"Yes?"
The imposing figure of Logan covered the whole view.
"Let me in."
"What do you want"
"I said let me in, right away"
Glenn hesitated a moment. Seeing him getting back as a sign of refusal, Logan gave a violent shoulder push. Pieces of iron and wood flied in the air. With his eyes opened wide, Lidi looked around in the deserted hall of the palace, then came in immediately behind him and closed the door as she could. Cornered, Glenn set aside.
"I'm not alone"
"I don't fucking care."
Glenn ignored Lidi and saw the briefcase. He became limp. Shortly searching in the living room and kitchen, Logan noticed a general disorder. Clothes on the ground, a petticoat on the pool table. Plates in the sink. The remains of a banquet with oysters and champagne. He went to the coffee table and overthrew its contents. Shattered glasses, some saved thanks to the thick carpet. Various magazines, but also something that seemed important. He put on the subject of his investigation.
"Open it."
Glenn stopped staring at the ground and began to rise "You can't force me to!"
At Logan's snap, the young man came back. "Open it or I swear on the blessed memory of our mother that tonight will be the last one you'll walk free!"
The bedroom door opened, and a girl in a silk dress came into the living room. "Glenn, come on! Who are these people?"
"It's none of your business" said Logan contemptuously. "Get away, come on!"
The girl looked at the man and wisely disappeared. Glenn exploded in rage. "You're at my house!"
"I told you to open it!"
Clearly in conflict, the young waited an eternity before obeying. Finally, capitulating at that glacial gaze, he composed a combination of numbers. The closure snapped. Lidi glanced at the banknotes it was full of. She had only seen that in cinema. Strangely, Logan looked around. He found a gym bag thrown in a corner and emptied it. Glenn clenched his fists. He stroked the idea of attacking Logan from behind with some object of fortune, the spasmodic desire to see that dirty face soaked in blood ravaged him. "Why are you doing this..."
"Because you don't have the slightest idea of good and evil!"
"You're one to talk about it, you don't look beyond yourself! Being rich and famous doesn't make you perfect!"
After filling the bag, Logan fumbled among the cards scattered on the floor. "Why don't we talk about how far are you away from perfection?"
"Leave it, it's my stuff!"
"Really?" He attacked him. He grabbed a bunch of sheets at random, studied the figures. "Assembly relations, documents you never asked. Wait, I guess is an illegally infiltrated company that passes you some bankroll estimates? Are you part of a company that buys, and what the fuck do you do? You change them to prevent acquisitions!" He read a few lines and balled the sheet, throwing it against him. "Uncovered checks and troubles in negotiations, do you need me to remember what criminal sanctions you could meet with these bullshits?"
Glenn shouted at him. "It would be just another million for you, what's the difference?"
"Fencing, Glenn. Extortion. Misappropriation of corporate resources. Fraud!"
"Fuck it! I didn't stole a penny! Do you care about the consequences of what you do? Answer me!"
Lidi, desperate, feared a fight could break out. Her legs trembled and she heavily breathed. "Stop it, please!"
They glanced at her distractedly, neither of them considered her. "It's all clear. You think I enjoys taking jobs! But the world works as you see it, Glenn, not as you want it!"
"Right, the big fish always eats the small one!" He slammed.
"Right. Lately you've lost sight of natural laws, and you've never been a good Samaritan. If Sinn had to take a stake" he raised the bag. "You had to do the same."
"My number of shares is marginal, it's not enough."
"Not enough for what?"
Logan tried to regain control. His face contracted, an enlarged vein on his forehead. "You're rich! You have homes, cars, all the luxury you want, you sit at the negotiating table, you have a say in the chapter. What the hell do you want anymore?"
Lalanny caught Glenn's sideways look and regretted it. He faced him with liveliness, while keeping a margin of distance.
"You got the money and you beat me, now fuck off!" "These money isn't for me, it will prevent the company from suffering an undeserved affront! Punching you was the only way to make you realize that you're wrong, we're on the same side! If you had a problem, you had to come to me, and I would have helped you!"
