“Meet me at the executive office security room,” she barked into her phone while making a reckless turn into traffic. “Now.”
Chapter 22
Danica gave the go-ahead for the two bodyguards to pound on the apartment door. Her personal bodyguard of the day took the honor, with Dee hanging back, both guards in their plain clothes after their last-minute summons.
Alicia clung to Dee’s arm the moment Danica shouted through the door.
“Open this up right now!” The bodyguard thumped the door again.
It tentatively cracked open, a chain hanging across a plain but feminine face. “What in the world?” Ms. Sarah Clayborn said.
Danica stuck her nose into the crack. “Open the door, Ms. Clayborn.”
She took in the sight of four people, including Alicia, standing on the other side of her door. Dee nodded. “You have got some explainin’ to do,” she shot.
The door slowly closed. The rattle of the chain coming out of its lock commenced. By the time Ms. Clayborn finally openedthe door to admit the party of enraged four, Danica was already storming into the Clayborns’ apartment.
Alicia had never seen where her wife’s assistants lived before. She didn’t even know their address, although she got a grand view of how much her wife paid them to make their endless toil worth their while. The twins didn’t live in a penthouse, but the flat was spacious and expensive. Dinner cooked on a nearby stove, Ms. Clayborn’s phone playing ‘70s folk rock until she reached over and turned it off. The phone slipped from her hands as she squeaked in fear.
“What is it?” she asked her boss. “What’s wrong?”
Danica barely had eyes for her. “Where the fuck is your brother?”
Sarah glanced toward one of the back bedrooms. Danica nodded to her bodyguard. Both Sarah and Alicia covered their ears as Danica’s bodyguard marched back and busted Nigel's bedroom door.
A scuffle commenced. Shouting. Threats. The clamoring of items falling off the wall. Alicia gasped against Dee’s chest, and Sarah lunged forward as her brother was dragged out of his room and thrown onto the living room floor.
“Get up!” the bodyguard yelled. Nigel rolled over, holding his hand to his head. Dee let go of Alicia so she could grab and hold back Sarah.
“What are you doing!” Ms. Clayborn cried. “What’s going on?”
Nigel had such a guilty countenance that if it weren’t for Sarah, the whole clan would be happy to drag the male Clayborn into the stairwell and show him what it felt like to tumble.
“You piece of shit!” Danica pulled Nigel off the carpet for the sole purpose of backhanding him down again. Sarah shrieked in the background. “Where do you get off trying to kill my wife and child?”
She didn’t give Mr. Clayborn time to answer. Danica’s right hook was so strong that Nigel could only hit the carpet with a pitiful sound.
Alicia couldn’t watch her wife and her bodyguard rough up Mr. Clayborn. She turned away, so sick to her stomach that it was a wonder she didn’t throw up on the carpet. Beside her, Sarah sobbed.
“Stop it!” She threw herself at her boss long enough for the bodyguard to shove her away. “Stop hurting him!”
“I dare you to fucking deny it,” Danica snarled, shaking out her bruising hand. “We have you on camera!”
Nigel feebly pushed himself up.He has never looked so pathetic. Was this the man who came into the stairwell and pushed Alicia?I honestly can’t remember.The security feed hadn’t lied, though. But why? He must have known he was caught on camera!
“Nigel?” Sarah pushed her hair out of her face.I never see it down like this.Nor had she ever seen either Clayborn in casual clothing. Jeans? T-shirt? What was this world? Had Alicia already forgotten it? “What is she talking about? You didn’t push Mrs. Moreau down the stairs.”
He gave his sister a defeated look.
“Nigel!”
Danica stepped back. “You’re done,” she said, her voice so calm and even that Alicia was suddenly transported to the boardroom. “Do you understand me? Prison and suing you until your ancestors start bleeding money like you tried to make my wife bleed.”
She moved to strike Nigel again. Only this time, Sarah flung herself forward, covering her brother’s body with her own.
“Stop it!”
That shriek silenced the whole room. Alicia reached for Dee. Danica’s bodyguard called the police with a “sweet tip.” Nigelremained crumpled on the floor while his sister sobbed and pawed at his battered body.
