13 Chapter 13

Natalia POV

After my speech, I see Christopher staring at me as dad leads me to the first business partner I have to meet. I feel his eyes on me almost the whole time that dad leads me around to meet everyone officially. Dad has been my middle man the past four years as I slowly took over his duties as the owner. Decision making and deal making has been my job for a few years now. We decided to do it this way after Tucker was born so I could learn everything before I officially took over the position.

"How many more business partners are left?" I ask my dad after the twenty eighth person. Thankfully this isn't a long conversation type of situation and they are going by quick. I'm not bored or any, I'm just curious to how many there are left.

"Just one, but I'm not sure if you want to," dad says as he leads me away from the group I just met. I already know that he is talking about Christopher.

"We have your back, sis. We can come with you if you want," Grayson says in my earpiece.

Dad looks at me as he waits for an answer. "Do you have comms in too?" I ask him. He just simply nods his head as he waits patiently for my answer. "That's fine with me but no fights tonight boys."

"Yes ma'am," they all say before I see them head towards where Christopher is talking with Uncle Frank. As we make our way there, I see Emily, Aunt Mia, and Zane standing with him. Aunt Mia must have said something to make him look this way because my eyes collide with blue/green ones as we make our way to where they are. My bothers and mom join us as we are about 10 feet away from them. Emily sees us all coming as her eyes widen at the sight. She taps Zane on the shoulder and nods her head in our direction to make him look. Zane sees us and both of them take a step back like they are getting out of the kill zone.

"Hello my dear! How is my favorite niece?" Aunt Mia asks as she steps forward to hug me.

I hug her back, "I am great, Aunt Mia. How is our new rising star fairing with the new lifestyle?"

"She is doing amazing. Gianna called me before we got here and checked in on how you were doing. My phone might be ringing here in a little bit because she was watching the broadcast," Aunt Mia said with a smile. Gianna and I met when she first got signed on with the company. I was introduced as a member of the marketing department so she found out about me along with everyone else tonight.

I laugh at the fact she must be freaking out and jumping in excitement right now. A ring sounds from Aunt Mia's clutch that has her looking at her phone. With a glance at me, she holds it up as Gianna's contact is showing on the screen. We share a laugh before dad speaks to Christopher.

"Christopher Lane, let me introduce you to my daughter, Natalia Anderson." The pettiness in his voice makes Emily hide the giggle that wanted to escape behind her hand.

I look at Christopher and hold out my hand, "It's nice to see you, Mr. Lane."

Christopher looks at my hand before he places his hand in mine. "It is nice to see you to, Miss Anderson." The feeling of his skin against mine makes a shiver run down my spine. I have dreamed of feeling his touch again many times.

A throat clears behind me and I come out of the trance I didn't know I fell in to. I pull my hand away as my brothers basically surround me with dad. Just as I am about to ask about Gianna's deal, Chelsea walks up and hugs Christopher's arm.

"Hello, Mr. Anderson. My name is Chelsea and I am Mr. Lanes assistant. It is a pleasure to meet you," she says to my dad before holding her hand out.

Dad looks at her hand and back at her before turning his vision to Christopher. "Why is a street walker here as your assistant, Mr. Lane?"

Christopher glances at Chelsea before he turns back to my dad. "Mr. Anderson, I am so sorry for her appearance tonight. I informed her of the dress code when we received the invitation. When she showed up looking like this, it was right before we were to head here. I am deeply sorry."

George appears from behind Christopher with Lora. He smiles at me with a wink before he looks at my father. "I can vouch for Mr. Lane on this matter. We were practically walking out of the door when she showed up like this. Unfortunately, we didn't have the time to spare for her to change. We would still be waiting."

"Excuse me but I'm right here," Chelsea states as she points at herself.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did you need something assistant?" Lora asks as she looks at Chelsea in amusement.

"I wasn't talking to insignificant people like you," Chelsea says to Lora in a sneer. It takes all I have not to punch her right now at the disrespectful way she is being.

"Is she always like this?" My dad asks George.

