Chapter 93 THE FRENZY
SLOANE'S POINT OF VIEW.
Before I could even blink, they rushed towards us with their cameras and microphones, their gazes excited and eager for the next big scoop or juicy details.
“Sloane, did you know about this?” One asked, jutting his microphone to my lips, almost shoving it on my face. Before I could ever speak, Lucien rushed on stage and pushed the reporter back.
“Can’t you see she’s in fucking shock? Step the fuck back!” He snarls at them and pulls me to his side protectively. Even as I hid behind him, I could see their flashing lights as they took pictures of everything and everyone on stage.
“Mr Valerian…care to explain how all this happened? We would like to know, how did you find out about this? And how sure are you?”
“You really believe this fucking fake? Where’s your proof that she’s really your daughter?” Roxanne yells from where she sits, her face red with what looks like shock.
“I brought proof.” Valerian- my Father exclaims, and I see him reach into his breast pocket, before pulling something out.
“This is the DNA test I made sure my doctors got before I came over here, and this,” He says, pulling out an anklet….the very one I’ve seen in my dreams lately. “Is the very emerald anklet she wore at the age of three. My family always gives our daughters emerald anklets at the age of three, and Sloane got hers the morning of her birthday. I had it commissioned with her name engraved inside it; it was the only thing that we thought survived the fires in Australia that year… before we discovered that she never died.” He says, turning to me, his voice softening as he says the last bit.
My eyebrows furrowed slightly as a strange emotion racked through my body. I wanted to cry for some reason, because even though my mind screams at me to not trust anything a stranger says, my heart calls out with recognition that he wasn’t telling lies….that he was truly my father.
“I can’t believe this.” Roxanne scoffs, strutting to the stage in her purple heels. “You really expect us all to believe that Sloane, little pathetic, scholarship runt Sloane, is supposed to be the daughter of some secret multi-billionaire tied to the lost Everhart family? The very ones who fucking had ties with the Queen of England because their ancestor made a business deal with her????? This Sloane???”
She spits, her tone condescending, but my father barely looks at her. Instead, he stares at me with warmth in his eyes, Ms Vale beside him with the same expression, as she clutches his arm.
It was in that moment that I realized that she no longer had the same black hair she always had… her hair was now blonde… the same shade of blonde as mine. I saw it then!
The uncanny resemblance to her. She looked exactly like me. Hell, she looked like me but in a different font, especially with the way her hair fell in waves down to her back.
I swallowed, now staring at the floor, as I tried to silence the voice of doubt screaming at me in my mind.
The sound of Roxanne snatching the paper in my dad’s hand causes me to look at her. Her eyes roam over the contents of the document as she whispers to herself angrily. Next thing I know, she bunches it in her hand viciously, and looks up;
“This has to be a fake! It’s fake, because there’s no way…..Sloane is some rich kid! It’s fucking fake.”
“It’s not fake. The only reason you think it is is because you can’t stand the idea of her being better than you. I mean, your father just lost everything, you might not be able to afford the school’s fees this term, your luxury clothes will be pawned off for pennies soon, and worst of all, your boyfriend is not good enough to make you feel like you’re even safe. So stop whining, and bitching, or I’ll smack you again…and this time, you’ll pass out instantly, not just bleed from the side of your lips.”
Seraphina snaps at her, before staring ahead like she didn’t just obliterate Roxanne. Her jaw is clenched and tight as she stares at a particular spot in the audience…..wait, if Valerian…..my father says she’s his daughter, then that means…..
She’s my sister?
My sister’s engaged to my boyfriend???
Shit.
So she might not only get the guy I love, she’ll fucking be home for the holidays, shoving their relationship in my fucking face.
Just great.
But that also means that Ace….he’s my brother.
Ms Vale…my mother, moved from where she stood beside Valerian…my father, and slowly walked to me, her hands stretched out before her as she spoke softly. “Sloane, you don’t have to answer anyone’s questions now. We’ll explain everything later when you’re settled, but now, please, let’s get you inside, so we can properly talk.”
“No, you’re not going anywhere until you tell us this is a fucking lie. Sloane can’t be fucking better than me!” Roxanne screeches like a banshee.
“You better step the fuck off before I have the school push you out long before the grace period for those who cannot afford the fees expires, and you have to apply for a scholarship, or leave the fucking school,” Lucien says, his tone cold, as he lifts me in his arms, and shields my vision so I don’t have to look at the horde of reporters who have gathered behind us, and so they cannot see me.
“But wait, please respond to us. Is this true? Are you really the lost Everhart family? The one reported to have died in the flames?”
“Mr Valerian, what’s next for you and your family? Does this mean you’ll take over the companies left by your family?
Their questions follow behind us as Lucien carries me backstage, until I can barely hear them anymore.