Heart of Redemption (Hearts #2)

1. Margo

Chapter 1

Margo

I feel like I am an absolute ornament to society. I am a prize to be won and I’m proud of it.

I think I’m proud to call myself a girl that a boy desires, and a girl that many would love to diminish.

I have no room to complain, I was sitting outside my villa in Greece, counting down the days I could come back to New York. I was tired of attending senseless parties filled with other ornaments to society.

I’m exhausted of extravagant dresses, excessive makeup, people pretending to care about whether I had a great year. I certainly would prefer being in Hawthorne right now. The city noise, the yelling citizens, taxi drivers beeping their horns, and especially the birds attacking old people.

The last one was a joke, I’m not horrible I promise. I yawn, placing my magazine down to the table next to me, feeling a bit sore because of the atrocious sunburn I have graciously acquired.

“Do you have a dress ready for tonight, darling?” I hear a whimsical voice intrude my thoughts.

I take a breath; it was the eighth party I was attending. I’ve grown irritated to attending the parties that the same repeating cycle of people that had personalities of cardboard boxes.

I groan, sitting up to look at my mother, “You have got to be kidding me.” I lark at her as she sends me a condescending scowl.

“You have been laying there, tanning for about two hours, Margo Raine.” She stresses as I grimace.

“It was one hour!” I correct her before I fall back to my previous relaxing position.

I could hear her footsteps get louder, meaning she was walking closer to me, she sits next to me as I try and ignore her eyes, which were burning through my skull.

“Come on, Maggie it’s not that bad. Besides there was a dress sent in for you to wear.” She reasons, I could feel myself cave into my mother’s request to start getting ready.

“Don’t forget our current situation.” She adds on before standing up, putting on her expensive pearls.

I take a loud annoyed breathe, “I know.”

My parent’s business had been underwater, and it has been looking very hopeless nevertheless, all I could do was be supportive and stick with them through thick and thin.

I am loyal to people I love; it is my number one rule.

“Where’s father?” I ask, while getting up.

“He’s already down mingling with his many potential business partners. He does not waste time.” She turns to look at me.

I couldn’t help but frown, but before I could hide it from my own mother, she walks towards me with open arms, that wrap themselves around me.

I always have enjoyed her free spirit and talent of making others feel better. She pulls away from me, but her hands stay on my shoulders, greeting me with a huge smile.

“There is an amazing grand piano at the party, I know you never like to sing and play in front of people but maybe it could be something spontaneous you do in Greece.” Her grin reaches both of her eyes.

How could I ever say no to her, “I would love to.” I smile thinly as she shakes me, “Amazing! I will let the others know.” She rushes to the doorway, whilst pulling my Chanel bag from my closet.

“Hey! I was going to use that!” I yell, but tragically get cut off by the loud slam of the door when she ran out quickly.

I roll my eyes, before walking into my ginormous walk-in closet. My eyes wander around my profligate clothing choices, before landing on the breathtaking black laced, two-piece dress. It was see through and looked very breathable.

The last dress I wore was a green velvet creation, that suffocated me the whole night, I was sweating and constricted. It was the worst fashion choice I had definitely made.

I admire the soft lace and the beautiful patterns all over, I scan the tag that was attached to the dress, with a knowing huff.

“Meet some hot guys! – Verina”

I shake my head with appreciation that she would make this beautiful dress just for my trip. I smell the tag, as it had her signature Burberry scent.

As I slip in the dress, I couldn’t help but think about running away, sneaking away from this horrid party that I was supposed to attend. But I wouldn’t.

I couldn’t.

I would hate to disappoint my mother and father after all they have done for me, how much they have loved me. I would always be there for them.

I would never actually abandon them.

“ S o, what’s your favorite color!” A guy with dorky glasses, and a mullet asks me as I cringe.

I was being awful, and I shouldn’t be, he is a genuinely nice boy that shouldn’t be ruining his self-esteem by speaking to me, or even approaching me.

“Um, iris.” I mutter as he nods with a wide beam. I had been twirling the toothpick that my martini came with for the past thirty minutes.

I wasn’t going to lie and say that my face looked absolutely interested in every conversation I’ve had. Instead, it was noticeable that my face held a wretched and pissed expression.

