Chapter 12
Confrontation
Sakura tried not to breathe—or move, for that matter—since she was being squeezed in the back seat like a sandwich between Logan and Conrad. Honestly, she thought, why did she have to return home with them? Why couldn’t Mark have dropped her off? Why had Mary taken her car away without telling her? Why, oh why?
She pulled Sebastian’s large jacket—the one he had unceremoniously dumped on her person the moment she’d taken off her lab coat back at the lab—across her front tighter. Then she folded her arms across her chest, trying to relax. But how could she relax when Conrad kept staring at her and giving that dazzling smile of his? To be honest, she found it rather funny since he reminded her so much of Toby when the dog was trying to please her. She wondered if Conrad was trying to do the same thing.
“Sakura,” he began, “what interesting things have you been doing?”
Sakura wanted him to stop bothering her and thus gave him a good scowl.
“Stop frowning, my sweet Sakura,” Logan said, which welcomed a quick suspicious glance from Sebastian through the rearview mirror. “You’ll get wrinkles.”
Her frown darkened. “I haven’t been doing anything interesting, apart from the usual,” she said. After all, why would they be interested in her life now when they’d never given a damn before? So she kept her mouth shut even though Conrad was quite persistent in his endeavor to make conversation with her.
“Give it a rest, Conrad,” Nicolas said abruptly. “She’s tired.”
“Yes,” Sebastian added. “It has been a long day.”
Conrad stopped his questioning then, and Sakura sighed with relief.
Once they got back to Princeton Mansion twenty minutes later, Sakura quickly escaped from the car and rushed into the house. She was promptly greeted by the hyperactive Toby, who raced toward her with his wee, short legs.
Sakura laughed and bent down to pick him up. “You miss me?” she said.
Toby barked excitedly and licked her cheek.
“Huh!” a voice expressed from the drawing room. “Finally, somebody shut that stupid dog up.”
Sakura froze and automatically hugged Toby against her chest protectively. “It’s okay, Toby,” she said to the dog and quickly headed across the corridor toward the stairs.
When she thought she would escape unscathed, Tara emerged from the drawing room.
Sakura wasn’t surprised to see that Tara was still as beautiful as ever with her platinum-blond hair, tanned skin, and tall, lean figure.
Tara immediately spotted Sebastian standing by the door looking very handsome indeed in Calvin Klein jeans and a blue formal shirt. She wondered where he’d been and without inviting her along, too. Then she noticed Nicolas, Logan, and Conrad standing beside Sebastian, all dressed semi-formal as well.
“Hey, where have you guys been?” she asked, pouting her lips akin to that of a little girl being denied candy. “Should have invited me.”
Tristan, Hayden, and Darcy happened to walk through the doorway at that moment. Tristan was laughing about something, and Hayden was giving Tristan a friendly punch on the arm. Darcy just shook his head at his brothers. Of course, they’d been talking about women again and the best method to get them in the mood for sex.
They all came to a complete stop at the corridor when they noticed their brothers were still standing there awkwardly. Darcy wondered why and knew instantly once he had spotted Tara before them, standing there as if she were posing for a photo shoot for some hot magazine.
Tara’s eyes lit up the moment she spotted Darcy, though he didn’t give her any indication he appreciated her presence. Sakura, on the other hand, chose that moment to leave quietly. If only Toby didn’t bark, however, then she would have been gone without anyone noticing her. But the dog did bark, and Tara finally turned her attention to Sakura.
Tara stared at her for a long moment, as if trying to recollect who she was. Then her eyes seemed to blaze with blue fire, and her hands fisted tightly at her sides.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” she asked straight out, her voice tight. “I thought you were long gone. So what? You’re here to destroy our family again? Who invited you here?”
The brothers held their breath at the sarcastic statements fired at Sakura. The scene suddenly took them back to their childhood when Tara had unleashed her temper on little Sakura, who hadn’t been able to do anything except endure the bullying and then run away to hide and cry. This reminder, of course, made the brothers really worried because they no longer wanted to simply stand by and watch passively, ignoring the whole situation as if nothing had happened.
Sebastian narrowed his eyes dangerously. Nicolas pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose—an gesture the brothers knew very well—which meant a serious action was about to be taking place. Darcy scowled and fisted his hands tightly by his sides. Hayden’s, Tristan’s, and Logan’s faces became serious.
Conrad, who’d never encountered this faceoff between Sakura and Tara before, was very shocked at Tara’s despicable tone of voice toward Sakura.
“That’s not very nice, Tara,” he said loudly.
Tara ignored him and continued glaring at Sakura.
Sakura cocked her head to one side and then gave Tara a lovely fake smile. With her voice soft and calm, she said, “I believe I live here. This is, after all, my home. And I am, after all, a Princeton.”
