Greyson

SAGE HAS LEFT THE BUILDING

And with Dorian.

Their Prom is today and I have given her permission to get ready at her Father's house in exchange for her taking one of my personal limos and having Walter drive it. Dorian will of course be in the Limo but what Sage doesn't know is that so will I.

Call me jealous, I just refuse him be the first to see her in that very expensive Prom dress with her makeup done by professionals. Andrew Emerson has hired several new people, a team, just to make her look more incredible than possible.

"So," Dorian breaks the silence. "she'll be excited to see you're taking her to the Prom."

I slide my eyes to him. "There's no need to be chummy with me, Dorian. I know what you're after, which makes you an enemy to me."

"I'm only an enemy if I had a shot." He admits.

My eyebrow arched. "Hm? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Greyson," He scoffs. "you're a billionaire who not only is part of one of the best families in the world but have the looks to go with it. I can't match that."

I frown. "Sage is not with me for any of those things, trust me, I've used them on a variety of accounts and they never win her over. She unfortunately prefers me."

"Maybe you're better than you give yourself credit." Dorian looks at me. "Nevertheless, I'm not going out without a fight, the moment you mess up-and you will. I'll be there with open arms to woo her."

I scoff.

The limo stops and I look outside to see we have arrived at Sage's house. I get out of the car first and soon after the front door opens and the lawn lights flash. And walking outside was none other than Sage...but frowning.

"I'm going, don't bother calling!" Sage shouts.

Storming down the walkway, she wore a bitter expression that didn't match the beautiful gown Emerson had bought and customized especially for her. It was a crimson colored gown that flowed down her body and hugged every curve-even the ones I didn't notice before. Obviously she was stunning but I had to figure out why my girl would be frowning.

"Get back here!" An unfamiliar voice yells from behind her.

"Sage!" Mr. Slade joins in.

At the doorway was a man-one who I don't recognize in the shadows. I noticed his scowl though and immediately my rage radar went to high.

"Greyson?" Sage looks up at me.

The radar increasingly declines when I see her face, a simple look, not to much makeup to mask her already beautiful face. Just enough to enhance her spectacular features like her eyes and kissable lips and high cheekbones.

"Sage!" The man calls. "We're not done talking!"

"Come on Greyson, I can't be here any longer-" Sage grabs my hand but is immediately cut off.

Stomping down towards us was the man and when I looked at him I immediately knew who he was.

"Is this the guy you're getting hitched too!?" He asks angrily. "The rich bastard?"

I raise my eyebrows and scoff. "Rich bastard?"

"Greyson, ignore him." Sage tugs me.

"It'd be a shame to ignore him," I look at the man. "since this is the first time I'm meeting my soon to be brother in law. Right, Gideon?"

Then without warning Gideon swings his arm and his fist smashes into my face. Expected, I cursed silently and straightened myself out. I wanted to hit him but I refuse to beat up any family member of Sage's, they're her family and I must respect them-to an extent at least.

"Gideon!" Sage shouts, worryingly.

"Don't you ever call me that!" Gideon shouts and Mr. Slade runs to his son and holds him back.

"Calm down, son!" Mr. Slade yells.

Sage places her hand on my cheek. "Oh my gosh, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I tell her. "just never expected our meeting to go this way."

"How'd you expect me to react!?" Gideon says furiously. "I'm not like my weakling father and gullible sister, I think what you're doing is jacked up! Taking advantage of her and marrying her for your wealth, go find someone else. Sage isn't for sale!"

"I told you I love him!" Sage snaps.

"No, he's deceitful, I've seen him with thousands of women on the news." Gideon protests. "He's a manwhore. He's tricking you like he's tricking them!"

"Greyson isn't like that-!" Sage defends but I raise a hand to stop her.

I clear my throat. "Sage, go to your prom."

"What?" She gasps.

I look at her. "Go, don't let this stupidity ruin this night, Dorian is in the car waiting."

"I can't leave you-"

"You have no choice, go, I'll deal with your brother."

"But..." She's hesitant.

"I'll be fine," I cup her face with my hands and pull her in to kiss her on the forehead. "go."

Sage looks at Gideon then at me, she hesitates but knows that this is a battle she won't win. So I open the door to the limo for her and have her put inside. Dorian gives me a confused look but doesn't ask anything, instead I give Sage a smile and close the door. Seconds later the driver drives away and I look to see she's looking at me through the back window with worry.

"I think we need to talk." I turn around and look at Gideon.

Gideon's jaw hardens.

"Come inside," Mr. Slade intervenes. "we need to talk about this, for Sage."

Without saying a word Gideon stomps back towards the house and I follow behind.

→←

Gideon left the house as soon as I stepped foot inside. All he walked back in for was a shirt-since all he was wearing was a tank-top.

"I'm so sorry for that." Mr. Slade places a bottle of beer on the table for me.

I stare at the bottle, the look at him. "I've never asked about him...but where has he been? And why does he have this grudge against me?"

"To answer your first question, I actually can't." His eyes drop. "He left years ago and never called, or sent a letter. He just left a note about him being alright and that he wouldn't be back for a long time. Then disappeared."

I stay quiet, thinking about what he could have done the past few years instead of being with his family?

"And to answer the second question, he still resents the rich because of what they did to his mother."

This peaks my interest, I know about Heather, but I've never looked into anything more than her death and life in the riches. Between the two have been a blank.