I had hoped that all the boys that have pulled me in for a conversation would have gotten the hint, but they weren’t that smart.

I spot my father’s eyes as he makes his way through the crowd over to me, I was so ready for him to save me from this torment.

He pats the guys back that was speaking to me, interrupting him from mid-sentence to a conversation that I wasn’t paying attention to.

“May I please borrow my daughter, Eric?” My father asks.

Ohh. That was his name, I completely zoned out when he introduced himself. Speaking of which... I did zone out when the others also introduced themselves.

Eric walks off as I stare mindlessly at the bar, thinking about whether I could hide under the counters and drink the whole night.

“I know what you’re thinking.” My father looks at me with a frown. I bet he didn’t know what the hell was going through my mind.

I think it was a pretty hard thing to do… you know… read my mind, there has only been one person ever that did and did it accurately, and that is my best friend, Adrianna Cassian.

My soulmate, my person, my everything. She always knew what was up with every roaming thought that I had spewed or even if it was just floating in there somewhere, she would know about it.

I never complain, she can stay in my thoughts all she wants, because I know that I was the only person that she ever really opened up to, letting me in her dark thoughts.

She is the strongest person I know; without her I wouldn’t be who I am and I’m sure that she would feel the same way.

“You look miserable, Maggie.” He voices as I pick at a piece of lint from my top.

“I’m here, father. Is that not what you want?” My father looked absolutely rigid as I throw a bit of attitude his way.

I sigh as his eyes pierce through mine, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell.” I admit as he shakes his head, “Maggie, I am sorry to put you in this position. But you know the reason we are here.”

I was now zoning out once again, but never once this summer did my parents ever let me forget that the reason we were here. They plan just to marry me off and join companies with my future husband’s family.

My family is on the brink of bankruptcy, and they are definitely panicking. My father was practically jumping up and down the moment I spark an interest in anyone remotely interested in merging businesses.

I hear him babbling on and on as I continuously look around to pay attention to anything or anyone else other than my father in front of me.

“Have you sparked an interest in someone?” My father raises his voice as I shake my head, lacking energy to say it out loud.

“Maggie, you really need to get out there.” He stresses and I knock my head back, “Father, I am trying very hard.”

“And I thank you for that, my love.” He comes closer to kiss the top of my head as I lean closer to him.

“Dad, I am just very exhausted, I can’t speak to another bobble head right now.” I groan as he laughs softly, “You can take your rightful place on the stage and play for everyone.”

I pull away from him, with saucers as eyes, excitement practically blasted from my body, “I thought mom only said that to me to get me down here.”

He points over at the beautiful Steinway Model B Grand Piano, that had gold rimming and the most beautiful black paint exterior.

“The Grimaldi family has given it to us, a gift from Benjamin, who has kindly asked for your hand in marriage.” He pronounces as I look back at the piano once again.

I pull away from his grasps, practically running over to the piano, my hands begin to shake as I touch the beautiful porcelain keys, delicately.

Silence in the room scatters, even if the party sits next to the beach, I could feel the waves calm down and the birds even quiet just to hear my shaky voice.

All eyes on me, horrifying looks from everyone in the room, but mine catch beautiful honey brown glass orbs that studied me intently.

William Brookshire stands within the crowd, his hands down his pockets, while his body leans on one of the pillars, his eyes sinking into my body like a snake bite.

I wipe my sweaty hands on my thighs before placing my hands on the piano. I never sang in front of crowds before, let alone strangers that have studied me like a mannequin in a glass window. This is definitely nerve racking in every type of way I could imagine.

However, I am not easily embarrassed. I used music to calm myself down in stressful situations. I take a long abysmal breath, before opening my mouth to let opening chords spill out.

The rest of the notes flow out as my hands traveled and guided through the major chords of the piano.

Everyone looked absolutely serenaded as I kept singing, I could feel my heart fill up as I continue, a lovely rich baritone of my voice rises through the entire crowd as they stare at me in awe.

I can’t help but lean closer to the piano, my mouth closer to the microphone that was attached, my hands flowing nicely through the piano keys.

Minutes later, my final note ends and remains for a while until I see fit for it to end, I take a soft breath, as I await for the whole crowds to look expressionless.

