CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Her father sighed from the bed and she turned to him with betrayed eyes.

"Dad, are you going to tell me what just happened?" She whispered, "Who was that man and what did he have over you? Because it's obvious you'd never hand over your company otherwise, right?"

"I'm so sorry, Rose. I never dreamed I'd end up not leaving the company to you" her father responded. He was already lying back down and he spoke without looking at her at all.

"That's not the point, Dad. You were the one who cared about the stupid company, anyway. What did he do here?" She shouted, making the tears of her cheeks.

The man sighed, and she recognized from the tone that she wasn't going to get anything from him, "Not now, Okay, baby. Please."

She'd been planning to stand firm until he explained, but his Please took the wind out of her sails. She felt betrayed. Kept out of the loop on both sides and as if she wasn't worth the effort. 

Dejectedly, she made her way out of the room. Perhaps she should go and confront Laurent, but could she really do it? Part of her still believed that it was nothing more than a nightmare she'd soon wake up from. How could the same person have taken such good care of her until she fell in love with him, and then also be comfortable enough to tilt her world on its axis. Was that really all she was? 

She shut the door behind her, and there he was. His back was turned to her and from what she could see, he was talking to someone on the phone. She remained frozen there by the door. She wasn't ready. She'd opened the door to slip back in when her phone rang in her arms. Anna! She picked it urgently, recognizing a way out. 

"Hey, Rose. Where's your father's room?"

"Anna!" She whispered back urgently. "Where are you? I'll come meet you"

She heard the sound of motion silenced, and then her friend whispered back. "Hey. Are you in trouble?"

"Not really. I just need to get out of here"

She saw Laurent turning back, and she immediately slipped back in the room.

"Never mind," she moaned, "I'll just hide in the toilet until he leaves"

"Rose!" She startled at her friend's shout. "Where are you?"

Sighing, she described the room and slipped into the bathroom. There, she sat on the top of the toilet and put her head in her hands. What had gone wrong? Why was this happening to her? Tears dropped methodically down her cheeks again but she wasn't really aware. Her mind was taking her through the journey of meeting Laurent. She'd assumed she'd been the one doing the pursuit, but this didn't look like a random plan. She couldn't place exactly what happened, but due to her father letting go of something he loved even more than he loved her, it couldn't just be a one week plan. No, she'd been a pawn all along. And what a pawn she'd been. A man had been using her for almost three weeks, and her direct reaction was to fall in love with him. How could she have been so stupid? 

A shout from outside pierced through her eardrums, and she ran out in fear. The scene in front of her made her heart stutter for a minute. Her friend was holding a knife in a hand that Laurent was holding behind her back. Her second hand was scratching anywhere she could reach - which want much because she was at least 5 inches shorter than he was. His other hand was around her neck, and even from the distance, she could see her friend's face turning blue. She wasn't backing down though, grunting and trying to kick him.

She ran to meet them, "Stop," she ordered and both of them ceased their motions at the order"

"Let go of her neck," she ordered next, but Laurent only reduced his grip, making Anna start coughing and gasping. 

"Let go," she shouted in panic, but his eyes only tracked her face. She wiped the evidence of tears on her cheeks in anger. 

"Laurent!"

"Let go of the knife," he ordered Anna, shaking her with his grip.

Her friend only spat at him and snapped her teeth. His grip strengthened and she let out a small gasp. 

"Tell her to drop the knife," he told her next. 

It balked at her to obey, but at that point, Anna wasn't leaving the encounter without imprints on her neck. 

"Drop it, Anna" she was predictably ignored, so she had to go behind them and remove the knife physically. 

She held it up as evidence, "Now, release your fucking grip, you bastard"

He shook his head, amused, "Not so fast, sweetheart. You drop the knife"

She understood in a second and gasped in horror, hearing the knife clang to the ground before she realized she'd released it. "You think I'll use the knife on you? What exactly did you do?"

He squeezed Anna's neck again for a second before he released her and took a step back, "Hey, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. You never can tell" And then before she could begin to process that statement or rush to Anna who was bent over, he winked at her walked back inside the room, slamming the door behind him, bastard. 

She rushed to her friend who was covering her neck with the assaulted hand and massaging the elbow with the other hand and supported her to her feet, "Come on, let's sit"

"I missed you too" her friend rasped, and she gave a wet laugh. 

"You're an idiot"

She took the injured hand away from her neck, and sure enough, imprints of the strong grip were beginning to appear. God, now she wished she'd thrown the knife the second it had reached her hand. Anna was from a mixed heritage so she wasn't as light skinned, and yet her color didn't hide the bruises. If she was hurt before, she had effectively crossed that boundary, right now she was mad.