Third Person's POV

"Hey mom." Scarlett says answering her mother's call, she was at home fairly early since it was a Friday night, the night when she got off work and did nothing but stay at home with Quinn in her pyjamas with a glass of wine, or they went out somewhere or the other. She had the call on speaker while she was scribbling down notes with one hand and scrolling through documents on her desktop with the other. She was trying to finish as much work as she possibly could before Quinn got here and stopped her.

"So I don't want to alarm you." Well that had the totally opposite reaction, Scarlett stopped everything she was doing and focused completely on the call. "Your father was in a small crash, nothing too bed, he has a couple cuts and bruises but is ultimately fine."

Scarlett stood up immediately grabbing some boots and a coat ready to head out the door and find her parents and make sure everything was okay with her own eyes, while doing so she rambled off every possible question she could think of.

"Scarlett, listen to me. Your dad is fine, we're leaving the hospital now, and we'll come past tomorrow." Scarlett did not listen, she needed to see with her own two eyes that her dad was okay, she adored her parents with every inch of her being and didn't know what she would do without them.

But she knew the reason her parents didn't mind her not showing off, her siblings hadn't moved out of their house even though they were all in their late twenties. It was the sole reason Scarlett hadn't stepped foot inside her childhood home in seven years.

"I'm on my way." Scarlett finalises, grabbing a bag to fill with clothes for tomorrow, as well as all her work things for the next day. The elevator ride down to the underground parking in her building seemed ten times longer than it normally did as she waited. In the garage a dark grey Ferrari Portofino awaited her, it was only a couple of months old since she tried to swap them out while they still looked brand new.

She didn't drive much around the city while she was working but on weekends and when she took off days she drove as far as she was able to, spent the night in some sort of hotel before making the drive back to the city, it was one of her favourite ways to get alone time and relax with her thoughts.

Scarlett knew all the best routes around her apartment by now, she knew the less condensed roads which would get her to her parent's place faster. She didn't even put music for the half an hour drive, heaving Ben to worried about her father.

She hesitated for a split second driving into the familiar neighbourhood but braved it out, turning onto her childhood street. She parked behind her mother's car and grabbed her bag off the passenger seat. Taking a deep breath she pushed all her fears away and took her first step out of her car onto the driveway, then another and one more, pushing herself to not let any of her fears consume her. Slowly, she made it up the porch and knocked lightly on the door.

A tall blonde male, that towered over her answered the door, when he looked carefully at her face Scarlett saw the exact moment her realised who she was. His eyes widened, and his jaw dropped open as he took in what used to be a scrawny teenage girl who is now a gorgeous woman who excluded confidence.

"Sc-scarlett?" He asks shell shocked. "Wh-what the..."

"Hey Elliot. Can I come see dad please?" He couldn't get out anything more, he had forgotten all words at that point. He just nodded dumbly and opened the door more, so she could squeeze past him. Finally, remembering how to speak, he talks to her.

"He's in his room with mom." Scarlett nods in thanks, but she doesn't smile or frown at him, during this whole exchange her face was impassive, proving she was now either amazing at hiding her real feelings or she felt nothing at all for him.

It was both, Scarlett forgave them for what they had done and let go of all the unhealthy resentment that was building up in her, but she also didn't feel all the love she had felt for her older siblings before, none of the admiration to when she had looked up for them for most of her life or even just love because you are biologically related. She felt nothing for them.

Scarlett bounded up the stairs not giving Kaitlyn, who was standing a few meters behind Elliot a single glance.

"Wa-was that Scarlett?" Kaitlyn stuttered out in shock and Elliot nodded his head, still shell-shocked. "What is she doing here?"

"I don't know, maybe she came to see dad." Eliot whispered out. Tristan followed Hadlee into the room from the kitchen, where they were putting together a meal for their parents.

"What's wrong. You look like you saw a ghost or something." Tristan jokes lightly, but frowns in confusion when both Elliot and Kaitlyn nod.

"Who was at the door?" Hadlee asked slowly, trying to figure out what caused their reaction, but it was at that moment a blonde woman followed their parents down the stairs, she was having what looked like a light-hearted conversation with them but as soon as they reached the last step all conversation seized.

Both Hadlee and Tristan thought they were imagining things, they had imagined this scene millions of times in their head, running up to her and apologising for every miniscule and big thing they had ever done to her, begging her to forgive them and then spend the rest of their days making it up to them.

