Europe / Britain / London (Crystal Corporation Private Estate): March 12th, 1993.
It was a beautiful night for the world.
The moon was hanging above london like a rich white woman judging poor people from a balcony, the stars were sparkling like god had thrown diamonds across the sky after getting bored, and the city itself was still pretending it had not witnessed a black woman walk into royal albert hall and leave with half of england clapping like trained servants.
Yet if you were to look closely at london.
To be more specific, inside of a private estate rented under crystal corporation's name, behind armed security, black cars, champagne towers, diamond chandeliers, old money smiles, new money perfume, and enough expensive food to make a starving village curse my whole bloodline.
You would see something very dangerous happening.
A party.
Not a normal party.
Not a little cute celebration with finger sandwiches and people smiling like they had no sins.
No.
This was a crystalline alina knowles party.
Which meant somewhere between the champagne, soul music, gossip, family arguments, fake smiles, billionaires, singers, politicians, royals, bodyguards, and one hundred and seventeen year old african woman with oxygen tubes threatening to shoot a british lord for staring too long at her plate.
The atmosphere was luxurious.
The atmosphere was warm.
The atmosphere was stupidly expensive.
And sadly for my enemies.
The atmosphere was mine.
(Crystalline's POV)
"Baby, this party is too white for me." Said selena with a serious look on her face while sitting on a velvet chair with a glass of champagne in one hand and a plate of lobster in the other.
I blinked slowly in confusion for a moment and side eyed her and said with a special needs tone "Grandma, we are in london."
"That ain't no excuse. Your rich enough to import black people. I wanna shake some ass, not greasy hands." Said selena Immediately while popping her hips side to side.
I stared at her silently for a moment with a look that I was to iconic for and didn't even need to narrate.
Mariah, who was standing beside me in a soft gold dress with her curls resting on her shoulders, choked on her drink.
Whitney, who had shown up fifteen minutes ago acting like she wasn't technically family through my mama's side, laughed so loud half the room turned to look.
I glanced at her.
She looked at me.
For a second, neither of us said anything.
Then she lifted her glass.
"Cousin." Said whitney with a sweet smile on her nervous face.
I narrowed my eyes slightly "We are once removed."
"That mean I'm your cousin too." Said whitney quickly, smiling like she won something.
I laughed a little hardly and said with a fake smile "Don't start claiming me now because I'm rich. I gave gold bullets but my fist can do some goddamn work to."
"Girl, you were rich yesterday, stop tripping." Said whitney while coming over with a roll of her eyes as her smile faded.
"And you didn't call yesterday." I said calmly as I sipped my drink.
Whitney opened her mouth, closed it, then pointed at me with her glass and said "You know what, you got that from linda."
The room was too loud.
The music was warm.
The champagne was expensive.
The women were beautiful.
The men were lying.
And I was standing in the center of it all wearing a black velvet gown with diamond straps, honey blonde curls falling down my back, floral tattoos showing over my chest and shoulders, and a pink flower pinned near my ear because at this point it had become part of my image and I was too lazy to fight it.
People kept congratulating me.
Crystal jubilee this.
Royal albert hall that.
Historical night this.
Cultural moment that.
One french journalist had called me, the dangerous diva of empire.
I liked her.
She understood branding.
Across the room, michael stood near berry and smokey, dressed in black and gold like a shy prince who had learned how to look angry in photographs. He was talking, but his eyes kept coming back to me.
I ignored it.
Not because I didn't see it.
I ignored many things I saw.
That was the difference between being blind and being strategic.
Brad was sitting on one of the couches with a ginger ale in his hand like he was at rehab disguised as a party. He looked better. Still skinny. Still tired. Still one wrong night away from ruining his life again. But better.
Big mama rolled past him in her chair with her oxygen tubes in her nose and a blanket over her lap.
She stopped.
Looked him up and down
"You the pole boy." Asked adesina with both of her eyes narrowed.
Brad froze.
Mariah covered her mouth.
Selena leaned forward with messy look on her face.
Whitney had a confused look on her face and said with a whisper "Pole boy."
I closed my eyes with a sigh.
Brad's face went red in embarrassment and said weakly while averting his eyes "Yes ma'am."
Big mama nodded.
"Don't do that again. You too pretty to be sliding on metal for drugs, don't be out here spreading them cheeks for nothing that ain't worth it, you hear." Said adesina calmly with a strict tone.
Brad looked like his soul left his body and filed for unemployment and said "I won't, ma'am."
"Good." Said adesina while rolling away like she had blessed him.
I opened my eyes and asked calmly "Why is my family like this."
Mariah patted my arm and said with a smile "Because god knew that you needed to suffer."
"I already suffered. I was born to mathew knowles." I said with a resting bitch face.
Whitney almost spit out her champagne.
Selena pointed her fork at me and said with a cold tone "Don't bring that ugly man up during dinner."
"This is not dinner. It is a gathering for the greedy." I said with a wave of my hand.
"Yet I'm eating, ain't I." Said selena with her arms spread for all to see.
I looked around the room.
For one small second, I allowed myself to breathe.
Not like a billionaire.
Not like a singer.
Not like a woman who had killed people and would probably kill more.
Just like a person.
The crystal jubilee had worked.
Mia media had filmed it.
Crystal corporation had branded it.
