Plastic diamonds - Marjorie's backstory.

Chapter 22

Marjorie started walking towards the stage. Reece grabbing her hand one last time, trying to pull her back, but she slipped out of his grip.

Marjorie walked towards the stage with the biggest smirk on her face, quickly faking a smile as the host handed her the microphone. "Just introduce yourself and speak!" He smiled at her, backing away from the stage to let Marjorie have her moment.

She quickly glanced at everyone in the room, not everyone was paying attention. She then looked at Reece, Autumn and Winter. Reece had his hands over his face, while Autumn gave Marjorie the 'do it' eyebrow raise. She then turned her attention to her mother and step father, who were both faintly shaking their heads, gesturing for her to get off. That was the motivation she needed to start speaking. "Hi everyone." She smiled, speaking into the mic. "I'm Marjorie. Marjorie Van Gould. Daughter of Amanda Van Gould." Heads turned towards the stage as Marjorie said that, the room slowly filling with silence. Howard placed his hands over his head, while Amanda gave Marjorie a disgusted look.

"Some of you may remember me, some may not. But i'm here to speak the real truth on how I feel about the Van Goulds." She looked back up at the crowd. "And of course, my dearest mother." She gestured towards her, making sure all eyes looked at her mother in that moment. All Amanda could do was fake a smile.

"The Van Goulds may seem like a happy family on the outside, but on the inside? There's so much more." She began.

Before Marjorie could start speaking again, she was cut across by Howard. "Marjorie, please get off the stage, you are clearly drunk." Howard stood up, walking towards the stage.

Marjorie shushed him. "Sit back down, Howard." She said, which caused Howard to stand in his place for a second. "I would love to give a speech about my family."

Marjorie then turned away from where her parents were sitting, looking directly back at the crowd. "Let me start off with Howard. In the public eye, you all see him as this.. loving family man. But truthfully, he has you all fooled. When I lived in that house many years ago, nothing felt like a family when those doors were shut. These two people who seem to be so 'happily married' don't even speak to each other. In fact, Howard is so stuck up his own businesses, that he makes it well known he has no time for anyone, including my mother."

Marjorie stopped speaking for a second, watching people start whispering to one another in the crowd. She turned her head to Reece, who was watching her very closely. He smiled at her, and she faintly smiled back. "He only cares about publicity, and money of course. This family crap he captures to the public? He's lying through his teeth." She continued. "They both live two separate lives. From what I can remember, Howard was out in all the bars you can imagine every night, coming home drunk, and blaming all of his problems on the people he states he loves."

The whispers in the crowd slowly became louder. Marjorie had an evil glint in her eye as she watched them all with their shocked expressions. "I can't speak much about Howard, I don't really know him that well. However, always remember he does not care about your feelings, all he cares about is getting more money and publicity off all of you." She glared at Howard, who was turned away from the crowd, whispering things into Amanda's ear.

"And I know, you're all probably feeling terrible for my mother right now." Marjorie put on a sarcastic sad tone, as she watched the crowd slowly nod along. "But don't be fooled by her beauty. She's just as bad. Maybe even, worse?"

The crowd went completely silent, waiting for Marjorie to say the next thing. She felt a pit of anxiety build up in her, she realised this speech was sobering her up quicker than she thought. She looked at Reece again, the one person who stood out the most in the crowd. All three of them gave Marjorie a reassuring look, telling her to continue. "My mother is nothing but a gold digger. She's not with this man for love, or for happiness. She's here for money, for fame, everything she receives from the public is exactly what she's here for. She only married Howard because my dad passed away at a young age. She is using him for money!"

Amanda immediately stood up and stood at the edge of the stage, trying to grab Marjorie's hand, but she quickly pulled it away. "Marjorie. Enough!" She whispered in an angry tone.

Marjorie quickly rolled her eyes and continued with her speech. "She doesn't even care about her own daughter. She constantly belittled me, constantly put me down, just to make sure she was better than me." She looked down at her mother, who was standing at the end of the stage. "Imagine having that much jealousy built up in you, that you have to take everything out on your own daughter? But you claim to love your family, right?"

Amanda looked at Marjorie with a blank stare. Realisation hitting her that she was never going to win in this. She slowly backed away to her table, sitting down and willing to admit her defeat. "She also a cheater." This caused Howard to look up at Amanda with a shocked expression, he shook his head and looked back at Marjorie. "I've caught her many times, bringing home different men, or even with men who were in the household."

"This family is filled with awful human beings who do not care about other people's feelings at all." She once again looked at the table her parents were sitting at. "I cannot wait to watch your downfall. I wish absolutely nothing but the worst for you and your businesses. You two are major manipulators, liars, and do not care about anything other than yourselves and the fame you get on the outside." She spoke directly to them.

"I hope you enjoy this 'happy life' you both claim to be living in. But in all honesty, i'm so happy I walked away from this so called 'family' years ago." She lowered her tone a bit, still speaking into the microphone, making sure that everyone can still hear her. "Never contact me, or any of my chosen family again after this. I hope everyone finds out and realises the people you truly are." Marjorie glared at them both, she threw the microphone towards their direction and stormed off the stage, leaving the hall entirely.

Reece, Autumn and Winter watched her storm out, they then watched more people immediately stand up for their chairs and leave. Marjorie had done it. She had finally exposed her 'family' for what they truly were. Winter, in his not so sober mind started clapping, which caused more people around to copy him.

As the room filled up with support for Marjorie, Reece stood up and walked out the hall, making his way outside to go and find his girlfriend. Winter and Autumn quickly got up and chased after Reece. As they stood outside, Reece was panicking and looking around. "Where has she gone?" He turned around, asking the other two.

Autumn noticed the panicked look on Reece's face which caused her to panic as well. She placed her hand on her big brothers shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll find her.."