Page 5 of Grave Kisses (Graveyard of Hearts Collection #1)

Kendra

I am lying in bed, staring at the ceiling.

Yesterday, I left early after finding out the board meeting was rescheduled for today.

Julie thinks Marcus is going to try and force me to speak up by using the board, but it won’t work.

I refuse. Julie spent all night texting me to make sure I was okay, but I just focused on packing up my desk.

I have the meeting first thing this morning, and then I’ll work on setting up.

Julie is taking in appointments and rescheduling what she can for me, so this week I should be able to focus on getting shit straight.

Eventually, I get up and get ready for the day. I can’t just lie here and wish away all the bad in the world. I packed my vehicle full last night, so this should be fun to unload. I am wearing flats today because that’s a lot of walking in heels to take all of this upstairs.

The first floor of the building is mostly just the receptionist's desk, conference rooms, and the main break room. The second floor is used for training. The third is CyberSafe. Fourth is Teller Security, and Vanderbilt is fifth. I know there was talk of moving everything into a much larger building because right now, we don’t have the room to function as well as we could.

I’m hoping that is still the plan because Alan had so much he wanted to do to expand.

We talked for hours about it, so I have a good idea of everything.

I just need to get into the habit of everything.

When I get to the office, Julie is waiting for me outside Alan’s office. “Hey,” I say.

“Hi. Are you ready?” she asks.

“Mhmm. Everything go okay yesterday?”

“Uhm… When you left, Marcus came down and was lurking. I don't know if he was just watching or if he was actually giving commands.”

“He has some fucking nerve,” I snap. “Fuck, he is annoying.”

“He’s… protective,” she says. “I called Martin about what happened, and he said Marcus called to ask about you. He didn’t tell him but did inform him that you weren’t anything romantic to Alan.”

“I shouldn’t have hit him,” I say.

“He deserved it,” she says with a shrug. “Come on. The board came early for whatever reason.”

“I have a bad feeling about this,” I say.

I take the tablet, and Julie follows with her laptop and a file folder down to the main conference room. When I walk in, everyone abruptly stops talking and looks at me. “Good morning, Kendra,” Bellamy says.

“Morning, Bellamy,” I say with a half smile as I set my belongings down.

“Who are you?” one man asks. I’ve seen their pictures, so when I look up, I know that he is Jerry Pace.

“Kendra Lennox,” I say as I take the file folder from Julie. I go around and hand all nine men a paper, which is a copy of the paperwork naming me as the owner. I don’t need to give Marcus or Bellamy one, but I do anyway. “Before anyone starts in on the questions…”

“Do you even know their names, or are you just pretending you know what you are doing?” Marcus asks coldly.

“Jerry Pace, Richard Halbrook, Bradley Cormack, Robert Ellison, Gregory Shaw, Keith Donner, and Scott Brenner,” I say. “Would you like me to list the names of their companies and their secretaries' names also? How about if Alan liked them or not?”

“Can you just tell us a little about yourself?” Jerry asks.

“I am twenty-eight. I graduated from MIT with high honors in computer engineering at twenty-four. I started out as an intern at CyberSafe at sixteen, and now I’m here,” I say. “Just because Alan didn’t mention me doesn’t mean I didn’t exist.”

“I would like to call a vote,” Marcus says. “Because none of us have met or heard of Kendra, I feel as though she should explain her connection to Alan. Our job is to protect all aspects of this company and its subsidiaries, so it is only right that we know.”

“You can’t make me explain,” I snap.

“Actually, I can,” Marcus says. “If the vote passes, you either answer within a week, or you will be replaced on the board.”

“You can’t…”

“I own Vanderbilt Technologies; I can do whatever I want,” he says. “We don’t have to include you in meetings, and we can also vote to separate CyberSafe from us entirely. How long will you stand on your own, Kendra?”

“Let’s vote,” Jerry says. “All in favor of an explanation, raise your hand.”

Everyone raises their hand, except Bellamy.

He simply sits back in his chair and scribbles a few notes down while everyone stares at me.

“You have one week to explain, or you will no longer be welcome at the board meetings, and I will start the vote to have CyberSafe dropped from the Vanderbilt name.”

“I still own thirty percent,” I say.

