Troubled Waters (The Lake Trilogy, Book 2) (8 page)

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Please, let go of me. You’re hurting me.” Her face is pained and I realize that I have just attacked a woman in the parking lot who has the misfortune to more than just resemble a dead woman.

“I’m…sorry. I…I’m sorry.” I let her go. She gets in her car and speeds away.

I walk back to my car feeling incredibly confused. Maybe Luke is right and my mind is telling me it’s time to really start dealing with Will’s death, but the resemblance is more than uncanny. She’s a
clone
of Eliana Meyer. I have to see her again.

I exit the parking lot just minutes behind her and find her in traffic faster than I could have hoped. I weave in between cars, driving more dangerously than I ever have. I’m right beside her, looking as many times as I can and still be safe, but it’s dark and hard to really see. She speeds up and for a minute I think I’m going to lose her as she threads herself between other cars. I can’t give up.

As I race to catch up to her I realize that I’m on a familiar path. This is the exact route I take to get home. Following behind her she turns into our neighborhood and I can’t believe my luck! Even if I don’t get another face-to-face with her tonight, I’ll at least know where she lives. This will allow me to confront her in the daylight and get an even better look at her.

Before I know it she’s pulling into our driveway where Luke, Claire and Furtick are standing.
What is going on?

“Luke, what is going on here?” I demand as I exit furiously from the car.

“Where the hell have you been? Are you confused about what
you are not to go out after dark
means?” Furtick is pissed and I’m confused. Why didn’t Luke send him? I told him exactly where I was going to be. “We’ve been calling and calling and you haven’t answered. I didn’t think I needed to sync the GPS on your phone to track you, but it looks like I’m going to have to do that!”

“I texted Luke and told him where I was! But that’s beside the point! Someone needs to tell me what’s going on here!” I’m yelling now. I’ve never yelled at Luke or Claire before and it’s a little unnerving for all of us.

“Layla, just calm down,” Claire says, trying to use her angelic tone to subconsciously calm me. I wish it were working but there is too much happening for me to even consider regaining my composure.

The woman approaches slowly. The light from the porch gives me my clearest view of her yet. I stare at and study her face.

“Hello, Layla.” She says my name and I know that I have not gone crazy. This is Eliana Meyer.

“Now that you know this, you should know everything,” Luke says. No sooner do the words leave his mouth than the front door opens and my world stops as Will emerges.

I’m taken back and not sure if I can hold myself up to stand. My head is spinning and everything starts to go dark. A rush of emotions floods me. I’m angry, confused, and elated all at once. How could this be? I’m staring at a ghost. But…he’s not a ghost. He’s real.

I realize that this is one of those moments in life when the best thing to do is stop and think, but I can’t do that. I’m about to faint and I know it. I immediately wish I were standing on softer ground, but before I collapse I hear his voice…his strong, smooth voice. And as Will steps forward to catch me he simply and sweetly says, “Hey, baby.”

*****

I wake up but don’t open my eyes. I can hear voices, but most of them are muffled…they aren’t in the room with me. The room is dark except for the light flowing from the kitchen. I move my hand from my stomach and feel the soft chenille of the couch in the Great Room. When I open my eyes I see that I’m covered by the blanket I took after Gramps died. It’s warm and I feel comforted under it. My head hurts as I recall the strangest dream. Will is alive…and here. I feel a smile spread across my face. I don’t want to let go of this feeling.

I hear the voices in the kitchen more clearly now that I’m a bit more awake. Luke is saying something about giving me space, followed by Claire asking someone to understand if it takes me some time to come around. There’s a third voice that makes my whole body tingle and question whether I’m dreaming or not. I get up slowly and move toward the kitchen. As the room comes into full view I am rewarded with the gift that I was not dreaming.

Standing in the middle of the kitchen, looking just as he did the last day I saw him, is my Will. He’s here, he’s real. I feel like I might faint again and when I brace myself against the wall I catch everyone’s attention.

