A Stranger's Affection

by Charlene Namdhari

  “Deepwater isn’t far from Santa Monica, correct?” Avinash asked.

  “About an hour or so, driving distance,” Colton replied.

  “Maybe when she went overboard, the tide carried her to Deepwater?”

  “Probably.” Nishani’s secrets would remain just that until she was willing to divulge them to her family. “Would account for the bump to her head and the subsequent coma.”

  “Shit. Coma?” Ashni asked.

  “Yes. About three weeks and when Nishi woke, her memory was gone.”

  “God, in her short life, my sister’s been to hell and back. Twice. How does someone live through that?” Ashni’s eyes conveyed her remorse.

  “Takes someone with sheer willpower and guts to suffer what she’s been through.” He’d seen her determination first hand and couldn’t imagine what Liam was in for if Nishi got her hands on him before Colton did.

  “Thank you.” Ashni sighed. “For rescuing and taking care of her. I can’t tell you how happy I am that she’s alive and well.”

  “And to think if I’d only visited you at home like I was supposed to, I would’ve met Nishani and brought her back with me.” Avinash rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

  Colton nodded. He’d invited Avinash home the week after Nishi woke from her coma. Circumstances prevailed, and he couldn’t make it.

  “Guess everything happens for a reason, right?” The twinkle in Ashni’s eyes reminded him of Nishi when she was her usual sassy self.

  “I’ll bring her home as soon as I can,” he said. Colton silently prayed he could keep the promise and save her family from further misery.

  “My parents will be thrilled,” Ashni whispered as Brody knocked on the open door.

  Avinash beckoned for him to enter. “Boss, I have a call you need to take. They found—”

  “You better take it, Colt,” Avinash interrupted Brody. The look he sent Colton told him the other man didn’t want his wife to know that her sister was missing again.

  With a nod, he stood. “Who called?” he asked when the stood outside the office.

  “Victor’s men tracked down Liam. The security guard at his home told them Liam would be back from Vegas tomorrow evening. Rex is sending me the address now.”

  “Get someone to sit outside his home.”

  “Rex instructed Victor’s men to do so.”

  “Let’s go.” Colton planned to sit outside Liam’s home. “Hopefully, Nishi hasn’t got his home address yet.” Quickly, they made their way down to the basement parking. Colton wished he could turn back the clock by a day and rethink his visit to New York. Then, he would’ve probably had a measure of comfort in knowing she was safe at home.

  Fifteen minutes later, Brody brought the vehicle to a halt and turned to look at him. “This is it, boss.”

  Colton opened the door and climbed out. The man stationed outside Liam’s house tossed his cigarette and approached them. “Anything?”

  “No, sir. Apart from the security guard I met when I got here, there’s been no other movement.”

  Colton glanced up at the house. “Go question the security guard, Brody. Pay him if you have to.”

  “You won’t get anything. She’s uncooperative and unfriendly—”

  “She?” Colton’s head jerked sharply to the other man.

  “Yes, sir, the security guard’s a woman.”

  He glanced at his bodyguard. Brody’s gaze confirmed he already picked up on Colton’s thoughts. “Nishi’s here. Try not to spook her. I can only imagine her state of mind right now.” Finding out your husband planned your death would bring cold fury to most women. Only, Nishi wasn’t most women—her level of rage would be insurmountable. He skirted the vehicle, retrieved his Colt from his briefcase in the trunk, and checked it. “Let’s move. Leave the car here.” When they reached the guardhouse, Colton snuck a look through the window. Nothing.

  Brody tried the door on the side. “It’s locked.”

  “Break it.”

  He stood back as Brody kicked in the door. Inside, Colton eyed the guard on the floor. He knelt and checked the man’s pulse. “He’s breathing. She probably drugged him.” He turned to Victor’s man. “Stay here, and if someone comes, call the house.” He pointed to the desk phone and the button labeled ‘house.’ The man nodded. Colton followed Brody through the rear door that led out into the property. They raced up the driveway at the same time a gunshot penetrated the silent night. “Fuck.” Fearing the worst, Colton sped up, and as soon as they reached the front door, he opened fire on the knob then kicked it.

