Her Dark Melody

by Michelle Love

  Now, that bastard billionaire philanthropist and his whore surgeon would testify about him in court, and even his father’s expensive lawyers wouldn’t be able to keep him away from Death Row.

  So, he had only two options now. Suicide…or the removal of the witnesses, and that was an easy decision to make. He fingered the knife in his hand and smiled to himself.

  By the end of the week, before the end of the year, Atlas Tigri and Dr. Romy Sasse would be dead…and he would be a free man.

  Chapter Eleven

  Cormac Duggan swung his legs over the side of the bed and strode to the bathroom. He heard Lydia call his name, but ignored her and stepped under the hot spray. His whole body was still wound tight from his fight with Mateo.

  For as long as he could remember, he and Mateo Tigri had hated each other. The more volatile Tigri twin was too much of a playboy for Cormac to ever respect and even his chosen profession of wine importing was, to Cormac, nothing more than a front to a life of idleness and frivolity.

  The one thing Mateo had ever done right was to bring Fino up, but even that rankled with Cormac. He hated himself for loving the boy, despite the hatred of his father, but Fino was a special kid, and Cormac was envious of the bond that had formed between father and son.

  Because Cormac would never have that. A year ago, on a routine medical check-up, Cormac had asked the doctor to test his sperm count. “Lydia and I want to try and have kids as soon as we’re married.”

  He hadn’t expected the doctor to call him and tell him that he was sorry, but it turned out that Cormac had a troublingly low sperm count. “Do the tests again,” he had ordered, and the doctor complied, but the result was the same.

  “I’m afraid it’s very unlikely you’ll have children naturally, Mr. Duggan, but don’t give up hope. Low sperm count is not the same as no sperm count.”

  Since then, resentment and anger had grown within him, and seeing Fino at Christmas had only made that resentment, that hatred, toward Mateo fester. Cormac wanted kids more than anything, even money. He clung to that wish, knowing it was the one thing that saved him from being a complete asshole.

  Cormac closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down. He heard the door of the shower stall open and felt Lydia’s slender arms snaked around him. There was a flash of irritation, but it subsided quickly. None of his rancor towards Mateo was Lydia’s fault. He turned and smiled down at her.

  “Good morning.”

  Lydia, her grey eyes shining up at him, was thinner than the women he usually went for, built to walk a catwalk rather than anything else, though she didn’t need to work for her living. The Van Pelts were on par with the Rockefellers and Vanderbilts of the world, and Lydia, while maintaining the façade of a fashion editor, was a maven of the socialite scene. She also hated Seattle; found it too accepting and laidback for her refined tastes. Cormac had to agree. The only reason why he’d agreed to come back for Christmas was to rub Mateo’s nose in the fact that now he, Cormac, was with Lydia. It had backfired spectacularly, he had to admit, but for one thing. He thought of that one thing now and smiled.

  Lydia, mistaking his grin for affection, pressed her lips to his. She’d had lip fillers over the summer which were only now beginning to look settled, but Cormac didn’t pay much attention.

  “Please tell me we’re going back to New York for New Year’s Eve?” Lydia groaned now. “Another few days in this place will drive me insane.”

  “I’m sorry, darling,” he said smoothly, shutting off the water and stepping out of the stall, “but I do have some business here. I can’t promise I’ll be back in New York by then, but you should go if you feel like it.”

  Lydia, wrapping a towel around her head, narrowed her eyes at him. “So, we’ll be apart for the parties? Is that what you’re saying?”

  “I’m afraid so.”

  Lydia walked out of the bathroom, and Cormac sighed. It drove him mad that she constantly kept tabs on him – even if it was justified. Cormac had no intention of curbing his womanizing ways just because he was engaged – but he was discreet. He never fucked around in New York, always keeping his trysts for his frequent business trips. He almost always used professionals, too, paid for their discretion. He was under no illusions that Lydia wouldn’t kick him to the curb if she caught him.