After all, baby Scarlett couldn't hold a grudge, it would be easy. They would buy her gifts and be extremely kind to her, everything that they had done would be forgiven in a matter of days, and they would live the rest of their life guilt free.

But they didn't take into account her growing up.

Scarlett was no longer a scrawny little teenager, she was now a tall, confident woman who seems to radiate power and luxury even when she wasn't doing anything. She had studied psychology  as her minor, she knew when people were being nice to her for the wrong reasons, and she didn't want their gifts. Any things they could by her, she could buy one a hundred times nicer.

But they didn't know that yet, they had thought she spent the rest of her teenage days rotting away in a prison cell, later struggling to find work, after all who would want to kid with a long juvie sentence on their record.

"Oh, Scarlett honey." Their mother breaks the silence, effectively cutting all the tension that was lowly building up. The four older Lawson siblings looked down at their mother with slight confusion, she never spoke that nicely to them, she seemed pretty cold and distant towards them whenever they spoke. They had chalked it up to them being adults and drifting away from their parents, but Scarlett too, wasn't she? "We redecorated your room a while ago to suit you're aesthetic a bit more."

"No more purple walls?" Scarlett asked, amusement shining in her eyes. "Thanks, mom, you didn't have to."

"Of course I did, you need to have a room that matches your aesthetic for when you visit." Scarlett paused and so did the siblings, but their mother and father didn't seem to notice as they moved towards the kitchen. Scarlett glanced at them through the corner of their eye, and they all caught the look, it pretty much screamed this is your fault I can't come home and see my parents and Elliot, Hadlee, Kaitlyn, and Tristan all felt another wave of guilt rush over them. The look only lasted a fraction of a second and Scarlett followed quickly behind her parents, the siblings slowly trailing behind them but hanging back for a second.

"She can't hate us forever, can she?" Hadlee asked her siblings warily as they all watched their little sister interact with her parents, both Thomas and Cassandra looking a million times happier with her than any of them. "Do you think she's going to tell mom and dad, that's if she hasn't already."

"I don't think she had considering we're still living in their house, if they had known what we'd done to Scarlett we would have been disowned immediately."

It was clear that Scarlett was the favourite child, when they were younger it used to bother them, but now they had no ground to stand on.

"How is she still the favourite even after she went to juvie?" Kaitlyn scoffs. "It isn't fair, we need chances too."

Scarlett felt bad, she knew her mother understood wholeheartedly why she never visited and understood that but feeling how ecstatic her mother she just felt a little guilty. Even her father who was normally so uptight and serious was smiling happily at having his youngest daughter here.

"What do you want to eat, honey?" Her mother asked lightly, digging though the cupboards to see what she could find for Scarlett to eat.

"I made enough for her to have some." Hadlee interjected, hearing the end of the conversation.

"I'm a vegetarian." Scarlett says, smiling at her father who places a glass of white wine in front of her, it in all honesty a ploy to get her to stay the night and Scarlett knew this, but she didn't comment, she already had plans to stay. The other four were confused, their parents didn't let them drink their wine yet here again they were bending their rules for Scarlett.

"Wait, why does she get wine?" Tristan complains.

"What's my rule about alcohol?" Thomas asks his son.

"We can have it when we move out of your house."

"Uh huh, and Scarlett lives in her own place." Scarlett's lips tilt up, those were the subtle ways her parents got back at her siblings for what they had done for her. Her parents were masterminds, and she was glad she wasn't part of their line of fire.

"Don't worry about the food I ate after I left the office." Scarlett assures, happy to just drink wine and eat unhealthy snacks like she had planned for the evening. She sits at the table in between her parents, watching her family all dig into their meals. It was silent again.

Wanting to break the tension Thomas starts speaking to Scarlett with Cassandra popping in every so often but the others just listened. "How were your meeting with that client."

Glancing around the table, Scarlett knew it would a breach i her contract to mention anything to her siblings, especially since they all worked for Calix. "I can't say much since my NDA is longer than I am, but he's umm, intimidating. I don't think he likes me much."

"Give him a while, no one can resist your charm." Cassandra says cheerily, believing it with all her heart. Scarlett loved having all her parents' confidence in her, it just pushed her to work harder.

"I hope we end up getting along, I'm looking forward to working with him."

