part 10

Stay calm and neutral, don't let him see that you're nervous because he'll turn into a dog that has tasted blood and he'll think he can rip you apart, so play it cool. 'Caro!! Where's Daddy?' Bowie turned her attention to her too, 'your Dad is..in a meeting, listen Bowie, could you give your uncle Liam and I a few minutes? We need to discuss a few things' she caressed the girl's hair with a forced smile, 'uh-oh, grown up stuff I think, ok..' she jumped off her chair and ran into the hall yelling her cousin's name 'Geee-ne, where are youuuuu?'.

To her surprise, Liam gestured at the now empty chair in front of him 'those shoes look hellish to keep standing on for too long, so have a seat' there it was again that signature smirk that predicted trouble, surely this had to be the calm before the storm, she knew him, one minute everything was going great and the next he would declare World War III. 'Thanks' she did as she was told and sat down, it was so not like her to be thrown off balance by someone, and she hated it, all the things she had said to herself in the car went right out of the window, she didn't even know how to start or what to say anymore.

'I haven't got all day, you know' gone was his smirk, his eyes were already starting to shoot fire at her, 'if you've come here to get on my nerves and shit like you've always done, then you can go right back to where you came from' another shot was being fired at her, and her confidence started to crumble

'Liam..stop it please! I'm only here because I think it's high time you and your brother buried the hatchet, it's been long enough, I can see how Noel and his family is suffering, and I don't know Peggy at all but I can see that she is suffering too and all this hurt..it just needs to stop, Noel's your brother, Liam and he loves you, even if he won't admit it to my face, but I can tell you that he does and he's hurting, Liam..and your Mum is hurting too and getting caught in the crossfire and she really shouldn't be, she should be enjoying her time with her family at her age..' she nervously said.

'Oh so you happen to know everything about how my Mum feels, yeah? So you're psychic now as well as an enormous bitch, are ya?' his anger spread all over his face, he leaned in closer to her from across the table and raised a warning finger at her 'listen you little twat, you leave my mother's name out of that foul mouth of yours, yeah?! Why don't you save all your bullying for your own family? Oh wait, you haven't got one, have you? that's why you put your claws into my brother, that's when this whole shitstorm started and he started turning against me, so why don't you take your pretty purse and your designer shoes and walk them straight out of my mother's house and tell my brother to call me himself instead of sending his stupid little messenger'.

Caro was in shock, she was fighting back the tears 'that's right, Liam, I don't have a family, they're all dead, my father died only a couple of days ago..but I guess I deserved everything he's ever done to me, didn't I? alright, well, I'm sorry I took up all of your precious time to try and mediate in this stupid feud' she got up, her heart still pounding in her throat 'just one last thing: your brother loves you, and you love him, but you're both too childish to admit that..grow up the pair of you, I don't care who calls who first, just get it sorted, will ya?! Goodbye Liam' she took her bag and walked out of the room while the tears found their way down her cheeks.

Behind her she could hear Bowie calling her name, reluctantly she turned around, she didn't want the girl to see that she was crying, so she quickly wiped the tears away before she turned around 'what is it, Bowie?', the little girl stopped in her tracks as she saw her puffy red eyes 'why are you crying? What's wrong?'.

Caro forced a big smile 'it's just the wind, I'm not crying, nothing's wrong, sweetie', the girl looked a little bit more relieved already 'can you ask my Daddy if I can stay here with Gran a little longer? I like it here and Gene's my friend now' she clutched her doll a little closer to her heart.

'I'll ask your Dad to give you a call tonight, how's that? I'm sure he won't mind you staying here with your grandmother' she saw the girl's eyes light up 'thank you, and can you tell my Daddy that I love him very much?', really? was the universe trying to tell her something? Why did every other conversation turn to parents and kids? 'Of course I will, I have to go now, bye Bowie, enjoy yourself and be a good girl, ok?' she didn't wait for the kid's reply and hurried to her car.

She cried all the way back to the hotel, her thoughts and tears only interrupted by Rob's phonecall, 'hey Babe, how's things up North?' his warm voice danced through the car, 'fine yeah..how are you?' she really didn't want to talk about anything.

'I'm ok, listen, I have a confession to make..I called the solicitor..the funeral, if you can call it that I guess, is planned for the day after tomorrow', she squeezed the steering wheel tighter 'oh..ok..' was all she was able to say, why was this such a big thing to her all of a sudden? 'If you want to go, I'll come with you, if that makes it any easier for you' he was so sweet but right now nothing seemed to register of what he was saying.

