Chapter 3
"Nia, wait."
Charles followed her.
Lauren followed Charles.
Grant followed Lauren.
The airport medic finally gave up trying to keep anyone in one place.
I should have gone back to the boarding lane.
So should everyone else.
Nobody did.
Nia made it about thirty feet before Charles caught up.
"Please."
She stopped.
Not because of him.
Because she suddenly pressed one hand against her lower back.
Lauren saw it.
"Nia?"
"I'm fine."
"You keep saying that."
Nia looked at her.
"And everyone keeps giving me reasons not to be."
Lauren flinched.
Grant reached them seconds later.
"This is ridiculous."
Charles turned.
"I told you to stay away."
"We're all on the same flight."
"Not anymore."
Grant laughed once.
"You don't own the airline."
"No."
Charles's voice remained steady.
"But I own the company paying for your ticket, your hotel suite, your rehearsal dinner, and most of the wedding."
Lauren stared at her father.
"Dad."
Charles didn't look at her.
"Grant's corporate card is canceled."
Grant's face hardened.
"You can't be serious."
Charles tapped his phone.
"Already done."
"Charles."
"Mr. Whitmore."
Grant stepped closer.
"You're humiliating me."
Nia stared at him.
The irony was almost painful.
Charles said, "You did that yourself."
Lauren grabbed Grant's arm.
"Stop."
He pulled away.
She looked shocked.
It was small.
Maybe nobody else would have noticed if we hadn't all seen what happened ten minutes earlier.
But now everyone noticed.
Especially Lauren.
Grant realized it too.
His voice softened immediately.
"Baby, I'm sorry. I'm stressed."
Lauren stared at the place where his arm had knocked hers away.
Nia watched her sister.
Something passed between them.
Recognition, maybe.
Not of each other.
Of something Lauren had been hiding.
Nia's anger changed.
"Has he done that before?"
Lauren looked at her.
"What?"
"Grabbed you. Shoved you. Blocked a door. Punched a wall beside your head and told you it wasn't the same as punching you."
Grant exploded.
"That's enough."
Nia didn't even blink.
Lauren did.
Charles looked at his younger daughter.
"Lauren?"
She shook her head too fast.
"No."
Grant nodded.
"See?"
Nia kept staring at Lauren.
"That's not what I asked."
Lauren's eyes filled.
Grant stepped between them.
"My relationship is none of your business."
Nia's voice dropped.
"Then why are you standing between us?"
Grant froze.
Lauren looked at his back.
Then she stepped to the side.
He reached for her wrist.
Charles caught his arm.
Hard.
"Don't touch her."
Grant's eyes flashed.
"Take your hand off me."
"Walk away."
"This is my fiancée."
"Walk away."
For a moment, I thought Grant might actually swing at him.
Then two airport security officers appeared.
That ended it.
The gate agent must have called them.
One officer spoke to Charles.
The other asked Grant to come with him.
Grant shook his head.
"I'm not going anywhere. We have a flight."
The officer looked at him.
"Sir, a passenger has reported that you deliberately pushed her."
Grant stared at Nia.
"You reported me?"
Nia's face remained calm.
"I didn't."
A dozen voices spoke at once.
"We did."
"I told the gate agent."
"I have video."
"So do I."
Grant looked around like the entire airport had betrayed him.
That was the strange thing about men like him.
They believed witnesses were enemies.
Consequences were attacks.
And anything that didn't protect them was somehow unfair.
The officer asked him again to step aside.
Grant turned to Lauren.
"Tell them it was a misunderstanding."
Lauren looked at him.
He smiled.
It wasn't warm.
It was a warning dressed like affection.
"Lauren."
She went pale.
Nia saw it.
So did Charles.
Lauren swallowed.
Then she said, "I wasn't here."
Grant's smile disappeared.
"What?"
"I didn't see what happened."
"You know me."
"Yes."
Her answer was barely a whisper.
Grant's face changed.
He took a step toward her.
The security officer blocked him.
Grant looked at Lauren like she had just betrayed him.
"After everything I've done for you?"
Lauren's mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Grant laughed bitterly.
"Unbelievable."
He pointed toward Nia.
"She shows up after years of ignoring your family, and suddenly everybody's against me?"
Nia's face went cold.
Lauren whispered, "Stop."
"No, you stop."
People stared.
Grant didn't care anymore.
The polished executive from the boarding line was disappearing.
Something uglier had stepped out.
"You know what your problem is?" he snapped at Lauren. "You let your father control everything."
Charles's eyes narrowed.
Grant continued.
"The house. The wedding. Your job. Your money. And now he's going to control who you marry?"
Lauren looked at her father.
For one painful second, Grant's words seemed to hit somewhere real.
Charles saw it.
He backed away.
"This isn't my decision."
Grant turned to him.
"Really?"
Charles looked at Lauren.
"I mean that."
His voice changed.
It lost the authority.
The CEO disappeared.
A father was standing there.
"If you marry him, I will not stop you."
Lauren's chin trembled.
"But I will not pretend I didn't see what I saw."
Grant scoffed.
Charles continued.
"And I won't pretend I haven't seen you afraid before."
Lauren's eyes snapped toward him.
Charles exhaled.
"I should've asked sooner."
"Dad..."
"I'm asking now."
He looked at Grant.
Then back at his daughter.
"Are you afraid of him?"
Grant laughed loudly.
"Are you serious?"
The security officer told him to be quiet.
Lauren stared at the carpet.
Her fingers were trembling.
Nia slowly moved closer.
Not touching.
Not pushing.
Just there.
Lauren whispered, "Sometimes."
Grant went completely still.
Charles's face broke.
Not dramatically.
No shouting.
His eyes simply filled.
