Chapter Text
Months later Nick is working at The Claw as waitstaff. On the word of Kate, Carson had taken his case and escorted him to Florida. It turned out that there was a bunch of incriminating evidence against the other man, such as recordings of him bragging that he was going to force Nick to take the fall for the homicide. He is building himself from the ground up, much like Bess.
Bess had come clean to her husband about her sexuality, and he was clearly upset at first, but the annulment was amicable. He had moved back to London to live there. Meanwhile, Bess had saved enough money to buy a beat-down bus to transform into a makeshift home for the time being.
George had been continuing to manage The Claw and juggle some college courses. Liberal arts to begin with, not knowing what major she would like to delve into quite yet. Her mother is thrilled, though she still had the undue pressure of figuring out how to wrangle her sisters after they get home from school.
Carson's law practice had been doing really well and he had been raking in a lot of cash recently, which is great since Kate had decided to take an early maternity leave due to the high-risk pregnancy. Baby Kasen is doing well and is healthy, fortunately.
Ace has continued working at The Claw as well. He and Lily have sort-of made up, but she is still keeping her relationship with him a secret from her family for now. He has accepted it for now, because he enjoys being with her, knowing that maybe there is truth to what she says about her family.
Lily has been having more headaches lately, and little does she know that the rest of her friends have as well. She decided to take up a part-time job at The Claw to be close to her friends and converse with people her own age sometimes instead of being stuck with her family constantly. Of course the only person who know this are her parents, who understood why she'd want a social life outside the family.
.
.
Lily clears up the last table and lets out a sigh, glancing over at the kitchen and seeing her boyfriend hard at work washing the dishes. George raises an eyebrow when Lily gets caught looking over at Ace. She blushes a bit and waves the cleaning towel around. "Well, he's handsome, okay?"
George shrugs. "Y'know, Hudson, you're not half as bad as I imagined you were. I'm sorry I was so standoffish to you at first, I just don’t do well with wealthy people who think they're above everyone and deserve to get the perfect life. It bothers me."
"I could tell. But I'm not one of those people, I take after my mother the most, she's only a Hudson by marriage clearly so...I got the good genes. Don't worry."
"I'm going to hold you to that."
"I expect nothing less, George."
Lily smirks as she side-steps her, going into the kitchen and hugging Ace from behind, nuzzling his neck. "Mhh, hi you."
He smiles shyly as he dries a plate. "Hi yourself." Setting it down, he turns and holds her in his arms, placing a heated kiss to her lips. "I love you."
"I love you, too", she murmurs, grinning up at him. "So...I decided that I'm going to tell my family about you. My parents first. And if the rest of my family disowns me, so be it."
"Look, I don't want to be the one responsible for you having a huge fallout with them."
"You wouldn't be. They would be, and that's the entire problem. I've realized that they don't see family as family. They see us as business assets, secret keepers, worker bees for my grandfather. My mom was different before I was born, my dad talks about it all the time, what they were like in high school, and how free-spirited and incredibly daring and adventurous she was. I haven't ever seen that side of her. I love her, and I can feel how much she loves me, but it's like the person my dad talks about and the woman that I know are two different women. I'm going to get to the bottom of it. I'm going to find out why. Could there be more secrets?"
Ace scrunches his forehead at her. "Okay but...what do you mean /more/ secrets? What do you know, Lily?"
"We agreed I wouldn't talk business with you."
"Yeah, but you just said it was family."
"No, I said they are pretty much the same thing and I'm going to find out why my family functions like robots, like they're all plastering on fake faces. I do it too. Automatically, because it's what is expected. I don't want to live that way. I won't. Not anymore."
He sighs and rubs her arms. "Be careful. I don't know what secrets you are talking about, but I assume from the look on your face that they aren't good ones."
She looks down ashamedly. "No, they're not. And I've been letting things slide since I began helping out years ago. It's time I find answers."
"Lily. Don't get yourself into danger. Please? Not for me."
"Without danger, the most vital things of importance would never become discovered or uncovered. It's not for you, it's for me. It's for us. I’ll be careful."
"Promise me you will?"
"I promise", she murmurs, brushing her lips against his. This kiss quickly turns heated before she forces herself apart from him. "Mhh...I'm going to fix everything."
With that, she turns and quickly leaves The Claw, leaving him in a state of confusion, but he shrugs it off.
.
.
Lily marches into the Hudson Enterprises office building and makes a beeline for her office. She goes through the paperwork and takes pictures with her phone of all the files that don't quite add up, plus the ones that do, the payment to all of the shady people he has hired, and anything else she can think of that may give her leverage on Everett. grandfather's office. She knows his reputation for being vicious when confronted with his indiscretions, but she fully expects it. The twist is, she is the one with the upper hand here, not him. Pocketing her phone in the back pocket of her jeans, she takes a breath and heads into her grandfather's office, closing the door behind her.