Life Sentence

by Carolyn Arnold

  He loosened his tie and poured a Scotch from the small bar cart in the room.

  Chilled to the bones, he settled into an old brown leather chair by the fire and prayed for warmth. He took a swig of his Scotch, and his eyes caught the top of his desk when his glass came down. The paperwork he had left in a neat pile now lay scattered.

  He went over to his desk and noticed an empty glass sitting on the edge of it. An amber residue clung to the bottom of it. Scotch maybe. He could not recall having that drink in the last few days.

  Rosa typically did the household shopping Monday mornings, but by this point Rosa would have cleared the glass. Besides he knew it wasn’t there this morning.

  His breathing became labored as he moved behind his desk and discovered a letter addressed to him.

  He fell into his chair and picked it up.

  Printed in a bold red font, it read I PAY WITH MY LIFE. YOU PAY WITH YOURS AND WITH THOSE OF WHOM YOU LOVE.

  His heartbeat slowed down. Dimitre’s men had been in his home, his private sanctuary. The game had commenced. The threats, the intrusion, and now they were implying harm to his loved ones.

  The world stopped on that thought. Jessica.

  They would go after her. He had been careless to think they wouldn’t. He had been selfish and fearful of his own life. He picked up the phone and dialed her office, glancing at the time. He just hoped she hadn’t left for lunch yet.

  “I need to speak to Jess.”

  “She’s not here, Bryan. Is something wrong?” Nella asked.

  He wasn’t going to tell Nella anything. He didn’t even want to share the details with Jessica.

  “Where is she?”

  “Lunch meeting. I can leave a message for her.”

  “No, that’s all right. I’ll see if I can reach her on her cell.”

  Bryan hung up the call and dialed her mobile. It went straight to voice mail.

  “Damn it!”

  He slammed the phone down. He didn’t know what to do next. He needed to know she was okay. Maybe he could get her to stay with him for a while to keep her close. He wasn’t going to call the police and complicate matters. The Lexan men always found a way to handle things.

  “I WAS THINKING WE COULD change the catch phrase just a little.” Mason searched for her reaction. They sat at a small table in an overly crowded restaurant.

  “What did you have in mind?”

  “Maybe instead of saying ‘get hit by lightning,’ what about ‘get struck by lightning?’” He gave it a few seconds. “What do you think?”

  “Hmm.” She stopped eating but kept her fork hovered over the side of her plate. “Actually, that does sound pretty good.” She played the piece out in her mind. His saying did pack more punch and carry more weight. “Yes, get struck by lightning. Pretty good.” She smiled. “But you do realize that’s part of what you’re paying me for, to come up with these ingenious ideas.”

  “Well, I’ll let this one slide ’cause I like you.” His eyes were mischievous and confirmed the sincerity of his words.

  She took another mouthful of her meal. “How wonderful of you, and please remember I did take part in creating the rest of it.”

  “Hey, I’m not going to argue that. I have no further creative input to offer. The rest of it works pretty well. I like the music and the way the bottle of T-Bolt is held up center screen.” He took a sip of his drink. “And the flash of lightning in the background is very attention-grabbing.”

  Her pride wasn’t hurt for not having thought of wording it that way. He liked the majority of the pitch. She had been searching for the perfect word herself, but it had eluded her and her team. Now it was obvious. Struck was the perfect word.

  The waitress came over to the table and wiped her hands on her half-apron. “Can I get either of you anything else?”

  “Not for me, thanks. You good?” Jessica asked Mason.

  He nodded his head. “As good as I can be.” The way he phrased it carried as a rhyme.

  It brought army recruitment commercials to her mind. Be all that you can be, in the army. She sang the jingle in her mind. He must have thought along the same lines as they both laughed.

  The waitress stood there watching them, a foot tapping on the floor.

  Jessica said, “Just the bill then.”

  “I’ll be right back with it.” She made her way to the cashier console to finalize their bill.

  “So you never told me how handsome I look today.”

  Jessica dared to look him right in the eye. “Where did that come from?”

  He grinned. “Just thought I’d throw that out there. Get it off my mind.” He drained the rest of his drink.

  Jessica realized her hand was instinctively playing with an earlobe. She dropped her hand. “This is a business meeting.”

  His eyes revealed that his intentions reached beyond business and extended to the personal. “It doesn’t have to be strictly business.”

  Her heart fluttered. This is ridiculous.

  It was irrational how her body responded to him without any logic attached to it. She had to leave the intensity of his eyes. “I should probably head back to the office.”

  “I see you just overlooked what I said. I’d like to see you as in a date.”

  His statement caused Jessica to peer into his eyes again. They were filled with obvious determination. Jessica lifted her napkin from her lap and placed it on the table.

  “I’m already involved with someone.”

  “Well, I won’t tell him about us. I mean assuming it’s a he.”

  She could tell there would be no stopping this man, so she’d have to try another line of reasoning. With other excuses escaping her, she was left with an old standby.

  “I don’t get involved romantically with my clients.”

