Addicted

Chapter 68.

We stood at the front of his house, the three of us, besides Zac were looking longingly up at the tower that stood before us.

"So, you're rich?" I ask, my eyes still focused on the mansion.

"I'm not... my parents are," Zac says. He takes one of my hands and begins to lead me to the entrance and the others follow from behind me. "Come, they'll be waiting for me." Zac demands.

"Waiting for you?" I questioned but as we reach the two large doors in front of us. They were opened by men standing at the front and I couldn't help but laugh and feeling as if I was about to meet the queen.

As soon as we passed the threshold a chorus of voices erupted. "Surprise!" they all shouted.

I watched Zac beside me. His smile grew but it didn't touch his eyes and with his free hand he places it over his heart. "Thank you," he chuckles, but it's a chuckle I haven't heard before. It sounded as if it was fake.

I put my own smile on now, feeling as if this is my cue.

"Isaac!"

A young woman appears and wraps her arms around his neck and I instantly know that it's his sister. He keeps one of his hands in mine, while the other goes around her back and then she parts from him.

She's beautiful and look surprisingly a lot like her brother. They had the same coloured eyes and features, but where Zac's were hard, Isabella's were soft and delicate. She would have been shorter than me but made up for the height in stiletto pumps. While Zac's hair was a light brown, hers was more of an ashy blonde, falling down to her waist in loose waves. She wore a light blue dress and it flattered her petite body.

"Just a heads up, mum is on the stanch since you came a little late," she laughs. I can already see that some light has touched Zac's eyes since talking to his sister.

"Hello to you too Izzy," he groans.

"Oh, and happy birthday!" she laughs again, and it's like tiny diamonds clinking together. Her eyes travel from Zac's hand intertwined in mine and her smile grows. "You have to be Alison," she says looking up at me.

"Indeed, I am," I say with a smile.

"Zac has told me so much about you," she says and then her arms are around me and I'm frozen in place. I wasn't expecting this.

"All good things, I hope," I joke as she parts.

"Oh, of course!" she tells me, and her eyes are large. "Although he neglected to express how truly beautiful you are," she smiles.

"Okay, that's enough, Izzy."

"I'm just telling it how it is," she shrugs, and then her attention is caught by something else.

She loops her arm into mine and parts me from Zac. "Come, I must introduce you to the rest of the family," she says and pulls me to the centre of the living room where everyone was crowded.

"Champagne?" she offers me when a butler comes past.

"Yes, please," I say. I have never wanted alcohol more in my life, not so that I could get drunk, but so that I could relax a little.

I had spent the next half an hour in introductions to everyone at Zac's birthday party. There were so many people in his family. There was no way I was going to remember everyone's names. There was a point where there wasn't even family anymore, but friends of friends and co-workers of the parents.

"Isabella?" I ask.

"Please call me Izzy," she says, taking a tentative sip of her wine.

"Izzy," I corrected myself. "How many people are here?" I lean into Isabella to ask.