CHAPTER 24

KEITH

"Prim" I called out.

She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. With no other option, she suddenly ran out. I made sure to follow her ignoring Lance as he called out to the both of us.

She finally entered the elevator and frantically pressed random buttons. Unfortunately for me, the doors closed before I could get there.

I just stood there shocked and mentally exhausted until I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Lance.

"She was with you the whole time" I said looking straight into his eyes and he sighed then nodded.

"Keith I.." he started but I cut him off.

"Hotel room number. I want to hear the truth from her" I said calmly and he nodded and told me.

.....

As the doors opened, I went straight to her floor. I made my way to her door and knocked.

"Go away Keith, I know it's you" she said and I sighed.

"Please, Prim" I begged for the next few seconds till I heard the door unlock from the inside.

"Come in" her voice sounded dry and raspy.

I gently opened the door and found her sitting on the bed turned against me. I closed the door behind me and slowly strode over to her side of the bed. Her head hung low and her dress had wet tear stained patches.

"Prim" I said while placing my hand on her shoulder.

"I'm not going back" she said sternly and I sighed and sat down beside her while gently stroking her shoulder.

"That's not what I wanted to say"  I said and her head turned to face me.

"It's not?" She asked and I shook my head and she gave me a small smile.

"I thought you'd want me to go back to them" she whispered.

"Prim, no matter how they treat me, they're still your parents, I'm just a god child, you're the one with the blood relationship" I said and her head came up and she looked me in the eyes.

"You are my best friend and brother and whoever treats you like shit is not someone I'd like to be around" she stated sounding more confident than ever.

"But Prim.." she cut me off.

"But nothing, I'm not jeopardizing my happiness and values for two homophobes. I'm. Not. Going. Back. Period" she stated sternly and I realised that there was no point in trying to convince her.

"Stubborn younger sister one, gay older brother zero" she chuckled and hit my arm playfully.

"I win" she said with a wide grin.

"So how did it all happen?" I asked and she began to explain how she left home with nothing but a suitcase and her savings while her parents were out on evangelism. She had called Lance immediately she got to the airport and he told her what country he was in at the time and afterwards, he took her in promising to keep it all between the two of them.

"What's your the situation now?" I asked curiously.

"I'm currently in college and I only came to attend the ball" she stated and I nodded.

"And you and Lance are.." I trailed off and she looked confused for a while.

"Just cousins, jeez" she finally comprehended.

"So no boyfriend?" I asked with a sly smirk on my face.

"There is someone but he's older, like by alot" she shrugged.

"Following my footsteps I see" I laughed and she playfully rolled her eyes at me.

"He's here if you'd like to meet him" she said and my eyes brightened.

"I'd love to, now fix your make up so you can introduce me to your sugar daddy" I joked and she playfully glared at me then at the door.

I took it as a sign to leave and immediately I closed the door, I let all the tears I was fighting back fall. It took a while to compose myself but I did and made my way back to the party. Immediately the elevator doors opened, Lance impatiently attacked me with questions

"It's okay, it's okay" I assured him and he stopped talking.

"I'm sorry from keeping this from you, you're her brother and you deserve to know and..." I cut him off with a well needed hug.

"It's.....It's okay, thank you" I paused and pulled away.

"For taking care of her" I said and he gave me a small smile.

"Where is she now?" He asked.

"Fixing her makeup, she'll be down in a minute" I said.

He nodded and I carelessly shoved my hands in my pockets and that's when I remembered the card.

"Oh Lance, do you know who's this is?" I fished out the card and showed it to Lance.

"No but Monique's family is the only Laurent family at this party, you can go ask her, I think she's outside"  he said and I thanked him and wandered off.

I reached the exit and as soon as I was out of the building, I began to search for her. After a few minutes, I found her dismissing a short but heavily built man. Immediately the man jogged away, she turned with a smirk on her face which disappeared immediately she saw me.

"Do you know who this belongs to?" I simply asked and handed the card to her. She didn't reply but shoved the card in her purse before we both made our way into the hall again.

"Where's Isaiah?" I asked and she gently smacked herself in the face.

"I almost forgot, he left and later texted to tell you to go to him" she said and began digging into her purse.

"Here, go wait in that black car while I get you a driver" she remotely opened the car I mentally marked which one it was since there were alot of black cars.

As I walked over, a man who was walking very quickly, overtook me and went for Monique's car with a quick pace. He was probably confused or something since there were numerous similar cars parked here.

Immediately he touched the car, it all went out with a terrifying explosion. The bright mix of red and orange blinded me while the force threw me back making my head hardly hit a pillar.

My eyes began to droop and almost immediately, my vision just got blurrier and blurrier till I couldn't see anything