Prodigal Son

Chapter Four - Part 2

Oliver flashed a grateful smile at one of the maids for her information, the kind of smile he'd once handed out to nightclub crowds like a Homecoming King raining candy at a parade. He strode toward the conservatory.

When dinner ended and his mother suggested they retired to the library for coffee, Felicity excused herself for a moment. Once that moment stretched on past a half hour, Oliver made his own excuses and went looking for her. With the daggers she'd been throwing his way all evening, he'd half expected to find she'd gone home without saying goodnight.

Last night, when he'd left Felicity's place--not left, fled, no reason to sugar coat it--he'd been close to physically ill. He still was anytime he thought too closely about his mother being behind the worst nightmare of his life. And as he'd driven mindlessly around Starling and the Glades, years of crushing guilt over the part he'd played in destroying his family turned into simmering anger. Someone would pay and if his mother was as guilty as she seemed, so be it.

Exhaustion from the previous 24 hours hit, so he'd found a motel on the outskirts of Starling City and crashed. In the morning, he knew what he needed to do.

He'd known Felicity wasn't going to be thrilled by some of his conditions even if she was still getting what she wanted. He was staying in Starling City to get answers and taking the job she outlined, but he was doing it under his own terms. He didn't like reverting to the tricks of his former life and liked even less how easy it had been to slip on the persona to get what he wanted, but he couldn't think of another way if he was committed to uncovering the truth.

He took his time, not arriving until evening at the Queen Mansion, the home that had been in his father's family for more than a century. It looked older; the pale, sandstone construction took inspiration from the grand English estates of medieval times; complete with the requisite Tudor wings and a high turret front and center that could have been lifted from any child's drawing of a castle. 

The grounds around the Queen Mansion were extensive and, he noted, still lavishly maintained. For an estate its age and size to exist solely for the use of two people was...embarrassing. Even when there had been four of them, having every comfort and wish catered to now seemed an obscene way to live. But apart from losing a husband and dismissing a son, nothing had changed in Moira Queen's world.

True, some of the furnishings had been updated, Hawkins had finally retired from taking care of the household and the rest of the staff looked at him like he was a either a movie star or the serial killer Felicity accused him of resembling, but otherwise everything was just as he remembered. Especially his mother, with her shoulder-length, blonde hair elegantly coiffed and expertly tinted, wearing a simple yet chic black dress. She'd always favored a timeless look.

He'd arrived unannounced, late enough he'd hoped that his mother would be rushing to get ready for whatever gala or charity event she had committed to that evening but not so late that she wouldn't have time to listen to his proposal immediately. He'd miscalculated slightly and found it impossible to back out of an on-the-spot family dinner. That had been his mother's only condition, to attend company and family functions. His goal was to be seen as back in the inner circle, so he agreed.

For tonight's family dinner, he'd been braced for Thea and hadn't been very surprised about Tommy, but he hadn't expected to see Felicity. The feeling had been mutual.

She'd mouthed, 'What are you doing here?' while Tommy clapped him on the back and Thea squealed in delight, launching herself in for a hug. That had been hard, letting go and setting Thea back sooner than his heart ached to. He avoided her hazel eyes except for a brief moment, set on keep the reunion light. He'd perfected the art of careless charm before he'd been kicked out of his first prep school and continued to hone it as a business skill when he'd taken over running Green Archer Construction. His first and best teacher had been his mother.