When his sweet wife looked up at him, her expression was cold, bitter. Something he'd never seen before from her. "I think you know, Thomas. And if you do-" her voice broke, but Lauren angrily composed herself. "-you know I did everything I could to stop her. I tried to scare her, just the way you did to me."
Leaning back against the counter, Thomas folded his arms, his polar gaze intent on her. "What did she say to you?" He slipped into the soul-chilling stare he used on the disloyal or the foolish. Making certain he'd lulled them into a false sense of hopefulness that if only they told him everything- he wouldsurelylet them live. He would see they weresosorry for their mistake. They died, of course. Every time. But this was his wife and he had to make damned certain he knew everything in order to protect her.But for now,the cold part of his brain reasserted itself. For now, let her wonder if she might die. To be certain he had not missed a single detail.
"Thomas, Macie's- she's-" Lauren was floundering, wondering if she was only signing her friend's death warrant by saying anything at all. He was silent, still giving her that ghastly stare. "She's so loyal," she choked back a sob, knowing tears would only irritate him. "She would do anything for her friends, she let me stay on her couch when Frank kicked me out of the house, and-"
"What. Did. She.Tellyou, darling?" Thomas was relentless.
"She was just trying to save me!" Lauren pleaded, looking at his cold, immobile expression, "She did a lot of research online, I guess, and-" her husband's forbidding countenance did not soften, and she swallowed heavily. "The Corporation can't keep everything hidden. But she took... she took." her throat closed and she swallowed convulsively, trying not to scream.
"Yes?"
It was one word, but it was laced with so much barely-contained fury that Lauren started shaking. "Macie said she t-talked to a detective at- at the precinct by her flat. Is that what you call it here a precinct or something else but she said he was a detective and-"
Thomas's hand slammed down on the counter and she nearly jumped off her chair. "Did she give you a name?"
Lauren shook her head adamantly, her watery eyes wide and sincere. "No. I don't know if the detective even believed her. I told her then to forget about it and never talk about The Corporation again. That w- we couldn't ever talk again and she had to keep her mouth shut and we had to burn everything she printed and delete the history on her laptop." Despite her best efforts, her chest hitched and the girl began to cry. "I told her I was trying to save her life." Looking up at the forbidding figure looming over her, Lauren forced herself to ask again. "Did you kill her, Thomas?"
He had never looked more polar, more indifferent to her desperation. "We had a business engagement tonight. You are clearly in no shape to attend." After checking his stainless-steel Philippe Patel, Thomas looked her over again, like she was yet another problem begging for her life. He'd never killed a woman... Irritated that his thoughts drifted, Williams began rolling down his sleeves again, smoothing his hair. "Straker will be here in the house to keep an eye on you. I expect you to behave. Be my quiet, good girl." Pulling on his jacket, he leaned down to place a chaste kiss on his wife's cheek, ignoring how she visibly shuddered at the touch of his mouth.
Just as his hand touched the front door, Lauren's desperate voice stopped him. "You didn't tell me. Please, Thomas? Please?" Without answering her, Thomas left, ignoring her sobs echoing from the kitchen.
Thomas Williams, the unflappable Number Two of Jaguar Holdings, sat and amiably conversed with their guests at dinner, chuckling at a particularly gruesome story from their Caribbean partners, who were so very excellent at laundering money. Until someone gets greedy, of course, which is what made this little dinner chat so exceptionally horrifying. To the average person. To the group of dark and hardened souls around the table, it was simply in a day's work. Williams continued to chuckle at the right times, lead them in a toast and brush off the efforts of a particularly attentive hostess at the private Japanese house where they had dinner. And dessert. Thomas watched Michael eagerly take the hand of another alluring girl and head off upstairs. Number Three had never been faithful to Clara, so really, it was business as usual as Ben stood and buttoned his suit jacket, heading in the same direction with another girl.
But Number One paused at the first step, turning to look at his second in command. "Thomas!" he called with his false joviality, "Surely there is one lovely thing here that meets your high standards?"
