The Billionaire's Weakness

Chapter 1 - The Mommy Issues Lucille's POV My brother was the one who delivered the news to me. I remember I was in school when the teacher came up and told me that I was excused from class for the rest of the day, and that there is a family member waiting for me outside. I cringe every time I remember how delighted I was at that very moment. I had a test that day, and I felt on top of the world knowing I will get out of it, even if it only meant prolonging the agony for another day. So I skipped playfully out the classroom door where essentially my childhood stayed behind once the door closed. I think it's safe to say that girl never returned, not in school, and not anywhere. The events today are a testament of that, as I nurse a developing hangover and try to focus on what is being said around me.  Nope, can't do it, I'm constantly pulled back into my though that reveal a lot of mommy and daddy issues that I have tried to keep hidden but surface every time I do something stupid. A driver took me home that day, where my brother was waiting. I never asked how come my brother was home already because he was also supposed to be in school, but I don't even think I want to know. Despite being a child himself he blinked and had to mature instantly, for our father completely shut down, as I later learned.  My brother was the one who took my hand and sat me down, patting it gently, scaring me more than he was reassuring me. Thomas, my brother, was the one that told me our mother had passed away. Just like that, my own brother was the one who broke my soul. And he was the one I hated when I heard the news. I hated him because he said it, and because he made it real. I didn't want it to be real, I didn't want my mother to be gone, just like that, all of a sudden.  I can still feel her kiss goodbye from that very morning when she dropped Thomas and I to school. I hate that it was the last time I saw her, and I didn't take the time to properly look at her and lock all her beautiful features into my brain. I hate myself because as the years have passed, it became more and more difficult to remember her, to the point that all women started to look like her, all while I could have seen her in front of me and not realise it's her.  All of the above is swirling in my hazed mind, as my father yells at me. I don't even bother anymore, it's always the same I'm disappointed in you Lucille, you are embarrassing our family Lucille... As if we still are a family, as if we ever were anything but empty shells after mother passed. "I'm sending you to boarding school in Switzerland, Lucille." He says after the whole disappointment and embarrassment routine. Wait what? My head snaps up faster than it took me to get drunk on a whole bottle of champagne before lunch. At school. And get caught, which is what got me here in his office, hearing the endless yelling. It's cute in a way, we do this almost every week like clockwork. I call it our father daughter bonding time. But speaking of getting drunk, I think I've sobered up already. Boarding school? He's joking right? "W.. what? Boarding school? You're joking, right dad? Tell me you're joking." I plead with my father but he doesn't budge. Instead, he scrunches his nose upon smelling my alcohol infused teenage breath, and pushes a fancy brochure in my face. I flinch and drop the shiny piece of paper, only catching a glimpse of the name Montreux College, slapped on an old brick building, looking like a creepy castle surrounded by picturesque scenery of snow covered mountains. I mean, could he have tried to send me somewhere more remote than in the f*****g mountains? --- When your father is Albert Le Blanc, things tend to move pretty quickly. So it took my father less than two weeks to organise for my school transfer and secure me a spot on the exclusive boarding school of horrors, AKA Montreux College in the Swiss Alps. He keeps telling me that he chose that spot because it's close to home. Yeah right!  I thought about begging, about telling my dad that I will be good from now on, but decided against it. He has his own way of dealing with mom's death, and I happen to have mine. I refused to go into an argument about why in the world he would burn all photos of my mother and dispose of everything that could possibly remind him of her. He is acting like she cheated on him and ran away with a much younger lover, rather than being in a car crash and leaving this world unwillingly, at the arm of Lady Death.  But f**k me if I'll ever give up on the memory of my mom. With this thought in my head, I skilfully sneak into my dad's office and start looking for the only thing that belongs to my mother and that's still in this house, her beloved engagement ring. The only reason my father hasn't disposed of the ring as he did with the rest of her stuff is that the piece of jewellery is a family heirloom and it's supposed to be passed down to my brother when he decides to marry. "Well, I guess you're being passed down to me instead." I whisper as I see the ring in a display cabinet, tucked out of sight behind crystal tumblers. With the grace of a bull in a china shop, literally, I manage to extract the tiny ring while only knocking over two glasses. I carefully pick them up and put them back, thanking my lucky stars that my crazy father didn't remove the carpet that cushioned their fall. The plush Persian rug has been bought by my mother, but I doubt a man would care for such fine details, otherwise my dad would have stripped the whole house bare for reminding him of her. The feeling that he's sending me away because I am yet another reminder, tried to worm its way into my mind, but I push it away as always. No, I am not an object, I am his daughter. I f****d up by taking the rebellious thing to the next level, and it only proves that he cares about me by trying to fix me. With my prized possession in hand, I make my way up to my room, and start packing, Tomorrow my new life as a student of the Montreux College will start and I pray to f**k that I can find some decent people to hang out with, and why not, maybe they'll be just as f****d up as I am, and we can create some proper chaos up in the mountains.