Art of Forgiveness

by Monique Orgeron

  Avery starts shaking and screaming through her tears. “They raped me, Mom! Over and over I was raped! At first it was just the senator, then the bodyguard started. I was raped and beaten so bad that I prayed he would kill me. Do you know what it’s like to pray to be killed?”

  She’s shaking so bad now. I’m holding tight, but I’m ready to get her quick if she needs me.

  “Did you know, Mother, that I was a virgin? The only one I ever allowed to touch me was Liam, but he never touched me like that.” She is beyond enraged now, shouting everything out. “You can’t begin to understand what they did to me or the ways they humiliated me! After a while I gave up, I refused to fight anymore. I prayed every day for that day to be my last? I wanted nothing more than to die, Mom!” Avery’s tears stop, and she calms herself. “Is that what you wanted, Adam!?” Then she pulls the trigger again, shooting him this time in the stomach. It’s not a kill shot, but she definitely gains his attention.

  I stand there, stunned. I don’t try to make any sudden movements because I know this is something she has to do, and I can tell she’s not finished with him yet.

  Adam screams in pain and starts shouting, “You stupid bitch, I should have killed you years ago! Fucking senator, I gave you to the him because you were never supposed to come back. He fucked up. I drugged your mother that night, I let them in the house and led them to your bedroom. That was supposed to be the last time I saw you. I should have known better and finished you just like I did your fucking father.”

  Avery’s hand begins to tremble even more now. “What are you talking about, you bastard?”

  “See, Avery, you don’t know everything, do you? I killed your father. Do you really think he died from a heart attack? He was in perfect health. And he was in the fucking way! I drugged him with a medication that would induce a heart attack, then I helped with the rest to assure his death. Once he was out the way, I married your mother and took you as my daughter. But your dumb as fuck mother put me on an allowance. I wanted and needed it all, so I played the loyal fucking husband to a woman I can’t stand. But after all these years, she still refused to allow me full access to the money or put me in the will. You were then the one standing in my way. You were going to collect on all my hard-fucking work! You had to go, and then your mother wouldn’t have anyone else but me. See, bitch, after you, then I could kill her and get everything. So, I planned the whole thing. I knew the senator had a sick way of treating girls. I knew because for years he’s been coming to me to supply him with the drugs to manage them and their birth control. Just like the one in your arm, not like he needed it. Because none of his girls have ever been seen again. That is, until now. How the fuck did you get away from him?”

  Avery doesn’t answer him.

  Adam starts laughing. “What are you going to do now? Huh, Avery?”

  Avery shakes and says in a low voice, “I’m going to kill you.”

  At this moment, I know she’s done, she means to kill him. I can’t let that happen; this is the rabbit hole mom was referring to. If she kills him, she won’t be able to forgive herself for that. No matter how much he deserves to die, she can’t be the one to do it, but I can.

  I slowly walk up to her, and in a calming voice, I say, “Avery, give me the gun, baby. You don’t want to do this. Listen to me, you came through so much, Avery. Don’t let him take all that away from you. Please, I need you to be strong and hand me the gun.”

  “No! Liam, he has to die! I need him to die. Don’t you see I can’t go on with him alive? He killed my father and destroyed my life.” She looks at me now and says, “He knows what they did to me. If I send him to prison, he’ll still discredit me on every step I make. You don’t understand, I don’t want anyone else knowing what they did. I can’t let anyone find out what happened to me, Liam, I can’t. He has to die.”

  “Then let me do it.”

  “What?”

  “Avery, let me do it. I will kill him for you, I don’t want you to do it. Please, baby, let me help you. I love you, Avery. I always have and always will.”

  She’s looking at me now, her tear-stained face shocked at what I said. I meant every word. I do love her, and I have and will kill for her again.

  As we stare into each other’s eyes, I slowly reach for the gun, but then I hear a gunshot from behind me. I grab Avery and push her down with me over her. I look to see what’s happening and see Vin struggling with Margaret to get her gun out of her hand. I look back at Adam and see him lying there in a puddle of his own blood, dead.

