The Troubled Billionaire

Chapter 4: Zyljan

I lied down the sun bed, pushing my sunglasses up my nose. I looked at my brothers swimming in the swimming pool, their laughter echoing around me.

"I wish I was able to go to the victory party the other day." Aiden said grimly while Zyljan just laughed.

"Try telling Mom that, and she'll have your head in a minute." Zyljan replied with a chuckle.

"Zyljan's right, you know." I chorused, knowing full well what Mom's reaction would be if we all went to the victory party right after she told us not to.

Mom became pretty paranoid ever since their meeting with Mrs. Calbie two days back. She got extra protective and attentive to us and she barely leaves us alone now.

Dad still yells when he's on the phone and he looks like he aged a lot these past few days. I can tell he's really stressed about whatever he's thinking about.

"But the party was so amazing!" Aiden exclaimed petulantly. Zyljan just laughed in response.

My phone rang in my hands and picked it up without looking at the caller ID. "Yes?" I said.

"Hey." Stacy's voice filled my ears as I sighed and sat up to get a clearer look of my brothers who are bickering back and forth.

I mean, what siblings don't argue every now and then, right?

"Hey Stace. What's up?" I asked.

"You want to go out? Drake, Sophie, Hannah and I are on our way to Starbucks. Wanna come?"

"Well, as much I want to, I can't. I'm on house arrest, remember?" I replied, earning a groan from her.

"Why are you even on house arrest? You didn't even do anything wrong."

I chuckled. "Try telling my mother that."

She snorted. "No thank you. I'm fine being kept alive, thank you very much."

See, even my friends know how scary Mom is at times.

I laughed at her words. "Mom is not actually that bad, you know. She's just protective."

"Yes yes, I know." I smiled. "Anyway, we'll see you at school on Monday."

"Yeah sure." I replied.

I dropped the call after that and turned to my brothers who are looking at me with raised eyebrows.

"What?" I asked, looking at them questioningly.

"House arrest?" Aiden asked. "Really?"

I rolled my eyes. "Well that's what this is, isn't it?"

They chuckled at me and got out of the pool, the water from their bodies dripping on the floor. As they stride towards me, Zyljan's phone buzzed on the table beside me. I looked at the phone and saw a text message flashing on the screen from some girl named Alyssa.

"Are you sure? I can come by if you want. I just want to make sure everything's fine."

I raised an eyebrow at what I just read. Who in the world is this Alyssa?

"Amber?" I looked at my side and saw Zyljan looking at me with a confused expression. "What are you doing?"

I looked at the phone and him back and forth and smiled sheepishly. "Someone sent you a text. It's from someone named Alyssa."

His eyes widened slightly when he heard my words and grabbed his phone from the table, reading the message and typing furiously right after.

Aiden and I shared a look. Something is definitely going on with this Alyssa. I wonder who she is in Zyljan's life.