Always in My Heart

by A. C. Arthur

  “I’m not disputing any of those facts. I’m just trying to figure out why someone would send a blackmail note to my office, with pictures of my brother who may or may not have been involved in some type of orgy,” Alex replied.

  Rico shook his head. “If I wanted to participate in an orgy, I think I’m old enough to do so without needing anyone’s approval.”

  “That you are. But when your behavior comes back on us, then it becomes my business. Hell, Rico, it wasn’t that long ago that we were dealing with that bastard Roland Summerfield and his dangerous plans of revenge. Not only did he try to kill some of us, he tried to destroy Bennett Industries.”

  “That was years ago Alex and I remember that time clearly. I was the one to call Sam in to help us, remember?”

  “Then who’s going to help us this time? She’s demanding half a million dollars to keep this secret. And you know that once we pay her, she’ll want more and more. It’ll never stop and eventually, the pictures will surface anyway,” Alex continued.

  Rico slammed his hands on the desk as he stood. “No pictures will surface because there are no pictures. There are no pictures because I didn’t participate in a threesome with this crazy broad!”

  “Fine. But something happened this weekend and it’s better if you just tell me now so we can face this head on.”

  Alex was probably right, but Rico didn’t feel like answering any more questions or bearing his soul just to keep his big brother happy.

  “I went out and enjoyed myself for a change, that’s what happened this weekend. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going home,” he stated.

  Rico grabbed his briefcase and stuffed the plastic bag with the letter inside.

  “What happens if she sends that letter to dad, or worse, mom?” Alex asked.

  Rico was already on his way out of the office. He didn’t even bother to turn around before yelling, “I’ll handle it!”

  “Rico,” Alex called to him and Rico heaved a sigh.

  He didn’t want to turn around, didn’t want to see the questioning gaze in his brother’s eyes again. Alex didn’t understand what he’d done and that was fine, Rico thought. It wasn’t for him to understand. But he certainly wasn’t going to stand here and be reprimanded.

  “What Alex?” Rico said as he turned to face him.

  “I’m not judging you, if that’s what you think,” his older brother said. “I don’t like receiving blackmail letters and I don’t like not knowing when something is going on with a member of my family.”

  “Nothing is going on with me,” Rico told him.

  “Are you sure about that?” Alex asked. “You were in a mood before last weekend occurred. Then when I saw you on Saturday you looked as if you were enjoying yourself for the first time in your life. I even told mom and Gabs that they should have seen you laughing and looking at artwork. They couldn’t believe you were spending time in a museum in the first place, let alone laughing about it.”

  “You told them about Eva?” Rico asked, immediately alarmed.

  Alex shook his head. “No. I mean, I told them you were with a very pretty woman who was also an artist.”

  Rico let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

  “That’s what she is to you, right, since you’re not paying her? A woman and an artist?” Alex asked looking at Rico pointedly.

  He shrugged, this time because he wasn’t totally certain how to answer Alex’s question.

  “She’s a very nice woman who was dealt a bad hand in life. I respect her for how far she’s come and I wish her the very best in her future,” he said, the words leaving a strange sensation in his chest after he’d spoken them.

  “That’s all,” he continued because the silence was posing too many questions in his mind. “We met and now we’re moving on. And like I said I’ll take care of the rest.”

  Alex nodded. “I trust your judgment,” he told him. “Always have. But I think we should at least give dad and Renny a head’s up about this.”

  Rico sucked in a breath, letting it out slowly, his fingers gripping the handle of his briefcase. “I guess you’re right. Let’s take care of that this weekend at mom’s dinner party.”

  “Sounds good. What are you going to do about that letter?” Alex asked, coming to stand by Rico near the door.

  “I’m going to find out exactly who I’m dealing with and then I’m going to put that misguided chick in her place,” he said before turning and walking out of the office.

