Having to recall everything that happened in the accident for the police the next day has all the flashbacks coming back to me. I don't miss a beat and explain everything to them from the moment we left my grandparent's house to what I can recall before passing out when Jones told me the ambulance was close to the scene. It hurt more recalling everything than it did on the day because everything seems like it just happened.
I can see it that clearly and I think it will take a while for the images and sounds to leave me.
"If there's anything else, you can call us. We'll be in touch if we hear anything," I hear the female officer tell Luca as he shows them out the house.
"Thank you, officer."
The front door closes and I glance over at Luca who stands at the threshold of the living room. He runs a hand through his hair and sighs heavily.
"I'll get Lyla to pack some things for you for travelling. We leave within the next hour for New York," he states before walking away.
I nod and turn my gaze to the fireplace that was put on earlier because I was feeling it colder than usual in the house. Everyone in the house said I was being ridiculous for wanting the fire on but I felt cold and to be honest, it's helped me feel a lot more relaxed.
I snuggle further into the chair and relax for a little bit before I need to get up and move around. I pull at the sleeves of Luca's hoodie I'm wearing so they cover my hands and I stare at my engagement ring that catches on the left sleeve.
The light catches the diamonds at the right angels as I flex the fingers of my left hand. I straighten my fingers right out then clench them into a fist. I repeat the process for a couple of minutes then do the same with my right hand. My fingers hurt ever so slightly at the movements but when I flex my wrists, they crack and I stop moving them.
"You okay?" Luca asks, walking back into the living room, a concerned look on his face.
I nod. "My hands and wrists are just sore today."
"When have you to take your next set of pain killers?"
"Not for another couple of hours."
"Alright." He holds my phone out to me. "Your assistant wants to talk to you."
I take the phone and hold it to my ear. "Hi, Julia."
I rest my head back on the chair, listening to my assistant while watching Luca give out instructions to everyone that's now standing near the front door.
"Hi, Kaylee. Listen, I know it's Sunday and you're not scheduled to be in your office here for another couple of weeks but this can't wait."
"Alright. What is it?"
"Have you heard from either Jackie or Oscar recently? I know they're in New York with you but have you seen them at all this week? Everyone here has been trying to contact them but they're not answering any of their emails or phone calls."
I frown. "The last I heard was that they were off with suspected food poisoning but I've had to pull out of that event due to personal reasons."
"I see." There's a long pause before she speaks again. "Have you at least spoken to either of them this week?"
"Not this week, no."
"Can you try and contact or them? There's things happening here that they really need to oversee. Things have to be signed off and payments have to be looked over. Mainly by Jackie."
Luca walks back into the living room and places a pair of Converse down on the floor next to my feet. He points to them then to his watch, silently telling me that we need to go. I raise my brows at him and nod slowly.
"I'll try my best but if they're not well, the last thing they'll want is for someone to disturb them."
"Thank you, Kaylee."
I lean forward and wince. "Julia, why am I just being told about all of this now? Have any of my clients been phoning up with anything needing to be done?"
"No, I've managed to deal with all of them and explained to them that you won't be in the office for a couple of weeks yet."
"Nice jump over my first question," I point out with a grin playing on my lips.
I reach down as best as I can for my shoes but stop short when the pain in my ribs becomes unbearable. I breathe deeply and look at Luca who is watching me closely. He moves quickly moves to me, kneeling down in front of me to put my shoes on.
"Thank you," I mouth to him.
He smiles and gets to his feet.
"Sorry, I did promise most of the people in the office that I'd contact you over the weekend for answers. I'll let them know what you've told me so far and if you hear anything else, let us know."
"I will do." I get to my feet with Luca's help and pat him on the chest with my free hand. "You'll be the first one I call if I hear anything. Bye, Julia."
"By, Kaylee."
I end the call.
"Trouble at work?" Luca asks.
We walk towards the front door and I take the offered bag Lyla is holding out for me, and slip my phone into it.
"No one has heard from either Jackie or Oscar this entire week," I answer. "She was wondering if I've heard from them since I'm supposed to be working with them."
"But you haven't," he adds.
"The last I heard from them was the weeks prior. Then this whole thing with Nadia blew up and-" I look at Luca and catch his frown that he quickly tries to hide when he sees me looking at him. "What? What's the frown all about? What's going on?"
Luca shakes his head. "Nothing. It's nothing."
"Luca, what's going on?"
If there's something going on with my boss and one of my friends, I want to know. I don't want it to be something bad and be the last person to know. I don't want to hide things from my colleagues if it's to do with work.
"Luca, tell me." I press.
"It's nothing," he repeats. "I promise you it's nothing but-"
"See? I knew there was a 'but' coming. What is it?"
"If you give me a second to finish what I was going to say, I'll tell you." He shakes his head and grins. "If you're all that worried about Jackie and Oscar, I'll see about sending someone to their hotel to check up on them."
I take a deep breath and nod. "Thank you. That'd be a big weight off all our minds."
Luca closes the gap between us and places a small kiss on my forehead. "If it helps you relax like you're supposed to be doing, I'd happily do anything for you."
I roll my eyes and walk out of the house to the waiting car. "I know you would."
Luca laughs lightly and helps me settle into the back of the Jaguar. We sit in silence for a few moments before we drive off to the airport. As soon as we're out of the driveway and onto the main road, I reach for Luca's hand and squeeze it tightly. He covers the top of my hand with his other hand and squeezes it ever so slightly, letting me know that everything will be okay without saying the actual words.
I look at him and can faintly see him smiling at me.
