Chapter 37.

"Brides are always so nervous during their final dress fitting, you seem surprisingly calm..."

Lenore her bridal stylist said as she fitted Cara in front of the mirror. Cara smiled tightly.

"I've learnt that being calm in stressful situations works better for me."

She said and the stylist nodded. That was a lie, she was hardly calm in stressful situations, but she had accepted her fate and there wasn't much she could do. 

She was tired already, she had a really long day and had to set her final dress fitting appointment for 9:30pm because she had no time to come during the day, luckily Lenore always worked very late into the night and was more than happy to wait for her.


"You're right about that. Are you sure about this though? It's a big change."

Cara nodded.

"I know it is, but I'm sure, I think it's better this way."

Cara said as she ran her hands through the folds of the dress, the original design was a off the shoulder satin wedding A-line dress, and while it had looked elegant enough, Cara had found out quickly that a few adjustments could make it even more better with a fuller skirt. It wasn't really her style, but the ball gown did fit her better.

"And the veil?"

Her stylist asked and Cara shrugged.

"I like the long one better, makes a statement."

Lenore nodded.

"It sure does!"

"Cara! Cara!"

Her wedding planner called Edith was running towards her.

"Your mother said I would find you here! I'm so glad I caught you!"

"What's up?"

Cara asked casually, she had grown surprisingly used to Edith's antics and decided to leave it be.

It's not like she cared much for her antics, it'll all be over in a matter of days.

"We have a huge problem."

"Every time you say those words it always turns out not to be as bad as you say it is..."

Cara trailed off as she narrowed her eyes at Edith.

Edith shook her head.

"No! No! This time I'm actually serious, we have a really huge problem. The venue for the rehearsal dinner has an emergency lighting problem and we can't use it. They're working hard to fix it but the central circuit's been shorted or something like that so it might take a few days..."

"We'll just have to get another venue."

Cara said absent mindedly.

Edith was chewing her nails slowly as she shook her head.

"I've checked... There's no available venue within a ten mile radius for that date."

"Have you informed Mrs Green?"

Edith shook her head. Cara knew how much she was invested in the planning and she frankly thought Alexander's mother would handle it all better.

"You should tell her, she'd know what to do. I don't think we can do much as regards changing the dates but she should be able to find somewhere else for us to use."

Edith sighed in relief.

"Thank you! I don't know how you can remain so calm! I was literally freaking out!"

Cara shrugged.

"It's okay."

She had not heard from Alexander since last night when he cancelled their dinner plans with his family, she was more than relieved not to attend. He also sounded upset on the phone and she wasn't ready to find out why so she had ended the call and went on with her day.

She was halfway home when she got a call from Stephanie, Alexander and Nicholas's sister.

That was odd.

"Stephanie?"

She asked and Stephanie sounded like she was panicking on the phone.

"I need you to come pick me up. I'm at a party and things seem to be getting way out of hand. My mum will kill me if she knows I'm here.  And you can't tell Alexander."

"Relax Stephanie! Relax. Give me the address, I'll be there as soon as I can."

Cara said calmly and Stephanie said she'd send the address and cut the call off quickly.

The minute she saw it she turned the car around towards the location and started heading there. Stephanie had never called her for help before, it seemed like she was in a serious situation.

It must be bad if she didn't want Alexander knowing, that would cause more problems because Alexander being the mummy's boy that he was would run straight to his mother and tell her everything.

She could have told Nicholas but Cara doubted their closeness. Stephanie was a typical teenage girl, she seemed to be more closer to her friends than her family.

Arriving at the apartment complex, Cara took the elevator to the penthouse, hoping that she at least looked hip enough to even be allowed into the party.

But as soon as she got to the penthouse floor she saw so many people that she felt claustrophobic.

Teenagers, so many of them, drinking, dancing, standing dangerously close to the edge of a very tall building, what could go wrong?

She asked herself as she weaved through the crowd in search of Stephanie.

There was a large pool and she could hear some girls squealing as they splashed in the water.

