Dangerous Curves, page 15
“No rush. I wanted to talk to you.”
That was what she was afraid of. “Me?”
“Does Kevin know about you?”
“I don’t—”
“I may look like a right git to you, but I assure you I’m not. So there’s no need to play games with me, Ms. Cartwright.”
“Kevin knows.”
“How much?”
“Do you expect me to play my hand without showing yours?”
He folded his arms. “You think I’m hiding something?”
“I know you are.”
“Why? Because you’re hiding something bigger?”
Before she could respond, Kevin came into the hallway holding Marcus. “Clay, good. There’s something you need to hear.”
Now that he could whisper, Marcus told them about the man, but wasn’t able to describe the man in any detail. When they’d shown him a picture of Reginald Avery, he shook his head. They also asked if the scary man had been in the back seat with him and he said no. Not wanting to overwhelm him with questions, they let him go play a video game with Ferguson.
“I think it’s about time we start working together,” Clay said. “No more secrets. I’ll tell you what I know.” He pointed to Dominique. “I know she’s not your driver. That she’s the daughter of the owner of Cartwright Cars and her father, or someone with money, doesn’t want the accident solved.” He briefed them on what his friend, Nicolas, had told him then nodded to Dominique. “Your turn.”
“It wasn’t an accident,” Dominique said. “Cassie wasn’t a target, it was a mistake.”
“A mistake?” Kevin said stunned.
“Yes, you…you got the wrong car,” she said, repeating what her father had told her.
“When did you find this out?”
She hesitated, then gathered her courage. It was time to tell the truth. “After…I learned that Cassie had been shot, I went to my father demanding answers.”
Kevin folded his arms and sent her a hard look. “And you didn’t tell me this because…?”
“I wanted to find out more.”
“You wanted to protect your father,” Kevin said.
“That’s not it.”
Kevin shook his head. “Every time I start to trust you, you give me a reason not to.”
“It was you I was trying to protect, not him.”
“How noble.”
Clay gave a delicate cough. “Can we have this lover’s quarrel later?”
They both glared at him.
“He actually had my necklace bugged,” Dominique said, eager to prove her point. “Trust me, we’re on the same side.”
“At least we have one thing cleared up,” Clay said. “Based on what Marcus remembers, there wasn’t a fourth passenger. You didn’t pick up anyone.”
“Then how did Cassie get shot?”
“It could have come from the outside.”
“The police didn’t find any bullet holes,” Kevin said.
“But after what Clay’s friend told him they may not have been looking hard,” Dominique said.
“Who was the real target?” Clay asked.
“I don’t know yet,” Dominique said.
“Do we really want to know?” Kevin said.
Clay and Dominique looked at him, stunned. “Of course we do,” Dominique said.
Kevin shook his head. “I don’t think you two are seeing the big picture here. Someone threatened a kid, and attempted to kill Cassie or myself thinking we were somebody else. Someone with money tampered with police evidence. I don’t know about you, but finding out who’s behind this won’t help Cassie.”
“You expect me to step back and do nothing?” Clay asked.
“You’ve done enough. We got the answer we wanted.”
“No, you did. You’re off the hook because you know you weren’t to blame.” He flashed a cold smile. “I knew you were lazy, but I didn’t think you were callous. You really don’t think about anyone but yourself.”
Kevin rested a hand over his heart. “Should I get a box of tissues?”
Clay’s face changed. “You really are a—”
Dominique held up her hands. “We’re on the same side, remember?”
“No,” Clay said, shaking his head. “He isn’t one of us. He isn’t even like us. There’s no one he’s loyal to. No one who depends on him. He doesn’t need answers because as long as he’s all right everything’s fine.”
“I bet you wish I was in a coma instead of Cassie,” Kevin said.
“Every day,” Clay replied, his tone marked with loathing.
Kevin shrugged. “You’re right. I’m not like you and I make no apologies for it.” His gaze darkened. “But don’t forget who you’re talking to. I know you have your own reasons for seeking answers that has nothing to do with family loyalty. Chasing after shadows won’t make Cassie wake up.”
“Neither will pretending they’re not there.”
“I know shadows are there,” Kevin said. “They’ve always been there and they always will be. As long as the sun shines there will be shadows.”
Clay stood. “I am not going to let someone get away with threatening my nephew.”
“Are you prepared to make Jackie a widow?” Kevin shot him a look. “You’re a married man who continues to act like a single one.”
“Jackie knows—”
“That she can’t fight you. That you’ll see this through no matter what.”
“Don’t tell me about my wife.”
“Then stop setting out to be the martyr, the sacrificial lamb. Are you willing to make Jackie go through the fear of losing you again?”
Clay slowly sat, holding Kevin’s gaze. “I uncovered that cult and took the poison because—”
“Everybody knows why you did it. You were deemed a hero. You saved others, but Cassie told me how Jackie suffered while you were in the hospital. When are you going to start thinking about her when you race into danger?”
“I always think of her,” Clay said.
“Before or after?”
Clay narrowed his eyes.