"Most of the time, Uncle Darius," George says as he smiles at my dad.

"Uncle?" Both Christopher and Chelsea ask at the same time.

"You heard correctly. George here is actually our cousin that is the son of our dads sister," Huxley states from my right. Everyone knows that Aunt Gracie has a son but you never really hear about him. She wanted to keep his life private until he went to college and started his own business. George wanted to make a name for himself without the knowledge that his mom was a famous designer.

"Speaking of relation to the Anderson's," Chelsea says as she turns to me. "How did you manage to con Mr. Anderson here to say that your his daughter?"

The music stops as everyone looks in our direction. I am starting to question the woman's intelligence because it is like she wasn't even present for the announcement but her body was here.

"Excuse me?" I ask her to give her a chance to change her course.

"I'm sorry, I forgot that you are uneducated. My question was, are you sleeping with Mr. Anderson to have him claim you as his daughter?" Chelsea asks like she is talking to a deaf person using her hands.

My family goes to jump forward before I stop them. Taking a step closer to this ignorant woman, I get a dangerous tone with my reply. "First, you are the uneducated one out of the two of us. I have over four degrees as well as running a company for the past four years. Second, your accusation is very disrespectful to not only my family but to everyone here. Thirdly, I earned my position from experience and obtaining the highest level degrees for the position. Not on my back like you. Lastly, were you not warned of the consequences you would have if you caused a scene tonight?"

Chelsea looks at me in fear but covers it with disgust. "That doesn't matter because he would never fire me. He even left you for me after we were sneaking around behind you pathetic back when you had the ring."

The crowd gasps at the new information that was just released by the idiot in from of me. "Yes, that may be true but I am not the one who looks bad in this situation. You are the one who messaged me constantly bragging about your little affair. So before you call anyone pathetic you need to go look in the mirror. If anyone is the pathetic one, it is the woman who decided to mess with a married man," I say with my face staying passive.

Chelsea goes to fire another insult when Lora speaks up. "I would think real hard about what you say next. Not only have you insulted the hosts of this event and their family, but you have also made your boss look bad in front of everyone here. I am not saying that he is innocent in all of this but he is in the middle of a deal that would benefit his company greatly," She says as she straightens her back.

Christopher finally decides that it is his time to step in on all of this. "I think that we need to settle this in private another time. Chelsea," he says as he turns to her. "Call a cab and go home. This will be discussed come Monday." Chelsea sends me a glare before she leaves the room. Christopher turns to me with pleading eyes.

"Go with the woman you chose over your family, Mr. Lane. I'm pretty sure that you both will have a good laugh about it again later as pillow talk," I tell Christopher before turning to my family. "I think that I am going to go as well. This has been enough excitement for one night."

Huxley steps forward and holds out his hand. "I will go with you. Tucker will want to know that you were a good girl tonight." Christopher gets a dark look on his face when Hux mentions Tucker.

My parents step towards me and gives me a hug. "We will see you in a little bit. We will wrap up here then head home. Can you wait for a few minute for the memorial slide show?" Mom asks as she places a hand on my cheek. Nodding my head, she motions for us to follow her on stage.

"May I have everyone's attention for a moment?" she says into the microphone. The crowd stops talking and turns to her. "As you all know, we lost a very important member in our family this year. My mother-in-law was the most amazing woman I had ever met and we all wish she was still here for this celebration tonight. As a memorial to her memory, we asked the employees of Anderson Records if they wanted to submit pictures of their departed love ones as well for a slideshow of remembrance. Please direct your attention to the screen at this time for the memorial slideshow."

The screen lights up as pictures of my grandmother appears to the most beautiful song I had ever heard. As the slide show progresses, I feel my brothers move closer and Megan grab my hand. I was about to ask her if she was ok when a picture appears on the screen that almost makes me fall to my knees. The sonogram of my little girl with her name on at the bottom makes time stop for me as I feel the tears fill my eyes. My hand unconsciously goes to my left wrist where her name is forever engraved in my skin as a tear slips from my eye. A few more hands are placed on my shoulders as the last few pictures show before the screen goes black. Wiping my eyes without messing up my makeup, I straighten my back again as I see my parents walk to us again.