  He went to find her now, sitting on the bed in her wet towel, brushing out her long blonde hair. Sulking. He sat beside her. “Darling,” he pressed his lips against her shoulder, “I know you hate it here, so that’s why I said you should go back. But it’s not what I want. I want us to be together on New Year’s.” He sighed. “I’ll even put up with my step-brothers and take you to their party – at least you’ll be amongst friends there.” Too late, he realized that could sound like a rebuke. Lydia had always adored Mateo, regardless of their break-up. “What I mean is…family. Our family, for better or for worse.”

  He felt her shoulders relax a little and looked up at her through his dark lashes. She smiled at him. “When you put it like that…”

  Cormac smiled, a little triumphantly. He pushed her back on the bed and hitched her legs around his waist. Lydia was a good if bony fuck, and now she gasped as he launched his cock into her, clinging to him as they fucked, urging him on and on until he came, his cock pumping cum deep inside her as she cried out his name.

  Romy felt strangely nervous as she scrubbed in beside her husband for their domino surgery. Blue looked over at her. “You’re going to rock it, baby.”

  “You too, my darling. I don’t know why I feel so nervous.”

  “If you weren’t, I’d be worried,” Blue said, scrubbing his hands with the brush. “Five patients at the same time…it’s a big thing. Beau’s due any moment and Phillipa and Rex are scrubbing in in OR 5. This is happening, baby.”

  Romy laughed at the excitement in his voice. “Chief, you know, you’re really hot when you’re like this.”

  Blue grinned at her. “If this goes well, I’m so having you in the on-call room later.”

  Romy chuckled. “Like old times. Remember that first time? We were so unprofessional, but god, it was so good.”

  “And keeps getting better. I love you, Doctor Sasse.”

  “Love you too, Chief. Let’s do this.”

  An hour later and the surgery was in full swing. Romy and Blue fell into the same patterns of old, moving around each other like orbiting satellites, reading each other’s moves, their wishes. Romy felt a surge of adrenaline coursing through her body. She missed this, the planned procedures, the highly organized routine. At Haven, her work was usually one of emergency surgery, a wide range of skills was required, but the fact the injuries she treated were almost exclusive borne of violence did get to her. Here, trying to combat what disease had done to the patient, she could work methodically, hone her skills.

  She didn’t regret for one moment working for Haven but they lost a lot of patients, and each one of them haunted Romy. It meant more sleepless nights than she admitted to Blue.

  “Okay.” Blue lifted a diseased kidney from his patient, “Here we go.”

  The surgery was a well oiled machine (“A well coiled machine” Romy grinned when she remembered Gracie’s mistake), and the donor's kidney was brought in almost as soon as it was required. Blue looked at his wife. “You want to do the honors?”

  Romy nodded, her eyes twinkling at him over her mask. With his help, she transplanted the kidney into the young woman on the table and when it began to pink up and respond, they all relaxed. “Great job, baby,” Blue said, forgetting the rest of the people in the room, who snickered. “Ah, give me a break,” Blue joked, “My wife’s a rockstar.”

  Ten hours later, Blue released his exhausted staff, dumped his bloody scrubs in the bins, and snatched a kiss from Romy. “I’m going to check up on everybody then I’ll meet you in the on-call room in an hour.”

  She kissed him back. “I’ll update the charts. Thank you, by the way, that was exhilarating.”

  Blue
winked at her and went to check on the patients. Romy dumped her scrubs then went to find hot coffee and a power bar before settling into the resident’s lounge to do her charts. She checked her cell phone and saw a message from her Mom.

  Kids in bed almost on time, adorable little munchkins. You’re raising them well. Love you, good luck with the surgery. Mom xx.

  Romy grinned. Her mother, Magda, had been delighted to look after her grandkids for a couple of days. Still, Romy missed kissing her children goodnight.

  She worked solidly for an hour then, checking her watch, gave a grin. She knew Blue would be waiting for her and, as she went into the on-call room, she saw him already shirtless. “Now that is one magnificent sight.”

  “Get your sweet ass over here,” Blue said with a grin, and she went into his arms. She pressed her body up against his, she could feel his hard-on, rock hard, against her belly.

  “Hmm, is that all for me?” She said with a grin, then shrieked with laughter as he tackled her to the floor, yanking down her scrub pants and underwear.

