are busy worrying for someone you don’t know when your result isn’t out,” yeah, I alre-ady took the test but my result was yet to be out. I wasn’t anxious, didn’t even care much. Only God knew why I was so worried about this Iris girl.
“Why worry about something that isn’t in my power to decide?” I asked, rolling my eyes at his amuse face. He smiled brighter, something creeping into his eyes, like admiration or something, don’t care. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Nice, you are just too nice. How did I end up meeting a girl like you?”
“Pub, you visited a pub,” I said jokingly. He chuckled lightly, shaking his head in amusement.
“Sorry I kept you waiting,” her slightly de-ep voice spoke calmly. I averted my eyes to the girl I was waiting for, the girl trending on the internet and newspaper. I didn’t know how it feels to be haunted by your insane father, and I certainly didn’t want to get there.
Iris walked into the living room with so much grace in her step, her feet moving across the marble floor like a feather being b!own by the wind. A little p@rt of her raven black hair fell down to her brea-sts while the rest stayed up in a ponytail. She had her phone in her hand, a hand decorated with charm br@celets and big black beads. Her other free hand dwelled in the pocket of her denim jean jumpsuit, a jumpsuit shorts with silver suspenders. She wore a gleaming white shi-t, one that matches her white flowery sli-ppers. Me meeting someone like her felt like a dream. Meeting Phoenix is still a dream. She actually looked much better than the way I saw her days ago.
“So, this is the girl that have finally put a leach on Phoenix,” she said tea-singly. Phoenix choked on his saliva, coughing violently.
Leach? What leach?
“Good afternoon ma’am,” I greeted with a smile.
“plea-se, don’t call me that, it’s Hilde,” she beamed back, plopping herself on the armchair. “How was the exam?”
“It was great!” I said with excitement. “it was actually quite simple thanks to Hans’ teaching,”
“Leave it to him to perfectlize everything,” I giggled at her made up word. Her smile placed me at ease, it’s a good thing she was getting better. “Phoenix told me you were worried about me, that’s really sweet of you. Thank you… Er…?”
“Jasmine, my name is Jasmine. I’m sorry if I told him to bring me here to bother you, I just couldn’t st©p worrying about you, couldn’t st©p thinking about your health. That day you really looked…”
“plea-se,” she raised her hand to silent me. “don’t remind me, thanks for caring though. As you can see, I’m better. Mom Bloom makes sure I eat,” she frowned as she said that and grumbled to herself. Phoenix bur-st into laughter at the face she was ma-king. “Don’t mock me, your mother wants to kill me with food, yesterday I couldn’t walk.” She lamented.
“At least she kills you with food while Hans kills you with…” Phoenix placed his fisted hand on hisl-ips and coughed dramatically, a pla-yful and teasing smile pla-ying on hisl-ips. Iris’ face went crimson. She reached for the small pillow beside her and threw it at him. I didn’t un-derstand what they were talking about, so I just stared on with amusement and confusion. Amusement at how they were pla-ying, and confusion at what he was talking about.
“As if you haven’t been treating this lady equally as nice,” Iris said huffily, though her face was still red. Phoenix laughed louder than he have been laughing, throwing himself back into the chair where he sat with me.
“You are a fool Iris, ever heard of FRI-ENDS,” he said, pronouncing the ‘friend’ slowly. Iris snorted and swung her hand dismissively.
“Oh pe-lease, as if a whole Phoenix Kendrick would be just “friends” with a girl as beautiful as someb©dy here,” Iris said as she made air quotation.
“Believe it or not, there’s nothing up between us. I have been more focus on my work and school. Aunt Ella is going to help me host my first show next month, all I nee-d do is provide the great designs and ideas. I don’t have time to be breaking the agreement contract I made with my father.”
“But you want to tell me that you don’t feel smitten by the lady, huh?” Iris tea-sed with a wiggle of her eyebrows. Phoenix chuckled, beaming brightly again. Iris laughed, nodding in a funny way. “She’s clueless,”
“Too clueless,” Phoenix agreed, “she’s so clueless she doesn’t even know what a d!¢k is. I guess she has spent all her life working that she didn’t have time to learn anything other than what her mind zone on. Iris, it’s cute and makes it feel like a fairytale novel.” They both looked at me.
“What?” I asked sheepishly, “did I do something wrong?”
“Yup, clueless,” they said simultaneously. I scratched my head nervously and stretched out the bag of food.
