Chapter 32: Good With You

Abigail woke up with a purpose. Her entire life here wasn’t going to be about Charlotte and Olivia, it wasn’t even going to be only about Mark, either. While each thing had its place in her life, nothing superseded, nothing ruled over everything.

It was still her life, with many various factors in it. Charlotte was one of those things. As was Mark. And this new work was entirely another. And it was a very important part, too.

Abigail moved around her room as she thought, she took a shower and sorted through her clothes to find something appropriate to wear. She was getting better at this, and she felt she could reasonably dress herself, now.

She chose a two-piece suit, tailored perfectly to her body, along with a small kitten heel, enough that would look professional and practical at the same time.

She grabbed one of the Birkin bags, and tied a small neck scarf around it, just in case she needed it later. She chose one of the more oversized coats, and pulled her hair up into a ponytail. She decided she was ready.

Abigail went down for breakfast, and found her father and Olivia already seated at the table.

Olivia seemed dressed for work, too. At first, Abigail was slightly in shock; so Olivia could actually dress appropriately, if she so wanted.

“Oh,” Abigail said, staring at her sister wearing a very similar suit. “I’ll go change.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Olivia said, barely glancing at her sister. “We’ll look the same as everyone else at the company. And your breakfast is almost halfway too cold already.”

“Oh,” Abigail sat down beside Olivia.

Blissfully, Charlotte was absent this morning.

They sat in silence for a few moments, but Abigail had barely filled her plate when Adam pushed his plate away from him.

“I have to run immediately,” Adam told his daughters, picking up the to go coffee cup that had been dropped off at his elbow. “Olivia, will you please take Abigail with you to the office.”

Adam said it as more an order, than a request.

“Doesn’t she have her own driver?” Olivia asked, though she asked it more with concern and curiosity, than objection.

“He’s off sick, and the co-driver was with him on the last round, so they’ve both been given a week.” Adam stood as he spoke, and gathered his jacket hanging on the back of the chair.

“They’re not supposed to do that,” Olivia told her father seriously. “For this exact reason. You need to remind the staff of the protocols, they exist to keep us all healthy here in the Mansion.”

“Will you do that, please,” Adam asked his daughter. “I have a full run today.”

Olivia nodded to her father, and then turned to Abigail, “We can leave after breakfast.”

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A Black Rolls Royce pulled up to the steps of the house, and the sisters climbed into the car from either side. The driver pulled off immediately.

“I didn’t know you go to work at the company,” Abigail said, as the car carried the two of them away from the Mansion.

“In the finance department,” Olivia said, opening her laptop on the foldout desk in the back. “I might get a promotion soon, given the actions of Michael recently.”

Abigail frowned, “Who’s Michael?”

Olivia turned to her with an arched eyebrow, “Naked man pretending to be passed out in your bed.”

“Oh,” Abigail said softly.

“My goal is CFO, though,” Olivia told her sister, turning back to her laptop and typing rapidly on it. “Jacobs is coming to the end of his contract by this term, there will be at least two more people appointed to the position before me, but then I’ll be at the head of the financing decisions of the company,” Olivia turned to Abigail with a smile. “I love spending money. And I absolutely adore spending money in a way that brings me more money.”

“Oh,” Abigail said, unsure if there was anything else to say at all. “So dad disinheriting you . . .”

“Just means I’ll never be at the head of the company as a whole,” Olivia waved her hand. “But I never wanted that. I want to be where I’m good, and this is something I’m very good at.” Olivia closed her laptop. “He might still not give that to me, though.”

“Why not?” Abigail asked. “If it won’t interfere with his plans to give it to me, why would he not give that to you?”

“Well,” Olivia paused, thinking it through. “It won’t be entirely his choice to make, for one. And secondly, you see my mother. Everyone’s afraid I’m just like her. They won’t want me in a position like the CFO; if I mess up, it’s deadly for the company.”

Abigail had thought she would be excluded because of who her mother was, but it turned out, Olivia suffered almost the same.

They didn’t speak again for the rest of their drive, though it wasn’t very long. Olivia walked Abigail up to her own office, before taking Abigail to her brand new one.

“You know where to find me, if you need anything, but your personal assistant is going to bring you your new tech box this morning, and my details will be on everything,” Olivia glanced at her watch. “I need to go, I have a board meeting soon.”

Without waiting for a reply, Olivia was gone, leaving Abigail alone in her new office.

The place was absolutely amazing. The walls were made of frosted glass, so it gave her the air of privacy without being claustrophobic. She had views overlooking the entire city. She could see the two lakes, and the river running through, and just a little further, she could see the mountain in the distance.

Abigail leaned back against her desk, everything was finally starting to feel like it was slotting into place.

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Abigail made her way down stairs; she wasn’t particularly trying to be quiet, but she wasn’t exactly announcing her presence, either.

“Where are you going?” Charlotte demanded, sitting in the chair in the foyer.

Abigail turned to her, and actually blinked. This woman had absolutely no shame in her whatsoever. How did she feel she had the right to question Abigail at this point? And for a matter of fact, why was she sitting in a random chair in the foyer?

“I’m going out,” Abigail clarified. “To the garden.”

“Why?” Charlotte questioned again. “Why do you keep going to the garden so much?”

Abigail just stared. “For fresh air,” she answered, wondering if Charlotte knew something or was simply fishing for information. “You’re welcome to join me, if you’d like.”

Abigail didn’t really want Charlotte accompanying her, but she thought it would throw off the suspicion if she offered.

“Ugh,” Charlotte turned away from Abigail. “I don’t know why you must insist on doing such common things, it ruins the reputation, you know.”

Abigail broke out into a broad grin, “So does poisoning people, ta!” She waved to her stepmother and was gone in a moment.

Since her stepmother had questioned where she was going, Abigail didn’t go straight to Mark; instead, she decided to walk around the grounds for a bit. And, not for the first time since she’d come here, she found the grounds was actually very beautiful.

Abigail wasn’t sure why she felt the need to keep Mark a secret from her family, but she just felt that she should. She knew Charlotte wouldn’t try anything against her again, not now, with her having the recording and the tox reports from the doctor to back her up. But she was still wary of them.

And this thing with Mark was still so very new to her. And she felt she wanted to protect it at all costs. Abigail wandered around for a good fifteen minutes, long enough to throw the trace off anyone that might have been following her.

And then she looped back around through the forest and searched for Mark.

She found him bent over another rock, scratching a piece from the stone.

She’d long ago since stopped asking him what exactly being a landscaper involved, but it was still fun to watch him work.

“Hey,” Abigail greeted, coming towards him.

Mark immediately abandoned everything he was doing, scrapings of rocks long forgotten, and he turned to her quickly.

He came towards her without saying a word, and pulled her into his arms, crushing her against him, his lips found hers in a moment. Those arms were always a warm embrace, they were always comforting.

They’d been meeting like this for the past two weeks, sometimes just bumping into each other, sometimes planning to meet. But it was always like this. Desperate embraces, flourished kisses.

And Abigail wouldn’t trade it for anything.

And she felt, finally, everything was falling into place.