Sophie (The Boss 8)

"Make yourself at home, Neil," El-Mudad quipped.

"Would you prefer I remain tense and fidgety?” Neil asked.

The mellow chime of a crystal meditation bowl filled the room. I only realized it was a doorbell when Rudy said, "Right on time."

When Rudy left the room, Neil let out a long breath.

"It's going to be fine," El-Mudad insisted. It was a nice thought, but none of us could know for sure.

All that matters is that El-Mudad will adopt Olivia, I reassured myself. There's nothing Valerie or Laurence could do to stop that.

At least, that was what I kept telling myself.

It took approximately thirty seconds before we heard Valerie's voice raised in anger coming from the levels below.

"I like the open concept thing and the whole multi-story skylight," I whispered, "but wow, not great for privacy, huh?"

Neil silenced me with a finger against his lips.

Luckily, the layout of the house wasn't conducive to amplification of consonants; we got the tone and the volume, but the words were unintelligible. We didn't need a preview of what was to come. I think we'd all played it out in our heads already.

It began as I had expected. Yelling, stomping footsteps getting closer, and finally, the door to the salon practically bouncing off the wall when Valerie stormed through it.

"I don't know who the hell you think you are—"

Neil stood. "Valerie, please sit down and have a discussion with us. Anger isn’t going to be productive."

"Oh, don't try that bullshit!" she shouted. "You've ambushed me here. You've turned Rudy against me—"

Rudy entered behind her. "I'm not against you, Vee. Nobody could do that."

Her rage faltered for a moment.

"This is important," Neil went on. "What's happened between us, what's happened to you...we're concerned."

"So, this is some kind of intervention?" She scoffed. "You've all assembled to gaslight me into believing I'm somehow in the wrong for wanting to protect my granddaughter? For having the audacity to want to be a part of her life?"

I hated the wobble in her voice. I hated that we'd kept her from seeing Olivia for so long.

"We want you to be a part of her life, too," I said softly, not sure if I should leap into the conversation or not, but it was too late to go back now.

"You've a very strange way of expressing that," she snapped at me. "Why are you even here? Or him?" She gestured angrily to El-Mudad. "This is none of your business!"

"It is their business," Rudy said calmly, laying a hand on her shoulder. "Please. Come sit down and talk with us."

"I'm being ganged up on!" she accused, but she did sit down. She took her phone from her bag. "But I'm calling Laurence. I'll put him on speaker."

"No, baby." Rudy gently took the phone from her trembling hand. She let him.

"We need to be able to address our problems without Laurence here," Neil said, sitting on the chaise beside her, his body angled toward hers as she stared straight ahead, her jaw visibly clenched. "Because Laurence is one of our problems."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She stood and moved away from Neil to pace between the door and the far wall, a bundle of pure, nervous energy. "Laurence is my husband."

"But do you want him to be?" I spoke up.

She whirled on me, an easy target for her hurt. "Don't you ever question my life again."

"The way you've questioned ours?" El-Mudad's words came out in a raw tumble. I put my hand on his arm. He couldn't lose his temper now. He knew that, but a reminder was in order.

"He's right. You and Laurence have certainly felt at liberty to criticize us. Now, we need to discuss what's happening in your home," Neil said.

"We know he hurts you." Rudy's words ripped the scab off the festering wound between the three of them. It had to have come directly from him. I saw that now.

Valerie tried to laugh it off. "You don't seriously believe that."

"You've got bruises on your upper arm," Rudy replied calmly. "I saw them when you tried on that Versace blouse the other day."

She swallowed. "It must have been a trick of the light."

"Then roll up your sleeve," he replied.

She tossed her hands up. "You can't just take my word?"

"No. Not anymore. Not when other people have noticed." Rudy's eyes cut to me.

Valerie followed his gaze. Hers narrowed on me. "Oh, I see. This is your doing."

"I'm the one who brought it to Neil and El-Mudad's attention, yes." And I wouldn't apologize for it. Even if she couldn't see now that it had been out of concern for her, maybe one day she would.

"I'm embarrassed and very sorry that I didn't see the signs," Neil said, his voice hoarse with emotion. "But once Sophie pointed them out, I couldn't ignore this. I'm afraid for you, Vee."