BOOK 3 of the ORPHIC Series
CHURLISH
/ˈCHərliSH/
marked by a lack of civility.
~~~~~
Lucille 'Lucy' Opal Baker finds herself in the 21 century sporting the title of Aunt while lugging along h...
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"Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself."
Ohio, America October, 2015
LUCY WAS IN OHIO FOR a certain number of reasons. Of course the meeting she'd had with Henry's favorite business partners had been one of them. But she was there for far more important reasons. Vasily Karpov was only half an hour away from Henry's mansion and Lucy couldn't simply ignore the fact. There was also a HYDRA base nearby that was abandoned, and she was planning to give it a visit for files on Peggy. She needed to be sure that Pierce had, indeed, spent his free time poisoning Peggy to get rid of the founder of SHIELD.
She would despise both places to visit, but one was far less dangerous than the other. There was a possibility that the HYDRA base was not completely abandoned and Lucy would have to fight her way through it. She wanted Peggy to at least know the truth before it was too late. Lucy had her closure–Peggy deserved hers.
But if she could put that as the last thing on her list. It was easier for her to meet with Karpov. Because, at the very least, she would only need to knock him out if he got violent. She wouldn't fall back into the form of a killer and murder dozens of HYDRA agents.
It was still difficult for her to pull back her punches.
Klause glanced at her in the rear view mirror of the sport's car Henry had supposedly been gifted by one Obadiah Stane before the man's death. Lucy only knew he was dead because he'd wronged Tony in the most painful way possible–betrayal. She had no idea how Henry had known him, but when had she ever known anything about him?
She adjusted her tan wool overcoat, playing with the buttons as she avoided Klause's gaze. Her heart was beating abnormally fast and Lucy knew that she was playing a dangerous game with her mind. But she wanted to face Karpov before she left Ohio, otherwise she'd never find the confidence to do so.
"Before 2010 I could not look at Henry directly." Klause started. "I worked under him with loyalty because he saved me from a terrible situation. But Henry was violent, and I spent much of my time hiding in closets, praying he wouldn't find me. He would get angry so fast–one little thing would tick him off. But then. . .then he stopped hurting his employees. He didn't hit any of us for the next five years and I could finally look at him. It was a surreal experience."
He paused.
"He still hasn't hurt anyone, except for me—and you, of course."
