Chapter Forty-Seven
Amelie
Frost, Onyx, Slate and I came to HQ together.
Baxter is bringing in Debbie and Camilla.
There is a back entrance all non-members are taken through and a protocol they have to follow.
Baxter will take them to a holding room where they will have to sign some forms to basically keep their mouths shut about today’s events.
As we walk down a long corridor, Sawyer and Kalen step out of a door. Kalen’s face lights up and he sprints in our direction, when our bodies collide he lifts me in his arms and spins me around, feathering my face with kisses.
When he is done he places me back onto my feet and I smile.
“Smalls, your father, and Chelsea are in a holding room where Baxter is taking Debbie and Camilla, but we thought we should keep Marco with the others. Frost has taken Bex to where all the other Order members are being debriefed. Aadi and Bex will be brought to us for a board meeting once they are done.”
I nod. “Thank you, Sawyer.”
“We also have Harold seeing medics and he will be in a holding cell.”
“I want to talk to him, but first I need you all and Monty together. Can someone find him?”
“I’m on it. I’ll meet you in the boardroom,” Slate says.
I take Sawyer’s hand and give it a squeeze.
Laura wasn’t part of The Order, but being a partner means something.
I don’t want Monty to hate me and have the burden that I caused a rift between him and his sons.
I know they’ll have my back even if they’re not happy with it, but I also don’t know what it means for Camilla and Debbie since they witnessed Laura’s death.
Her murder.
I sigh.
Once we’re situated in the boardroom, Sawyer places a glass of water down in front of me while we wait. It’s no more than five minutes when Slate walks in with his dad, and they both take a seat. Baxter is nowhere to be seen, and Bex and Aadi aren’t here yet either.
I look around at all their glum faces and decide it’s better to just start rather than wait. I try to get up the courage to blurt out that I killed Laura but Sawyer beats me to it.
“We lied to you,” he states, and my guilt is overpowered by anger.
“You did, after you all promised not to.”
“We did it for your own safety, because you can be reckless and pig-headed,” Onyx adds, glaring at me unapologetically.
“Bullshit,” I snap, bringing my hand down on the table. “You did it because you don’t trust me. You all think you know what’s best for me but what you don’t get is, I now get to make the decisions.”
“Told you so,” Kalen interjects, and I turn and cut him with a look. He raises his hands in defeat.
“Whether you want me in this position or not, here I am. How is this going to work with us if you keep going behind my back? You think just because you have four seats on the board you can overrule bringing things to my attention? Do I need to make you all choose between being with me and being on the board?”
“All we can do is say sorry,” Slate adds.
“Baxter had a very compelling argument,” Monty adds, speaking up when this really doesn’t concern him. I guess with my wanting him here, he probably thinks I was directing this at him also.
“Baxter?! Since when do any of you listen to what he has to say?”
“Since you conveniently trust him with your life, probably more than us,” Onyx throws out.
“I never said I trusted him more. I just trust him to make unbiased decisions when it comes to me, but clearly I was wrong.”
“We also need to decide how we proceed with Debbie,” Sawyer adds, conveniently trying to change the subject.
“We do nothing. She’s free to live her life.”
“She fucking kidnapped you!” Onyx yells.
“She kept me safe. It might not have been done in an orthodox way, but she did. She did what none of you could do, because by not telling me, you took on more than you could chew and it backfired in your face.”
“That’s complete crap,” Onyx fires back.
“We can deal with this later between us. It isn’t a board issue, it’s a personal one that’s between us.
Right now we have more pressing issues to discuss.
I want a report on what happened today, including details of anyone who was injured or killed.
Also, I have to go and question Harold and.
..and I wanted to talk to you all. Something… ” I look down at my hands.
“What’s wrong? You can tell us anything,” Sawyer presses, resting his hand on my legs. “Even if you’re mad at us and we have some things to work through, you can still confide in us.”
“I...I killed Laura. She’s dead.”
“We found her body,” Slate says and I look up at him, tears rolling down my face.
“I didn’t mean to. She kept saying things about why she came here and every memory from my childhood flashed before my eyes. I think I blacked out and when I came to she was on the ground. Debbie and Camilla saw me do it. They helped hide her body and clean me up. Frost too. I’m so sorry, Monty.”
“Don’t be sorry, she deserved everything she got. I’m just sorry that you had to do it,” Monty tells me kindly. Too kindly. His fiancée just died. Where’s the anger? The rage? The grief?
“So you don’t hate me?” I sniffle. He shakes his head.
“Are you going to be okay?” Sawyer asks in his concerned teacher’s voice.
“I don’t know. I killed someone. I took away someone's life. How do I live with that?”
“It’s not easy, but we have specialists you can talk to on staff, they help us all through things like this.”
“All I know right now is I’m glad graduation is over and I never have to do that again.” I sigh in relief.
“Actually,” Kalen chimes in. “That was a fake graduation and the real one is in November.”
“Nope, I’m not doing it. And what kind of bullshit is that?
Why finish school and then wait months for graduation?
This whole school system is confusing. Why not be like Australia?
We start in January and if you graduate it’s in November, and the only thing that can maybe not be around that time is formal, but that comes down to the individual school. ”
“There is a logical reason…” Sawyer starts and everyone groans. “Which none of you care about.”
He smiles and shakes his head at his brothers.
“What do we do about Laura? I don’t know how we deal with that.”
“Don’t worry about it. I have everything sorted out: she tragically got hurt in the unfortunate events today. We have one newspaper on staff who are working on the story. She will have a funeral for all of her friends to attend.”
“She had friends?” Kalen questions in an incredulous tone. I mean, I’m pretty sure we were all thinking it, but I probably wouldn’t have said it quite so insensitively. Then again, I killed her, so who am I to talk about being insensitive?
“She did, but I will take care of it all.”
“I can’t go to her funeral. I’m sorry but with how she treated me my whole life, she doesn’t deserve for me to be there. I’d be a hypocrite if I acted remorseful. I am sorry I killed her. I didn’t mean to. But I am not sorry she’s dead and I don’t have any respects to pay.”
“And we all back you up on that, one hundred percent. Let’s not worry about her ever again. Let’s go and deal with Harold. I’m sure we can take some of our frustrations out on him,” Onyx suggests.
“I’m going to step away from this one,” Monty tells me. “He’s my father and I know he brought this on himself, but I don’t think I could watch it. Unless you need me to, Amelie? If you’re happy to pardon me, I’ll check on your family and your mother, and make sure they all get home safely.”
I nod and Monty stands giving me a small smile before he leaves.