“I made you five types of ice cream cookies, do you want I…”
“Ice cream!!!” Someone skrie-ked from behind me. I screamed in fright, falling off the chair. Before I could blink, the bag had been kidnapped. Lee ran away with it, skrie-king with excitement.
“Men she’s fast!” I exclaimed, Phoenix was helping me up.
“There goes my ice cream,” Iris chuckled. I looked behind at Hailey who looked worried.
“Phoenix, did you pick up Dahlia from school?”
“When have I ever picked up that one? She hates me.”
“Then who did,” Hailey mused. Iris sat up properly.
“What happened?” She asked worriedly. “is everything okay?”
“Well no, not at all. Mom called and told me to go pick up Dahlia because something c@m£ up with her driver and you know dad is not in town for her to command. Hans had a shoot in Los Angeles, you know he isn’t here so Lee and I were to pick her up. But when we got there, the teacher said one of you alre-ady took Dahlia few minutes before we c@m£.”
“Have you tried calling her phone?” Iris was getting bothered, even I was. Something wasn’t right. Hailey ran her hand throu-gh her hair.
“If I haven’t tried, would I be here? I’ve called Mom, even called Theo and Fred but they don’t know about her whereab…”
“No,” Iris said as her eyes wi-de-ned, “no, no, no! plea-se don’t let it be what I’m… No!”
“Iris, st©p being paranoid, nothing has happened to my sister,” Phoenix snapped but I could tell he was worried too.
“Phili-p, what if Phil!ptook her?” Iris sobbe-d, “what if?”
“Not it!” Phoenix shouted angrily. Hailey was alre-ady on the phone, calling her mother. Iris dialed someone’s number as she ran back up the stairs. Once again, everything had been scattered.
⚡ Hans’ standpoint ⚡
I hurried to my car while trying to dial my dad’s number. Dahlia had been kidnapped but his phone wasn’t reachable. I was back in New York, hurrying to my car at the airport so I would get home. I knew Iris would be freaking out and blaming herself, mom trying her best to remain calm so everyone would remain calm. I also knew that her sisters were with her alre-ady, Aunt Bernice as even as ever and Aunt Leila doing the freaking out job for mom. Aunt Kristal would be there too, those friends are always there for each other so I wasn’t worried about anyb©dy else but Iris and Hailey. Lee knew how to remain calm in bad situations, but Hailey was a panicker. I just hoped they were okay.
I opened the door, flung the bag into the pas-s£nger seat and got in. I shut the door, abs£nt mindedly trying to put on my seatbelt, when I felt something cold on my head.
“Make any funny movement and I shoot your br@in off,” I froze instantly, “if you want your little sister alive, better cooperate with us and quietly drive. Do anything to get us caught and your sister gets a bullet to her little head. I’m sure you don’t want to end her dreams, right?” The de-ep voice wasn’t frightening, but my sister’s and my life was important. “Your phone?” I quic-kly pas-sed it over to him. “Let me rephrase that, your phones.”
“I only took this one with me, the other ones are back at my place,”
“Drive!” I started the car with a beating heart. Iris would coll@pse if I get kidnapped too, she’ll kill herself. “Yes sir, we alre-ady have him and he is a good boy. We have his phone, the message will be s£nt to her immediately we reach the point… Okay sir, we are on our way.”
Damn it! They want to lure Iris out!
💜 Iris’ standpoint 💜
My heart was thumping heavily, this is all my fault, I should have stayed home. I brou-ght that beast to this family, I dragged this bad luck to them and I should be the one to fix it. If I don’t leave, he will keep coming for them and that isn’t acceptable. I alre-ady called Violet, she would pick me up and take me away before anyone notice. I stood outside while everyone was inside worrying, Hans was on his way. I nee-ded to see him before I leave, he is the only one that would un-derstand.
“God, plea-se,” I prayed with hands clasped and eyes closed, “don’t let anything happen to Dahlia or any member of the Kendrick family, or they would never forgive me. plea-se, don’t let little innocent Dahlia get hurt.”
Ooh whoa oh, oh oh… My phone rang, my message tone. It brou-ght tears to my eyes because Dahlia recorded it for me. She has the habit of becoming someone’s alarm and ringtone. Anything about ringtone was her niche.
I brou-ght the phone out and checked the message. My eyes wi-de-ned, my mouth p@rting as my eyes swept throu-gh the words before me.
“You think you have seen anything? No, you haven’t. I have that little angel and your b©yfri£ndfor bonus. If you want them to remain alive, come to the location that would be forwarded to you and come alone. If anyone finds out, the girl dies first.”
