'And spite's as good a reason to take his power'
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Almost twenty years ago, Logan Roy had an affair with Elizabeth Ronan's mother, one that ended in her divorce and a number of rather unsavoury news s...
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|| CHAPTER 17 – A Grave to Dig ||
(Season 2 Ep 8 – 'Dundee')
( AN – NSFW warning )
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As Willa made her way up the stairs that overlooked the backstage bar, Elizabeth looked up from the programme in her hand and bullied herself into adopting a smile.
The play wasn't good.
It wasn't that Willa didn't have potential as a writer, but sometimes it did an artist good to struggle and fail a few times in order to hone their craft.
In Willa's case, her first show had gone straight to stage with Connor's financial backing, and it was safe to say, it was not going to make waves; the surface of the water likely wouldn't even be disturbed.
It was also evident, that the play was more than slightly influenced by being in a relationship with Connor.
Sands was about a 'One woman's harrowing confinement in a land ruled by a mad king and escape into total expression.' And the entire production had a similar air of suffocation to it, that Willa had seemed to feel when Elizabeth had seen her at Austerlitz.
As Connor joined Willa on the stairs, Elizabeth—who was standing with Tom and Shiv by the bar—was doing her best not to seem as out of it as she felt. She had already indulged in a fair amount of champagne, but she'd also had quite a few drinks before she'd arrived. The only saving grace, was that she was quite good at pretending to be sober when she wasn't.
The weeks since London and the article about her and Aidan was released, had been nothing short of hellish. There were still paparazzi following her around—albeit a lot less than there had been in the first week—and her phone still rang with journalists and talk shows, insisting they wanted to hear 'her side of the story.'
She hadn't seen her dad since she'd left him teary and distressed her at her sudden departure. He had become almost entirely bedbound and so she'd had to sit next to him and explain what she'd wrought, while he was tucked up in blankets. It was only made more excruciating, by the prolonged bouts of confusion he was having thanks to being in the final stages of his illness.
She couldn't fathom facing her dad again, without the crushing guilt of what she'd inflicted upon him.
Elizabeth had thought she'd braced herself for the impact all the memories that the ensuing paparazzi swarm would cause her, but it turned out her efforts had been wholly insufficient. She felt like the little girl she'd been during the scandal of her mother and Logan's affair, all over again.
The one and only bright spot, had been Shiv's reaction.
Elizabeth had been prepared for her to rage that she'd kept something else from her—something so huge—and fire her on the spot. Instead, she had been furious at Roman and told Elizabeth, that if she needed somewhere to hide out, she could stay with her and Tom.
