His Other Wife (Beautiful Lies Book 1)

by M. L. Ray

  Jonah and Ruby returned just as Knox appeared. Flynn couldn’t help but wince at his utter desolation, and he half-smiled when he saw her reaction.

  “Yeah,” he said softly, “I know.”

  She went to him and he wrapped his arms around her. “I can’t lose her, Flynn. Not again, I can’t lose…”

  “I know, Knox. She’ll make it, I know she will.”

  It was hours before the surgeon came to find them. As she approached, Knox stood up, his heart beating wildly, but he was unable to read the doctor’s expression. All the blood seemed to drain from his body and he wobbled. Levi was beside him then, an arm around his shoulders.

  “Doc?”

  The doctor, a tall African-American woman, smiled at them. “We’ve stabilized her. I don’t know how it happened, but the knife missed her vital organs. Anouk did lose a lot of blood. Her abdominal artery was damaged, and it’s that that’s kept us concerned. We’ve repaired it, but the next couple of days will show us more.” She put a hand on Knox’s arm. “Mr. Zapata… she’s not out of the woods, but she’s young and healthy. We have her in recovery right now, but in an hour or so, we’ll move her to the ICU. You can visit with her then.” She looked around at the small gathering. “Um… perhaps not all of you at once.”

  “We’ll take turns,” Flynn said firmly, looking at Knox, who nodded.

  He tried to smile at the doctor. “Thank you. Thank you for saving her.”

  She bid them goodbye and disappeared back into the labyrinth of the hospital. Knox collapsed into a chair. “Thank god, thank god…” He knew he should temper his relief with practicality. Anouk was still in serious danger, her wounds were life-changing. They had to be. He would never get that image of her laying on the floor of the gallery vault. The ashen caste of her skin, her breath ragged, hitching, barely discernible. The violence that had been visited on her. He’d known, of course, that it had been Shawn Simon. Who else could do that to her?

  He’d told the police everything, and now, as Levi started to talk to him, he knew he had been irrational to ask Levi to help him find Shawn and end his life. No. He wouldn’t drag Levi into this. Anouk and Flynn would need Levi. They’d need him if Knox’s plan went south and he ended up in jail. He listened to Levi, nodding along, paying lip service, convincing his brother and sister that he wouldn’t be so foolish as to go after Shawn Simon.

  He had to pray they didn’t know he was lying. Shawn Simon was a dead man walking, and he, Knox Zapata, was going to make sure he never hurt anyone else ever again.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Anouk’s eyes felt hellishly sore, and for a moment, as the voices around her told her it was okay to open them, she wanted to disobey. Eventually though, curiosity got the better of her. After all, if this was heaven, she couldn’t exactly ignore it forever.

  She opened her eyes. “Am I dead? Is this heaven, then?” Her throat was scratchy, her voice no more than a whisper. She heard a low throaty chuckle.

  “If you think they’d let me into heaven, baby, you must be high.”

  Knox’s voice was like a shot of pure morphine through her. “Knox…”

  Then he was there, a sweet vision in front of her. “Kiss me,” she whispered and heard soft chuckles from the nurses in the room. Knox grinned, but his eyes were full of tears as he pressed his lips lightly to hers. He swept a cool hand over her hot forehead.

  “How to do you feel, baby?”

  “Numb. I thought I was dead.”

  “You nearly died. You lost a lot of blood, but they say you’re doing well.”

  His beautiful face was going in and out of focus. “Why can’t I feel any pain?”

  “Morphine, sweetheart.” A nurse appeared at her side. “They gave you on the good stuff.”

  “How long was I out?”

  Knox was stroking her hair and it felt so nice, she wished he would never stop. “Three days, Nook. God, we thought… I thought I’d lost you.”

  “Never,” she croaked out, then starting coughing. Ouch. She felt that pull in her abdomen, even with the drugs in her system. The nurse gave her a wet sponge to dampen her mouth. “I can’t let you drink yet, Nook, not until we get the all clear from the Doc. She’s on her way.”

