I do my best to remember names as I am introduced to each of Eddie’s siblings, their spouses, and their children. The house is soon swarming with people. The doorbell rings, and I am closest, so I answer it. I smile when I see Nick, Eddie’s youngest brother, and Donna –his case worker from child services standing in the doorway. Nick’s face lights up when he sees me. “James?” he questions, “What are you doing here?”
I decide not to tell the kid that his dad stabbed me in the gut. I smile and say, “I came to meet everyone. I didn’t expect to see you here, though.”
Donna answers for him, “Nick has been doing so well with his rehabilitation, and he has been wanting to attend his family’s monthly cookout, so we’re loosening the rope a little today.”
I smile. “That’s great!”
Nick lunges in and wraps his arms around me, and I’ll admit it makes me really uncomfortable, but I hug him back. Thankfully he’s tall enough to where he misses my stab wound. He pulls away and then looks very sad when he says, “I’m sorry I missed Eddie’s funeral. They didn’t tell me,” he glances back at Donna angrily when he says it.
“It’s okay,” I say reassuringly. “Eddie would have wanted you to stay at the clinic anyways. Why don’t you come in? I believe everyone is here now.”
Nick nods excitedly and hurries inside, eager to visit with his older siblings and his various nieces and nephews that are actually closer in age to him. Donna enters and we close the door, but the two of us stand by in the doorway. “He’s very excited,” Donna says, “He can’t wait to live with you. Are you nervous at all?”
“Honestly, yes,” I say.
“Good. I’d be worried if you weren’t,” she smiles, “I spoke with your lawyer. It sounds like the lawsuit is being dropped.”
“Looks that way,” I say.
“Good. It will make this process a lot easier. Hopefully after he leaves the program he will be able to just come home with you and not remain in foster care in limbo. We will see, though. Fingers crossed.” She enters into the home, smiling and chatting with the family.
It’s weird. I have this sense of belonging here. They’re not my family, but they might as well be. They were Eddie’s, so that’s good enough for me. I wind up staying for hours, doing my best to get to know every single one of them. It’s nice. I don’t feel alone anymore.
70
After spending a day recouping after, you know, getting stabbed by a Neo-Nazi, I decide it’s time to talk to Éclair. Just the thought of talking to her about all of this makes me sick to my stomach. I know it has to be done though –it has to if I’m ever going to make things work with Sylvia. I decide it’s something that has to be done in person, so I give her a call to let her know I’m coming by. The phone rings three times before she answers.
“James?” her voice is slightly sing-songy –like she’s relieved to hear my voice. I have been avoiding her for a while, and it makes me feel pretty shitty to hear the relief in her voice that I am calling.
“Hey,” I say, taking a deep breath, “listen, I’m in the area. Do you mind if I come by for a little while?”
There is a pause, “Yeah, sure. Could you give me like a half hour? My sister popped by unannounced, so I have to ditch her. She’s one to over stay her welcome, if you know what I mean.” Éclair rarely speaks about her sister; she has an even more estranged relationship with her younger sister than I had had with Eddie. Both Éclair and I had been the successful siblings, which I have to say for me at least has always put a damper on the sibling relationship. Sibling rivalry in the business world is rough.
“Sure,” I say, “I’ll see you in a half hour.” I hang up the phone and contemplate exactly what I should say to her. I suppose just being straight forward would be best. I didn’t call my driver this time around; I figure this is something that could take a while, so I don’t want to leave my driver sitting around outside of Éclair’s house in the event that it does. I drive myself to Éclair’s home, and I time it pretty well –winding up outside of her home almost exactly half an hour after our phone conversation.
I head up the driveway, and I let myself in. As always, I’m slightly taken back by all the pink and silver that make up her home. You would think that I would be used to it by now –it’s the same way at her company office. I hear her heel clicking against the black and white tile floors as she appears from around the corner. Damn it, she looks gorgeous in her cute black suit with red blouse. Her long blonde hair is braided up on one side of her head –flowing down over her right shoulder. Her face lights up when she sees me. “I’m so glad you called me,” she says, more pep in her step than usual. She comes right up to me and touches my chest. “I was afraid you were never going to talk to me again after what happened last time…” she blushes. “Listen, about what you said-” The big smile on her face suddenly terrifies me. Is she going to say it back?
