“There’s that moxie I do so admire, but let’s not play games, Miss Weston. Name your price.”
“I don’t want your money. I’d like your approval, but I’ll have your son,” I reply.
“Excuse me?” he says in shock. He wasn’t expecting me to turn him down because no one ever turns Gregory Meyer down.
“William?” he says. I’m nervous and my body tenses up closer to Will’s side. The idea that someone would refuse his offer is unfathomable to him. I can see the fire in his eyes and am thankful beyond words that I have Luke, Claire, and Will to protect me.
“Now you want to talk to me? You heard her. She won’t be bought and there’s nothing you can do. You’re not going to win this time.” Will stands firm. I’m so proud of him.
“Well, Luke, it seems your niece doesn’t have an appreciation for the way things work around here. I’ve advised her that it is in her best interest to stay away from Will, but she’s seen fit to refuse,” he says.
“Will and Layla have decided what they want together. She’s not forced Will into anything.” Luke stands firm as he defends us.
“Children don’t know what they want or who they are. That’s why I’ve come prepared to make sure Layla knows who she is, where she comes from. I had a feeling she would be valiant.”
“I know exactly who I am,” I say, reaching to take Will’s hand. “And who I am is made better by Will.”
“Really?” Will’s father opens the large envelope he’s carrying and pulls out a stack of papers. He thumbs through them and then returns to the top sheet and reads, “Layla Michelle Weston, born June 1, 1993 to John and Elisabeth Weston at Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Your father was a science teacher and your mother, an English teacher. They died on June 19, 2005 in a horrific car accident.” He looks up at me. “You were in the car, too. Aren’t we lucky that you survived?”
“What’s your point, Dad? I already know about the accident and more. Layla doesn’t keep things from me so I don’t know what you’re trying to pull.” Will releases my hand only to put his arm around my waist to draw me closer to him. It’s a show of solidarity that makes Mr. Meyer’s nostrils flare.
“Oh, I don’t doubt that Layla has told you everything that she knows. I just wonder if she knows how much has been kept from her.” Mr. Meyer looks at Luke and then flips through the documents in his hands again. “Somehow I don’t think she’s aware of the legacy left by her parents. What do you think, Luke?”
“Uncle Luke? What’s he talking about?” I ask, confused.
“Get on with it, Greg,” Luke says as if he knows what’s coming. I look at him curiously as he shakes his head in disbelief.
“In 1998 your parents were involved in a few radical movements…”
“I’m aware of my parent’s activism, Mr. Meyer,” I say cutting him off.
“Activism is putting it lightly, my dear.” It makes my skin crawl to hear him use any term of endearment toward me. “This one goes just a little deeper than protesting on sidewalks. No, this time they got involved with animal rights extremists – also known to the government as ecoterrorists.”
“That’s crazy. Uncle Luke, tell him he’s crazy.” Luke makes a hard line with his lips and remains silent. I stare at him in disbelief. His silence tells me that there is at least a hint of truth to what Mr. Meyer is saying and I think I might faint.
“As I was saying…” Mr. Meyer pulls several papers from the stack and lays them on the counter. They look like legal documents but they could be anything for all I know about legal paperwork. “It seems your father and a few of his radical cohorts released several dozen animals from a cosmetics lab in Miami.”
“So he released some animals back into the wild.” I really thought he’d come up with something better than this. It’s a weak argument that holds no bearing on Will and me being together.
“If that had been the end of it, he may never have been caught. Unfortunately, it went much further than that. After the animals were released, your father and his friends blew up the building causing $2.4 million in damages…and killing three people.”
“What? That’s not true!” I feel my body temperature rising with fury. I take a step toward him, but Will pulls me back.
“It is true, but don’t worry. Your father’s not a murderer. He agreed to two years probation in exchange for his cooperation. The prosecution was more interested in the group’s leader, who they suspected had been responsible for a dozen other bombings across the country.”
“Luke, did you know about this?” Again, he doesn’t answer.
“He more than knew about it. Your father came to him for help. Your uncle had been interning for me and your father knew what a skilled attorney I am. He asked Luke to see if I could pull some strings for him, but your loving uncle refused. Had he brought it to me I would have gotten him off completely.” He looks at Luke who is clenching his jaw.
“Is all this true?” I ask Luke. “Was my father really involved in something that killed people?”
Luke pauses for what seems like forever before answering. “Yes.”
“Did you refuse to help him?”
“Layla, you’ve got to understand…your dad was involved in illegal activity and…”
“Did you refuse to help him?” I shout.
“Yes.”
“So that’s why you two never spoke, because you wouldn’t come to the defense of your only brother? My dad could have gone to jail!” I’m so angry that I can physically feel my body temperature rise. “How could you betray my father like that?”
I storm out the back door and run down the flagstone path to the lake. I almost don’t stop when I reach the end of the dock. I drop to my knees and put my head in my hands and sob. I’m sad and angry and disappointed; I feel betrayed and lied to. Is there anyone I can trust? I’m not even sure I trust myself. I feel so foolish. My parents were radical extremists, my uncle refused to help, and my boyfriend’s father is a manipulative, power-hungry tyrant. When is my life going to be normal?