  Anouk nodded and winced again. Knox dragged a chair next to her bed and sat down. They gazed at each other, drinking each other in. Knox brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it.

  “Darling,” he said in a low voice, “was it him?” Anouk nodded. “I need you to say it for me, baby.” Knox’s voice cracked a little, and Anouk put her palm against his cheek.

  “Yes, Knox, it was Shawn Simon Vanderson Douchebag Asshole who stabbed me.”

  He laughed and winced equally. “Don’t joke.”

  “I’m not allowed to punch things yet,” she said, “calling him names is all I got until they arrest him. They are going after him, right?”

  “Oh, yes. There are a lot of people looking for that… scum. A lot.”

  Anouk studied her lover’s face, trying to read his expression—anger, loss, grief… rage. “Knox, please tell me you’re not thinking of taking him on yourself?”

  Knox stroked her hair. “I wouldn’t hesitate,” he said softly, “he put his hands on you…”

  “You can’t.” Anouk’s entire body had gone cold. “You can’t… please, Knox, promise me. Promise me.”

  He leaned his forehead against hers. “I love you. I can’t promise that if I get the chance, I won’t end him.”

  Anouk felt the tears come then, and she sobbed quietly, ignoring the pain that her shaking body was creating in her wounds. This was more painful than any physical agony. The thought that, through his psychopathy, Shawn had turned her darling, fun-loving, kind-hearted Knox into a vengeful, rage-filled… what?

  Knox cradled her in his arms, and it was so tempting to burrow her head into his chest and forget what he had just said, but she couldn’t. “Knox… please, I’m begging you. Let the police handle this. If you kill Shawn… I’ll lose you…” Her sobs were turning into great wracking cries and Knox called the nurse to help. The nurse tried to calm her down but, in the end, the doctor gave Anouk a sedative. As she gave in to the drug, she held Knox’s hand tight, making him promise not to do anything, but before she could hear his answer, she was asleep.

  Knox waited until she was sedated, then kissed her cheek and left the room. Levi was waiting for him. “Hey.”

  “Hey. How’s Nook?”

  “She’s sleeping now. She got upset.”

  Lei studied his brother. “She figured you out.”

  “Of course, she did.” Knox sighed, rubbing his eyes. “And… god, I wish I could make her the promise that I won’t do anything, but I can’t do it, Levi. I feel this raging, burning hatred inside me.”

  Levi sighed and squeezed his brother’s shoulder. “Come with me.”

  Levi led him to the roof of the hospital and they sat down on the edge of the helipad. “Remember this? You came up here when Dad died.”

  “I did.”

  Levi was silent for a long moment. “Knox, it isn’t just Simon, or Vanderson, whatever he calls himself, that you’re going after. You’re going after Griffin. You’re going after cancer. You’re going after a cardiac arrest, and the assholes who didn’t take care of Mom. This anger in you. It’s festered inside you ever since Lily died. It will destroy you, Knox, and the future you have in front of you, with Nook. Take all this horror away, and there’s you and the love of your life, and a future that’s looking so fucking great. Love, marriage, a partnership, the arts center, maybe kids.”

  Levi put his arm around his brother’s shoulders. “All that will go away, just end, if you do this. All the people you could help, could inspire, will hate you. You’ll destroy Nook worse that Shawn Simon’s knife ever could.”

  “Jesus, Levi.” Knox looked away from his brother, wincing at his words.

  But Levi didn’t relent. “Thi
s is madness, this path you’re thinking of going down. You will lose everything, and then Shawn will have won. You know that, right?”

  Knox was quiet for a minute, then shook his head. “I want to kill him, Levi. I want to rip him apart with my bare hands.”

  “I know you do. So do I. So does Flynn, Iris and anyone else who loves Nook. But the best thing you can do, for now, is let the police handle it.”

  Knox sighed, staring at his brother. “You changed your tune.”

  “I calmed down. We’re not kids, we can’t just lash out. Shawn Simon will get his.”

  “Promise?”

  “I promise.”

