Another World

Chapter 26

It felt as though all the air had been knocked from her lungs, only to be replaced with ice seeping into her veins. Charlotte hadn't known what news Carl was going to give her when she answered the phone, but she most certainly hadn't expected this. This was not good. Not good at all.

Even though Lucy, whom she had once considered a trusted friend, had betrayed her in the worst possible way, Charlotte would never had wished this fate upon her. And the baby...the baby was innocent in all of this. Regardless of the actions of his mother and father, the baby definitely did not deserve this.

Charlotte recalled the guttural pain that had lanced through her when she had heard via the grapevine that Lucy and Eric were expecting a baby boy. In the blink of an eye, Lucy had stolen the life Charlotte had always envisioned for herself. The feeling of anguish and betrayal stayed with her for a very long time, but now...now she would give anything to know that Lucy and the baby were safe and well. There was no satisfaction in knowing that two lives were hanging on by a fragile thread.

Charlotte walked towards the living room in a daze, absently noting that Thranduil was following behind her like a silent shadow. She placed the phone on the coffee table and pressed the speaker button before settling heavily into the sofa, suddenly sapped of all energy.

"You there, Charlotte?" Carl's gruff voice sounded from the speaker.

"Yeah...yeah. I'm here," Charlotte replied, leaning forward and grasping her head in her hands, her elbows resting on her knees. "I have you on speaker. You want to repeat that last bit for Thranduil?"

"Hey Thrandy boy! How goes it in your neck of the woods?" Carl boomed cheerily.

Thranduil, who stood off to the side with such eerie stillness that he could be mistaken for a statue with his rigid posture and expressionless face, frowned at Carl's oddly phrased greeting.

"If you are enquiring about my wellbeing, then I am quite well, Carl," he replied is his rich, melodious voice before striding towards the window, his hands clasped behind his back and his long platinum hair stirring ever so slightly at the sudden movement. Stillness settled over him once more, with only his keen eyes flickering to and fro as he scanned the scenery outside.

"So pish-posh. Pity you didn't have a British accent to go with the whole package. You might have won Charlotte over sooner."

Charlotte inwardly groaned, though part of her had to agree with Carl. If Thranduil had possessed a British accent...the thought was almost too much.

"I'll bear that in mind, Carl," Thranduil replied, a shadow of a smile gracing his lips as he glanced over his shoulder. "Now what was it that you wanted to discuss?"

Carl repeated his earlier statement and Thranduil's porcelain features became as hard as alabaster as he listened; his demeanor composed, though there was no denying the undercurrent of tension thrumming through his lithe body.

"Do you think Eric is responsible?" Thranduil enquired.

"That's the thing. Thomas told me that he saw Lucy run out the house and hightail it out of there. Eric tried to stop her from leaving and looked visibly upset when she drove off."

Charlotte glanced up, her brows furrowing. "It must have been something pretty bad for Lucy to risk driving out in the storm."

"My money's on Eric scaring the bejeezus out of her," Carl supplied.

Charlotte shook her head, her waves bouncing around her face with the movement. "No, I don't think so."

Thranduil pivoted his body so that his attention was now solely on Charlotte, who was deep in contemplative thought, her hands clasped in front of her as she jiggled a foot. He studied her with shrewdness, his frown deepening. He wouldn't put anything past Eric, but Charlotte seemed to be holding on to her conviction that this time, he was innocent.