I feel Will’s arm slide around me as he sits next to me there by the water.
“What is going on, Will? My life is completely out of control!”
“Don’t you see what he’s trying to do? He knows you and I aren’t going to budge, so he’s trying to drive a wedge between you and the only family you have left. His goal is for you to leave and he’ll do that by whatever means he can. You can’t let him win,” he says.
“They lied to me. They all lied to me. I grew up thinking my parents were noble and honorable, but it turns out they were crazy! My grandparents and Luke and Claire…no one told me anything! I must have looked like an idiot, just following along without one ounce of knowledge of what was really going on.”
“You were a kid. What did you want them to tell you? However radical or crazy it may have been, your parents followed their convictions. How many people do that anymore? It was an accident that those people were in the building. My father made me read the testimonies. No one was supposed to be there.”
“But they should have told me at some point,” I say.
“When? When would have been an opportune time to bring up something like this? Layla, there are some things in life that we don’t need to know because not knowing shelters us from something worse. You needed to see your parents as you did more than you needed to know about this. They needed you to see them simply as your parents. They did what they could to protect your love for them from being tainted. I know what that’s like. I know you’re angry, but put this fury where it belongs.” Will kisses my forehead and leaves me there on the dock in contemplation.
Will is right and part of me hates that. I want to be angry with Luke for not having helped my father. I want to be angry with my father for having done something so stupid, but the deepest part of my anger is at Gregory Meyer for coming in and trying to tear me apart from the only family I have left. The more I think about it, the more Mr. Meyer’s mena
cing smile and threat against my family enrages me. He stood there, delivering this information with evil glee; taking pleasure in trying to destroy the very thing that keeps me alive.
Will is more than right. I can’t let him win. I’m not happy with Luke, but my love for him and Claire is enough to cover the pain. If I can overlook so many of my parent’s infractions in parenting for the sake of whatever the cause of the week was, I can process through Luke’s intentions in keeping this information from me. I’ll need more answers, but right now I have to go back to the house. I know the war isn’t over, but I have to at least win this battle.
I’m conflicted by the hope I have that Will’s father is still here since he is literally the last person on earth I would ever hope to see. When I approach the back door I know Will and his father are still there because I clearly hear Luke’s raised voice telling Mr. Meyer that he needs to watch his step before the world finds out who Gregory Meyer truly is; obviously a threat to expose the dirt Claire said Luke has collected over the years.
I walk into the kitchen, adrenalin pushing me step by step. All four of them turn and watch to see what my next move will be. Mr. Meyer still has that Cheshire grin on his face thinking he’s won. I’ve never wanted to punch someone in the face more in my whole life, which makes me even more determined to stand my ground and not let him take one more second of my life away from me.
“Mr. Meyer,” I start slowly. “I want to thank you for coming here today. You didn’t teach me anything new, but you definitely reminded me about where I come from. However, I’m sure it’s not exactly in the way you had hoped. You reminded me that I was taught to stand up for what I believe is right…even if you have to go to the extreme at times. I think it’s interesting that your point today was to reveal my parents as terrorists when you are nothing but one yourself. You live in this ideological world of yours. You intimidate, coerce, and instill fear in anyone who refuses to live there with you, including your son. You don’t have a clue what it means to really love and be loved. Take a long look at us, because this is what love looks like. I may not completely agree with it, but I know that what my parents, and aunt and uncle, did was to protect me. I guess you need to give up or move on to your next strategy, which will also fail, by the way, because there is nothing you can say or do that will destroy the love I have for my family. And I will never leave Will.”
“You know, Miss Weston, if you weren’t trying to destroy everything I’ve built for my son, I might actually be able to use you one day. You would have made an excellent attorney. It’s a shame,” he says gathering his packet of evidence. I know this isn’t over by a long shot. Mr. Meyer is too cool, too calm.
“Thank you for stopping by, Greg. You’ll understand if I don’t see you to the door,” Luke says putting his arm around my shoulder. Mr. Meyer leaves the room and we hear the front door slam behind him. “Are you ok? Layla…”
I can’t answer because that rush of fear that fills your body after a near death experience is overtaking me quickly and I don’t know if I’m about to cry or scream.
“You need to know that it wasn’t that I didn’t want to help John. He needed to bargain with the prosecution so that he would have to testify against the group’s leader. Otherwise, the guy would have gotten off. People died, Layla, and I couldn’t ignore that.” Luke feels just as strongly about his convictions as my parents did theirs. I respect that and can’t blame him. It seems standing up for what one believes in is a Weston trait…one that I am proud to have.
“I understand. You did what you believed was right. It’s hard to argue that.” I’ll never be able to erase this information from my memory, but my impression of my family is forever changed. Not in the devastating way Will’s father intended it to, but changed nonetheless. My parents made choices that I didn’t always understand, but they were my parents and I will always love them.
“This is getting out of hand. Luke, we’ve got to do something,” Will says with urgency in his voice.
“You’re right,” Luke agrees. “We need to figure this out.”
