Chapter 15
CHAPTER 15
MEREDITH
T he winter sunlight streaming through the bay window finally roused me from a surprisingly deep sleep. One glance at my phone made me curse – nearly noon. The events of last night crashed back like waves: Leo's touch, Gray's anger, the unease at what was really going on and who they really were.
I found Sofia in her gleaming kitchen, in her emerald silk pajamas, fighting with her ridiculously expensive coffee maker. Her usually perfect curls were a wild mess, and she squinted at me through sleepy eyes, looking nothing like the polished woman who typically graced our outings. This was Sofia, fresh from a killer shift, desperate for her caffeine to prepare her for the day.
"I slept through my alarm," she mumbled apologetically, stifling a yawn. "Guess we both needed it after everything."
While she cursed at the coffee machine, I sank onto one of her leather bar stools and checked my notifications. Two missed calls from Gray, followed by a series of messages that made my stomach flip.
"He got all my stuff," I said, my voice sounding hollow in the quiet kitchen. "Sorted the lease with Logan – it's all in his name now." I scrolled further, each message feeling like another step away from my old life. "Everything's at the new place in Lincoln Park. The one they were talking about after the shooting. Where he's going to move."
Sofia nodded slowly, finally coaxing the coffee maker to life. The rich aroma filled the kitchen, a small comfort amidst my crumbling life.
"And..." I swallowed hard, my throat tight. "He's got me a job. In Lake Forest. At his office there."
"Lake Forest?" Sofia perked up, suddenly looking more awake. The morning sun caught the subtle highlights in her dark hair as she moved closer. "What's the offer?"
I opened the email, my eyes widening at the figures. The salary was almost double what I made now, with benefits that seemed too good to be true. "It's... generous. Really generous. They'll even help with housing costs, either rent or a down payment."
"Maybe it's for the best," Sofia said carefully, pulling two of her favorite artisan mugs from the cabinet. The delicate ceramic clinked softly as she set them down. "A fresh start, away from everything."
"He wants me away from the city," I translated, the realization settling heavy in my chest. "Away from Leo."
"Probably."
"But my life is here, you're here," I murmured, still processing the messages as I reread them.
"I could come too."
I looked up sharply, nearly knocking over the mug she'd just filled and placed before me. "What?"
She shrugged before taking a sip of her coffee. "Why not? I could rent this place out, move up there. Lake Forest could be fun."
"Fun?" I stared at her like she'd grown a second head. This was Sofia, who collected Louboutins like some people collected stamps. Who had a standing reservation at every Michelin-starred restaurant in the city. "You? Miss Designer Everything? You'd leave your fancy restaurants and shopping just like that?"
"It would be hard," she admitted, sliding my coffee closer. The morning light caught the steam rising from the cup, creating ghostly swirls in the air between us. "But not impossible. Besides, Lake Forest is growing. It's practically a small city now, just more... relaxed."
The way she said it, like she'd already thought this through, made me study her more carefully. My glamorous, city-loving best friend, suddenly willing to move to a smaller town? The Sofia I knew would rather die than leave the city's social scene.
Just like the Leo I thought I knew who now had revealed a darker side. Just like the brother I thought I knew wouldn't be involved in whatever dark business had led to last night's shooting.
How many people in my life were wearing masks?
"You know more than you're telling me," I said quietly, watching her face for any reaction. "And it's making me uneasy, Sof. All these secrets..."
Sofia's perfectly manicured fingers tightened around her mug. "If I'm keeping anything from you, it's in your best interest. Just trust me on that."
"I hate this." My voice cracked. "Please don't let secrets ruin our friendship. You're the one constant I have right now, the one person I thought I could trust completely."
The hurt in my voice made her flinch, but before she could respond, the musical chime of her doorbell echoed through the house. Sofia practically jumped at the interruption, hurrying from the kitchen in a swish of silk.
When she returned, she clutched a manila envelope, her face carefully blank as she opened it. Whatever she saw inside made her frown deeply before she quickly stuffed the contents back inside.
"What is it?" I asked, trying to catch a glimpse.
"Just work stuff." She waved dismissively, but her knuckles were white where she gripped the envelope. "I need a shower."
"Sofia, please." I caught her arm as she tried to pass. "Tell me the truth. I'm tired of everyone treating me like I'm made of glass."
