HUDSON
TWO
Islept fitfully on the couch in Father’s room.
It had been too late for him to get a flight tonight, but he was able to get on the first flight out in the morning.
Oliver had arranged for a driver to get him so he didn’t need to worry about that detail.
Oliver also sent up another bottle of brandy that we indulged in as we chatted before heading to bed.
“Do you have any idea who it could be?” I asked.
Father looked at me with a frustrated frown.
“It’s hard to tell, because all of Isabelle’s staff have access to my labs, as well as my own staff.
That alone expands the pool exponentially.
Not to mention that Isabelle isn’t going to let me interrogate her people.
She will see it as an attack on her leadership. ”
The divorce had been finalized between them three years ago, but they had been living apart for two years before that.
Assets in the company had been the only thing keeping them from doing things sooner, all the legal legwork of dividing everything up taking years.
My mother fighting every move my father made didn’t help, either.
“What if you have the Elementi head up the investigation? It would keep it bipartisan,” I suggested.
“Hmm, that might be an idea. Once I get back and take inventory of everything we’ve been working on, it will tell me if this was an isolated occurrence or if something else was taken.
” Father tossed back the last of his brandy.
“You really don’t need to stay with me, Hudson.
I’m sure you would rather be back with the others, after what happened. ”
“I’m sure they all just went to bed. Besides, the only one that would be worried about me is Lailah,” I said, sipping my drink.
Personally, I didn’t see the point in drinking, but since Lailah came into her power, I kept finding myself in scenarios where drinking would help take the edge off.
When we came out here to help Lailah, I figured it might be a chance for me to relax a little around her.
As the others have pointed out many times, I am not good with emotions, neither showing them nor dealing with them.
Lailah felt everything so easily; it was stunning to watch.
Lately, though, I’d felt myself becoming less pragmatic about everything and deciding to get more involved with the group.
A few nights ago I even lost my temper at Parker, which never happens. Anger was a pointless emotion that did more harm than good. I had far too many experiences seeing it happen in my own family. My parents still fight any time they are even near each other. Hell, they even fought on the phone.
Being factual and analytical was a much more productive way of handling a situation.
This is what I had to offer Lailah in our dynamic.
She had Brayden and Parker to keep her smiling, Jay to keep her healthy and safe, and Micah, without even realizing it, was teaching her to be more confident in herself.
Even Cami was adding to Lailah’s life in more ways than I could.
No, I was there to guide her with my knowledge and level thinking.
“Hudson, that can’t be true,” my father said, resting a hand on my shoulder.
“You may not see it, but the five of you have grown closer since she came along. There was a time that you never would have been able to defeat a demon like that. You fought so much amongst yourselves that there was no need to let anyone else do the work. Lailah is good for you all, and not just because she’s Synergy. ”
“We finally have a leader. She doesn’t know it yet, but she is the one who is getting everyone to try,” I shared, giving my father a small smile.
He nodded his head. “The best leaders are the ones who help bring out the best in the people around them.”
“If that’s the case, how did things with Mother go so wrong?” I asked, knowing it was a risk.
“I keep telling you that you don’t have to continue calling her Mother. She was only ever your stepmother,” my father said, deflecting from my question.
“She is the only mother I have really ever known, seeing that you got married when I was three,” I pointed out.
“That’s fair, I suppose. Are you still going to see her for Christmas?”
“Something tells me that the others will want to help hunt down who took the serum. If that’s the case, it would be easier to stay with Mother at the villa. I also wouldn’t want to miss spending some time with Ben and Grace,” I answered.
Father sat back and looked at me with an odd expression. “What makes you think they’ll want to hunt down the serum?”
I gave my father a knowing grin. “If I know anything about Lailah, it’s that you don’t mess with her people. Adriana is Brayden’s mom, therefore someone she considers ‘her people.’”
“Fascinating,” Father mused, turning that tidbit of information over. “Well, my boy, I am off to bed. I will make sure to say goodbye in the morning before I leave.”
“Goodnight, Father. I’m sure it won’t be long before we see each other again,” I said, watching him walk into the bedroom.
I poured myself another finger of brandy and spread out on the couch.
Isabelle was the only example I really had growing up to base my knowledge of relationships on.
Many years I’ve tried to pick apart what happened to see where the marriage had failed.
What had my father seen in her to marry her in the first place?
There had to be something other than loneliness that would have drawn him in.
Isabelle was from old money in France, and her family had been in the pharmaceutical world for almost as long as our own.
Then my thoughts turned to my birth mother, who I didn’t have a chance to meet, having died in childbirth.
She had been a brilliant scientific mind that made changes in the medical world that still to this day save lives.
I have a picture of her and my father from when they got married, and they both looked so happy.
They had lived in England, where they met, but when she died, father couldn’t bear to be anywhere that reminded him of her.
So he brought us down to France, where he started a new branch of the family business.
Thinking of my mother had my thoughts drifting to Lailah.
Could I really learn to love someone as amazing as her?
The fact that she would have four other people to rely on actually made me feel better.
If I failed her, then the others would be there to comfort her and give her what I couldn’t.
The science behind having multiple partners was actually quite logical.
More members to provide for her, and added caretakers for when the female reproduced.
Not that I wanted Lailah to have children any time soon, and thanks to medical improvements with implanted birth control, it wasn’t something we had to worry about for the next three years.
Finally, the brandy seemed to hit my system and slow my brain down enough that I could fall asleep. I could understand the appeal of drinking now, for situations like this. It took all your choices away from you and made your body comply with the suppressant quality of the alcohol.