"No!"
Logan startled. From Glenn emerged a hatred which he didn't know how to handle. "We are brothers, for god sake!"
"You're a monster! I prefer to roll in the mud and starve, rather than ask for help. The company is the only thing that's always important for you, tell him, Lidi!"
Pulled in, Lalanny paled. Both men stared at her suddenly, as if the outcome of the meeting depended on her. For Logan sake, she would have liked to stand in his favor, what he was passing at that moment was horrible, but her stupid conscience, deaf to the call, imposed her silence. Her tacit assent made Logan helpless, but the instant after that one, the blow was caught up by his iron will and held in. Logan detached himself from that tremendous truth. "I came here to warn you, Glenn. There's an ongoing motion to get you out of the way, it will be approved by the next assembly. You were fucked up by your own circle of buffoons. Sinn side-kicks should pound all the members to prevent your expulsion. With an evidence like Jack's aggression and bills on our budgets, you'll end up in jail."
"I told you I don't want your help!" He persisted.
"Think about it, instead. Don't pursue this madness. I'll withdraw the petition, if at the next meeting Atom representatives will sign the transfer."
"You're blackmailing me, you're a damn bastard!"
"Yes. You know what I'm talking about, you know this game better than me."
"I won't give up."
Logan agreed calmly. "Then prepare for what awaits you."
"I'm not afraid of you."
"I'll get you removed, Glenn. I'll leave you all on the streets."
5
They traveled by car to the meeting with Talbot. Lidi sunk in her own seat, unable to recover from the shock in the next ten years, Logan with an headache that threatened to explode into a vomiting migraine. The girl was aware that she had betrayed his expectations, thought of Glenn's animosity, his eyes full of hate. Why didn't he want his brother's help? But maybe the answer wasn't so bizarre... Logan drove quietly to the area indicated by Jack, he should have been the one talking to Talbot if the aggression hadn't stopped him. He asked himself the same questions Lidi thought about, without reaching a thorough conclusion.
"He should have come to me. Why didn't he do it?"
Lidi was mortified. "For pride" she replied weakly.
Logan scratched changing the gear. "But on which side are you, can O know?"
"Of course on yours, I just said he didn't come to you because he's proud!"
"It seems a problem common to everyone! Why don't you come to me?"
Because she would never have admitted being attracted to him. She realized she didn't know what to say. Only once in her life she had admitted it, and the result had been disastrous. If Logan was a less cynical type, they might have talked. But his strength, his beauty, authority, the prestige he had... She had never dared to get to his level. She didn't even understand why she wanted him. She felt so insignificant at his side. She couldn't give him the night he was asking for, the only thought of disappointing his expectations as a lover kept her anchored at her no. "The problem isn't me."
"Indeed, I am. Why do you despise me? Fuck it, even Billy is afraid of me!"
It wasn't true. "Billy would pitch the land where you walk."
"You also love me, and yet you despise me. Glenn, the same. Why don't you accept me as I am? What do you think? That my life is simple?"
"Don't misinterpret, Glenn unfortunately doesn't have ideas as clear as you have" Nobody had. He moved the steering gear and climbed gear again.
"He had clear ideas on a lot of things." He looked at her sideways. "You shouldn't defend him."
"You persist to not understand. You can't be an example for him."
"He has to take what's good."
"Logan..."
"Analyze the facts, Lidi. Glenn has an unregulated life because he doesn't sit in my place."
"And his absolute normality makes him appear negligent in the eyes of the members" she concluded.
He made a rough comment. "Good, you think me abnormal compared to him."
Lidi tried to find the right words and deny it, in vain.
"Come on, admit it, you turn around the queen bee and nobody wants to do it." "Don't be so hard on yourself. You have a lot of responsibility, Glenn doesn't."
"As you behave in my presence, I doubted you knew what responsibilities are. Tell me, what excuses do you have?"
"I'm married" she said, cursing the whisper that came out.
"Bullshit, you don't mind Pedro, you're just afraid of yourself!" Lidi clenched her lips, her breasts rose and lowered in her troubled breath. "People would love you if you don't hurt them! You're a damn arrogant, and worse, you're proud of it!"