“Yes, but not here. Not now,” Claire replies.
Chapter 26
It’s Finals week and I’m so excited. I’ve never wanted to leave a place more in my life. I finish my civics final and bring my paper to Mrs. Dishowitz. It’s my last exam and I couldn’t be more ecstatic. We’re free to leave after our last test of the day so I head straight to my car, wasting no time. Will and our friends are all coming over for a post-final celebration. Claire and I spent last night making all our favorite snack foods and picking out movies for our marathon.
I’m taking my normal route home, bobbing along happily to the playlist Will made for me. It has all our favorite songs on it, and music Will promises will grow on me. There’s a detour sign blocking the main road so I follow it obediently. As I approach the next intersection a black town car begins to cross but stops, blocking my path. I wait for it to move along, thinking they’re probably just lost. So I sit. And I wait.
I look behind me to check that the street is clear enough for me to back up and see an identical black town car parked behind me. My stomach begins to churn and fill with angry butterflies, and it feels like my heart is going to beat right out of my chest. So I sit. And I wait. After he has made me wait more than a sufficient amount of time, he emerges from the back seat of the vehicle behind me, so I do the only thing that could be expected of me and get out of my car.
“Hello, Miss Weston,” Gregory Meyer slithers like the snake he is.
“Mr. Meyer.”
“I’m sorry for the dramatics here, but I wanted to be sure I had your full attention.” The source of his stench is smoking in his right hand, his other hand in his pocket. “We seem to be having a misunderstanding that you need to rectify. Perhaps I haven’t been as clear as I possibly could have. I’ve tried to be nice, explaining some reasons that make you being a part of my son’s life impossible. Since that hasn’t worked, I’m going to be about as clear as I know how to be.
“You have until the end of June to leave town. Go back to Florida, move to Alaska for all I care. The point is, if you’re not gone by then, well, it’s going to be very awkward when the state troopers pull your aunt and uncle over and find that the car they’re driving has been reported stolen and their ID’s don’t match DMV records,” he says maniacally.
“You can’t do that,” I reply with fearful debate.
“Don’t underestimate me, my dear. You have no idea what I’m capable of doing. If you’re still in this town as much as one second into July first, and if you ever return here, you’ll wish you died in that car accident, too.”
“I’m supposed to leave and never come home to see Luke or Claire?”
“Oh, no, they’re going with you.”
“You wouldn’t do that to them. You can’t…” I begin.
“They’ve already cleared out their desks.”
Consequences.
I stand in shock, having no cards of my own to play. Will was right when he said it would make his father even more determined if he wasn’t able to pay me off or shame me into leaving. My only hope is in Claire’s promise that they have enough dirt on Gregory Meyer to shut him up, so I stand silently, waiting to be dismissed.
“I’m sorry that it had to come to this. Had you heeded my earlier warnings we wouldn’t be standing here. Now, you and Will can have your little fling through prom and graduation. I’ll even let him help the three of you pack up your house. You have until the end of June,” Mr. Meyer says so matter of fact. It’s eerie the way he speaks. He has no remorse for what he’s doing to us. I took a psychology class last year and I’m pretty sure that he is the definition of a sociopath. “Then you can be on your way to Tallahassee, or wherever, and my son will never see or hear from you again.” He takes a drag from his cigarette and flicks it to the curb. “I hope you did well on your finals. I’d hate for there to be a glitch in the system when you go to register for your college
classes.” He scans my body with his eerie eyes, igniting my gag reflex. “It’s a shame, really. Had you played your cards right, I could have done so much with you.” With that, he turns and walks confidently back to his car. His thug of a driver opens and closes his door, doesn’t give me so much as a glance, and drives ahead, leaving me standing in the middle of the road about as close to tears as I’ve ever been without crying.
The entire drive home I run though scenarios from tax evasion to sexual misconduct as I wonder what power Luke wields in his personal filing cabinet. When I walk through the door and find Will, Luke and Claire in the kitchen, I’m sure they’ve spent the morning strategizing. When I ask what the plan is I’m flabbergasted at the news they deliver.
“We took the deal,” Luke says.
“Just to make it look like we’re cooperating, right?” I clarify.
“No. We really took it.” Luke replies.
“What?”
“Layla, it’s for the best,” Will agrees.
“Am I going crazy? Claire, c’mon, help me out here,” I beg.
“They’re right, Layla. It’s for the best. His next move will be to erase our identities. You won’t be able to go to any college let alone Florida State; and none of us will be able to get a job or find a place to live. It will be as if we never existed.” Claire’s angelic tone is not calming me this time. I’m angry and I feel alone and betrayed.
“I can’t believe all of you! You’re giving in that easily? After everything…that’s it…it was all for nothing. He wins?” I’m more than flustered. Stand? Sit? Run screaming out of here? I don’t even know what to do with my body. Everyone is just staring at me. “Fine.”
Before I know it I’m standing at the edge of the dock, wishing, praying, hoping for some clarity. Some answer that would make sense of why I have had to endure all I have; why I have had to lose the ones I love.
The Lake Page 26