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  NISHANI TUCKED THE uniform shirt into her denim and stared at the guard lying at her feet, dressed in boxers and a tee. “Sorry, buddy, but it’s time to sleep now.” Moaning against the tape securing his mouth, the man shook his head, his black eyes pleading. “Okay, sleep or a die?” She held out the gun and syringe, one in each hand. His head bobbed vigorously then his chin jerked toward the needle. “Good choice. Haven’t killed anyone in a while, so that might be messy.” Just as she leaned down, a car drove up to the gate. Nishani pulled the guard’s hat over her ponytail and gestured for him to be quiet. He nodded as a man ran up to the window.

  “Hi there,” he greeted.

  “Can I help you?” She offered him her best imitation of a stern security guard.

  “Is Liam home?”

  “You a friend?” she asked. The man glanced back at the car. A nervous tell she quickly picked up. “Mr. Williams is in Vegas. He returns tomorrow evening.”

  “Are you sure. The lights are on in the house.” The man nodded to the main building behind the black gates.

  “Guess you haven’t heard of automatic lights, have you? Still living in dark ages, are we?”

  The man’s lip curled in a sullen smile. “Back tomorrow? What time?”

  “I’m just his security guard, not his Assistant. If you have a mobile, call him. I’m sure he’ll be glad to give you the time.” With that, she closed the window.

  The man glared at her through the glass, turned, and walked back to his car. He made a call, nodded a couple of times, then reversed back to the road. At the bottom of the hill, he parked the vehicle and switched off his headlamps.

  “Jeez, does he think I’m that stupid.” Nishani shook her head. She waited for about ten minutes to see if he’d return. Satisfied he wasn’t coming back, she stuck the needle into the guard’s arm and gave him a couple of seconds to doze off. Done, she opened the rear door that led into the property and slipped beneath the shadows the trees created. Once hidden, she peeked through the bars of the gates. The car hadn’t moved. Victor might’ve helped her get into New York on forged documents and gave her weapons, but it seemed like Mateo still sent someone to take out Liam. She had no intention of giving them the opportunity of doing so.

  At the top of the hill, she snuck between trees and potted plants then ducked behind a wall when another guard rounded the corner. As he descended the stairs to the pool area, Nishani aimed and fired. The silencer hissed against the night air, and the man dropped to the ground. He rolled down the last two stairs. Nishani surveyed the area, tiptoed to the fallen guard, and dragged his body behind some bushes. The sleeping concoction in the dart would knock him out for a day or two. She hurled the gun into bushes as well and pulled out the semi-automatic stuck in the back of her pants. Circling the property to make sure no hidden surprises lurked, she came to a standstill at the front. Thank goodness the man didn’t have any close neighbors—no one to report possible intruders.

  Nishani stared at the fancy house for a minute. All the doors and windows on the ground level appeared to be locked. She had to get in without a sound. “C’mon, girl, you can do this.” If she could get out of the Black estate without detection, getting into Liam’s house should be easy as pie. Only, the trees lining the inside of the high walls to the Black estate had rendered an easy escape compared to this house. Mind made up; she selected a spot to climb and slipped t
he gun back into the rear of her pants.

  Slowly, she scaled the flagstone wall to the first-floor balcony and snuck inside the open patio doors. She stopped and listened for movement—soft music coupled with a woman’s cry filtered down the passage. Nishani pulled out the gun once more and crept along the wall until she stood outside the open bedroom door. The guard at the gate was instantly forthcoming with information when the semi-automatic pushed into his chest. Liam was alone with a woman, and only one guard patrolled the property.

  She walked into the room and stopped at the sight that greeted her. Naked, Liam stood with his back to Nishani. A woman, her hands cuffed above her head, her legs stretched wide and handcuffed by the ankles to the floor, cried as Liam shoved a massive dildo inside her. Red patches that looked like teeth marks tainted her skin on various parts of her naked body. Consent was lacking in this relationship.

  “You like that, don’t you, bitch,” he grunted as he jerked off.

  The woman’s face, a mask of blatant fear, her gaze met Nishani’s. “Help,” she whimpered.

  “Shut up.” Liam let go of his cock and slapped her across the face.