  Listening to her own words, the way they came from her lips, she knew her heart was getting ahead of her. She mentally reminded herself of her love for Bryan and their seemingly inevitable future together.

  “If that’s what’s standing between us, I could take my business down the street. I would just really like to get to know you.”

  “Like I said I have a boyfriend.” She put extra emphasis on boyfriend. Realizing that she kept justifying herself made her a little angry. The manipulation and pressure he placed on her further lifted her wall of defense. His eyes attempted to crumble her resolve, but she was determined to stay faithful.

  He sat back in his chair physically communicating that he received her unspoken message, yet his eyes did not convey defeat. “We could be friends then.”

  “Of course.” She smiled, but it was a wasted expression because his attention shifted to the bill their waitress sat on the table.

  “I’ll have to take what I can get.” He stood from the table and held a hand out for her to shake.

  When they touched, Jessica sensed their chemistry but wanted to ignore it. “Have a good day, and let me know if there’s anything else you would like revised.”

  She hated the way he made her feel. The conflict and uncertainty he raised within her. It reinforced to her that Bryan needed to make up his mind. He had to decide whether he was going to stand up, be a man and propose. A wave of guilt rolled over her.

  Why am I letting this man get to me like this?

  “Will do.” Mason reached into a pocket, pulled out his keys and tossed them in the air before catching them. Jessica watched them rise and fall after which their eyes met again. “You have a great day too, Miss Pratt.” He smiled and walked away.

  He left and she was thankful they had met at the restaurant. She didn’t have to be anxious over the conversation that could have transpired if they had been crammed into a vehicle together. She stood, swung her purse over her shoulder, and went to the front counter to pay the bill.

  Pulling out
her wallet, she noticed her cell phone. She picked it up while thoughtlessly handing the cashier her Visa. She had one missed call. Bryan.

  The waitress handed her back the credit card and receipt. Jessica signed it, took her copy, and stuffed it into her wallet.

  “Thank you.” She smiled and left the restaurant.

  She dialed Bryan’s cell, but when there was no answer, she hung up. She didn’t feel inclined to leave him a message. He hadn’t left her one so it must not have been that important.

  -

  Chapter 8

  “CALL YOUR MEN OFF!” Bryan’s voice was loud, his pride overriding his fear. He saw the guard glance through the window in the door. Bryan waved his hand to let him know things were fine.

  But things were far from fine.

  Dimitre sat across from him. No emotion presented itself in his facial expression.

  Bryan was thankful that he showed as Dimitre’s lawyer of record. It afforded him the opportunity to meet with him, opposed to being stuck behind a plate of glass with a receiver to his ear. It also provided him privacy in a room without guards literally breathing down his neck.

  “You’re one smug son of a bitch, you know that.” Bryan got up and paced the perimeter of the table. The guard peered in again, and Bryan brushed him off with another wave of his hand. Circling behind Dimitre, homicidal tendencies arose. He wanted to choke him, make him beg for air to breathe. Instead, a calm sensation rushed over him. He whispered in Dimitre’s ear.

  “Leave her alone.”

  Bryan’s words hung out there for some time. His heart pumped adrenaline so hard, his heartbeat kept time in his ears. He refused to give up ground yet the lack of a reaction in his opponent caused him to slam the side of his fist onto the table.

  “Temper, temper, Bryan. Not good for the ol’ heart.” Dimitre tapped his hand on the left side of his chest.

  Bryan sat back across from Dimitre. “This is between the two of us, not the three of us.”

  “That’s my decision. And I rather like the three way.”

  Bryan mustered more courage and stared defiantly at him. He repeated his request. “Leave her alone.”

  “Have I told you the story of my love life?” Dimitre asked.

  Bryan held the eye contact. Dimitre cocked his head.

  From that question and the unspoken words in Dimitre’s eyes, he knew Maxine had paid for her betrayal. Betrayal times two—first for her infidelity with Leroy Adams, and second for her confession to him about that night.

  The murder Dimitre made her commit.

  He wouldn’t have an ounce of hesitation over killing Jessica.

  Dimitre must have read it in Bryan’s eyes that the message had sunk in.

  Bryan opened his mouth to speak but was silenced when Dimitre said, “You are fired!”

  It would take more than words and a raised voice to make the mafia boss back off. And until he could come up with another plan, somehow he had to convince Jessica to stay with him.

  “HEY, JESS, IT’S ME. Call when you get in.”

  Jessica erased the message on her machine. Bryan sounded like he needed to talk with her urgently. She even detected he missed her, and then it hit her.

  While she worked on closing a deal, the jury would have announced their verdict. That recollection made her feel like an imbecile for not leaving a message on his cell earlier. Her own day occupied her to such a point she never considered how he was making out. She had been too busy to listen to the radio for the news. Her thinking pattern shattered with her ringing phone.

  She rushed to pick it up. “Hello.”

  “Watch your back, princess.” It was a man with a Russian accent.

  Her heart clenched within her, taking her breath away and her ability to talk.

