Deadly Silence (complete) Chapter 141

It took a while for things to settle down. Everyone wanted to check on Vivian, to make sure she was alright after that unsightly encounter, as it was being referred to. A lot of them scoffed at the incompetence of the police, while others just assured her that they knew better than to believe anything that’d been said against her father.

After a few minutes of this, Samuel said, “Alright, let’s not make this into a circus. Show’s over.” A few lingered, but left once they’d gotten a look from her father. “Are you alright?” He asked once it was only him, her brothers, and Sunny present.

“I’m fine,” she replied, then sighed. “And I mean it. It was all just words, in the end.”

“Someone really wants to stir up trouble for you, Samuel,” Sunny pointed out as she scratched Arlo’s head, which was level with her waist once he sat up.

“Was Patricia really outside?” He asked.

“Unfortunately,” she sighed. “It doesn’t surprise me, given how she is, but she doesn’t have the brains to pull this off by herself. Looks like someone else is behind all this. But forging a judge’s signature? That’s a *big* mistake.”

Samuel glanced at Vivian, who was looking between them as they spoke. “I was wondering if that was the case before, but now it’s painfully obvious someone is after Vivian, or one of us through her.”

“I’m standing right here,” the girl in question huffed. “Don’t talk like I’m not here.”

“Sorry,” her father apologized. “But it doesn’t change the fact we’re being targeted.”

Vivian fell silent. There was only one person she knew who would dare pull something like this off, especially given the fact three officers had been brought in to carry out the fake court order. Cassidy had also mentioned verifying all the information before making a move, which meant she was either lying, or someone had falsified and removed anything that would make her suspect this was a set up.

“Any idea who’s behind it?” Vivian heard Sunny ask.

“We have a few people in mind,” Sebastian answered this time, his grip on Vivian’s shoulders tightening for a second before he removed his hands. “But it’ll take time to prove anything.”

“Well, if you need help, you know where I am. And Arlo will gladly play mean dog, if need be.”

“Play?” Vivian echoed, freeing herself from her train of thought. “I heard he’s a big softy, but that growl…”

“Is all show,” the woman laughed. “An act. He’s trained to look scary, but really he’s a coward once someone gets too close.”

“Could have fooled me.”

Sunny laughed again. “That’s the point. Glad to know he hasn’t lost his edge, right, boy?” The dog’s tail thumped against the ground as his master continued to run her fingers through his thick fur.

“Don’t worry about us,” Samuel told her with a shake of his head. “I’ve got people coming to the house tonight. If anyone tries anything moving forward, it’ll be their head.”

“And why have you waited until *after* all this happened?”

“Well…” he trailed off, no longer looking the woman in the eye.

“Samuel Devreaux. Seriously? I get not wanting to scare the girl, but come on. Don’t go soft on me.”

“I haven’t gone soft,” he snapped, eyes narrowing as he met her gaze again. “And I take offense to you insinuating as much.”

“Then prove it, and keep your child safe.”

“I have been.”

“Can we not fight,” Vivian asked in a raised voice, causing both adults to fall quiet. “It’s already done and in the past, so it is what it is. Whether he made the right or wrong choice doesn’t matter anymore, because nothing can change it now. So, let’s just move forward, alright?”

The corners of Sunny’s mouth quirked upwards. “I rather like your daughter, Samuel.”

“As do I,” he agreed.

“I’m still here!” She told them, frustrated that they were back to talking like she wasn’t standing in front of them.

“Yes, you are,” Sunny laughed again as she stepped up to Vivian and took her hands. “And you are more than welcome to come visit this old lady any time, alright? Arlo would love having someone new to scratch his ears, and I wouldn’t mind the company, either.”

No matter how charming the hostess was, the mood had been ruined. Within the next hour most of the guests had left.

“Think they’ll try and pull us over on the way home?” Vivian heard Gabriel ask their father.

“It’s possible but, so long as we follow the letter of the law, they can’t do anything. We’ll just have to keep Charles’ number ready, and record any conversation if we get pulled over.”

