Page 52 of Save Us
“F-f-forgive me, I-I’ve always loved you!”
My eyes from dart side to side over his face, all the while trying to find the right words. However, in the end, I have to close my eyes tightly, knowing that he’s waiting for me to answer, to tell him I love him back, but all I can give him is honesty.
“I forgive you for me, Oliver,” I eventually give him, then pause to swallow back the hard, painful lump that is still in my throat, “but I can’t for them. I can’t forgive you for what you did to Rosie and Xander.”
He remains holding my cheek and smiling, as though he’s telling me he knows. Moments after, the slump of his body tells me he’s gone. His lifeless eyes stare to the side as his head rolls forward in my arms.
“Be at peace, Oliver,” I whisper before bile escapes me and I fall to the side, desperately clinging onto Kai who is now at my back, holding me tightly.
“Go, Kai,” I say to him after a few minutes have passed, “you have to get out of here. The alarms would have been triggered and the Police will be on their way. Go, get out of here!”
“I love you, Beth,” he says with his warm, friendly smile, before he kisses the top of my head. All traces of his unhinged persona have now vanished, and he almost looks like he is finally at peace with himself. When I give him a nod that tells him I feel the same way, he gets up and heads over to the door.
“Kai,” I call out, and he turns back, “be safe.”
He nods once before running out the door, leaving me to slump to the side with Oliver’s hand still firmly inside of mine. Only then do I let it all out, the past five years, as well as the horror of this final scene. It’s all over, and it’s bloody and terrifying, as well as tainted by death.
Xander
“Hello?” I mumble with irritation when I answer my phone, still half asleep, even though it’s now daylight and probably time I got up anyway. I cough to clear the soreness from my throat before I repeat, “Hello?”
“It’s done,” Fox’s voice informs me rather cryptically, “Lawrence is dead!”
“Say what now?” His announcement has me sitting bolt upright and staring at the clock on my bedside table, suddenly feeling more awake than ever.
“His house was broken into last night and he ended up with a hole in his stomach. Left a bloody mess everywhere from what I’ve heard. You might want to report on it first.”
“Oh my God! Shit, I mean…” I clasp a hand around my mouth as I try to comprehend the enormity of what I’ve just been told. “Holy fuck!”
“Quite,” he says in that condescending voice of his.
“I guess this makes you king dick?” I ask rather bluntly, with my eyes remaining shut tight in shock.
“I believe it does, Fenton, though I might not have put it quite like that,” he says with just a hint of amusement in his voice. “I’m off to the station now.”
“Wait, what about Angela?” I gasp, suddenly feeling fearful for the woman I had opened up to not long ago. “Is she ok?”
“I believe so, but they are holding her for questioning. She was the only one left alive when they got there, so have added two and two together to make five. She’ll be free by the end of the day and then I shall escort her back to her new home…my home.”
I sigh audibly, not holding back on what I think of that situation, or how much I want to call him an asshole for ‘claiming’ the poor girl. It makes him no better than Oliver, though I pray he at least treats her with more care than her late husband did.
“Ok,” I finally relent, “treat her well, Fox.”
“I most certainly will, Fenton,” he replies with his business tone firmly back in place. “I hope you can finally get some peace.”
“Yeah,” I answer, then simply hang up.
I sit, slumped over my knees on the edge of my bed, stunned to the core as I consider those last words. It occurs to me that I have absolutely no idea how I feel about all of this. The Lawrence show has plagued my thoughts with nothing but reeking vengeance since Beth confided in me all those years ago. And now I feel a myriad of things, though none of them quite clear enough for me to name them. All I do know, is peace is not one of them.
As soon as I manage to haul myself off the bed, I distract my confused thoughts by setting to work, calling around those who might get ‘peace’ from the news. At least some people should do, even if it’s not me. After that, I’ll call the news office to roll the story, so the world can finally hear that the big, bad wolf is dead.
Chapter 21
Beth
The two detectives before me are staring at me for answers I don’t have. Even if I did, I would be too frightened to tell them anyway. Years of being subservient to both Oliver and Carl have conditioned me to keep quiet and to not answer any awkward questions. My place has been to keep quiet, look pretty, and to give in to my husband’s every demand. Now he’s dead, and I have no idea what’s going to happen to me. Kai’s heroic idea of setting me free isn’t a given. After all, I’m more than aware of the fact my grandfather is still very much alive and kicking. Something tells me he won’t be letting me leave Mayfield just because my husband is dead. He’ll have plans for me, I know he will.
I haven’t been offered a phone call or any legal representation. They explained this away by telling me they just wanted to ask me some informal questions. But Oliver was right, I am smart, and I know they are suspicious of me. I know they can see the old bruises and have no doubt heard of Oliver’s abuse. I don’t know, perhaps jail would be a holiday camp compared to the prison I’ve been living in for the past five years.