Page 90 of Glitterati Omega

“Maybe they need to be adjusted again,” Charli suggested gently.

Rupert sighed softly. “Yes,” he agreed. “It might explain all this.” He waved a hand, then laughed tersely. “I’m probably getting myself all worked up over nothing.”

“I’d like to agree with you,” Charli said. She looked down at her hands in her lap. “But I saw Thomas this morning.”

Rupert’s heart dropped into his stomach. “No.” He turned tearful eyes on her. “No, don’t tell me that.”

“You needed to know,” she said sternly. “He came by the house this morning. I told him to bugger off, which is why he sent the lawyers back.”

Rupert shook his head furiously, then tugged at his hair. “Why can’t he just leave me alone?!”

Charli looked down again. “I’m so sorry, pet. I wish I hadn’t seen him, but when Moose told me what had happened …”

Rupert screwed his eyes shut. Why now, of all times? Why couldn’t Thomas just piss off out of his life and leave him be? Let him try to get over what the prick had done to him?

Winston’s words rang in his ears. Slowly, he lifted his head to look at Charli. He stared at her for a minute. Then he asked, “Did you know?”

“Hm?” Her brows jumped. “Know what?”

Rupert drew a deep breath. “About … what he was doing to me.”

“What do you mean, pet?”

“That … that he was abusing me.”

Her eyes went wide with surprise. “Abuse,” she echoed.

He nodded. “All the … all the times he struck me.”

Charli’s mouth opened just slightly, like she was shocked. Rupert shook his head. “Or that he forced me, sometimes?”

“Oh, pet.” Her eyes glimmered with tears.

“You had to have heard some of the atrocious things he said to me—the other things, he did those in private, but he was always making horrid comments and putting me down.”

Charli’s throat worked, but she said nothing. Rupert closed his eyes again. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it before now.”

She grabbed his hand and squeezed. “Oh, pet, I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry—I didn’t think, I didn’t realize …”

Rupert slowly pulled away from her. “Did you not notice?” He inclined his head. “Or did you not care?”

Now she looked like he’d slapped her. Fury came over her face, snapping in her eyes. “What do you mean, did I not care?” She stood up, slapping her hands down on the desk. “Of course I care about you, you little ninny! Why do you think I’ve looked after you all these years, stayed on?”

“Because it’s a job! Because you needed the money, and it paid well enough, so you stayed on but you never really cared because—because I’m just a … a useless snob, a clueless—”

She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. “Stop it! Stop talking nonsense! Who put that idea in your head?!”

She held him still, her fingers digging into his shoulders. He stared up at her; she stared down at him, tears beading at the edges of her eyes. She ground her teeth, then growled, “I could have gone anywhere. I could have switched jobs a hundred times over—for better pay, for something I liked more. I could have left and had my own family, but I didn’t. I didn’t, Rupert, because you are my child. I love you.”

Her grip relaxed. Her face contorted with grief. She studied him for a moment longer, then pulled back, her lips trembling. She looked down. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ve overstepped, I—”

“Why didn’t you tell me before?”

She sighed. “Because …” She shook her head. “Because I’m just the help. I’m not supposed to think of you that way. But I do. Pet, please understand. I … I watched you grow up. I watched you lose your mother and now your father. I’ve been with you so long …”

She pressed a hand to her mouth.

“Winston said you acted like a mother.” He pressed his lips together, as though he could gather strength or hold the tears at bay. “I … I thought I was completely alone, Charli. First my mother, now my father … I’m an orphan. Or … so I thought.”