Page 41 of Save Us
“Other things?” I ask raising an eyebrow for him to elaborate.
“Yes, other things,” he replies, not giving anything away he doesn’t want to, just like always. He avoids my subsequent glaring by turning to grin at Casey in a way I’m not too comfortable with when she passes his coffee over. “Thank you, Miss Fenton.”
“Please, call me Casey,” she smiles, tucking her hair shyly behind her ear and giving him a look which I’ve seen a thousand times before, usually when she finds someone attractive. She catches me watching and I shake my head. Being Casey, she merely shrugs in feigned ignorance and continues to smile at him.
“For starters, he is going to be applying pressure on his pretty wife to have children with him. He wants an heir and is also a little psychotic when it comes to Angela.” He watches my lips sneer and obviously finds it amusing. “The man is obsessed with her.”
“Yeah, I know how he likes to obsess over women who would rather sleep with a cactus bush than with him!” I reply bitterly.
“Precisely,” he says as he watches Casey walking away, “I’m going to offer her something that will ease that burden. What I need from you, is exposure. To give him bad press. You have the means to do that don’t you, Mr Fenton…Xander?” I nod with a sigh, knowing that I should be thinking of Rosie instead of engaging with Mayfield all over again. However, the need to avenge her mother’s death means I can’t let go, not yet. “Good, it will only be for a short while, but I will offer your family extra protection during that time. To be honest, I doubt it will be necessary. Things will happen long before Mayfield decide to apply any pressure on you.”
“The moment my daughter is threatened, I pull out!” I state bluntly. “I want to take Lawrence and Steele down as much as you, but I will not compromise her safety for it. Beth will have died in vain, and Rosie deserves to live her life freely and happily. Lord knows she was born with enough heart ache.”
“Agreed,” he says with a self-satisfied smile, then holds out his hand for me to shake.
“Why are you so keen to protect Lawrence’s wife?” I ask with curiosity as we shake hands.
“You remember what I said about what happens to Lawrence’s ‘things’ when he is no more?” he replies with a wicked grin. “I don’t fancy his child being one of them.”
“So, let me get this straight, the poor woman has been forced into marrying one Mayfield asshole, and then, when she finally gets out from his clutches, you’re going to swoop in and force her into another forced marriage…to you?”
“You haven’t seen Mrs Lawrence have you, Xander?” We both begin walking toward my front door to leave, and I merely shake my head in answer to his question. “She is quite the beauty, maybe even enough to turn your head back into the land of the living.” I smirk uncomfortably, completely lost for words. “Pity, she’ll be mine soon enough.”
“Whatever keeps you from looking at my sister again,” I finally reply with a tight smile. He laughs as he claps his hand over my shoulder. I keep smiling, even though I like him only a fraction more than Oliver, so not fucking much at all.
“I’ll be in touch,” he says before putting on his expensive sunglasses to battle with the sun’s bright rays. “Tomorrow I’m going to send you some evidence which proves Lawrence has been using tax havens abroad, as well as fiddling the books so he doesn’t have to pay what he should.” He pauses and smiles smugly with his teeth. “Not exactly a great image for the president of an organization that was set up to help the smaller guy!”
“No, it’s not.” I grin, suddenly feeling just as eager as he is to expose the asshole. “When do you want it to hit the news?”
“Tuesday,” he answers with confidence, “that will give me enough time to get to his wife.”
A pang of guilt hits me when I think of Angela and the shitty hand life is dealing her. She’s destined to be trapped with all of these weird motherfuckers who see a woman as a commodity. Very occasionally, and I mean occasionally, I wonder if Beth got the better outcome, given what could have happened to her.
Beth
As soon as I wake, I have a nasty feeling in the pit of my stomach. It’s a deep, festering feeling, like the beginning of a particularly vile stomach bug. It’s not helped when Elsie comes to tell me that my grandfather would like to see me as soon as I have eaten my breakfast. What with Oliver returning to claim me since he tried to kill me, this morning, and the fact that Chad Marsdon tried to rape me last night, I can’t imagine this is going to be about anything pleasant. She seems to know what I’m thinking and smiles sympathetically. She then looks at Leo a little sheepishly, as though she’s personally responsible for her husband’s actions. I try to smile at her reassuringly, but I’m not all sure I achieve it.
After picking at my breakfast without even eating anything, I eventually wander toward the living room, but take my sweet time as I do so. Whatever this meeting is about, it can’t be good. At best, it will be a pep talk to tell me that I should accept my husband back with warm and loving arms before happily opening my legs for him to impregnate me. At worst, well, I can’t even imagine the depths of depravity he will be willing to sink to, so who knows.
“Please, take a seat, Beth,” he says without getting up from his armchair to greet me.
I nod obediently and without any words before taking a cautious seat on the end of the sofa, which is about as far away from him as I can get. Leo hovers near me but with one look from Carl, I know he is about to be dismissed, which is another bad sign.
“Leo, please help my wife pack up my granddaughter’s belongings. I need to speak with her alone.”
I look at Leo who is side eyeing me with a desperation to argue with Carl, but when I subtly nod at him, he reluctantly leaves.
“Is something wrong, Grandfather?” I ask sweetly, donning a meek and mild expression for his benefit.
“Something is very wrong, Beth!” he replies with a look of deep shock all over his withered face. “I believe someone attacked you last night.” I look sheepishly to the floor and begin to fidget with the loose thread in between my fingers, for I have no idea how he’s going to react. I don’t even know if I’m going to bear the brunt of his wrath for it, even if I was the victim. “Why did you not come to me, Beth?”
“I didn’t want to cause a scene in front of your guests, grandfather,” I half lie.
“Mr Marsdon?” he suddenly calls out toward a door behind him, but he keeps his eyes on me the whole time. “Come!”
A pale, worried, but unharmed looking Chad walks in, anxiously buttoning up his jacket as he closes the gap between the door and Carl. Carl acknowledges him, then gestures to the armchair beside him, to which he sits in it rather stiffly, all the while looking between Carl and me. I feel like it’s the men against me, but I am completely stumped as to what Carl has planned here. A simple apology and talking down to isn’t going to cut it for this ruthless man.
“Mr Marsdon, look at me granddaughter, she’s very beautiful, no?” he asks Chad, his eyes still firmly fixed on mine, even when I shift uncomfortably inside of my seat.