Cheers To Comeuppance
Chapter 26

Third Person

As the Silverton entourage made their final descent into JFK Airport, Annika was lying in bed at home, determined to enjoy the brief respite she was given. She was wiped out after barely getting any sleep on account of the slew of phone calls and text messages that bombarded her throughout the entire morning. Most who reached out were extended family members that wanted to exploit the opportunity to say, “I told you so,” but a few of her and Jeff’s mutual friends came out of the woodwork too. These so-called friends expressed their concern, claiming ignorance and declaring they would have tattled had they known. Annika could only roll her eyes and scoff dismissively at their gratuitous statements that amounted to nothing more than a pile of horse s**t. Her time was precious, and she didn’t have any patience to deal with self-serving people who waited until now to pretend they cared. After all, she had other priorities that required her immediate attention, and she could already feel the imposing shadow of her family’s presence drawing closer by the minute.

Annika looked like a cloud had swallowed her whole after burying herself under a mountain of pillows, and a flurry of goose feathers scattered everywhere after she was startled by her phone vibrating on the bedside table. She regarded her phone through narrowed eyes, convinced that her time had run out, but she perked up instantly when she saw who was calling and didn’t hesitate any longer to answer,

“Good morning, Mr. Von Doren.”

“Good morning, Annika. I thought we agreed to drop the titles, so what’s with the formalities?”

“Well, I’m still trying to get used to it, so have a little patience.”

“Annika, we met a little over two months ago. I think it’s been more than enough time.

“Well …”

“I thought we had made some progress. Tsk tsk, I know I told you my plans to officially pursue you after we were done exposing those crooks.”

“Mr. … Ugh! Leon, why are you so adamant about pursuing me? I’m damaged goods.”

“I am too.”

“So, what? Are you trying to say we can be damaged together? Or that misery loves company?”

“Not at all. The first thing that came to mind was, perhaps, we can grow together and heal each other.”

“Oh.” Annika was taken aback by his statement and didn’t know how to respond. She was so preoccupied with preserving her broken heart that she never once considered she and Leon could potentially heal one another from the pain and suffering they had endured by the people who had promised to love them unconditionally.

“Annika, the last thing I want is for you to feel pressured into accepting me right away. I decided early on that I was in this for the long haul, and I want to pursue you the old-fashioned way. After everything you’ve been through, I know relationships are the last thing on your mind, so I want to respect your boundaries and provide you with a safe space for healing. We’re just getting started in our fight against those clowns. To that end, let’s pause this discussion until their arraignment. Hm?”

“Sure. That sounds like a plan. But first, I need to set the record straight. I want to let you know that I’m not completely against everything. I just don’t know if I can open myself up to anyone again because I loved Jeffrey with every fiber of my being. I have already suffered so much, yet I cannot even begin to comprehend the long-term effects of his betrayal. In other words, I’m completely traumatized and afraid of being hurt again.”

“I understand that. And I’ll be mindful of that as well. I just want you to know that you can trust me.”

“That remains to be seen. You still have a ways to go to prove yourself to me, Leon.”

“I’ll prove myself to you. Just you wait, Annika.” Her cheeks flushed a shade of pink, and the smile that followed his reply resembled a flower blooming under the sun. To her bemusement and slight indignation, Annika realized she was no longer immune to Leon’s advances. She was about to respond, but her doorbell ringing in the background pulled the plug on their conversation. “Are you expecting someone?”

“I think it’s my family. Unfortunately, the Silverton’s have successfully infiltrated the penthouse, so I’ll have to let you go.”

“Alright. I’m here for you. Just call or text whenever you need me.”

“Thanks.”

Annika launched herself out of bed and stretched her body, releasing an emphatic yawn before she swiftly put on her robe and house slippers. Even though she knew what was coming, Annika still peeked through the peephole to see about a dozen people outside her doorstep. She hung her head and reluctantly opened the door to her family and their massive army of lawyers.

“Oh, my poor baby!” Mrs. Silverton pounced on her daughter, hugging her to the point where Annika’s circulation was cut off, and she could no longer breathe.

“Mama! Too tight!” Annika’s voice sounded strained as she struggled to get the words out, but her efforts were all in vain as her mother squeezed her with even more force. Her father simply shook his head at his wife and pat Annika on the head. It was the one thing Annika hated the most, but she couldn’t swat her father’s hand away because her mother’s embrace had her hands tied. “Mama! Let go!”

“Honey, that’s enough. Baby Bear can’t breathe.”

“Ya! Okay!” her mother relented, releasing Annika from her death grip. She grabbed her daughter’s face and examined her closely. “Annika, baby girl, how are you?”

