Page 28 of Save Me
Monday passes by in a blur. Of course, reactions to my near drowning have spread across my entire year group, along with the odd bitchy comment from Casey and her friends. Kai’s persistent questioning over what happened, both at the party and at the beach, float in and out of my ears like he’s speaking a completely foreign language. Not that my cagey reaction deters him in any way. In fact, if anything, it only seems to spur him on to try different ways of pulling information out of me. Information I refuse to give him because I’m that scared of it getting back to Oliver.
And as for Xander? He ignores me completely, which would hurt if it wasn’t for the fact that I haven’t actually felt like I’ve been inside of my body all day. My mind is so consumed with conflicting emotions, I feel like I’m a ghost of me merely floating above my physical form. Voices sound like adults from a Peanuts cartoon, and the rest of me feels numb. So much so, part of me would like to break every one of Oliver’s conditions; to just give up and stop delaying the inevitable.
Beth, June, the day after first meeting Oliver Lawrence
“Hi, Beth!” Pete, Dad’s second-in-command, smiles at me from behind his desk. I smile when I spot the usual pictures of his boys and wife in pride of place, alongside the Rubik’s Cube he still hasn’t managed to solve in the three years he’s had it. Pete moved over with us from Texas when Dad asked him to head up the new office here. He’s a kooky dude, with a keen interest in anything supernatural. Apparently, before they had their twin boys, he and his wife used to engage in a bit of Cosplay at the weekend. I like him though. He’s all soft around the edges and has a genuine smile for both Riley and me whenever we come to visit Dad at work.
“Hi, Pete,” I wave, but continue to follow Dad as he heads straight for his private office.
He’s been extremely quiet since his visit from Oliver Lawrence yesterday, which is doing nothing to soothe my nerves. Put that together with the fact that I’m dressed up like a secretary, opting for formal attire and shoes that are far too tight for comfort, I’m more than a little on edge over this morning’s meeting.
When he opens up the door to his office, where our own family portrait sits in front of me, I see Mr Lawrence already sitting in my father’s chair, wearing a formidable-looking suit and an intense expression. He takes in my appearance and smiles appreciatively, which I hope means he likes the fact that I made an effort to look professional. He gestures to the chair on the other side of the desk, a chair I’ve sat in many times before now, though never with my hands clasping onto one another so tightly.
“Good morning, Beth,” Oliver greets me in a soft voice, one that is meant to put me at ease. “I’m glad you could join your father and me this morning. We have a lot to discuss, so please, relax. I won’t bite.”
My nervous smile pleases him, but Dad only sighs heavily, then stares at the floor with what looks like sadness, maybe even remorse, I can’t really tell for sure. Mr Lawrence frowns in what looks like frustration over his reaction before turning back to face me, with his pointer finger running pensively along his tight lips.
“Perhaps your father should explain what happened on Saturday night. It may clarify things somewhat.”
I’m truly lost when I turn toward my father who looks like he’s aged about twenty years in the last twenty-four hours. I search his eyes for answers to this weird predicament, hoping he’s going to bring me some comfort. However, the awkward atmosphere gives me an eerie sense that he is about to destroy everything I had ever believed about him. Dad is my hero, one of my best friends who has always treated both Riley and me with the utmost love and respect. Surely, he isn’t capable of doing anything bad.
“Dad?” I finally have to ask him when he offers nothing but a look that has me fearing that he’s going to burst into tears at any moment. I’ve only seen him cry once and that was when my grandmother had to finally go inside of a home. It is officially the worst thing for a child to witness a parent lose their battle for control because they’re too distraught. Remembering that day has me fighting my own lump of emotion, one that is lodged firmly inside of my throat, and I find myself reaching for his hand. As soon as my skin makes contact with his, he shakes his head and pulls away.
“Don’t be nice to me, Beth,” he sighs sadly and with his voice already crumbling. “I’ve messed everything up. I’ve lost it all!”
“What do you mean?” My breathing hitches up several knots and my heart is already hurting over what is sure to be something life-changing when all is finally revealed. “Whatever it is, we can fix it, tell me!”
But when I look into his eyes, glistening with unshed tears, I know he can’t. His words are literally stuck inside of his mouth and refusing to come out. His shoulders start to shudder from silent crying.
“Beth, your father gambled away his entire business, including your house, in a game of poker on Saturday night.” Mr Lawrence informs me without emotion, as though he’s delivering facts and figures to a board meeting.
“Wh-what?” I stutter with my whole field of vision zeroing in on Mr Lawrence’s face. Long, silent moments pass by before I finally have the courage to turn back and face my father, only to find he has now lost the battle against his tears. “How could you…why would you…who does he owe it to?”
“Me,” Mr Lawrence replies as a strangled sob is released from my father’s throat.
I shake my head and instantly think about how to fix the problem, trying to be just as matter of fact as Mr Lawrence just was, but I have no idea. I don’t understand how these things work.
“Can’t you just give it back? I mean, why…my family, please…” I look up at him with eyes as big as saucers and not a hint of shame for hearing the begging in my voice, not if it will help us get out of this mess. “Surely, you wouldn’t take everything from us?!”
“Relax, Beth,” he replies calmly, before dropping his finger from his lips and standing to walk around to my side of the desk. His eyes stay fixed upon mine as he leans back against the wooden edge behind him. I watch as he takes all of me in for a moment or two, as though he is trying to capture me with his eyes. His cool persona only serves to make me feel deeply uncomfortable.
“Malcolm, I would like you to leave your daughter and I alone for a few minutes. I think you’ll agree this is rather private.”
My father, who is still silently shuddering, is unable to hide the look of shame before this man who must be twenty years his junior. One that is eyeing him without any sort of respect, even in his own office. Dad looks at him imploringly, telling him that this is the very last thing he wants to do. Alas, the way Oliver Lawrence returns his gaze, soon tells him that he wasn’t making a request. It was an order.
A sickness spreads within me when I watch my father and protector cower before this man; a man who holds our entire future within his greedy hands. I desperately want to shout at my dad to stay, to not leave me alone with this tall, intense man who eyes me up like a personal possession. He is an attractive man, one who wouldn’t look out of place in a Hollywood blockbuster, but this only adds to the fact that I do not trust him at all. He is dangerous and his beautiful sheep’s clothing is only there to hide the hungry wolf lurking within.
Any hope I had of walking out of this office unchanged, and with my love and respect for my father remaining intact, vanishes as soon as I watch him slowly and reluctantly leave the room. I feel an overwhelming terror and sadness when I hear the door finally close on me from behind.
“Face me, Beth,” Oliver Lawrence commands. I instantly do as I’m told by the man who has the power to make us homeless.
“There is an alternative here,” he explains, “but it is entirely within your hands. You see, I don’t really want your father’s business; it’s small game to me, and I’m not interested in that. What I need is a wife.” My brow instantly furrows in confusion, an action that causes him to laugh. “I know it must sound a little crazy to you, Beth, but you are exactly what I need, and,” he says as he takes hold of my hands, which seem to disappear inside of his manly ones, “now that I’ve seen you, now that I’ve met you, you are exactly what I want!”
“Why?” I croak out in a barely more than a whisper. “Why me?”
“I am not yet able to answer that question, but I will, in due course. For now, I can tell you I am in a position to climb the ranks, as it were, but I need the perfect woman to booster my already formidable reputation. She needs to be modest, beautiful, obedient, and…pure. It is Mayfield tradition.”
“What’s Mayfield?” I ask almost straight away.