Lethal Wedding (Wedlocked Trilogy Book 2) - Charlotte Byrd Page 0,5

chair.

"Yes, of course," he says. "Well, to be honest with you, Aurora, the situation is quite bleak. The justice department has a strong case against your father for bribery and insider trading."

I give him a nod as if I understand what he is saying when in reality, I can barely wrap my head around it.

No, he must be wrong, I want to say. My father would never do that.

Why would he?

He's a multibillionaire who runs one of the most successful media companies in the world.

Why would he have to do anything like that?

Of course, I don't ask any of this. Instead, I just wait for him to continue.

"Also, they have numerous reports from shareholders and investors who say that they have had their retirements stolen as a result of this Ponzi scheme and, frankly, they are out for blood."

I shake my head, unwilling to believe this.

I look over at my mother, who looks just as dumbfounded.

Did she know? I ask myself.

"Is this all true?" I ask both my mother and the attorney.

She snaps her face toward mine and gets so close I can smell her minty fresh breath.

"Of course, it's not true," she hisses. "How could you even think that?"

The hairs on the back of my arms stand up.

She's so certain that she is either 100% right or 100% wrong. One thing is for sure, whatever it is that my father did or didn't do, she had to know.

Mr. Bradza's phone goes off and he excuses himself to take the call.

When we are alone, my mother moves one seat over to me.

"How dare you ask me that in front of him?" she whispers.

"What are you talking about?" I ask. "I thought he was our lawyer."

"Yes, he is, but he's also a stranger. He's not family."

I sigh and sit back in the chair.

I don't really know how to respond to this or anything that is happening.

"Did you know anything about this?" I ask.

She pauses and looks me straight in the eye. For a moment, I think she's going to say yes.

"Your father would never do anything like that. How could you even suspect that?"

"Well, the cops must have something if they broke into his house in the middle of the night and arrested him, right? I mean, they wouldn’t have done that if they didn't have something.”

My mother leans over to me and slaps me across the face. My cheek burns and tears well up in my eyes. She has never hit me before and this comes completely out of nowhere.

"Don't you ever say that," she snaps, pointing her finger in my face. I lean away from her, but she gets closer. I shut my eyes and wait for her to hit me again.

"This is all your fault. Your father is being blamed, he's having his name smeared in the papers all because you turned that asshole down."

I stare at her in disbelief.

"What are you talking about?" I ask, still rubbing my cheek. The burning has subsided but now it has been replaced by an unfamiliar tingling sensation as if I have been scalded by something hot.

"Tate Media has not been doing well with investors and the stock price has been falling as you know. They don't have a case against him, not really, but Franklin is connected with the Attorney General and everyone else all the way up to the fucking president. So whatever he wants done, whatever show he wants to put on, it's put on. That's why they did that perp walk in front of all of the press, just to get his face in all of the papers. Ever since that happened, ever since the arrest, the stock price has plummeted. And I don't know what we can do to make it go back up."

I slump down in my seat. I don't really know what to say or what to do. My mother grabs her Birkin bag from the floor and places it on her lap. She pulls out a compact and powders her face before putting on a fresh coat of lipstick.

"I'm sorry I slapped you," she says, looking at herself in the mirror. "I know that you didn't want to be involved with any of this, but now you are and I want you to stop acting like a child and grow the fuck up."

Without saying another word she gets up and walks away, her heels clicking loudly down the hallway. As soon as she disappears around the corner, tears rush down my face.

5

Aurora

I walk