"Why didn't my dad come to meet me?" Cara asked as they drove towards Saints Hospital.
Her Aunt Pandora had told her that her father would be waiting for them at the airport when they arrived, but he was nowhere in sight.
"I asked him to do something for me." Ray said as he looked out the window, avoiding eye contact with Cara.
As the king of the underworld Ray could lie to almost anyone, but at that moment he couldn't look Cara in the eyes to tell her where her father really was.
Not wanting to push her luck or Ray's patience, Cara decided to simply accept his answer and trust that Ray had her best interest in mind.
She knew it was a lie, but she also knew he wouldn't lie without good reason.
It was one of the things she came to terms with while she was away.
The men of the Lawrence family had to lie to protect those they loved and if you loved them, you would trust that they had your best interests at heart and would eventually tell you the truth.
It wasn't long till Cara saw the sign pointing towards the drive way of Saints Hospital.
Saints Hospital was compound of multiple medical facilities.
Over the years Miguel and Nicole Chan had managed to grow the business at least ten times compared to what it was when they first took over.
The driver dropped Ray, Ayanna, and Cara off at the entrance and their army of bodyguards quickly cleared a path for them without disturbing the services the hospital offered.
Noticing that an elevator was closing, Ray quickly chased after it and placed his hand in between the two doors so that they could get in.
"Ray, what are you doing here?" Nicole Lim asked as Ray stopped the elevator she was in from closing its doors. "I thought you went to pick up Cara."
"Hi Aunt Nicole." Cara said as she tried her best to smile at the doctor in front of her.
"Oh my!" Nicole exclaimed, surprised to see Cara. "Get in, quickly!"
Nicole knew how badly the press wanted to snap photos of the woman Al had declared his love for before he died.
Nicole also hoped that Cara had not yet heard the rumors circulating about her and Al's death.
"How are you holding up, Cara?" Nicole asked as the elevator doors closed.
"If I'm being honest, Aunt Nicole, not well." Cara confessed.
She didn't see the need to lie to these people. They were there for her and they understood what she was feeling.
An awkward silence engulfed the entire elevator ride as Cara didn't know what else to say.
Eventually the elevator dinged and the door opened to the VIP floor of Saints Hospital.
"This way." Nicole said as she led them through the hall.
"I'm sorry if our visit bothered you, Nicole." Ayanna told her friend as their footsteps echoed through the empty hallways.
It seemed that Eric was the only patient here.
It made sense to Cara that they would empty out the place for him, as it was, there were several news vans waiting outside the hospital.
If anyone managed to get through they could hinder the treatment of the other patients.
"It's fine, Ayanna. I was already on my way here to check up on Eric." Nicole explained. "Miguel and I are working in shifts, he doesn't want anyone else handling Eric's treatment."
"How is Eric?" Cara finally managed to ask.
She had been so afraid of the answer to that question that she hesitated to ask it.
"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Nicole said, smiling at Cara as she opened the door to Eric's ward.
"Cara?!" A familiar voice asked, making Cara smile.
Eric sounded weak, but he also sounded happy to see her.
"Hey Eric, how are you?" Cara asked as she walked into the room.
She noticed that Nicole, Ayanna, and Ray decided to give them some privacy as Nicole closed the door after Cara had entered.
"I'm doing better." Eric said with a forced smile. "I was in a coma for a while, but I woke up a few hours ago and I've been recovering."
Cara nodded as she looked at her friend.
She didn't know what to say or how to continue a conversation with him.
She was happy that Eric was doing better, but her heart was still in pain due to Al's death.
"It's not your fault." Eric suddenly said, making Cara look up with a confused expression.
Eric smiled and placed his hand on her's.
"I know that you are probably still blaming yourself even if Aunt Ayanna and Uncle Ray have told you multiple times that it's not your fault." Eric said with a knowing smile on his lips. "Al wouldn't want you to blame yourself."
"Eric, how can you say that?" Cara asked as her voice trembled.
"Al and I knew that someone was after him, as a matter of fact I suspect that Al was trying to get the person targeting him to show up." Eric told Cara in a nonchalant tone.
"Why would someone go after Al?" Cara asked, confused by Eric's statement. "Is it because of some business matter?"
Eric squinted and looked at Cara curiously.
