Chapter 1
They all stood at the Lake Park Cemetery under the scourge of the sun's fiery gaze, black shirts all over the place, as the townspeople came to pay their respects to the family. The Queen of the Mason empire, Mrs. Anita Mason, sits in the front row with a black hat and a black net over her face that does a good job in covering her eyes.
The noise slowly dies down as the funeral ceremony comes to an end and the guests disperse to their various destinations, leaving Mrs. Mason and her four sons standing over their father's tombstone with a few other members of the family
The four sons stood with their hands in their pockets and their eyes fixated on the tombstone with the name Liam Mason; "So the old man finally bites the dust. He had a f*****g long reign," one of the sons say and another scoffs at him, "Have some respect. So, you are going to be the alpha as he wanted," Anita says as she shifts her gaze toward one of her sons.
"Prepare yourself Eric, two weeks from now we will be throwing a party to recognize the change of power. Now that you boys are back in town, play nice" she says and turns away as she takes her leave.
"All hail the alpha," one of the brother's mocks and gives a slight bow.
EARLIER
The sound of the alarm clock ringing on the top of her drawer pulls her out of her dreams. She wakes up to see 7:00 A.M. on her clock.
“I’ve got thirty more minutes,” she says, shutting off the alarm before rolling over and tossing her blanket over her head. Two minutes in, her phone vibrates with life as her Taylor Swift ringtone keeps coming up. She grunts and raises the phone to her face to see the name Kate come up on her screen.
“I could just pretend that I didn’t see this call and no one would know,” she says in a sigh and throws the phone beside her head.
“Hello, hello, Margaret” the young woman grunts loudly as she sees that she mistakenly picked up the call.
“I can hear you breathe, so you better talk,” the voice from the cell says,
“Hello,” Margaret responded in a baby-like tone.
“Don’t even start, you promised to accompany me to the Masons' funeral. You know I need to be there, their whole family is going to be there. We can’t miss this opportunity. You better be up, I am just five steps away from your door,” Kate says before ending the call.
“No,” Margaret whines as she realizes that her thirty minutes of sleep is not going to happen.
Her brown scattered hair lies across her face as she stares at the milk ceiling, feeling reluctant to start the day, but the loud knock that echoes against her door confirms the end to any hope of a quick nap.
She hears the door swing open and the thud sounds of heavy footsteps approaching her room. The door swings open and a woman in a black sweater and a short white skirt enters with brown eyes fixated on the sleepy woman.
“I knew you were going to be lazy. Good thing you have an angel like me to make sure you keep to your promises,” Kate says as she walks to the bed.
She drops her Luis Vuitton purse beside Margaret’s alarm clock, "More like a demon," Margaret says and covers her head with a pillow. Kate pulls at it, feeling some resistance from the sleepy woman, but ultimately overpowers her grip and pulls the pillow away from her.
"Get your ass up, you promised to follow me. Come on, you know I need to get this story" Kate says, "Wake up, wake up" she adds and softly smacks the pillow over Margaret's head.
"Okay, okay. I'm up" Margaret grabs the pillow, "Let me just freshen up. Besides, you are way too early, it's 7 A.M. for God's sake."
"7:05 A.M." Kate corrects.
"Whatever. What time did you even wake up?" Margaret stood up from her bed, her gray pajamas were rumpled with crooked lines, and her medium long hair touched the nape of her neck.
"6 A.M, as everyone should" Kate says.
"I don't want to live in a world where we all have to wake up by 6," Margaret says as she rubs her eyes and walks into the bathroom.
"Hurry up, so we won't be late," Kate says and Margaret sticks her head out of the bathroom, "The burial is by 9, are you going to set traps at the scene or something?"
"We are reporters, not hunters, I only hunt men on the weekends," Kate says.
The sound of Margaret brushing her teeth soon fills Kate's ears as she looks around the room.
Margaret's room is quite small, with a small bed that can barely fit two people and a pair of scattered black sheets. There is a small drawer on one side of the bed, while the other is on the wall opposite a wardrobe, and there is a small shoe stand underneath the wardrobe.
Beside the wardrobe is a mirror and a table with some make up kit and a small portrait picture of Margaret's parents.
"You know they say all the Mason kids are in town, didn't one of them go to school with us?" Kate asks.
"The girl right?" Margaret replied, "None of their sons went to school here, but I think they did grade school with us,"
"Yeah, that's right, I wonder what they look like now, seeing them in person is going to be different. It's been a long time since Laurel's royal kids came to town," Kate says as her friend hits the showers.
It doesn't take long for Margaret to finish her preparations, especially with Kate hovering over her and telling her how slow she is. By the time she finished, it was 7:50 A.M.
"Come on, let's go. We are going to be late," Kate says, pulling her friend out of her room.
"No breakfast?" Margaret whines as she steps out of her comfort zone.
