SWITCHED|VegasPete|

7: PAINT

PETE

I didn't waste any more time and as soon as Jay left, I had my things ready to leave the next morning. Ensuring that every room is locked and secured, especially that room, I then forced myself to sleep.

The next morning, I called Macau about my decision and he was quick to order one of their men to fetch me.

"Welcome Mr. Saengtham." Arm, Vegas' head bodyguard, greeted me as I nodded in response.

Stepping in, my eyes roamed at the unfamiliar extravagant mansion. I knew that the Theerapanyakul family had a few more residences in other countries but I never had the chance to visit them in the years of our marriage.

"This is the room you'll be staying in, just beside the young master's room." Arm said as he opened the door in front of us.

"The young master? Venice?" I asked as I looked around and saw two doors on the left and two more on the right.

"Yes, the one on the right is the young master's room. He's probably sleeping right now because it's been quiet since this morning." Arm chuckled as he carried my luggage inside.

"Does he know I'm coming?" I asked as Arm sighed.

"Well, we didn't want to give him false hope. He's been crying and ranting, saying that he wanted his mom..." Arm paused and I could see him turn gloomy, seems like he haven't forgotten about Khiara.

Arm has been good to Khiara. He made sure I was safe and would always inform me about Vegas' whereabouts when he's not home. Arm was a bright and cheerful person when I was with them and it looked like he still has the same personality even after the years.

"When can I see him?" I asked, trying to change the subject as he turned to me with a smile.

"The young master usually wakes up at ten. You can rest until then. You can call me if you need anything." He said before leaving and closing the room.

Walking towards the huge bed, I couldn't help but feel sleepy. Thinking back, a lot of things have happened these passed days. Also, the memories that I remembered on my meeting with Felix Kang still remains in my mind. I'm sure it wasn't just my imagination, it felt and looked too real to be fake.

Looking at my reflection at the mirror, I can't help my curiosity on what Pete's been up to. I have a feeling that he's into something but I just can't prove it. Then again, I have to set my priorities and Venice is on top of the list. Either Pete is a good person or not, I'm still thankful that I'm able to be with my child because of him.

"Waah!!!"

I flinched as I heard a loud crashing sound on the other room followed by a loud cry, I'm sure it's Venice. Running my way to the room Arm said to be the child's room, I stopped as I saw a familiar man inside.

Though only seeing his back, I'm quite sure that it's Vegas.

"Papa! Wahh!!!" Venice's cry went louder as I stepped in to see what was happening.

My eyes widened as I saw pieces of broken glass on the floor but what made my heart skip was the blood on Venice's hand.

"Oh my goodness!" I exclaimed as I ran and carried Venice in my arms.

I turned to Vegas with glare and he just stared at the both of us.

"Mama! Mama-papa!" Venice cried out making me turn to him before hugging.

"There, there. I'm here now..." I whispered as Venice's began hiccupping.

"What's going--what happened!?" Arm exclaimed as he saw the broken glass on the floor.

"Clean this up." was all I heard from Vegas as he walked out the room.

..

It didn't take long for Arm to get the broken glass cleaned and seeing the drips of blood on the floor, he immediately called for the head maid to check on Venice. I sat on the bed as the middle aged maid wiped the blood on the child's hand and check other parts of his body.

"The young master is fine. He has no wounds of such in his body." she said moments later.

"A-are you sure? So the blood on his hand...?" I asked as she let out a light smile.

"He's fine, sir. I already checked his body and he's not hurt at all." she assured as I let out a sigh of relief, thank goodness he's fine.

"Mama, Venice is fine. Papa huwt. Pwease hewp papa." Papa hurt. Please help papa. Venice suddenly said after placing his hand on my cheeks and making me face him.

"What?" I asked as I tried to understand what he meant, was the blood from Vegas?

"Uhm, I don't want to butt in but... I think it's better to let master Vegas be." I heard the maid say making me turn to her.

"She's right. Sir Vegas will be fine on his own. I'm sorry you had to witness all this on your first day." Arm seconded as I shook my head.