  It was another forty minutes before Rico walked into his home office. He’d stopped during the ride home to buy himself some dinner because he’d eaten his last microwave meal last night. Tonight’s meal did require a real oven, but it wasn’t home cooked, a fact that would have made his mother very angry. The thing was, Rico could cook, and he usually did at least two or three times a week. But not this week. He hadn’t been able to do much besides work this week. And now, he had this to deal with.

  While his food baked in the oven, Rico sat behind his desk and started his computer. While he waited for it to boot, he dialed Sam’s number and put the call on speakerphone. He opened his briefcase and pulled out the plastic bag, looking at the note and then flipping it over to view the pictures once again.

  “Sam Desdune?” he answered.

  “Hey, Sam. It’s Rico. You got a minute to talk?”

  “Sure. Just getting back from walking Romeo and Juliet. Is everything alright?” Sam asked.

  Despite all that was going on Rico caught himself smiling at the mention of Sam’s two Great Danes. They were huge and friendly dogs that Rico enjoyed visiting with anytime he was at Sam’s place.

  “We’ve got a situation I need your help with,” Rico said, typing in his password and pulling up his email.

  In addition to giving his father and brother a head’s up about what was going on, Rico felt like he needed to tell Eva. Just in case Nadja tried to approach her as well. When they were at the art gallery Eva had added her name to the mailing list to receive the gallery’s monthly newsletter. Rico had done the same, and in the process memorized her email address.

  “Sounds serious,” Sam was saying on the other end of the phone. “Hold on for a second, let me go to my office.”

  As Rico waited for Sam to get situated he typed in Eva’s email address and then stopped, unsure of how to start this message to her.

  “What’s going on?” Sam asked moments later.

  “Alex received a blackmail letter today from a woman that I met last weekend,” Rico began.

  He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and snapped a picture of the letter, then emailed it to himself.

  “I’m going to email you the letter if your computer is on you can pull it up in a few seconds,” Rico told him.

  “Are you talking about Eva?” Sam asked. “She’s trying to blackmail you?”

  “No,” Rico replied quickly with a shake of his head. “Not Eva. Another woman.”

  “Okay,” Sam said slowly. “So you met two women last weekend?”

  “Can you just pull up your email, please,” Rico stated as calmly as he possibly could.

  Instead of calming down since he’d been at the office, Rico’s mood was just as irritated as it had been before. He couldn’t believe Nadja was pulling this stunt and couldn’t wait to sit her down for good.

  “What the hell?” was Sam’s next question? “Who is this woman?”

  “After we left the gallery I dropped Eva off at work. I went inside to watch the show and then tried to go in the back to speak to her. This woman, she’s like a bouncer there and she tried to swindle money from me as payment to simply see Eva. I was willing to pay that, but then she made another offer—a threesome. Eva came out then and turned her down flat. Eva and I left together and I didn’t care that I’d never see or hear from Nadja again,” Rico said, resting his elbows on his desk. “I just don’t know why she’d try a stunt like this.”

  Sam was quiet a moment. “You said
she sent this to Alex? Why? How did she even know who or where Alex was?”

  Rico paused contemplating that question, then he cursed. “Dammit! She took my business card out of my wallet.”

  “Uh huh, and she googled your name the first chance she got, found out you were loaded and started planning,” Sam deduced.

  “Sonofabitch!” Rico cursed again.

  “Yeah, I’d call her that myself. But look, don’t get too excited about this. Let me do some digging and then we’ll put our heads together to see how we’ll deal with this.”

  “I don’t want my family hurt because of me, Sam. This can’t get out to the press,” Rico told him. One of the things that worried him most in his life was letting his parents down. This would be an embarrassment to the entire family and in Rico’s mind, more than disrespectful to the people that meant the most to him. He couldn’t let that happen.

  “That’s not an option, man, you know that. We’ll handle this woman and we’ll do it quietly. Just let me get to work and I’ll give you a call back,” Sam insisted.

  Rico nodded, squeezing the bridge of his nose as he took another deep breath. “Yeah. Okay.”

