Craving You

Chapter Eighteen

Lorelei

G entle kisses on my face pull me out of my sleep. When I open my eyes, I find a smiling Remington. “Good morning, pretty girl,” he says, kissing my lips.

“Morning,” I mutter.

“Sleep okay?”

“Yeah, although I am sore in special places. Have fun?” I ask.

“Lots of fun,” he laughs. I sit up and rub my hands down my face. “Cameron is making coffee.”

“What time is it?” I ask.

“Nine. I sent an email out to all the staff for a mandatory meeting at ten, including those working remotely. I sent the clients and board members the same email. Andrea called a press conference at the office. We will talk to everyone inside first, then we will do the press conference after,” he says.

“I could have done that,” I say. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” he smiles. “After, we can go up to the funeral home and plan the service to get that out of the way. When all of that is done, I have a surprise for you.”

“Oh?” I ask. “What is it?”

“It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you now, would it?”

“Right,” I laugh and get out of bed.

“I also picked you out an outfit for today,” he says, pointing to the chair. I walk over and hug him and he lifts my chin to kiss me.

“Thank you,” I say. “It’s so helpful to not have to think about these things.”

“Anything I can do to make things easier, I will,” he says.

Once I get dressed, I pull my hair up into a ponytail, so I don’t have to deal with it, and we go downstairs. I don’t bother with makeup because I will inevitably cry and ruin it anyhow.

“Morning,” Cam says as he hugs me as soon as I get into the kitchen. I hold on to him for a moment when reality sinks in that she is, in fact, not here. I sniff back my tears back pull away to wipe my face.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know where that came from,” I say.

“What happened?” he asks softly.

“I just… I expected her to be sitting here with a smile on her face,” I say. “Sleep okay?”

“Yeah,” he smiles. “It was easier with you two there.”

“Morning,” Ross says from the doorway to the kitchen. I turn and see that Andrea is with him.

“Hey,” I sigh.

“You look like you just woke up,” Remy laughs.

“Mmm. Yeah. I had another officer with me, so someone was watching out,” he says.

“So… Beatris’ autopsy was completed last night,” Andrea says.

“Oh?” I ask. “And?”

“How blunt do you want me to be?” she asks.

“I want to know the truth,” I say.

“She was whipped and sustained significant welting and bruising from that. She has a large bite taken out of the tip of her shoulder, but the piece was not recovered. Her clitoris was cut off and found in her stomach contents. The most significant injury was from a large knife that she was assaulted with. It damaged her cervix, uterus, intestines, and severed major arteries. She lost a significant portion of her blood, so death happened within minutes of those injuries. Semen was found in the abdominal cavity, so it’s likely that she was assaulted at death or after,” she says bluntly.

“Start to finish, the medical examiner estimates that the entire interaction would have taken no more than thirty minutes. The severity of the injuries occurred in the last few minutes, in my opinion.”

“So… he whipped her, cut her clit off, fed it to her, ate a chunk of her shoulder, fucked her with a knife, then fucked her dying or dead body?” I ask.

“Yes,” Andrea says.

“Well, goddamn,” I say, huffing out a dry laugh.

“She suffered, but it wasn’t for long,” Ross says. “That’s what this boils down to.”

“Also, the medical examiner said that she likely went into shock very early on because the bite in her shoulder and her clitoris being removed caused massive blood loss also, so there is a good chance she didn’t feel a lot of it, or she was unconscious,” Andrea says.

“Well… that makes me feel a bit better,” I say. “What the fuck is wrong with humans? Who decides to do shit like this?”

“Monsters,” Ross says.

“Well,” Cam says. “Definitely not repeating that in any meetings today.”

“Shit. Tris would want me to, just to freak people out,” I say, and he laughs. “I am learning that trauma makes me say inappropriate things.”

“Sometimes we have to laugh through the pain, or it will eat us alive,” Ross says.

“Kinda like her eating her clit,” I say, making Remy laugh this time. “Ignore me getting it out of my system before I get to the office.”

“Don’t feel bad for how you cope,” Ross says. “There is no correct way to handle this.”