  She knew Bryan had lost the case. The call wasn’t a coincidence or a wrong number. It had been intended for her, likely one of Dimitre’s men. She warned him not to even get involved with the trial.

  Her caller hung up, leaving her with the beeping tone of a dead line.

  She fell back onto her sofa chair and held a hand to her forehead, but oddly she wasn’t afraid for herself. Her phone rang again and made her jump from the chair.

  She reached for the receiver.

  “Hello?” Her heart raced within her.

  “Oh baby, am I relieved to hear your voice.”

  “And I yours.”

  Hearing his voice made her smile. Part of her wanted to let him know of her previous caller, but she didn’t want to upset him. It would just make him nervous and over-protective of her.

  “Why don’t you come over for a while tonight, maybe even spend the night with me,” he said.

  She sensed he withheld information from her too. His voice was too doting for his character, but he could have been sincerely missing her. It may have just been the case that kept him busy and distant. She caught a glimpse of the flowers he’d bought her, and it made her smile.

  In person, she wouldn’t be able to hide her uneasiness. He would notice and ask questions. She would end up telling him about the threatening phone call.

  “I just got in.”

  “I miss you. Come on.”

  Jessica laughed at his persistence. It really was adorable.

  “All right then, I’ll be over. Question, though, how did your trial go today?” Her question was followed by the hum of faint static over the line. “Is everything all right? I’m sensing you didn’t win.”

  “What would make you say that?”

  He was obviously taken aback with the fast response to her own question.

  She shrugged her shoulders and twisted the phone cord around her fingers. “Your tone of voice and the periods of silence tell me something’s wrong, Bryan. I’ve known you long enough.” She wondered if she could have picked up on it if it hadn’t been for her Russian caller.

  “I lost.”

  “The next time, then. It won’t be your last high-profile case. You’re great at what you do.”

  “If I was so great then I wouldn’t have lost. Come over, I’ll be waiting for you.”

  His perseverance to see her finally weakened her resolve. She couldn’t really explain her reluctance or exactly why it existed. She did love him.

  “Okay, I’ll see you soon. I love you.” The words naturally left her lips. She walked over to the roses and sniffed them.

  BRYAN’S ESTATE WAS LOCATED ABOUT a half hour outside of the city. The house sat regally on a huge piece of property. She had spent many nights there, but its sheer size continued to overwhelm her. She pulled up and drove through the opened iron gate that would have humbled unfamiliar visitors. She would guess the gate and the fence that surrounded the estate to be twenty-feet high.

  The sun had disappeared below the horizon hours before, leaving the moon to take over the stage of the sky. It shared it with the many stars that were clear to see on a night like this. When she came out here she valued the view. With the lights in the city, it was harder to appreciate.

  She parked at the base of the crescent-shaped front steps. These led to a landing where two large, scrolled columns stood on both sides.

  Rosa answered the door and didn’t hide her contempt at seeing her. She left without saying anything and kept the door open for Jessica.

  Jessica went inside and Bryan greeted her with a warm smile and tight hug. Pulling back, he kept his hands placed on her upper arms.

  “So happy you came.” He held her close again and kissed her with passion.

  She licked her lips. “I see that.” She smiled and dropped her arms, dangling her purse from the strap.

  “Rosa, come take her purse and jacket,” Bryan said.

  Rosa sighed loud enough to be apparent to both of them but retrieved the items as directed.

  Once out of earshot, Bryan and
Jessica gave way to laughter.

  “That woman’s always loved me,” Jessica stated sarcastically.

  “It’s a good thing it doesn’t matter what she thinks. I love you.” He kissed her tenderly and escorted her to the sitting area. “She’s just been in the family too long. She’s resentful of outsiders.”

  “And that’s her only problem?” Jessica chuckled.

  Bryan winked at her. She took a seat on the white sofa that sat less than twenty feet from the front door.

  “Glass of wine?”

  “I’d love one.”

  “I was confident you would want one.” He poured a glass of red, handed it to her, and sat beside her.

  “You’re getting to know me too well.”

  “It is bound to happen you know.” He stopped talking, lost in her eyes. “I want to discuss taking our relationship to another level. Move in with me.”

  She thought of the phone call. He was acting differently with her tonight. He must have known she was threatened in some manner. But she didn’t want to press how he knew.

  “Bryan, you know I love you. You know—”

  “I know you want to wait until we get married to move in but just consider it.”

  She couldn’t look at him. She knew the reason he asked was because he was threatened and fearful for her safety. If it hadn’t been for Dimitre and the lost case, he wouldn’t even be broaching the subject. She didn’t see the sense in prolonging the obvious. She would rather call it how she saw it.

  “I remember when you took Dimitre as a client. You mentioned he was a violent man, and that if you lost the case, he’d make you pay. Well, you lost the case. He’s facing life in prison.”

  “Jess—”

  “We can’t live our lives in fear. In fact, I refuse to. If that’s the reason you’re asking me to move in here, then that’s not the right reason.”