CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO; Betrayal

"Hi, honey," Her father's voice shook, and Rose rushed to his side.

"Dad," she cried, "you're trembling, Are you cold?"

She covered him from his legs up to his waist with a blanket, then turned instinctively to the man who'd made himself a statue beside the bed. "Get me another coat from the closet, would you?"

She realized the heart monitor machine the second she realized that Laurent hadn't moved an inch. She looked him in the eyes and saw that his eyes were already on hers, albeit with a strange, unfamiliar look on his face. She stumbled a step back in fear.

"Laurent," she called him, and his gaze tracked from her face down her body and back up. She cringed self-consciously, only now remembering that she'd left the hotel in little more than a tank top and a knee-length short with a jacket thrown over it. His eyes on her made her feel naked. And not in the fun way.

She moved closer to him and touched his arm lightly. "What's going on?" she whispered.

He stared at her hand until she got uncomfortable and removed it. Then he gave her a wide smile—wider than she'd ever seen but with a sharp edge. He took her by the wrist and moved her closer to the bed. "Rose, darling. Daddy has something to tell you."

She turned her attention to her father, but rather than share Laurent's optimism, his chin was tucked in, and he was shaking his head continuously.

His hands tightened on hers, and she gave an instinctive yelp. Her father's face shot up, and he snarled. "Leave her out of this."

Laurent just chuckled before he released her wrist and raised one of his hands in surrender, but not without squeezing the delicate bones once more. She swallowed her whimper.

She took a step back from both of them. What in blazes had she walked into? This wasn't her Laurent, and the cowering man on the bed wasn't her father either. 

"Dad!" she prompted, and Laurent piped in, "Come on, father. Tell her what you just told me. Or is it a secret?" There was an edge to his voice, and her father reacted to it by shaking his head again, but this time she could sense his defeat.

She moved closer to him just as a tear slid down his two eyes. "Daddy!" she whispered in horror.

In all her life, she couldn't remember seeing her father cry. He was this strong titan to her, even after her mother had died about fourteen years ago. She shot a look at Laurent, but he still maintained his position, even though a smile played on his lips. She knew that smile and had gotten accustomed to it peeking out whenever she said something particularly embarrassing. This man was amused at her father's crying.

She ignored the pang of hurt and betrayal and turned her attention back to her father.

"Dad, please!" She called again and reached across to touch his cheeks, but he flinched back.

"Rose, beloved, I'm so sorry," he said softly, but from the huff in Laurent's direction, the sound was still loud enough to carry.

She ignored him. "Sorry for what, Daddy?"

She saw him glance in Laurent's direction before he took a deep breath. "The illness that happened a few days ago was so sudden and frightening that it made me rethink a few of my earlier decisions."

"What!" She was ignored.

"Two years ago, I got wind of the fact that I had a son," he winced at that but recovered immediately, "and I took him into the company. It was my plan that I'd announce a change in my will on my next birthday, but as I said, the sudden heart attack helped me put some things in perspective."

"Dad! Daddy"

"Now, I'm formally announcing a change in my will where the company and all of its resources will be going to my son, Laurent Ricco. This is because I've seen myself in him and I trust his work ethic, and as a way to apologize for being absent from his life for the last…" he looked at Laurent, the question in his eyes.

"27 years. I'm 29 now, so definitely 27 years."

Beside her father, Rose was in a state of shock. The first thing that had crossed her mind was that she'd been having sex with her brother. But then she started thinking with her brain, and if this wasn't coercion, she didn't know what was.

Behind her, Laurent clapped his hands. "Good job, but you could make it better with the lawyers. Try not to make it sound too much like a script."

She burst into laughter when her father nodded like an automaton and exhaled a sigh.

"What in blazes is going on here?" She asked no one in particular.

It was her father who responded. He sighed as if she were being unreasonable. "Rose, stop it."

"Stop what?" she asked sharply. She turned to Laurent, "This had better be a dream. Because otherwise, what the fuck is going on?"

"Why, Rose," he responded with a flourish, "If this is a dream, then I'm the luckiest man on this planet. It means I got my wish in reality and also in dreamland. Wow"

"Laurent!" she warned, and he laughed. This laughter had no sign of the sharp edge he'd been displaying since she entered. It was a prank, then. She almost breathed a sigh of relief but then his lips turned down in disdain, "Why don't you ask your Daddy, princess? "I'm sure he'd love to explain what just happened."

She jumped at him in fury, but he yanked her off-balance by the wrist, "You don't want to do that, darling. Trust me"

She finally broke down in his arms and cried, "Please. Help me understand, what's happening?"

The tenderness she'd experienced the last few days made an appearance and he shifted her hair away from her forehead, "This isn't about you, sweetheart. You're just collateral damage."

"But…?"

He shoved her away and she narrowly missed hitting her leg on the foot of the bed, "Enough. Your father needs his sleep; he's been awake for a while now.

"And where do you think you're going?" 

He bent down at the head of the bed, and suddenly the silence in the room was broken by the sound of the droning of the heart monitor. 

Ignoring her completely, he turned to her father and shook his finger suggestively, "No funny business, father. I'll be right outside."

Then he blew her a kiss and shut the door behind him.

She hadn't realized how quiet the room was until that moment. The silence threatened to unravel her, and her gaze tracked the door with tears falling steadily down her cheeks.