Sakura managed to compose herself by the time they got to the dining room. She was relieved everyone was too busy chatting to notice her coming in behind Conrad. She tried to free her hand from his grasp, but he wouldn’t let her go. He led her to the far side of the dining table where James and Brenda were.
The rest of the brothers, who had already found out what had happened, noticed the handholding. Darcy tried to keep his face composed, but it was hard. Sebastian scowled.
Lauren, who was busy chatting away with Richard, Mary, and Peter, rushed over to Conrad the moment she had seen him. She made herself comfortable in the chair next to his.
“Hey,” she said excitedly. “How’s your day been, Conrad?”
Conrad managed to give her a smile. “Hey, yeah. Good.”
Lauren noticed Sakura and poked her head over and said, “Hey, Sakura.”
Sakura turned to Lauren and managed to give the girl a weak smile. “Hey, I’ll go and get your dress.”
“Don’t worry just yet, Sakura. We can take care of it after dinner.” That said, Lauren promptly turned back to Conrad and began chatting away animatedly, to which Conrad secretly groaned in despair.
Mary and Katherine, who were sitting on the other side of the table across from them, noticed the change in Sakura’s mood and appearance. They’d been her friends since they had been young and knew something wasn’t right. Though they didn’t say anything, they knew they had to find out what had happened.
Young Michael was once again sitting next to Nicolas, asking the man so many questions it caused Peter and Richard to laugh wholeheartedly.
“You’ve got yourself a dedicated fan, Nicolas,” Peter said.
“Yes, I think so too,” Nicolas replied, and Michael smiled up at him with delight.
When the maids brought in dinner, everyone ate and chatted, enjoying themselves. James, however, noticed Sakura was rather quiet. He also noticed Alaina and Tara were behaving oddly. They kept staring at Sakura as though they would like to hurt her. Protectiveness surged in his blood. He knew without a doubt something had happened. Of course he had known something like this would happen when they arrived. He had also thought, however, that they would have changed since they were now grown adults.
It was halfway through the meal when Sakura just gave in. She was just too tired and couldn’t pretend that nothing had happened earlier. She really needed to lie down. She leaned over to James and told him quietly she wasn’t feeling well. He nodded at her to leave. She smiled at him gratefully and then quietly got out of her chair and left the room. The brothers noticed. Darcy wanted to go after her, but it was Conrad who got there first. He announced that he was full, and after thanking Beth politely for the meal, he left the room, leaving Lauren in midsentence and staring after him in disappointment.
Conrad caught up with Sakura in the corridor.
“Sakura!” he called out.
She turned and gave him a weak smile. “Are you being my bodyguard or something?”
He chuckled. “Kind of.”
She cocked her head to one side. “Well, I’m fine. But since you’re here, mind doing me a favor?”
“Sure, anything,” he replied.
“Okay,” she said, leading him up the stairs.
Once they were in her bedroom, she gave him Lauren’s dress. “Can you return this to Lauren for me?”
Conrad stared at the dress. “Is that all?”
She laughed weakly. “What else do you expect?”
“I dunno,” he said. He was hoping she’d ask him to protect her by letting him stay in her room or something so they could spend time together.
“Thanks a ton,” she said. Conrad looked decidedly wounded.
“Don’t you look at me like that, young man.” She chuckled. “I promise I’ll be fine. Good night.”
Conrad nodded, and with the dress in his hands, reluctantly left the room.
Once she was alone, Sakura sighed. She eyed Toby, who was already sound asleep in his basket. She went to kneel beside him and petted him. “Good night, Toby,” she said and went to brush her teeth and change into her pajamas.
Tonight she slipped on her Victoria’s Secret cotton Mayfair sleep shirt of gray and white ribbon stripes and a cute pair of boxer shorts. Feeling nice and comfy, she switched off the central light, leaving only her bedside lamp, and then got into bed.
She lay there fully awake. It was quiet in her room, and in the distance she could hear the noises from downstairs. Lauren was pretty loud, probably talking animatedly to Conrad. Then there was the noise of Katherine, Mary, Peter, and Richard laughing and chatting away enthusiastically. Of course Alaina and Tara joined in the laughter, as if nothing had happened earlier at the pool. It was odd, however, that she didn’t hear any of the brothers joining in the conversations. She was pretty sure Tristan was always loud in this kind of affair. So were Logan and Conrad. This evening, however, they were awfully quiet, as though they were in mourning.
She didn’t know how long she lay there, listening to the humming of human conversations floating through the ceilings from downstairs. She certainly didn’t know when she had fallen asleep either, and when she did, she had a nightmare.
***
Thirteen Years Ago, Summer
“Snow,” nine-year-old Darcy said softly, his eyes on Sakura’s sleeping form, his finger gently touching her silky black tresses. He moved his fingers to gently caress her cheek, then stroked his fingers across the length of her lips. He grinned, feeling his heart beating faster and his pulse throbbing irregularly.
Rays of bright sunlight shone through the library’s windows, making her even more beautiful, just like a little angel. He hadn’t seen her in a year and now look at how grown up she’d become.
Ten-year-old Sakura opened her eyes, fluttering her long, dark lashes that so fascinated him. She adjusted to the brightness of the room, and once she saw him she smiled. It was a beautiful smile, and it caused Darcy’s heart to flutter with joy.
“Darce,” she said softly, sitting up. “You’re back from boarding school.”
“I am,” he whispered.
“Well? How was it? Did you like it? I haven’t seen you for so long. What?” she asked, noting that he was staring at her for a bit too long.
He grinned and held up a book. “Read this to me,” he said instead. “I missed you reading to me.”
She noted that the book was old. She smiled when she saw that it was Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.