"I knew you would have taken his defense, one shouldn't be frank..."
"A thing is to be frank, another is to be cruel!"
"Fuck it! If I were cruel, I would have already stripped you, I don't have the material time to be behind my brother's envy, and tired as I am, I'm not willing to go around how I want to fuck you!"
Lidi snapped, struck on the point. She had never shouted like that with her, they had quarreled a thousand times but this time he was really furious. On his granitic face, an expression of resignation, almost apologetic, but it was erased at birth. From that moment, they stood in silence.
The meeting with Talbot was urban. Short. That countryside was actually not far from downtown. The delivery location embraced a total alienation. The bifurcation of the main path led, in both directions, to two sides of an abandoned park, distinguishable only by its incandescent lights, encircled by walls corroded by time and obscured by obscenity sparked with spray paint. A dense mist vaporized over a stack of brushwood nestled to a row of rough stone benches. Nearby, an unknown figure mingled in that desolation. Logan went toward Talbot. The mist swallowed him. In the darkness, he saw he was as high as him. There were no words. Talbot took his purse and disappeared in the fog. Coming back in the car, Logan thought of the sunken eyes of that man, his dirty face covered in freckles, totally asymmetrical. Thrown in the seat, he put his hand over his chest and coughed and sighed. It was a humid night. Those few confused outlines of houses got left behind. Parked like that Porsche in a niche made of nothing.
He grabbed the ignition key. He stopped before turning it around. His gaze fell to her exposed naked legs and he silently sighed. Stretching his own, he found a more comfortable position and let go of the keys. Lidi's mood had fallen. From al those accumulated tensions, uneasiness aroused. Her neck muscles ached, and unfortunately she felt a singular tickle even on her nipples, though for reasons contrary to her morale. The display marked three am. She passed her fingers in her hair, then closed her eyes looking for a bit of peace in her mind. Silence wasn't enough to relax her, indeed, it made her more nervous. A nervousness given by an absurd unhappiness. She smelled the fragrance of aftershave in the car. The slight scent of his warm skin rubbed her abdomen. She touched the bracelet. Reason went and came.
"Let's go home, please."
"Uhm..." His head on the head resting, Logan eyed her. Two emerald puddles. His cheeks and lips were flushed with fatigue. He was exhausted. "I was dreaming of taking off your dress..."
Lidi felt her mouth dry. She immersed too much in those waters, and there was a risk of drowning. The next moment, Logan struggled to drive away the torpor, as well as the desire. "But dreams don't happen, right, Skeep?"
Soon after, they departed. Lidi clenched her lips: If two people thought the same thing, dream could come true. She was aloof by herself, Logan ignored it, though not completely, that she would have made love with him in a moment of madness and that she felt crazy that night. She had to blame it on something, something of him, so she chose his shirt. That damn expedient was of silk, scented with his smell, covered his wide chest, stretched on his muscular arms, on his shoulders.
The way it got in his pants obsessed her, so diligently she wanted to hold it tight and pull it up to find his hips. Three buttons had escaped the slots, releasing his tanned neck. His brother-in-law was a very physical man, had a singular, velvety touch. How would it be to touch him in turn? Who knows if after kissing his skin, she would have stopped? No, no, she would have lost her compass. She had already lost it now. She had never felt so close to him as that night. The journey continued as she scanned her new memories, frowned. Finally, she realized they were home. Her heart increased the beats. That was the most dangerous time of all.
"We'll get in from the kitchens," he suggested when they stood at the entrance. "If anyone realizes we're out there, he'll ask questions."
They stumbled into the house as thieves, hiding in the dark. Logan was an impressive figure behind Lidi. They didn't have any surprises, as they all slept. Suddenly, at the top of the stairs, Lidi felt abruptly grasped. Logan got on her with no compliments, blocking her between the walls and his body.
"I didn't bring you to Grobery" he whispered.
