Chapter 17- Lean On Me

Laurent winced as he heaved himself out of the soft, warm bed. He limped to the window, felt a crushing pain in his chest, and leaned on the frame. He was not in good shape and he knew it. The day looked as though it would definitely be overcast, probably not good for walking in, certainly not good for hiding in. His footsteps would be tracked too easily if it rained.

Looking back down at the bed, sheets crumpled towards the bottom, he let out a long sigh. He knew that he should have gone in the night, tried to get away then, but he had not counted on Meg's pretty face. His niece had once been his best friend, though she was only a child. When she asked him to stay, he simply stayed.

There was a clap of thunder in the distance but he saw no lightening. Perhaps he was doomed to run into his sister after all.

What was he supposed to do? He had been hurt, badly hurt, needed some help. The only person he knew that he could rely on was Scott Giry, his sister's husband and a doctor. If he had gone to the hospital then that would have been in for him.

Scott was a good man, he had always been so kind to Laurent, and though he appreciated this, he had known that he needed to have his own life. After his parents were killed Antoinette had taken him in, Scott had no objections. They clothed him, fed him, schooled him and cared for him but it all felt so suffocating. He meant no offence to them, of course, but he no longer wanted to live in the shadow of other people.

Glancing outside again he realised that the day he met Gabriele Aiton was very similar to what he had woken up to this morning. He remembered waking up that day, not in this room but one further down the hall, and looking outside.

It had been cloudy then.

When he went downstairs Antoinette chastised him for coming in so late and waking Meg. Instead of simply apologise, as he knew that he should, he bit back and a massive argument ensued. Scott, being the man that he was, tried desperately to calm the situation, but it was no use. Antoinette's anger and Laurent's frustration were emotions too powerful for Scott to have any control over.

Eventually, Laurent had turned on his heels and walked out of the house, slamming the door behind him. He was not sure what his sister did after that, whether she was upset, if she cried or if her anger had simmered more.

The rain started only a few minutes after he had left the house that day. It poured like waterfalls, straight rain, right to the ground. He could barely see in front of his face and his clothes were soaked through and were sticking to his skin. He could not go back though, he as still angry, he knew that Antoinette would be.

It was then that a hand reached out of a passing carriage and pulled him in from the rain. Laurent remembered feeling awful at dripping dirty rain water onto the soft velvet of the carriages interior.

The man that took him in from the rain was Gabriele Aiton. That day was one he remembered vividly, the feel of the rain on his skin, the luxury of the carriage, what Gabriele had looked like. So young, so rich.

He envied him immediately, looking at how handsome he was and how wealthy he was. A fury burned in him, a sickness that he must always rely on the wealthy for what he wanted. Scott Giry and then the man that had saved him from the rain, Gabriele.

They said nothing to each other for a while, he remembered the thickness of the silence. The carriage had continued to move, clunked along the cobbled road and then onto a dirt track, without any instruction. Laurent knew that he should probably question where the man was taking him but he was comfortable and starting to dry that he had been afraid of being thrown out again.

Then he had spoken; 'My name is Gabriele Aiton,'

'I am Laurent,'

'Hello Laurent,' he had said. 'Why were you out in the rain like that?'

'I...' he had begun but stopped. He was going to lie. 'I had an argument with my sister and ran away,'

'Foolish,' Gabriele had said, simply.

'She treats me like a child,' Laurent remembered saying and he cringed at the memory.

'You are a child,' Gabriele had responded.

'I am sixteen,'

The other man then laughed. 'Ah, so a man,'

Laurent had nodded, quite earnestly, believing that he was. How wrong could a boy be?

'So,' Gabriele then continued, eyes fixed on Laurent's wet face. 'You wish to be treated like a man,'

Laurent had simply nodded again.

'Then you can work for me,' he said simply. 'I will pay you well,'

Laurent remembered back to the feeling excitement. A job, with real money, no longer relying on other people to get his way, to do things. He would be his own man.

'What will I do?'

Gabriele had smiled. 'I operate a loan agency,' he said. 'Among other things,'

Laurent nodded in response, to show that he understood.

'You will go along with Louis to collect repayments on these loans,'

'What will I have to do?'

'Not much,' Gabriele said, 'The money should be ready,'

'Then why do you need the two of us, surely this Louis is enough?'

Gabriele had shrugged. 'Sometimes people can be a little rough with Louis,' he said. 'You are big, you help him if he has problems,'

'I can do that,'

'I have no doubt,' he said. 'Now, where do you want me to drop you off?'

Laurent's body shuddered hard at the memory. It was not long after that, that everything went wrong for him, he just did not realise it at the time.

And then there was that girl.

