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In fact, I bet there’s a chance that you might even be rolling your eyes now at my feeling that I should trust him.
But I’m telling you, there’s a deadly earnestness it seems in what he’s doing.
He’s up to something.
He knows what we’re up to.
It’s now on him to carry out his plans to save the three of us.
If he has any plans, that is.
Chapter Thirty-One
Eliza
“Ladies and gentlemen, we’ll be getting started in just a minute,” I say into the microphone as I look over the sea of faces of reporters and bystanders who are gazing at me.
For the first time in my life, I’m hoping that I’ve dressed conservatively enough. I spent at least an hour looking at myself in the mirror, making sure that my ass wasn’t sticking out or that I wasn’t showing too much boob.
Even then, Carter couldn’t help but sidle up behind me and take me in his big, strong hands. I remember feeling so safe.
And then I felt his cock poke my ass.
I remember rolling my eyes and taking off my skirt, trying to find another one.
I mean, don’t you roll your eyes at me, okay? Your boyfriend getting a boner for you is a good thing normally, but not on days you’re trying to look serious.
“Relax Eliza,” Carter said with a smile. “We’re going to do great.”
And all of a sudden I knew he was right. His confidence was unshakeable. It actually made me feel stronger than I had all morning. It made me realize how much loved him.
And how much I loved another.
Now, the sea of faces is watching me and I’m trying to pick out if maybe Derek is among those people. Something in my heart is telling me that he’s close by. Although my brain is telling me to stop thinking such things and to focus on the moment. But I can’t help it, ya know? I can’t help thinking he’s going to pop out and this will all be over soon. Like a nightmare.
But Derek doesn’t pop out. Someone else steps out. Someone I haven’t expected to be here and who sends chills up my spine.
“Before the press conference gets started, I have a question as a member of the concerned public,” my stepmother, Wanda Seymour speaks up.
Fuck. She’s staked out enough of a spot to stand in that she’s right in the middle of the crowd of reporters and they can’t help but hear her.
“Ignore her, Eliza,” Carter says into my ear, putting his hand on the small of my back, steadying me. “Don’t let her get to you.”
I nod. Wanda smiles at me with an evil tint, but I focus my eyes elsewhere. I can’t let her get to me.
“I have a prepared statement to make, and then I’ll answer any and all questions that people may have,” I begin, putting an edge of steel into my voice.
“I believe that Wanda, your stepmother had a point she was trying to make,” a reporter for the New York Daily Journal yells out. I sigh. I don’t know if the reporter is on her payroll or is simply looking for some drama. But whatever the reasoning, they’re not letting this go.
But still I press on. I feel Carter’s comforting hand on the small of my back and it gives me hope to continue.
“My father was a great man. He built many things in this city and this country that last to this day. In doing so, he amassed a sizable fortune for not just himself, but for his family as well,” I say and then look out. I pause, wondering how I’m going to get through this next bit. It’s going to be tough. “I would like to say that I’ve always been a good daughter. But, I haven’t.”
I let the statement hang in the air before continuing. “I’ve been many times the opposite of a good daughter,” I say, before pausing again to take a breath. I knew this was going to be difficult.
“I’ve said and done things that now, looking back on, I regret,” I say into the microphone. The reporters are looking at me. They’re scrutinizing whether I’m telling the truth and being genuine or just trying to pass off a fake game on them.
I take a deep breath before I continue. “When I found out that my father was dead and I was a continent away, it broke my heart. But when I found out that he had authorized me to carry out his legacy, I felt a renewed sense of hope. That in this last deed, I’d be able to do something to redeem his years of trust, support and faith in me. That I would be able to show the world that I truly was my father’s daughter. But there is no way I would ever embezzle money through improper investments in such a manner. To do so would contravene every last one of the principles that he held dear and that I struggle to live up to daily. I wholeheartedly dispute any accusation from any party that I acted with full knowledge in a manner that was not in keeping with the standards that he set. I don’t care if it’s a stranger on the street or Derek Stackford. It’s false.”