  “Isn’t this a pretty sight,” Nishani called out and leveled the gun on him as Liam pivoted.

  “What the fuck,” he cursed. Then recognition struck, and his face crumpled into the perfect rendition of the shocked emoji. Not even close to the bewilderment, she suffered when Victor disclosed the details of Liam’s murder plot.

  “Hello, husband dearest.” Nishani arched a brow. “Surprise.” She waved the gun at him. “Don’t worry. I’m not a ghost.”

  “W-what. H-how...” The man clearly couldn’t string coherent words together. He dropped the dildo and took a step forward.

  Nishani shook her head. “Don’t.”

  He stopped mid-stride when he noticed the gun. “What are you doing here?”

  “Really? You plan my demise, and that’s all you can say? Not, ‘I’m sorry, Nishani.’ ‘I shouldn’t have left you for dead.’ ‘How are you?’ You know, the things a husband would say to his long-lost wife.” So far, her anger skirted deadly. It hadn’t reached the core burn yet. The woman behind Liam whimpered. “Release her.”

  “Who the fuck do you—” His words were cut off by the sudden blast of gunfire. As though he didn’t comprehend what just happened, Liam reacted in slow motion. He grabbed his leg. His yell came a second later. He dropped to the floor and tried desperately to stop the blood flow. “You shot me?” His tone accusing, he glowered.

  “It’s a through and through. No bone and nowhere near the femoral artery. You’ll live.” Nishani shrugged, then grabbed the keys off the bedside stand and uncuffed the woman. She gestured for her to unlock the cuffs on her legs and stepped back. “The thing is, hubby dearest, I don’t want you to live. You hadn’t thought twice about killing me, so why should I be so lenient? Maybe I should just end your miserable life right now and get it over with. What do you think?” She arched a brow. “I enjoy torturing people. Brings me some inner peace—” The unexpected burst of gunfire drowned her words. “Expecting company?” She frowned.

  Liam’s head shook vigorously. “No. Nobody knows me here.”

  She trained the gun on him. “Let me guess. You either fed my family a load of crap or hightailed it to this place and started a new life.” Her blood blazed a fiery red that the bastard had gotten away with her murder plot.

  “Nishi? Sweetheart?”

  “Stay the hell away from me, Colton,” she snapped without taking her eyes of Liam. Nishani expected Mateo’s men to come looking for Liam. Colton’s presence angered her. He had no right to follow her. There was no relationship between them.

  “Please, sweetheart, don’t do this.”

  “I want my revenge, Colton. And I’m going to have it.” She avoided looking at him, worried she’d succumb to the pleading in his voice. “That bullet to his thigh is just the starters. Maybe you should stick around for the main course. I tend to get very creative.” Mentally blocking out Colton, she focused on her husband. “Stand up, Liam.” She kicked his injured leg and pointed to the woman to help him up.

  He howled but allowed his girlfriend to cuff him. “You’re twisted.”

  Nishani laughed. “You ain’t seen nothing yet, lover boy.”

  “Trust me. I’ve seen it all. You’re one fucking crazy woman.” He panted.

  “Me, and crazy? Now, where did you get that insane idea? Then again, you might be right. What can I say? Revenge is a debilitating disease. Makes you do all kinds of shit, agreed?”

  “Fuck you, Nishani.”

  “Oh, shame. You didn’t get an opportunity.” She grimaced. “Seems like I haven’t missed much.” Her gaze dropped to his limp cock then to the woman. “Put some clothes on and take a seat. What the fuck were you thinking, coming home with this asshole.”

  “I wasn’t,” she whispered. “Liam drugged me.”

  “Typical.” Consciously aware of Colton moving into the room, Nishani dropped to the edge of the mattress. “So, Liam, are you going to tell me why you arranged my execution, or do I torture it out of you?”

  He stared at her and then, as if thinking twice about the offer, said, “Do you remember Judge Nicholson?”

  “Name rings a bell. It doesn’t sound like I know him, should I?”

  “You might know him as the dark father.”

  Nishani’s blood ran cold. A thin layer of red mist clouded her mental vision as her wrath headed for that pinnacle—it didn’t reach there yet. That name belonged in the past. A past she’d tripled buried and covered with shields of trees. “How do you know him?”