He sat back onto the bed, pain shooting through his abdomen, he tasted blood in his mouth again and lay back down. He knew that Antoinette would want him out of the house, he knew that she did not want him there to begin with, but he was now not so sure he could leave. Not only was he in trouble, he was in pain too.

He turned carefully onto his side, trying to ignore the spirals of pain curling through his veins, and then he closed his eyes. When he did all he could see was the face of the blonde child, her eyes sharp and blue, yet so soft and innocent.

Pleading with him to help her, looking down at him from the window, her painful and slow death now a foregone conclusion. The thing that made his stomach churn most was that it was his fault and under the influence of Gabriele, instead of attempting to save her young life, he simply turned and fled.

Antoinette had never forgiven him.

And she never would.

Meg watched as her mother lay the table out before her.

'I have given Diane the day off,' she said, as she pottered around, cleaning things that were spotless, brushes things that weren't there. This is what Laurent's presence had done to her.

'Why?' Meg asked, almost afraid of the answer.

'Because she rarely takes time off,' her mother said as she brushed past her and fetched another pie from the oven.

'So where is cook?' she asked, knowing full well her mother had sent him home too. They only had three members of staff, unusual as her father was such a wealthy man. There was Diane, the head of the house really, then there was cook, and then there was the new maid, Rachel.

'Cook has decided to take the day off too,'

'All by himself?'

Her mother turned and scowled at her. 'No, I allowed it,' she said. 'I really quite felt like cooking today,'

Meg lifted her eyebrows as pans clattered together in the sink.

'Don't look at me that way, Meg,' she said. 'I don't cook much anymore, not since your father hired cook...'

'He hired cook to give your hip some rest,' Meg said.

'Yes, yes,' she said. 'I know but I do miss cooking,'

'Are you alright?' Meg asked.

'Yes,' her mother answered. 'Why wouldn't I be?'

Meg sighed. 'Because of Laurent,'

'Laurent is of no consequence and will be gone before nightfall,' she said simply.

'But mama, he is hurt,'

'Yes, so your father keeps telling me,

Another sigh escaped. 'He is, I saw him,'

Her mother turned around and fixed hard eyes on Meg's face. She did not flinch though she knew her mother was angry.

'When did you see him?'

'In the night,' Meg said. 'I heard you and papa arguing about him and so I went in to see him,'

'Was he awake?'

'No,' she lied. 'But I saw his bandages and his face,'

'Well,' she said. 'If he will go mixing with those people that he works for then he is bound to get hurt sooner or later,'

'He is good inside,' Meg said, knowing that it was true. She knew that Laurent had done wrong but how could such a gentle soul turn into a monster. She would not believe, could not believe, that the Laurent she had known as a child was gone.

Her mother simply shook her head. 'I wish it were true,' she said, and for a moment Meg thought she saw a tear in her eye.

'It is... if you give him a chance,'

'I cannot risk it and I will not have him here,' she said. 'He must go,'

'I know you are upset with him,'

'Upset?' Her mother said. 'Meg, I am furious... I am hurt and betrayed and utterly, absolutely furious,'

Meg said nothing, how could she. Deep down she knew that her mother's reasons were solid, good reasons to cast him out.

'He does not belong here anymore,' she said. 'He had his options, he chose the wrong ones and now he must live with that,'

'Maybe if you talk to him,' Meg pleaded. 'See how truly ill he is,'

'I just don't want him here Meg,'

'He has changed,'

'How would you know?' Antoinette asked. 'If he is so changed why is he here covered in cuts and bruises and bleeding?'

Meg nodded, conceding that. 'But he came here,'

'Yes,' her mother said with a quick nod. 'But only because he would be arrested at the hospital,'

'What are you talking about?'

'I had Diane pick the newspaper up this morning,' she said. 'He killed a man in a brawl,'

'What?'

She nodded. 'Read for yourself,'

Meg lifted the paper from the edge of the table, the front page made grim reading. There had been a street brawl yesterday in which a man was stabbed once, resulting in his death. Several other men were involved, including one, believed to be the murderer, who was seen running from the scene of the crime. The man they believe stabbed the other young man was tall and broad, with blonde hair but looked injured as he fled. Meg sighed as she read that the suspected killer had been bleeding and coughing profusely.

'This is Laurent then?' Meg said, half question, half statement.

'I would say so,' Antoinette said, dishing eggs onto the plate in front of Meg. 'Bit of a strange coincidence otherwise,'

Meg nodded and lost her appetite in the horrible realisation that Laurent may have killed a man. Of course, there was nothing in the report to say that anyone had seen him give the fatal wound but this would not matter. Meg had to believe in him, somehow she had to, because she knew that no one else would.