Page 102 of Morally Gray Daddies

Less than five minutes had passed when a door opened, and Aubrey stepped out. Closing it behind her, she began walking toward me. She’d put on jeans, a T-shirt, and a pair of sneakers. She’d also pulled her blonde hair back into a ponytail, and as she moved it swayed from left to right. She met my eyes briefly then her gaze fixed to the floor in front of her as she closed the remaining distance.

She came to a stop in front of me.

“Well, are you feeling more comfortable now?”

She didn’t look up. “I… yes, thank you.”

“Good.” For a moment, I said nothing, simply watching her. She twisted her hands nervously, fingers interlaced as she squirmed in anxiety.

I needed to start the next phase of her life now. It would be better, easier for us both, if she were calm rather than hovering on the edge of panic.

I brought a finger under her chin, raising it until her reluctant gaze met mine. “I wasn’t lying earlier; you did very well through everything that just took place.”

Her lips trembled.

“I’m very proud of you, Aubrey. May I call you Aubrey?”

Her eyes went wide. “I… I guess so.”

“If I could make an observation. I sensed… puzzlement when I told you I was proud of you. Did I misread that?”

She glanced away. “No.”

I brought my finger back to her chin, gently returning her gaze back to mine. “Can you tell me why?”

“Why would you be proud of me?” she answered softly.

“Simple,” I replied, smiling. “You took on an incredibly difficult task for your friend, sparing her from having to go through it herself. And once you’d accepted the undertaking—despite being given multiple opportunities to back out—you did exactly what needed to be done in circumstances that went far beyond what most people would’ve endured.”

Aubrey’s gray eyes searched my face, and the coiled-spring tension I’d sensed a moment ago was now several degrees less than it had been.

“Please don’t think I didn’t recognize that. The way you handled what was done to you…” I tilted my head. “Well, as I said, there aren’t many people who would’ve followed through with it the way you did.” Now I indicated down the hall with my chin. “Including your friend.”

“You make it sound like I had a choice.”

I came away from the wall. “But you did, Aubrey,” I stated firmly. “If you remember, when I first started it was with Ms. Delgado. You could have let me continue.” I placed my hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently. “Except you and I both know you never would have done that, would you?”

“No,” she whispered.

I gave her shoulder another squeeze of affirmation before letting go. “Then surely you can understand why I say I’m proud of you. What reasonable, decent person wouldn’t be?”

She stared back, her eyes fixed on mine. I could sense a war raging inside her head that I needed to let her work out, so I waited patiently. Two seconds became three then five as her mind raced to answer until she gave a tiny shake of her head.

“It’s so weird to listen to you tell me how proud you are of me after what we… you… did.”

Now I gave a shake of my own head. “No, you were right the first time. We did that, Aubrey. You and I, together. And in the end the message we’ll send will be a powerful one. In fact, it will probably save Mr. Delgado’s life.”

“What do you mean?” she asked in a puzzled tone.

“Well, I explained to you why we had to do what we did. Now, there were other options Mr. Delgado’s friends had on the table they could’ve exercised, but they chose this one first. Assuming the message we’re sending is appropriately received and has the desired effect, he’ll never make the mistake he did previously that led us to this point. And with that being the case, none of those other more ‘permanent’ solutions to this problem will ever need to be set in motion.”

“Would you… would they have killed him?” she asked.

“In a heartbeat.” I let the words sink in before I continued. “You have to understand, for what he did, and considering the people we’re dealing with in this set of circumstances… they’ve killed for far less.”

“Oh, god.”

I gave her a polite smile. “I know I said this when I first arrived, but everything that’s taken place here today—and what will take place in your future—is, at some level, nothing more than a business transaction. It’s easy to let the sorts of things you and I did seem very personal, because we’ve been taught from a young age they are personal. But that’s a mistake. There are so many things in life we tend to personalize, but the reality is they’re nothing more than a set of transactional circumstances we’re presented with, and they should be treated as such.”

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