Chapter Fifteen
Lorelei
“D oes anyone have any more questions?” I ask. Please, God, no more questions.
“Okay. You all are dismissed,” Cam says with a sigh. We have all been checking our phones nonstop to see where Tris is. She’s been gone forever and we’ve been stuck in this damn meeting. I love our employees, but they ask so many questions.
“Nothing?” I ask Cam when he looks at his phone.
“No,” he frowns. I turn and look around to find Ross standing with a woman.
“Hey,” I say as I walk up to him. “We have been trying for a while now to get ahold of Tris, but she’s not answering. Have you seen her?”
“Why don’t we go back to yours and Remington’s house to talk?” he says.
“No,” I snap.
“What’s wrong?” Remy asks.
“I asked where Tris is, and he wants us to go home,” I say as fear bubbles in my chest.
“Lorelei,” he starts to say, but I shake my head.
“No. I want to know where Tris is,” I say as tears roll down my cheeks. I have an awful feeling based on the sad look in his eyes.
“Lorelei, I need you to listen,” he says as he gently holds my shoulders so I won’t turn away. “You do not want to do this in front of your employees. Okay? Home is best.”
“Oh no,” Remy says. Tears start to choke me out as I realize what he is telling me. I refuse to believe it, though. There’s no way. We just saw her in the conference room three hours ago.
“You parents are meeting us there. Please go straight home, okay?” Ross says to me.
“What’s going on?” Cam says.
“Let’s go home,” I say to Cam.
“But what about…” Cam starts to ask.
“Cameron, please,” I whimper. “Let’s meet Mom and Dad at the house.” The realization sweeps over him and watching my brother’s heart shatter in front of me is almost too much to bear.
“Ross, you drive them. I’ll follow with your car,” the woman says softly. He nods and waves us along.
We are all almost zombie-like as we go outside to the car. I notice the alleyway is blocked off by crime scene tape. I look at Ross, and he just sighs.
I sit between Cam and Remy in the back as Ross drives us to the house. They have a tight grip on my hands, knowing that is what is holding me together right now. We know what has happened, but no one is willing to say it aloud.
When the gate shuts behind us, we drive up and park beside Mom and Dad. The second we are out, I run into the house, hoping to find Tris waiting on us. Instead, I find my parents, who look like they have both been sobbing.
“Oh, honey,” Mom says tearfully.
“They don’t know,” Ross says. “Guys, come sit with me.”
“No,” I say. “No. I’m not sitting. Where is Tris? Where is she?”
“Lorelei, please come sit with me,” Ross says gently.
“No,” I yell at him as fresh tears flood my face.
“Come on, baby. Sit with us,” Remy says softly, pulling me toward the couch. I sit in the center with Cam on one side and Remy on the other. Mom and Dad are standing together, and the woman is standing by the door.
“Who is she?” I ask, trying to distract myself from the obvious.
“Andrea Hall. She is my boss,” Ross says. “Lorelei…”
“Please don’t say it,” I say tearfully.
“Lorelei, Beatris is dead,” he says bluntly.
The sob that comes out of me is filled with pain and sadness. I try to get up, but both Cam and Remy grab me in a tight hug as I completely fall apart. I reach a point where I can’t breathe, so Cameron pulls me into his lap and rocks me.
“It’s my fault,” I choke out. I say it over and over again, guilt slowly eating away at me.
“No, Lori. No. It’s not your fault,” Cam says as he holds my chin so I can’t look away from him. “It’s not your fault. I promise. Okay? This isn’t on you.”
“She’s dead,” I whimper. “My best friend is dead.”
“Sit up here so we can find out more,” he encourages. He helps me sit up, and Ross has tears in his eyes.
“What happened?” I ask, wiping my face.
“She was taken on her way back from getting food,” he says.
“She used the back alleyway, and we think she was cornered there… She was taken to an abandoned house about twenty minutes down the road. An elderly lady living a little bit down the road called in a report for screams. Police called me when they got into the house.”
“How?” Cam asks.
“Blood loss,” he says vaguely.
“Did she suffer?” I ask.
“Yes,” he says. “It was fast in the sense that she died before you had even officially started the meeting.”
“Was it meant to be me? We look alike,” I say.
“I believe so. Her injuries are extremely similar to that of other women we’ve seen killed by this group,” he says.
“What were her injuries?” Remy asks, and Ross sighs.
“Ross,” I snap. He looks at his boss, and she shrugs.
“Lorelei, I’m not sure if you want to imagine her this way,” he says softly.
“It was meant to be me,” I say as tears well up. “I want to know what would have happened to me.”
“She was tortured,” he says after a moment of silence. “She had marks that tell me she was likely whipped with something from her neck to her shins. She was violently assaulted and mutilated.”