I cut her off before she has the chance. “So your sister came by?” I say quickly.
Éclair frowns. “Yeah,” she says, “she’s crazy, I swear. I haven’t seen her in over a year, and she just drops by for the heck of it. And she’s so damn nosey. I don’t even know what she’s up to nowadays. She’s always been really competitive towards me, and me owning my own company has always gotten to her.”
“Yeah, well, take it from someone with experience in that department –you don’t want to let any sort of disagreements you have with your sister stop you from knowing her. I wish Eddie and I had been closer towards the end,” I can tell that my words struck a nerve with her.
She nods, but she shakes her head slightly. “I know. Suzette just drives me insane sometimes.”
It’s like time freezes for a second. Suzette? What? I stare at her, and I know she can tell that something is off. “Your sister is named Suzette?”
“Yeah,” Éclair says, “Have I never mentioned her before?”
Suzette is not exactly a common name. My head starts spinning. “Did you know the name of the woman paying for the lawyer that had tried to sue me is Suzette?” I ask, and she appears surprised –but is she pretending? I grit my teeth, “Is it your sister?”
“Why would my sister try to sue you?” Éclair hisses.
“I am so stupid,” I say and take a step back. “You’ve been trying to get me to sell my company to you for years. Are you the one who poisoned my supplements? Did you hurt Eddie –or hire someone to do your dirty work? And you got your sister involved so I wouldn’t connect the lawyer to you, right? All of this to try to ruin my company’s reputation so that you could swoop in and buy it out, right?”
“How dare you?” she snaps and goes to slap at me, but I’m not putting up with her shit right now.
I grab her wrist in mid slap, and I squeeze the shit out of it until I hear her wrist pop. “Fuck off!” I shout, but I don’t let go of her. “And you know what else? You were there! You were alone in the room with Eddie before he died! Oh my God! You poisoned him, didn’t you?”
“James, you’re hurting me!” Éclair shrieks, and she avoids responding to what I had just said.
I don’t let go of her –if anything I squeeze her wrist even tighter. “It makes sense! I don’t know what I kept denying it. You’re a damn bitch, and you’re going to spend the rest of your life in prison for this.”
“Let go!” Éclair yanks back, and I release her wrist and shove her. She falls, landing on her side against the tile floors. I didn’t exactly mean to knock her down onto the ground, but damn it I don’t really give a shit right now.
“I could strangle you!” I shout, but just stand there staring down at her as she struggles back onto her feet.
She grips her wrist as she stands a safe distance from me, staring at me with these hurt eyes. “You’re such an asshole, James. You really think I would do all that to you? To Eddie?”
“Yeah, Éclair, I really do. You’re a conniving, manipulative bitch. You’re always doing everything you can to manipulate me. That’s why I came
over here in the first place –to tell you to fuck off. To tell you that I am done with you because I want to be with Sylvia. I was going to try to part on good terms, but fuck it! I don’t care. Not anymore. I’m leaving, Éclair, and you better believe the police are going to hear all about this. I hope you rot in prison,” I go to leave, but she stops me.
“James, I swear, I have nothing to do with any of this! James, don’t go!” she has a hold of my sleeve, but I yank away. “You’re a jackass!” she roars, and I see that there are tears falling down her cheeks. “I was going to tell you I loved you too! I love you. I would never do anything to hurt you.”
I dart out the front door, slamming it behind me and leaving her standing alone in her den. Her sister’s name is Suzette –the same name of the woman who filed the original lawsuit. It makes so much sense. Éclair has always tried to get me to sell the company. Since I wouldn’t sell, she sabotaged me. Eddie must have caught on, so she had him killed. She was alone with him at the hospital –she could have been the one to put the poison into his IV. I think I’m going to be sick. I need someone to help me process all of this before going to the police, so I head towards Sylvia’s apartment in the city.
