Is this destiny?

~ Texas, the White Rock Lake ~

In the Payne family villa…

Arthur Payne (aka Mr. Payne), Darlene\'s father, returned after a long day at work. He found his daughter and wife in the living room.

"How are my lovely ladies?", Arthur called from the door.

Gabriella Payne (aka Mrs. Payne) smiled at her husband. "We are fine. How was your day?"

"Ah… it was busy. The deal with Richmond industries is so close that I can almost touch it. That will give us a huge boost.", Arthur said enthusiastically while taking a seat on the sofa chair.

"Are they the reason you didn\'t return my calls?", Darlene asked her father with a slight pout.

She is aware that her father is fooling around with his secretary, and whenever he is not available during work hours or stays longer at work, Darlene wonders if he is busy with work, or busy with his secretary. Darlene confronted him about it about his secretary a year ago, and he explained that it\'s nothing important and that he will never leave his wife or neglect his daughter.

Actually, Darlene is aware that this is not the first time her father has a woman on the side. She still remembers when she walked into his study unexpectedly and caught him with his pants at his ankles and woman\'s legs around his waist. Darlene was about eight years old then, she came from school earlier than expected due to stomachache. Since then, her father is treating Darlene very well and letting her have whatever she wants.

Darlene knows that her father is acting so sweetly toward her only so that she does not expose his infidelity to Gabriella, and Darlene is taking full advantage of it. Heh, and people think that Arthur is a doting father.

Sometimes, Darlene wonders if her mother knows about Arthur\'s infidelity. After all, Gabriella is a smart woman, and Darlene finds it difficult to believe that her mother does not see what her husband is doing right under her nose, for years.

"Yes. I was swamped with work. Sorry, sweetheart.", Arthur said apologetically. "How was your meeting with the neighbors?"

Darlene paused while remembering her interaction with Aiden and Sarah and how they treated her rudely.

"Darlene?", Arthur called his daughter. "I remember that this morning we saw youngsters running in the area and you said that you will visit Marcus and Lucas to see if they know something about it. Did you go?"

Darlene exhaled. "I went."

"And?", Arthur persisted.

Marcus is their neighbor for more than a decade and they barely interacted a few times. It\'s not that they didn\'t try to get close to Marcus, but they were not successful in doing so.

Arthur hopes that Darlene left a good impression. Lukas is still single, and Arthur would love to be invited to some of the elite parties Marcus is hosting.

"Marcus does not own that house now.", Darlene responded.

Arthur\'s brows furrowed while he processed this information, but that was only for a second before he composed himself. "We have new neighbors?"

"You don\'t sound surprised.", Gabriella noticed that Arthur is unusually calm.

"I heard that there was some shift in power in the White family and that Marcus fell. But I thought it\'s just a rumor. I didn\'t know that he sold the house, but it\'s not unexpected. That explains the construction noise we heard recently.", Arthur responded to his wife and then looked at his daughter. "So? Did you meet the new neighbors?"

"Yes. The new owner is Aiden White.", Darlene said stiffly.

Arthur nodded faintly while thinking about how that is probably the reason why he was not aware of the change of ownership. It happened silently, within the family.

"Aiden White?", Gabriella asked with glee in her voice and eyed her daughter while saying slowly: "I heard that he is young and handsome. He graduated as a Valedictorian. A full package of looks, background…"

Darlene interrupted her mother by clearing her throat. "Yes. He is handsome. Did you hear that he is married as well?"

"Oh…", Gabriella let out a disappointed sound.

Arthur understands why his wife is disappointed. Darlene is not in a serious relationship and the possibility of making a marriage connection to Whites would be amazing. But even if that is not an option, they should still make the most of it. Marcus didn\'t want to associate himself with the Payne family, treating them like they are not worthy, but now the new owner is here and that means new opportunities!

"It should not matter if he is married. His brother, Jeffrey is now the head of the family, and Aiden and he are getting along well. The two White brothers live in the Los Angeles area, so Aiden is probably not going to be here for long. We should use this opportunity to get close to them and leave a good impression." Arthur said and turned to Darlene. "His wife is probably around your age. Be a good friend to her. The title of Mrs. White brings a lot of weight. That girl can open many doors for you. Did you meet her today?"

As Arthur spoke, Darlene\'s expression turned darker. She swallowed hard.

"I did…", Darlene responded bitterly after some time.

Arthur noticed that Darlene\'s expression is off. "Sweetie? What is wrong?"

Darlene exhaled. "Daddy…", she said in a whiny voice. "I went there to talk nicely, and they bullied me."

"They bullied you?", Gabriella asked in disbelief. She saw that Darlene\'s mood is off but that is not unusual. And then Gabriella went shopping and forgot about it.

"Yes, mommy. Aiden\'s wife called me names and said that I was seducing him, and he ignored me. And their big black cat was growling at me. It was terrifying."

"And what did you do?", Gabrielle asked with a voice full of concern.

Darlene shrugged helplessly while looking at her parents pitifully. "I left. After I left, I realized that it\'s not only his wife, but he is horrible as well."

Arthur can\'t believe that Darlene left it at that. He knows his daughter, and she would seek vengeance for the smallest things. "What did you do?"

"I gave them a warning by calling the police. They have so many kids there, throwing parties. I said that they are disturbing our peace."

Arthur thought that he is going to faint. "You called the police to go to the house owned by the White family? Because they are disturbing your peace?"

Darlene nodded confirmation. "Yes. Now they will know not to mess with us. You will see… They will not mistreat us anymore. I\'m sure that tomorrow they will come and apologize."

Arthur struggled to breathe. "You think that they will come and… apologize… tomorrow…"

"Yes, daddy. Actually, I thought that they will come today, but they are probably in shock. So, they will come tomorrow."

Arthur slumped back in the sofa chair and stared blankly in front of him.

"Arthur? What is going on?", Gabrielle asked.

Arthur forced a deep breath, but that only made the room spin faster.

He exhaled and looked at Darlene. "Let\'s hope that you are wrong. If they come here, it will be a disaster."

Darlene frowned. "Daddy, they bullied me first. Do you expect me to lower my head and let it pass? Is that what we do? We are the richest family here, no one mistreats us!"

"Honey...", Gabriella called. "It should not matter how much we have, but they should not use their connections to bully us. You did the right thing..."

"We are not the richest…", Arthur said in a faint voice, but no one heard him.

He observed his wife and daughter who are talking about the injustice and he shook his head. He wondered if they are really so ignorant to believe that they can confront the Whites and survive? In what kind of a bubble they live that they never heard of people disappearing without a trace? Marcus disappeared, for crying out loud!

Now what? He has no idea what to do. Should he call them and apologize? How can he apologize if he does not know exactly what happened, and looking at Darlene, there is no way that she will tell the truth.

Arthur pinched the roof of his nose and closed his eyes while trying to tune out his wife and daughter. He hopes that Darlene is exaggerating and that none of that happened. Ah, he wanted to suck up to the Whites, and Darlene ended up going against them!

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