“You told me, on our very first night, that I had choices. No matter what I might agree to, that I still had choices.” I clutched the blanket tighter and kept my back to him as I spoke.
“I appreciate everything you’ve done, Kaine. And if you go to the police with your suspicions about Cole, my mother and I will always be grateful. But I can’t take your money, Kaine. And I can’t leave here with you. I need to go home, to try to make things right for Evelyn, as best I can.” I felt my heart lurch unsteadily in my chest as I struggled with the words.
“I’m saying no, Kaine. You said it would end any involvement between us… and I’m so sorry.” The last words came out as a whisper.
“But I’m saying no.”
23
Kaine
I stared at her back, unable to accept what she was telling me. She looked slight and fragile, with the thin blanket wrapped around her shoulders. My brave, strong, beautiful girl…
I couldn’t explain what I was feeling inside, even to myself. But for the first time since Danny’s death, I had the cold, unfamiliar sense of powerlessness. And there was something else as well. Something without a face to it. Something I could feel, but couldn’t touch… Something in what Grace had told me about her childhood…
I headed for the closet and reached in, pulling out the bags I’d brought and throwing my clothes in, along with the ones Mrs. Sparr had provided for Grace.
“You’re coming with me,” I ground out the words through my teeth. “It’s your right to end the… business between us, but there’s no fucking way I’m leaving you alone after what Cole tried to do to you. You’re coming home with me, where I can keep you safe.”
“Kaine… It’s over,” she said, turning to watch me. “You don’t owe me anything. We had a business deal, and now it’s done. Tell the police what you suspect about Cole and we’re even.”
In two strides, I had her in my arms. The desire to kiss her… or shake sense into her warred inside me. I held her by the shoulders, trying to burn my will into her… into those brilliant green eyes. She bit her lip and I lost the last ounce of control I had…
I took her mouth with mine like a desperate man. I crushed her to me, pulling the blanket from her body and wrapping my arms around her warm, naked flesh. She was the whole world, my whole world. Warm and soft, wet and lush. I kissed her like a man standing before the gates of hell, with nothing but this woman to keep him from burning alive. She was me and I was her… everything that could exist, had ever existed between a man and a woman filled the space between us. Grace was mine. She would always be mine. Even if she needed to leave me.
“Grace,” I said softly. The word caught at my throat. “I’m asking you to come with me. I’ll respect any choices you make, any boundaries you set. But I need to keep you safe from Cole. If he’s capable of what I suspect, you won’t be safe until the trial is over.” I held her chin in my hand. She was so tiny, so perfect. “This isn’t about business…” I struggled with the words, and the riot of feelings behind them that I couldn’t begin to face. “I only know that I can’t let anything happen to you.” I kissed her again, gently, pulling the roundness of her lower lip between mine. The desire I felt for this woman made everything I’d ever known or wanted fade to nothing. “Please, Grace. I’m asking you for this. And I never ask for anything…”
She pulled herself gently from my arms and coldness filled the space she left behind. I felt a sharp lurch of desperation… but only for a moment. Then she reached for her pink sweater and folded it, placing it inside the suitcase along with my jeans. Something in my chest released and I exhaled hard. I listened to three hard beats of my heart, and when I opened my eyes again, I saw Grace pick up the house phone and dial.
“Mrs. Sparr? Can you send up the bag I brought with me, please? Yes… thank you. No, nothing’s wrong. Kaine and I are leaving a little ahead of schedule is all… Yes… of course…” Grace held the phone out toward me.
Fifteen minutes later, Mrs. Sparr arrived personally to deliver the small brown backpack that Grace had brought with her to La Laisse. In it were the clothes she’d worn here a few days ago, when she came to sell her body in an attempt to save the mother who’d neglected her… who’d hurt her. The mother who’d failed to protect her own child…
Grace stepped out of the bedroom, dressed in her own clothes at last. They were worn and cheaply made. Jeans and sneakers with a grey baseball sweatshirt. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and I felt my heart and groin tighten at the same time. She was exquisite…
Mrs. S finished tucking the envelope I’d given her into her generous bosom and smiled as Grace entered the room. The hundred thousand had been transferred immediately after the auction, and adjusted to cover the week in addition to the single first night. But I’d wanted to give her the thick envelope as well. Her wrinkled cheeks had flushed bright pink and her eyes sparkled.
“If there’s anything at all I can do in the future… for either of you…,” she said breathily, “feel free…” She headed over to Grace and took her hands. I heard them speak, their tones hushed. Then she gave Grace a kiss on the cheek and moved to the door. I followed, opening it and letting her pass. I closed it behind us, wanting a moment with her alone in the hall.
“You’ll talk to her?” I asked, keeping my voice low even though we were alone.
“You don’t even have to ask, Mr. Arkaine. Consider it already done.” Mrs. S patted her bosom. “Some of the girls have already complained about him, and it’s no loss to me or to them, if he never returns to La Laisse again.”
“Will Dalia agree?”
Mrs. S smiled up at me, her eyes glittering again. “Like me, Dalia would refuse you nothing.” She turned and headed toward the elevator, her steps falling silently on the thick carpets. I turned, breathing somewhat more easily, and went back inside to Grace.