“Layla, honey…come, sit,” Claire insists. “Let me get you a glass of water.” I’m having déjà vu from the night Luke told me Will was dead. I’m sitting at the kitchen table with five sets of eyes on me. I lock eyes with Furtick and think that maybe he’s not as mad at me anymore. If he is, I can count on him to tell me later.

“Can someone please tell me what’s going on?” I say softly, staring at Will.

“Well…there’s the obvious,” Luke says indicating to Will and his mother. “But I’m sure you’re asking for, and certainly deserve, an explanation. Will?” Luke defers to Will to explain how he and his mother are standing in front of me, alive and well. Will sits to the right of me at the head of the table and I smell the scent that I came to know only as
Will
.

“Layla…” Will says my name and I start to tear up. I never thought I’d hear my name said in the way only Will Meyer can say it again. “I’m so sorry that I lied to you. There were days I thought that I might as well have really died because it killed me knowing that you were in so much pain.” He takes my hand and smoothes his thumb across the top and goose bumps raise across my body. “I’ve missed you so much.” I relish in the touch of his skin against mine. I close my eyes and let my senses take over. I feel every pass of his thumb. I hear the soft sound as it sweeps across my skin. I breathe in his scent.

“I’ve missed you, too,” I say, finally allowing myself to look into his blue eyes. I grasp his hand, feeling the realness of him. “You’re here. You’re really here.” I grasp his hand tighter, feeling his pulse beat at his wrist proving his life. “But, I don’t understand. What…what happened?”

“After my father’s House Call, Luke, Claire and I knew something had to be done. Your refusal to back down was going to set him off and we knew that his next move would be severe. As you know, it was. We tossed around some different ideas. I kept going back to us running away together, but, besides the fact that Luke said that would happen over his dead body, he and Claire were level-headed enough to know that we’d end up running forever. That wasn’t the life I wanted to give you.

“At first Mom and I were just going to be gone, disappear into thin air. We knew he’d put on a show for the media by calling the big dogs out with a manhunt. We also knew it wouldn’t last long. So, we thought we could just ride it out for a few months. Luke and Claire were keeping me up to date with you, so I didn’t feel like I had completely lost you.

“My father had Furtick watching your family even after he called off the search…even after he wanted us declared dead. It was then that we realized, until he had two bodies, he was never going to believe we were really gone.” Will takes a deep breath and composes himself. It’s difficult for him to explain the story of how he came to break my heart for the purpose of keeping it. “I’ve said before that my father would rather see me dead than let me live my own life, and it finally occurred to me that that wasn’t an over dramatization. It was true and became the only option. The only way mom and I would ever truly be free is if we were dead.” He sighs and rubs my hand again. “Are you ok? Do you want me to stop? Do you want to ask me anything?”

“I don’t understand why you didn’t tell me,” I say directly to the room. “I could have helped.”

“I knew my father would come to your house to look for me when mom and I didn’t come back from Hickory. Your
greatest
help was your genuine response,” Will says. I know he’s right. I remember standing on the trail in Asheville with his father. Even though Will and I technically weren’t together, he saw right through me and knew there was more to our relationship.

“Whose idea was the car accident?” I ask. Silence fills the room. No one wants to answer because they know, after the horrific tragedy of losing both my parents in a car accident, how much this, more than any other detail, crushed me.

“It was mine,” Luke finally says.

“Why?”

“Honestly? It was the easiest accident to fake. When we began talking about the logistics it started coming together that Will and Eliana could reasonably be traveling to or from her family in Hickory. Gregory wouldn’t go within a hundred miles of that place so we knew it was our best bet. Layla, it was the hardest decision we made, but it provided the easiest way to pull it off.” Luke’s response is pained. I can tell it hurts him to explain a conscious decision that caused me the pain not only of losing Will, but that resurfaced the agony associated with my parents’ death. Now I know the sobbing he and Claire shared with me was for their genuine anguish over what they were doing to me.