  “Don’t talk to her, Rico. Don’t call her. Don’t write to her. No contact until you hear from me. You got that?” Sam asked.

  “Yeah,” Rico replied again. “I got it.”

  “And one more thing,” Sam said. “I’ve gotta ask you this.”

  “Go ahead,” Rico said sitting back in his chair.

  “Do you think Eva could be involved?”

  “No,” was Rico’s instant response. “When I left her she made it perfectly clear that she didn’t want to have anything to do with me. And she’s not the type to do this. She’s been stripping at that club for all these years to take care of her brother and to put him through college. She’s not about to jeopardize her own freedom now. If she was willing to go that far for money, she would have done it well before meeting me. No, definitely no,” he stated with finality.

  “Okay,” Sam said after another quick silence. “Then let me ask you this, do you think this Nadja person would contact Eva about this?”

  “No,” Rico stated adamantly despite his previous concerns and the email to Eva that he still hadn’t composed. “This is about me and my money. It has nothing to do with Eva. I doubt Nadja gives a rat’s ass about Eva.”

  #

  “Nadja?” Eva said her name in complete surprise. “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m here to see you,” Nadja said as she moved past Eva and waltzed into her apartment.

  Dressed in slacks, a blouse and boots, the outfit she’d chosen for her second meeting with Monica, Karena and now, her new agent, Marsha, Eva closed her door and stared questioningly at Nadja. She was wearing, as she most often did, jeans, Timberland boots, t-shirt and a denim jacket. When she turned around, still perusing Eva’s place, her diamond earrings sparkled in the fading sunlight.

  “I didn’t invite you here,” Eva said. “And I know I’ve never given you or anyone else at the club my address.”

  Nadja shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. I’ve known where you lived for a while now. Just never had a reason to drop by.”

  Eva did not like her answer, but she wasn’t in the mood to argue. In fact, she was going to be late for the meeting if Nadja didn’t get on with this little visit.

  “I don’t like unannounced guests,” she told her. “Don’t make that mistake again. Now, what do you want?”

  Nadja smiled. “You got a hot date? Maybe with that sexy ass guy you brought up in the club the other night.”

  Folding her arms over her chest now, Eva cocked her hip and glared at Nadja. “I didn’t bring anyone into the club.”

  “Oh yeah you did. That rich dude with his fancy clothes and exotic looks. He’s what…half Brazilian, huh? Fine as hell that’s what I’d say he is.”

  Eva frowned. “I didn’t know you were looking in that direction anymore.”

  Again, Nadja simply laughed. She lifted a hand and scratched the back of her head too, but still found this situation much funnier than Eva did.

  “He’s worth looking at,” Nadja told her. “In fact, he’s worth a hell of a lot more. Which is why I’m here.”

  “Can you please just get to it? I have somewhere to go,” Eva told her with a weary sigh.

  “Alright, alright,” Nadja said moving closer to Eva as she nodded. “What do you say about getting some of that money the Bennetts have?”

  “What?” Eva asked, hoping she did not hear what she thought she’d just heard.

  “You know he’s loaded. His family’s loaded. So they won’t miss a few hundred thousand,” Nadja said. “So I propose we hit him up for just a little bit of their fortune.”

  “Are you crazy?” Eva asked. “You are, aren’t you? You’re out of your damn mind. Look here Nadja, I’m going to tell you this one time only so make sure you’re listening. I am not interested in getting anything from Rico Bennett and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave him and his family alone too.”

  “Oooohhh, is that a threat?”

  Nadja was walking closer, until she was standing directly in front of Eva now.

  “What are you going to do if I don’t leave him alone?”

  Eva simply shook her head. “I’m not afraid of you and neither is Rico. So be smart and walk away from this nonsense.”

  “You don’t even know the details,” Nadja told her. “Well, let me tell you how this works. Pretty boy Rico’s got an older brother that runs the business. Big brother gets a letter with a few pics of little brother hanging out at a strip club, with guess what? A stripper.”

