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“And we’re going to make sure that he gets the send-off he deserves.”
“You think I give a shit about how he’s buried? You think I care about what happens with his body?” Looking between Francis and Lucian, she shakes her head and turns for the door. “I’m done with this…with all of you.”
Casper is walking in with Sarah following behind him at the same time as she’s about to leave. I’d say if anyone was going to talk sense into her, it would be him, but at this point I don’t think anyone can talk her off whatever ledge she’s on.
“Where’re you going?” he asks her as she stands to the side, waiting for them to come in. “It’s insane out there. The press is on one, so I’d suggest laying low for now. Especially until we’ve got you a detail.”
“I’m not your fucking problem, remember?” she snaps at him, and I’m so over this whole bullshit situation.
Obviously, the elders have been following their own leads on the hush-hush, something that I should’ve dug deeper into the day Lucian followed us to the park. They assured me they had nothing though. Francis swore that if something came up, he would make sure I knew about it. Clearly, he hasn’t.
“What the fuck is going on here?” My frustration is becoming an irritation that I can’t keep quiet. “You need to sit your arse down and fucking get your shit together, and you two—” I gesture between Francis and Lucian. “—talk. Now.”
“Last time you called me, I told you to stop. I warned you,” Laura grits at me, tears streaming down her face, and all I can think about is the way Georgina feels when she cries. The way she feels to me when she cries like this.
“Laura,” I call her name, hoping that it’s enough to pull her out of her distressed state so that I can get something other than this sentimental ranting from her.
Standing from my seat, I round the table to where she’s standing and watch her while she struggles to regain her wits. It seems odd seeing her like this. Normally, she’s stoic and so composed that she can shrug anything off. The number of times I’ve seen her and Arabella have wars of words and she barely reacts, even though I imagine it stings, enough that this is the straw that broke the camel’s back.
“Why didn’t you listen to me?” she whispers as though this conversation is solely between us. “I said something bad would happen. Why couldn’t you believe me?”
I’m about to reply when she wipes at her tears, leaving a smear of dirt on her cheek. When I study her hands, I’m taken back to that walk with Lucy where she had dirt under her nails. I assumed that she’d been helping Sarah with the small bits of gardening she likes to do. Lucy was always one to get her hands dirty, but Laura…she’s as precious as they come.
Pulling my handkerchief from my pocket, I grab a bottle of water from the side and wet it slightly before holding it out to her. “Here.”
“Thanks,” she sobs, taking it from me and clearly debating over cleaning her fingertips. “I couldn’t let them take him away with all the mud on his hands. Dad wouldn’t have wanted anyone to see him…” She trails off with a sigh that makes me certain she’s about to collapse on herself, and before it happens, I grasp her arms.
I’m holding her up as she tells me, “He would never do this. He wouldn’t hurt himself like this.”
“Okay.”
“Laura, Dad was—” Sarah tries to wrap an arm around her, but she shrugs her off viciously.
“Don’t you dare touch me,” Laura spits at her. “Don’t you fucking dare act like this isn’t your fault too!”
“Sweetheart…”
Shaking out of my hold, Laura takes a step back from me and Sarah, backing away to the side where there’s enough space for her to take the deep breath she obviously needs.
“I know you’re upset with me for what happened with your dad, but—”
“Upset?”
“Laura…”
“Mother…” she scoffs dryly, twisting the handkerchief around her fingers like she’s trying to rip it to shreds with her feelings. “She’s a snake. She’s always been a snake. He told you she isn’t right. He told you that she can’t be trusted, and you…you made him think that he was crazy.”
Before any of us can say or do anything, she power-walks it out of the boardroom, in the direction of the lifts. While I would normally fuck her off and let her sulk, there’s this nagging feeling inside me that keeps asking me what I would do if that was Georgina and how I would feel. More than that, I keep going back to that first moment when I found my dad. How relieved I was at first that I had eyes on him, only to realise that I was too late.
“Laura!” I call after her, running to catch up before she can get in the lift.
As bad as I feel for her, the fact that she doesn’t stop or even slow pisses me off. Enough that when I catch up to her, I almost smash her fingers off as I slap my hand to the call button.
“Don’t you fucking ignore me,” I snap, spinning her so that she’s facing me face-on. “Tell me what the fuck is going on.”
“So that you can make me out to be a nutter like she did my dad?”
“I know you’re not crazy,” I tell her, forcing the best smile I can muster right now. “I also know that there’s no love lost between you and Lucy at the best of times.”