“I think us being together helps a lot,” I say. “If I was isolated… I would be batty by now.”

“We should get going,” Andrea smiles.

“When will her body be released?” I ask as I grab my bag.

“Oh, it’s going to be a while longer. We want to keep her body for a little bit so we can make sure we have every bit of evidence,” she says. “DNA will take a while to come back. Hopefully, the asshole is in the system and gives himself up that way.”

“Mmm. That would be too easy,” I say. “Someone like this is far too calculated and meticulous to leave something behind that would get him caught.”

“Unfortunately, you might be right,” Ross says. “But we have plenty of other leads to follow.”

W e pull into the parking lot, and everyone comes around to me. I walk between Cam and Remy and none of us stop, because if we do, we might not ever walk in there. When we stop in front of the building, I decide we should just tell the media. We are already here, and they are waiting.

“Andrea,” I say. “Can we…”

“Yeah,” she smiles. “If you can’t… I’ll take over. Just say what you can, but absolutely do not mention the connection to human trafficking or that you were the target. Okay?”

“Okay,” I sniff.

“Quiet everyone,” Andrea calls out. A hush falls over everyone, and I am already fighting back tears.

“Good morning… I am Lorelei Belmont,” I say, my bottom lip quivering. “I uh… we promised updates… I’m sorry.”

I stop and take a deep breath and luckily, they are all patient with me.

I can’t choke back the tears, though. Instead of stopping them, I just let myself cry.

“Yesterday afternoon… Our friend and newly appointed COO, Beatris Cooper… She left the office to get everyone lunch, but she uh… shit. I’m sorry. ”

“It’s okay. Hey. I’ve got it,” Andrea says, rubbing my back.

“Thank you for being patient, everyone. Beatris Cooper was abducted on her way back. A little under three hours later, she was found deceased. This was a violent attack, and we are actively following several leads. We ask that if anyone has any information to reach out to their local precinct, and we will look at every single one. This is not considered a public threat, but we do ask that everyone remain vigilant. Thank you.”

We are quickly taken inside before anyone can ask anything. I immediately turn and hug Remy before I completely fall apart. He hugs me tightly and I fight back sobs. When I pull away, I hug Cam.

“Hey,” I hear Sam sniff nearby. He is the only one who knows.

“Hey,” I say tearfully when I pull away. “I’m sorry. I’m trying not to.”

“Stop. It’s fine,” Sam says as he hugs me. “I’m so sorry, Lori.”

“I hate this so much,” I whisper.

“I know,” he sighs. “So do I.”

“I don’t know how I’m going to get through this,” I say as I pull away.

“One step at a time,” he says. “Everyone is watching us, though.”

“Right. All staff,” I sigh. I glance and see that everyone is confused by this. “Hey, everyone. Uh… floor leads. Do we have everyone?”

“Yes,” a few say.

“I went ahead and did attendance,” Sam says, handing me a tablet. “Also, the board and all the clients are here.”

“God, you’re a saint,” I say. “Thank you, Sam.”

“I am going to make you guys let me help you. Use me however you need. Okay?” he asks.

“She will,” Remy says before I can answer.

“What’s going on?” Leann asks hesitantly. I sigh and turn to everyone.

“I can’t promise that I won’t break down.

I am hardly hanging on here, so please be patient,” I say before taking a deep breath.

“Yesterday, Tris left the office to get us lunch while we prepped for the all-staff meeting. The plan was for us to meet up with her after the meeting to eat… On her way back, she was abducted… By the time we got out of the meeting, she had been found dead.”

Gasps break out across the room, but it’s Matthew that catches my attention. Tears roll down his face and he looks guilty .

“I will give you all a little bit better of an explanation than the media was told, but I’m not going into detail,” I continue.

“Tris was violently killed. She suffered and she did not deserve that… Tris was kind and incredibly smart. We’ve known her our entire lives and she meant the world to us…

Her autopsy was completed last night, but her body won’t be released for a while.

I am planning her service today and I want everyone to know that you are invited.

I know that she meant a lot to many of you.