'I don't know, Rob..I just don't know, I'll think about it and call you back ok?' she could clearly hear the disappointment in his voice when he said 'fine, I'm only trying to help, Caro, but I guess my help is not wanted nor appreciated, I understand, I've got stuff to do here, bye then' a dry click followed and she banged her hand on the steering wheel in anger, goddammit, how many things could she fuck up in one day??

She immediately pushed down on his number and called him back only to have his voicemail greet her every time, just as she wanted to try once again, Noel's message arrived 'I heard you're on your way back, I'm waiting in the lobby  and if you want to keep your job you better get here pretty fast', this day couldn't possibly get any worse, now could it? Cursing under her breath, she  pushed down on the gas, this was not gonna end well, that was a fact.

Stepping out of the elevator into the lobby, she nervously looked around, looking for him, oh there he was, tapping angrily on his phone, right, come on, get the crucifixion over and done with, here goes nothing.

'Here I am, what's so urgent?' she stopped next to the couch he was sitting on but he refused to look up at her 'sit down' he snapped and slowly put his phone down.

'I'm not amused, Caro..and I'll get straight to the point..I don't like it when people in my staff, especially my PA, go against my decisions, it only shows that you're undermining my authority and more importantly it shows that you have no respect or trust in my decision-making' he put his phone on the table and leaned back in the cushions.

Caro stood there gobsmacked, this was worse than she thought it would be 'what? That's not true, of course I trust your decision making, what did I do wrong now?' she tried to defend herself, but she know that he was not gonna accept anything she was saying.

'What did you do? Oh I don't know, you storm off informing me that you are going to see my brother, when I specifically told you not to..if that's not undermining my authority and going against my decisions, then I don't know what is..' he was starting to raise his voice at her and his eyes were turning into dark pools filled with nothing but rage.

'I'm not, Noel and you know it, I just want this stupid fight between you two to end, I did it for you and your family..' her voice was starting to disappear from the sudden stress, 'Oh really? the high and mighty Caroline, who really thinks she can walk on water these days is walking into a warzone for my family and me? Well that's strange because my wife has apparently been receiving some 'unpleasant' messages, to put it mildly, from my brother again because of your little unplanned visit, and to top it all off, I've had his solicitor on the phone who's now suing me because I sent my assistant over to Liam where you apparently harassed and threatened him'.

Caro felt her cheeks burn and her voice got stuck in her throat, no, no way, not even Liam was this evil 'I didn't..I did no such thing, he was the one who threatened me and I..', but Noel wasn't listening, and he wasn't going to, that was obvious 'I only asked him to think about burying the hatchet..because it is affecting you and your family and it is affecting your Mum, but all he did was intimidate and insult me..'

Noel closed his eyes before he delivered the final blow 'I TOLD YOU TO KEEP MY FAMILY AND ESPECIALLY MY MOTHER OUT OF THIS, ARE YOU FUCKIN' DEAF????' he shouted at her with so much anger and force that she took a step back, this was all just a bad dream, this was simply not happening.

He didn't care how she felt under his assault, it was only because he could see people in the lobby starting to look at him that he lowered his tone and hissed at her 'give me one good reason why you should keep working for me?'.

Caro was so shocked that she could just stand there and watch her world, or what was left of it, crumble into a gazillion pieces, she opened her mouth but nothing came out. 'Thought so..alright, that's it then, you have 15 minutes to get your stuff, you're fired, you'll get the formal notificiation together with your final paycheck via my solicitor and you can leave the carkeys with me, now get out of my fuckin' sight' he said all cold without even looking at her.

Caro's heart was wildly beating in her chest, she wanted to say something but he had already picked up his phone again and continued what he had been doing, no goodbye, no thank you, nothing..slowly she put the carkeys on the table in front of him before she turned on her heels and tried to walk away with the last bit of dignity she had left.

'The train at Platform 2, is the 17:30 service to London Euston..' the announcement pulled her back to reality, she still couldn't believe what had happened, it was like the Noel that had been so sweet and caring for her the last week since her father died, had vanished into thin air, like he had never even existed, she checked her phone for any sign of life from him telling her that this had been the cruelest of jokes or a bad dream but the screen remained empty, sighing she switched the phone off, and boarded the train with a broken heart and a shattered future.