Mr. Lawson's Assistant

Chapter 32

I stared at the brown casket in front of me, the people on every side of me blurring with my tears. The man speaking was droning on something about a woman I didn't even know, and the dark sky reflected the air around the circle of people. My eyes flitted to Tony, standing a few feet away from David and I, his arms crossed in front of him and a blank expression on his face.
No guilt.
Tony reported that my mom had fallen down the steps and broken four ribs, puncturing her lung, and cracking her skull. He also said the impact split her skin and bruised her on every side of her body, but I knew better. David and I both knew he had beaten her. When I'd seen my mom's body, I knew immediately what had happened. I ran from the hospital, to my car to go find him and somehow make him pay for what he'd done.
He didn't deserve to live for what he'd done.
But David caught me; and thank God he did. I would've either done something I regretted, or ended up in a casket alongside my mother, I knew that now.
I closed my eyes against the onslaught of tears that came to my eyes, when I thought about how she'd died. The doctor told us that she had suffocated as her lungs filled with blood.
My heart felt like it was being ripped in two, and I couldn't take it. I felt a strong arm around my shoulders, but I didn't want to feel my brother's comfort.
I needed to get away from here. I was suffocating.
Pulling away from David, I pushed my way through the people behind us, barely containing my tears as I rushed towards my car. I couldn't hold them back anymore, and the tears flooded down my face, blinding me, as I stumbled behind the cover of my car. Gasping for air, I threw my hands up to my face, trying to stop the tears. They wouldn't stop.
My chest ached and my knees shook, and I couldn't stand. I fell to the ground, pulling my knees up to my chest, and bringing my head to my knees. The sobs wracked my body, shaking me to my very core.
I don't know how long I sat there on the ground, pouring my tears out to no one, until David came.
"Oana..." He said quietly, and I heard him coming to my side. I lifted my head from my knees and met his eyes. Tears were streaked down his cheeks, and his brown eyes shone with sadness.
"She's gone." I whispered, shaking as more tears fell from my eyes. "I'll never s-see her a-again." I bit my lower lip to keep back the pain that threatened to bubble from my chest.
"I know..." He breathed, sitting beside me, and pulling me to his chest. Another sob wracked my body, and I buried my head into his chest, my cries of sorrow being lost in his shirt somewhere. My mom was gone and it was all Tony's fault. He had killed her. It made my want to scream and rip out my hair and hurt someone. Hurt him. Like he'd hurt all of us.
Finally, I couldn't cry anymore, and David helped me into the car. We went back to the hotel, and once we got there, I collapsed into bed and slept for the rest of the day.
*
"Mr. Garrison, I need you to sign these papers, agreeing that your wife's insurance policy has been fufilled, and the money has been transferred to your account."
I glared at my hands, gripping them together until my knuckles were white, as Tony took the papers from the woman.
"Miss Atkins?"
I raised my eyes to the woman, and saw that she was offering me a paper as well.
"These papers signify that your share of the life insurance has been transferred to your account as well."
Over 2,000 dollars had been added to my bank account yesterday, but I didn't really care. My mom was dead, and no amount of money could change that.
David reached out and took the paper from the woman, thanking her quietly, as he set the paper in front of me. Squeezing my hand, he set a pen down on the paper, before he turned to sign his own. I finally scribbled my name on the small line at the bottom of the page, lifting my eyes to see that everyone was staring at me.
"Sorry..." I murmured, handing the woman my paper, and averting my eyes back to my lap.
At the end of the meeting, after I was forced to sign a bunch of stuff I didn't even care about, David and I got on the road to head home. I had to work tomorrow, and as odd as it sounded, I needed to work tomorrow. I needed to do something to keep myself occupied.
The silence inside the car was deafening, but there wasn't anything to say. Our mom was dead. His dad killed her, and there was nothing we could do about either.
"I think you should take tomorrow off-" David started, but I cut him off.
"I already blew them off yesterday and today, I can't miss another day." I shook my head, staring at the interstate in front of me.
David blew out a breath, but slowly nodded, "I just think you need some time." He told me quietly.
I inhaled and blinked back the tears in my eyes, "I don't."
I turned to David and met his eyes, shaking my head.
"I can't."
*
We got home around midnight, and David offered to sleep on the couch, so I headed into my room and crumpled into bed. Before I could even brush my teeth or change my clothes, I fell asleep.
*
My alarm went off early the next morning- or the same morning- and I stumbled out of bed into my bathroom. Fumbling through a shower, and pulling on a grey knee-length skirt, and white dress shirt, I brushed my teeth, and got my things together. David was still sleeping, so I skipped breakfast, and left for work. I was sure I had piles of work to do, so it wouldn't hurt me to be early to the office anyways.
*
"Oana!" Amy rushed towards me, just as my hand rested on my office doorknob.
"Hey," I forced a small smile, as Amy engulfed me in a hug.
"I heard what happened..." she trailed off, letting out a small breath, "Let me know if I can do anything to help, okay?" She said, squeezing my hands.
"Thanks." I nodded, turning and heading into my office. I was surprised not to see any paper on my desk, but assuming Mr. Lawson hadn't brought them in yet, I put my purse and my phone into my desk, and headed into his office to get them. When I saw the three stacks of papers neatly placed at the end of his desk, I knew I was right, and after flipping through a few of them, I carted the stacks into my office. Closing the door, I took a seat and decided to start on the notes first. Apparently, Mr. Lawson had several important meetings while I'd been gone, and he had quite a few notes that needed typed out.
