She | h.s

forty-seven

"Daisy? Oh God, I knew something like this was bound to happen."

"Mom," I repeat, my voice starting to break. "What is happening?" I cry silently, hearing my mother sigh on the other end.

"I knew that I wasn't going to be able to keep this from you any longer. I'm sorry honey, I thought I was protecting you." She says.

"None of this is making sense mom! Someone broke in! They trashed our house, and he—- Mom he had a gun," I sob into the phone, turning away from everyone I knew who was in the same area as I was.

"Mom, he was screaming. He kept saying things, calling us things. Us, mom. Us. Please come home, I need you here, I need you to come home." I beg her.

"Daisy... I... I can't do that. Not right now," She sighs, my heart shattering with her every breath.

"Mom, someone broke into our house and threatened us with a gun. He shot three bullets into our walls, smashed all of our pictures, destroyed our furniture. There was a gun that could've killed Elio or ME. Me, mom. Me. Your own daughter! Why can't you come home? Make some sense out of this, please." I cry harder and harder into the phone.

"Your father and I can't come home, but we both owe you an explanation. I'm sorry honey, but this will all make sense." She says.

"Explain it to me, please." I beg her.

She sighs, and I hear her shift on the other end before speaking. "Your father and I decided to represent someone out in the West Coast, we knew the case was rough but we didn't expect it to hurt you. I know that I kept telling you that I had to keep things confidential, because that's usually how cases go, but..." She trails off.

"We decided to represent a very important public figure, who had gotten into a physical altercation with someone while abusing heavy substances." She says, suddenly making sense to me.

well my mom was telling me about how she'd heard your parents were tackling this one case that was difficult

that's all she's been saying to me too

no like
someone killed someone difficult
drugs were involved too

I stare at my phone in shock, unable to process what Niall had just said to me. I knew that being a lawyer meant having to be put into difficult situations with different clients but this was the first case that I'd ever heard that they'd had to tackle.

I start to put the pieces together, remembering the conversation I had with Niall, as well as the string of texts my mother had sent me beforehand telling me that she didn't want me going out as much.

"Is this why you wanted me coming home from school right away? And why you kept having to extend your stay over there?" I ask, wiping the tears away with the back of my hand and my mom sighs.

"Yes, I thought that if I had told you everything right then and there that you would worry. Your father and I didn't believe that there were any immediate threats and—-" She says, making me let out a breath in disbelief.

"So you wait until there is an immediate threat!" I snap at her. "So the man who broke in, how is he connected to your case? All the way up in Colorado?" I ask her.

"We tried to keep this case as quiet as possible, after all our client owns one of the biggest corporations here in America. But, people started to talk... and they found out that we were representing him, and that we were responsible for him walking away freely..."

I gasp at her words, "He was freed? He killed someone, mom!" I yell.

"Daisy, he was high out of his mind and killed a junkie dealer who assaulted him first! It was a merely an act of self defence and—- You know what, I have no time to argue about this with you. Your father and I are lawyers, Daisy. This is our job, sinner or saint, we have to defend them." She says, her tone is pointed.

"I can't believe this, so the man who went after me tonight did it to lash out against you two?" I say, clenching my jaw at the mess my parents had involved themselves in with their jobs that could've costed someone's life tonight.

"So what now, mom? What now that someone has successfully retaliated against you two and broken into our home, and almost shot at me? What now? You won't even come home to see if your daughter is alright. What are you going to do now?" I say defeatedly. I was completely, and utterly exhausted.

"We're figuring things out, Daisy. Your father and I are still so busy, and now that this has happened we're going to have to deal with the repercussions of this, especially with the media. For now, I think it's best for you to stay at Niall's for a while, until we find a way to bring you up here—-"

"If you think that there's any way that I would follow you up there to Colorado, you'd be wrong. If you can't go to me, why would I go to you?" I say stubbornly, letting my anger consume my rational thinking.

"You make it sound like your father and I don't care about you! You know that isn't the case, Daisy." She says.

"Well you aren't doing a good job at showing it." I say back bitterly.

"I.... I need to call you back, Daisy. Work things, I will forward you our next move, as well as what your sleeping arrangements for the next few months when I have the chance to do so." She says, and before I could protest any further she says goodbye and hangs up.

I hang up the phone, frustration filling my entire body as I turn back to see Niall waiting on me. I pull my phone out, walking over to him and wrapping my arms around him tightly.

"Are you okay?" He asks me for what feels like the millionth time tonight and I try to nod, his blue eyes scanning my face and seeing right through me.

"I need to call Harry," I say, walking past him to find a private spot to talk to him and I brush shoulders with Elio, swallowing the lump in my throat before walking away from him.

"I'm sorry, I need to go." I say to him and I walk away before he could even interject.