Page 26 of Grave Kisses
I storm past Martin and take the stairs. My ankle still hurts, but I am not about to be trapped in an elevator with him. I take careful steps down, but I am in so much pain by the time I get to the conference room. I grab the wall and drop my head for a second to breathe before straightening up and walking into the meeting. I hold my breath until I get seated to power through the pain in order to not limp too noticeably.
“Good morning,” Marcus says simply.
“Morning,” I say, not meeting his eyes. Instead, I turn to Julie. “Do you usually take notes?”
“Yeah. You just do your thing, and I’ll keep track,” she says sweetly. I nod once and look down at my tablet.
“Alright,” I say, looking up at everyone. “Last week, you all voted and decided that I needed to speak up about who I am… So, I am Alan’s foster daughter but recently adopted daughter. Archer kidnapped, raped, and tortured me when I was fifteen. That’s why his relationship was cut off because it wasn’t the first time he had done something like that. Alan took custody of me and respected that I wanted to stay in the shadows. I was afraid of people thinking that I intentionally ruined his relationship with his son. Up until right before he passed, I would not sign adoption papers for that reason. Ultimately, I did, and I am his legal daughter, but even so, he had everything go to me because he was not confident in leaving anything to Archer. He knew I would give him his trust fund money, and I did… But... Friday night, there was a fire and an explosion at an apartment building in town. That apartment building was mine, and there were propane tanks in my apartment. Ultimately, it was ruled arson, and he is the main suspect. The police also have security camera footage of my rape when I was fifteen. So… I assume there is or will be a warrant for his arrest soon.”
“I’m sorry that happened to you. Alan was a good man,” Bradley says.
“It honestly doesn’t surprise me,” Jerry says with a sigh. “Where are you staying now?”
“I stayed with Marcus and Bellamy over the weekend, but I am going to a hotel today,” I say simply. “I’ll do my update first since I’m already talking.”
“Let’s hear it,” Richard says, sitting back to listen. Marcus and Bellamy look fucking heartbroken, and it hurts. A lot.
“Uh. Right. So, Alan and I had a few projects going. Over the next week, those projects will end. I have been working on a separate project for a new system. It is a pretty major change, so I will email everyone a detailed document about this. I should have it completed within the next month. Otherwise, everything is on track.”
“Simple enough,” Jerry says. “I’m looking forward to seeing the new project.”
I sit back and focus on my tablet as everyone else takes their turn to speak. Just as Bellamy is about to give an update, I pretend I have a call. “I’ll be back,” I say quietly to Julie. She nods, and I slip out of the room. Once the door is shut, I hurriedly hobble over to the elevator with my tablet in hand to get up to my office. Jesse is waiting for me, and I want to get this done before the meeting is over.
“Hey,” Jesse says when I walk in. “You okay?”
“Yeah. I just twisted my ankle on Saturday,” I say dismissively as I sit. “Okay. So, I want to draft a will. I want it finalized today, though.”
“Oookay…” she says. “What are you wanting to do?”
“If I die, I want everything regarding the company to be split evenly between Marcus and Bellamy. Everything else can be split between you and Julie,” I say. “That’s it.”
“Is everything okay?” Jesse asks as she types.
“Yeah. The apartment thing freaked me out a bit. I just want to make sure the company is protected,” I say. “And this stays between us. Okay?”
“Okay,” she says. “You know you can talk to me, right? Like, about anything.”
“I know. Thank you,” I say with a fake smile.
“I’ll email you a digital copy to sign in a few hours,” she says as she stands. “Ice your ankle. It looks bad,” she says, pointing to my leg.
“I will,” I lie. When she leaves my office, I look at my ankle, and it’s a gross shade of black and purple while also being incredibly swollen. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say I probably broke something important. I suppose it won’t matter soon, considering I’ll be dead. I’ll make do for the time being and do what I need to do.
Chapter Nine
Bellamy
I am standing inMarcus’s office as I watch him sit on his couch with his dad. He is crying, and that hurts my fucking soul. I truly do not understand what happened. One minute everything was fine, and like a fucking light switch, she flipped to this cold and uncaring woman. I refuse to believe that she is this… mean. I have been trying for two days to explain to Marcus that he didn’t do anything, but he thinks that he pushed her too far or that she might not have been as consenting as he thought. She was consenting. It wasn’t until well after that that she turned to ice. Clearly, she is triggered.
“I don’t get it. I don’t know what to do. I didn’t mean to hurt her; I just…”
“Hey,” Jesse says, practically running into the room as she drags Julie with her.
“What do you…” I start to say.
“Shh. Shut up. Listen to me,” she says. “I am going to set my computer here for safekeeping while I go to the bathroom. It has confidential information in it, so don’t be nosy.”
“Okay? You came in here—” I start to say.
