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“Shut up, Vanessa!” Ariel seethed. Her muscles tensed under my fingertips as the snarl tore from the base of her throat. “I just have one final question for you.” Ariel went silent as she chose her words carefully. “Why? Why did you do it? Why was it so important for you to ruin my life?” I heard my love say, her voice unsteady as the storm of emotions that swirled inside of her.
“Because people like you need to know their place.” Vanessa’s perfectly lined lip curled as she leveled her stare upon the most beautiful creature in existence. When Ariel didn’t react, Vanessa went from zero to pissed in one-point-two seconds. “Face it, you pathetic bitch! I’m Park Avenue and you’re back-alley gutter trash. You come from nothing and you’re just fooling yourself if you think you can use Lucas to better yourself. Trash is trash and nothing can change that.”
“My mother was a federal judge.” Ariel went on the defense. “My father was unbeatable in the courtroom. People across the globe respected Bernard Grainger!”
“Bernard Grainger was your father?” I asked, suddenly interrupting their exchange.
“Yes.” Ariel’s eyes met mine. “He was my dad.”
“Dear God, do you realize what you’ve done?” I nearly went ballistic as I suddenly changed course and verbally went after Vanessa. “You stopped me from going with my dad to Bernard’s funeral! And I bet you were the one that deleted all those files too.”
“Lucas, what are you talking about?” Ariel asked, visibly confused by my question.
“Our dads were friends. Dad hired Bernard after Diane tried to accuse him of malpractice.”
“Mr. Reynolds was your father?”
I nodded.
“He’s the man who took care of me after I fainted?”
I nodded again.
“Don’t you mean ruined my wedding?” Vanessa cut in.
“You were going to come to his funeral?” Her eyes went glassy. It was clear that his loss, as well as the loss of her stepmother, was still fresh and raw.
“I was. I’m not sure if you knew, but Dad respected the hell out of your father.”
“But the man I knew as Michael Reynolds looked nothing like the man back at the chapel. His hair wasn’t gray and well, he looked like a mountain man-pirate.”
I laughed heartily despite the seriousness of the situation.
“He did look a lot different back then. That car accident did a number on him. Imagine trying to shave that big bushy beard when you’re right-handed and that hand and arm are both broken.”
“What about the eye patch?” she asked curiously.
“From the same accident. A piece of broken glass scratched his cornea and it took a long time to heal. His hair started to turn gray shortly after he got back from your father’s funeral.”
“My god, Luke!” my love cried.
“I know.” I drew her into my arms, temporarily forgetting about the pit viper standing mere feet from us. “We would have been reunited a lot sooner and we wouldn’t have wasted so much precious time.”
“Excuse me, asshole! I am not wasted time!” Vanessa swore. “You were lucky to have me.”
“No, he wasn’t. No one wants to align themselves with garbage.” Ariel clapped back angrily.
“I think you’re mistaken, sweetheart. You’re the garbage. Not me.”
“The only trash here is you,” I snapped, unwilling to listen to Vanessa insult the person I loved more than anything in the world. “Ariel’s not the one that tried to commit bigamy, nor did she knowingly sleep with her friend’s fiancé, or sell a building that wasn’t hers to sell all because she wanted to ruin someone’s life.”
“Oh look, the knight in shining armor is riding to your rescue again.” Vanessa taunted Ariel who boldly let it roll over her shoulder.
“No one saved me, Vanessa. I didn’t need saving.”
“What about your precious business? Doesn’t that need saving?”
Ariel looked up at me. I smiled and shook my head, telling her without words that she had nothing to worry about. Everything was going to be okay. Her livelihood, along with the many others, was no longer in jeopardy.
