Chapter I: ALESSANDRO

If it's meant to happen, it'll happen, he remembered as he tried to make himself get off bed at 5 and a half in the morning. Never before in his life had it been so hard for him to start his day, but he dreaded today, he dreaded what today meant for him. He had just gotten back from the vacation he had had with his family and friends in Montecarlo two days before. Alessandro had always wanted to go there and for his twenty-seventh birthday, his father, Julius Archibald, had invited him and all his friends for a whole week. He had even set up an amazing birthday bash out on the beach and had sent out invitations before he had let Sandro, as his father liked to call him, know. "Isn’t it a bit too much?" he'd told his father when he found out about everything he had been arranging for him. "What are you talking about? If we don't do it, then who will?" Julius had replied with an arrogant tone. 

"It's true" Alessandro had shyly nodded. "Plus, not doing it would make Christine go ballistic." 

His mother didn't care as much about him as she did about what people from the club would be hush-hushing of if it even so happened that the Archibalds cancelled Alessandro's party. Christine had met Julius in Paris, in the hotel where she used to work in her early twenties. His mother’s family was a mystery to him. She didn't have much to begin with and she never talked about it and made sure Julius didn't either. Whenever Alessandro brought up his grandparents, Christine’s parents, she would shut him down with a cold glance and a chilling Don’t that he remembered every day.

It was around a quarter to six when he managed to get out of bed and walked into his bathroom. It is so cold, he thought as his bare feet touched the floor. He rarely walked barefoot as it made his feet hurt. I have never told anyone that, he reflected.

Just as he had made his way to the bathroom mirror, his cell phone rang. He wouldn’t normally run back out of the bathroom and pick it up, but he couldn’t help it this time. As he reached the phone and looked at the screen which read “Alex A”, a feeling of despair and panic attacked him. Oh god! She knows, he thought, terrified.

“Hello?” He answered making his voice sound sleepy, although not very convincinly.

“Sandro,” She said.

He’d always feared her calls, they only meant one thing; chaos. Alex had always been a troubled girl despite all her professional successes. She was an excellent businesswoman. Alex had founded her own branding company three years before and had relocated to Manhattan as she hated life in the Hamptons. Her company had grown so rapidly that she had to expand and partner with Joseph Hamm, a well-known business man in New York City. There was one problem with Alex though; she had a severe drug addiction that had caused her to be secluded in a rehab facility during her final teenage years. She claimed she had stopped doing drugs, but she sometimes texted him with messages he could not make anything of. This time the call was different; he knew it was chaos and he was expecting it.

“Is there anything wrong? We haven’t talked in so long, why would you call me so early in the morning?” He asked, trying to sound worried, but it wasn’t so hard for him to do as he was feeling nothing but complete dread about what he was about to hear.

“I’m sorry for waking you. I know we’re not in the best of terms, but mother just called me to tell me father’s been taken to the hospital. He stopped breathing,” her voice broke.

He could not make a word come out of his mouth; he didn’t know what to say. He needed to think carefully about each of the words he was about to say as he was not supposed to know a thing.

“Shit! Did she say what happened?” he screamed, sounding really upset, and the hell he was. “I don’t know what happened; I’m telling you what mother told me. I figured I’d be the first person she would call and she would be too upset to even think about calling you,” she sobbed heavily.

“Did she say what hospital he was being taken to?” Alessandro asked trying to keep his concerned tone. “They took him to the Southampton Hospital” she quickly replied. “I’ll get on my way, will I see you there?” Alessandro asked.

“I’m calling you from the car, I got on the car as soon as I found out. I’ll see you there, Sandro,” she told him before hanging up.

Once the call ended, his heart had stopped beating for a second as he realized the cat was out the bag. Mother knows, Alex knows, everyone probably already knows, he felt despair as he reflected. I told them it was not the way; they should have listened to me. He jumped into the shower and looked at his feet; they hurt. An overwhelming feeling of sadness and fear took over him, he started shaking, his body was involuntarily shaking so hard and often that he couldn’t make it stop. His eyes filled up with tears as he sat, brought his knees to his chest and put his arms around his legs, taking a fetal posture which made the shaking feel less prominent. It shouldn’t have gone so far, and I let it happen, his brain flashed once and once again.

After a few minutes, he noticed his body had stopped moving and he was able to breathe normally. He let go of his legs and stood up. I should probably hurry, I can’t take too long, he dreadfully thought. He looked at himself in the mirror before heading out of the bathroom; his dark green eyes looked tired. As he turned, he noticed he had a bite mark on his back. Why did he have to see it? He quickly made his way out of the bathroom and started getting dressed. I should wear something black, just in case, he thought as he was choosing the clothes he would wear. He went for a black shirt with grey buttons and collar, a pair of grey jeans and black leather shoes. He had always loved wearing black, but today it was imperative that he wore it.

What if he does not die? Even thinking about it made him sick. I should not be wishing for his death, I am his son after all, he reflected.

When he got into the car, he saw the tie on the passenger seat; it was dark green like his eyes, like his father’s. He started the engine with a swift turn; he seemed incredibly calm when he realized he hadn’t called them. They need to know it’s been discovered, I have to call them, and he panicked once again. He looked at his phone recent call history and tapped on his name, Daniel Turner.