London had swallowed it whole.
The queen herself had asked to speak with me.
Old money had clapped.
Newspapers were fighting each other.
Fans were screaming outside the gates.
And somewhere in the middle of all that noise, I could almost hear mia laughing.
Almost.
The thought made my chest tighten.
I picked up a glass of champagne and drank it.
"Don't get sad tonight." Said selena said softly, watching me.
I looked at her.
She knew.
Of course she knew.
Grandmothers were nosy witches with family titles.
"I'm not sad." I said calmly and quickly.
Selena rolled her eyes and said "You're lying."
"I'm rich. Rich people don't get sad. We get bougie and hoe around." I said with a chuckle.
Selena smiled a little and said with a warm tone "Your mia would've loved this."
I looked toward the chandeliers.
Mia would have hated half the people in this room and smiled at all of them like she was forgiving them for being born beneath her.
"She would've said my dress was too much." I said with a sigh
"She would've said it wasn't enough." Said selena Immediately.
I laughed.
A real one.
Small.
Quick.
Dangerous.
Because it hurt.
Across the room, berry raised his glass and shouted "TO THE QUEEN, THE MOTHER OF NEO-SOUL. TO CRYSTALLINE AND HER SUCCESS."
Everybody turned.
I sighed.
"Berry, don't you start." I said with a sigh and my right finger pointed at him.
He ignored me because old men with money were brave when they had security.
"To the woman who turned royal albert hall into church, theatre, funeral, coronation, and tax write off all in one night." Said berry with a high pitched tone and his glass raised in the air.
People laughed.
I lifted my glass lazily and said "To the man behind my success, you're fired."
Berry smiled and said calmly "You say that every week."
"And one day I'll actually mean it." I said with a smile.
Michael lifted his glass next and said, His voice was soft, but somehow the room still quieted "To crystal for reminding the world that greatness does not ask permission."
I stared at him for a moment.
He stared back.
The room clapped.
I drank because I did not know what to do with sincerity when it was aimed at me.
Then the music shifted.
Something soulful.
Something slow.
Something dangerous for drunk women with hips and married men with no self control.
Mariah grabbed my hand and started to move her hips.
"No." I said Immediately with a very fake and reserved, poised look on my face.
"You don't even know what I was gonna say so shut the fuck up." Said mariah with a very pissed look on her face.
Odd.
"You were gonna ask me to dance." I said calmly.
"I was gonna ask you to walk dramatically beside me while I dance." Said mariah with a roll of her eyes.
I nodded with a very understanding look on my face and said "That sounds worse my dear friend. I have bad knees you see. I can't do the twirl or the twerk."
Whitney appeared on my other side out of of nowhere and said while popping her flat ass and surprisingly made something jiggle that wiggle "Come on, cousin."
I looked between them.
Two legendary voices.
Both looking at me like I was not one bad attitude away from ruining the evening.
"I do not dance." I said while sipping the rest of my drink and putting it on a waiters tray that passed by.
"You do that little step." Said whitney with a one two step.
Mariah pulled me anyway.
The room cheered.
Traitors.
All of them.
So there I was.
Crystalline alina knowles.
First black music billionaire in history.
Mother of neo-soul.
Lavish killer.
Chairwoman.
Shareholder.
Daughter.
Cousin.
Grieving great-granddaughter.
Standing in the middle of a london estate doing a little one two step and twerking my ass while mariah spun beside me and whitney laughed like family had always been easy.
It had not.
Nothing in my life had ever been easy.
But for three minutes, under chandeliers, with champagne in my blood and music under my feet, I pretended it was.
Then emma appeared near the doorway.
Not smiling.
I stopped moving.
Mariah noticed first.
Then whitney.
Then selena.
Then big mama, who had been halfway through threatening a duke over shrimp.
Emma walked toward me with a folded note in her hand.
The party kept moving around us.
Music.
Laughter.
Glasses.
Perfume.
Money.
Lies.
She handed it to me.
No words.
I opened it.
The handwriting was neat.
Controlled.
Male.
Jonathan.
Alfred is moving against your family. He does not want to beat you anymore. He wants to hurt what you love. Do not trust quiet rooms, new staff, gifts, drivers, doctors, or invitations. Jasmine made me send this. I am sorry.
For a moment, I felt nothing.
Then slowly, very slowly, the warmth left my face.
The room was still dancing.
The champagne was still pouring.
Berry was still laughing.
Michael was still watching me.
My grandmother was still eating.
Whitney was still standing beside me.
Mariah's hand was still holding mine.
And somewhere far away, Alalfred samwell had apparently forgotten something very important.
I was not a good woman.
I folded the note once.
Then twice.
Then I smiled.
Not happily.
Not kindly.
Not beautifully.
I smiled like money had just found out who I was and said "Emma."
"Yes, miss knowles." Said emma with a serious look on her face.
"Let the party finish." I said calmly with cold eyes.
Her eyes sharpened.
"And after." Asked emma calmly.
I looked across the room at my family.
At selena.
At big mama.
At whitney.
At mariah.
At brad.
At michael.
At the people who had somehow become mine.
Then I looked back at emma.
"After the party, we bury a samwell." I said softly.
My name is crystalline alina knowles.
And this is my story of how I died and became beyoncé's half sister.
…
THE END…