Lauren sighed silently. Of course, he knew.
"It..." fuck it, she thought. "It was horrible. Arabella-" she fought to control her emotions, "she was hurt. Badly. She was pretending she had some plastic surgery, she called it 'freshening up,' but Ben came home and she just sank into the couch and tried to disappear." Taking a moment, she swallowed and looked at her husband. Thomas was completely calm, watching her intently. "He did something horrible to her when you all got home from that trip, didn't he? A lot of horrible things."
Waiting for a moment to see if she had anything else to say, Thomas pulled off his jacket, laying it over the back of one of the wing-back chairs. He hadn't been looking forward to coming home and seeing the tearful anxious face of his wife after Chuck had called to notify him about the wives' little get-together, which had likely been right around the time Ben received a call from his wife's new "minder," and he'd headed out immediately with a cold glance at Thomas as he passed his office. That look had given Thomas a spiteful satisfaction that Number One considered his wife enough of a threat to head home- followed instantly with a chilling recognition that the vicious head of Jaguar Holdings considering Lauren a threat was a very, very bad thing.
Driving home, he was irritable with Kingston for treating Arabella so poorly that she retaliated in the most idiotic possible fashion- attempting a "friendship" with that arse Martinsson. And eating at the Connaught? Exposinghiswife to that bastard? Lauren would appeal to him to help Arabella. She would want to know more. This flare of concern and independence needed to be curbed immediately. His wife could not be in Kingston's cross-hairs. He'd never thought seriously about murdering the first in command, but it was appearing that it might be an expedient action.
"-help her?" Her lovely purple eyes were seeking his, wide with an appeal.
Irritated with himself for not paying attention, Thomas cleared his throat. "Do you remember me telling you about Colin Martinsson?"
"The Grey Man," Lauren agreed, watching him smile slightly.
"Then you see what an utterly suicidal action it was for Arabella to be speaking with him."
She shook her head, confused, "But- he came over to our table, she didn't-"
Thomas interrupted her coldly. "She should not have been there. She should not have brought you there. Arabella knew what she was doing, and she knew what would happen to her. I can't intervene. You should know that."
"This is insane!" Lauren burst out; hands clenched into fists. "No one– she didn't deserve- this is sick-" she sputtered to a stop, not knowing how to express her fury and helplessness. "So there was nothing you could do to protect her? What if he killed her?" Her eyes were filling with tears and Thomas made a sharp, impatient sound.
"You remember the world we're in, correct? You know your responsibilities, you've done well. Arabella's been in this life for over a decade. Sheknowsbetter."
"You didn't see her, Thomas! She- I'm sure she had to have surgery to repair some of the damage that monster did to her! Can't we make him stop it?" Lauren stuttered, trying to find the right thing to say, "Can't you make Ben not hurt her?"
"This is not up for discussion," Thomas said with chilling calm. "Not another word."
His sweet wife ground her teeth furiously, "You want me to be friends with the other wives, you say they're the only ones who understand. But- but- but something horrible happens to one of them and I'm just supposed to drop her, just like that? No longer convenient?" She looked up, hoping she would see understanding or possibly even sympathy on her husband's beautiful face, but it was still set in its cold lines. In fact, she hadn't seen him look this unkind and forbidding since that terrible first night in his office. Forcing herself to calm down, she turned to the kitchen. "I'll just... I'll..." Lauren made herself concentrate. "I'll just finish dinner." She looked at him one last time, searching for something she didn't find, and she left without another word.
Thomas growled silently, running his hand through his dark hair. This was The Corporation's reality. And like it or not, his sweet wife would have to get used to it.
It was around 2am when he heard Lauren slip from the bed. Thomas thought for a moment that she was heading upstairs to play her stress and fear away as she had many times before, but then he heard her in the master bathroom. He moved soundlessly to listen at the door. She was crying and clearly trying to keep it down. Lauren looked up, shocked when he opened the door and frantically scrubbing at her streaming eyes with the tissue. "I was just... I'm just coming back to bed now," she said in a dull, flat tone he's not heard before. Thomas looked down as she wiped her eyes quickly one last time before hastily discarding the tissue as if hiding the evidence. An unfamiliar pinch of sorrow twisted his insides from the sight. It was a rare emotion, and one Thomas disliked. Unfortunately, he found himself feeling it more than once with his wife.
"Darling..."
Lauren stopped her back to him and humiliated that she was so attuned to the sweet, caressing tone he used to an often-devastating effect that she obeyed, like a barn animal, or something. She stiffened as his hand came to stroke down her back.
Thomas's normally perfect, composed voice was a little hoarse. "I know what I've brought you into. Nothing can prepare you for this. But now I must keep you safe. Your safety is more important to me than- more important than I can express. I control many things. Life and death, occasionally. But not Arabella's." When he turned her to face him, Lauren was weeping those terrible, silent tears again.
She was shaking her head sadly, hopelessly. "I wish it could be different," Lauren wept, "that we could be different people." She felt his wide chest move as her husband sighed, and he simply held her for a moment until he steered her back to bed.
Chapter 28 – What a Conscience Can Bear
In which Lauren meets someone from her past. Someone even more horrible than her father. Though to make this the worst week ever, Frank shows up, too.
Trigger warning: remembered sexual assault. It is not unduly specific, but I'd rather you know. You can skip the chapter without missing too much if this would affect you.
"Your father's coming to London."
If Thomas had been attempting to destroy his wife's appetite, mission accomplished. It was just a shame, Lauren thought later because at the time they were enjoying some really spectacular Scottish salmon. Putting down her fork, she pushed down the nausea and anxiety this revelation caused. "Oh. How come?"
The corner of her husband's mouth quirked just slightly. "The annual board meeting for Atlantic Equities as a Jaguar Holding’s asset. Since the company came under my division's personal supervision, ROI has improved. We're looking at moving Frank out of the CEO position. There are several more eager executives who could improve the company's profit margin."
A shard of grief twisted in Lauren's chest. "Atlantic Equities was my grandfather's company. He built it from nothing."
Thomas's chewing slowed, and he took a sip of wine. "This is hard for you to see it leave your family."
Hardening her heart, Lauren shook her head briskly, stabbing into a bit of salmon. "It left the family when my father sold it out from under us." A moment of confusion swept over her. If Frank hadn't run the company into the ground and then sold it to an international crime syndicate, she never would have met Thomas. Married him. Had her life change so dramatically? The girl waited to see how those observations would affect her. The sadness she should have logically felt wasn't there. Was this pleasure she was feeling? A sense of good fortune?
