There was a long silence on the other end of the line.
“I guess he told you about Dallas.”
He hadn’t. Another thing I didn’t know about Conrad. But I wasn’t about to let Rawn know that.
“Some.”
“Well,” Rawn drawled, doing a good impression of Conrad, “I can imagine what he told you. But the truth is, if he hadn’t given me the opportunity to help him with his gambling addiction, I might not have faced some truths about my own character and I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in now. He saved my life as much as I saved his.”
“And yet, you’re the reason he’s facing jail time.”
“The truth will come out, Mellissa. It always does.”
“I hope so,” I said quietly.
My mind spun with what he’d said, even hours after I hung up. Conrad had a gambling problem. I should have known that from some of the things he’d said the night we played poker. And his relationship with my uncle…why else would he visit a bookie?
It made me wonder what else I didn’t know about Conrad.
***
Madison
The day before Thanksgiving and the house already smelled like nutmeg and fresh bread and turkey. My mother always spent the week up until the holiday baking, and then she made a meal with a needy family in the area who would have gone without otherwise. It was nice, having something to keep my hands and mind busy.
“We’re out of sage,” my mother suddenly groaned, as she searched through her extensive collection of herbs and spices.
“Are you sure?”
“Pretty sure.”
“I can go get some,” Annie volunteered from where she was sitting at the table, peeling carrots for my mother’s famous carrot cake.
“No, I’ll go.”
I hadn’t been out of the house alone since the day of the kidnapping. It would do me good to give it a try. Besides, what could happen? I was over a hundred and fifty miles from Portland.
I grabbed my mom’s car keys and headed out, telling her, “Text me if you think of anything else you need.”
I wasn’t even out of the driveway before my notifications lit up with two text messages. Both from my mother.
The store was crowded, and it took me quite a while to find everything she asked for. Who knew that condensed milk was in the baking aisle and not the dairy case? By the time I found everything, my mom had texted me nearly a dozen times.
I was walking to the car, three plastic bags dangling from my fingertips, when a man suddenly brushed up against me.
“Madison?”
My heart stopped beating in my chest, stuttering to a standstill as I began to scream in my mind. On the outside, I was just a girl, standing in the middle of a crowded grocery store parking lot. But inside, I was dead. I was the girl who was so frightened she died with half a Thanksgiving feast dangling from her fingers.
***
Mellissa
I was exhausted when I headed out at the end of the day, and I still had to make a trip to the grocery store to try to find a precooked Thanksgiving dinner for Memaw and I to share tomorrow, and then the scheduled tours with the three assisted living centers. All this and what I really wanted was to crawl under the covers on my bed and hide from the world for the next five days.
“Night, Charlie,” I called to the security guard, as I headed for the front doors.
“Happy holiday, Mellissa.”
“Everyone seems to know who you are,” a warm voice said close to my ear.
I turned on the marble steps and Conrad was there. Just there.
“What are you doing here?”
“We had an appointment to check out some assisted living centers.”
“I didn’t think…” I stumbled back a step or two. “I didn’t think you still wanted to do that.”
“Why? Because we both said a few unfortunate things last night?”
“Is that what it was? I was thinking it was more like a tiff.”
“Tiff?” He smiled, laughter dancing in his eyes. “I haven’t heard that term in ages.”
“Ah, of course.”
I turned and continued down the steps, trying to remember if the next city bus came in ten or fifteen minutes. It only took Conrad a second to realize I had no intention of climbing into his fancy sports car with him. He chased after me, catching my arm just as I reached the last step.
“We have one tiff and that’s it?”
“It’s for the best, don’t you think?”
“No.” He forced me to turn, his hand immediately sinking into the hair at the back of my head. “No, I don’t think anything that keeps us apart is for the best.”
“I’m leaving in five days,” I said, even as I relaxed and let him pull me into his arms. “We won’t ever be able to see each other again.”
“Then, we better spend those five days enjoying each other as completely as we can.”
And then he kissed me in a way that made it impossible for me to deny him.
***
“We have a pool that is only three feet deep. The seniors find it easier on their joints to take their aerobic classes there. There are four instructors on staff here and two personal trainers who come once a week to work with those who want it. Exercise, as I’m sure you know, is good for older patients.”
I nodded, trying to pretend I was following everything the woman—the administrator of Summer Oaks Assisted Living—was saying. But I was a little busy watching the group of seniors working on a skit they planned to put on for the monthly talent show. I could so easily imagine my grandmother in the middle of all that creativity, bossing everyone around and insisting that things be done her way.
It sure beat her current situation, lying in bed watching her shows all day long.
“What about medical staff?” Conrad asked.
“We have three doctors on call twenty-four-seven. And we have a nurse practitioner, seven nurses, and a contract with the local hospital that allows us to transfer a patient at any time for any reason.”
“Her medications will be administered to her?”