She was tucking the last of our things into my leather bag. The rest was already in the foyer. I took her face between my hands and brushed her lips lightly with mine. “I…”
For a moment the next word hung on my lips, so ready to be said. It seemed so natural… But it was a word I’d never said. Not to anyone. Not in my whole life. I looked into the depths of her eyes and flashed back to her kissing the scars on my back, one by one…
“I have a call to make before we leave,” I said, working to keep my voice steady and my head clear. “Brian sent a text a few hours ago, that he had a lead on Carlson Marks.” Grace sat down on the sofa and I sat down beside her, phone in hand. “If I can get to Marks, offer him protection from Cole, I think there’s a chance that he’ll help us.” I shifted, thinking as I spoke.
“Cole has held Marks hostage for years, with the threat of exposing him. Ruining his political career, destroying his family. Even the possibility of facing charges for what he did to that girl. If we can get to him, offer him help in exchange for giving us the truth about Cole and whatever connection he has… to Claire’s death and to your mother’s connection…” My mind was racing. “Marks could be the key to everything. And if my gut instinct is right about Cole, there’s gonna be a lot for him to tell.”
Grace put her hand gently on my arm and I felt a jolt of energy run like hot liquid silver between us. I took a deep breath and stayed still. “But will he be willing to do that? He’s lied all these years, to save himself. And Cole lied to keep him safe. Why would he risk Cole telling the whole world that he was a rapist, just to help us?”
“Because blackmail is a fucking dirty business. And because it never ends. Marks needs to come clean, to have any hope of ever being free of Cole. And, if I’m right, he’s going to need someone on his side, if the truth lies where I suspect that it does. That Cole forced him to testify that he’d seen Evelyn’s car hit Claire that night.” I looked at Grace. Her eyes were wide and her bottom lip slack.
“I think there’s a chance, a very good chance, that your mother was set up. That Cole had Marks kill Claire that night, and that Eve
lyn never had any involvement at all. She may have never been anywhere near the accident scene that night.” I could see hope shining in Grace’s eyes. “If I’m right about all this, it’s the end of Bastien Cole. And I’ll be fucking glad to see him go.” I paused for a moment, realizing the truth of what I was about to say. “But I want this for you, Grace. More than I want Cole out of my way. I want the truth for you and for your mother. And I think Marks is the key.”
I sat with my hand over Grace’s. Her fingers were warm on my forearm, relaxing and squeezing, as she sat deep in thought. She leaned against my arm and I wove my fingers through hers. The light was soft, coming in through the windows and for a long while we sat in easy silence. I felt a feeling I hardly recognized. It seemed like hope. As if the future could hold more than I’d ever dared to want. I wondered if Grace was feeling the same. That perhaps the same man could free us both from our painful pasts, and the future could be anything we chose for ourselves.
My cell rang abruptly, breaking the silence. “Brian,” I said too loudly. “I was about to call you. I need you to say you found him.”
“I did, Kaine,” his voice crackled faintly. “But I didn’t find what you hoped for.”
“Goddamn it, Brian… just tell me what the fuck…”
“I found him in an alley, behind the club he’s been staying at. I’m sorry, Kaine. If I’d found him a day sooner…”
“Tell me.”
“He’s still alive, Kaine. But he’s been beaten, almost beyond recognition.”
“Whoever did this left him for dead.”
24
Grace
I watched as Kaine’s face turned pale and the phone slid down from his ear. A minute later, he was on his feet, pulling me up beside him.
“We’re getting the fuck out of here, now.”
“What is it, Kaine? What’s happened?” I’d never seen him look this way, and his voice had an edge that made me afraid. “Something’s wrong…”
“Nothing I shouldn’t have seen coming, Grace. We’re getting you the hell out of this place right now.”
Less than five minutes later, we were in Kaine’s sleek, black sports car and we were headed out of the city. We’d gone down the back stairs, where I’d confronted Cole. This time, the stairs had been empty and we had left La Laisse behind us. Only Mrs. S knew we were gone, and she’d assured me she would tell no one we were leaving together. After all, she wasn’t exactly in business as a matchmaker…
“You’ll be safe with him, Grace,” she’d said in my ear before she kissed me goodbye. “I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you.”
For some reason, her kind words bristled. I knew he’d had other girls there. And the closer I felt to him, the more the idea bothered me. Maybe he was willing to help me, maybe he even felt more for me than he had for any of the others, but I was still just a purchase he’d made. Not like a real girlfriend. Not like a real relationship at all.
He drove fast, intimately familiar with the car and his surroundings. An hour and a half later, we were far into the country, away from the lights and glamour of the city. The houses here were enormous, from what little I could see. They were far off the road and surrounded by gently rolling hills and tall trees. I’d only seen houses like these in magazines with thick, glossy pages. And he was driving up a long, winding drive that took my breath.
“This is home?” I asked, taking in the perfectly groomed lawns and the long, elegant reflecting pool that filled the center of the drive. He parked, and pulled our bags from the trunk. I followed him inside, holding my breath, trying to take it all in. I’d known he had to be rich, to pay what he’d paid for me… But this wasn’t rich. This was another world.