  32

  Liam

  “Shit, Vin, what happened?”

  “Looks like Mrs. Edwards decided to take care of the problem herself.”

  Margaret starts yelling at Vin, “Let me go, damn it! I said let me go!”

  Vin looks at me, wanting an answer as to what he should do.

  “Let her go.”

  Vin lets her go and gathers Margaret and Avery’s gun. Avery is in shock; she’s not making any movements or saying anything. I pull her up from the floor and gently sit her on the sofa. Now what the hell do we do?

  Vin asks me the same thing I was thinking, “What do you want to do now?”

  “Fuck if I know.”

  A heavily crying Margaret responds, “Do you really love her, Liam?”

  Without thinking, I answer, “Yes.”

  Margaret nods her head and then looks at her daughter’s state and says, “Then take her from here. Protect and love my baby. She doesn’t deserve any of this. Just go. I will never mention that any of you were here.”

  I look back at Avery, who is still in shock. I know this is what she wanted and what needed to happen. But she would never want her mother to suffer for it, so I have no choice but to try and fix it.

  “Vin, call Zander, tell him to get his crew over here. I want the house set up as a break-in. Start wiping any of our fingerprints from the area now, we don’t have long.” As Vin makes the call and starts working, I walk towards Margaret. Grabbing her by the shoulders, I tell her, “I need you to listen to me.”

  She nods her head.

  “I’m going to help you for Avery, she wouldn’t want you to go to prison for this. I need you to listen very well. You and Adam came home after the party. You left early because you weren’t feeling well. When you got home, everything seemed fine, so you went straight to bed. Do you have another dress that looks similar to the one you have on?”

  “Yes, but not exact.”

  “It will be fine. I need you to go upstairs, scrub your hands, arms, neck and face, then put on your nightclothes. Lay out the other dress and make it look like it was worn tonight. When you’re done come downstairs and bring me the real dress from tonight. Got it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Listen up, I need you to remember, this is important. When the police get here, you tell them you went straight upstairs to get ready for bed. As you were going to bed, you heard loud noises and then gunshots. You came downstairs to see what was going on, but by the time you got down here, Adam was already dead. Tell them you didn’t see anyone. The place had been broken into, and no one was here by the time you got downstairs.”

  “What about neighbors? The police will want to talk to them to see if they heard or saw anything,” Margaret asks.

  “Mrs. Edwards, they are all at my house right now for the party. If any aren’t, I promise they will not want to get involved in a possible scandal. Got it? Do you understand what you need to do?”

  “Yes.”

  “Now go, we don’t have long.”

  Margaret runs upstairs, and Vin’s busy doing his part. I walk up to Avery and hold her face.

  “Avery, do you hear me, baby?”

  I get no response. Right then, Zander’s crew comes in. I tell them how I want the place to look, and they start working their magic. Zander hires only the best, and these guys know how to make the impossible, possible.

  Just a few minutes later, Margaret comes running back down i
n her nightclothes. She also has her dress from the evening draped over her arm. She did great; she even brushed her hair and removed her makeup from the evening.

  As she hands me the dress, I tell her, “Now Mrs. Edwards, I need you to lay over your husband and rub up against him.”

  “What? No, I can’t do that.”

  “Yes, you will. I need you to play the loving wife. If your husband was found murdered, you would throw yourself at him, crying, screaming and begging for him to be alive. I need blood on you so it will look exactly like that. Do you understand?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good, remember when the police get here, neither Avery nor any of us was here. You can never speak of this, ever. I’m helping you, but don’t make me regret it. Besides, my mother will not like if your story changes. Do you understand what I mean?”

  “Yes, Liam, thank you. I would never hurt Avery that way.”

  “Well, you sure did hurt her in other ways, so let’s see if you can build our trust in you.”

