The bad boy knows how to love.

Prologue

We were sat around our dining room table, the 3 of us, eating the food prepared for us by the house maids. The atmosphere was unpleasant, I could feel it in the air but I was uncertain why. My mum was exchanging worried glances between me and my father, each delivered with a different message. The looks she was giving me, communicated that she was worried about me having to shortly witness a hostile situation, and I got the impression that I should finish my dinner quickly and go to my room. On the other hand, the worried expression she directed at my father was clear concern about the anger that he was soon about to release.

Nothing had really been the same since my dad received a promotion one year ago and became the CEO of a huge media company which gave him an integral role in the entertainment industry. Long gone was the husband who surprised his wife with flowers after work, and the father who used to play board games with his children every Sunday just for fun. My dad became a workaholic, he worked practically all week, and any time he would get to spend at home, he would be busy in his office working. His chaotic lifestyle meant he was never really in a good mood, something was always stressing him out to do with work and he was often difficult to talk to. My mum then became a shadow of my dad, she would do everything to please him, and never really had her own say in anything, acting more like a maid than a mother. And so, we became this seemingly prefect family on the outside: a successful businessman, a picture-perfect housewife and two flawless children. But in reality, we were hardly a family anymore. 

Although, growing distant from my father had hurt me, it had the biggest impact on my older sister Jess, who was 16 at the time. She was going through a difficult time during that period and really needed our parent's attention and understanding, especially when I was not able to provide much actual help as the younger, less experienced sister. I could only be there when she wanted a shoulder to cry on. Our parents never acknowledged the fact that Jess was actually mentally unwell, they just thought it was common teenage problems that would go away eventually and always prioritised their work over her. As a result, Jess started to rebel, she would often get into trouble in school, getting into fights, talking back at teachers, nothing that serious but enough to get a phone call home as a way to make our parents notice her and intervene. However, this simply caused arguments between them, which would often end with them growing even more distant from each other and offered Jess no help at all.

The front door suddenly slammed open and Jess walked in, her bleached blonde hair was tied up in a ponytail. She was dressed in her oversized parka jacket, black tights and combat boots. As she attempted to make her way up the stairs my dad shouted out "Jessica get in here now". I knew this was not gonna end well.

"What is this supposed to mean?" my dad questioned and slammed a newspaper onto the dining table which contained the headline ' Andrew Smith's daughter pictured taking drugs during local music festival for teens' or something along those lines.

"Dad they are lying! How can you even believe them? Have you seen the pictures? Im not stupid enough to do drugs, who do you think i am?" Jess argued back, slamming her hands onto the table and i believed her with no doubt. I was close to Jess, right from the start, she was the perfect older sister, always looking out for me and putting me first. That's what made her different from our father; Jess always had her priorities straight, and she always put family (especially me) first, no matter what. She was a rebellious kid, but she knew her right from wrong and I was sure she would never get involved with drugs.

"I don't know who you are anymore Jessica, not my daughter, thats for sure" dad snapped back i could see that Jess was completely broken by what she had just heard but managed to stay strong and did not seem at all surprised. My eyes began to water as i had to sit through this without saying anything, scared i would only make things worse. Similarly, i could see my mum feared speaking up and played with her hands simply looking down at the table.

Jess stormed out the room and up the stairs whilst my dad went back to his dinner, the anger he was containing was now double what it was before and he turned to look at me. "I hope you learn from your sister's mistakes and understand that we have a certain image to uphold Daisy, i cannot let my company lose its success because of some scandals in the media. You girls need to understand this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated."

I squeezed my eyes shut, hurt knowing that my dad no longer cared about me and my sister, only the wellbeing of his business. To him it was all about image and money; it didn't matter that his 17 year old daughter was probably in her room crying right now because her own father believed the press over her and proceeded to basically disown her. It didn't matter that he hadn't had a real conversation with his wife in over a year, it didn't matter that at the age of 16 I had no parents i could rely on or trust. I understood that our seemingly 'perfect' family would never be perfect again.

That night I slept in Jess' room to comfort her as much as I could. Usually, it would not take too long for me to cheer her up, we had a ton of inside jokes that we found hilarious and eventually we would fall asleep forgetting about the horrible situation. Yet, this time i could tell something was different. I knew she was heartbroken by what our dad said to her and the fact that our parents didn't believe her, and honestly I was too. I hoped that our parents would finally open their eyes and do the inevitable: apologise and take Jess' side for once. But that was highly unlikely.

"J, I know Dad really hurt you, and what he said was awful but he probably doesn't mean it, he just said it in the moment" i said trying to convince myself as well as her.

"I want to believe that Daisy, I really wish I could. But no matter how hard I try, I still feel like they don't love me" Jess replied back, she had stopped crying but her eyes were still red and puffy as she sat on her bed while i was sat cross legged on her desk.

"You believe me don't you? I didn't take any drugs, you know i never would" she asked me. "Of course i do" I said moving from the desk to give her a hug.

"I was just stood next to a group of people and next thing i know reporters were taking photos of me, I didn't even know these people were taking drugs. Why can't dad believe me? Why doesn't he listen to me? Why don't they care Daisy?" She cried into my shoulder.

"I don't know J, I really don't", she pulled away from my shoulder and looked me straight in the eyes. Her eyes were bright blue glazed with tears "Daisy I want you to have something " she said smiling as if she was over what had happened already. I was confused as to what she could have possibly wanted to give me. She then proceeded to unclasp her 'J' necklace from her neck and place it in my hand. It was a beautiful necklace, I remember when she first bought it, and immediately ran into my room to show it off. I had called her J throughout most of my life and the necklace suited her so much, she wore it every single day which is why i was confused why she is giving it to me now. I looked at the necklace in my hand then back up at her "Why are you giving me your favourite necklace?" I questioned with a confused smile. "So that no matter what" Jess paused, as if she was saying something difficult "you know I always love you and I am with you" she finished, smiling brightly at me but her eyes didn't quite share the same happy look.

Of course her actions had caused me to worry about her as we were falling asleep in her bed that night, but never had i thought that the next morning i would wake up in an empty room.

No traces of Jess left behind, apart from the J necklace that was now loosely hanging on my neck.