Chapter 1 A Panic State

They said love makes you soft, and will make you do things you have sworn not to do again. Such as sitting alone at a high-end eatery, waiting for your childhood lover who had another woman straddling him just a few weeks ago at his birthday party.

The picture of the immoral act had gone viral and yet, here was Vivienne, waiting on him, butterflies dancing in her stomach in anticipation and eyes darting out to check the entrance every now and then to catch the sight of him.

She sighed in frustration as she checked her diamond wristwatch for what seemed like the tenth time in the past two hours. She gazed down at her high low red dress that she had selectively bought for a thousand dollars just to look attractive for this date.

The eagerness she had felt to be with Tristan again was slowly wearing off. Now that he wasn't here yet, and nor was his number going through, she doubted that the long awaited date would hold at all.

"I should just leave." She said to herself and stood up to leave the fancy eatery Tristan had chosen for their date.

"How was your date, Miss Vivienne? Trust you had fun." James, her family driver, grinned in the driver's seat as he watched her open the back seat of the car and slide in.

"Just, let's go please." Vivienne said sourly as she leaned back in her seat, letting out a deep sigh. Jame noticed the sour mood and decided to press on. "Is... everything okay Miss Vivi..."

"I said drive!" Vivienne interrupted him. She wasn't even aware that she was that annoyed until she passed her frustration onto James. "Of course, off we go." James said, respect lacing his tone as he kickstarted the car and drove off.

Throughout the ride, Vivienne was silent and lost in thought. She wasn't even aware that they had gotten home until James notified her. "Uh-uh okay", She said and alighted. On getting upstairs to her room. She met Zoe, her best friend, who had an enveloped letter in her hand, and was stretching it to her.

"What's that?" Vivienne asked.

"I've been calling you since forever. Why wouldn't you even pick your call?" Zoe asked, more like scolding her friend.

"I saw it. Tristan didn't show up and his number isn't going through. That explains why my mood got fucked up and I couldn't pick your call."

"Maybe you wouldn't have wasted your time waiting if you had picked my call, dummy. He sent you this letter through a delivery man. I don't know what it's about. Maybe he changed your venue or something." Vivienne squeezed her face, looking from the letter to Zoe.

"Why would he even send me a letter instead of texting me?" She murmured as she took it from Zoe.

"Don't know. Testing the old-fashioned way I guess," Zoe shrugged, chuckling. But Vivienne's lightened expression turned sour as she consumed the content of the letter.

"Marry my stepbrother", She read, her hands quavering, a dazed expression on her face as she tried to make sense of what she had just read.

"Is everything okay Vivi?" Zoe asked. Vivienne was still confused when she noticed another letter that was placed at the back of the one she had just dropped. She picked it up.

She read "Vee, I've stayed up all night thinking about this, and I've concluded to stop deceiving you. I couldn't muster the courage to face you and confess that I've stopped loving you. I know I gave you a promise ring and I promised to marry you after college, but I can't control how I feel about you anymore. It's true that I cheated on you with the blonde at my birthday party. Tobias never lied.

I'm sorry I led you on when you called to get back together with me. Tobias loves you better than I would ever do. I will be happy to see you both together, find it in your heart to forgive me -Tristan"

The letter fell off Vivienne's trembling hands as soon as she finished reading. Her heartbeat had quickened, and her face was growing paler as her gaze lingered on the pink silk curtains draping down to the polished bronze tiled floor in her room. Her high school sweetheart, the love of her life, the only one she had ever been intimate with...was leaving her just like that? And worse, he had easily volounteered her for his cruel step-brother, Tobias.

Zoe, who couldn't get an answer from a flustered-looking Vivienne, dashed to her side and picked the letters from the floor.

"What the hell?" Zoe's eyes widened as she read. "Is this some kind of joke?" Vivienne snatched the letter from Zoe again as if hoping the content would change when she read it for the second time, but it was the same. Tears had stained her face now as she tried to get a grip of herself. The elegant red dress she had slipped into while she prepared for the date night ahead with Tristan now felt like a mockery.

Zoe knelt in front of Vivienne, who had sunk to the floor. She grabbed her hands. "Okay, breathe Vivi. It's not the end of the world."