“How did she die of blood loss then?” Cam asks.
“She was assaulted with a knife,” Andrea says when Ross doesn’t. “The autopsy will confirm, but it caused significant damage from the onset, based on what we’ve seen.”
“Can we see her?” I ask quietly.
“Hun, I don’t really think that’s a good idea,” Ross says. “I have a picture of just her face that I can show you, but I think it would be best if you didn’t see her like this.”
“Okay,” I whimper.
I cover my mouth to keep the sobs from escaping when he turns his phone around for us to see.
Her eyes are closed but her skin is a grayish color.
It’s subtle, but you can tell that she is gone.
She looks to be at peace, despite what her body endured.
I have no doubts that she died just as stubborn as she lived.
She was fiercely protective of me. I think she fought with everything she had, even if only mentally.
“I am so sorry,” Ross says softly. “I think this is the point where we need to get you all in witness protection.”
“No,” I sniff.
“Lorelei, this proves that they are after you,” he says.
“I don’t care. I’m not running,” I say. “We have a company to run.”
“Cameron? Remington?” Ross asks.
“It’s up to her,” Cam says, rubbing my back.
“Cameron will come stay here with us,” Remington says. “She will never be alone.”
“Mom? Dad?” I ask.
“We are going to go to the hunting cabin,” Dad says softly.
“Okay,” I say. “I’m supposed to be her executor, so I guess I’ll have to sign for her to go to a funeral home?”
“Yes,” Ross says. “I’ll get the medical examiner to call you when she can be released.”
“Okay,” I say simply.
“Lorelei,” Ross says.
“What, Ross?” I ask.
“You can’t be reckless,” he says. “I know you are going to try and protect everyone, but you can’t do that here. Okay?”
“I won’t let anyone else get hurt,” I say.
“If you go and get yourself killed, she will have died for nothing,” Mom speaks up. “We all know that girl was likely given a chance to give you up and she would have been stubborn to the very end.”
“Yeah,” I whisper. “I won’t survive if I lose anyone else… if I hadn’t worked there…”
“Stop,” Remy says, turning my face to meet his. “What would she tell you right now?”
“That it’s okay to be selfish and protect myself,” I say tearfully.
“Right, so let us protect you like we know she did,” he says. “Cam and I will be right here with you every step of the way, and I swear to God, you will survive this. You will go on to live a happy life in her memory.”
“She can’t be gone,” I say tearfully.
“She’s gone, baby,” he says softly. “I want to fix it, but I can’t. All we can do is move forward and honor her the best we can.”
“Andrea and I will rotate being with you all,” Ross says. “I’ll be here tonight, so if you need anything at all, I will be outside with another cop. Andrea will be here in the morning.”
“Okay,” I say. “I don’t know what to do from here.”
“Right now, just be with your family,” Ross says. “We will keep you updated on the investigation the best we can. Let us know if anyone reaches out or you see anything out of the ordinary. Otherwise, just… live your life.”
“She was just made COO,” I say. “I feel stupid for being worried about that.”
“We can have Sam take over marketing,” Cam sighs. “We will dissolve the COO position, and we all take over those duties.”
“Sam will do well. Tris did great training him,” Remy says.
“Tomorrow I’d like to tell the employees,” I say before looking at Ross. “Can I make a statement to the press on this?”
“Andrea?” Ross asks.
“That would be a good idea,” she says. “We can let you announce her death; it just needs to be first thing tomorrow if you can manage.
“Okay,” I say.
“I’m going to walk Andrea out,” Ross says. “If you need anything, and I mean it, just come down and sit with me.”
I stand when Mom and Dad do, and they both hug me. “I’m so sorry, baby,” Mom sniffles.
“We love you so, so much,” Dad adds.
“I love y’all too,” I say before turning to Ross. I abruptly hug him, and it takes him a second to hug me back. “Thank you, Ross.”
“I’m so sorry about Tris,” he says softly.
“Just find who did this to her,” I say as I pull back and wipe my face. “I feel… like I’m not taking this hard enough.”
“Grief looks different for everyone,” he says. “Just remember, you are surrounded by people that love and support you.”
“Yeah,” I sigh. Mom and Dad hug Cam and Remy before pulling back and wiping their tears away.
“Do we have to wait to do the funeral?” I ask. “I don’t want to hold Mom and Dad back from being able to get to the cabin.”
“No, you just obviously cannot do a burial,” he says.
“She wanted to be cremated anyway, so I’ll just do a memorial,” I say.
“You don’t have to plan it alone,” Cam says.
“I know. I just need to focus on something. This and work will do. I will process over time,” I say.
“Let me know when you are planning the funeral, and I will make sure we have plenty of officers available so that everyone is safe,” Andrea says, and I nod.