71
I head up to Sylvia’s apartment, quite eager to talk to her about what I have discovered. I don’t bother calling her because I’m fairly certain she’s home. When I knock on her apartment door and no one answers, I grab the key off of the top of the door hinge where I’ve seen her grab one before. I’ve told her she doesn’t need to keep a key there before because someone could break in, but right now I’m glad she does. I figure that I will just wait until she gets home because I know she’s not working today, so she will be here eventually.
After letting myself in, I head to the bathroom. Mother fucker… pink and silver everywhere! It’s like Éclair’s is her evil twin sometimes, I swear. Her bathroom is done up in the familiar pink and silver décor. I remind myself that Sylvia once modelled for Éclair’s company, so she probably got the design idea from being at the woman’s office headquarters a few times. Something about it irks me, so I leave the bathroom, unable to actually use it. It reminds me too much of Éclair. On the counter I spot some contact solution, and I start prying. I locate her contacts in the top drawer to the right of her sink, and I smile at the discovery. Colored contacts –I fucking knew it! She totally wears colored contacts! Those blue eyes were just too perfect. I have always said that she was just too perfect –her body had to have some sort of secret flaw I just had not found yet, so I’m now picturing Sylvia with two different colored eyes that she hides under colored contacts. Well, this is sort of fun –snooping around to learn more about my girlfriend… girlfriend, wow. Never thought I would say that word.
I’ve actually never been in Sylvia’s apartment before with the exception of a few quick drop in’s to pick her up kind of thing, so after waiting around for several minutes I start to get nosey. An idea strikes me to sneak into Sylvia’s bedroom and surprise her. I grin thinking about her coming home to me spread out on her bed. Geeze, I swear, sex is never too far from the forefront of my mind no matter what sort of emotional trauma I’m having.
I slip into her back bedroom. It’s a cozy little room –nothing too special. She has a few small weights scattered about and her laptop is sitting open up on her bed. I can’t believe we haven’t had sex back here yet. I smile and slip out of shoes and start to undo my tie. I go to jump on her bed like a dumbass and stub my toe on something. “Fuck!” I shout. That’s what I get for trying to act like a tool. I look down and see a small wooden box poking out from under her bed.
I tell myself not to snoop –that I shouldn’t go digging around through her things without her consent –but I am unable to resist the temptation. I pick up the little jewelry box, thinking that it is a weird place to put a jewelry box, and I open it up. Cute. There’s a bunch of childish things inside –old friendship bracelets, grade school drawings, and a small stack of pictures of a little blonde girl with missing teeth –a little Sylvia, cute! I smile, blushing slightly to see a picture of my girl from her childhood years. We would make cute kids… whoa, easy, big guy.
I shake the thought away and then I come across a picture of two little blonde girls with their arms over each other’s shoulders, smiling big at the camera. Both young girls’ have their eyes opened wide –their big, purple eyes. My heart jumps up into my throat. One is obviously a twelve-year-old Sylvia. The other one, and it’s quite undeniable, is a younger Éclair.
What the hell am I looking at? I rub my eyes and then stare at the picture again… colored contacts… Sylvia wears colored contacts….
My throat suddenly becomes dry. Something just tells me to look at her laptop. I click the mousepad, and I see her email is opened…. [email protected]
What. The. Fuck.
In a panic, I scramble to put the pictures back into the box and push it up underneath the bed. I frantically search for my shoes and my tie that I had thrown off, not bothering to actually put the tie back on before darting out of her bedroom. I don’t know how I missed it on my way in, but I spot her treadmill in the den area. As Sylvia had told me a thousand times before, the poster advertising my company Shattered INC. is in front of the treadmill. She had always told me that the poster was there for inspirational purposes during her workout, but there are fucking darts piercing the photograph of my chest. Holy shit! I feel like I’ve stepped into a damned war zone.
