26
I’m still in shock as we arrive at the church where my father’s funeral procession will be held.
My stepmother organized everything while I was stuck in the basement, held hostage.
I arrived on crutches, my ankle bound up in the foot brace and walking alongside me like my protective bookends were Lev and Ezrah.
Leslie raced up to me to give me a big hug as I reluctantly played along. As she was about to break the embrace, I held her tighter and breathed into her ear, “I’m to get you,” I promised her.
“Huh?” she grunted in surprise and tried to pull away, but I wouldn’t let her.
“I know what you did, Leslie, and I will destroy you,” I warned her.
She scoffed as I finally released my grip on her. “Sure you are,” she whispered, unmoved by my threat. I don’t blame her for disbelieving pathetic, ol’ me on crutches, dead father, no mother, nothing left.
“My father’s business is not yours to have,” I told her.
She scoffed, pretending to pick lint off the shoulder of my dress. “Sweetie, your father assigned me as the CEO of his company. His lawyer drew up the papers. It’s all signed and approved.”
“Why would he do that for?” I feigned my shock at her news.
“Because your father trusted me with his business. How na?ve of you to believe he would want his inexperienced daughter to run a multimillion-dollar company,” she explained in a tone that made my skin crawl.
I backed away and retreated to my boys, who supported me as we walked along the aisle to my place at the front of the church.
I kept my eyes low because I didn’t want to make eye contact with anyone for fear I would break down and cry.
Right now, I have to stay strong to make it through this.
Once seated, I could breathe to calm my rapidly beating heart.
I borrowed my black dress from Mila after I told her a version of what happened to me, throwing in a couple of lies to protect the Warwicks.
Two mysteries were solved. One, the dark stranger living on the third floor was her secret boyfriend, hidden so her father wouldn’t find out, and the other mystery was who killed Theo Abbott.
Conrad Milton, one of the roommates at the Lud, was cheating on his girlfriend with the coach's daughter. They’re from the same town, and the affair had been off and on for a while, but Conrad didn’t want to break it off with his girlfriend because he planned to marry her.
Also from the same town was Theo Abbott, who went to high school with Conrad’s girlfriend, and was asked by her to do some poking around because she suspected Conrad was cheating.
Theo happily took up the challenge as he had a great disdain toward jocks since Conrad bullied him in high school, and any chance to ruin a jock’s happiness, specifically Conrad's, he would.
We were seated at the very front of the church, and I had Ezrah on one side of me, his large warm hand resting on my trembling knee, while Lev was seated on the other side, scrutinizing the mourners behind.
“I recognize about three people,” I whispered, barely keeping it together. It still doesn’t feel real that my father died, and the woman who killed him, I believe, was wandering about playing the role of his mourning wife. “I don’t know who all the other people are.”
“Have you seen David Peter Gillespie yet?” Lev asked me quietly.
I shook my head. Then he appeared before me, like a strange coincidence. “Miss Boleyn,” he said sorrowfully, “I’m so sorry for your loss. You know he was a good man.”
I swallowed back my rage, took a deep breath, and replied, “Thank you so much, Peter. You have been wonderfully loyal to my father, a great friend and ally.”
His eyes flicked about to avoid my eye, but he was doing well to keep it all together.
I’d give him a 6 out of 10 for his acting technique, as it wasn’t entirely convincing, but it hurt like hell that it was him who picked me up from the train station, drove me back home, knowing that he and Leslie were plotting my father’s death. “Thank you, Miss-”
“Please, it’s Adina. Call me Adina,” I asserted, using my best caring tone because I can be a good actor too. “Did you bring your wife with you?” Oh, so innocently, glancing behind to search for her. Where’s my Oscar?
“Ah, no, she’s at home looking after the children,” he told me as his shoes shuffled on the stone floor, eager to move away from me.
“Children?” I pressed as my eyes kept looking at those shiny black shoes on his feet. My father paid Peter well, but not so well that he could afford shoes like that. In fact, my father has a pair just like that.
“Don’t you mean grandchildren? I thought your kids were adults now,” I caught him in a lie—the first of many I expect.
“Yes, sorry, grandchildren. My bad, I ah, am very upset as you can imagine,” he cleared his throat, then stepped, “If there’s anything you need,” he looked over the young men on each of me who were watching him closely, but it was Ezrah who seemed to draw his attention. “I’m just a phone call away.”
