Downstairs I stop to talk to Rick, who greets me with a smile I can’t reciprocate.
“Rick, did anyone come by for me last night?”
“No Mia, were you expecting someone?”
“No, my place is trashed”
His features fall, and his pale skin gets even paler. Rick is an older gentleman but takes his job very seriously.
“No one said anything last night. The security teams switched this morning. I’ll get the CCTV up” he starts to type on his computer but Liam interrupts.
“Call me when you get something” he hands over a business card and pulls me out the door. I wave shyly at Rick and mouth ‘sorry’ at him before turning and getting in the car.
“Do you always have a car service?”
“Yes” he answers me bluntly and I decide to stay quiet. My thoughts are going a million miles an hour and I can’t form any coherent ones into words. By the time we reach Liam’s place, my breathing is erratic, and I know I’m due an attack soon.
Liam was quiet the entire drive to his place, his features are taught, and his fists are clenched at his sides. We enter to lobby and head up in silence.
I dig into my bag and pull out my phone, it had died on the way here much to my annoyance. Liam passes me his charger and signals to a point on the wall, and I sit myself down waiting for the damn thing to turn on. Come on! Stupid thing! The second it wakes up I pull up the nursing homes number and dial, at the same time I realize I could have searched for the damned number on Liam’s phone. The ringing seems to go on forever, and ever until finally someone answers.
“Hello?”
“Hello, I’m calling about Grace Bellucci? Is she okay?” I ask in a fumble of words and breathlessly.
“Oh. Who’s calling?” dread sets deep in my gut. I bring my free hand to my face, gently rubbing at the tension building in my forehead.
“Amelia, her granddaughter” Liam places a glass of water on the coffee table and comes to site beside me.
“Oh! Of course. Yes, Grace is doing okay. She’s getting a little worse as the days go on but she’s otherwise doing good” the kind voice of a stranger does nothing for the nerves doing summersaults in my stomach.
“Great. Thanks”, I hang up. Although I know she’s physically fine, she may not be mentally and/or medically. I need to see her. Liam’s anger has subsided slightly, and he eyes me expectantly.
“She’s fine” I almost whisper, my voice cracking with unshed emotions.
“It’s getting late, can I convince you to wait to go to Wales until tomorrow?”
I furrow my brow, and the anger bubbles within me.
“NO! I have to go tonight Liam. Please I just need to see her”
“Amelia. You’ve just called the home! You know she’s okay. I can arrange for security to be put in place, I just need time to do it” he offers calmly, but I’m not in the mood to bite.
“Liam! I am going to Wales tonight. I’ve dealt with this before without you!” A flash of hurt spreads across his eyes and I regret saying such a bitchy thing, but it’s true. I can’t help it, I have diarrhea of the mouth when it comes to this. I will not take telling, when I know what I’m dealing with. I look away from him before saying,
“I’m sorry, I have to go” I turn to leave but he’s there in a flash.
“Amelia, I can help you sort this! Look at the state of your flat! Christ knows what kinds of people they are! Give me a few hours to find out what we’re dealing with and we can go then” He hisses.
“I know Liam! I’ve dealt with her threats before, she’s never followed through with them! I need to see Gran with my own two eyes or I won’t sleep!” A look of realization crosses his face when he finally connects the dots to my mother.
“You honestly think this is your mother?”
“Yes”
“Why would she do this? It could be a huge coincidence and robbery gone wrong. Please just give me a few hours to look into it”
Realizing he isn’t going to give in to me, I turn away from the living room to head towards the door. There’s no way I’d sleep tonight without knowing she’s okay. I may as well go now, rather than pacing the floor all night, and if he won’t come with me, then I’ll go on my own!
“Wait! Fine!” He relents, and much to my relief. I don’t want to go alone and having a shoulder to lean on is always helpful. “Let me grab some shit” he says, but before I can answer him a knock at the door startles us both, we look at each other questioningly before he sighs and heads to answer it. Liam swings the door open with a little too much force only to reveal a slender blonde woman. Her long hair is curled and brushes down past her obviously fake breasts that are held up in a very low hanging black dress, that’s like a second skin on her. The makeup she wears is too heavy for her complexion, her skin is tight around her forehead and her eyes. I suspect she’s had countless rounds of Botox. And then it hits me, it’s her. The horny little whore who jumped up on Liam’s desk. I squeeze my eyes shut, silently hoping that if I keep them closed long enough she will just disappear. Liam’s voice booms through my thoughts and I snap my eyes open.
“What are you doing here?”
The woman obviously flinches at his tone and takes a long look at me. Her false eyelashes rim her dull grey eyes and they rake down my body making me feel instantly self-conscious. I shift from one foot to the other, inwardly wishing I had chosen more of an attractive outfit yesterday. I know, I’m gross! I never got to change my clothes after leaving my flat yesterday and then Liam bringing me home to his place. I wither under her stare and keep my eyes firmly on Liam’s back. Snapping her eyes back to Liam, she flutters her long lashes at him before smiling an evil grin.
