AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I nod – he’s probably right. I turn to him, sling my arms around his neck, and kiss him. I need his closeness, his support, and this indescribable feeling of happiness and strength that he gives me. His fingers wander across my back, and he pulls me in closer.
“I’ll come in with you,” he promises.
“You want to flaunt their strict house rules?”
He shrugs. “You weren’t allowed visitors. But you don’t live here anymore. I don’t see why they should have a problem with me being here.”
I’m so grateful for these words, and I nestle against his chest. Just a moment longer to enjoy this closeness, to lose myself in his scent and feel his warmth seeping through my skin.
“Let’s get this over with,” I say eventually.
He takes my hand, and I ring the bell. Only a few seconds pass before the door opens. A staff member eyes me with an impassive expression.
“Mr. and Ms. Fabrici are expecting me,” I say.
He steps aside to let us enter. “The family will receive you in the small salon. Please follow me.” He takes a few steps and then turns around and says to Ayden, “I’ll have to ask you to wait here. The family would like to speak with Miss Franklin privately.”
Ayden opens his mouth to object, but I shake my head. “Leave it. It’s not worth the trouble. I won’t be long, and then we can leave together.” I wink at him and add, “You’re not far, and if I’m not out in an hour, call the cavalry.”
“I don’t need to call them,” I growls. “I am the cavalry.”
I give him a peck on the cheek and follow the butler. We go up a flight of stairs and along a corridor. He knocks and opens the door for me to enter.
“Miss Franklin has arrived,” he says unnecessarily as I enter the room. It’s small compared to most of the rooms in this house. A blue lounge suite stands in the middle of the room, and in front of it is a coffee set on a small round glass table. Sunlight streams through the large windows on the other side of the room, illuminating Ms. and Mr. Fabrici, who don’t even bother to stand.
“Teresa, so pleased you could make it,” Mr. Fabrici says in a friendly voice.
His spouse’s eyes flash at me. She seems to find it exceptionally difficult to tolerate my presence. She probably blames me, first for taking one of her sons from her and now for sending the other one into exile.
“Take a seat.” Mr. Fabrici indicates an armchair.
I comply and pray silently that I’ll be able to leave again soon.
“Would you like coffee? Tea?”
I shake my head. Nothing that might drag this out longer than necessary.
“I was told that you agreed to let me move back to the school on one condition. What’s the condition?”
“Well, just to be clear,” Mr. Fabrici begins, leaning forward slightly, “my son’s attack on you was entirely his doing. I assure you that the rest of the family had no knowledge of his plans or the fact that he’d followed through. If we did, we would have stopped him, rest assured.”
I sniff. He really expects me to believe that?
“With that in mind, there’s actually no reason for you to leave our house,” he continues.
I feel like my heart has stopped beating. I look at him in horror. No, he can’t try to keep me here! No way. They already agreed to let me go. This is just a power play. He’s trying to put me on the back foot so that I’ll agree to his request. Whatever he wants from me, it must be really important to him.
“What do you want?” I ask him straight.
“It’s very simple,” his wife chimes in, standing up. She paces back and forth a few times. Each time I catch her eye, I get the sense that she wants me dead. “Let’s stop playing games. My son did a terrible thing to you, and you retaliated by making sure he was hounded out of town.”
I refrain from pointing out that I had nothing to do with his expulsion, that it was all Mr. Cunningham.
“So from where I’m standing, we’re even, and we should simply see to it that we all come out of this without sustaining too much damage,” she continues.
“Our condition for letting you move out …” Mr. Fabrici interrupts his wife and shoots her a warning glance. “Well, it’s like this. We don’t want our family’s reputation to suffer anymore than it already has. So it’s important for us to appear again publicly with you. When the other Council members see that you’ve agreed to accompany us and bear no grudge, then they’ll understand that we had nothing to do with the ordeal.”
“You want me to save your reputation,” I summarize.