"Where do you work?" Elliot asks, addressing his little sister. This might be the first step to building a relationship.

"Vanderburg & Co."

"Oh, are you an interning there while you are in college or something?" Scarlett didn't want to answer that, they weren't aware of her position yet but luckily her best friend had the best timing, so before she could answer her phone started ringing with a call from Quinn.

"You guys want to say hi to Quinn?" She asked her parents, who nodded. They were very fond of the boy who had helped their daughter through out her teenage years. He helped her build her confidence and break out of her shell, no, they considered him a third son.

"Where are you?" The siblings all sat up a bit protectively at the male voice on Scarlett's phone. At the end of the day, she was still their baby sister, and they were overprotective of her.

"Hi to you Quinton, I had a great day, thank you for asking."

"Don't tell me you're at the office, I know you're addicted to your job, but Friday's are when I sleep over."

"I'm actually at my parents, say hi, you're on speaker."

"Hi, Mama and Papa Lawson." Quinn's shouts and Scarlett moves the phone further away from her even though it was on loudspeaker and not up against her ear.

"Hi, sweet boy, sorry for taking away Scarlett for the night."

"Oh it's okay. I just needed to make sure she was okay." He reassured, but Scarlett knew she was going to get another call from him later. "Hey Lettie since you aren't here I'm raiding your things and taking all your expensive stuff."

"Then I'll call your cousin." Quinn's cousin was a high profile detective who was on his was to being the chief of the New York police. And two things he loved was Lettie and annoying his cousin, leaving the two to often team up. "Can I call you later, Q."

"Of course, love you, Lettie bug." He whispers into the speaker.

"Love you too, Quinny." Scarlett felt better, Quinn always knew what to say, he was her Platonic soulmate they found each other at their darkest times and then hand in hand worked together to find the light.

"Is that your boyfriend." Tristan asked, he was the one with no filter, and it got him in a lot of trouble.

"No." Scarlet says, drumming her fingers on the table. Her freshly done acrylics creating a tapping noise. "Quinn is my best friend, the brother I've always wanted, really."

Well, that just pierced both Elliot's and Tristan's hearts.

"Hey ma, you want to show me my room not." Scarlett asks, ready to go to bed. Well go to her room, she still had work to do. Cassandra jumps up, she had been wanting to show Scarlett this for months and the day was finally here. Scarlett followed her mother upstairs, Thomas stayed behind to clear up but everyone else followed behind, none of them had been in Scarlett's room since she had left, they knew their mother had redone it, but she kept it locked not allowing any of them to get in. Scarlett kept behind her overexcited mother, watching her in amusement. Scarlett smiled seeing the room, it looked like a room from her penthouse, the white, and light wood colours that were Scarlett's favourite and what she found peace in. She loved the room and made sure to let her mother know, and at the end of all Scarlett's compliments Cassandra was flushed red. The others were a little jealous, but didn't let it show. "Thank you mom."

"Your welcome Lettie, have a good night alright."

"You too." She smiled, pressing a kiss to her mother's cheek. Her mother left the room, but four people we left standing there. "Umm, do you guys need something?"

"Can we..."

"Not tonight." Scarlett cuts them off firmly, already knowing what they're going to say, and as they were about to interject she said it again firmer. "Look I'm tired, I just got the scare of my life by my father and I have had a long week of work. I don't have the mental or physical capacity to deal with your bullshit tonight, so try another time." With that she led them out the room, slammed the door, locking it after.

The Scarlett picked up her phone, redialling Quinn on FaceTime who answered quickly holding a bowl of popcorn and a bottle of wine sitting on the couch in her penthouse.

"You're an idiot." She laughed.

"Oh come on, I need to hear the drama."

Scarlett flopped down on the bed staring at her best friend through the screen telling him all about the evening, and he listened carefully to every word she said, giving her advice when she needed it.

And that's how the two spent the evening, gossiping, drinking wine and doing paperwork like they did every Friday night.

And they have met

Don't worry this isn't the last of the drama between them and you will definitely be seeing more of them, but next chapter you will be seeing more Calix and Scarlett content so stay tuned (;

Anyways tell me why I have just started this book and already have a whole new one planned yet I just can't write the last two chapters of Perilous Intelligence.

Anyway the next chapter will be out in two or three days so look out for it

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Ara <3