And suddenly he looked much older.
Grant shook his head.
"No."
Lauren wiped her cheek.
"I said sometimes."
"You told me you loved me."
"I do."
"Then why would you say that?"
Lauren's shoulders started shaking.
"Because both things can be true."
Grant stared at her.
Then something ugly flashed across his face.
"You ungrateful little—"
The officer grabbed his arm before he finished.
Grant fought the movement.
"Get off me!"
The second officer moved in.
People backed away.
Lauren covered her mouth.
Nia stepped in front of her.
Grant noticed.
He laughed.
"There she is. The savior."
Nia said nothing.
"You think you're better than everybody because you left."
Nia's eyes narrowed.
"Grant."
Charles warned him.
But Grant was done controlling himself.
"No, she needs to hear this. Lauren spent years trying to fix this family after you ran away."
Nia looked at Lauren.
Lauren shook her head.
"Don't listen to him."
Grant continued.
"She told me all about you. The perfect first daughter. The one Dad never stopped talking about."
Lauren closed her eyes.
"Grant, shut up."
"Why? She should know."
He smiled at Nia.
"She hates you."
Lauren burst into tears.
Nia's face changed.
Grant kept going.
"She has hated you for years."
The officer started pulling him away.
Grant shouted over his shoulder.
"Ask her why she really invited you to the wedding!"
Lauren went white.
Nia looked at her.
"What does he mean?"
Lauren shook her head.
"Nia, please."
"What does he mean?"
Security dragged Grant farther away.
He was still smiling.
Because even in defeat, he'd found one more thing he could break.
He shouted across the terminal.
"Ask her what she told your father!"
Lauren's knees seemed to weaken.
Charles looked between his daughters.
Nia spoke quietly.
"Lauren."
Lauren couldn't look at her.
"What did you tell Dad?"
No answer.
Nia looked at Charles.
His face told her he didn't know either.
Lauren wiped her eyes.
"I was angry."
"About what?"
"Nia—"
"About what?"
Lauren finally looked up.
"About Mom."
Nia's expression went blank.
Charles stepped closer.
"What about your mother?"
Lauren looked at him.
Then at Nia.
"My mother wasn't the reason Nia stayed away from us."
Charles frowned.
"I know."
Lauren shook her head.
"No."
Her voice broke.
"You don't."
Nia's face drained.
"Lauren."
"I found the letters."
Charles stared at her.
"What letters?"
Nia closed her eyes.
Lauren whispered, "The ones you sent Nia when we were kids."
Charles stopped breathing.
Nia opened her eyes again.
"Don't."
Lauren began crying harder.
"I found them in Mom's desk after she died."
Charles looked like someone had hit him.
"I wrote every birthday."
Nia's lips pressed together.
"I know."
Charles turned to her.
"What?"
She said nothing.
Lauren covered her face.
Charles looked at both daughters.
Then he understood.
He whispered, "You got them?"
Nia finally answered.
"Not when you sent them."
Charles stared.
Lauren spoke through tears.
"My mother hid them."
Nobody moved.
The busy airport kept roaring around us, announcements echoing overhead, luggage wheels rattling across tile.
But inside that little circle, everything had stopped.
Charles's voice came out broken.
"All of them?"
Lauren nodded.
"Most of them."
Nia looked at her sister.
"Why are you telling him this now?"
Lauren swallowed.
"Because I found them five years ago."
Nia stared at her.
Charles's face changed again.
"You found them five years ago?"
Lauren nodded.
"And you didn't tell me?"
"No."
"Why?"
Lauren looked at Nia.
Jealousy.
Shame.
Fear.
Years of it sat in her eyes.
"Because when Mom died, you were already falling apart."
She wiped her face.
"And all you talked about was finding Nia."
Nia looked away.
Lauren continued.
"You kept saying you had failed her. That you should've fought harder. That you were going to fix it."
Charles whispered, "I was."
"I know."
Lauren's voice cracked.
"And I thought if you found her, I'd lose you too."
Charles stared at her.
Lauren's hands shook.
"So I put the letters back in the box."
Nia looked at her like she didn't recognize her.
"Five years."
Lauren sobbed.
"I was scared."
"Five years."
"I know."
"You knew Dad thought I had ignored him."
"I know."
"You knew I thought he stopped trying."
"I know."
"And you said nothing."
Lauren cried harder.
Nia stepped backward.
Charles tried to speak.
Nia lifted a hand.
"Don't."
She grabbed her suitcase again.
This time nobody stopped her.
Not Charles.
Not Lauren.
Not even the airport security officer who looked like he had just watched three decades of a family's secrets explode beside Gate C17.
Nia walked toward the terminal exit.
Lauren took one step after her.
Then stopped.
Charles stared at the floor.
His phone began ringing.
He looked down.
Grant.
He declined the call.
It rang again.
He turned the phone off.
Lauren whispered, "Dad."
Charles looked at her.
There was love in his face.
But there was also hurt.
Deep hurt.
"I need to know something."
Lauren wiped her eyes.
"What?"
"Did Grant know about the letters?"
Her silence was answer enough.
Charles closed his eyes.
Lauren whispered, "I told him everything."
Charles nodded slowly.
Then he looked toward the hallway where security had taken Grant.
"And he used it."
Lauren started crying again.
Charles put a hand on her shoulder.
Not because everything was forgiven.
It wasn't.
But because she was still his daughter.
"Come on."
"Where?"
Charles looked toward the direction Nia had gone.
"We're not getting on that plane."
Lauren stared at him.
"What about the wedding?"
Charles's expression hardened.
"Right now, I don't care about the wedding."
May you like
He picked up his bag.
"I care about whether either of my daughters will still speak to me when this weekend is over."
