Chapter 2.11 Too Little Too Late

The celebration continued at the Season household. The three sisters broke out a bottle of champagne that they have been saving for 18 years.

“We did good ladies.” April said as she passed out the glasses.

“We did damn good.” June corrected.

“I propose a toast.” May raised her glass. “Here’s to us. The best darn aunts in the world.”

“And here is to Fay.” April added. “Who brought this family of ours together.”

 

Maleficent and Ivy left Stella still laying on the floor, while they moved their celebration to the dining room. Norman set up a buffet of cakes, tarts, and other deserts for the Crowes to gorge themselves on. Of course no celebration would be complete without the most expensive bottle of champagne to toast with.

“I am going to buy a new car, and a whole new wardrobe for a trip to France.” Maleficent planned what she was going to do with the reward money.

“I think I want to try being a Style Superstar.” Ivy said sharing in her mother’s joy and adding to the shopping spree. “And I also want a trampoline, and I am going to celebrate Christmas like everyday.”

“What about you, Brandon?” Maleficent asked her son. “All this wouldn’t have happened without you?

“Don’t you mean in spite of Brandon?” Ivy added with a sarcastic tone.

Brandon didn’t say anything, although he really wanted to. He wanted more than anything to tell his mother and his sister that he thought they were pure evil. They just killed the sim that he loves, and they don’t care at all. In fact, they are celebrating! He was mustering up the courage to speak up against Ivy as she continued her wish list, but they were interrupted by Maleficent’s cell phone.

 

“What do you mean the deal is off?!” Maleficent asked the voice on the other line.

“What is going on?” Ivy asked. She was about to ask another question when Maleficent shushed her.

“I did what you wanted us to do, and now you need to pay up.” Maleficent demanded.

She listened for a few minutes, then the sim on the other line hung up. Maleficent was red in the face. The veins were bulging out of her neck as she threw the phone at the wall in anger.

“What is going on?” Ivy repeated. Her voice was riddled with panic.

“Anastasis isn’t going to be paying us.” Maleficent responded.

“Why not?”

“Why should she? She didn’t want Stella dead yet. She wanted to torment her stupid stepsister first. And now she is mad and won’t be paying us.”

“That is a bunch of bull!” Ivy yelled. She was so angry that she felt compelled to pick up the bottle of champagne and throw it at the wall. The bottle crashed into a million tiny glass pieces right on top of the broken cell phone.

“I can’t believe that I became friends with that stuck up, obnoxious brat for nothing.”

 

Brandon couldn’t take it anymore. He hated the way that Maleficent and Ivy were acting so much that it made him sick. First they were happy about killing the sim that he loved. Now all they care about is how they weren’t going to get paid for it. It was too much for him to handle. He grabbed his car keys and headed out the door. To the only place he could think of going.

Brandon drove to the park where he had his first date with Stella. He sat at the same fire pit and thought back to that first date. He was nervous that day because he really liked Stella.

It wasn’t suppose to be like this. The plan was for Ivy and Brandon to get to know a few of the kids at school to try to find who they were looking for. He wasn’t suppose to fall in love, but Brandon couldn’t help his feelings. He fell in love at first sight (before she even knew that he existed). Stella was kind, smart, ambitious. She was beautiful, both inside and out.

But the key word here is was. Thinking of Stella in the past tense made his heart hurt. There were so many times that Brandon wanted to tell Stella everything. He wanted to warn her of his mother’s evil plan. How she couldn’t trust Ivy. To promise to protect Stella if or when Anastasis came after her. More than that he wanted to tell how he truly felt, and to apologize or being a jerk earlier. Brandon yearned to tell Stella how much he admired her determination and passion to become a doctor.   And how much he loved it when her face lit up as she smiled. Then he cursed himself for being a coward. How many opportunities did he have where he could have warned Stella? All of this could have been avoided. Stella would still be alive if Brandon hadn’t been such a coward.

Brandon’s worse fears have come true: he has become just like his father. Brandon was no better than the coward that left him when he was still just a baby. It made him sick to his stomach to think about that.

No, Brandon wouldn’t accept that. He couldn’t, wouldn’t, be a coward forever. There has to be something that he could do, but sitting all alone in the park wasn’t going to change anything.

Brandon swore that, no matter what it took, he would make this right. It might be too late to save Stella, but there must be something he could for her aunts.

 

“Don’t you think it is getting late?” April asked as she glanced at her watch.

“Don’t worry sis,” June said, a bit tipsy from the champagne. “Stella probably saw Brandon. They both realized that they are madly in love with each other, and are now making plans for a wedding.”

“I think we should call her.” May suggested. “Just to see where she is.”

 

“What are we going to do? What are we going to do?” Ivy kept repeating.

The severity of what they had done was beginning to sink in. Anastasis has negated their deal, and now Maleficent and Ivy are stuck with the consequences.

“What are we going to do?” was all anyone could say.

Maleficent and Ivy went back up to her room to try to get a better handle on the situation at hand. It began felt like the walls of Ivy’s bedroom were closing in on them. Maleficent thought that she would be in France by now, sipping on champagne while a sexy Monsieur massages her feet. Instead she is looking at a dead body while her daughter slowly goes insane. Maleficent tried to come up with a plan when out of nowhere they heard a cell phone ring.

“Well, well, well,” Maleficent picked up the phone. “I think I may have found a way out of this mess.”

 

“Who is this?” May demanded to the strange voice on the other end of the phone.

“You shouldn’t be so rude.” the voice reprimanded May. “We have something that you may want.”

“What is going on?” April asked.

May put her phone on speaker so her sisters could hear the conversation.

“Who is this?” June asked with more force.

“Where is Stella?” April questioned.

“I am going to make this short and sweet.” Maleficent demanded. “I have Stella. And if you ever want to see her again, you will follow my directions. You will put $10million of unmarked bills into a large duffle bag. You will put that bag under the giant rock by the sewer dam. Once I know that the money is secure, I will call you back with directions to where you can find Stella.”

“We don’t have that kind of money.” May pleaded. “Please, we just want our niece back.”

“You have 24 hours to get the money.” Maleficent ordered. “Or else you will never see Stella again.”

 

Maleficent was proud of her new plan, but Ivy was not convinced.

“What are we going to do with Stella?” Ivy asked. “We can’t just leave her here?”

Maleficent wasn’t worried. She knew exactly what she was doing. “I know of the perfect place to take her”