Reborn Deceit

CHAPTER FOUR

Rose

At exactly four in the afternoon, Rose walked out of her apartment with her overnight bag over her shoulder as a sleek black BMW coupe rolled to a stop in front of her. The passenger side window slid down and Mira's smiling face came into view, radio blaring.

"Hop in, girly!" She called over the music, motioning Rose towards her.

Rose climbed in the passenger seat, throwing her bag in the back and slipping the seat belt on.

Rose had spent the thirty minutes she was home after work typing up several text messages to Mira, then immediately deleting them. She wanted desperately to back out of this dinner but nothing she could come up with seemed believable. 'I'm still a bit hungover', 'I think I caught the stomach bug suddenly', 'I forgot I had to help the local food shelf' were all bullcrap excuses that Mira would see through instantly. So, Rose put on her big girl pants, sucked it up, and mentally prepared herself for what was going to be a disastrous night.

She was really starting to regret that decision. Rose couldn't pinpoint exactly why her heart was jackhammering away in her chest, or why her throat had suddenly gone dry. Maybe it was because she had never gotten close enough to someone to have to worry about their family liking her. Rose found herself in that situation now. As her and Miras friend blossomed like a spring flower, Rose realized that she desperately wanted—no, needed—Mira's family to approve of Rose.

Rose didn't think she was a difficult person to get along with. She was friendly with everyone, even with the people who made her want to bash her head against a cinder block. Yeah, she had her flaws, like her venomous sarcasm, short-fused temper, and ability to push people away when they tried to pry open her steel door of feelings, but who didn't?

So, when she thought about how Mira's family seemed to disapprove of her, Rose admitted to herself how hard that that hit her. She was just going to have to try harder to win them over.

"Mira, this car looks really expensive," Rose said, admiring the extremely clean interior of the sporty looking car.

Mira let out a laugh before stomping on the gas, accelerating the car extremely quickly. "The boys like to collect cars." She shrugged as if it was completely normal for people to collect cars that cost more than Rose made in a year.

It didn't take long to drive to the Nikolaidis house. Mira didn't slow down the entire trip; she barely even stopped for red lights and stop signs. But honestly, Rose wasn't all that afraid. Mira maneuvered the car with such ease and had such a sense of calmness to her that Rose couldn't help but relax into the leather seat as Mira sped along the pavement. It almost seemed supernatural.

Mira slowed down—finally!—and took a left, stopping at the black gates that Rose recognized from last night. Rolling down the window, Mira pressed a code into a small device beside the car, resulting in the heavy doors opening wide.

When the house—correction, mansion—came into view Rose actually let out a low whistle. The giant house was even more beautiful in the daylight.

Mira drove around the fountain (Rose must have missed that during her marathon run in the dark) placed directly in the middle of the circle driveway, stopping the car in front of the white stone staircase that lead to the large mahogany and glass front door.

"Welcome back to my home," Mira said as she climbed out of the car. Rose grabbed her bag and stepped out as well, then followed Mira as she headed towards the house. "It's technically my family's house, but Felix and Caius live with us as well."