“Mama, I’m fine. Really, I am.”

“Annika, I have a special delivery, courtesy of Micky,” Matthaeus, her brother-in-law, announced before punching Annika in the arm.

“WHAT THE HELL!?”

“It’s from your sister. I told her that you get mad, but she said, and I quote– You’re lucky I’m not there myself. Otherwise, you’d get more than a punch in the arm. So, don’t get mad at me,” Matthaeus insisted as he held his hands up in automatic surrender.

“f*****g Micky,” Annika grumbled. Matthaeus let himself into the penthouse, and the family attorneys followed suit. “Geez, how many of you are there!?” Annika gaped at the single file of men and women that walked in like an army of fire ants.

“There’s ten of us, sis,” Matthaeus answered.

“Daddy, isn’t this a bit excessive, even for you!?” She gaped at the sight of her father, who had already taken his place on her massive leather sectional. He had even procured a glass of brandy for himself. “What the? My liquor cabinet is locked! How did you get the code!?”

“Baby Bear, it’s your birthday.”

“How did you …”

“What else would you change it to after it was originally set as your wedding anniversary?” her father asked in return, lifting his brow in a cocky manner. Annika scowled at Mr. Silverton’s antics, causing him to chuckle as he enjoyed his drink.

“Daddy, it’s barely noon!”

“So? It’s five o’clock somewhere, right?” His response earned a dramatic eye roll from Annika, but she knew she would lose this battle. She wanted to counter with the fact that drinking would send him to an early grave with the high probability of liver failure, but she held her tongue knowing that her father wouldn’t even bat an eyelash to that fact. A ruckus erupted inside the kitchen, forcing Annika to sprint over, only to replace her mother pulling out food from the refrigerator.

“Mama! What are you doing?”

“Finding ingredients to make lunch for everyone, baby. What else would I be doing?”

“Mama! I can cook for myself.”

“Nonsense! You have work to do with Matthaeus and your father. Leave the kitchen and all the housework to me. You need your strength and energy to conquer the hell you’ll be walking through.”

“Mama!” Annika pouted and puffed her cheeks in annoyance. This was precisely the reason she didn’t want her family getting involved. Whenever her family was in the picture, everything inevitably became more complicated.

“Sweetie, be a dear and call over Kenzie and Hunter for dinner tonight, will you? I’m sure your father and Matthaeus will want to speak with them. Plus, I haven’t seen their sweet faces in a hot minute.”

“Yes, Mama.” Annika sulked, knowing that her home had now transformed into the unofficial Silverton base of operations. She quickly sent a text to Kenzie about the dinner invitation, and Kenzie wasted zero time in responding with a dozen thumbs-up emojis accompanied by cheesy happy faces.

Upon her return to the living room, she was greeted by an unwelcome sight. The Silverton entourage had rearranged her furniture and turned it into a makeshift office, equipped with a rolling whiteboard in the middle of the floor.

“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU GUYS DO TO MY LIVING ROOM!?” she shouted at the top of her lungs.

“Darling, there’s no need to scream at us. We needed the space to work. You know that this is how we do things,” her father said as calmly as ever without even meeting her eye.

“Oh my God, this can’t be happening,” she mumbled to herself as she ran her fingers through her hair and tugged at the base of her scalp in frustration. The sound of the doorbell cut through the commotion, and Annika furrowed her brows, wondering who it could be. She flew towards the peephole, and the person waiting outside made the b***d drain from her face. She opened the door but rather than greet this person, Annika blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Royce, why are you here!? I thought you were in Ireland or something like that.” Royce was her second oldest brother, just below Micky, and he was just as imposing as she remembered.

“It was Greenland, but I hopped on the first flight back when I saw the s**t circulating online about that fucker cheating on you,” Royce explained before he shoved his way in without waiting for an invitation.

“Son, what a pleasant surprise!” her father beamed as he hugged his youngest son. “So, all it takes is your baby sister getting into trouble for you to come home?” he teased.

“Hey, pops. Matthaeus. What can I say? Annika is my kid sister, so I gotta be there for her when she needs me,” Royce replied nonchalantly and took a seat on the couch as he looked over what was written on the whiteboard.

“WHO SAID I NEEDED YOUR HELP!?” Annika fumed.

“Aww, come on, sis. You know you can’t do anything without my help, and you would need the right resources to have someone killed.”

“I DON’T NEED YOU TO ASSASSINATE ANYONE, ROYCE!”

“Really? Because I was under the impression that Jeff needed to get his a*s handed to him and that his concubine needed to disappear.”