“All right,” she replied, taking the book from him. In an instant, the book was snatched from her hand and thrown to the floor. Sakura looked up to see Alaina and Tara standing before them, glaring down at her.
Tara pulled Darcy away so hard that it caused him to fall back and land on his backside.
“Get away from her, Darcy!” she said. “She’s the devil’s daughter, don’t you remember? Or have you gone away for so long that you’ve forgotten?”
Alaina said, “Yeah, Darcy. She’s the devil’s daughter.”
“She’s not.” Darcy protested, frowning at the girls. He got up and glared at them. “Now leave us alone.”
“No! We won’t leave you alone,” Tara said. “Can’t you see? She’s here to take your mommy and daddy away. Didn’t you see how your daddy loves her? And your mommy too?”
“Don’t be stupid,” Darcy said, picking up the book.
Alaina snatched the book from him, then started ripping out the pages in anger.
“Alaina! Stop it. What are you doing?” he asked.
“I hate this book,” Alaina shouted, furiously ripping the book even faster, venting all of her anger and frustration. Once she was finished, she threw the torn book at Sakura, smacking her in the face.
Sakura was sore. She bit her lip and held back tears that began to well up in her eyes.
Darcy gritted his teeth. “Why did you do that?”
“Because I hate the book and I hate her.” Alaina pointed a finger at Sakura. “Please, Darcy, hate her. She’s here to steal Mom and Dad away from us. You have no idea what vile things she did when you were gone. Mom and Dad practically hate me now. She lied to Mom and Dad that I did things I didn’t do, Darcy. Please believe me. If you don’t believe me, ask Tara.”
“Please, Darcy,” Tara said, touching his arm. “She is evil. Just come with us. Don’t go near her.” She turned to Sakura and sneered. “God will never forgive you for what you’ve done, bitch.”
“Come on, Darcy,” Alaina said, pulling Darcy by the hand and leading him out the door. “You’ll see one day. She’s evil.”
Darcy looked over his shoulder at Sakura, who was now hiding her face by hugging herself into a small ball, her body shivering like a leaf in an angry storm.
As he walked farther away, the world around him faded and turned pitch black. A split second later, when he saw light again, he saw Sakura in a tree house.
“Go on,” Alaina said. “What ya waiting for? Get out of here. You don’t belong here. Daddy made this tree house just for us. Not you. Now get out!”
Sakura blinked back tears. “But Daddy James said I can play, too.”
“Daddy James?” Alaina shouted at her, smacking her fist against Sakura’s face, sending her against the wooden wall. “How dare you call our daddy Daddy James? He’s not your dad. He’s ours!” she screamed.
“Why don’t you just piss off and die?” Tara said to her. “Go jump off the tree house. Just kill yourself already. The world would be better off without you.”
Sakura blinked back tears and gently rubbed her sore cheek.
“Oh, God! You’re pathetic,” Alaina said.
“Why don’t we help her kill herself?” Tara suggested.
“Yeah, why not?” Alaina said. “Come on, witch. Go and hang yourself or something.” She grabbed Sakura by the collar of her shirt and pulled her forward.
“No, please don’t!” Sakura screamed. “Please don’t!”
They wouldn’t listen to her, however, and laughed as they dragged her to the door of the tree house. They tried to shove her out so she could fall backward down the tree, but Sakura was holding on with all her might, pulling back, fighting to stay inside the tree house.
As they were struggling, Tara noticed Darcy running across the length of the lawn toward the tree house, calling Alaina’s name. Obviously, he was looking for her.
“Darcy!” Tara screamed out at the top of her lungs. “Help us! Please! She’s trying to kill us!”
Alaina caught on instantly. She glanced over and saw her twin brother racing at full speed toward them. She smiled gleefully, adrenaline coursing through her veins. “Now he’ll find out just how evil this bitch is.” She chuckled to Tara.
Tara nodded, and on cue they both screamed at the top of their lungs, “Help us! Darcy! She’s trying to kill us!”
Darcy raced to them and stopped at the bottom of the huge tree, looking up. “Alaina!”
Tara chose that moment to take action. This is it, she thought. She let go of Sakura’s hand and shoved her back into the tree house, causing Sakura to tumble and hit against the wall.
Sakura fell and landed on her backside, confused that she hadn’t yet fallen off the tree house. Then she watched in horror as Tara grinned like a maniac and shoved Alaina out the door, letting her fall out of the tree house all the way down to the ground with a thud.
Tara smiled with satisfaction as she watched her little best friend fly down and land by Darcy’s feet. She couldn’t help feeling the excitement within her when she saw the surprise, the shock, and the fear on Alaina’s beautiful face.
Thud!
Alaina landed there on the grass, her body like a little doll, all broken and torn. Oh how it pleased Tara. It pleased her so damn much.
“Alaina!” Darcy screamed, his face white with horror as he picked up his unconscious sister in his arms. “Alaina!” he cried. “Please don’t die!”
Tara managed to compose herself from her excitement. She rushed down the tree house and pretended to cry her heart out. “Alaina! Alaina! It’s her. She’s trying to kill us. Can’t you see, Darcy? She’s the devil’s daughter. She’s here to kill all of us and take our mommy and daddy.”
Darcy, his heart suddenly torn with anger and hatred, let go of Alaina and climbed up the tree house. Once he was inside, he grabbed the shocked Sakura and shouted at her. “Why? I never believed them before, but now! Why? How could you? How could you?” Then, as if he were revolted by her, he shoved her from him.
Sakura landed against the wall. She hugged herself into a ball, rocking herself as she whimpered, “I didn’t do it. I didn’t. Please believe me. I didn’t.”