  “I will. I’m so sorry for everything I did. I plan on making it up to her every day. Now please take her away from here. I promise I know what to do.”

  Margaret stares at me for a second and then hugs me tight. She whispers in my ear, “She always loved you, Liam. She tried to hide it from me, but I knew. It was always you.”

  She releases me with a smile on her face, and I stare into her eyes. Wow, she knew. Maybe not all of it, but she definitely had an idea.

  I gather an unmoving Avery in my arms and carry her outside. Vin opens the back door to the vehicle, and I enter with Avery. I still have her in my arms and lap as Vin drives off. I talk in a low, calm voice, “Avery, baby, I need you to come back to me. I need your help. Can you hear me?”

  I feel her nod her head on my chest.

  “Avery, when we get back home, I need you to snap out of this. Everyone is still there, and they need to see you. The party and our guests are your alibi. They need to see you dancing and having fun like nothing ever happened. Do you think you can do that for me?”

  I wait but get no answer. “Avery, baby, please, I need you to be strong just a little longer. I will be there with you. I won’t leave your side. I’m trying to protect your mother and you, but I can’t do it by myself. I need you to help me. Please, Avery, answer me, honey.”

  She still doesn’t answer. I need to figure something else out. We are only a few blocks away. I don’t know how to snap her out of this. As I’m thinking, I feel her hand grip my lapel of my tuxedo tight. I look down, trying to see if she’s coming around, but I can’t see her face.

  Vin slowly pulls into our driveway and avoids all the valet drivers. We go straight into our parking garage and close the garage doors. Vin parks and comes around to open my door. He helps Avery out and then I exit the vehicle. I turn her and wipe her eyes, making sure she looks presentable. I say the only thing I can, “Beautiful.”

  I turn back around and feel Avery grab my hand. She holds on tight and says, “I’m ready.”

  That’s my girl. she’s here with me. I have her back. Avery Edwards is one of the strongest woman I have ever known. She keeps on going, and I have no doubt she will pull through.

  33

  Liam

  We enter the house through the kitchen. We proceed to the party, and I bring Avery straight to the dance floor. I pull her into my arms, and we dance to a slow song. In the background, I see Vin ask my mother to dance; she accepts, and they begin to dance. I know he’s using the dance as a distraction to whisper in her ear about what happened tonight. My mother and Vin turn as he whispers to her. I can see her looking at me with a knowing look. She has sorrow and pain in her eyes, but something else, too, I can’t decipher.

  I decide to keep Avery on the dance floor; it will give her the most exposure and stop anyone from bothering her. We dance to two more songs. As we dance I recall the things she said. I can’t believe she said I’m the only man to ever touch her before she was kidnaped. She was still a virgin after all these years. I hate Adam and the senator even more now. They took away something so precious to her. But it also makes me wonder why hadn’t she found someone to love after all this time.

  I feel Gabriel tap my shoulder. He asks to dance with Avery. At first she’s hesitant, until I tell her, “I’ll be right here, he’s my brother.” She accepts and begins to dance with him. My mother strolls up to me, and we start to dance ourselves. She’s holding me extra tight. Almost like a hug instead of a proper dance hold.

  She begins to whisper in my ear, “You know this isn’t the life I wanted, and it’s not the life I would have ever wanted for my children. But there are things you and your brothers don’t fully understand, and I pray none of you ever will.” She pauses, then continues. “I’m sorry, Liam, my sweet angel, if I could have done it any different, I would have. I know you love her, and I know I’m probably the reason you two are not together today. I’m sorry for that the most. I want you to find happiness, Liam. I really do. Tonight, you did what was necessary to protect the one you loved, and that makes me very proud of you.” She then looks up and lays her hand on my face. “Vin said you were decisive and quick on your feet. You took the proper action and controlled the situation perfectly. I regret that it happened, but it gives me pride that my sweet angel was the man he needed to be for his woman. I love you, Liam, more than you know. You won’t understand what that truly means until you have your own children.”

