Page 56 of Collateral Damage
I glance at Dad, and that far-away mask disappears. Fury twists his features, reddens his neck, and sharpens his jaw. He loved Mom more than anything. It’s unbelievable she’d ever do this, but why would Gregory lie? He doesn’t gain anything by admitting thisat her wake.
I close my eyes, picturing Mom over the last few months. She left this earth with such courage, and the whole time she was a lying coward, having an affair with her husband’s best friend—a man married toherbest friend.
It’s sick. Imagining them together makes me gag. I step back from the group, pointing at the only person left alive I can blame. “You heard Ethan,” I seethe. “Leave.”
Gregory shakes his head. “I have as much a right to grieve her as anyone else. Our relationship wasn’t some torrid affair. I don’t conduct myself like you do with women.”
My vision goes fucking red, and I swing without thinking, punching the asshole right in his smug face. His nose cracks, and he stumbles away, glaring at me but not fighting back like I wish he would. Blood pours from his nose, staining his white shirt.
I don’t regret it…
Until I see the tears staining Sybil’s cheeks. Ethan holds her as she gives me a sorrowful look, the trust in her eyes now gone.
So much innocence lost.
Gregory-fucking-Laurence took that innocence, and I want to beat him to a bloody pulp. But I can’t, so I turn away.
I make it a single step before I freeze. Amelia Laurence stands behind me, her eyes huge. She’s staring at her husband like she doesn’t know him.
Then Amelia Laurence, always the cool, calm, and collected leader of the Laurence family, turns on her heel and runs from the room. Her daughter rips away from Ethan and rushes after her.
Guilt creeps in when I think of the torch I’ve been carrying for my bother’s girl and the kiss we shared. Would I have been willing to start an affair with Sybil? I want to say I would never do that to my brother, but the truth is… I might not be a good person. I might take the chance if it presented itself. At some point, my resolve to hold myself back from Sybil might snap.
It’s a cold, hard, bitter truth.
Crack!
Gregory goes down hard, and my father stands over him, rubbing his fist. The entire party has gone silent, literallyeveryonea witness to Gregory on the ground with blood all over his face and clothes. My hit may not have laid the man flat out, but my father’s punch sure as hell did.
Dad’s voice is frighteningly calm when he leans over his best friend of over thirty years. “You and I are done.”
Twenty-Five
Sybil
Present - Age 27
I leave my office after lunch to see how things are going on set. The doorman recognizes me by now, which is oddly relieving. I used to visit Ethan and Cooper without having to check in with their doorman. I was practically a member of the family. Now they’re in a new building, separate apartments, and everything has changed.
When I head up, Coop’s apartment is busy again. Perry is there with a camera crew and assistants, and Cooper intercepts me out the door.
“Fair warning, if you get in the shot, they’ll castrate you.”
I chuckle. “Don’t think they’re getting anywhere near my vagina.”
He raises a brow. “You know what I mean.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
We shuffle inside, and as the camera pans our way, Cooper grabs my hand and tugs me into the nearby office turned bedroom. “We’re safer in here,” he says, closing us inside.
I stand by the window, looking at the city streets and imagining what’s happening with all the tiny specs below. People watching is one of my favorite things about living in this city. Up close or far away, there’s always somebody doing something interesting.
I turn to find Cooper staring. I expect him to break eye contact, but he doesn’t. He studies me like he can’t figure me out.
I clear my throat. “What are they doing today, exactly?”
“They’re setting up the camera angles and lighting. Everything needs to be ready before the talent arrives.”
