Four Alphas and Me

Chapter 9 : My Savior

The two of them continued to talk for a short moment, during which Brad looked and smiled in the direction of the hidden camera a couple more times.

My heart sank.

Seeing him so close to my dad made me feel anxious and uneasy, and I almost lost it when Brad led my dad to stand up and walked away from the camera.

Where was he taking Dad? Was this when he got drugs into Dad?

Without delay, I called William's cell. Even if that meant they figured out I had put a hidden camera at home, it was better to be safe than sorry.

But there was no answer. Why wasn't he answering his phone?

My imagination began to work overtime and get the best of me. No, I couldn't just be a nervous wreck and sit in school all day! So I collected my things immediately and flagged down a taxi to go home.

In the car, I twisted my fingers in my lap trying to remind myself that there was still time. October 15 was six days away. My father should be okay until then, yet it didn't change the fact that my heart was about to jump out of my chest.

The taxi finally dropped me off and my legs couldn't carry me fast enough to the house. I burst through the door only to find Dad frozen in shock to see me back at home.

The box was opened. He was holding the beautifully crafted invitation in one hand and an elegant bottle of wine he pulled from the box in the other. I looked around to find Brad, but he was already gone.

“Livy, are you alright?" Dad asked as he placed the invitation and the wine to the side, hurrying over to me. “I thought Kain just took you to school. Why are you back home so soon? What is wrong? Are you feeling sick…again?"

When he said “again" he gave me a suspicious look. Oh well…

I let out the breath I was holding. He was still okay. Nothing bad had occurred. Thank heaven.

“I'm okay," I assured him and gave him a sheepish smile. “I was at school, but I forgot to pack my homework, silly me. Kain took me in kind of early, so there was just enough time for me to come back and grab it."

I held my breath while William looked at the time and tried to process my flimsy excuse. I averted my eyes from him to look at the invitation he put on the table.

A hand-delivered invitation? What kind of event was so formal?

“Oh, this is very pretty." I snatched the invitation before he could stop me and quickly opened it.

It was elaborate and seemed custom-made, but there was something about the design, red wording on black paper, that sent a chill up my spine.

My eyes widened when I saw the date and time: October 14, 8:00 p.m.

This was the event right before my adoptive father's accident! Air caught in my throat.

“Livy, put it down. Now!" William scolded and he rushed over to take it from me again.

He carefully placed the invitation back on the table.

“Daddy, what is this?" I asked, trying to make my voice sound casual.

“Just another ordinary work event." He brushed me off.

Ordinary? What kind of ordinary event would be by hand-delivered invitation only? Not only that, but while there was a date and time on the invite, there was no location. Why was it so secretive?

However, to make him less suspicious, I didn't push for more information.

I looked at him and wondered what I could possibly say to convince him not to go. I knew that under no circumstances should William attend this event. Whatever happened there was why he ended up dead in my past life.

“But Daddy, it's over the weekend!" I complained.

“Yes. What's wrong with the weekend?" William asked.

“Oh no," I whined dramatically. “I was planning something that night for you, me, and Kain to do together."

“That's such a sweet thought." He patted my head. “But—"

“Daddy," I interrupted him, “It has been so long since we've spent any real time together as a family."

William looked at me suspiciously. “You're not trying to stall and maybe get out of going back to school today, are you?"

“No, not at all. I really miss our family outings." I knew I was losing my case. I would not be able to convince him to stay away from that event.

“Go get your school work and I'll take you back to school. We can plan a family night for the following weekend. This is an event that I simply cannot miss. It is really important."

“Dad…" I started to protest, but he gave me a stern look and I fell silent. I trudged up the stairs so I could pretend to find my homework and then he drove me back to school.

My mood was low and a little depressed for the rest of the day. Why couldn't I remember anything more useful from my last life? I hated that I hadn't paid enough attention to my family back then. If I had, I might be more prepared to handle this situation.

Seeing how determined he was, I knew I wouldn't be able to convince him to change his mind. That left me no choice but to go with him that night.

***

I didn't have much recollection of how the rest of the week had gone. Dad was Dad, nothing out of ordinary. His schedule was quite routine, and I hadn't seen Brad again.