  “You better believe it’s all for you, beautiful.”

  She helped him kick his own pants off, then pulled her top over her head. He freed her breasts from her bra, taking her nipples into his mouth hungrily. Romy wrapped her legs around his back. “I want you inside me right now, baby.”

  Impatiently, she helped guide him inside, and as he thrust deep into her, she shivered with pleasure. “God, yes, Blue…yes, yes…”

  They fucked hard, not even regulating their cries as his cock drove deeper and harder into her. “Christ, you’re so beautiful…your cunt feels so good on my cock…Jesus…Romy…Romy…”

  Romy cried out as she came, her orgasm blasting through her body, making her vibrate with abandon. Blue groaned her name as his cock pumped thick, creamy cum deep inside her.

  “God, Romy…I love you, I love you so fucking much…”

  As they collapsed together, Blue kissed her until she was breathless. “I’m the luckiest freaking guy on the planet,” he said and grinned at her.

  “I love you, Blue Allende, so much. Really mushy, saccharin stuff, you know?”

  They both laughed and Blue, withdrawing, scooped her onto the bunk, wrapping himself around her. “I like mushy.”

  He swept her hair back from her face, gazing down at her. “There is no one else on this planet who makes me feel the way I do when I look at you. Completely lost. Completely loved.”

  Romy flushed. Even after all these years, he could still make her feel like a giddy teenager. “When I met you, Blue Allende, everything made sense.”

  They kissed and talked until exhausted, then fell asleep in each other’s arms.

  Chapter Twelve

  Juno and Obe had looked at her in surprise when Ebony told them she was taking them straight from the airport to Atlas’s home. “I’m kind of staying there,” she said, coloring bright red, and saw Juno and Obe grin at each other, understanding. “It’s early days,” she told them, admitting her feelings for Atlas, “But I’m so excited. You’ll love him, and his family.”

  Her brother and his wife looked suitably impressed as the limousine drove them to the mansion, but as soon as they arrived, they were greeted by an excited Fino. Mateo grinned at them both. “So good to meet both of you, please, do come in.”

  After a lunch of steak sandwiches and champagne – luckily, Ebony had never liked champagne, so Obe didn’t notice her not drinking – Mateo showed them the grounds. He and Obe strode ahead, talking as Juno held back and looped her arm through Ebony’s. “So, you came to sing, and fell for the boss?”

  Ebony chuckled. “I know, so cliché, right? But, Juno, when you meet Atlas, you’ll know why. He’s incredible.”

  Juno nodded towards Mateo. “If he’s anything like that one – gorgeous, by the way – then I completely understand.”

  Ebony nodded. “I hope Livia won’t think I’m being unprofessional, it’s just…I’ve never, ever felt this way. It was like instant chemistry, you know?”

  Juno grinned. “I do know. It was like that between your brother and me.”

  The thought of Juno and Obe doing half of what she and Atlas had been doing made Ebony turn bright red. “Didn’t hear that,” she teased her friend, who smirked.

  “There’s a whole lot of that to hear,” Juno said mischievously, and Ebony groaned and buried her face in her friend’s shoulder.

  “Didn’t. Hear. That.”

  They walked on, noticing that the light was fading. Mateo and Obe were far ahead of them now, almost hidden by a copse of trees that were heavy with snow. Fino ran back toward them, grinning. “I’m going back to the house to switch on the Christmas lights.”

  “Okay, be careful, Fino.”

  The boy scrambled past them toward the house, just as Mateo and Obe came back into view, waving at them.

  Afterwards, Ebony would try to make sense of what happened next, but still, she could not comprehend. As she turned to see Fino going into the house, a loud noise echoed across the grounds. For a moment everything froze, and then, to her horror, she realized what the sound was.

  A gunshot. As she looked around, the next thing she saw was a body falling. Then there were people screaming and a body on the ground, bleeding. So much bleeding.

  Blue went to check on his patients for the third time, not quite believing how well the surgery had gone. All of them were responding well – one had a slightly elevated blood pressure, but that was to be expected. He chatted with a couple who were awake, but then handed over to his second-in-command, Bill.