“We have two programs. She can either have a nurse bring her medications each day, or, if she prefers a little more independence, she can keep the medications in her room and a nurse will simply stop by and make sure she took them on time.”
“If she had a medical setback? How will that be handled?”
The woman stopped walking, clearly understanding that these questions were important to us.
“A lot of our patients have extensive medical needs. It is our priority to make sure each is taken care of in the manner they might require. When your grandmother is brought in, we will have you fill out paperwork that will outline exactly what should be done under specific conditions. That way, should she have a medical setback and if you are not available, we can still follow your—and her—wishes.”
I wrapped my arms around myself, trying not to think too much about my grandmother living under this roof without me there to guide her care. I was slowly accepting the fact that this type of facility might be ideal for her current condition. But the idea that she would be alone once she checked in—that was one stipulation I could not wrap my mind around.
Conrad slid his hand down my back before wrapping his arm around my waist.
“I think we need a moment.”
The woman smiled. “Of course. Take as long as you wish.”
As soon as she was gone, I turned and buried my face against Conrad’s chest. “Can’t we just disappear?” I asked. “Can’t we just get on a plane, fly into the sunset, and not have to deal with this stuff?”
“Just say the word.”
I sighed. “I wish it were that easy.”
He ran his hands up and down my back, rubbing lightly with his fingertips. “I think this is the best of the three we saw. Your grandmother will be very well taken care of here.”
“I know.”
“Do you want to sign the papers, or do you want t
o wait until Friday?”
“I don’t want to sign them at all.” I sighed again, then I slowly pulled back. “But I guess it has to be now.”
Conrad held my hand, as we walked back to the main offices and stood behind my chair while the administrator explained everything and showed me where to sign.
“We will have her room ready on Monday. You can bring her by any time between nine and one,” she said when we were finished.
I nodded. That worked perfectly with Richard’s plan to pick me up at four for my relocation.
It was all set in motion. All I could do now was go along for the ride.
***
Madison
“Madison? It’s me, Billy Gardner?”
The voice was familiar. And suddenly I remembered little Billy Gardner, the boy who lived two blocks over that I once babysat for every Thursday night so his mother could go to her book club.
My heart slowly began to beat again.
“Hey, Billy,” I said, my voice a little weaker than I would have liked.
“I didn’t realize you were back in town.”
“Just for the holiday.” I gestured with the bags I still, somehow, held. “Mom ran out of a few necessities, so I came to get them for her.”
“Cool.” He rolled back on his heels. “My mom says you work for Cepheus Scientific now.”
I nodded. “I do.”
“That 3D telescope they have is something. I think I’m going to get one for my cousin for Christmas.”
“It is very cool. You should do that.”
He smiled as he jammed his glasses into place. As he did, a flash of memory burned through my mind.
Shadows. A man’s whispered voice. And that…that gesture.
The mystery man wore glasses.
***
Mellissa
“Did you call the nurse?”
Conrad was leaning against the side of his car, watching as I walked toward him. It was stupid; for a second I wanted to look behind me to see who this hot guy was talking to.
“Yeah. She said she can stay all weekend if I want her to.”
“Good.”
Conrad held out his hand and helped me into the car, stealing a kiss as I folded myself into the soft leather seat.
He said he had a surprise. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what it might be.
We drove through the city at the same break neck speed that Conrad seemed to continuously feel was necessary. I switched on the radio, and after a minute we were both humming along with an old George Strait song. And then he began to sing at the top of his lungs, completely unable to carry a tune, but quite capable of putting much too much enthusiasm into his pathetic performance.
When he swung the car through the gate of a private airport, I straightened in my seat.
“What are we doing here?”
“We’re getting out of town for the weekend.”
“No,” I said, looking behind me at the receding city street. “Tomorrow’s Thanksgiving. I was going to make Memaw a nice dinner. And you were supposed to spend the night with Aurora.”
“Aurora’s parents came home early from the Bahamas. And I arranged for a nice dinner to be sent to your house from a local restaurant. Your grandmother and her nurse will dine very well.”
“But, what about—”
“Mellissa,” Conrad threw the car into park and grabbed my face, holding it much the same way my grandmother had the night before, “baby, if we only have five more days together, I want to spend them away from all this bullshit, the kidnapping stuff, the legal maneuvering, and the WITSEC crap. I want it to be just you and me and nothing else.”
Tears filled my eyes. They’d been doing that a lot lately.
“Okay.”
“Okay,” he said, his expression softening.
He ran his thumb gently over the curve of my jaw before putting the car back into gear and maneuvering into a warehouse-like structure at the back of the property. Inside was a small jet, one of those that look like the military jets they use in the movies sometimes. I could almost imagine Tom Cruise sitting in the cockpit.
“What is this?”
“Didn’t I tell you?” Conrad asked. “I’m a pilot. This is my plane.”
“You’re joking.”
