Espera | R. Grayson ✔

[19]

Lavina Vikander held quite the reputation for being eccentric.

At thirty five years of age, she was a successful woman who had all she wanted in her possession. Fame, wealth, power and by then even a partner who was head over heels in love with her.

She could live her life without anything to worry about if she wanted to.

However, that could only have been possible if she wasn't hiding a deep family secret from the rest of the world. And that secret could endanger anyone who came close to her or got involved deep in her life.

She was the rightful Head of the Court Of Owls. Or rather she was supposed to be but that title was currently in someone else's hold.

The Vikanders were no doubt the oldest founding family of Gotham and the Court Of Owls was a secret organization they had started to look after their city. After the mysterious disappearance of Alan Wayne and Romilda Vikander who was the only living heir to the family, the Court had been taken over and since then it had become corrupted, using Talons to instill fear instead of justice. 

But what went on in the Court was not common knowledge to anyone except the members. To ordinary citizens, it was no more than a fable of the past.

Alan Wayne was said to have died from suicide and his body had been recovered from a sewer. Though in his last days, he was described as mentally unstable with a strange fear of owls which fueled rumors that he was killed by the court. 

No one figured out what happened to Romilda however, years later the abandoned Vikander Mansion was inhabited again when a long-lost heir came to power.

That heir was none other than Lavina Vikander.

She claimed Romilda was her mother however, there was no knowledge of who the father was but speculations had it that it could be Alan. Lavina had denied all claims to having been biologically related to the Wayne family and had taken on her family's business and wealth.

The case had been taken to the Gotham City Court but surprisingly, not much had been done against it and it was instantly buried away and forgotten. By then, Gotham city cared not about Lavina's shadowy past instead they all knew her as the only living member of the Vikander family who was probably the most powerful and most famous woman in Gotham.

The Vikander Associates had then been reestablished with their branches in both Bludhaven and Gotham. And by then as years had lapsed, it became a powerful group of companies, rivaling the likes of LexCorp and Wayne Enterprises.

The recent news about the alliance between Wayne Enterprises and Vikander Associates had been the talk of both cities and there had been rumors that Lavina and the Mayor's only son, Bruce Wayne, were secretly in a relationship.

The rumors were not far from the truth as on the woman's ring finger shone a beautiful diamond that had been given to her by Bruce himself.

In other words, there was a high chance the two would tie the knot.

However, the very few people who knew Lavina personally also knew that there was much more to it than it met the eye. There must have been a far deeper reason for her to approve the alliance between their companies as well as their lives.

Richard was one of those very few people who knew the woman concealed behind Lavina's mesmerizing persona and even he found secrets interlaced all around her current decision.

"Ma'am, Richard Grayson is here to see you."

She looked up from the files she was studying, an honestly surprised look crossing her features for a brief instant. 

"Send him in," she replied.

The butler bowed and exited then shortly after, a slight knock sounded on her door.

"Come in."

The door opened, revealing Richard and as usual, she greeted him with a smile. He didn't look as relaxed as he had been at the masquerade a few days ago, instead his eyes were focused and it was evident he was there to ask a lot from her.

"Sit down, dear."

Her suspicions were proved correct when he didn't do as he was told. He stood at a safe distance from her, his arms crossed against his chest and his eyes piercing through her.

"You know why I am here, don't you?"

"Yes I do and that is honestly why I am so surprised," she replied, "considering that your last visit almost got you killed."

His eyes flashed slightly, "if I recall correctly, you claimed that you had kept me here against my will in order to protect me. I want to know what is this threat that you went so out of your way to protect me from."

"Ah, Richard..." She took in a deep breath, dark eyes unreadable as ever, "why don't you just let that go?"

"I trusted you, Lavina," his voice was cold and she seemed rather taken aback when he addressed her by her first name since he had never done that before, "you were the only person who I thought would never hurt me."

Her eyes flickered with what seemed to be a sad expression, "and I would never..."

"Listen to me first," he didn't let her complete the sentence, "if you really cared about my well-being so much, you would have told me exactly what is going on. I'm not a child to be unable to deal with it on my own. I'm not your possession for you to decide what to do or what not to in order to keep me safe. And it's totally your fault now that I will never be able to trust you like I used to."

His voice had been cutting and so were those words but deep down she could feel the hurt underlying his tone. He had felt betrayed by her and it had hurt him.

She looked down at her hands clasped tightly together, pondering on what to tell him. He was right in saying that he could handle his own problems, he truly could as she had kept close track of all he had been doing in the city since the previous month.

"If you still can't tell me anything then do me one last favor," he spoke up after giving her considerable time to explain though she chose to keep silent, "stay away from me and from everyone else I am close to. Stop messing with my life."

She stood up but he stepped back before she could reach out toward him, "I am not messing with your life, dear..."

"And stop calling me dear. I was never dear to you, I was just a pawn in whatever you had been planning and I see that very well now," his hand rested on the doorknob, indicating that he was about to leave, "I am still grateful for all you have done for me in the past but that's just about how much I am willing to let you do. From now onwards, both of us are strangers to one another."

She took in a deep breath to keep herself composed, hand clenching and unclenching to release the tension building up inside her, "Richard, don't do this."

"Goodbye, Miss Vikander," he opened the door, "oh and congratulations, I didn't get to say it at the ball earlier."

He left without another word and she made no attempt to stop him though she knew very well that he had been right and she should have told him.

But she couldn't risk putting him in any further danger than what he had stepped foot into himself. She would have still kept looking out for him but after he had so firmly told her to stay out of it, she didn't know what to do next.

She sank back in her chair with her head in her hands, feeling as if she had lost someone very valuable to her. But he was right too, it was totally her fault for going out of her way and keeping him in the dark for too long.

***