  Eva frowned.

  “Now what happens when there are also pictures of little brother, the stripper and a very sexy female that knows how to please a man and a woman? Yeah, I see you’re listening now.”

  Eva was listening. In fact, her heart was beating so fast and loud she thought Nadja and the people next door may have been able to hear it.

  “What have you done?” she asked quietly, her voice unable to go any higher because her mind was screaming “no!” so loudly.

  “Oh, I’m not finished yet. See, that’s why I came to see you,” Nadja continued. “I put the ball in motion. Big brother knows little brother was at the strip club. But I’m thinking to really sweeten the pot, you and I should take some pics together. Joe down at the club is on board to help us. He’s tall and lanky like pretty boy Rico, so all we have to do is get it on with Joe, together, and then have some pictures snapped. We can easily photoshop them with Rico’s face. Then we’ll get the big bucks.”

  “You’re an asshole,” Eva spat.

  Nadja only smiled, lifting a hand to rub the back of her fingers over Eva’s jaw. “And you’re sexier when you’re angry. I’ve been watching you on that stage for weeks now.” She moved closer as she talked, pressing up against Eva, using her other hand to grab Eva’s breast.

  It happened so fast. If Eva had paused to think about it she may or may not have stopped. But as it was, she was acting on adrenaline alone, feeling embarrassment and anger spewing through her like a brewing storm. Without the space to really pull her arm back, Eva lifted her fist and caught Nadja’s jaw with a quick punch. When Nadja stumbled back Eva followed up with another punch to her gut, before she pushed her and watched her fall to the floor.

  “You stupid bitch!” Nadja yelled as she scrambled across the floor trying to get up.

  “No, you’re the stupid one, bitch!” Eva spat, anger clear in every word she spoke. “In addition to admitting to me that you’re trying to blackmail Rico and his family with false allegations, the moment you put your grimy hands on me, you committed assault.”

  Nadja had gotten to her feet and was rubbing the back of her hand over her lip that was bleeding just a bit in the corner.

  “Sexual assault, Nadja, that’s what you just did is called. If you don’t get out of my house right now and drop this bullshit claim wi
th Rico’s family, I’ll call the police and press charges against you for the assault and I’ll tell them everything I know about your little blackmail scheme. Not only will you not get a dime of his money, but you’ll be locked in a cage where you belong.”

  Nadja pushed past Eva as she headed for the door. “Like I said,” she told Eva. “You’re a stupid bitch.”

  Eva watched her walk out the door before giving a sigh of relief and shaking the hand that she’d hit her with. Damn it was throbbing now, and so was her heart as she thought about Rico getting that blackmail letter.

  Chapter 9

  Another Week Later

  The next week passed in a whirlwind of activity. Rico and Alex had met with their parents and Renny on Saturday night. Beatriz had planned a dinner party to celebrate the day she and Marvin had met. All of the family was present, even Adriana and her fiancé, Parker.

  “It seems pretty thin to me,” Renny said as he’d sat on the arm of the chair near the fireplace in Marvin’s private study.

  Rico always loved coming into this room. As a young boy he would sneak in when Alex and Renny were playing with a toy or a video game. The oak desk and the reclining burgundy leather business chair had been humungous to the tiny built Rico. He would climb up into the chair and sit there for endless moments, staring at the papers on his father’s desk, wondering what the words said or meant, eager for the day when he would sit behind his own desk and know exactly what to do with those papers and any other business issues that might arise. His future was already mapped out and he’d only been six years old.

  As an adult, he still enjoyed the office with its woodsy and all male scent. The masculine furniture made of heavy wood and selected in dark, warm colors was familiar and comforting. There were four large windows on one side of the office with wooden blinds to let the sun in when Marvin felt up to it, and to keep it out when he didn’t. Tonight, the blinds were closed and the mood was somber.

  “The press won’t care how thin it is,” Alex offered. “It’s a story. The last single Bennett brother spending his time and money in a sex club.”