“What about Vivian?”

There was a pause. “She’ll be with me, and if they’re smart they won’t try anything.”

“So what’s the plan?” Sebastian inquired.

“Vivian and Gabriel will be with me,” Samuel replied. “You and Laurent will follow. I doubt they’ll let us go that easily, but we can’t sit back and hide, either.”

This was the first time Vivian was seeing the ‘business’ side of Samuel. Calm, in control, and decisive was how she would describe him in that moment. He was kind of cool.

“You ready to go?”

Vivian nodded in response to her father’s question. Her gut was beginning to tighten with worry. Her father and brothers were worried, on edge as they stepped outside and led the way to where the valet was waiting with their cars.

As usual, Vivian sat in the back, allowing Gabriel to sit up front with their father.

The drive was relatively quiet, the only sound coming from the radio, though it was turned down so low it could only be described as background noise. The quiet was only broken when they hit the first red light. “Vivian… why didn’t you tell me about the online profile pretending to be you?” Samuel inquired, his eyes watching her in the rearview mirror.

Of course he would ask about it. Vivian pursed her lips for a moment, trying to figure out how to explain her reasoning and not sound stupid. “I didn’t think it was a big deal,” she finally explained with a shrug. “It wasn’t me, all the photos were fake, and they’d even spelled my last name wrong. Anyone who knew me would know it was a fake, so I just… didn’t see the point of making a fuss.”

“You do realize that things on the internet are forever, right?” He continued as the light turned green. “Future employers who searched your name would find it and not look deeper; something like that can ruin future job prospects.”

Truth be told, she hadn’t thought about that. The future Vivian concentrated on was always more immediate; what would happen within the next day, week, month… rarely did she go further ahead than a full year. Why bother, when her living situation changed as often as it did? “Sorry,” was all she could think of saying.

“What *do* you want to do when you graduate, anyway?” Gabriel asked, voice curious.

Vivian shrugged again. “Never thought about it that much.”

“You don’t have an interest in any specific area?” Samuel inquired as they hit the second set of red lights. “A subject you enjoy?”

“Not really.”

“Why not?” It was like the men were taking turns asking questions, as this time it was Gabriel who spoke.

Taking a deep breath, Vivian slowly exhaled it. “There wasn’t any point. My grades are good, but not great, so I might be able to get a semi-decent scholarship. I would still need to take out a loan and work on the side to get by. I’m rarely in the same school for a full year, so that rules out a number of scholarships I could apply for, since I might not even be a student there by the time I *might* get it.

“Once I age out of the system, I’m on my own. They give you some help getting things figured out right after, but it’s not enough to really make much of a difference. Having a dream that involves burying myself in heavy debt never really appealed to me, so unless I was lucky enough to get my hands on a decent scholarship…”

There was silence in the car for a minute before Gabriel said, “If you got a scholarship, what kind of course would you want to take?”

“Depends which university or college the scholarship’s for,” she sighed. “Problem with that is I need to get into as many universities and colleges as possible, and hope things line up in the end. It’s honestly almost not worth the hassle. I figure I’ll take a few years to work and save as much as I can before thinking about it more.”

“Vivian… you are aware money is no longer an issue, right?” Samuel said. “I will cover the cost of whatever university or college you want to go to.”

Lips pursed, Vivian nodded, knowing he meant what he said, but not fully believing it. There was still a month left before the adoption could be finalized, and things kept happening to expose just how broken she was as a person.

There was also a difference between knowing and believing something. Vivian knew he meant what he’d said, that he’d never let her go, but somewhere in her heart doubt remained. Words were fragile things, easily broken and proven false. No matter how much she wanted to believe him, she simply… couldn’t. And not being able to trust this man who was doing so much for her? It hurt. It hurt so very much.

The light turned green and they passed through the intersection in silence, only for it to be broken by the sound of smashing metal. Vivian turned around in her seat and stared wide eyed at Sebastian’s car. It looked like a crumpled mess, and the SUV that had t-boned them wasn’t in any better shape.