by Tamara Lynn
“Do you like it?” Julia came up next to her.
“Julia James?” Luciana asked.
“Yes,” Julia smiled.
“Who is this beautiful woman?” Luciana played dumb.
“That’s my girlfriend,” Julia replied.
Luciana nearly spit out her drink. So, this is what Lauren was up to. “Could you excuse me?”
“Absolutely,” Julia politely replied.
Luciana could feel the blood rushing to her face. She stepped outside and called Giancarlo.
“Is Lauren at the house?” she asked.
“Yeah, what’s up?” Giancarlo answered.
“She has been seeing one of our clients, behind our back,” Luciana explained.
“No,” Giancarlo was pissed.
“Keep her there until I get back. I want to deal with this personally,” Luciana demanded.
Giancarlo hung up the phone and punched the desk. He hated when Luciana treated him like a child. He could handle this.
“Johnny,” Giancarlo yelled. “Get Lauren in here, right away.”
Lauren was already in the hallway getting ready to leave for the gallery show. She walked into the office.
“What’s up boss?” she asked. The sooner she got this over with, the sooner she could get to Julia.
“Sit down,” he commanded.
She could feel the anger in her voice, and it triggered every fear in her body. She had no idea what she did this time, but the rage in his eyes told her it was bad. Please don’t send me to the cellar. I have to get to Julia’s exhibit.
“You are stealing from me,” Giancarlo replied.
Lauren stiffened. She had never taken anything from the house. She had no idea what he was talking about. Besides she wasn’t the kind of person who stole. It was offensive that he accused her of such an act.
“No Giancarlo, I would never,” Lauren’s voice was shaking.
“Don’t lie to me,” he slapped her across the face. The way his hand struck her caught the bone just below her eye.
“I’m not,” Lauren tried to fight tears. She knew the way he struck her would cause a bruise. Luciana didn’t let the girls work when they were bruised. Lauren needed the money, and she wasn’t looking to push back her two-year commitment any farther.
“You are. You’ve been taking clients behind our back,” Giancarlo spit.
Julia. They found out about Julia. “It’s not like that,” Lauren tried to explain. She wasn’t getting paid for her time with Julia.
“Oh, but it is. She was our client first. Now you are seeing her. So, either she is stealing from me or you are,” Giancarlo yelled.
How did he find out? And the thought that he would be angry with Julia scared her to death.
Pete came rushing into the office. “Boss, come quick, I think Johnny is having a heart attack.”
“Stay here,” Giancarlo commanded Lauren.
When he left, Lauren knew she only had a few seconds to make a decision. She cared about Johnny and wanted to make sure he was going to be ok. At the same time, she knew Giancarlo’s temper. There was no telling what would happen to her. Whatever he did this time, she knew it would be worse than the cellar.
With her mind made up, Lauren ran for the door. It may not have been a very well thought out plan, but one thing Lauren knew was that she could not stay there another minute longer.
◆◆◆
The opening was going smoothly and Julia was received a lot of positive feedback. There had been some reporters who were there offering interviews. She loved free press. Still, she kept an eye on the door watching for Lauren. She expected that Lauren would have been there already.
Amanda walked up next to Julia and put an arm around her shoulder. “This is amazing,” she smiled.
“I thought you were in L.A.?” Julia was surprised to see her friend. Somehow, Amanda always makes it to the most important events.
“I couldn’t miss your opening,” Amanda smiled. “Phoenix rising.”
Julia was grateful for Amanda. She made a quick mental note to invest more time in that friendship. Friends as true as Amanda don’t come along very often. “I appreciate you,” Julia said.
Olivia strolled up, and Amanda immediately excused herself. She was not wasting a single minute of her time on that woman.
“How do you feel about all this?” Olivia waved her hand around the room.
Julia took it all in. “It feels like a dream. I’m so lucky that I got a second chance at chasing my dream.”
That was exactly what Olivia had hoped to hear. It wasn’t fun to shove anyone off of a cliff, unless they were happy and not expecting it. “Luck has nothing to do with it,” Olivia smugly responded. “I did this.”
