Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 163387 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 817(@200wpm)___ 654(@250wpm)___ 545(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 163387 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 817(@200wpm)___ 654(@250wpm)___ 545(@300wpm)
“Hello, everyone.” One of Susie’s lawyers spoke; no one from our camp replied. Susie looked very sure of herself, which gave me pause. What the hell does she have to be so happy about? For some reason, Lisa no longer seemed like she was ready to die and, in fact, dug through her bag for who knows what and came out with two sticks of gum.
“Here, chew on this; this is going to be fun.”
“That was a quick personality change, baby.” I grinned at her.
“If you two are ready to join us.” Once again, it was the Davenport grandma that spoke while looking in our direction.
I’m getting the hang of the family dynamic, I think. The Astors are from her mother’s side; the Davenports are from her dad’s. That’s easy enough to grasp. What I still don’t understand is why her reaction was so different to this one. The senator had one of those smarmy smiles they teach all politicians in prep school, I guess because they all look the same.
His lawyers were just as oily looking, while Lisa’s family lawyer looked like someone had just thrown him together. Until you looked into his eyes. “Geez!” I looked away and paid attention when one of the senator’s boys started to speak.
“As you can imagine, the senator wants this handled as quickly and as discreetly as possible. If we could all come to an understanding, we can make this thing go away quietly and get back to the business at hand.” He looked at Grandpa Astor.
“Our business dealings are just that senator business. But when it comes to my granddaughter and my daughter, that’s a whole separate issue, and there’s no compromise. Your daughter will face the full force of the law for all her infractions, and if she should ever cross my granddaughter’s path again, it will be the last thing she ever does. Are we clear?”
I think he just said all of that in an Ivy League tone. There was no inflection whatsoever in his voice, but even I felt the shiver run down my spine. I thought this stuff only happened in the movies. You could actually feel the charge in the air.
The smirk dropped off Susie’s face, and her dad held up his hand as she went to speak. I guess this is what they call shots fired among the elite. There was no leadup, no preamble. These people were not here to play. I looked at the senator to see what he was going to say or do, expecting I don’t know what.
From everything I’d heard over the years, he was the one who encouraged his daughter in her bullshit. According to her, he could get her out of anything, and since she was the apple of his eye, no one doubted her. I’m not too sure about the politics of this situation. I mean, the man is a senator, after all, and while Lisa’s family had money, I’m not sure they could overcome him that easily. Wasn’t he supposed to have more power?
That’s the reason his kid has been able to get away with the shit she has over the years, right? The reason she’d walked in looking so sure of herself. But now, that smirk had dimmed a little, and I still didn’t know what was going on. Lisa, meanwhile, was chewing her gum like none of this had anything to do with her. Personality number three had entered the fray, I guess. If she had a doll, she’d have been playing with it.
There was more back and forth now, even some raised voices, but that was mostly between the lawyers. After the Astor grandfather had spoken those few words to the senator, no one from our camp had said a thing. I guess no compromise means just that for these people.
“Isn’t there anything we can do here? I know she went too far, but she’s young; she made a mistake.” Why is the senator sweating so profusely? What the hell?
“Sir, with all due respect, your daughter drugged and attempted to sexually assault another person.”
“What?” Oh damn, I forgot that Lisa had told her lawyer about that. Looks like the senator was kept in the dark.
He looked at his wife and daughter now, and his neck seemed to have grown to twice the size around his collar. His face was red as if burned by the sun, and if he clenched his fists any tighter, he’d break his fingers clean off.
“Excuse me, what is this about? I thought we were here because Susan broke the windshield of a car.”
“I meant to fill you in but only just learned of it myself, and you were always too busy.” His wife hiss whispered in a bid to get him to calm down, I guess.
The Astor-Davenport clan didn’t say a word, they let their lawyer do all the talking, but it was obvious where he got his direction from. Now that I had a handle on what was going on, I felt myself relax. Sybil was still chewing her gum and looking at the far wall as if she wasn’t even here, and it had nothing to do with her. Like she didn’t set this whole thing off. Firestarter.