Chapter 60 To New Beginnings

Chapter 60 To New Beginnings
Laura's POV
I was sitting in front of the mirror the next day thinking about the vial in my hands. My eyes met with my reflection and my heart skipped a beat as a young woman with dull eyes stared back at me. No matter how hard I strengthened my resolve, my hands wouldn't stop shaking. My heart wouldn't stop beating in fear. My conscience wouldn't stop aching. "Lead him to the border, there will be a car waiting to transport him after he is drugged. You have a one-hour window." The rest of the note read. The dinner was set for the evening, there was still some time. Time to do the act, or divert from it. To divert from it, did I even have a choice again? "It is for my father. I am doing this for him and all the people." I repeated this several times to myself, but that sick feeling in my gut wouldn't go away. "You have a reason, Laura." I glared in my eyes. "I have a reason to do it. I am doing the right thing." My phone buzzed with a text from Blade. I opened it slowly and read the content of our conversation. "Don't be late. The dinner is set. If anything happens, call me and I will send someone." The text said. I reacted with a thumbs up and I tapped the return command. "I will be on my way, I won't be late." Julian's message was displayed. He was the second person on my contact list, with Mack topping it with an apology text I didn't read. I dropped my phone and shut my eyes. I had to be in the zone. I couldn't do this in this state of mind. "Laura?" Mother suddenly knocked on the door. She was on the other side, and I would be happy if she didn't come in and break my flow. I sat up. "Yes?" "I was thinking of adding French fries to dinner, will you like it with some sour cream and fried eggs?" "Uh— no, don't worry about that. I have a —I have a date this evening." I was careful not to say too much. "Really?!" Her voice rose by two levels and I could hear the smile in her voice. If only she knew... "Don't worry about me. You can keep the fries for tomorrow," I said. "Alright, tell me about it when you come back." Her footsteps retreated. I looked back at the green dress on the bed and the portrait of my father and me on a fishing boat. Those eyes stared back at me, and a memory of him in that hospital bed flashed. I had to get my act together. One hour? That window was too short. Blade left me to do all the hard work. He had better not complain. If I had time, I would have called Blade and asked him how he had gotten my dimensions, because the dress fit me perfectly. I didn't have any issues with the fabric, it was oddly comfortable even when tight. I applied some light makeup on my face and gelled my hair. I tried not to overdo it, because it would seem awkward. A black car was waiting downstairs as I stepped outside with the vial in my purse. The driver stepped out, dressed in black suits and he held the door with his head bowed low. "My Luna," he greeted. I looked back at my mother who was brimming with excitement at her door and tried to smile. I waved back at her and sat in the car. A large bottle of champagne waited in the backseat and I threw the driver a questionable glance. "What's that for?" I asked. His eyes reflected from the rearview mirror. "Master Blade said it's for you. He says you know what to do with it." "I see." I nodded. At least he made my job easier. Following the driver's instructions as he drove. There was a syringe close to the champagne bottle and I carefully extracted the content from the vial into the syringe. I inserted the needle into the cork until the end was visible and I injected the content into the bottle. I was relieved when we were done. And the driver nodded at me as we drove. My phone chimed and I raised it. "I'm at Chester's suite, on the rooftop. Where are you?" Julian's message read. He was impatient. He had the balls to be impatient after killing people. "I'm on my way, wait for me." I texted back. In five minutes, we pulled up at Chester's Suite, a five-star restaurant. I dropped off immediately and went to the stairs. I showed my card to the attendants at the entrance and they were quick to lead me to the elevator. I was taken to the last floor and if I had some penny to spare, I would have tipped the nice attendant. Julian's large profile was disturbed at the table and he stood up after seeing me. I looked around, we were the only ones here. "Have a good day ma'am." The attendant was polite as he left through the lift. "Thanks." I looked back at him but he was gone. As I slowly turned back to the approaching Julian with my large bottle of champagne, my heart picked up when I saw his face. My previous fears gripped me and I started shaking. My legs refused to move any further, as he closed the distance. "Laura?" Julian called out. It wasn't only fear, I felt something else when I saw his face. My feelings were getting in the way. "Laura? Is something wrong?" Julian was concerned that I hadn't said anything since I came. I shut my eyes and opened them with a smile. "I'm fine. I'm just—taking in the nice air up here." Julian nodded slowly and his eyes went to the champagne and back to my face. He looked very handsome, with his white shirt and tailored suit trousers. He was doing very well. "Come, let's have our seats. You must be tired from driving from Felicity's to here," he suggested. He already held out my seat in front and I had no choice but to accept. I burned with fury inside, despite all my doubts. I just wanted to scream at him for showing me kindness after taking everything away from me. I sat down and laid the bottle of champagne in an ice bucket. "Thanks for meeting up with me. I'm really grateful. I'm very sorry for what happened, I can't even put into words how I feel about everything." Julian started. His voice shook with nervousness, a very rare behavior from him. "It's okay. Let's not go there yet." "Okay. If you don't want to talk about... what is it then?" He took his seat. I sighed. "To move on." It was now or never. I pushed the champagne bottle to him. "Open it." Julian didn't refuse as he popped the cork out and poured its contents into the glass cups. I held mine and raised it at him. "I just want to say, it's time to move on from it. From everything. I think that the only way for me to forget everything is by moving on. I can't settle— settle with it by hating you all the time," I spoke. Julian looked guilty under my gaze. He was disturbed by my words. "I'm sorry Laura, I'm sorry for everything. There's no way I can turn back time, I'm truly ashamed of myself. I should have thought about it." He bowed his face down. "I wish I listened, but we don't even have enough time again." He referenced my cancer, and he was sad about it. "It's okay. I have forgiven you. I want our relationship to take a new turn. After all, you saved my life by sharing your blood with me." "It's not okay. I killed people for it, I really deserve to be treated like scum. I'm ready to take all the hate in the world for it." I leaned forward. "Don't say that. I've really forgiven you, Julian." I didn't, I lied. I wanted to have him framed. "Here." I clinked my cup with his. "To new beginnings." "To new beginnings." He raised his cup and bowed his head. As his cup got close to his mouth, I almost wanted to stop him but I watched him take a sip from the poisoned drink. I only tapped my lips with the rims and placed the cup down and watched. My heart beat very fast. It was the only thing I could hear now. "Thank you very much. I'm really happy that you have forgiven me." Julian nodded. His eyes were centered on mine as he spoke. He took another sip from the cup and my heart skipped a bit. "It's alright, I was overreacting." "You know, you are looking better than the last time. I saw you. How is your heart? That was a nasty fall you had there, that accident." Like a movie, my thoughts from that day came back to me at once. It was like I was being flooded with forgotten memories. I dropped the glass of wine on the table and it spilled onto it. I was the only one with Blade that day. I remembered I had found something, and on my way out, someone hit me. I would never forget Blade's loafer close to my face as I lay on the floor.