I'll be fine . . . as long as he's there by my side.
"Kaylee move the car. Kaylee move out the way. Kaylee!"
Bang.
I jolt awake at the memory with a scream and breathe deeply, pressing a hand to my chest as a way of trying to calm myself down.
It was all a dream.
I need to keep reminding myself of that fact even though it was actually true. It's been the same part of the accident that keeps playing over and over again in my head at different times of the day. Every time I close my eyes, I can hear Allison's screams for me to move then the bang as the second car hits us.
I think the first time I jolted awake was when I fell asleep on the couch with my head on Luca's lap on Saturday. I remember screaming so loud that it scared everyone in the house. It even scared Luca's dad who was talking on the phone to him about Monday. He got such a fright that he thought something bad was happening at that exact moment in time.
I want to say that that was the worst of them all but it wasn't.
They're all the same.
Now I'm sitting up straight up on the jet, staring off at nothing and Luca is trying his hardest to reassure me from where he's crouched down in front of me.
"Kaylee, you're fine." He assures, rubbing a hand over my thigh. "Everything's fine."
I blink rapidly and shake my head to try and get the sound of the car hitting us out my mind.
"Kaylee, breathe. Everything's fine. You're safe."
After a long time of just breathing, I avert my eyes down to Luca who nods at me and flashes me a brief smile.
"You're safe," he says once again.
I nod and wipe away the tears that are now falling down my cheeks. "I . . ."
He moves to sit in the seat across from me. He reaches for my hand and gently pulls on it for me to move to him. I go so freely and sit on his lap, curling my body up into a ball and resting my head on his shoulder.
"I've got you," he comforts, his arms circling around me. "I've always got you."
When we land in New York, it's just after eight o'clock at night and we're driven straight to Luca's apartment. I'm almost expecting Luca to tell me to go and lay down but he doesn't. Even when we're greeted by Nick at when we get out the lift at Lua's apartment, I'm expecting him to tell me to go and rest but it doesn't come.
Instead, Nick walks us to Luca's office where four men are waiting patiently for us. I recognise Trent who is standing off to the side behind the desk looking down at the iPad he has in his hands. As for the other three men, I've never seen before.
Nick gestures for me to sit in the chair behind the desk before clearing his throat and starting the introductions.
"Kaylee, I would like to introduce you to the men that are going to win this case for Luca."
The three men – one I would place in his early forties, the other two in their mid-fifties – turn to me and I can't help but feel like I've done something wrong. A set of green and two sets of brown eyes stare down at me and I grip the armrests of the chair tightly under their watchful gazes.
"Giles Cromwell," Nick introduces first, pointing to the man that stands closest to him that looks to be the oldest of the three.
Giles reaches a hand out for me to shake and I do so with a small smile. "Pleasure to meet you, Kaylee."
"Degory Lawson," Nick continues, pointing to the man next to Giles.
I shake Degory's offered hand.
"And Calvin Kirkland," he finishes, pointing to the youngest looking of the three men.
I shake Calvin's hand and rest back in the chair.
"We know it's late and both you and Luca have only just gotten off the plane here," Giles starts. He picks up a file from the desk and opens it. "However, this couldn't wait if we're to bring you into court tomorrow."
"I know it's strange for someone to have three lawyers when the norm is one," Degory explains, moving to sit on one of the two chairs in front of the desk. "But when your client is Luca Madden, there is an exception."
Giles pulls two pieces of paper from the file he has and hands one to Degory and keeps the other for himself before handing the file to Calvin. He takes a seat next to Degory. "We like to work differently from others which is why we're one of the top law firms in the country."
"Calvin is the interrogator if you wish to call him that," Nick informs. "If we need concrete answers from people we don't think is telling the truth, he's the one who always gets them."
"And it has nothing to do with how young he looks despite his age," Luca adds, coming to stand behind me. His hands fall onto my shoulders and he rubs them in light circular motions. "Don't let the young looks fool you."
I look at Calvin who eyes me from where he's standing between Giles and Degory, file opened and held with both hands.
"My bark is worse than my bite," Calvin remarks. He closes the file and places it on the desk. "Are we ready to begin?"
Giles runs a hand through his greying hair after putting his reading glasses on and waves for Calvin to begin. "Go ahead."
Luca steps away from me and stands next to his dad who is standing next to Trent, all to my left side. I stare at Calvin as he paces back and forth a few times. He rolls down the sleeves of his black jumper then clasps his hands behind his back. He stops pacing then looks back at me. I swallow hard as his dark eyes stare intensely at me.
"Miss. Fletcher," he begins, "you seem like a confident, smart, and strong woman and you would need to be if you're going to be with someone like Mr. Madden."
I stay quiet.
He's expecting me to respond to his comment but I'm not going to fall for that trap.
"I just have to ask; are you with him for the name or the money?"
Silence.
"Or will I just call you a gol-"
"Watch it, Calvin." Luca warns.
"Is she's as strong as you tell us she is, she can handle it." Calvin brushes off. He raises a brow at me and leans forward between Giles and Degory, both hands resting on the desk. "Not going to respond to my comments? Probably best you don't. Wouldn't want people to know how stupid you really are."
"I'm merely just waiting for you to get to something I should be answering that's relatable to this case," I calmly tell him.
I may seem calm on the outside but on the inside, I'm fuming. How dare he fucking say that I may only be with Luca for his name or money. I knew him long before the world knew his name. Long before he made the money he has now.
"I see," Calvin draws out. He stands up straight and nods, a smirk playing on his lips. " Then let's begin the real questioning."