Two hours later, I heard Mr. Lawson enter his office, as I saved the last of the typed notes and moved on to the file stack. I was midway through the first assignment when I heard a knock on my door.
"Come in," I called, setting the paper aside as Mr. Greyson Lawson stepped into my office.
"I wasn't expecting to see you today, Oana." He leaned against the doorway, his blue eyes scanning the stacks of papers I had brought in from his desk.
I managed a nod, and stood. "I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty to retrieve the papers from your office?" I said catching his glance.
"Not at all." He shook his head slightly, before he gestured to my file cabinet. "My updated schedule for today is in the top drawer, and if you don't mind, call down to Rachel and let her know I won't be needing her today."
I nodded briskly, moving towards the cabinets, as he closed the door, and I quickly found the schedule Mr. Lawson was talking about. Scanning it over with my eyes, I typed up the next file in the stack, before I called the front desk.
"Hello?" Rachel's sickly-sweet voice echoed in my ear. 
"This is Oana, Mr. Lawson wanted me to inform you that he not need your assistance today, now that I'm back to work." I said into the phone, but when I heard her mutter a curse referring to a female dog, under her breath, I just hung up. Today was not the day I was going to deal with her drama.
For the rest of the morning, I filed the papers that needed filing, and copied a few, before taking them into Mr. Lawson's office, and returning to my room. I was midway through my last stack of papers, when I shut my computer down, so I could go get some water for Mr. Lawson's first meeting of the day. After I knocked and Mr. Lawson called me inside, I set down the water across the room and took a seat at a chair in the far corner of the room. Once seated, I started a heading for the notes for this meeting. It had been a while since I'd needed to take notes for a meeting.
Soon, the men started to arrive for the meeting, and I paused writing to stand and greet them with Mr. Lawson.
"James, meet my assistant, Oana." Mr. Lawson introduced to me to a grey-haired buisness man that I recognized from one of his private meetings.
"Good to meet you, Oana." He shook my hand, and I nodded.
"It's nice to meet you too, sir."
I recognized several of the men present, one of them being the redhead from my first day of work with Mr. Lawson. He kept staring at me.
Mr. Lawson had arranged for more chairs to be brought into his office, and once the guys from downstairs finished bringing them up, everyone took a seat. As I pulled out the notepad to finish my heading, I noticed that there was one empty seat. Hearing the door open, I glanced over to see Damon stepping through the doorway, buttoning his suit jacket.
"Sorry I'm late gentlemen- Oana," He paused moving his eyes to me and nodding, "What did I miss?"
"Nothing yet, we just sat down." Mr. Lawson told his brother gesturing to his seat. Damon took his seat, and the meeting began.
I started taking notes, but the men weren't discussing anything of great importance, so I found myself staring out the large glass windows of Mr. Lawson's office, loosing myself in my thoughts. That is, until I felt someone's eyes on me. Blinking at the tears that had come up with my idle thoughts, I glanced up to see who was looking at me. Damon's green eyes met mine, and his face registered that he saw the tears, but I dropped my head and pretended to start writing again.
Of course it would be him.
I thought to myself, as I scribbled something down onto the page. Finally, the meeting was over, and I dismissed myself to go type out the most recent notes. Mr. Lawson let me go, and once I was in my office alone, I threw myself back into the load of work I needed to finish.
"May I come in, Oana?" I jerked my head up from my screen, startled by the voice. "I apologize, I didn't mean to startle you." Damon stepped into my office.
I inhaled quickly and shook my head, "How can I help you?" I used my best business tone, clasping my hands in front of me on my desk, and staring up at him expectantly. A small smile flashed across his face, but it didn't stay.
He stepped away from the door and ran his eyes over my desk, his eyes stopping on the picture of David and I. "During the meeting, you were crying. Why?" He asked me, and I tensed.
So he did see it.
His question took me by surprise, and he clearly saw that, because he leaned back against the far wall, and watched me patiently.
"With all due respect Mr. Lawson-" I started, but he cut me off.
"Greyson told me you weren't at work yesterday or the day before. Is everything alright?" He said, ignoring my previous response. His eyes met mine, and I forced myself to look away in order to shake my head.
"Everything's fine."
"You're a terrible liar, Oana." Damon dropped his chin to see me better, but I just inhaled and glanced to my screen.
"If I can't help you with anything Mr. Lawson I would appreciate it if you'd leave me to my work." I told him, still not meeting his eyes. I could feel the pure intensity of his stare, but I refused to look him in the eyes. He already knew I was lying. Without another word, he nodded, and left me alone in my office.
The rest of the day, I worked tirelessly on the billions of things I had to do, and then the few other things that I had to redo because Rachel hadn't done them right.
After four meetings, and ten hours of work, Mr. Lawson knocked on my door.
"Come in." I stopped typing when he came in, and I stood up, expecting instructions.
"Oana, are you aware that it's 7 p.m.?" He asked me, crossing his arms. I noticed that his suit coat was off, and he had lost his tie somewhere as well.
"Yes sir, I just needed to catch up on a few things." I glanced down to my desk.
"Catch up tomorrow. You should go home." He told me, and I lifted my eyes to look at him. Like his brother, his blue eyes seemed to pierce my soul, and instead of arguing, I just nodded.
"Yes, sir." I started to pack my things, but when he turned to leave, he stopped and turned back.
"I know about your family circumstances, Oana, and I understand you don't want to get behind on any more work," He started, and I stopped packing to look up at him, "but if you need another day, I understand." He finished, offering me a small smile, before he turned and left.