Unedited.

Third person POV

The clock barely hit 7:00 pm when people started swarming in the hotel, elegantly dressed to the awaited event of the year as reporters like to put it. They wanted to fit the standards of their hosts.

Children of all ages were escorted to join the Argyros' in the games and theatre floor that was well secured with bodyguards, and even though the reason children were invited along with their parents was in order for the Argyros siblings to socialise and learn how to interact with others instead of only being in their tight circle where no strangers are allowed to come in, the youngsters couldn't bring themselves to break that habit. They -both the Second House's kids and Egan and his siblings- were gathered together in a corner of the games room, creating their own little circle away from the others.

Despite them being a bunch of kids, the oldest being of 9 years old, they still look as intimidating as their parents. They appeared untouchable with the finest of suits, and a stone cold attitude to outsiders. Especially Egan, Jacob, and Eden, it was obvious they would grow to be heartbreakers. Even with the last two being orphans, it seems they don't feel like that, they're acting as if it was their family they're living with.

A little girl approached them, her pig tails bouncing up and down adapting to her bright and cheerful personality. She seemed to be 6 years old. "Wanna play with me?" She asked Egan who in return looked at her as if she's out of her mind. Wasn't it obvious that they wanted no contact with others.

"No, go find somebody else." He told her.

Her cute grey eyes glistened with new formed tears. "B- but I wanna p- play with you." She sobbed quietly.

Egan was alarmed when he saw her tears, and went to her side before he started comforting her. "Hey, it's okay, I was just joking. We'll all be playing with you." He said looking frantically at his friends, silently asking them for help. Eden was dumbfounded, he still wondered how was it possible for a young boy as rich as his friend to be so softhearted. He thought all rich kids were brats, neither they nor their parents ever showed them any mercy when they were in the streets. They started acknowledging them only when Egan and his parents found them, took them in, announced to the whole world that they are part of their family now, and provided them with the world's best care, without expecting anything in return. Those two-faced hypocrites wanted to have a good relationship with the Argyros' even if it meant they have to deal with the dirt poor orphans.

Not even their real parents would be meaning anything next to their current parents, their saviours. They may be young, but they knew how to be grateful. They knew how to show gratitude and recognition to those who helped them when everyone else turned their backs on them.

"Sure, little girl. We'll be glad to play with you." Jacob said smiling while patting her head gently.

Her face instantly lit up when she heard that, and took each of Egan and Jacob's hands in hers before dragging them to one of the princess games. The boys followed her lead even though they weren't fans of princess games, but they knew how to play them thanks to their baby sisters.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Zelda and Tyrone were having a conversation with some of the guests when Zelda's phone rung, and she excused herself to take it.

"Hey, cos! Where are you?" Zelda answered the call when she was in the lobby.

"We're trapped in the traffic, but we'll be coming soon." He replied.

"Okay then, I'll be waiting for you." She said before hanging up.

A tiny pair of hands tugged at her dress, asking for her attention. She hunched to meet the little girl's height. "What's wrong, Daisy?" Zelda asked worriedly while caressing the toddler's cheek.

"Ena, cry, momma." She informed about to cry herself.

"Shh, don't cry, baby." She wiped the tears that escaped her eyes. "Where is she?" She asked. Daisy took her hands and started guiding her to the far end of the ballroom where a crowd were assembling around someone who was shouting.

"LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE. DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THIS DRESS COSTED?" A woman questioned who seemed to be Leena angrily. "WHERE THE FUCK IS YOUR MOTHER YOU DAMNED BASTARD?" When the girl didn't answer, the woman lifted her hand in the air to slap her.

"I fucking dare you." Dared a calm voice that caused the woman to turn around alarmed.

"M- Mrs-"

Zelda ignored her pathetic attempt to talk, walked towards the frightened little girl, and bent down to her height. "Are you okay, honey? Did she hurt you?" She questioned in gentle voice. Leena shook her head crying hysterically while clinging to Zelda's neck.

However Zelda noticed the little girl's disheveled hair that was in a neat pig tails, and glared at the woman venomously. "Are you sure, baby?" Zelda looked at her in the eye.

"Yes, momma." The girl replied shocking the whole crowd. Zelda nodded, and started fixing her messed up hair, shocking their audience even more. "Okay, honey I want you to take uncle Lee and do whatever you wanted to do, then take your sister and go with him to your siblings. Can you do that for me?" Asked Zelda in a motherly tone after finishing what she was doing.

"Yes, momma." The girl nodded.

Zelda signalled to Lee to do the task. "Don't let them out of your sight until they reach the kids, and tell the guards to guard them well or I'll have their balls for dinner." She said. Lee nodded before going with girls.