  Knox knew Levi was speaking the truth, that his way was the correct one. The police were looking for Shawn, and Anouk needed Knox with her right now. He went back into her room, and as he watched her sleeping, her lovely face creased with pain, his heart thudded sadly. So much damage.

  He sat with her for hours. Levi took Flynn home to rest, and Knox sent Iris and Ruby home. “You’ve both been incredible, but you need to eat, to sleep. Come visit whenever you want, but take care of yourselves.” He hesitated. “Stay vigilant, won’t you? In fact, I’m going to hire some people to give you extra security until Simon is caught, okay?”

  He’d half expected them to protest, but neither did. He and Levi arranged for a security team for both of them, for the Zapata mansion, and for the gallery. He arranged to have someone outside Anouk’s hospital room at all times, when he wasn’t with her.

  James Holt, the police detective who had investigated Tom Granger’s death, came to see them. After speaking with Anouk, he took Knox aside. “The knife used to stab Anouk… we matched it to the knife that killed Tom Granger and his partner. We have no idea why Simon killed them, but believe me, we’re working with the FBI now. There’s a national manhunt for Shawn Simon, and this time, his family money won’t help him.”

  Knox stared at him. “This time?”

  Holt nodded. “Since all the stuff with Granger happened, we’ve been looking into everything.” He nodded towards Anouk’s room. “Including your fiancée and her past. Oh, don’t worry, she’s clean, such a good person; but how she ever got involved with a snake like Simon is beyond me.”

  “People lie. People act a character. Simon’s good a being the person you want him to be, until it’s no longer useful to him.”

  “Yup.” Holt sighed. “He’s had complaints about him in the past but nothing like this. We’re pretty sure he hired someone to murder his kids. Can you imagine the psychopathy of someone like that?”

  “I can’t, thank god.” Knox looked at the detective in sympathy. “I guess it’s your job to do just that.”

  “It is. What we can’t figure out is why he killed Granger.”

  Knox chewed this over. “He was cleaning house. He killed his kids, left London, came here. He wanted Anouk, so he decided to ‘give’ her everything—the business, the money—by killing Tom. Anouk was sure the will was forged, and she’s probably right. Simon probably kept Tom hostage until he agreed to sign the will, then killed him and Ramon. This is all conjecture, by the way, but it’s the only thing that makes sense. Simon is lacking in one thing. He doesn’t, he didn’t, know Anouk well enough. His upbringing meant he could only think that everyone would want the same thing as him. Status, money, power. Shawn Simon always got what he wanted.”

  James Holt was nodding along. “Makes sense in the scheme of things. But then… if he wanted Nook so badly, why try to kill her?”

  Knox smiled sadly. “Because, no matter what he offered her, she wasn’t going to go back to him. He lost. He will lose. That was unacceptable to him, so he stabbed her. Like I said, he was cleaning house.”

  They stood in silence for a long time, then James looked at Knox. “You think he’ll try and finish the job?”

  Knox looked back at the detective, his gaze steady and angry. “Oh yes,” he said, a quiet but icy tone in his voice, “Oh yes. I know he will.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Anouk had had a bad night. After ten days in the hospital, most of the tubes and catheters had been taken out, and she had agreed with the doctor that they should start to wean her off the heavy pain medication as she recovered, and although she was glad to be free of the fog of the morphine, her wounds ached and pulsed with agony every time she moved, sneezed, coughed, laughed.

  Not that she was doing a whole heap of laughing right now. To her relief, Knox had promised her that he wouldn’t do anything rash, but she was aware of the seething anger inside him. Levi had told her that they needed to keep a lid on Knox’s anger, and she was doing the best she could not to show how much pain she was in, so he wouldn’t lose his shit.

  She also hated the fact that she had a bodyguard, but she didn’t tell Knox that. She hated that Shawn was still controlling her life.

  It was late evening, and she’d sent Knox home to sleep before he collapsed on her. Anouk tried to read, but kept drifting off to sleep, then waking with a jolt. And now, she needed to pee. Badly. She pressed the button for the nurse. She had been out of bed, but still had trouble walking any place.

