Page 95 of Disobedient Pawn

Lawrence stood, and I immediately went on guard as he marched closer. My mother always told me to trust my instincts, that if I learned to listen, they would never steer me wrong, and Count Dick was setting off all the alarms. He didn’t have to say a word for me to know he was up to no good.

He didn’t touch me like I expected, instead laying his hand on Nash’s shoulder.

“Son, can I speak to you for a moment.” His voice was so low that with all the other noise in the room, I barely heard him, yet I still felt the weight of his words like concrete boots.

“Yes, of course. I’ll be back,” Nash said and stood, but he was easy to tell that he was tense.

Even an unobservant person could see that his shoulders were tight and his eyes were guarded, but the twitching muscle in his jaw really gave it away.

There was a knock on the table, and I saw Blake and Theo’s mum, Ella, signing with her hands to her sons. I’d learned earlier that Ella was born with hearing but lost it due to a severe illness at Lip’s age. What was fascinating was that every one of the guys knew how to speak to her in ASL. I loved that. Liam, Nash, and Myles didn’t have to learn, but they wanted to. Nash said it was never a question of if, and now I wanted to learn too.

Myles was much slower with his movements as he joined in, and there was something endearing about his struggling to keep up.

I watched Ella and Theo and knew it was an argument by the look on their faces.

I had a feeling what it was about even though I couldn’t understand what they said. I was having the same concern. Count Dick was up to no good.

“If you’ll excuse me, I need to use the little girls’ room,” I said, but everyone seemed focused on the silent conversation.

Sneaking out into the hall, I went on the hunt. Why I was doing this, I didn’t know. It wasn’t like Nash had been nice to me. He’d been a jerk from the moment we met, and that was before he decided to spank me like I was some spoiled child.

Yet, my feet never hesitated as I slipped from one hallway to the next, trying to locate Nash and Lawrence. What the hell I would do when I found them was a whole other story. I didn’t have a plan. I just knew I needed to find him and stop whatever Lawrence was going to do.

This place was impossibly large, and I was ready to give up and find my way back when the sound of muffled voices ahead caught my attention. Being small had one advantage, I was light on my feet. I quickly marched for the sliver of light from a cracked door, casting a shadow on the hallway floor.

“What did I tell you would happen if you ever embarrassed me in front of the rest of the families again?” Lawrence growled.

“And here I thought I was saving you from embarrassing yourself,” Nash said, and I bit my lip to keep from laughing.

“This is my home, and I can do what I want inside these walls,” Lawrence said. That statement was ominous, and a shiver raced down my spine as he spoke again. “You need to be punished.”

“I’m shocked, especially when you were the one making a fool of yourself in front of our guest’s father. I doubt Mr. Davies enjoyed you feeling his daughter up any more than Ren did, or was assaulting a minor in front of everyone what you were going for?”

“She is legal age,” Lawrence said, and I covered my mouth as my food wanted to reappear.

“So that really was your plan? See if you could get the new girl to fuck the rich old man? Sounds cliché to me, even for you,” Nash’s tone was sarcastic as hell, like he was baiting his father. I hated that he was making me root for him. He’d been as big of a jerk to me as his father.

I didn’t have to be in the room to feel the simmering hostility turn into something far deadlier.

“I thought you were learning respect, but I see now that was all an act. You will learn your place son,” Lawrence growled.

Without even thinking about the consequences, I pulled out my phone and opened it to a random screen so it was glowing in my palm as I pushed open the door.

“Oh, thank god,” I said.

I knew that Lawrence had been ready to hit Nash, but it didn’t look like Nash was going to fight back as he stood with his hands at his sides and his head held high. Lawrence stepped back and smiled at me as Nash looked over his shoulder.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt your meeting, but this house is insanely large, I mean it’s beautiful, but I got myself all turned around.” I held up my phone. “I was just about to call for help. How embarrassing would that be?” I smiled, even though I wanted to punch Lawrence.

“Were you trying to get back to the dining hall,” Nash asked.

I pretended to be embarrassed and looked down at the ground, knowing that Lawrence would love the act. I didn’t really care if he liked me, but I needed to pull off the perfect damsel.

“Actually, Nash, would you show me to the washroom first?”

Nash looked back to his father, and the man’s eyes shifted from his son to me. Lawrence sighed, and I knew I’d stopped whatever was about to happen here, but for how long was hard to say.

“We always like to accommodate our guests. I’d be happy to take you,” Lawrence said, smiling.