"He... he was happy that I called this morning, what had changed?" Vivienne wondered, her eyes hastily glancing at her surroundings in confusion. The following words from Zoe sounded like a blur in her ears as drowned into her dazed state. Tristan had been begging her since forever to reconcile with him after she broke up with him over an alleged cheating footage of Tristan that was rumored over the campus. It was the first time they would officially break up since the two started a romantic relationship.

Vivienne's heart had gotten broken deeply and Tristan had sworn it was a set-up, but she was too blinded by rage to listen to him. She couldn't stand the footage being spread in crescent high while students who had always envied their relationships rained mocking comments around. To avoid it all, she had traveled out to Paris for a mini vacation to heal, but she couldn't get her lover out of her mind. And after a month, she had concluded that breaking up with him wasn't deserving of their years of friendship and romantic relationship. If anything, Tristan deserved her listening ears. She still loved him deeply and unconditionally.

"There is only one way to find out." She put a call through to Tristan, but it kept ending in voicemails. She stood abruptly and wiped her tears. "I'm going to find him". She headed towards her door.

"Vivi wait" Vivienne turned around. "You can't let him see you this upset", Zoe said, smiling as she walked over to the vanity. She picked up a diamond necklace and fastened it around Vivienne's neck. "And you look like a goddess doing it."

Vivienne managed a small smile. "Thank you, Zoe". Her friend nodded at her, showing support. Vivienne hastily wiped away her tears and slipped into her heels. She then grabbed her clutch and ran downstairs, her heels clicking against the smooth steps of the grand staircase. The mansion's grandeur, with its opulent décor and timeless elegance, felt hollow as she sped through the foyer.

"James, I need you to take me to the Bennett's house" She instructed the chauffeur who had just brought her back from the restaurant some minutes ago.

"Right away, Miss Vivienne", James replied, sensing the urgency in her tone.

The drive to Tristan's house felt like an eternity. Vivienne's mind raced with questions, her heart heavy and fluttering as the contents of the letter kept surfacing in her head.

"Marry Tobias? Tristan would never want me with Tobias, not with anyone else but him, that's how obsessed he is. Something is definitely wrong." Vivienne muttered to herself as she pondered deeply over the issue at hand.

"Are you speaking to me young Miss?" James asked when he heard Vivienne's voice. "Not you, just drive" Vivienne responded, her voice tinged with deep anxiety. When they arrived at the estate, her breath caught in her throat. The house was dark, and the gates were locked.

She jumped out of the car, running to the gate and frantically pressing the intercom. "Tristan! Tristan, are you there?" Her voice echoed in the silence.

Desperation clawed at her as she pulled out her phone, dialing Tristan's number for the sixth time since she left her house. Each ring felt like a dagger, and when it finally went to voicemail, she left a shaky message. "Tristan, it's Vivienne. Please, call me back. I need to talk to you." She was losing her mind, she pondered on calling Tobias to ask him about Tristan's whereabouts but thought against it. He's a bad idea. And Laurel, who is Tristan's sister, was away in college.

Just when she had given up for the day and had gotten back into the car, her phone vibrated with a WhatsApp message. She opened and read the content. Her blood instantly ran cold. Her pupils dilated, and her palms got sweaty, it suddenly felt hot in the car where the air-con was on full blast.

"Tristan Bennett and his parents, the billion dollar CEO of TDC, Richard Bennett and Bianca Bennett, were shot by armed robbers while they were driving down the road on a mini trip, leaving them dead. It's a black day for tech space and the country at large."

Vivienne let out a hysterical laugh that jolted the chauffeur. "I hope all is well miss?" James tilted his head while he drove, curious about Vivienne, who hadn't been acting sane since they left her parents' mansion.

"Stop the car now!" James quickly yielded. Vivienne bolted out of the car and vomited on the roadside, beating her chest wildly while at it. Her phone rang in her hands and she picked it up without checking the caller, but the moment the voice started speaking, she knew it was her mother.

"Hello Vivi, have you seen the news?" Her mother's voice was shaky and low over the phone. Vivienne felt she could go mad if her mother confirmed the gibberish she had just read.

"No Mum, I haven't. What's up?" She steeled her voice, looking forward to her next words, her body trembling uncontrollably. "Where are you? Let's meet at home, Vivi"

"Mum, just talk!" She screamed. There was silence over the phone before her mother spoke again. "The Bennetts are dead Vivi. They were robbed... and shot". Her mum sobbed over the phone and Vivienne's phone slipped from her trembling fingers that couldn't hold it anymore.