"It's fine. I'm just glad that Venice is fine." I said as I looked down at Venice who was now asleep, he's probably exhausted with all the crying.

..

"Hot choco for you." Arm said as he placed a mug of hot choco on the table.

"Thank you." I smiled as he sat on the chair a few inches away from me.

It's already 9 in the morning but the weather was rather gloomy, with light rain and a cloudy sky. After Venice fell asleep, I left him on his bed and followed Arm in the kitchen to take a breather. He then offered me coffee but I wanted hot choco instead so he got me a cup. I can't believe that my first day in the mansion would be this hectic. I'm still worried about Venice and the sight of him crying a while back makes my heart sink.

"You know, you really look similar to the lady. Maybe that's why the young master likes you so much." Arm suddenly commented making me look at him.

"R-really? I've heard that from Macau too. Seems like I really do look like her." I said with an awkward smile.

That's right, all of them could see how I resemble Khiara. All of them but Vegas.

"You know... the mansion is quite lively compared to other households so I hope you don't get frightened or surprised in the future. What happened was just one of those typical accidents." Arm said as I turned to him.

"You mean it usually happens?" I asked since it's how he sounded.

"Well, yeah. It's kind of a normal thing. You know, Sir Vegas still refuses to hold the young master so it's normal that--"

"What? What do you mean he refuses to hold him?" I asked as he paused before placing his mug on the table.

"Well... I don't know if it's what happened to the lady or was it something else but Sir Vegas never held his son in the past two years."

"You mean since he was born?" I confirmed as Arm nodded.

I closed my eyes as I felt a stinging pain in my chest. How can a father never hold his son for that long? Thinking back, he did order Arm to take Venice from me when we first met at the hospital. This is absurd. No matter how much he hated Khiara, he can't just abandon Venice.

"Hyung!" I heard Macau call out as I looked behind me, meeting him with a smile.

"Sir Macau, it's already pass nine. Aren't you going to be late?" Arm reminded him.

I remember Seyon and him talking about some bar, was he working there?

"Eh~ but I want to stay with hyung." Macau whined as I chuckled.

"Sir Macau, Mrs. Park called yesterday saying you haven't been attending your classes lately. Do you want Sir Vegas to know all this?" Arm sounded threatening as Macau stiffened.

"Ugh, damn it. Hyung, I'll be home by 2pm so wait for me, okay? Phi Vegas won't be around so you'll be fine. Also, Arm and Pol are here, you can ask them for anything." Macau smiled and I caught a glance of Arm's lips pursing into a contemplated smile.

"Okay, okay. Don't worry about me and get to class already." I told Macau and he went off to get ready.

My eyes followed Macau from behind until he turned right before looking back at Arm.

"Is he at a university?" I asked since I'm really curious about what's been happening to the family after I died.

"Sir Macau is taking up Engineering at National University. He's a semester behind but thankfully he's catching up. I really thought he'd just drop out and go awol." Arm said making me more curious.

"What happened?" I asked as Arm let out a sigh before looking at me.

"Since you'll be working here with us, I think it's better you have an idea of what happened. Two years ago, Sir Vegas received a call that Sir Macau wasn't in his classes while we were at Thailand. After an investigation, we found out that he's been hanging out with suspicious people and has been going to bars and such." Arm said as I gulped, why do I have a gist that it's because of me?

Macau did say we met two years ago and with Pete's lifestyle, it's possible that Macau got caught up with it.

"And what happened?" I asked.

"Uhm, well... Sir Vegas was forced to move here then, of course with young master Venice. However, that didn't stop Sir Macau's behavior. He's not the obedient type, really." Arm chuckled as if remembering what happened.

I stared at the mug on my hand, just how much did Pete influence Macau to the point that Vegas had to move here?

"The, Sir Vegas warned him, well more like threatened him." Arm said making me turn to his direction.

"Threatened? What do you mean?" I asked and Arm let out a sigh before looking at me.