Everything seemed normal, except I knew it was just the calm before the storm.

October 14th came faster than I expected.

Apparently, it was a very high-class event because William had put on a fancy suit.

“If you must go, how about bringing me with you then?" I asked as I straightened his tie. “I really wish you would reconsider taking me with you to this important business event. I saw your invitation had a plus one option."

My fingers trembled over the knot. In my previous life, this was the last memory I had of my father alive.

I could hear the emotion in my voice, and I was sure he picked up on it too. He placed his hands over mine and looked me in the eye.

“You are such a good daughter. But this type of event is no fun for a young lady. I promise you can be my plus one another time."

I forced out a smile, praying with all my heart that it could be true, that I could save William tonight, and we would have another opportunity to attend a fancy event together as father and daughter.

I wanted that more than anything.

“Don't wait for me tonight, and don't stay up too late, okay, Livy?"

“Daddy, I'll take care of myself. Don't worry!" I waved at him with a smile on my face.

As soon as he left, I jumped into a taxi that had been waiting for me. Thanks to the GPS I sneaked into his suit pocket, I knew exactly where to go.

The destination was further away from the city than I'd anticipated.

I became worried that William might get suspicious of us following him when we came close to his car on a backroad that obviously didn't get much use. I was sure the street would end in the middle of nowhere, but after a while, lights came into view and a majestic mansion turned hotel could be seen at the end of the road.

I had the driver drop me off out front and hung around the cars as I observed William enter. Others were clamoring to get in as well. There were mostly men and a few women here or there. All of them were finely dressed.

Security was extra vigilant, checking invitations and identification.

I tried my luck just standing in line and trying to follow a cluster in.

“Miss!" a guard called after me and I tried to go around him, but he grabbed my arm before I could reach the door.

“Hey, I'm sorry I just came out to get something from the car. My father is right there inside."

The doorman heard what I said and looked me up and down. He obviously didn't believe me.

I wasn't having high hopes that this would work, but at least it was worth a try. In my plan, if they threw me out at the entrance, my next step would be to go around the hotel and see if I could sneak in by climbing the fence or wall.

If that still didn't work, at a minimum, I could wait at Dad's car and stop him from driving home.

But I was too optimistic and naive about my plan. The doorman exchanged a few words with another person, who seemed to be in charge of security. The next thing I knew, three large men in black suits and black sunglasses walked toward me with dreadful looks on their faces.

“Crap!" I muttered under my breath.

Without any words, two of the men each took one of my arms, dragging me toward a dark corner, while the third lowered his voice and demanded, “Who the f**k are you?"

“I… I'm here with my father…" I struggled, trying to break away from them, but I wasn't strong enough.

“Yeah, right," he smirked, shaking his head at me, “Do you think I'm stupid? Tell me the truth before I beat the s**t out of you!"

This wasn't exactly how I had envisioned my night would go! My mind was racing at a hundred miles an hour trying to find a way out. Right… for me to escape, the only way was to make some commotion.

Therefore, I shouted as loud as I could, “Let go of me! HELP—umm!"

My mouth was covered immediately by the head of security and I was quickly dragged out of the sight of the public.

I started to panic. What trouble had I got myself into?! I had to get out of here; I had to get back to my mission of saving Dad!

“Who is this?" Suddenly, a deep and authoritative male voice came from behind me. It sounded familiar…

The security jackasses who were dragging me paused in place. The leader walked up to the newcomer and replied humbly, “Sir, we found a security risk that needs to be handled."

“I'm not!" Although I was still subdued and couldn't turn around to see who was there, as soon as I got the chance to make sounds, I protested loudly, “I'm here with my dad!"

“Sorry sir, we'll take care of this right away. As our distinguished guest, please go ahead to enjoy the event."

“Wait a moment," the authoritative voice said. I swore I'd heard it before.... Who was he?

His footsteps stopped right behind me, and I felt a powerful and warm hand on my shoulder, willing me to turn around.

When I finally saw his face, my eyes bulged and my heart caught at my throat.

No, it was not possible!

Frozen in place, I was hardly able to breathe as I took him in.

Prince Liam Yorland!