She stopped, those dark eyes tired and haunted, but full of things I didn't know.
"Sof… I need to know something. Something before I start assuming the worst."
Finally, she sighed. "Let me shower first. Then we'll talk." She pulled her arm free gently. "I'll order some food too."
I watched her disappear up the stairs, the envelope clutched protectively to her chest.
Another secret. Another piece of the puzzle I couldn't quite grasp. But she was going to tell me, and that was a start.
I sighed, glancing at the texts from Gray once more as I sipped my coffee.
No, he couldn't just pack up this issue and ship me off. That wasn't how this worked. I deserved answers.
I clicked the call button, grumbling when it sent me to voicemail because the line was busy. Typical.
I stared at my phone, my thumb hovering over Logan's name beneath Gray's. Had Leo scared him into silence? Into wanting nothing to do with me? The way he'd told me to lose his number... was there more to it than just anger over a beating? What had Leo said to him?
Before I could talk myself out of it, I pressed call. It went straight to voicemail, his professional greeting feeling strange and distant now. I typed out a quick text.
We need to talk.
Failed to send.
My stomach dropped. He'd blocked me completely, erasing me from his life as thoroughly as if I'd never existed.
Was it that easy to turn his back on our relationship? To cast it aside?
My phone buzzed with another text from Gray, distracting me.
Coming to get you at 4. Got your car too. Will help with resignation letter and getting you set up in the new place.
The presumption in his message made my blood boil. I hit call, and this time he answered.
"You can't just ship me off to Lake Forest like I'm some problem to be solved," I snapped before he could speak.
"Mer—"
"No. You don't get to make these decisions for me."
"I think a fresh start would be good for you," he said carefully. "Away from Logan and all this... mess."
The way he said 'mess' made it clear he meant Leo. Made it clear he was trying to separate us. Sure, it could be to do with shooting, but Leo had said he'd sorted that out. Just recalling that made my stomach tighten, but I pushed past it.
"No." My voice was steel. "I'm not going anywhere until I get answers. Real ones."
"Mer, it's not that easy?—"
"Yes it is! It's not that hard to tell me the truth, Gray!" I ended the call before he could respond, my hands shaking with anger and frustration.
The sound of the shower running upstairs reminded me that Sofia had promised explanations too. But would they be real ones? Or more carefully constructed half-truths?
I was tired of being protected from whatever truth everyone seemed so desperate to hide.
The phone rang, and I went to reject the call until I noticed it said 'Unknown Number'. It wasn't Gray calling back to argue.
"Hello?"
"We know what really happened to your father." The voice was distorted, mechanical. "If you want to keep it buried, you better start paying."
My heart stopped, and I rose from the stool I was on, glancing around Sofia's place uneasily. "Who is this?"
The line went dead, but seconds later my phone buzzed with incoming photos. I opened them, then wished I hadn't.
A screen capture of a security feed from the looks of it, but I recognized the location, and my father. Blood pooled beneath his bruised and broken body on the concrete floor of our childhood home's garage. But what made my heart falter most, was the young man standing over him.
Leo. Even though he was staring down at my father, I recognized him instantly. The phone slipped from my nerveless fingers as a memory slammed into me with the force of a freight train.
That night. The night everything changed.
My father's fist connecting with my face, the taste of blood in my mouth. His alcohol-soaked breath as he screamed that I looked just like her. Just like my mother. That it was my fault she was gone.
Gray and Leo bursting in, their faces transforming with rage when they saw me on the floor. The sickening sounds of fists hitting flesh as they beat him. The way his body had gone limp, but they didn't stop.
"Help me get him to the garage," Leo's voice, colder than I'd ever heard it.
Gray turning to me, blood on his knuckles. "Go to your room, Mer. We'll fix this."
I'd obeyed, crawling under my bed like I always did when Father came looking for me with that darkness in his eyes. The same spot I'd hidden in whenever Gray wasn't home, whenever the whiskey made my father see my mother in my face.
"Never again."
The memory released me, leaving me gasping on Sofia's kitchen floor. My phone lay beside me, those horrible photos still glowing on the screen.
They hadn't just beaten my father that night.
They'd killed him.
"I'll always protect you."