seven souls seven sins - Chapter 51: Chapter 51

Adrien's pov:
"Every dayyy, I spend my time, sippin' wine, feeling fine." I belt, jamming to the music as I flip another pancake. I woke up bright and early to get breakfast ready, especially after the night that the kiddos had. I feel the beat and sway towards the pantry to grab the maple syrup when I spot my infamous hangover cure.
I grab the bottles and containers from the shelf and make my way back into the kitchen.
I delicately drizzle the maple syrup over the stack of pancakes and set them to the side. I grab my blender and the remaining ingredients needed. I throw a handful of spinach, 250ml of Gatorade and some excess chicken broth from the fridge. I blend the ingredients together into a special concoction and pour the drink into three glasses.
Three cups for three kids.
The spinach is for iron, the Gatorade is for quick energy and the chicken broth is for immediate hydration. I also open the medicine chair and place 3 pills on the breakfast bar counter. The smoothie and pill are a package, per say. I tap my foot to the rhythm as I plate up the rest of the pancakes for the others.
Yesterday was a long night for everyone.
"Am I intruding here?" Leo slithers to my side. "Not in the slightest." I pat his back and gesture him towards the dish with a stack of warm fluffy pancakes. "Woah, it's only 7am." Leo rests his elbows on the counter as saliva builds up in his mouth. "I want the kids to be properly fed before the interrogation." I explain as I plop the last utensil in the dishwasher.
"You ready for this shit?" Chase questions as he turns the corner with an apple between his teeth.
"Hell yeah, I want a full explanation from all three of them." Leo crosses his arms. "Wait Leo, did Nat say anything about the Theo incident?" I ask him. "No, she only protested when I told her she had to go to bed. Although, she did seem pretty scared of Vincent when I saw her." He shrugs his shoulders. "What about me? Hm?" Vincent emerges out of nowhere.
"Nat doesn't appear to like you very much." Chase blurts.
"I've already copped that last night." He responds with a stern voice as he pours himself a cup of coffee. "Did you sleep well?" I ask my older brother. "I tried." He answered nonchalantly. "Look she didn't mean whatever she said. She was under the influence, don't worry about it." Leo assures Vincent. "Easy for you to say, you weren't even there." Vincent mutters bitterly.
"Watch the tone Vincent." I scold him for replying to Leo like that.
"Fuck off Adrien." He responds more frustrated than before. I'm taken aback by his harsh words. He's usually never like this. He's always perfect and in control of his emotions. He doesn't treat us like this, he never did. This isn't the normal Vincent that we all know and respect, this Vincent is different, and he's angry.
"Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed." Xander yawns and walks up to the counter.
"I will not hesitate to smash your skull against the wall if you don't shut up this instance." Vincent warns with fury bouncing around his eyes. "Vincent." I hit his arm shocked at his behaviour. Why would he say that about Xander? I turn to face Xander and even he looks worried, he looks scared. "Ignore him." Chase rubs back as Xander's concerned expression fades.
"No, don't you dare ignore me." Vincent places his cup of coffee down on the counter so hardly that the hot drink spilt a bit.
Xander sits on the barstool as Vincent glares at him with irritation crawling through his veins. "I know what you did Xander. " He sternly peers into Xander's confused eyes. "What did I do?" Xander questions himself as he tries to remember last night's events. "You snuck Nat out to the party, didn't you?" Vincent's jaw ticks.
"How did you know?" He doesn't even deny the accusation as he gulps down his hangover drink.
"Did you forget that all the CCTV camera footage is streamed to my desktop, or were you too drunk to notice?" Vincent slams his fist down on the marble slab. "You don't understand the full st-" Xander begins but is rudely interrupted by Vincent's harsh tone. "I don't care about the whole fucking story. You knew that she wasn't aloud to attend that party and you took her anyways, against my order."
"Vincent just let me ex-" Xander starts but is cut off again.