  After five minutes, she pressed the button again and waited. Nothing. God damn it. Her full bladder was making her belly ache. She eased gently from the bed, using it to help her move across the room until she could grab the wall of the bathroom. She managed to use the toilet, then washed her hands, grimacing at her reflection. Her dark hair was lank and greasy, her face puffy from medication and the hospital food, huge dark circles under her eyes. She puffed out her cheeks and blew a raspberry at herself in the mirror. Who cared what she looked like? She was alive, and that was all that mattered.

  She made her way back into her room and went to the door. Her security guard was asleep. She rolled her eyes. So much for protection. She poked him… and he slid from the chair to the floor. He wasn’t asleep, she realized with a shock…

  Panic began to rise in her throat. What the hell? “Hello? Nurse?”

  No answer. How the hell was no one here? Finally, with relief, she saw a male orderly approaching her. “Thank god. I think my security guard has been… god, I don’t know, been drugged or something.”

  The orderly came closer. He was tall, bald, with thick bottle top glass, and she didn’t think she’d seen him here before. Something about him made the hairs on the back of her neck prickle. “Can you help?” She asked him again but her voice faltered as he came closer and she saw who he was.

  “No one’s coming, Nook. No one’s coming to help you.”

  Shawn. Anouk turned, ignoring the sharp pull on her wounded belly and, although she didn’t know how, she ran.

  Knox found the corridor silent and empty, and it wasn’t until he was almost at Anouk’s room that he saw her guard slumped on the floor. “Jesus… Nook!” He darted to her door, and saw that the room was empty before he checked the guard.

  Behind him he heard voices and turned. Two nurses were staring at him in horror. “Where is she? Where the fuck is everyone?”

  The nurses tried to calm him down, telling him it was merely a change in staff. “Then how the fuck is my security guard unconscious, and where the fuck is my fiancée?” He was screaming now, but he didn’t care. A moment’s lapse and Nook was missing.

  “Excuse me.” And elderly woman he recognized as the patient from the room next to Nook’s, was leaning precariously on her walking stick. “I heard her calling out. It takes me a while to get moving, but as I got to the door, I saw her running. There was a man…”

  “Did he have red hair? Curly?”

  She shook her head. “No, he had his head shaved. I saw her face, though, sweet girl that she is, and she was terrified. I’m sorry, I should have… she ran and he followed her. I called out to him but he ignored me.”

  “Which way?”

  The woman pointed in the direction of the stairwell and Knox took off, screaming at the nurses to call the cops. He push
ed his way into the stairwell, and for a moment, he stopped, listening for any sounds. He never used the hospital stairwells, not since his mom had died, and it wasn’t without a little pain that he started down now.

  But Nook’s life was more important than past trauma now, and he took the stairs two at a time.

  I’m coming, baby, hold on… hold on…

  ***

  Shawn was mocking her. She could hardly move quick enough to escape him, if he really wanted, but he was torturing, staying just behind her, laughing. He knew he had her.

  Nook had stumbled down a couple of flights of stairs, but risked tumbling into a floor of the hospital, hoping somebody would help her. Except… she’d opened the door into the administrative wing. At this time of night, it was abandoned.

  Fuck, fuck, fuck…

  She stumbled towards the elevators as Shawn stalked her, hunting her down, but she knew it was over. When his hand clamped down on her shoulder, she turned, ready to fight him with any residual strength she had left.

  He pushed her to the floor, and she curled up in a fetal position as he launched a savage kick to her wounded belly. The pain was bewildering, but she curled up as tight as she could as he continued to kick her battered body. He didn’t speak once, and Anouk knew that he wouldn’t stop until she was dead.

  She took his blows over and over, trying to stay conscious, trying to protect her wounds. It was as if all pretense that Shawn was remotely human had been stripped away, and he had only one goal now—to kill her.

  In her fractured mind, Nook knew the longer she held out, kept him attacking her, the more likely someone would find her. She could keep him here. They could finally capture this monster.

  As the unhinged violence permeated her psyche, she found herself remembering the night after that show in London, and wondered how she hadn’t known that the man she thought she loved was a monster.