“ROYCE! Just because you’re the family mechanic doesn’t mean you can just show up, ready to pull the trigger … you … you trigger happy gorilla!”

“GORILLA?!” Royce gawked at his sister as she made light of his overbearingly large size.

“Kids!” their mother shouted from the kitchen. “Royce, you are not allowed to kill anyone unless we give you explicit permission. Annika, stop making fun of your brother!” Annika glared at Royce and then stuck her tongue out in annoyance. Royce rolled his eyes at her childish demeanor and asked, “Where’s Hux?”

“On his way,” their father answered without skipping a beat.

“WHAT?! Huxley is coming too!?” Annika exclaimed in shock.

“Of course, your big brother is coming, Baby Bear. It’s all hands on deck, so we’ll need him this time. Even if that imbecile doesn’t realize you are a member of this family, he will most definitely recognize your brother and Matthaeus once we show up in the courtroom,” her father answered as he went to refill his glass of brandy.

“Well, this humble penthouse of mine doesn’t have enough room for all of your people, Daddy!”

“Don’t worry, baby bear. The lawyers will be staying at one of the family hotels. Rest assured, only immediate family will be staying here.” Annika slumped her shoulders in defeat, and her facial expression became increasingly irritated by the sudden intrusion of her family. Though she had expected this, she didn’t expect it to get to this point.

Sure enough, approximately one hour later, Huxley arrived, and his facial expression spoke volumes. He was not at all pleased with Annika. In fact, he was so unhappy with her that Huxley didn’t bother to greet her and even withheld his long-standing tradition of bringing her a gift on the rare occasions they saw one another. Huxley may have been emotionally unavailable to his younger siblings, but he always made it a habit of buying them gifts or valuables tailored to their personal interests or hobbies whenever they were reunited. Huxley gave Annika the cold shoulder, and only Royce and Matthaeus were given gifts while Micky’s was given to Matthaeus for safekeeping.

“Where’s mine!?” Annika cried out in disappointment.

“You don’t get one. You lied to all of us.”

“I didn’t lie, Huxie! I was withholding information until further notice!”

“Same difference. You don’t withhold information from your family, especially something as massive as this. What were you thinking, exposing a prominent family and the Manhattan D.A. in public that way? Were you not afraid of the repercussions?”

“What repercussions!? I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“That statement is false; you did plenty wrong. First off, you should never have hired a private investigator to follow Jeff. If that P.I. had been made at all, you would be f****d right now. Second, you should have come to either me or Royce if you needed to do recon on that bastard and that pile of rubbish, he calls his mistress. You know we have plenty of people on our payroll that could have easily done what the P.I. did and did it in half the time. Third, we’re family. You should have told us that someone was hurting you, particularly if that person was your husband. You know how our family is, baby bear. We stick up for each other, we take care of one another, and we have each other’s backs. There is no such thing as your “own fight” when you’re a Silverton. ESPECIALLY you, Anni. Do you not know how important you are to this family? How important you are to me? To Royce? To Micky? You were never meant to get your hands dirty in anything. That’s what we’re here for,” Huxley spelled it out for Annika and gave his baby sister a firm hug, cradling her head.

Annika hated being treated like a petulant child that needed to be rescued, but she couldn’t deny that it felt nice being hugged by her eldest brother, given that his EQ was equivalent to a dead robot. She often wondered how he managed to win over her sister-in-law, Delia, let alone have kids together.

“I get it, Huxie. But I’m not a child anymore. I’m a doctor. I made it this far on my own, and I am more than capable of handling my own divorce,” she declared before pushing her brother away and looking up at him.

“You and Hunter will handle the divorce. You let us handle the rest, baby bear,” her father told her, gently reminding her of their previous conversation on the phone. Annika nodded her head and decided it was the perfect opportunity to retreat upstairs to her room. It would be some time before lunch was ready, and her family would undoubtedly occupy themselves by formulating their game plan for the upcoming court date; though, that date was still to be determined.

In the midst of removing her robe so she could disappear into her mountain of pillows once more, Annika heard the doorbell from downstairs. Frustrated to no end by the onslaught of unwelcome guests, Annika furrowed her brows and threw her robe back on before opening her bedroom door. She wasn’t expecting anyone else to show up until dinner, so she knew it couldn’t be Kenzie and Hunter. The sound of her front door opening made Annika pause, and the sound of a woman screaming loud enough to wake the dead blasted through the air.

“WHERE IS THAT UNGRATEFUL, MANIPULATIVE, BACKSTABBING b***h!?”