"NO. The whole reason Nat is in this state is because of YOU. It's all your fault." Vincent furiously scolds. "It was just as much my fault as Xavier's!" Xander points out. "So you're deflecting the blame to your brother? Knowing him, you probably managed to convince him to go along with this little plan. Just man up for once in your worthless life." Vincent lashes out.
A fist comes into contact with Vincent's flesh.
"Don't you fucking talk about my brother like that again." Xavier enters the room, his chest rising up and down with a bleeding knuckle. Vincent groans in pain and holds his nose. "What is up with you V?" Chase folds his arms. "Nothing that you guys should care about." Vincent cracks his neck, both sides.
"It's about Nat, isn't it?" I voice out.
He fixes his posture and stands up straight. "Xander, you put her life in danger." Vincent directs the blame towards him. Xander opens his mouth. "Fine, you know what, I did. Happy? If I could go back in time and change what had happened I would do it in a heartbeat." Xander pauses for a moment and gulps down spare saliva.
"But that doesn't change the fact that it happened." Xander's wobbly voice beams throughout the room.
"It's too early for this shit." He mutters briefly before storming out. Xavier calls his name but he keeps on walking up the stairs. When Xander was out of earshot, Xavier walked up to Vincent. "What was that for, huh? Are you proud of yourself?" Xavier frowns at Vincent's stone cold facade.
"You wouldn't even give him a chance to explain himself." Xavier scoffs and shakes his head negatively.
"Then you explain it." Vincent emotionlessly demands. "You want the truth, well here it is. Your Princess and Harper blackmailed us into sneaking her out." Xavier tells him, although Xander should be here by his side. "What do you mean blackmail?" Leo arches a brow. Then it dawns on me.
"He used the video, didn't he?" My eyes widen in realisation.
"Precisely. He knew that if he showed Nat the video then she would hate us all right now." Xavier explains whilst staring daggers at a speechless Vincent. Chase speaks up. "He's lucky we spared his life at the time. How does that bastard have the balls to pull off this shit?"
"It's in his blood." Vincent finally unclenches his usually tight jaw.
"If Nico is always going to use this as leverage against us then we need to speak to Charles about it. If Nico shows the clip to Nat.." I warn with my anger getting riled up. "I'll schedule a meeting with Charles within the week. Apparently his main intentions were to become allies with us. But in order for that to work, we need to stop his youngest son from potentially ruining the only relationship we have with our sister." Vincent chugs down his black coffee with one head tilt.
The carpet matches the drapes.
"You also need to apologise to Xander, add that onto your schedule." Xavier sits up on the stool and digs into his room-temperature pancakes. "I will have a chat with him later on." Vincent satisfies Xavier. "Good. Now that that's taken care of, where the fuck is Nat?" Leo questions and looks around.
"She's probably still in bed." Xavier blurts in between bites.
"I'll fetch her now. The rest of you just finish your breakfast and grab a soft blanket for Nat." I demand, taking charge of the situation. "And some pillows too whilst you're at it." I add whilst already half-way up the stairs. When Vincent is pissed off, we're all pissed off.
It must be stressful being the eldest, I can't relate though.
I softly knock on Nat's door but there's no reply. I knock again but after hearing silence, I gently push open her door. There she lays in her bed, sound asleep. The corners of my mouth tilt watching her slumber. She looks so, peaceful. "Rise and shine." I call out to her but receive no response.
"Sunshine?" I walk up to her white queen sized bed. "Amor it's time to wake up." I gently shake her awake. First her eyes flicker open then she stretches and lets out a loud yawn. "5 more minutesss." She turned to her side, away from me. "It's already 07:30, your breakfast is getting cold." I take off her covers.
She balls up due to the sudden temperature drop.
"Hey!" She whines as I pick her up. "You have a lot of explaining to do young lady." I warn when I open her door and step out. "My head hurts." She winces and leans her head on my chest. "I know love, I know. I've left you a pill and a hangover smoothie on the counter too." I smile at her.
"A hangover smoothie? What for?" She asked puzzled.
"Do you not remember what happened yesterday night?" I question as I get to the bottom of the stairs. She looks up to the sky to think but she ends up shaking her head negatively. "So what happened?" Her soft voice echos throughout the hallway. I turn into the breakfast bar with Nat in my hands.
