Page 75 of Silver Tears

“So that was my grandma. Is it weird that I brought you here?” He looks uncertain.

I smile, shaking my head. “Not at all. I loved meeting her. She’s an amazing lady. Thank you for sharing her with me.”

He grins back at me, reassured by my response. “She’s had dementia for about ten years. Every time I come; she seems to have got worse. I worry that one day she won’t recognise me at all.”

I reach out and place my hand over his and he looks at our joined hands. “Has it always been this way in your families?” I ask him. My curiosity getting the better of me. “The arranged marriages?”

Seb frowns and clears his throat. “Pretty much.”

I nod my head. “Will you have an arranged marriage?”

His frown deepens, and he avoids my gaze, looking out the windscreen. “That’s the plan, but things change.”

I’m conscious not to push him too much. He’s being open with me, and I don’t want him to retreat. “And you’d be okay with that?”

He sighs and his leg jogs up and down. “Do I want to be tied to some girl that I barely know and feel no connection to? No. It’s different for Vee. She’s known Rafe all her life. That’s why I have my cake and eat it while I can. Before they make that choice for me.”

I bob my head. I still have a thousand questions, but I can feel him closing off. Seb deserves to be loved and in love. I’d heard all the rumours about the four founding families. Their penchant for arranged marriages and marrying within the four families. Everyone envies the three boys, but their life isn’t as wonderful as others think. The expectations placed on them to continue the family dynasty, the society, and to make marriages of convenience is a lot of pressure. Today Seb’s opened up to me and given me a glimpse into his life. He’s certainly not the spoiled, selfish guy I’d pegged him to be when we first met. I was wrong about him. I was wrong about him in so many ways.

SEB

I’m sitting in the reception at the country club waiting for Mill’s to finish work. It wasn’t easy for me to take her to see my gran last weekend. I’m protective of her and don’t really talk about her to anyone. Rafe and Archer know she’s in a care home, but other than that, it’s no one else’s business. Mills was so good with her as well. She was patient and kind, and she played along when gran kept thinking she was my mum.

It was after our visit to my grans; I realised we needed to do something about Lenny. I’m going to talk to Mills about it tonight. I debated whether to just implement my plan without involving her, but she has a right to know. I’ll need the boy’s help, though. Just need to convince Mills that the boys will help me without needing to know the details of who Lenny is and why I need him gone. Maybe once Lenny’s out of the way, I can convince her it’s time to tell her dad. The only thing with that plan, though, is that once she tells her dad, her secret is out. That means she has no reason to fake-date me anymore. I frown. We’ve been fake dating for over three months now and, if I’m honest, it has been nowhere near as awful as I expected. I’ve enjoyed our dates and getting to know her. But Tam seems to have backed off. I saw her flirting with Greg the other day. With Mills secret out, I can go back to my old life. Drinking, partying, and fucking whoever I want. Be answerable to no one for my time. It’s the perfect bachelor lifestyle! And that’s what I want, right?

I look up when Mills exits the staff room. She spots me and smiles warmly at me, waving. I smile back, standing to my feet and I wait for her to reach me. Mills always looks put together. But I like her best when she’s just waking up in a morning, devoid of any makeup and her hair all messy. It bugs me she feels she needs to portray this perfect image to the world all the time. I know her dad loves her, but I feel she’s carried the guilt of her mother’s betrayal. Mills believes behaving like an ideal daughter will make her dad happy and make up for her mum's wrongdoings.

“Hey, precious.” I grin. She comes to a stop in front of me, and I wrap my arms around the back of her neck. “How was work?”

She yawns. “Long and busy. I’m shattered.” I offer her my hand and she takes it.

“Good night, Penny,” I say, waving over my shoulder at the receptionist as we leave. Penny beams at me and gives Mills a cool nod. Penny and I hooked up once about a year ago. She’s two years older than me, but that didn’t stop her accosting me in the changing rooms here and stripping naked. Fun times.

“How’s Charlie? Have you spoken to Peggy?”

I squeeze her hand as we head out to my car. “He’s fine. Peggy picked him up from school. He’s had tea at her house. Peggy’s going to keep him with her tonight. Do you want to take him to school in the morning?”

“We can?” she says uncertainly, chewing on her fingernail.

“Sure, if you don’t mind me breaking the speed limit, I can have us back here in time for class.” We climb in the car and Mills swaps the radio station, putting on her favourite.

“I would like to see him. I know he’s okay. It’s stupid,” she mutters, clearing her throat and shrugging her shoulders.

“It’s not stupid, Mills. We’ll take him to school.” I drive the short distance to her house and pull up outside. Now I’ve met her dad, I’m done with dropping her off at the lane. “I wanted to talk to you about Lenny,” I tell her, unbuckling my belt and adjusting in my seat so I can face her. “Your mum will not get better while he’s on the scene. So, I’m thinking we need to remove him.”

Mills looks at me, a brow arched. “Remove him? You mean remove him like the society removes people?”

I laugh. “No, Mills. I mean, we ensure he ends up serving some jail time.”

She breathes a sigh of relief. I can’t believe she thought I was suggesting we take Lenny out! “The society does that, though, right? I mean, I’ve heard the rumours.”

I study her as she watches me. “Its best you don’t know what the society does to people who are a problem, precious. Now, back to Lenny. I’m thinking I plant a large sum of drugs in his flat and provide an anonymous tip off to the police. He’s been in trouble before, so he’d likely serve time. Time that would give us a chance to get your mum clean.”

Mills chews on her bottom lip as she contemplates my suggestion. “You can get your hands on a large stash of drugs?”

I cock a brow in response.

“Stupid question.” She scoffs. “But what if mum is with him when the police raid his flat? She would get done as well, and then Charlie would get reported to social services. Eliza told me what it was like being moved around from foster home to foster home. I don’t want that for Charlie.”

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