Dominique leaned forward. She didn’t know what they were talking about, but knew it had been something dangerous. “Let’s put our personal prejudices aside and just look at the facts, shall we?”
The two men continued to stare at each other.
“We can’t just walk away from this,” she added. “But I admit we have to be careful.”
Kevin shifted his gaze to hers. “The question is what price are you willing to pay to learn the truth?”
Chapter 35
“I heard Avery’s gone missing.”
“You sound worried,” the voice on the phone said.
Abraham rubbed his hand on his lap. He sat in the living room where a six-foot indoor palm cast shadows on the marble floors. It wasn’t like him to get sweaty palms. “No, just wondering.”
“He’s just an example of what happens when people get scared. He has nothing to do with us.”
Abraham licked his lip, he didn’t dare ask if they had anything to do with the disappearance. “I see.”
“I hope you do. Settle with Jackson.” The line disconnected.
Abraham put down the phone and wiped his forehead. He was getting tired of this.
“Worried, darling?”
He looked up and saw his wife coming from the pool, her bikini bottom covered by a towel. “No.”
She took the corner of her towel and dabbed at his forehead. “You look a little hot, maybe you need to cool off.”
“I’m fine.”
“Or tell me what’s going on.” She sat on the arm of his chair. “Maybe it’s your conscience that’s burning you.”
He rested a hand on her thigh and let it slowly inch up. “You keep making that mistake.”
“Mistake?”
He watched his hand disappear further beneath the towel. “Thinking I have one.”
“I know you do, especially when it comes to Dominique. Did you lose your hold on her?”
He paused and met her gaze. “Don’t sound so smug. I don’t believe you’ve heard from her in a while.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Why isn’t she home yet?”
“She’s making plans.”
He slid his hand further. “You don’t know her plans.”
“Neither do you.” She crossed her legs, trapping his hand in between her thighs. “Do you want me to find out?”
“What do you want in return?”
“Make sure she doesn’t get hurt.”
He wiggled his fingers. “Is that all?”
She bent forward, pressing his hand closer to her warm center. “For now.”
Chapter 36
Eric walked into his brother’s main office and swore. Although the window was open, the smell of cigarettes hung in the air. Drake stood by the window, taking a long drag. The fact that his brother was no longer hiding his habit wasn’t a good sign.
“I know you don’t like Marcus spending time with Jackson, but it doesn’t mean you have to smoke like a chimney.”
“Her parents came to see me,” Drake said.
Eric opened another window. Since they didn’t share this office, he couldn’t complain. The room was well ventilated. “About what?” It wasn’t like Cassie’s parents to have much to do with them.
Drake kept his gaze focused outside the window. “They’re thinking of fighting me.”
Eric took a seat. “Fighting you for what?”
“About whether Cassie stays in the hospital or is taken to a nursing home.”
Eric stilled. “What do you want to do?”
“I’m doing it. I’m not moving her.”
“Is that what Cassie would want?”
He spun around. “Did you talk to her mother or something?”
“No, I just—”
He stubbed out his cigarette in the blackened ashtray on his desk. “It’s too soon.”
“You’ll have to face it.”
“I’m facing it.”
“This is not the life they want for their daughter, but her mother was always about appearances so I don’t take her words too seriously. I wonder if she’s more concerned about her reputation than Cassie’s life.”
Eric took off his glasses and cleaned them with a cloth. “I doubt it’s that simple. Did Cassie ever talk about a moment like this?”
Drake reached for another cigarette. Eric snatched it away. Drake glared at him. “Don’t you lecture me now.”
Eric met his brother’s unflinching stare, unafraid. “I asked you a question. Did she ever talk about being in a coma?”
“Yes.”
“And what did she say?”
Drake turned back to the window.
Eric knew by his brother’s silence what the answer was. Cassie wouldn’t want to live like this. He stared down at the cigarette carton in his hand, feeling the weight of the painful choice that faced them.
Drake didn’t tell him how every evening he listened to the sound of Cassie’s hospital machines as he held her hand. He’d stopped talking to her, because for the last few days he’d been unable to do so without his voice cracking. He’d spoken to the doctors about his options. She’d already recovered from a disease of the lungs and hospitals could be dangerous for those who had to stay there too long because of infections.
He didn’t tell his brother how he dreamed about her waking up. How much he wanted to see her brown eyes staring back at him.
After a long moment, Drake said, “You think I’m selfish, don’t you?”
“No.”
“She’s alive to me, I touch her skin and it’s warm, my wife is there. If I didn’t think so I’d let her go.”
Eric nodded, not sure if he believed him. How much was real and how much did his brother want to be real? The doctors had been worried that she hadn’t recovered as quickly as they had hoped.
“I haven’t had her long enough,” his voice was soft, but Eric heard the anguish in his voice. “I can’t lose her now,” he said. “But if…”
Eric nodded again, hearing the finality of the decision Drake had to—would make. He pulled one cigarette from the carton and held it out to him, as a silent goodbye. “Let this be your last.”
Chapter 37
Dead ends. That’s all they kept running into. It had been a week since Dominique and Kevin had spoken to Clay.