“Oh, Honey. I thought we arranged to meet here. Didn’t you check your calendar? You booked me tonight” she licks her blood red lips and laughs. Her cackle fills the awkward silence that surrounds us, and her words punch me right in the stomach. Liam said there would be no one else, and he booked her? and after everything we’ve said to each other over the past couple of days! My blood boils and tears threaten to spill over my cheeks. Before I can think too much into it, Liam turns his head and looks at me over his shoulder, silently pleading with me not to believe her. My mind is consumed with rage and the need to get to Wales, I could have already been on a train there now if Liam hadn’t dragged me here. He’s only trying to help.
I blink away and stare at the industrial sized, black and silver abstract painting he has on the far wall and come up with a plan. A plan I hate myself for already, but I have to go, and I have to go now. Taking a deep breath and shoving away the tears that are threatening to spill at any second, I grab my bag and push past Liam and the bimbo, who’s looking far too pleased with herself. The scent of her cheap perfume lingers around me, is she a prostitute? My blood roars into my ears as pain lances through my chest at the thought of him paying someone for sex, along with the pain I know I’m going to feel by letting him think that I believe her. I punch the button for the lift, keeping my back to them and biting back my waterworks as Liam yells after me. I ignore him, knowing he won’t let me leave alone after this. I have to go to Wales, and he’s an obstacle I don’t need. If I let him think I believe her, he’ll let me go. I’ve dealt with my mother for years and she waits for no-one. In the short year I had with my Gran before I headed to University, I trained myself to be strong, to be independent and that’s exactly what I’m doing now. The lift opens quickly, obviously from the whore-bag coming up and I race inside, shoving the button for the ground floor over and over.
“Amelia!” Liam bellows again, I glance up reluctantly only to see him barricaded in his door way by her too-thin arm pressing into the frame. Her other arm rests on his chest, her blood red claws drawing a pattern on his pecks. My chest constricts at the sight of him, but I know he can’t help me. He may think he can, and maybe he could, but I refuse to drag him into this. We’re so new to each other I don’t want his view of me to change any more than it already has. Sucking in a lungful of air and tilting my chin upwards I mouth the words “Fuck You” in the most believable manner I can before the lift doors close and I’m left with nothing but hatred and hurt.
I throw my coat on and rummage for my phone in my bag when I reach the curb, I find Becca’s number and explain the situation to her, but she cuts me off half way through.
“Amelia. You must call the police. This is fucking serious!”
“I can’t Bec, and you know that. I’m going to the nursing home to see if she’s okay. I might stay a few days just to make sure. I’ll be fine”
“I swear to God Mia, if anything happens to you”
She starts, and I hear the slight panic in her words.
“I know. Thank you for caring. Can you book me a hotel and send me the details? I’ll call you when I know everything is okay” I hang up before she can say anymore, deciding against telling her about Liam. He’s not that man, and I don’t want her to think of him that way.
I grab my tickets for the train and manage to catch one before it leaves Paddington. I moved my Grandmother out of London and away from my mother for precisely this reason. What a load of good that done. My body is running on adrenaline and I’m grateful, I don’t know where I would have found the energy to be rushing around like this. I keep telling myself she’s okay just, so I don’t throw up. Images of Liam and that hooker dance around my head with ones of the one person who actually cared about me being hurt. I grab a seat and fish my phone out of my handbag to call ahead to the nursing home. Guilt immediately comes over me that I haven’t visited my Grandmother in a while…it must be over two months by now. A rather chirpy woman answers the phone, but it does nothing for my mood.
“Hello, I’m calling about Grace Bellucci? I’m her granddaughter”
“Oh, Amelia?”
“Yes. I just wanted to let you know that I’m on my way to visit”
“Oh, That’s great. I hear she isn’t doing so well lately. I probably won’t be here when you arrive, but I’ll let the other nurses know”
I pinch my fingers to the bridge of my nose and will away the flood of tears threatening to break through. Why hadn’t I known that she was deteriorating? I knew she had Dementia, I was there when the Doctors diagnosed her, but I had no idea how bad it had gotten. My Grandma Grace was all I had at one point, and now look at me. I left her in a strange home with strange people when she was confused enough as it is, I feel sick to my stomach. I shouldn’t have put her in the home, isn’t that what families do these days? I know some people bring them home and care for them, but I just couldn’t. I’m racked with guilt for putting my business and my happiness before the one woman who helped me achieve it all, and I hope to god I’m not too late. I end the call and slump back into my seat. I’ve been so busy building the one thing that could resolve all of my problems that I forgot about the people I needed along with it. I shoved my Gran aside to concentrate on work, and now I’ve shoved Liam aside to concentrate on her. All I can do is hope they can both forgive me once this mess is over. If that will ever fucking happen. The only way my mother’s tirade is going to end is when she dies, and surely with the number of drugs she’s pumping into her system that won’t be fucking long. I need to come up with a plan to solve this and I have absolutely no fucking clue how.