Comes the Night (Entangled Suspense)

by Cathy Marlowe

  He laughed, a short bark filled with self-loathing. “Am I okay? It appears I’m going to be a father again. Apparently before my memory loss, I was a pretty busy man.”

  He looked down at the hand resting on his forearm. “Don’t touch me,” he said hoarsely, so low that she strained to hear the words.

  Handing Daniel back to her, he walked swiftly to the location of the camera and began yanking items out of the way to pull the camera from its hiding place.

  “What are you doing?” Panic made her voice harsh.

  “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m getting rid of this damned camera. I don’t need to be watched when I spend time with my son.”

  Camera in hand, he sat and waited.

  …

  Alistair arrived moments later.

  “Hello, Father.” Thomas spoke in monotone.

  “Thomas, what is going on in here?” He looked at Maggie, his eyes promising retribution.

  “No, don’t glare at Maggie. This isn’t about her. I don’t want you watching my every move. This room is where I spend private time with Ace. The camera goes.”

  “Thomas!” For a moment Alistair lost control and Thomas saw the disturbing edge of insanity, the maniacal calculation that he’d suspected lurked below the surface of arrogance and impersonal cruelty. “This is ridiculous! Ludicrous! We can’t have the boy unmonitored.” He gestured angrily to Maggie. “Maggie takes good care of young Alistair, but you can clearly see that at times she is unstable. She must be monitored.”

  Thomas stood and walked toward his father, handing him the camera. “I trust Maggie with Ace. It’s my call.”

  Eyes narrowing, Alistair drew a measured breath. When he spoke, his overly precise, superior tone was back in full force as he emphasized each word. “I dislike your belligerence.”

  “And I dislike your arrogance.” At an impasse, they stared.

  Finally, Alistair looked at Maggie for a long moment, before glancing back at Thomas. “We have an international conference call in two minutes. We’ll discuss this later.” He turned sharply and left the room.

  Thomas approached Maggie, reaching out to touch his son’s cheek and receiving a toothless smile in return. Smiling sadly, he turned to leave and heard her soft intake of breath behind him.

  “Thomas,” she whispered, “trust yourself. The way Ace trusts you. You don’t need your memories to know who you are.”

  He stopped for a moment, absorbing her cryptic words, and left. He was late for the meeting.

  …

  Zach still hadn’t returned by the time Lizzie left to meet Alistair. She hesitated before knocking, and braced for more bad news when he greeted her with a cheerful smile. She was certain his earlier annoyance hadn’t waned.

  “Come in. Come in, my dear. I have some charming video to show you today. I’m afraid I feel a bit like a voyeur, however.” If possible, his smile widened. “As will you, dear Lizzie, as will you.”

  He took her arm and led her to a chair before starting the video. Aware of his eyes upon her, Lizzie twisted her hands in her lap, waiting for Sam to appear.

  Instead she saw Zach and Desiree walking down the hall to Desiree’s room, his hand resting at the small of her back.

  They stopped in front of the door and Desiree ran her hands up and down his arms, smiling adoringly at him. In shock, Lizzie watched as he pulled Desiree close and kissed her passionately, running his hands intimately over her body before she opened her door and they disappeared inside.

  Lizzie felt the blood drain from her face.

  “You see, Thomas has moved on with his fiancée. He has a new family now, and although I know it’s difficult for you, you must accept this fact.”

  Swallowing hard, she looked at Alistair with hatred. “That woman is not Zach’s fiancée. And that baby is not his.”

  He smirked. “Ah, the baby. So many possibilities. Is there a baby or isn’t there? And if there is, did it exist before last night? So many questions. The thing is, the status of the baby is not your concern.”

  He crouched in front of her and took her cold hands in his. “Lizzie, Lizzie, it’s time for you to move on. Little Alistair is handling his formula well now and he has his father. Now, dear, sweet Sarah…” He wrinkled his nose. “Dear Sam, she’s been missing you so.”

  “Sam? I can see Sam?” Her voice trembled. “You’ll take me to Sam?”