A snort escaped Julia. “You?” She looked at Olivia. “How are you claiming responsibility for all of my hard work?”
“I brought you Lauren,” Olivia said matter of fact.
Julia lowered her eyes, “What are you talking about Olivia?”
Olivia crossed her arms. She was enjoying this maybe a little too much. She wanted to savor every moment of this interaction. “You were dead inside and couldn’t paint. I knew love would bring you back to life. So, I hired a hooker to play your lover.”
Julia dropped her glass and it shattered against the hardwood floor.
“Oh,” Olivia feigned shock, “You didn’t know that Lauren was gay for pay?”
There was no more time for discussion, Julia ran for the bathroom. She was going to vomit.
◆◆◆
The shoes had to go, there was no saving them. Lauren leaned against a tree and pulled them off. She loved these heels, but their time together had to come to an end.
She caught her breath and looked around in the darkness. Not too far back, she could see flashlights and hear men yelling. They were coming for her.
Running away, she was sure, would get her into far more trouble. But she couldn’t stay. If Giancarlo didn't kill her, the pain of what he would do to her just might. She felt like she had no options.
Lauren didn’t have a plan. She was dressed for the opening, and the gown she was wearing was not conducive to her current activities. She was cold and tree branches were scratching at her exposed arms. She had to figure something out. Quickly.
She couldn’t take the road, she knew they would look there first. Then she remembered the railroad bridge. She would go to the bridge and follow the tracks into town. Lauren knew that she would have to find her way to the police station. Though she was afraid to snitch on Giancarlo and Luciana, at this point she really did not have a choice. If she did not go to the police, there was no way she would get help. She didn’t have her phone. Lauren hadn’t even thought to grab her purse. With no phone and no money, her choices were rather limited.
◆◆◆
It was a rare move, and possibly an epic mistake, but Julia left in the middle of her opening. She was freaking out. Her initial response was to question Olivia. It was a hard truth to believe. That Lauren, her Lauren, was a prostitute.
Then as she thought about it, all of the pieces fit perfectly. This was why Lauren never was available on nights or weekends. This is why she had a body guard.
Julia couldn’t believe that the love she had so treasured was all a lie. Ireland? All an act. She fell for it, completely. Lauren was clearly good at her job. Julia chided herself for being so stupid.
Maybe she believed it was all true, because she wanted to believe it. Maybe it wasn’t that Lauren was that good at deception, maybe it was that Julia was just desperate.
She raced her Maserati down the road. Julia was driving far too fast for her current state of mind. Tears blurred her vision. Still she pressed on. At that moment, she didn’t care if she wrecked her car.
Julia tried to dissect and analyze every piece of the story. Every lie. Lauren did not actually say that she worked for the government. It was Amanda that said it. But Lauren didn’t correct her. She almost agreed with Amanda.
>
The painting in the field in Ireland. Even that must have been orchestrated. She’d been played. Julia was played for a fool. To think that one of her best friends set her up for this charade.
Just how much had Olivia told Lauren? How much of that was a calculated act? What was Lauren really like aside from her work? Even more, the question played in her head, who was Lauren?
◆◆◆
No matter how fast she ran, she couldn’t seem to get enough distance between her and the flashlights.
Lauren paused for a moment to check her feet. Running barefoot along the stones by the railroad wasn’t easy. The flesh on the bottom of her feet was getting torn up and her ankles kept twisting on the uneven ground. When she stopped for any amount of time, the pain set it. If she just kept pressing onward, Lauren knew that she could collapse once she was safe.
She really wished she had stopped to think of bringing her phone. Who would she call though? She couldn’t call Holly. They’ll be all over Holly trying to find out if she has any idea where to find Lauren.
She couldn’t call Julia. With tonight being as big of a deal as it was, Lauren was sure that Julia wouldn’t have her cellphone on. What is Julia going to think? It was extremely important to her that Lauren made it to the gallery tonight. It was another special night, and Lauren was a no show. Julia’s going to think she does not care about what’s important to her.