"Thank you for including her," I tell them as I try to hold back more tears that want to escape.

"She will always be with us. Now you all get going and we will meet up with you at the house," dad says as he leads mom over to some friends of theirs. Grayson and Jaxon look at Christopher then at me. Megan walks over and loops her arm through mine as a silent way of saying she is coming with me.

"We will come with you as well," Grayson states as Jaxon nods his head.

As a giant group, we make our way out of the room to the front door where our driver pulled up to let us get in. As I am about to get in, I stop at the sound of my name being shouted with the sound of someone jogging in our direction. I glance at Megan who stopped in mid slide to get in before I turn around to face him.

"What do you want Christopher?" I ask him as he comes to a stop a few feet from me.

"Can we talk?" He asks as his eyes shine with hope.

"I think you said enough. I get it now. I wasn't pretty enough or dressed like a stripper for you to have arm candy. You decided that I was just a gold-digging slut who was after your money. Now you want to talk after you find out who my parents are? No thanks," I tell him before turning around to get in the limo.

"I have been wanting to talk to you for a while now. Please give me a chance to explain," Christopher pleads. His eyes tell me that he is telling the truth but I am not sure if I want to give anything a chance to be twisted again.

"I will think about it. I must get going now," I say before getting in the limo before he could say more.

The whole ride home was quiet as everyone either looks at their phones or out of the window at the passing scenery. Tonight did not go how I thought it would. One thing I can say is that it felt good to see the shocked looks on their faces when I was announced as Darius Andersons oldest child.

The limo starts to slow down to turn into the driveway and stops. All of us look at each other because something is not right. The gate always opens for us so we don't ever have to stop due to our escort giving them a heads up. I turn to look out of the front when I see the gates shut tight and Draco getting out.

"Something is not right," I tell them as we all start to go to get out. The back door opens and Draco leans in with a serious look on his face.

"The guards have been knocked out and their keys are gone," he states before looking at me.

"Which keys?" I demand as I scoot towards the door. He only looks at me and that confirms my fears. The gate guards have a spare key to house that they keep with their copies of the stables. These keys are separate from their everyday keys because they seldom have to use them.

We all get out of the limo as Draco goes to the trunk. "Do you all still have your comms in from the party?" he asks as he pulls out gear for us to use. We all nod as he shuts the trunk. "Good. If whoever knocked them out is still inside, we need to let each other know. Be careful and make sure the house is secure."

I take the weapon that he pulled out that is mine. Without even waiting on the others, I start to scale the wall. My son is in the house and may be in danger. I dare any of them to try to stop me. My feet land with a quiet thud a second before five others are heard. As quiet as we can, we make our way to the house. When we get to the front door, Draco goes first to give the all clear before going to the security room. As we get to the door that leads to the monitor room, he walks out and says that there isn't anyone in the house that he saw.

"What about Tucker, Hendricks, and Zara?" I ask him. His statement that there isn't anyone in the house has me on edge.

"I did not see them on the cameras," Draco says with a solemn look.

I immediately run upstairs to the game room as I shout his name. Almost knocking the door off the hinges, I barrel into the room as my eyes dart around for any sign of him. There's nothing that I see that states he is here. Yanking open all the cabinets and doors, I search the room for my little boy. I open the door that leads to the pantry to find Zara on the floor in blood as she holds her side. Hendricks is laying next to her with a giant bump on his head.

"We need some help in here! Call an ambulance," I yell out as I drop down next to her and hold pressure on the wound.

At the feeling of my hands, she opens her eyes and starts to cry. "I am so sorry Natalia. I tried to stop them but one of them stabbed me. I am so sorry," She says weakly.

"You're going to be okay. We have help on the way. Where is Tucker?" I assure her as well as trying to find my four year old. What she says next throws my world in a spiral of chaos.

"They took him," she states before closing her eyes.