  “Yes, my dear, I will. All you have to do is leave and never look back.”

  She had no choice. With tears in her voice, she nodded. “Okay.”

  He rose and patted her on the head. “Good girl. Come along. I’ll escort you to your room to pack. And I’ll even let you say good-bye to my grandson.”

  He entered her room with her, continuing through to the nursery to check on Daniel. Standing in the middle of her bedroom, uncertain, she heard him talk to Daniel as he slept. She had so little time. Hurrying to the bed, she reached under the mattress for the picture of her family.

  It was gone.

  Hearing a noise behind her, she turned to find Alistair watching her, eyebrows raised.

  “Looking for this?” He held her treasured picture in this hand. “I’m very, very disappointed, my dear—and impressed. How did you manage to sneak this in here?” His eyes never left her face as he walked into the room and tore the picture in half with a dramatic flick of his wrist. “It’s fortunate that you restrained any urge to show this picture to Thomas.”

  Smiling at her, he tore the picture again as tears filled her eyes. “If he had seen it, I would have had to kill you…and hurt poor Sam, because, of course, I’m not a man to make empty threats.”

  With a heavy sigh, he continued to rip the photograph, standing over the trash can so that the tiny pieces fell into the container. “And I’d probably have had to erase Thomas’s memory again. It all would have been so inconvenient.”

  Dropping the last remnants into the trash, he walked toward her and grabbed her chin. “I need to go arrange your transportation. This is your last warning. Get packed and say your good-byes. You have ten minutes.”

  She nodded, her vision obscured by tears. He exited into the hall, practically humming with pleasure as he instructed the security guard to make sure the nanny did not leave the suite. Lizzie pulled the door shut behind him.

  By the time he returned, she sat in the chair rocking Daniel, her few belongings in a bag at her feet. Alistair looked closely for anything that didn’t belong. Then he instructed the security guard who stood in the hall to have the trash emptied immediately.

  As Lizzie murmured to her son and placed soft kisses on his sleeping face, Alistair glanced around the room in satisfaction. “It’s time to go.”

  She rose, eyes downcast, and placed Daniel in his crib, lingering over one last touch, one last kiss. She watched him for another moment, running her hand along the crib rail as she found the strength to say good-bye, then walked unsteadily to the chair to pick up her bag.

  As Alistair turned toward the door and opened it with a flourish, he completely missed the cold, calculating look of hatred she directed his way.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Wait,” Lizzie insisted, “I can’t leave yet.”

  Alistair turned from the door, raising one eyebrow. “Surely I misheard you. You can’t leave yet?”

  “No, you don’t understand. If…” She swallowed hard, struggling to maintain composure. “If I just disappear, Za—Thomas—will worry. And he’ll look for me. You know what he’s like. He won’t just let it go. He needs to focus on our son, not worry about me.”

  He stared at her, considering. “You are undoubtedly right. That boy has been stubborn since the day he was born. Very well, what do you suggest? And don’t think you can trick me. After all, I still hold the ace in the hole, do I not?” He chuckled.

  She nodded. “I’ll leave him a note.”

  …

  The woman was crying. She stood alone in the clearing, the moonlight creating a
n eerie glow as it reflected off the water behind her. The night wind lifted her hair, and curls blew wild and unchecked, like her sorrow. If only he could take her in his arms, he knew he could relieve her pain. He began to run, faster and faster, stopping suddenly when a man stepped from the trees and seemed to float across the lake toward her.

  The man reached the woman and turned to look at him with sad, angry eyes. His eyes. Blood burst from the familiar stranger’s chest and the man faded from sight, an agonizing cry on his lips.

  His heart racing, he again began to run. There was nothing he could do for the man, but he could save the woman.

  At last he stood in front of her, reaching to embrace her. She looked at him with pleading, tear-filled eyes…and then she was gone. His aching arms grasped only darkness as clouds suddenly blocked the moon.

  Thomas woke up, heart pounding, a sense of impending loss overwhelming him. He checked the time. Hell, it wasn’t even midnight. He resigned himself to another sleepless night.