"You can't tell Sage," He says hesitantly. "I'm not even sure I should tell you. And I most definitely didn't want Gideon to know this but he found out."

"What is it?"

He clears his throat. "Heather's death..." He breathes in sharply, keeping himself composed. "was planned."

I stare at him with wide eyes.

"By Emerson-" He pauses. "Elena Emerson, her mother."

Elena Emerson, a name I haven't heard for quite sometime, she's been missing in action for a long time. I'm not even sure if she's still alive, though I would have had a hint since she's still married to Andrew and Andrew is my Father's closest friend.

She was a socialite to the core, wanting nothing less than perfection, nothing to damage the good name. However, she disappeared one day and the word about her whereabouts slowly died out, making her completely irrelevant at this point.

"It appeared that someone bumped into Heather and immediately recognized her as Elena's daughter. Heather wasn't happy about it, being known as the daughter of the Andrew Emerson a title she ran away from for a reason, but nonetheless she kept her composure and hoped it would die out." Mr. Slade sighs. "Soon there were people following her to figure out what the previous heiress was doing. Soon they found out that she had children and that it was with a low-class man...myself."

I watch his expression grow more painful.

"They knew news like this would spark any attention, but of course they wanted their bank account to rise with all the gossip that would come with it." He continues. "So they threatened Elena, to ruin her good name by talking about her daughter who went from riches to rags, they asked her money in exchange for their silence."

"So she paid them?" I ask.

"Yes," He breathes heavily and looks up. "but they got so money greedy that they wanted more. Elena obviously couldn't keep paying these people without Andrew noticing, and that was the hardest to do. Hide his only daughters embarrassing lifestyle from him. So the only way to stop all of this was one of two choices. Elena offered me money in exchange for her daughter back, she'd pay me for the rest of my life so that the kids and I lived comfortably."

"And choice number two?"

"Heather didn't want to have it...to leave us...so she defied her mother." He rubs his face. "And the only way to stop these threats about destroying the Emerson name...was to make sure there was nothing to get to do it." He clenches his eyes shut. "Elena was a...horrible women...we didn't even get to bury her...see where she's buried...I haven't seen my wife in about a decade"

I frown. "What?"

"The only way I knew my wife's death was because the news blasted it everywhere..." He purses his lips. "the kids didn't even get to say goodbye to their mother."

My stomach drops.

I had heard about Heather's death, for quite sometime in my earlier years. She was all over the news as the beloved daughter of Andrew and Elena Emerson. Come to think about it that's when Elena disappeared...everyone thought at first it was to heal after the loss of her only daughter. When in reality she was the one who killed her.

"How do you know it was Elena's doing? How...does Gideon?"

Before he could answer the door slams open and I hear a familiar stomping.

"What's he still doing here pops?" Gideon asks, frowning.

I look at him. "We need to talk."

"We have nothing to talk about, you're breaking off this marriage and leaving my little sister alone." Gideon argues.

"Son-"

"No pops, he's like the rest of those rich bastards. Sage is going to realize she's not cut out for that lifestyle like mom did and in exchange they're going to kill her off too." He says, bitterly.

"Gideon!" Mr. Slade scowls.

I stand up and face him. "Whatever intentions you think I have with Sage, they're wrong. I'm not holding her against her will, if she wanted to be free I assure you, I gave her every single chance to free herself from me. And sometimes I pushed her away for her to make sure this is what she really wanted and she came back. She fought for me."

"No matter what you say, even if you tell me you love her, I will not cave into the idea of my sister with scum like you."

"I don't love her." I inform him. "I'm not accustomed to it, I doubt I'll ever feel it, but I do no doubt want Sage. I want her to be happy. I want to provide her safety-which I must remind you you haven't done, your father and I got stabbed in this same kitchen. You weren't here for any of that, you're supposed to be the man of the house when your father isn't. Instead you left her alone and I took care of her, not because of some obligation but because I'd rather lose the ability to breathe than hear Sage died."

Gideon tenses up.

"I want what Sage wants, so if she doesn't want me around, I'll leave if it meant it's what she wanted. But unless that girl tells me herself that she wants that, I'll be around for a pretty long fucking time." I tell him. "And there's nothing you can do to stop me."

"I can if I try." Gideon threatens.

That's when I knew that this was going to be a waste of breathe, so I stood up. "Mr. Slade, good seeing you again. I must go, Sage must have someone to come back home to-."

Suddenly my phone starts ringing.

I look down to see David's name flash across the screen, I swear if he's calling me to tell me that Dorian has laid his hands on Sage...

"Hello-?" I answer.

"Sir, the school has been placed on lock down, apparently there's an intruder inside." David explains, but takes a deep breathe.

"So what's the problem? Take Sage home into safety!" I yell into the phone, both men's eyes were on me.

"Sir...I was given strict instructions to stay outside of the Prom because I wasn't allowed inside," He explains hesitantly. "No one is allowed in or out until their checked out."

"David." I frown. "What's the problem? Wait until she's checked then-"

"Everyone who was in the gymnasium has been checked out except three people." David informs me. "Sage...Dorian...and the intruder. The police are looking for them right now but so far nothing."

"Fuck!" I snap.

"There's more." He tells me.

"Spit it out!" I yell.

"The intruder has already attacked a teacher...five stabbings, he's being sent to the E.R. right now."

My blood turns to ice and I look at the two men.

Everything goes blank.