“What about Eliana…tonight at the library?”

“If you had obeyed orders, you wouldn’t have seen her and found out this way,” Furtick says breaking his silence.

“Really? And what exactly was the plan for ending my agony?” I ask with obvious annoyance. Furtick is still pissed at me, but I can’t worry about that now. We’ll smooth things over later when I’m satisfied my questions have been answered.

“Eliana has been taking classes and we didn’t want to risk you running into her. She wasn’t supposed to be there the day you got your books. And
you
were not supposed to be on campus tonight. We’ve gone to great lengths to make sure your schedules did not intersect,” Luke answers.

“Why was Will here?”

“Eliana called when you accosted her in the parking lot. She saw your determination and didn’t know what to do. I told her to come straight here, and then I called Will and told him to come. It was time to tell you the truth,” Luke tells me.

“I still don’t understand why you didn’t tell me right away?”

“That was my decision,” Will answers. “I knew what we were doing was going to be tragic. And I didn’t know if you would want to move on. I was missing after all. So…I wanted to give you time. You could have gotten here and met some great guy and…” Will’s speech is sad. I can’t believe he would think that I’d move on just like that.

“And that’s why you packed up the ring and gave it back to me?”

“Yes. I didn’t tell Luke or Claire I was doing that. It just didn’t seem right for me to have it if you were going to move on.” Will hangs his head in sadness at the idea that I would move on.

I stand and leave the room, leaving confused faces behind me. When I return I place the open black velvet ring box on the table.

“I made a promise to you Will. I said that I would never give up on us.” I take my left hand and place it on the table so he can see that I’m still wearing my ring. Will takes the ring from the box and puts it back on his finger where it belongs. We smile at each other and the fog in my head begins to clear.

“We knew that Gregory isn’t stupid. He had everything about us monitored from the moment we took the deal,” Luke adds.

“You said your father had Furtick following us?” Will nods at my inquiry. “You were already following me, us,” I say to Furtick, furrowing my brow at the irony.

“Taylor and I were assigned to your family.”

“Greg should treat his henchmen a little better. I knew Furtick was about to be released from Meyer’s service. He swaps his guys out after several years, opting for fresher, more desperate
clients
. I called Furtick when we took Meyer’s deal and he was more than on board to help us,” Luke says.

“You had this planned before we even left Davidson?” Luke nods and I shake my head in an attempt to keep everything straight. “How did you know he would send Furtick to follow us?” I ask.

“Meyer doesn’t do any of the grunt work himself. He doesn’t have or want access to the technology necessary to do the type of monitoring he requires, and he certainly isn’t going to sit his ass in a car for days to watch someone. It’s how he covers himself. If his fingerprints aren’t anywhere, literally or electronically, he can make a firm case that he had no knowledge of what was going on. So, he uses the best. Furtick is the best.” Luke’s answer makes so much sense. Why would Gregory Meyer do anything himself when he can get someone else to do all the dirty work for him?

“So you lied to Mr. Meyer? You were never really following us, never really tagging all of our moves? You knew about Will and Eliana and you didn’t tell him?” I ask Furtick directly.

“Yes, ma’am. Your uncle has been very good to me throughout the years. When he asked for my help I was more than willing.” Furtick’s answer is gentle, yet commanding. He stands firm in his decision to uphold loyalty to Luke and betray Gregory Meyer. “All the intel I’ve ever given Meyer has been more than accurate. He had no reason to believe anything I reported would be otherwise.”

I’m shocked at the precision with which they’ve executed this whole plan. It seems that no detail was left unattended. This thought leaves my head spinning. This was more than just escaping the evil that is Gregory Meyer. This was a calculated move with perfect timing and perfect players. I’m overwhelmed as I realize that this was for me. Luke and Claire did all this because they know how much I love, and could never live without, Will.