This, of course, surprised the brothers beyond belief as they stared at her with something akin to shock. Little Sakura, after all, had never answered back.
Tara narrowed her eyes and shouted, “Like hell you live here! Princeton? Bullshit! You’re not a Princeton. You don’t even know your real last name. You’re full of bullshit!”
In response to Tara’s outrageous yell, Toby barked aggressively, which caused Tara to stumble back with fright. Toby kept barking and then growled at Tara, who swore at him in anger.
“Shut up, you stupid dog! Shut up!” she screamed. “You’re giving me a headache.”
“That’s enough, Tara!” Nicolas’s deep, commanding voice echoed throughout the hallway.
Tara gasped in fright and automatically turned to look at Nicolas, confused. For years, he had never used such tone of voice toward her. In fact, Nicolas, who was very much like his father James, had never used that particular tone of voice toward anyone except for when he was very upset and had to set things in order.
“This is no way to treat your sister,” he said, his eyes narrowed dangerously.
“That was mean, Tara,” Conrad said, his voice cold.
“Your behavior is uncalled for,” Hayden said, folding his arms across his massive chest.
“I concur,” Logan added.
“You’re not pretty when you act like a bitch, Tara,” Tristan stated matter-of-factly.
Sakura was completely shocked that the brothers were on her side in this unexpected confrontation. When they were young, they just pretended it never happened. They’ve changed, she thought. They’ve grown.
Toby started barking aggressively at Tara again. Sakura stroked his head, telling him to calm down. The dog obeyed her and stopped barking. She turned her attention to Tara and said, “I think binge drinking and sleeping late causes your headache, Tara, not my sweet Toby barking at you.” She walked past Tara toward the stairs and then decided to add, “By the way, you really should lay off those cigarettes and alcohol because they really do give you wrinkles. Not good for a supermodel, don’t you think?” With that, she headed up the stairs without a backward glance.
Toby took the opportunity to growl at Tara once again, telling her to piss off. Sakura couldn’t help but smile at her little dog’s aggressive behavior. Toby really did protect his master all right, as any good dog should.
The brothers were speechless. Sakura had grown—both outside and in—and now nothing could faze her. Conrad couldn’t help but laugh.
“What the hell are you laughing abou
t?” Tara asked him angrily.
“I think you should stay away from Toby, Tara,” Conrad said. “He doesn’t like you very much. You might get bitten.” With that, he headed into the drawing room.
Tara glared at him as he left, her chest heaving with anger. Then she turned to the other six brothers.
Darcy was able to relax and released his tight fists once he noted Sakura had disappeared from sight up the stairs and was saved from Tara’s further onslaught of bullying.
“Did you see her? The way she behaved?” Tara asked the brothers.
Darcy ignored her outrageous question and headed past her up the stairs. He wasn’t in the mood to interact with a bitch who was half-drunk and harassing her own adopted sister.
Nicolas frowned at her. “This is a family reunion, Tara. I don’t expect such behavior from you, and I’m sure Dad expects the same. You are still a Princeton, after all, and should behave accordingly.”
Tara bit her lip, her hands fisted tight on her hips. Princeton, my ass, she thought sourly. She never considered herself a Princeton. She was only using the name to secure a high life.
“Don’t do it again,” he warned coldly, nudging his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
Tara didn’t reply as she stood there, fuming.
Nicolas dismissed her by saying, “I need a shower,” and headed up the stairs.
Tristan, Logan, and Hayden all headed into the drawing room. None bothered to pay her any attention. Finally, Tara turned to Sebastian, who looked as though he was ready to murder her. His face was dark, his eyes narrowed, and his stance was tense.
Tara, however, didn’t see it that way. She thought Sebastian was pissed with Sakura’s behavior. She softened her face and asked, “How did you come back with her? I didn’t even know she lives here. James and Brenda never told me.”
Though she had been adopted by the Princetons, Tara had never gotten used to calling James and Brenda Mom and Dad. She hated calling them by those endearments and had refused to submit to their gentle urging. She didn’t care, had never cared, even if it hurt their feelings. For her, Melissa Byrd was her only mom, the woman who had loved her and had sacrificed so much for her to get her this far. Her dad, on the other hand, was someone who had never really existed in her life, and she pretty much didn’t care if he was dead or alive.
“We were at Lauren’s birthday party,” Sebastian said, walking past her. Then, before he disappeared down the corridor, he turned and added, “By the way, you should shower. You stink of alcohol.”
Tara blinked in confusion. She cocked her head to one side, wondering why she had the sudden feeling that every one of the brothers was ignoring her. She watched Sebastian walking away, his face impassive.