She knew it would have happened. It was impossible to retreat. He was about to kiss her, maybe he would have stripped her there and they would have had sex, risking being discovered. She tried to bluff but was in pain. "I've seen too many today, I guarantee you that next time I won't be following you in your business loopholes!"
She tried to free herself with that joke, but he held her. In her eyes a shimmer. "You're shaking..."
"You too."
"You know why."
"Let's say it's clear enough now..."
"Just a kiss…"
It would have been the end, she thought, holding a semblance of lucidity. She closed her lips and grabbed the opportunity on the fly. "If you do it I'll return your bracelet."
Logan stopped just in time, breathing against her mouth and bringing her to such a state of excitement that she thought she would faint. "Say it again." He forced her to close her eyes, tense to agony.
"I'll give it back to you."
Logan didn't move, a flash of anger passed through his mind. Stealing her a kiss wasn't as essential as to make her wear, at least in secret, a symbol of his feelings. He let her go, dominating himself.
"Everyone walks around her and nobody wants to deal with her" he remarked. "Great move, Skeep. Good night."
The servants took service at six in the morning. With a quiet pace, the villa revived. It was the midweek free day of the Drews. A thirty, tall, graceful waitress went to the front door with a heavy bunch of keys, typed a long code into the alarm system, and greeted the pair of gardeners who put their jackets on, ready to go out. Outside, a frost carpet had covered meadows and gardens, sending little icy glows. The smell of the damp ground came to their nostrils. During the night it had rained, noticed the maid, fixing the ribbon on the uniform, on her neck. She looked puzzled at the sky, as cloudy yellow clouds on the horizon advanced inexorable. It wasn't by chance that the intense fog of the plantain grove surpassed the lake creating a typical condensation layer, a phenomenon that usually occurred in fall, in the colder days. When Mrs. Drew saw a lot of fog at two feet from home, she anticipated thunderstorms and sheltered the furniture of the loggia, and if she didn't get it in the morning, it meant that a shower would have come down in the afternoon or in the evening. The gardeners were at work. The woman hoped they would finish in time and returned home.
Tired after a long run, Lalanny leaned back to a street lamp. She had traveled the perimeter of the est
ate, nearly two kilometers, guided solely by the light of lanterns. After she had woken at five o'clock in the morning, she immediately dressed to get out, and she would have taken her usual path through the grove, remaining in the property, if only fog hadn't prevented it. After breathing deep, Lidi felt she had recovered her strength and went back to running, reached the gate, opened and closed it with a click, dancing on her knees in order not to lose rhythm. She climbed up the staircase and stopped jumping into the porch. A maid was trying to sweep away the leaves dragged by the wind. Lidi greeted her affectionately and went on to the entrance, crossing another one leaned on a ladder to dust a statue of Apollo. Another good morning in the dining room, where the long oval table was being prepared for breakfast. No family members around. The girl abandoned her sweated shirt in a corner, remaining in undershirt. She got into the kitchen, finding it lit up. Her sister was rummaging through the fridge and placing things on the table to make a sandwich. When she saw her, she gave her a brilliant smile.
"Good morning Lalanny! You're always early!"
Lidi got silent for a moment.
"Paris!"
Paris had come back from the ninety-day trip in a brilliant shape. She wore a bronze tailleur embellished with a delicate pearl necklace around her neck. Her honey blond hair shone on her skin, darkened by the Barbados sunshine. Seeing her, Lidi had the instinct to back off. She stopped in time. She had spent a terrible night, agitated, sleepless, trying to extricate herself in vain from that caressing voice that always came back. As long as she realized that it expressed her own desires. But now, in front of Paris, she thanked the Lord for not having surrendered and prayed not to betray her nerves. "What a surprise, welcome back! We were expecting you next week. So said mom."
"In fact" Paris buttered a slice of toast. "Lucy and I were supposed to stay another two days, but we had a sudden commitment that forced us to come back." She took an orange slice from the fruit plate she had prepared. "The flight was late, so I didn't warn Logan and took a taxi. One of the most beautiful trips I remember, Lidi."
May Be the Case Page 8