That could not be farther from the truth.
Lauren looked behind her, the flashlights were getting closer, and they were up on the tracks now. She knew that they would catch her quickly. Time to deviate the plan. She looked for a sturdy tree and quickly began climbing it. The branches dug into the raw bloody skin on her feet. Each step was more painful that the first.
She was almost high enough to be hidden completely from sight when her dress got caught on a branch. She tugged at it until the fabric gave way and ripped. Then she moved three branches higher before she paused silently.
They were below her now. Lauren held her breath. She was shaking from the pain and the cold. She braced herself against the rough bark of the tree trying to keep her movements to a minimum.
“Let’s split up,” Giancarlo said. “You take the woods, and I’ll continue down the tracks.”
Great. How was she going to get to town if he was on the tracks?
The longer she sat in the tree, the more pain she felt. She had to get down and continue her hike to town. Once they moved on, Lauren descended from the tree. She decided to walk a great distance behind Giancarlo. She would go along the tree line so that if he turned around, she could hide in the brush.
◆◆◆
Julia managed to make it back to the farm without getting pulled over for speeding. She’d hoped that the drive home would have helped to clear her thoughts. Instead, she was more confused now than ever.
Was Olivia still paying Lauren? She doubted that. Olivia’s plan was to get Julia out of her funk. Which she did. That would make it illogical to keep paying for Lauren’s services. Ireland was fake. Did that make everything since then real? Were any of Lauren’s emotions or feelings genuine? And if they were, what did that mean?
Julia got out of the car and walked into the barn. She needed the comfort of her animals. Blue, her Holstein, was laying on the floor in her stall. Julia walked in and curled up on the floor with her.
Her thoughts continued. If the love was genuine where does that leave them? Could Julia be in a relationship with someone like Lauren? Could she handle the jealousy and mistrust? Furthermore, Lauren was engaging in criminal activity. What kind of future could they have?
Julia was beyond tired. The excitement of the day, and the emotional turmoil of the evening, left her weary. As she relaxed into Blue’s warmth, she allowed the steady breathing of the cow to lull her to sleep.
◆◆◆
The flashlight Lauren was following stopped moving forward. That meant Giancarlo was stopped. She scurried into the brush and laid as flat as she could to the ground. As her eyes watched, he began walking back.
Confident that he had scanned the area well enough on his first pass, this time he kept the flashlight focused on the track as he walked back from where they came.
Was that it? Did he simply give up? It seemed too easy. She watched him walk out of sight. Once she was confident the coast was clear, Lauren got back on her feet and limped farther down the tracks. She was close enough to town now that she could see the lights. Her feet felt like numb stumps as she stumbled onward. Everything was growing weak. Her shaking legs threatened to give way on her.
The first building she came to was a gas station. Thankfully the lights were on, and they were still open.
“Hello,” her voice cracked as she opened the door.
“Hi,” a clerk stood up behind the counter. Upon seeing her torn dress and bare feet he asked, “Are you okay?”
Lauren collapsed on the floor. “Can you please call the police?”
She’d made it. Lauren sighed in relief and began sobbing. She escaped. Soon the police would arrive and she would be safe.
As soon as the clerk got off the phone, he rushed to her side and put his coat over her.
“Where did you come from?” the young man asked. He worked at the gas station every night after school. Nothing this exciting ever happened.
Lauren was slipping into shock. She couldn’t speak, and she was shaking uncontrollably.
“I’d better call an ambulance too,” he said as he got up from the floor.
“No need,” Giancarlo announced as he walked through the door. “I’ll take her to the hospital.”
Lauren’s eyes grew wide, and she mumbled as she tried to speak. She wanted to scream, but her mouth refused to work.
“Hello, Lauren,” Giancarlo hissed.
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Thank you for reading my book. I am truly grateful!
If you enjoyed this story, here are some additional books I have written:
Under the Pines
Cedar Hill
Ice on Oaks
Winter Games