I closed my eyes and mouth, myl-ips stretching into a smile. I was expecting this, I wasn’t that surprise. I however wasn’t expecting to add Hans to it. Time to fix everything. I walked back into the house, they were too distracted to notice when I took a car key and walked out. I took Hailey’s car and drove out carefully, tapping my f!ngerson the steering wheel. My phone rang again, I unlocked it and looked at the message, forwarded it to Violet and Knight because they were the only one who would handle it calmly. Lee was calm, but couldn’t keep her mouth shut. If anything should happen, they would know where I was.
After that, I switched my phone off.
🤪 Phili-p’s standpoint 🤪
Why do all I do? Money, power, fame, revenge. Growing up, I was made to think I belonged to the family, made to believe that I was a true son. Not until I found out the truth, found out that my father died because of Tobias Lloyd. My mother was a worker there, Hildegard’s personal maid. My father tried to use her to steal from them, got caught and in trying to protect himself, he sh0t Tobias’ cousin. It wasn’t his fault, he was poor and nee-ded money. He deserved to have it all, not some alre-ady rich people. That was when I knew that I deserve to own everything they have, knew that I had to make myself more powerful by going over my human limits. If it wasn’t for that girl, that stupid child of Allifair, I would have succeeded. No matter, I would succeed. Even if I can’t have the wealth, they won’t either.
Everything should belong to me, I want it all. I stared at the Kendrick boy with disdain, he is p@rt of my problem but I wasn’t going to t©uçh a hair on his head or that of his sister’s. I knew my limit and that limit was getting too involve with his family. His family was equally as powerful as The Lloyd and the boy in p@rticular was treasured property. Plus, he wasn’t that important.
He stared at me with equal hatred, holding his sister protectively. “You know if I want you dead, it’s easy.”
“Why don’t you just let her be? She has suffered enough,” I rolled my eyes. Indeed she have, but not enough.
“Do you want to know why I hate her?”
“I don’t think I care,” he scoffed.
“Iris is weak, she is too kind for my liking. As my daughter, my blood runs throu-gh her veins and she ought to have my cruelness like Violet do, but she doesn’t.”
“Iris is not your daughter,” he snapped.
“Really?” I said whimsically, “because the last time I checked, I was the one who got her mother pregnant.”
“You’re joking, right?” He asked with wi-de eyes.
“I’ve always loved Allifair, she was just too beautiful and lovable, but never liked me. She was in love with that demon, that know it all gentleman. So, when I got the opportunity, I sle-pt with her unconscious b©dy. Unfortunately, she got pregnant and thought my child belonged to her stupid fiance. I let it go, I was going to take back my child one way or the other. It turns out she had twins, and from day one, Iris had been an obstacle and still remain an obstacle. So you see, Violet and Iris are my children, bore to me by Allifair.” I smiled at the shock in his face, just the way Iris would be.
💜 Iris’ standpoint 💜
I stood at the door, tears running down my cheeks. I heard everything, the men that led me here brou-ght me in time. His hideout was a boat not too far away from boarding coast. The movement was so natural that no one would ever suspect. Even the cops won’t think about the sea. I wiped my tears and walked into the room, hands behind my back.
“I’m here father,” I said sardonically, “what do you want?” He averted his eyes to me, Dahlia and Hans too.
“You shouldn’t have come here,” Hans sighed. Dahlia was sobbing, she was scared.
“Knock them out…” My eyes wi-de-ned at Phili-p’s order, he was going to kill them!
“You said…”
“I’m not killing them, I know better than to do that. Put them to sleep and tie them…” Before he could finish, the guy standing behind Hans hit his head with the back of his gun. Hans slumped unconsciously, causing me to whimper and Dahlia to bur-st into tears. “That would work, now the child.”
“Don’t you dare hit her!” I skrie-ked angrily, “don’t you dare.” Phil!pmerely glanced at me, then the guy brou-ght out a syringe. There was nothing I could do but watch as she was injected to sleep.
“Now Iris, sit,” he commanded, kicking a chair to me. I obe-diently walked to the chair and sat down. I placed my hands between my th!ghs and stared blankly at him. “Do you know why you are here?”
“You want me to sign my inheritance to you,” she spat coldly.
“Wrong,” I smiled as iris’ eyes wi-de-ned, her head snapping to the door. Violet walked into the room with a sweet smile. “You are going to sign everything over to grandpappy’s rival.”
“V…V…V…”
“Yes, Violet, and yes, I’ve betrayed you.”
To be continued.