  “Go get some sleep with that lovely wife of yours,” Bill told him and Blue grinned.

  “Sleep wasn’t what I had in mind, but I like your thinking. Thanks, Bill.”

  Blue went to the attendings staff room to find Romy, but seeing it empty, checked the on-call room again, then the cafeteria. Romy was nowhere.

  Going back to the surgical floor, he stopped a nurse. “Hey, have you seen Dr. Sasse?”

  “Not for a while. She was going down to the lab last time I saw her.”

  “Thanks.”

  As he headed toward the stairwell, a very pale man who Blue recognized as one of his patient’s husbands, burst through the door. “Please, can you help? I think she’s been stabbed.”

  “Who?” Blue rushed towards him.

  “I don’t know, I think a nurse, or a doctor, or someone, a young woman…she’s on the floor in the corridor, and there’s so much blood. I just found her.”

  His heart thumping, Blue followed the man, trying to quell the panic in his chest. It’s not her, it’s not her. But even before he reached the corridor, he knew it was her. Romy. His Romy, laying in a pool of her own blood. Her scrub top was pushed up, multiple stab wounds in her belly, and her eyes were closed. She was so quiet, so pale.

  He dropped to his knees beside her with a keening wail and felt for a pulse. Nothing. Blue roared out his pain. “No, no…someone help us…someone help us...”

  His scream could be heard throughout the hospital as people began to rush to their aid.

  Mateo’s expression was confused for the longest moment, then, as the blood began to bloom across his sweater, across his chest, understanding came into his eyes. Understanding and sorrow, along with a farewell. “Fino…” He gasped his son’s name as he touched the blood with his fingertips. “Son … sorry …”

  “Call 911!” Obe was the first to spring into action, picking him up. While Juno dialed 911, he and Ebony hauled Mateo into the house, locking the door behind them. They had no way of knowing if the shooter was still outside. Laying Mateo on the floor, Obe shoved up his sweater to get a better look at the wound. Blood from his mouth and nose poured out, mixing with the blood from what seemed like every other part of him, so much that it was impossible to tell if he’d been shot more than once

  Ebony fell to her knees beside him. “No, no, please…Mateo? Mateo?” She began to blow air into his mouth and pump on his chest. A
split second later, they heard Fino returning, and Ebony looked at Juno, panicked. “Stop him…”

  But it was too late. “Dada!” Fino screamed and ran to his stricken father before any of them could stop him. “DADA!”

  Juno gathered the boy in her arms, but he struggled, kicking, screaming, clawing and howling in utter despair as she bore the distraught child out of the room.

  “What the hell happened?” Obe demanded, watching Ebony perform CPR, waiting to take over when she tired.

  More gunshots echoed from outside, followed by loud shouts. “Fuck… Ebony, let’s get him away from the windows.”

  “Can’t stop,” Ebony gasped out as she kept up the rhythm on Mateo’s chest but they could both all see it was too late. His bright green eyes were glazed, his beautiful face pale slack. Ebony checked his pulse again then began to sob, laying her head on her lover’s brother’s chest as the chaos continued.

  Fino was somehow back in the room again then, on his knees in the blood. He patted Mateo’s face, eyes huge and afraid. “Dada?”

  “I’m so sorry, Fino,” Ebony whispered. “There was nothing we could do.”

  The boy’s wail broke all of their hearts and Ebony reached for him, holding the weeping child in her arms, her own bewildered, brokenhearted tears mingling with his.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Two victims, one dead, one clinging to life in a Seattle hospital. Both victims of a suspected revenge attack by a man who allegedly murdered his wife just days before Christmas – then blamed the victims – or in one case, the identical twin brother of a victim – for her death. Tonight, on KOMO, the terrifying story that has shocked America. We’ll return after these messages.

  Blue shut off the television and rubbed his eyes. He had watched every moment of news coverage he could, trying to make sense of what had happened a week ago. Mateo Tigri shot dead in his own home…and his beloved Romy, stabbed mercilessly and left for dead. How she was still alive was a miracle, but as he watched her, connected up to a myriad of machines, bandages, bruised, torn apart, he wondered if she would ever wake up.