It was nothing but a typical teenage party with bad pop music.

She texted her again.

Stephanie where are you? I'm at the party.

The text read as she looked around the sea of teenagers, some of them looked at her weirdly, other didn't seem to care.

She got a text back a few seconds later.

Third room on your left. Hurry. Knock twice so I know it's you.

Okay what was going on?

She asked herself as she approached the door.

"Beer?"

A teenager said as he shoved a red cup full of beer in front of her, spilling some in front of her shirt. Cara narrowed her eyes at him and pushed it back.

"No thanks!"

Reaching the hallway, she found some teenagers passed out on the floor, while some seemed to be having fun eating each other's faces. It was a little early in the night to be stoned, but what did Cara know, she was after all still an adult.

She knocked twice and a frantic Stephanie pulled her in and quickly locked the door. The room was so dark that Cara couldn't make anything out of it.

"Stephanie where the hell are you? Why is everything so dark?"

Cara touched the nearest wall in search of a light switch before finding one and flipped it.

A dim blue light came on and she sees Stephanie in a long T-shirt with her blonde hair in a ponytail. She's barefoot and tapping her foot on the floor very fast.

"What is going on?!"

"I'm so sorry, you were like the only one I could call, I don't know what happened to him."

There was something off about her and Cara concluded that she might have been doing whatever drugs the kids outside were doing.

"Did you take something? You look a little off."

Cara said as she walked to the side of the bed where the boy lay.

"What happened to him?"

She said as she inched closer to get a look at him and noticed the blood on the pillow.

Cara's eyes widened in horror.

"What did you do?"

She asked as she quickly touched his wrists. He was warm, he was still warm. He looked like he had passed out.

Cara slowly climbed the bed and raised his head, it was hard to find where the blood had been coming from, but it was a deep small gash, no harm was done, but she was concerned that he might have taken something.

"If you want me to help you you're going to have to start by giving me answers Stephanie."

Cara said firmly and Stephanie nodded her head.

"We were just having some drinks, we split a pill and came here to sleep it off after the high was over. We were kissing and he went a bit too far and all and I pushed him away, I didn't mean to push him that hard but he somehow hit his on the headstand. I called you as soon as it happened. I thought he was dead."

"I didn't know what to do. I didn't want anyone finding out, with my dad's campaign and all. Mum's going to kill me."

She said as she ran hands over her hair in frustration.

Cara wasn't sure what she was expected to do in such a situation but fortunately, she looked at the boy and he stirred a bit. She shook him lightly but firmly and he opened his eyes slowly, Stephanie let out a sigh of relief.

Cara sighed too.

"Pass his shirt, we're taking him to the hospital to see what's wrong with him."

He seemed to still be experiencing after effects of the pill they took as he looked like he was unaware of his surrounding.


Luckily, he was able to put his shirt on while he just kept growing when handed to him and Cara and Stephanie wasted no time in hoisting him up to take him out of the room.

Cara cleaned up his wound again and put a cap over his head to conceal his deep gash and stop it from causing unnecessary attention and together they walked out of the room.

The party was in full swing, and everyone else was too engrossed in themselves to watch Stephanie and Cara make their way out of the penthouse till they reached Cara's car.

Stephanie's knees were wobbly all the time as she walked. She looked shaky also, Cara understood that the shock must have traumatised her.

"He has a concussion. We'll keep him here overnight and run a few tests just to make sure he's safe."

Cara nodded.

She turned to Stephanie who looked completely relieved but also somehow on the edge.

"You should get some rest."

She said and Stephanie shook her head.

"No. I have to stay... Make sure he's okay."

"He's going to be." Cara reassured her.

"But we can't have your parents looking for you. And you need to sleep off whatever it is you took, shower and calm down."

"Should I call you an Uber?"

Cara added as she brought out her phone.

Stephanie shook her head.

"No, no. I won't feel comfortable going back home."

"No, call my brother Nicholas. I know he'll understand and take me to his place. My mum won't mind if I'm staying over at his place."

Cara froze on the spot.

Call Nicholas?