She was more than just a manager here. She lit up this building with her sarcasm and bright, bubbly nature…

She absolutely loved working here and I know her presence will be sorely missed.

Sam will be taking over her duties and helping us where needed…

We will still be here because we still have a company to run…

if anyone knows me, though, I hate delegating, and I would rather do everything myself, but I can’t.

I can’t manage everything alone right now, so please go to Sam if you need anything.

If it is absolutely detrimental, we will be here. ”

“To the board members and our clients, please know that this is not going to affect anything. Everything will continue as planned. For right now, we are not replacing the COO position, but Sam seems to be sneaking his way into those duties, though.”

“Kinda bulldozing my way in,” Sam says with a smile.

“Guys, despite what she has said, do not go to them. Come to me and I will handle everything and update them as needed. Cameron and Remington are a bit more compliant with this, but we all know Lorelei will not be… She is very much going to try to continue to run everything, but this is the time where we need to think about her as a person rather than our boss. Cameron and Remington know that I am making this… decision, if you will… next week, they will be traveling for a meeting in…”

“No location,” Andrea interrupting.

“Ah. Right. They won’t be in town for this meeting, so I don’t want anyone to worry if you don’t see them around the office… Cameron and Remington are going to try to keep her out of this office and work from home, but I think that’s a battle we will all lose,” Sam adds.

“I feel like I should be offended,” I say, and everyone smiles despite the tears.

“I know that whenever bosses say that we are like a family, it’s usually bullshit, but you guys are my family.

Many of you have been here since the very beginning and I can’t even begin to explain how thankful we are for you guys… Andrea?”

“We will be asking every biological male employee in this building to submit a DNA sample,” Andrea says.

“This is not required, but I will be transparent and say that if you refuse, I will just get a warrant… Even despite having an alibi, Cameron and Remington have submitted DNA. We can obviously rule most of you out based on camera footage during the meeting, but not everyone. This is not to say that someone here is guilty because I don’t think it’s anyone in this building, but I do want to do the due diligence of checking…

I will be here with a few officers to collect through today. ”

“I will send everyone an email with the memorial information for Tris later today,” I say.

“I will make sure that it is outside of normal work hours, for obvious reasons. I know this is a hard hit for everyone, so please just do your best. If you need support, I highly encourage you to reach out to us, but we will also have numbers available for you all to talk to counselors if needed.”

“Do you have any questions?” Cam asks.

“How… How did she die?” a girl asks. I look at Andrea and she speaks up.

“Tris was sexually assaulted,” Andrea says. “This violent attack caused life-threatening injuries that resulted in massive blood loss.”

“Oh my God,” Leann says through tears. “Is Lorelei at risk? Is this related to…”

“Lorelei, Cameron, and Remington have around the clock guard. They will never be alone, so no one has to worry about their safety,” Andrea says vaguely.

“I’m going to come with you all to the funeral home,” Ross says quietly, and I nod.

“Try to have a good day, everyone,” I say.

“I am going to have lunch catered so no one has to leave for lunch,” Cameron says. “We will also be hiring security, so expect some changes to occur over the next week.”

As everyone leaves, Matthew hangs back. “Hey, Matthew,” I say. “Are you okay?”

“I feel responsible,” he sniffs. “If I hadn’t…”

“It was bound to happen to someone,” I say. “It’s not your fault.”

“I am so sorry, guys. Truly. I didn’t mean…”

“You didn’t kill her, Matthew,” I say. “You were in this building when she was taken.”

“I’ll still submit DNA,” he says.

“Just for the sake of reports, we do need to sit down tomorrow and talk,” Andrea says.

“Uh. Okay,” he says. “I need to go work on this audit still, I guess…”

“Try to have a good day, Matthew,” I say. “Don’t be too hard on yourself.”

Matthew nods and walks away, and I sigh. “Think he had anything to do with it?” Cam asks Andrea.

“No, but I think he knows something,” she says honestly. “Let me handle it… I’m serious.”

“We have enough to worry about than waterboarding poor Matthew for answers,” I say.