Against All Odds!

The Gala

I hate dressing up, reminds me of prom, the worst day of my life. I have been sitting on our bed for thirty minutes chatting with Bella who keeps telling me that everything is going to be okay and that prom won't repeat itself, am still stuck despite her efforts.

"Angel, baby, we are going to be late", Leo complained as he emerged from our closet. Yes, I moved in with him and he has been amazing to me, sharing his space and allowing me to redecorate how I wanted. Honestly, it was a sad space with a lot of dark colours, he loved dark colours but if this was going to work, we had to make the space less depressing.

"I don't think I can do this", i told him making his body tense like he just remembered something. He walked towards me and kneeled in front of me so that he could meet my eyes. "Angel, I know you're worried that history might repeat itself but it won't, you want to know why? Because am with you every step of the way and I love you baby, so much. Can you do this for me? Can you trust me?", I couldn't master any words so I nodded my head and stood up. I was thankful that our galas were happening in the same building otherwise I would have bailed.

Thirty minutes later I was finally happy with how I looked and I was ready to face the world. "You look so hot baby, they better keep their hands off you tonight", Leo said in his bedroom voice squeezing my butt cheek with his massive hand making me moan and hold onto his chest.

"W-w-we have to go now", my sentence returned him to reality, he was going to devour me and officially make us late by two hours. The driver was already waiting at the entrance of the apartment building. He was living in a penthouse with the best view I've ever seen. 

I kept wondering how he was going to be in two places at the same time. Being the President of his company meant he was going to be the center of attention.

The front was chaotic and almost made me panic so he told the driver to use the back entrance which was in the basement, very quiet and accommodating. "Good evening Sir, Madam", the respect they had was almost terrifying, I will ask Leo about it later. "I really want to kiss you right now", he said cornering me in the elevator, how this man still craved me beyond my insecurities, was unexplainable but I loved it. "Don't you dare, I spent fifteen minutes on my lips", I said making him laugh. "You won't be saying that later, that's a promise", the door opened just in time, and I released a breath. "Let's get this show on the road", he said offering me his hand, we interlocked our fingers and walked into the ballroom, where the Luxe was having its party.

"Angel? Leo? What the fuck??", Bella shouted surprising me the moment we walked in. "What?", I was shocked at her high-pitched voice and when Victor turned to look at us he spilled his drink at a waiter and kept apologising to him even though he accepted already. "Bloody hell! This is your boyfriend?", he said shocked as well. "Yes. Uh... Leo meet my bosses Victor Luxe and Isabella Ivan", I said gesturing to them, he was silent, so I turned to see him in shock too.

"What's happening, do you guys know each other?", "How about this? Your boyfriend is our older brother! What the fuck?", Bella was not making any sense. They saw confusion in my eyes. Victor cleared his throat breaking the awkwardness, he was about to talk when a man in a black suit came to Leo and whispered something in his ear, he replied with a nod and turned to me. "Baby, I have to go, we'll talk about this later", he kissed my forehead like he always did and left me with Bella and Victor, still processing what was happening. I thought I would see him leaving the ballroom to go to the Specter's party but he went to the front where most of the guests were sitting. 

I turned to Bella, "explain...please", I said making her nod and scan the room. "We need a table", she said, "and drinks, a lot of drinks", Victor said while calling a waiter the moment we found a seat in the far corner of the ballroom.

I had so many questions with no idea where to start but was thankful when Bella decided to take the lead. "First of all, I can't believe that my best friend had been the center of the fuss in our family for almost a year now, I even had a bet with Victor that you were imaginary, that Leo was making you up so that our parents won't make him marry someone he didn't want", she said excitedly. "Tell me about it", Victor said while accepting a hundred dollars from Bella, he stuffed it in his suit pocket. 

"So my dear sister in law allow me to welcome you to the Specter family", she said with a wide smile wiggling her eyebrows at me. I just drowned the champagne that was in front of me. What? I was processing don't blame me. "H-h-how? You don't even have the same names like?", I struggled to make sense of things so I ended up emptying another glass. 

"Slow down", "Don't tell me to slow down, I have been dating him for a year, am living with him and I didn't even know that he was your brother so stop telling me to slow down and start explaining", I spat making her hold her hands up in surrender. "Fine, I'll do it", Victor volunteered. 

"So this is how it is. There are five of us, three boys and two girls, you have obviously met half of us already. Leo is our oldest, am second and Bella is our youngest. The Specter family owns five businesses worldwide, all of them reporting to the president, Leo runs the parent company which is the Specter group of companies which you may know as Specter Worldwide, this event is usually done once a year to celebrate our achievements as parts of the parent company which is why there are so many people and partners here". He finishes and it all made sense. "But your names -", "Yeah, we get that a lot but Cruz says it's good for business", "Cruz?", "Yes, our other brother, you will meet him soon", Bella said with excitement.