Water vs Blood

New York

New York felt much chillier than Daphne was accustomed to, as her feet hit the marble floor. She slid her feet into her fluffy slippers and got up from her bed in search of any movement in the vacant house. Her father would most likely be here, because the office lets him work from home most of the time.

Their mansion in Tuxedo Park was an impressive display of modern design.

With that being said, it can be assumed her father was well off money wise.

Daphne's darkish, Auburn hair must have still been a mess and her clothes overstretched as per usual.

She's been awake since sunrise, but she would much rather stay cuddled between the covers, watching some movie or mindlessly scroll through social media.

Her knuckles thump against the heavy old wood door of her father's study twice, in a quick pace. She subconsciously takes her hair into a ponytail, to create some sort of order. Her fingers slightly graze a scar on her abdomen out of habit.

"Come in." She hears her father's gruff voice call out to the person behind the wooden door.

His eyes looked dark and exhausted as he lifted his head up to his youngest daughter. She couldn't help but wonder, maybe her father did find some sort of love for her in his blackened heart.

"Good afternoon." He gives her a pointed look, giving her appearance a once over look. She knew he was judging her oversized clothes. Or maybe it was the delayed time that she finally decided to get up from bed. "Did you sleep in that?"

"Good morning, Dad. And yes I slept in this and I will also be staying in this throughout the day." She moves over and leans onto the corner of the desk next to her father's paperwork. Her eyes tried to catch a glimpse of what he was working on. She always had a strange fondness to criminal cases and murders.

His gaze caught her wondering eyes furthermore moving the paperwork out of her sight. "Do you need something Daphne?"

She sighs looking at the carpet that has been replaced several times since she was born. Her eyes follow a ray of light shining through the window behind her father. There was a huge backyard staring back at her. Her mind starts to wonder to her childhood memories, but she quickly regains responsiveness, remembering why she was here in the first place. "Is Mom here?"

"No, she's at the bakery today." He takes off his reading classes to look at her more promptly. She looks back at the overworked and stressed Benjamin Jackson in front of her. Sometimes when Daphne was younger, she often wondered if being a lawyer meant taking some of the cases you had to defend, even though you knew the defendant was guilty, personal. She now knew the answer to that question.

"Why?" She asks giving her father a new confused look.

"She has a job, unlike some of my daughters." He tells her, giving a slight disappointed look, swotting her away from the desk with his shaky, wrinkly hand.

"And unlike the bad husband you are, I actually remembered that today is Mom's birthday." She rictuses at him and hopped away from the desk to stroll back out the heavy door.

She hears him cussing under his tone as he scrambled to get his car keys and jog past her to get downstairs. She waited and listened for him to slam the front door behind him, suddenly angered by his own forgetfulness.

Daphne turned the last corner and entered the kitchen, spotting Rosebelle right away. She wasn't someone you could miss walking into a room.

"Morning Daphne." Rosebelle said with a soft grin playing on her lips, a perfect set of teeth on showcase. Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun with her tennis skirt and polo shirt hugging her model-like body. Worst part about it all this, that same body had recently given birth to her spoiled baby niece.