Sylvia? Sylvia is Suzette? That’s what my head is telling me at least. I got to get out of here. I dart out the door, not even thinking to lock it behind me, and I get out of her apartment building as fast as I can. I jump into my car and speed back to my penthouse to give myself a moment to process what has just happened.
I enter into my home and just take a few calming breaths. What is happening? I’m not even 100% sure, but I feel like half of the reason why I haven’t pieced it together entirely is because I’m in complete denial that Sylvia would ever do anything to hurt me. I have to call the police. I get out my cell phone to call Kathy, the police chief. The phone rings several times, but just as I hear the woman on the other line say, “Hello?” a blunt object makes contact with the back of my head.
“Sorry, wrong number,” I hear a familiar voice say into my phone and hang up.
I look up to see Sylvia staring down at me, a bloodied, wooden baseball bat rested on her shoulders as she tosses my cell phone to the side. The room is spinning. I can’t move. I just groan and stare up at Sylvia as she shakes her finger back and forth. “James, you really should ask someone before you go snooping through their belongings. And if you don’t want to get caught, next time, make sure you put all of the pictures back in the box. You left one on the floor.”
Shit. “Sylvia-” I start to speak.
“Goodnight,” she says and knocked me between the eyes with the handle of the bat, knocking me out cold.
72
I blink my eyes open, and I find myself sitting in a chair in the middle of my apartment –my wrists zip-tied to the chair behind me. My head is throbbing, and a bit of blood drips down into my lap. Holy hell –what happened? Oh yeah, that’s right, I just found out my girlfriend is just a diagnosis away from being clinically insane.
I hear a clicking sound, and I glance over to see Sylvia typing away on my laptop –seated not too far from me on my couch. She glances up, chuckled slightly, and continues typing. “I was wondering when you were going to wake up,” she says, and I spot the bloody baseball bat lying on the floor under her feet. The bat has old blood stains that I know must belong to someone other than me –Eddie, perhaps?
“What happened?” I ask, my head bobbing slightly as I am coming to.
“You got caught, that’s what,” Sylvia’s demeanor is entirely different than what I am used to. I don’t know what to think.
“You’re real name?” I ask.
“I think you know,” she does not look up from my laptop.
&nbs
p; “Suzette,” I say, and she nods along –clearly amused by my confusion. “You’re Éclair’s little sister?”
“Yup,” she says nonchalantly as though we are just having a casual conversation.
“And you and Éclair have been in on all of this together, haven’t you?” I grit my teeth at the thought.
“Oh, please,” Sylvia looks up briefly from her work. “Éclair is a moron. When I ran into her at the hospital she actually believed this bullshit story I spun her about taking physical therapy there. I haven’t seen her since I did that little modelling gig at her company almost two years ago. Éclair has no idea.”
“I don’t understand,” I say, “What do you have to gain from all of this if you weren’t trying to help your sister buy out my company?”
She turns the laptop around, revealing that she has my bank account pulled up. Shit. How did she get all of that? “I’m about to make a pretty impressive wire transfer to myself to an offshore account,” she says happily. “I knew if I stuck around long enough I’d get what information I needed. The plan was for me to buy out your company once the shit really hit the fan –and I was going to buy it out with your own money. The plan was to get you to trust me enough to start to do a takeover and we run it together with everything in my name until I could butt you out, but now I don’t see that happening, do you?”
“But why would you want my company in the first place?” I snap.
“Besides’ the fact that your company is worth billions? I suppose hearing about you from Éclair hit home. She told me about this sad little rich guy who couldn’t get along with big-brother after his brother got screwed out of his inheritance. I think Éclair missed the irony of telling me that story. Big sister got everything, and I got stuck doing grunge work for her just like Eddie. It’s too bad that Eddie caught me putting in a second round of rat poisoning into your supplements. I have to say, I relate to him a lot better than you. After I got a hold of your company, I might would have even considered keeping some of it in the Mont name –well, the Smith name, or whatever Eddie’s name is.” She turned the laptop back around and proceeding playing around on the laptop.
Filthy Desires: A Romantic Suspense Collection Page 76