It was a test. Thomas knew Ben was gauging just how attached he was to his reluctant bride. Summoning a leer, he answered easily. "You forget that I'm a newlywed, Ben. So many things left to do to break her in." It was the perfect thing to say. His partner lit up with a nauseating glee.
"Hah, ha!" Ben chuckled fondly. "Off you go then."
Smoothing his tie and leaving, Thomas shook off a feeling of being coated in filth.
The house was dimly lit as he returned home, nodding to Straker and questioning him about the evening. Lauren's bodyguard sat in an uncomfortable chair pulled from the dining table and placed at the bottom of the stairs, where he could see and hear anything going on in the house. Thomas was impressed by the man's deft placement. "How is my wife?" he asked casually, eyeing the darkened hallway leading to the bedroom.
Straker shrugged carefully. "Mrs. Williams chose to retire early," he stated calmly, "she appeared fatigued."
The master of understatement,Thomas thought with a certain sense of respect. He'd chosen well for Lauren's personal security. "Very well," he said out loud, "Lauren will need more careful scrutiny over the next few days. Her anxiety may make her careless. I expect you to head off any unfortunate situations."
Putting away his phone and returning the chair to the table, Chuck nodded. "Of course, Mr. Williams. She will have my complete attention."
Thomas almost softened, hearing the man's certainty and devotion. "Excellent. I know you will. Good night."
"Good night," Straker returned politely as he left, closing the door quietly behind him. Setting the home's security system, Thomas let out an almost soundless sigh and began to climb the stairs to the third floor.
The master bedroom was dark, but Thomas could see the shape of his wife under the down comforter. He'd almost expected her to try to sleep in her music conservatory but suspected she'd be too heartsick to think clearly. He correctly predicted her actions. Lauren was huddled on her side, in a frail-looking fetal position with her knees drawn up to her chest, as if trying to make herself as small as possible. It was not her usual position, Thomas noted, his Lauren slept on her back, arms and legs tossed carelessly over the mattress. He'd woken up more than once with her hand flung over his face or her leg wedged in between his. Mildly irritated at himself for the fond smile he wore at the memory of his wife's random cuddling, Thomas undressed silently for bed. He could tell the moment Lauren awoke, the tell-tale stiffening of her body before she forced herself to breathe evenly again. Pulling down the comforter enough to slide into bed next to her, the cold heart of Thomas Williams thawed just a tad as he watched the girl's body, protectively curved into a tight little huddle.
"Lauren."
There was no answer, and with a sigh, he gently pulled her over to face him. But she stubbornly kept her chin tucked into her chest. "Look at me, little one." She resisted until his hand went under her jaw, lifting her head to look into his eyes. "Macie is alive." Lauren gave a convulsive little sob, but slapped her hand over her mouth, trying to keep quiet as her heartbroken gaze met his. "I've had her under surveillance since you and I became engaged. She did not seem like the sort to let go of a close friendship," Thomas said wryly.
"I tried to keep away from her-" she began, but he hushed her.
"I know Lauren, I know you did," he assured her, soothing her and brushing her hair back from her face. "But it is my job as your husband to make certain of your safety. Macie's irritating, determined nature was bound to surface as a threat to The Corporation at some point. I intended to put a halt to it before it came to the attention of Ben." She nodded shakily, still staring up at him with those huge violet eyes. His voice turned sterner. "Your friend has taken a position with the Berlin Philharmonic. She was moved there overnight by two of my men. I have made it very clear to her that her life, as well as yours, depends on her keeping her mouth shut and never speaking of you, or The Corporation ever again." Tears filled her eyes, overflowing silently onto her cheeks but Lauren nodded again.
The night before...
Thomas was seated in the only decent piece of furniture in the girl's flat, watching Macie frantically throw clothing into a suitcase. "Do you understand what I have told you?" His voice was ice, almost inhuman and it made her cringe.
"Y-yes," she managed, trying to swallow her tears. Macie had crumbled almost instantly when Thomas had arrived at her door ten minutes after the frantic departure of her (former) best friend. He calmly produced copies of her online activities, photos of her meetings with the unfortunate detective and a cruel closeup of his staring, sightless eyes with a bullet hole between them, in painfully crisp, clear focus.