Zelda turned to trembling woman, and slapped her hard on her cheek with the back of the hand that has a ring that seems to have some artificial sharp thorns surrounding the diamond. Drawing blood out in the process, yet the woman's previous courage seemed to vanish, for she kept her head down, afraid of angering her more. The slap seemed to attract the whole ballroom's attention.

"How fucking dare you to come to my party, and treat my family like that. That too my little ones." Zelda raged. "Cat got your tongue? Weren't you asking for Leena's mother earlier?" Zelda mocked. "FUCKING ANSWER ME." She boomed making the woman jump at the sudden outburst.

"I'm sorr-"

"Whose wife are you, anyway?" She asked, knowing that the woman wasn't someone known which means she's here with her husband.

"I-"

"More like mistress." Someone from the crowd shouted. "She's Mr. Smith's mistress." The same woman elaborate when she saw Zelda looking at her as if asking her to continue, while she regarded the other woman with disgust.

"So you're a family breaking whore?" Zelda asked with venom, if there was anything she loathed, it was family breaking bitches and child abusing monsters, and the woman just committed both offences in her presence.

Zelda looked at the direction the slut was looking at, there stood a man with his head hung low, and a woman glaring at him with tears spilling from her eyes. "No help is coming from there anytime soon, dear, so I suggest you gather what's left of your pathetic dignity and vanish from my party before I make you regret ever opening your eager legs." Zelda said coldly.

The woman sprinted away from the ballroom, bawling her eyes like a pathetic bitch. "Skin her alive for all I care, just make sure I never see her again." She silently told Lee who just came from his previous task while glaring at the woman's empty place.

Lee nodded, and went about his new task. Zelda looked up to see everybody staring at her with a hint of admiration and respect before the crowd dispersed.

The woman who disclosed the bitch's identity approached Zelda with an admiring glint in her eyes. "Hi, thank you so much for that." The woman smiled. Zelda looked at the woman confusedly.

"For what exactly?" She asked.

"For standing up for my friend like that, her husband is a real douche bag. He keeps on cheating on her, and she always believes his empty promises when he says he will change, and that it will be the last time he does something like that. She never learns, and even though she is my best friend and I love her, but she needed a little shake to see reality." The woman blabbed.

"First of all, I didn't do it for your friend, and secondly your friend needs to know to appreciate herself and her dignity more. No man deserves that we give ourselves up for, no matter how much we love them. Least of all not a cheating bastard." Zelda said before walking away.

"The name is Martha by the way. I hope we can be friends someday because I really like you." The woman said to Zelda's retreating back.

"Sorry, honey. I don't do friends." Zelda informed without flattering her footsteps.

She needed a breath of a fresh air as a change from that stuffy room. When she walked out, she heard someone sobbing while crushing their fists on the wall with blood running down their wrists, and cursing their lives away. She approached the sound until she noted that it was the same woman from earlier.

"It's not worth it." She didn't know why she had the urge to comfort the woman, maybe because she saw a glimpse of the old broken her. She wanted to make it up for herself, even if it was through another.

"It hurts, the pain is too much to deal with." The woman said still not looking at Zelda.

"Fight it, deal with it, and win. That is the least you own to yourself, no one is worthy enough of us destroying ourselves. Show them how strong you, how easily disposable he is." Zelda adviced. "Don't give him the satisfaction of seeing you hurting because of him, let them have him if they want." She continued. It was like she was saying that to her old self, to damsel in distress that had her life snatched away from her.

"How? No one will ever want me." The woman continued her self-pity.

"Who says we need someone to complete us. You're worthy of all the happiness in the world, and you have your daughter, that's more than enough reason for you to fight for. Learn to never compromise on your dignity. Then when you heal, burn them with the fire they drowned you in. Make them feel tenfold what exactly you felt." Zelda said before walking back in. "Determination is the key."

"Thank you, I'll forever be grateful for your words. They're just what I needed, not an empty 'every thing will be fine'." The woman said.

"Remember to never bow down to anyone, worthy or not. Always keep your head up, for your sake as well as your daughter's." Zelda said before disappearing in the hotel.

The woman was still in awe at how could a stranger's cold and wrathful words could lit her mood up, could open her eyes up. She felt a new burst of energy like never before. One that was urging her to go out there, fight, and live. For herself before all, then for her daughter. It was like Zelda's words were the cure to her broken heart.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Tyrone watched the whole thing from when Zelda slapped the whore until she comforted the poor lady, and he couldn't help but feel proud of having the privilege of being her husband. He was proud how strong, kind, and companionate she is.

He made his way into the hotel, following her, and was about to catch up to her when an unfamiliar voice called her.

"Zelda!"

A/N

Happy reading, everyone.

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Until next time, bye bye.

Mi-M-Ab.