  Now she holds my face with both hands, looks deep into my eyes and kisses my cheek. She then walks away. My mother is such a complicated woman, but I have a feeling she has her reasons.

  34

  Avery

  I can’t believe he’s dead. My God, he’s dead. My life is changed forever because of Adam. And now he’s gone. I wanted him dead for so long. But it wasn’t by my hand, like I wanted it to be. I would have done it if Liam wasn’t there. He was right, though, by killing him, I would have destroyed whatever was left of me. I knew he needed to die for me to live, but I only hesitated out of selfish reasons. I was going to choose me over him. I was going to let Liam handle Adam and chose to keep my soul. But then my mother killed Adam, and I’m happy it was her. It was the best gift she ever gave me. His death is my salvation.

  After Adam’s death, I regressed into myself. The shock of learning he killed my father and his words telling me how he wanted me to die were too much. I never fathomed someone could be so hateful and evil. Then the realization that it was over, hit me like a ton of bricks. The senator, the guards, and Adam are all dead now, and I survived. I beat them all. I lived, and they didn’t. Tonight, I will allow myself time to reflect and wallow, but tomorrow I’m going to wake up and live my life to the fullest. No more poor Avery; I want to be treated like every other normal woman. I don’t want to be considered a victim anymore.

  Now I have another decision to make, what do I do about Liam? He told me he loved me and always will. I’m not sure I can believe him. I should if he was willing to kill for me, and did. But I’m not willing or able to be hurt again right now. He’s the last person on Earth who has the power to hurt me. However, I feel I do need him. My mind and heart are telling me to stay close to him. Maybe it’s stupid of me to hate and love him at the same time, but I do. I can’t help wanting to hurt him, yet wanting to be near him. He scares me now more than ever. I going to just play it by ear. Whatever happens, happens.

  The rest of the party goes off without a hitch. I can tell all the family knows. They become extremely protective over me by not letting anyone near. It warms my heart how they all can come together for one single purpose. Protecting me. With or without Liam in my life, I have a feeling I am forever one of theirs.

  At the end of the night, everyone says their goodnights and say we will discuss things tomorrow. Catherine kisses me and walks away. I walk outside onto the veranda and hear someone behind me. I know it’s Liam, I can feel it; my body has always responded to him. I haven’t spoken a word to hi
m since we came back to the party.

  Without turning around, I ask, “Can you stay with me tonight?”

  He turns me around and says, “Every night if you want.”

  “I just need you to hold me tonight, Liam. I don’t want to be alone.”

  He reaches for my hand and leads me upstairs to his room. For a second I want to tell him no, I want my room, but I decide I’m the one asking for the favor. I need to let him decide the location. He closes the door behind us and starts digging through his drawers. He finds what he’s looking for and offers it to me. I’m so surprised to see what it is. The T-shirt I bought him for Christmas years ago.

  “You still have this?”

  He nods his head and says, “I still wear it when I think of you.”

  I turn my back to Liam and undo the clasp on my neck. It holds the whole top of my dress up. I let the dress fall to my hips and put the T-shirt on, then I squeeze out of the rest of the dress. I turn back around and find Liam staring at me.

  “I’m sorry.”

  He starts to undress as I watch. His body is so beautiful; there’s not much left behind of the boy he once was. All man stands in front of me now. He grabs my hand and leads me to the bed. Pulling back the covers and laying me down, he goes to the other side and lays down. The room is silent and dark. I don’t feel any movement.

  “Liam, would you hold me, please?”

  I feel his slow movements. He starts to wrap his arm around me, and I flinch. I didn’t mean to; it’s just, this is the first time a man touches me this way since the rape. Liam freezes his movements and raises his arm weight. I need to do this, so I reach for Liam’s arm and guide him over my waist and pull him closer. We spend the whole night like that. Spooning and sleeping. It was the most peaceful night’s sleep I’ve had in a long time. No nightmares and no worries. I slept with Liam holding me in his arms, and I never felt safer in my life.