“And all that entitles you to is a paycheck, which you will get,” he says.

“Fine,” I say as I sit with Julie.

“So are you going to explain?” he asks.

“No,” I say. “And you can’t do anything about it for a week… Shall we continue?”

Marcus is seething, but I don’t let it show that I am bothered or upset.

For the duration of the meeting, I can’t get a single word in without being interrupted.

Eventually, I stop trying to speak up and just listen.

I feel more than just disrespected; I am humiliated.

It’s like high school all over again, when I felt unwanted and out of place.

No one in this room wants me here besides maybe Bellamy.

He isn’t exactly sticking up for me beyond the vote, though.

Although it would be dumb to risk his own company for someone he doesn’t know.

When the meeting ends, I grab my tablet and leave Julie behind to leave the building. I start grabbing boxes and taking them up to Alan’s office one by one. Julie joins in, but neither of us speaks. When Bellamy shows up to help, I am surprised, but I still keep quiet.

Once I have everything in the office, I shut and lock the door so I can sit at Alan’s desk. The tears finally break free when I open the drawer to get the picture of him and me out. I reach a point where I am sobbing, so I move to the little couch and hug the picture to my chest.

Losing Alan is about the hardest thing I have ever had to handle. When Archer raped me, I handled it poorly, but this… this is so much worse. At least back then, I had Alan to help me.

When I was fifteen, Archer was a senior in high school.

I was bullied relentlessly by him and his friends, but when I was invited to his house for a party, I fell for it.

I was so desperate not to be alone that I missed all of the red flags.

When I got there, I was alone and quickly trapped.

I tried so hard to get away from them, but I couldn’t.

His two friends grabbed me the moment I walked in the door, and it was over for me.

No matter how much I screamed and begged…

It was cruel and vicious. Psychopathic. It reached a point that even his friends were freaked out, and they left.

Once I was alone with him… I truly thought I was going to die.

I remember begging him to kill me a few times.

This went on for hours until he ended up so drunk and high that he passed out with me still tied up.

I managed to get free right as someone came into the house.

I panicked, thinking it was his friends, and hid in the first room I could find. Alan’s office.

He found me curled up naked, bloody, and sobbing under his desk.

The very first thing he did was wrap me in a blanket and put me in his car.

I was so confused, but he wasn't hurting me, so I didn’t fight him.

He took me straight to the hospital to be checked out and held my hand the entire time.

He got me to tell him who I was and found out that I was a foster kid.

Years later, I found out that the doctor was a friend of his, so it helped a lot when I said I didn’t want a report done.

He never pushed me to do anything I didn’t want, and he was there for me more than anyone in my entire life had been.

When I was discharged, he took me to get food and asked what had happened.

I had nothing else to lose, so I told him everything.

I didn’t expect him to care as much as he did, but he went above and beyond.

We went back to his house, where he proceeded to tell Archer that he was dead to him because he refused to claim someone as evil as Archer.

He was shocked and argued it, but when Alan started repeating back to him what he had done to me, it was clear that Alan was far beyond disappointed in him.

He told him to get out and took me upstairs.

After that, he made some calls and took me in as a foster kid.

He promised me that no one, including Archer, would ever hurt me again.

I was so broken, but he helped me heal and taught me my worth. If it weren’t for him saving me, who knows where I would have ended up?

I hear the lock disengage, and I jump up from the couch and turn my back to the door when it opens.

“Out,” I say, expecting it to be Julie. I try to sound firm, but it comes out broken and tearful.

The door closes, and I think I am alone but quickly realize I’m not when Bellamy gently turns me around.

“Please go,” I say as fresh tears roll down my face.

“Come sit with me,” he says gently, pulling me over to the couch.

I want to yell at him and demand that he leave, but I mindlessly walk with him.

I slip my shoes off and sit cross-legged while Bellamy sits on the table in front of me.

He is patient while I calm myself down, still hugging the picture.

“Please go,” I sniffle.

“Can I see?” he asks, motioning to the picture. Julie is standing at the door, likely making sure I’m okay with him being here, but says nothing. I nod and let him take it from me. He looks at it for a moment before setting it beside him. “Kendra… Who was Alan to you?”