"Didn't anyone tell you?" He asked her.
"Tell me what?" Cara asked.
"Cara, after you left, Al went all in with the underworld." Eric explained. "He was running missions that he shouldn't just to find your brother so he could bring you back safely."
She was shocked at the news.
Before she left, Al was running a mission, she knew that. She also knew that his father had set up enough guardrails to ensure that Al wasn't in any danger.
She went pale at the news that Al was risking more than she thought.
Two days later
Cara stood before Al's cremated remains.
According to Raymond Lawrence, Al's body had been in such a bad state that they had to have his body cremated as soon as they confirmed that it was him.
She looked at the simple black and gold urn as it stood on a pedestal, surrounded by photos of Al.
"Are you her?" A woman around Cara's age asked as she stood next to Cara.
"Sorry, but are you asking me?" Cara tilted her head to the side as she observed the woman.
She was dressed in a tight black dress with her face fully made up. She looked more like a model or an actress attending an event rather than a mourner at a burial.
"Who else would I be talking to? The urn?" The woman asked as she placed her hand on her hip.
"I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you're asking." Cara confessed she was utterly confused by what the woman was saying.
The woman tucked her long blonde hair behind her ear as she looked up at the urn and at the photos of Al.
"All those photos, they said that they were taken when he was with that woman." She said with a bitter tone. "No wonder he's smiling so brightly in all of them, he never smiled like that with us."
Cara nodded, she assumed that the woman was one of Al's girlfriends, bitter at the fact that Al never loved any of them.
"You know, he never even kissed any of us." She grumbled. "I really can't understand what that bitch has that I don't. I am gorgeous, I am rich, I am talented. What kind of woman could hold a candle to me?"
Cara resisted the urge to laugh at the woman's vanity.
"You are indeed all of those." Cara said as she looked at the woman.
From what Cara could see the woman wasn't lying, she was indeed pretty with her full lips and hourglass figure.
She looked rich based on the clothes and jewelry she wore. Cara could only assume that the woman was some sort of celebrity based on the way she carried herself.
"Who are you?" The woman suddenly asked Cara, pulling her from her thoughts. "You aren't a relative, are you?"
"Cara!" Katerina Chan called out as she waved Cara to come over and join her.
Katerina was pushing Eric who was in a wheelchair, the handsome young man smiled at Cara and waved as well.
Cara was thankful for their timely appearance, at least she wouldn't have to suffer holding a conversation with the woman next to her.
"I'm sorry, but I have to go, my aunt and cousin are calling me." Cara said as she somehow indirectly answered the woman's question.
Cara quickly walked over to Katerina and Eric, trying to put as much space between her and Al's ex.
"Are you alright?" Eric asked as his eyes darted between Cara and the woman.
"I am, who was that?" Cara asked as she looked back to see the woman on the ground, crying.
"One of Al's exes." Eric answered with an awkward expression. "I'm sure one of them will try to claim that they are pregnant."
Katerina, who was standing behind her son, laughed.
"That's for sure." She said as she nodded in agreement. "Let's go sit down, I'm sure the ceremony will begin and the guests will try to find the girl Al spoke about before he passed."
Cara nodded as she allowed Katerina to lead them away, she didn't want to be the center of attention, she never wanted that.
All she wanted was to be with Al and her stubbornness became a hindrance to their happiness.
Not far away, the guests whispered and gossiped among themselves as they watched multiple women in black pass by the urn.
Some were better composed, others were sobbing, a few even fainted from their so-called grief.
"Do you think they loved him or they loved his money?" A lanky young man with long black hair asked his companion.
These two men seemed quite out of place among the finery and the well dressed guests.
"Money." His friend said as he scanned the crowd looking for someone.
"And the girl, which one is she?" The first man asked.
"The one in white, the one that isn't showing her pain." The second man said as he ran his fingers through his blonde hair.
"The one with the family?" His friend asked.
The man simply nodded.
"Won't you talk to her?" The first man asked.
"No, not yet." He said, shaking his head, slightly annoyed at how nosy his friend was.
They stood in silence as the blonde man watched the girl in white with a pained expression. It was obvious that he truly cared about her.
"Let's go, there is nothing else to see here." The blonde man said as he turned and left the church, leaving behind his old life to start a new one.
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