White marble tiles and bright endless white lights. Women and men in suits walking around busy with their jobs.

The receptionist greeted us when we got inside but her eyes lingered longer on Alex and Tyler.

We made our way over to the elevators and Alex pressed the button that leads to the 35th floor. Since I was a little girl, my father never allowed me to go to the last 5 floors of the building. I never knew what was there and my father said that it was for my own good.

The first thing I saw when I exited the elevator was Gabriel and Nathan. Both inexpensive three-piece suits stood in front of what looked like a meeting room.

"Talia." they both greeted me and gave me a kiss on the forehead.

Then, both of my brothers and father came out of the very big room.

"Talia, I heard you drank a lot last night. Is it true?" Tristen asked folding his arms.

"Yes," I admitted looking down.

"Talia! I warned you before." Tristen says.

"I know. I'm sorry." I replied.

They were silent for a minute then Aiden finally sighed. He came over to me and ruffled my hair.

"What are we gonna do with you little one." He sighed while giving me a weak smile.

"Talia, I called you here so that you could meet one of our investors. Well, the boys' as well. Since you are getting a bit older, you can understand what we do here a bit more." My father explained.

What my father meant by what we do here is what he does in the company. Only god knows what he does with the mafia. Oh well, if this is the best I can get, then I'll take it.

Then the blond receptionist came over saying, "Mr. Vanderbilt, Mr. Jarrett has arrived sir."

Everyone went into the meeting room and I was last to enter. Men in black suits were sitting down at a round table. All their eyes observed my every move and I felt exposed to their eyes.

I spotted my bodyguards in the back of the room. They were also wearing suits and exchanging words with my father.

There was a lot of testosterone in here and not a lot of estrogens. For the first time, I'm glad that the blond receptionist is here so I won't be the only girl.

"Ah who do we have here." asked a middle-aged guy who was really starting to give me the creepy vibes.

"Jarrett, meet my daughter Talia." My father answered.

"I'm impressed Dimitri, you got yourself a real gem there. Lucky son of a bitch huh?" smirked Mr. Jarrett.

"Mr. Jarrett, please refrain from using strong language in front of my sister. She's very young." Tristen snapped.

To break the tension in the room I quickly said, "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Jarrett."

"A pleasure to meet you too Talia." Mr. Jarrett says while looking at me with amusement.

The meeting soon went on and after a while, everyone was interested in the business only. I sighed in relief. I tried to listen to what they were saying but I only understood half of it. The boys, however, knew exactly what they were saying and were confident when they talked.

Contracts and documents were passed around as well as hands signing them. Everyone was acting very professional and straight to the point.

After what felt like an hour, Mr. Jarrett finally excused himself to the bathroom. When he came back, he passed me a small slip of paper as he went and sat back down on his seat.

I furrowed my brows in confusion but I still opened the slip of paper. My blood ran cold as I saw what he wrote on the paper.

My men have you on gunpoint right now. You will do as I say when you exit this room. If not, well, you don't want to know. Don't believe me, look down.

When I looked back at Mr. Jarrett, he was looking at me with a smirk on his face. Sipping his coffee as nothing happened.

I discreetly looked down the table to see 4 men pointing their guns at me under the table. They all looked like they don't play around.

It felt like season five episode 23 of 'ways to screw with Talia's life'.

_______________________________

Hey guys,

Thank you for the votes and wonderful comments.

I'm really glad people are enjoying my work.

Laura 🪐✨