He tossed the bags carelessly on the marble floor of the foyer and took my hand. “Becca will fix us something in the kitchen,” he said. Her name rolled off his lips easily and I had a sudden and uncomfortable image of a tall, elegant brunette in heels and a pink frilly apron. “Bec,” he called down the hall. “I’m home, and we’re starving.”
“Well, sit yourselves down and take a load off.” I heard her before I saw her and the picture in my head fell apart. She came around the corner in a flurry with two bottles of mineral water in her hands. The apron was pink. The shoes were orthopedic.
“Imagine our Mr. Kaine bringing a guest,” she wheezed. Becca was short, and as wide as she was tall. Her cheeks were red and her eyes bright as buttons. Her chins wagged slightly as she spoke with obvious affection.
“I didn’t expect you back for a couple more days.” She put a bottle in Kaine’s open hand and offered one to me. I took it and smiled, warmed by her comfortable presence. “Did the meeting end early?”
Kaine’s eyes slid sideways toward me and I caught his glance. He smiled, and in spite of everything, I had to smile back. “It ran a little short, Bec,” he said, taking a swallow of water. “Can you put something together for us? I have some calls to make in the library.”
“As if I could refuse you anything,” Bec said cheekily, as she turned back and headed toward what must have been the kitchen. “Give me twenty minutes,” she called back over her shoulder.
I turned as Kaine took my hand in his huge, warm one. “Come on,” he said. “This way.”
The house was warm and beautiful. Rich wood lined the walls and the furniture was elaborately carved. Dark and heavy with an old world feeling. It would have been gloomy except for the brilliance of the light. There were windows everywhere, even lining the high ceilings. It seemed to bring the outside in with us. I felt safe, but not contained.
“It’s extraordinary,” I said, mostly to myself. I was looking everywhere at once, my head on a swivel. Kaine had my hand tightly and was intent only on our destination. The huge library doors closed behind us and I watched him take a seat behind the enormous desk.
“Safe… soon to be fed properly,” he said, his brow furrowed in thought. I sat down in a leather armchair and felt myself sink into it. “Now it’s time for Plan B.”
25
Kaine
Bec came in with a tray and a warm smile. She put the tray down on the low coffee table and wiped her hands on her apron. The woman loved to feed people and was a marvel as a housekeeper. She’d lived on Rance Street too, years back. When her husband died ten years ago, she came to work for me. I’d insisted on it.
“Now you be sure he eats, young lady,” she said to Grace. “I don’t know how this boy keeps body and soul together.” She clucked her tongue and I saw Grace smile. “He doesn’t eat enough, and he sleeps even less.” She lifted the silver cover off the tray and the mouthwatering smell of shepard’s pie filled the room. “Call if you need anything else.”
She bustled out of the library, closing the door behind her. I pulled a chair close to Grace and sat down, dishing out the beef and vegetables and handing a plate to her.
“It’s not fancy, but there’s nothing like it.” I watched with satisfaction as Grace lifted a forkful to her mouth and her eyes rolled with pleasure.
“I’ve never… oh my god, this is amazing…”
We settled into comfortable silence, pausing in our meal only when there was nothing left. I held back a chuckle when she licked the back of her fork and leaned back in her chair. I poured the coffee and handed her a steaming mug.
“You live like this?” she asked, taking a sip and looking around the room with wide eyes. “Every day… this is your real life?”
“It’s a part of it, Grace. But I’m not here all that much.” I swallowed my coffee. “I work. That’s who I am.”
“Work is never who someone is, Kaine. It’s just what we do.”
I shifted and stood, moving back around the desk to sit down again. “Well, there’s business that needs attention right now,” I said, picking up the phone. “Mrs. Sparr, please.” A moment later she answered.
“Rose, it’s Kaine. Yes… I’m afraid so. I’m going to need you both here at the house, as soon as possibl
e.” I looked at Grace. Her eyes were steady, watching me. “Yes… and thank you. Tell Dalia I’ll make it very worth her while.”
I could see the questions in her face. I came around to sit on the sofa and held out a hand for her to join me.
“What’s happening, Kaine? Ever since you talked to Brian… and we left La Laisse so suddenly. Plan B? And now Dalia?” Grace stayed in her chair and I dropped my hand to my lap. “I have a right to know. This is my mother’s life. And mine, too.”
I nodded, contemplating where to start. She was right. She did need to know.
“Marks was beaten in an alley. Badly enough to know it wasn’t an accident or a robbery. It was a warning, and it was personal.” Her eyes widened and I went on.
“I’ve asked Rose… Mrs. Sparr, that is, to bring Dalia and come to the house. They’ll be here tomorrow. I had a feeling it might come to this, and I’d spoken to her before I knew about Marks. But there are still a lot of details to work out, and it’s best we take care of that in person. I didn’t want it to come to this… it may not even work. And it’s not without its own risks…”
“If Marks dies… then there’s no chance anymore. If you were right about him setting up Evelyn… There would no one left who could tell the truth about what really happened that night. Christ, Kaine. We don’t even know for sure that he did set her up.”
The Baby Contract Page 28