  “He was my father, and you killed him. Mutilated him. You, bitch,” he screamed.

  Admittedly, nothing prepared Nishani for that revelation. It took a minute to find her thoughts again. “You’re not a Nicholson or whatever the fuck he went by.”

  “Yes. Williams. I took my mother’s name as protection against the criminals my father prosecuted.”

  She laughed. “Fat lot that did you. From where I sit, the threats still got their way.”

  Liam yanked on the cuffs. His frustrated screams didn’t bother her. “No. You killed him. I know everything. I was there.”

  “Where?” Nishani rubbed the gun against her chin as her mind wandered. Victor made sure no one followed them to the warehouse where she’d killed Nicholson.

  “The boy at the party who offered you a drink. It was spiked,” he sneered. “Roofies. Only, you spat it out, and I had to call in plan B. Then I followed you.” His words shattered into a million fragments her numb mind tried hard to fathom.

  “What?” Trembling, she shot to her feet. Her stance faltered. Colton moved to steady her, but with her gaze fixed on her husband, Nishani stepped away from Colton. Her anger ascended into a reckless storm. It took sheer effort not to lose it and shoot Liam.

  His sadistic laugh filled the room. “I laid on the floor in the warehouse as a distraction to give the men time to catch you. And it worked.”

  Her shock soared. She neared him. “So, you were the errand boy, sent to shop for girls.”

  He laughed. “You should see the look on your face. It’s priceless.” He jeered.

  “The look on my face should be the least of your worries now, asshole,” she snarled. “I’ll rip out your balls and make you eat them the way I made your father suck on his cock.” Nishani leaned closer and gripped his crotch, squeezing hard.

  Liam howled until tears ran down his cheeks. “Please, stop.”

  “Not so smart now, are we? You helped your father and his fucked-up friends kidnap and rape innocent girls. You saw no reason to stop the shit your father got up to? Do you even have a heart?”

  “Nishi?”

  She ignored Colton’s attempt at distraction, yet every nerve cell pulsed with the knowledge he was there. “Your father got what he deserved.”

  Liam scowled. “Maybe. But my mother didn’t deserve to die.”

 
Her eyes widened in confusion. “Get your facts straight, asshole. I didn’t kill your mother.”

  “No. My father’s death and his mutilated body killed her. She demanded to see him and died from shock. I lost both my parents on my twenty-second birthday. Before, I was adult enough to accept the loss.”

  “Oh.” Nishani shrugged. “Well, if she chose to marry a perverted fuck, then her deaths on her. Nothing I can do to change that. If you were adult enough to accept the responsibility of your father’s sordid actions, then you sure as hell don’t deserve my pity for their loss.”

  “You’re an unfeeling bitch,” he screamed.

  “The pot’s calling the kettle black.” She glared at him. “Your father and his cruel friends did that to me. They made me an unfeeling bitch with no will to live. How did you know it was me?”

  Liam uttered a caustic laugh. “I’m well connected. Rai’s men told me you were behind the killings. Mateo might’ve kept you safe so that Rai couldn’t get to you, but I swore revenge. The second I found out you were back home, I put my plan into action. Checked myself into that rehab facility just to get close, then I reeled you in. And like a fish out of water, you fell for my charm. Guess you haven’t had many relationships, have you?”

  Without a break in her stare, Nishani pulled the knife hidden in her boot, tossed the sheath, and drove it deep inside Liam’s side. “You’re the last fucking person who should be preaching emotions and relationships to me.” His howls filled the house, drowning out the music from the other room. “This is for everything I missed in my life, you sick son of a bitch.” She twisted the knife, and his scream pitched a notch higher. “How did you plan to kill me?” When he said nothing, she shunted the knife deeper. “How?”

  “The hi-jacking was part of the plan,” he spluttered between sobs. Nishani left the knife in his side and stepped back. Liam continued, “The deal was for them to attack me just in case someone followed us.”

  “Like who?”

  “Somehow, Mateo got wind of my plot and sent men after us. It’s why I changed flights at the airport.”

  “But you still assumed they followed us?”