“You don’t really mean that,” she’d said to Kevin after Clay had left with Marcus.
“Mean what?”
“That we should stop. You were just trying to provoke him.”
“No, I wasn’t. I meant every word I said. Sometimes it’s better not to know.”
“I think it’s always important to know the facts.”
He stared at her for a long moment then rose to his feet. “I believed that once.” He walked out of the room.
Dominique briefly hung her head and closed her eyes. She didn’t want to press him, but he was forcing her to. She took a deep breath and followed him into the hallway. He wasn’t there. She searched the house and finally found him sitting in his breakfast nook, staring out the landscape window. She pulled out a chair and sat. “What happened?”
“Life taught me a lesson,” he said, watching a squirrel scurry across the lawn. He sent her a hooded glance. “Ever wondered why I never talk about my mother?”
She hadn’t wanted to pry. He’d spoken a lot about his workaholic father and uncle, but never his mother. “Yes.”
“I didn’t know her growing up. She left the family when I was three. After my father died, my uncle raised me. My two older sisters and I went to the best boarding schools and I hated every minute of it.” He sighed. “Unlike my sisters, who loved them and flourished. They were more like my father in that sense, they liked discipline, order and academics. I loved them and my uncle, but felt different. I thought I was more like my mother. I asked lots of questions about her and my uncle would tell me how beautiful and glamorous she was. How smart and witty. By age twenty-three she was a goddess in my mind and although she’d abandoned us I wanted to know her.
“My uncle warned me. My sisters did too. They told me that there was more to the story than Uncle wanted us to know. They said I should leave it alone. But I wouldn’t. I wanted to find her and get to know her. I felt as if a part of me was missing without her being in my life. So I searched and I finally found her.” He bit his lip and returned his gaze to the window. “I convinced one of my sisters to go see her with me. I was so nervous. I don’t think I slept that night.
“When I met her…She was everything my uncle said she was. Beautiful, witty and she hated me. No, I’m not exaggerating. She barely looked at me the entire time while she beamed at my sister. She looked at me with a disgust in her gaze. I later learned why.” He swallowed. “If I hadn’t come along she would have stayed with my father. She hated boys. She tried to smother me when I was six months old.”
“Then she’s mentally ill,” Dominique said horrified by the story. “And it’s not your fault she left. She used you as an excuse. She’s manipulative and rotten.”
“She’s Irene Hayward.”
“The Irene Hayward?” Dominique said, referring to the noted international black philanthropist beloved by millions.
Kevin nodded. “Yes. And my uncle and sisters were right. It would have been better not knowing.”
Dominique reached over and gripped his hand. “But didn’t the wondering hurt too?”
He shook his head. “Not this much.”
Dominique sighed. “I can’t let it go, but I won’t force you to go down this road with me.”
“Are you truly ready to face who your father is? Who he possibly could be?”
Dominique took a deep breath. “Yes.”
But now, as she sat with Kevin in an Italian restaurant, she felt her determination waning. What if she never found out the truth? What if her father could outwit her? She knew it strained their relationship, although Kevin wouldn’t admit it. So to take his mind off things, she’d decided to teach him the pleasures of ‘outercourse.’ He took to it faster than she could have imagined and showed his pleasure by giving her a beautiful bracelet he wouldn’t let her refuse.
She looked at that bracelet now, remembering his words, Whenever you look at this, think of me. His words were meant to comfort her, but she couldn’t help but think of her sister’s betrayal.
“Kevin?” a female voice asked.
They both looked up and saw a striking black woman wearing a chic black and white ensemble approaching the table. She kissed Kevin on the cheek. “It’s been too long.”
“You’re looking fabulous as always,” he said, pulling out an extra chair.
The woman sat down and winked at him. “Of course.”
His cell phone rang. He looked at it and frowned.
“Business meeting?” Dominique guessed.
He grinned at her insight. “Yes, and they want to talk. Excuse me,” he said, then left.
The woman followed him with her eyes and gave a low moan of appreciation. “He’s just as gorgeous from behind. ” She looked at Dominique. “Was I interrupting anything?”
Dominique waved her hand. “No, we were just—”
The woman’s eyes widened and she grabbed Dominique’s wrist. “Wait. Oh my God. How did you get one?” she said looking at the bracelet as if she were a bear and the bracelet a hive full of honey.
“Kevin gave it to me.”
The woman stared at her. “Kevin bought you a Sandstone?” Her voice fell away and she abruptly let Dominique’s wrist go. “He told me he never spends more than five thousand on a woman, cheap bastard,” she said with affection. “He makes money like Midas. Everything he touches turns to gold. Bet you didn’t know that he co-owns an organic makeup company and helped his sister turn it into an international powerhouse. Don’t worry, you wouldn’t know, I do because a friend of mind is a friend of hers.”
Dominique didn’t know how to respond. She hadn’t known the bracelet was a Sandstone, but recognized the name of the world-renowned jewelry designer. Her mother loved his unique designs and they started at a price point twenty times what she thought it had been.