“Thank you so much, Peter,” I said graciously, holding out my hand for him to shake.
“Is that him?” Lev asked after Peter walked away, and I nodded. Lev turned back to watch him. “Okay, he’s sitting two rows behind us and keeps looking at Ezrah. I think he might recognize him.”
“Where’s Leslie?” I asked quietly.
His throat rumbled as he narrowed his eyes, searching for her, then grunted, “She’s coming this way.”
The tapping of high-heeled shoes bounced off the walls of this palatial church as she rushed up to the front and sat across the aisle, and I sighed in relief that she wasn’t sitting near us, but close enough for the boys to watch over her.
For a moment, she glanced behind her, searching for someone, and at first, I thought she might’ve been looking for me, only to discover it was Peter.
Once she spotted where he was placed, she seemed less nervous.
The funeral director stepped up onto the stage, pulled a black curtain across, and lying behind was my father’s coffin.
Initially, I felt nothing, merely a slab of wood lying there, definite and real, until I imagined my father’s body inside, then images of him hanging in his study flipped through my mind.
Emotions thundered in my chest, swelled into my cheeks and eyes, and I gasped desperately, trying to stuff them down again. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. It was no use. The tears streamed down my cheeks as uncontrollable sobbing consumed me, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop it.
Lev found my hand and laced his warm fingers with mine. The boy who struggled with tenderness and intimacy was doing a wonderful at supporting me at this terrible time. While Ezrah kept his hand on my trembling knee, “You can do this, Adina,” he whispered. “You can survive this.”
I nodded, swallowed, took a deep breath, and sniffed back my tears as the pastor began to speak. The ceremony was the longest hour of my life, and by the time it was over, my tears had dried up, and I was ready to go into battle.
We piled back into the limousine, and our driver drove to the cemetery, an hour’s drive away, where my father’s coffin was lowered into the earth beside my mother’s plot.
Leslie stood opposite us, wearing large sunglasses, so no one could see her dry eyes, while her lackey, Peter, stood near her, but not close enough for anyone to assume they were together.
At one point, she turned toward me, and I shot her the middle finger. I didn’t care if anyone else saw because I knew they would see me as the unhappy daughter left without a mother and a father. Fuck this world.
Numbness came over me, an emptiness scoured my stomach, but I had to focus on the task at hand, which was to take down my stepmother.
After my father’s coffin was lowered into the ground and we threw a handful of dirt in his grave, we turned and walked back toward the limousine.
And just as I expected, my stepmother’s wailing voice called my name.
Lev and Ezrah, my protective bookends, paused and checked that I was okay speaking to her.
I nodded and allowed them to walk ahead so I could speak to Leslie alone.
As she walked toward me, I reached into my pocket for my engagement ring and slipped it on my finger.
“Adina, I know it must be difficult for you at this trying time, but I’m happy to give you a role in the company, once you’ve finished school, of course.”
“No,” I told her, “That won’t be necessary.”
“Oh?” she glanced at the boys by the limousine. “You have other plans?”
“Yes,” I raised my chin proudly. “I’m getting married,” and I showed her my engagement ring.
Her eyes flicked to the boys leaning against the limo.
“Which one?” she questioned as she made a face.
“Surely not…” she dithered slightly, before adding, “Isn't that Leon Warwick’s son? Adina, it’s hardly appropriate for you to bring him to your father’s funeral after what happened with you being caught and filmed, you know, romping with them.
Your poor father was devastated by your carelessness. ”
I followed her gaze and smiled at my boys patiently waiting while watching her every move. “Yes, that is Leon Warwick’s son, but it’s not him I’m marrying.”
“Why on earth would you socialize with your father’s enemies, Adina?” she asked, genuinely confused.
“Oh, they’re my protectors after you tried to hurt me,” I said, completely devoid of emotion.
“I’m sorry?” she tried to play dumb.
“The razor blade in the cupcake, the Yorks coming after me and filming me having sex in the garden with my boys,” I explained plainly. “Anyway,” I stepped away from her, “I’ll see you back at the house for the reading of my father’s will.”
She scoffed arrogantly as if she knew exactly what was in the will, but what she didn’t know was that my father had changed the will only days before she killed him. He knew exactly who she was and what she was trying to do, but needed some evidence before confronting her.