The silence stays and I feel my cheeks redden, as well as my body heat, before I could feel completely stupid for singing in front of everyone, one slow clap from the crowd was at bay.

His penetrating brown eyes narrow at mine, as everyone joins in on his clapping, I can’t help but smile at the many people that were showing gratitude and amazement.

But before I could thank Liam, which was something that was not on my bingo card this summer, my parents have ran in front of me complementing my performance.

I didn’t want to be rude, so I just thanked them before attempting to brush through the crowd, seeing that Liam was now nowhere to be found.

I take a deep breath before a hand touches my shoulder, I turn quickly to find that it was a man I had never seen before, an old man. I pull away, caution builds through my body as he smiles widely.

“Margo Hamilton?” He asks as I nod, questioning whether to answer him vocally or not.

“I am Rosco Sonata, your parents have mentioned that you were looking for a husband and I would like to take you to dinner some time.” He expresses as I cringe away.

Hopefully my face didn’t expose my true feelings of this scenario, I am absolutely infuriated at his date invitation.

A man who looks so ancient he probably has dust up his asshole! I mean what the hell, am I really worth this, am I only a prize for every man to fucking want?

I don’t want this, even if it breaks my parents heart, I will not be subjected to marry an old fart! I want to have a mind-blowing type of love that makes my heart race. A type of love that makes me see sparks flying across my vision.

Those ones that make my heart skip a beat when I’m near him, butterflies in my stomach, the type of love you would see old people still have.

“I’m sorry, I’m busy.” I kindly say to the man as he nods politely, “If you ever need anything I am always here to help.” He says with a jolly like voice.

He kind of looks like Santa Clauss if I really think about it, he probably has an empire like the North Pole toy shop, with all his elves, sadly I was not ready to be a Mrs. Clauss whatsoever.

“I will take you up on that.” I laugh, so daunting and fake how could people not see it? Do they really think that everyone here enjoys speaking to each other?

He nods before looking to find someone else to ask to be his bride to be. Maybe I can fix him up with a one of the teachers at the university who wasn’t getting laid.

Maybe one that can help me get from a B average to an A, yes, I know I could just study but that was Juliette’s thing, she’s been trying to get the whole group together for a big study session.

I certainly voiced my opinion that no one was going to attend, but Juliette didn’t mind, she still studied, but in my head, what’s the point?

Juliette has an outstanding IQ of 222, which by the way is estimated to be larger than Einstein, and she still has to study! There is truly no hope for the rest of humanity if you ask me.

And I’m not dumb, I wouldn’t be going to an Ivy League if I was, no one in Hawthorne University is stupid, except the selected individuals like… Maya Brown, Brooks Johnson, Victoria Lewinski, and Karen Goldstein.

These people were definitely just off the top of my head, Adrianna of course had to be dating Brooks, so I can’t openly be rude to him, but I could do whatever I want when it came to other people I dislike.

Speaking of people I dislike, Liam Brookshire had completely vanished, I shouldn’t complain, I just want to make sure he didn’t have a video of my voice and send it for the whole world to see.

Before I turn away from everyone and go back to my destined seat at the bar, I notice my family standing around a large table with what seems to be a whole other family. My father looks at his watch then through the crowd, probably looking for me.

But I hide behind a pillar, my breath raged and my pulse quick, damn I really need to get back in shape.

Brings me to the fact that Juliette would always insist on dragging us to the gym to help her train for soccer season, we all kindly denied, except for Verina who doesn’t complain at the sight of the shirtless, men that surround the gym and worship her.

Wait why did I say no again?

I hear my name being called by my father’s recognizable voice, I bolt to the back exit, away from the party.

I wasn’t in the mood to talk to a whole bunch on strangers again, scared that I might lose it, say things I don’t mean.

As I look forward, the whole beach was empty, the horizon was beautiful as the sun began to set.

I take in a large, needed breath, while waking closer to the shore, my feet being submersed by the cold relaxing wave of water that left as quickly as it came.

The ocean breeze brushing through me as my hair flies away from my face, I take a seat down on the sand, letting my arms wrap around my legs, I set my head down on my knees, afraid that if I pull my eyes away from the sun it might disappear.

Sure, it would disappear later, but not just yet.

Right now, it was just me and the ocean, what else could I ask for?