Dark Paradise (Camren)

Truce? (52)

POV Lauren Jauregui

"I-I don't know if I can call you 'dad'." I said awkwardly, running the tip of my index finger around the brim of the mug in front of me. I lowered my gaze and remembered how many times I called Mike 'father' out of obligation.

"I know that that will happen naturally, Lauren." The man said with a smile on his lips, comforting me.

"Listen..." I said and took a deep breath. "Have you ever felt like you're doing the right thing, but your 'right' isn't most people's standard of 'right'?" I asked quickly, gesticulating with my hands, and Ronald laughed. "What?"

"You look just like your mother when you're like this." Ronald laughed, shaking his head.

"What do you mean?" I asked smiling. Anything that reminded me of my mother made me happy, anything that would bring me closer to her.

"This way you have of speaking when you're nervous about something." The man's smile faded, and with it, the glint of his eyes. Ronald was lost in his thoughts. "When she was nervous, she always spoke fast and stumbled over her words." He was staring at a fixed spot as he spoke of my mother with such passion. "She gesticulated with her hands a lot just like you do." He finally looked at me, and flashed me a grateful smile, as if finding me was the best thing that has ever happened to him.

"Do you want more coffee?"

"Yes, please, Lauren." He said, so I signaled the waiter who soon brought us more of that drink I loved so much. "But going back to what you said, about things being right or not." Ronald touched my hand and then proceeded. "No one ever does what is right all the time, what is right to you may not be right to me, and vice versa. Just follow your intuition, something good always comes out of it."

Ronald was absolutely right. I knew that killing those people wasn't the best way to do justice, but it was the best way I found, so that was the right thing to me, at that moment. Camila had asked me to turn myself in, that was her way of doing what was right to her, and as much as I think I deserve better than a filthy cell, bad food and sunbathing at monitored times, she deserved better, Camila deserved peace, and I'll give that to her.

"Indeed, thank you... dad." I said awkwardly. Ronald squeezed my hand and smiled in satisfaction. "It's really hard to say that word, it's uncomfortable, it never meant family to me."

"Call me whatever you want, Lauren, but just call me." I smiled at the man and took another sip of my coffee.

"How are things at the company since Mike's death?" I asked.

"Rob's in charge, and I don't understand why to be honest, it should be you there."

"Or you..."

"What? No, it wouldn't be fair." Ronald said and removed his hand from mine, and his serious posture made a comeback.

"Why not? That company was my grandfather's and then it was my mother's, and Mike only got his hands on it because my mother died. And now Rob's in charge, and he's not even family, you are, you're my father."

"That situation is very conflict of interest-ish." The man said.

"Of course not, I wanted you in the presidency before I even knew you were my father, do you remember?"

Ronald looked thoughtful and then nodded. "Yes, I remember..."

"I don't have enough competence to run that company, you do." I took another sip of the coffee to then proceed. "Rob is only still in charge because I haven't had time to meet with a lawyer to take care of things."