Once she spots all her brother's concerned faces, she's speechless.
"What happened? Why do you all look mad?" Nat taps my shoulder to let her down and so I do. "Why do we look mad? Are you taking the piss?" Xavier turns his head to face her. She shivers at his harsh words. She tries to sit beside him but she gets hit with a sudden wave of dizziness.
"Love, are you alright?" I immediately rush to her side.
I help her steady herself as she gets up on the stool. "Eat some food first Sunshine." I usher her. She gives me a thoughtful look in return and stares at her plate. She pops the pill into her mouth and washes it down with my specially curated hangover cure. "Yuck! This tastes like blended up leaves." Nat squirms and puts the glass down.
That was Xander's first reaction too.
"I know it's not very appetising but it will help, trust me Amor." I assure her to continue. She takes a big bite of her pancake but Chase opens his loud mouth. "Are we going to discuss the elephant in the room or not?" He scoffs while putting his dish in the sink. "What elephant in the room?" Nat questions and looks around for an answer.
But instead, she's met with an eery silence.
When no one responds I clear my throat. "Let her eat first, enough with the questions. Then you all can do your interrogation." I tell my surprisingly quiet brothers. I flick my gaze towards Vincent who hasn't moved his eyes off of Nat the whole time. "What interrogation? Is this to do with the whole mafia thingy?" Nat innocently arches her perfectly trimmed brow.
"No. Nothing to do with that." Leo corrects her.
Why is nobody treating her normally? I don't like this current atmosphere and she doesn't either. It feels, off. Everyone is acting differently and it's weird. "Where's Xander?" Nat curiously blurts out after taking a small sip of the drink. "He already had his breakfast." Vincent instantly replies in a nonchalant tone.
"Oh alright. Thanks Vince." Nat flashes him a genuine smile.
I spot Vincent's eyes softening at her gentle words but after a few seconds they retreat back to their usual demeaning stare. "Are you hurt?" Leo queries with a deep voice. "Just a headache, it'll probably go away in a few minutes though. You know, the usual morning routine." My Sunshine mentions as she clutches her sore head.
"Nat, do you remember what happened last night?" Vincent connects the dots.
"I only remember up until dinner." She rubs her forehead trying to recall her memories from the previous night. Everyone lets out a sigh, including Vincent. "Are you sure Amor? Nothing at all?" Chase steps closer towards the counter. "I'm trying to think but nothing comes to mind." She shrugs her shoulders and puts her clean plate into the sink.
She ate all her breakfast, this is what I call progress.
"C'mere Princess." Vincent opens his arms and she jumps on him, wrapping her small legs around his tall frame. He carries her to the sitting room and softly places her down on the couch. Xavier sits down beside Nat whilst the rest of us stand up. "Chase, go fetch Xander." Vincent commands.
"On it." Chase immediately replies and makes his way towards the staircase.
"Now whilst we wait for Xander, you two have a lot of catching up to do." Vincent clasps his hands together. "Leo, if you don't mind." He gestures towards Leo who brings out an almost empty bottle of Smirnoff vodka. "Now that we know you don't remember, maybe this will rejig your memory." Vincent hands Nat the 500ml bottle.
Nat examines the bottle carefully, retracing her fingers alongside the bottle's intricate details.
She shuts her eyelids, desperately trying to remember what happened. A few minutes go by and her eyes are still closed. I give Vincent a worried glance but he dismisses it almost instantly, his gaze not leaving her for a split second. Chase and Xander enter the room. Xander sits down beside Nat and glares at Vincent.
The tension in the room intensifies.
All of a sudden, Nat opens her eyes and starts panting. "I re-. I remember." She speaks out of breath whilst holding her chest. Her eyes are becoming glossier by the second. "Shh shh, you're okay." Xander rushes to comfort her. She's startled by his sudden appearance but he rubs his hand up and down her back to calm her down.
"You three have some explaining to do." Vincent declares as he crosses his bulky arms.