  By 1:00 a.m., he was practically jumping out of his skin. He wanted to go see his son, but he wasn’t ready to run into Maggie. Not in the middle of the night, alone in the nursery where their every moment was no longer monitored by that ridiculous camera.

  And yet, all he really wanted was to run into Maggie. In the middle of the night, their every moment no longer monitored by a camera or probing eyes. Without fear of interruption by his father or Desiree.

  Desiree. He felt sick just thinking about the previous night. He’d allowed her to pull him into her room, onto her bed, where every kiss, every touch, every whispered endearment rang false. He’d told her it was too soon and left.

  What was wrong with him? The woman was incredibly desirable. Any man would consider himself lucky to enjoy her company. And she was pregnant with his child.

  He could not escape the sense that it was all wrong. That he would not have become engaged to this woman. Had he truly been sleeping with her before the accident? She was beautiful. With a groan of frustration, he faced the truth.

  He didn’t believe her. Throwing back the covers, he threw on clothes and stalked through the halls to the nursery. He was being played. He just wished he knew why and by whom. Desiree, his father, even Maggie—they all knew more than they were telling.

  Nodding to the security guard in the hall, he paused at the door, calming himself. He refused to take his frustration and, hell yes, his anger into the room. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and walked to the crib where his son slept, bathed in moonlight. He thought he heard movement from behind the door to Maggie’s room and tensed, not certain he was ready to face her. Relaxing when there was no further sound, he continued to watch Ace sleep as he rubbed his back.

  After a few minutes, he picked him up, needing the feel of the small body against his own. He sat in the chair and rocked. It would be another hour before Maggie came in to feed Ace, and he had a lot of things to think about before she arrived.

  Trust yourself. The way Ace trusts you. You don’t need your memories to know who you are.

  He closed his eyes as her words echoed through his mind in an endless loop. If he shut out everything else, his father, Desiree, this house, his work obligations, even Maggie, if all he listened to was his heart…

  He awoke an hour later as Ace stirred. His boy was hungry.

  …

  A limousine waited near the detached garage. The driver and a guard stood next to the vehicle.

  “Elizabeth. Do you mind if I call you by your proper name as we say our final good-bye?” Sighing, Alistair ran his hand down the side of her face. “Good-byes are always difficult, are they not? Under different circumstances, I would have enjoyed having you as a daughter-in-law. If things hadn’t worked out between you and Thomas, well”—he leaned forward to place a kiss on her lips—“there would always have been a place for you with me.”

  His fingers traced a path down the side of her neck before dipping suggestively inside the V-neck of her shirt. She stiffened.

  “Oh yes, deny it as you like, but we could have been very good together. Very good indeed.” Withdrawing his hand, he turned her to face the car. “We’re going to have to blindfold you for your trip. It wouldn’t do for you to try to track Thomas down after I’ve been so generous in returning you to young Sam.”

  He covered her eyes with a cloth and tied the blindfold tightly. Placing one hand on her head he guided her into the car, giving her backside a final caress as she slipped inside.

  “No final words for your dear father-in-law. Come, come, my dear, in the brief time we’ve know each other, we’ve always had honesty between us, have we not? Perhaps more honesty than you and Thomas ever shared. Surely you have some parting words for me.”

  “Go to hell.”

  The sound of his resulting laughter haunted her as she sat alone in the limo. She strained to hear his instructions to her guards, but the door slammed shut, leaving her with only the sound of her shallow breaths and pounding heart. Finally she heard the driver enter the car, followed by the guard who settled next to her.

  As the vehicle pulled away from the estate, she concentrated on the ride, doing her best to ignore the presence of the silent guard. Two lefts, one right, the bumpy feeling of driving over a wooden bridge. Determinedly she memorized each turn.

  She was so focused on the car that she failed to notice the movement of the man next to her until she felt something prick her arm. Registering a second of fear, she felt pressure as he injected her and everything went black.