He smiled as he climbed out of the car. A man I hadn’t seen when we first drove into the building stepped out from behind the nose of the plane and greeted Conrad with one of those bro hugs—a handshake that turns into an enthusiastic slap on the back. I could hear the laughter in their voices even before I opened the car door.
“Well, I’m glad you’re going out. It’s been a while.”
Conrad shook his head in agreement. “Yeah, well, when business is good…”
“I know how that is.” The man noticed me then. His smile spread when he did. “But I can see you found a good reason to pull yourself away.”
Conrad held out his hand to me. “I definitely did.”
“She’s in great shape,” the man said, patting the nose of the plane. “Everything checks out and her engines were purring just a bit ago. Shouldn’t give you any trouble.”
The man led the way around the plane, talking about things that went right over my head. I knew absolutely nothing about planes. But it was kind of ego-inflating to be holding hands with a man who did.
The man—his name was Will, he was Conrad’s mechanic among other things—opened the door that, just like in the movies, turned into a flight of stairs that led into the belly of the plane. It was all creamy tan leather, four seats behind the open cockpit and two there. Conrad led me to one of those seats before taking his own and pulling on a headset that he immediately spoke into to test that it was working properly.
After a prolonged conversation with Will, he looked over at me.
“Ready?”
I felt like I was in a dream. I was really on a jet about to fly into the night sky with my lover at the helm. Was I ready? Not really.
But I smiled and nodded.
No one ever talks about the extensive preparations before a plane can take off. It was fascinating to watch Conrad check all the instruments before he even turned a single thing on. And then he checked them again before moving the plane out of the building. Then, he got out and did a walk around, checking things I could never even imagine what they did, before climbing back inside and talking with some unseen person over the radio to verify the flight plan he apparently filed hours ago. Had he been planning this all day? Even after our argument? Then, finally, we were floating in the clouds together.
And I thought he had already taken me to heaven.
Cheesy, Mellissa.
“What do you think?” he asked as we cruised high over our home city.
There were no words. I had flown before—too many times on the dime of the US Marshals Service—but this was so different. The sounds were different. The feel was different. The view was different. I couldn’t take my eyes from the windows as the light faded behind the majestic Oregon landscape.
“You do this whenever you feel like it?”
“Well, as often as work and life allow.”
I glanced at him. “If I could, I would do this every day.”
Pleasure burst across his face. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”
We flew for hours, but it felt like minutes. It was dark, and there was little we could actually see. But the lights of the cities were like stars in the distance. We made a game of trying to guess which of the major cities we were flying over. Since I had no clue where we were going, I was wrong most of the time—often in the wrong state—but Conrad was kind enough to allow me a few guesses here and there. A few obvious guesses.
It was almost a disappointment when we landed.
We were met on the tarmac by another man—apparently Will’s counterpart—and it took quite a bit of time for Conrad to go over the post flight inspection with him before we were finally allowed to leave. There was a four door Jeep waiting for us th
at didn’t look like a rental, leaving me wondering how often Conrad took this particular trip. Almost as if he could read my mind, he reached over and touched my hand.
“I haven’t been here in almost six months. But I’m glad I could bring you.”
“Where is here?”
“Home.” He laughed at my somewhat bewildered expression. “Texas,” he elaborated. “Welcome to the great city of Corpus Christi.”
That explained the ocean breeze and the humidity, even this late in November.
I sat back in the car seat, suddenly overcome with exhaustion. It was too much for one day—between Russell and Rawn and all the stuff going on at the office, and then the emotional toll of checking out the assisted living centers and signing the papers that would admit my grandmother on Monday…and then the excitement of the flight. It was all simply too much.
I hadn’t realized just how tired I was until Conrad was waking me from a sound nap.
“We’re here,” he said softly.
We were parked in front of a beautiful cabin-style building that was all glass and wood. Tall trees hung over the front walk that was made from some sort of wood chips interspersed with flower beds that were still blooming with some sort of bright red flower.
Conrad came around the side of the car and helped me out, leading me to the front door with his head bent down, almost like a shy child about to show off his favorite toy. He pushed open the front door and waved me inside. I gasped. It was…
Again that sense of being in a dream overwhelmed me.
The entryway was a step down that moved into a long, flowing room that included a gourmet kitchen, a formal dining area, and a cozy living room with a huge stone fireplace that dominated an entire wall. At the very back was a wall of glass that looked out onto a walnut-colored deck that flowed, in turn, onto an expansive beach that I kind of assumed was private. We could see the waves crashing against the pale sand from the light shining from some unseen spot above the deck.
So beautiful.
“This is your vacation house?”
“My escape. I bought it a couple years ago, just after my divorce from Aurora was finalized.”
He took my hand and drew me into the kitchen. “You must be starving.”
“Tired is more like it.”
The TROUBLE with BILLIONAIRES: Book 2 Page 12