  …

  Thomas paced the nursery as pale sunlight began to invade the room. He’d fed Ace, changed him, and rocked him back to sleep. Still no Maggie. Except for the day when he’d provided breakfast, she had never missed the early morning feeding, even when he was already present to care for his son. And on this morning, of all mornings, he was anxious to talk with her, ready to share with her the decisions he’d made.

  Finally, he knocked on the connecting door to her room. No response. Hesitating for a moment, he weighed respect for her privacy with concern for her safety. Decision made, he set his jaw and opened the door.

  The room was empty. The bed was made, there were no personal items lying around, and the place smelled freshly cleaned. He moved swiftly through the room and adjoining bathroom. Nothing. Nearly frantic, he looked under the bed, opened and shut drawers, looked for any evidence of her presence. Finally he looked in the woven bamboo trash can, where he found the only item that was out of place in an otherwise immaculate room—a small, torn piece of a photograph caught in the mesh interior.

  Removing the paper, he examined it closely. Although it was only a small remnant, he could tell it was part of a face—and although he’d seldom seen that smile, it was one he’d never forget.

  Maggie.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “You’re up early today.” Thomas turned to find Alistair behind him. He slipped his hand into his pants pocket, placing the photo scrap inside.

  “Where is she?” He refused to show emotion as he waited for a response.

  “She?”

  He itched to smack the exaggerated look of confusion off his father’s face.

  “Oh, you mean Maggie. Why, she left a few hours ago.”

  “She left. She left? Where did she go in the middle of the night? When is she returning?”

  Alistair brushed a minuscule piece of lint from the shoulder of his short-sleeved silk shirt. “She won’t be returning. And really, with her somewhat unhealthy attachment to young Alistair, I think it’s for the best.”

  “You…” He looked away for a moment before turning back toward his father, his stance now threatening. “You think it’s for the best. You…”

  “Well, yes. You’d see it also if you weren’t inappropriately attracted to her.” Alistair placed his hand on Thomas’s shoulder and squeezed. “Son, I’m afraid I fail to understand the way your mind works. You have an exquisite fiancée who adores you, do you not?�
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  Shrugging off Alistair’s hand, he took a step toward his son’s crib. “I’m worried about Ace, not about myself. Do I have to remind you again that I make decisions about Ace’s care, regardless of your relationship with Maggie? You had no right to fire her.”

  Alistair threw back his head and laughed. “Fire her? Why son, she practically begged me to let her go.” He turned to leave, stopping abruptly when Thomas grabbed his arm.

  “Where is she?”

  “She’s gone to be reunited with her child.” Alistair looked pointedly at his hand and, stunned, Thomas released his hold.

  “But…her children are dead.” Panic filled him. He had to stop her. Stop her before she did something. Before she…

  “Yes, well, I guess you didn’t know her as well as you thought you did.” Alistair smiled in mock sympathy. “I told you she lost her children through her own ignorance…that and the arrogance of her good-for-nothing husband, Zach. I helped her regain custody of dear Sam.”

  “Sam is alive?” Every revelation was a blow. She’d been separated from her daughter all this time?

  “What…what about Daniel?” No longer able to control his emotion, he began to pace.

  “Daniel, well, that’s another story entirely.” Alistair shook his head sadly. “I’m afraid Daniel is lost to her forever.”

  Thomas wandered around the room, picking up an item from the table and setting it down before moving to the crib to run his fingers back and forth along the rail. He stilled, eyes intent on the sight in front of him, and spoke quietly as Ace continued to sleep, unaware of the tension in the room.

  “I…I would have expected her to talk to me…to say something before disappearing.”

  With a sigh, Alistair walked toward the door. “Time was of the essence, Thomas. However, she did leave a note. It’s in my office if you’d like to come with me.”

  “If you don’t mind, Father, I’d prefer not to leave Ace alone. Do you mind sending the guard back with the note?”

  “Thomas…” Alistair’s exaggerated sigh filled the otherwise silent room. “Very well, I’ll get the note. And son, I thought we might have Desiree begin interviews for a new nanny. After all, she will soon be Alistair’s mother.”