Enver could see Lisa had bad news for him. He nodded outside. “Come see the beach.”
They walked a little way from the house so they could be overheard. Lisa looked at her boss. “Dale Fortuna is in a coma. He got beat up pretty good, and obviously by Ingles’ men. They must have thought he was dead; they dumped his body on a landfill site.”
“Jesus.” Enver was shocked and not surprised in equal measure. “How is he?”
“Not good. Traumatic brain injury.”
“Fuck.”
Lisa nodded. “Yeah. There’s something else. An attempt was made on Harpa Malhotra’s life. She’s okay but pretty shaken up. Arlo’s convinced Harpa is suspicious.”
Enver shook his head. “This ain’t good. Look, we can’t tell Pad anything.”
Lisa rocked back. “Are you serious? You can’t keep this from her, Enver.”
“I have to. If she finds out Dale is in the hospital, she’ll want to go back and the second she lands on American soil, Ingles will kill her.”
Lisa put her hand on Enver’s arm. “Enver…calm down. Padme is a grown woman – you cannot make that decision for her. This is her family.”
Enver, his face set and grim shook his head. “No. At least, not yet. Give me some time to figure things out first.”
Lisa sighed. “Okay…but please, don’t disrespect Padme’s choice in her life. It’s not like you.”
Enver was still thinking about Lisa’s words as they sat down to supper. Padme had prepared a light and delicious fish curry for them and Lisa swooned over the flavors. “I’ve been living on pizza for the last month. This is heaven,” she smiled at her friend who flushed.
“Glad you like it. Can you stay for a while?”
“Just a couple of days but we’ll have time to catch up.”
Enver felt Padme stroke his arm. “Honey, you okay?”
He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Just fine, cara mia.”
Later, in bed, they made love more quietly than usual, not wanting to make Lisa, who was sleeping in the next room, uncomfortable. Enver stroked the hair back from Padme’s lovely face as he thrust into her. Padme hitched her legs around his waist. “Weird, being so quiet,” she whispered, and they both chuckled. “I’m pretty sure the people on the other side will wonder what’s happened to us.”
They both started to laugh then, and Enver lost his rhythm and buried his face in her neck to muffle his laughter.
“Hey, what did Lisa say to you out on the beach? You came back, and your face was all stressed out.”
Enver was glad his face was hidden. “Just business stuff. A couple of takeover bids and I’m not there to oversee them, is all. Doesn’t matter.”
He felt bad for lying to Padme, but he could not countenance her finding about Dale Fortuna. She would demand they go back and even now, here safe on the island, Enver’s nightmares about her being killed were tormenting him.
To his relief, Padme didn’t question him further, but the next morning, when Padme was still asleep, he saw Lisa jogging back along the beach and went out to meet her.
“Listen,” he said, “I want to know everything that’s been going on back in the States since Padme has been here. Everything.”
Lisa sighed and nodded. “I was going to walk a couple of miles along the beach to cool down. Come walk with me.”
Padme was awake only a few minutes after Enver left the bed and she padded through the quiet house to find him. She saw him walking down the beach with Lisa and shrugged. She went to grab a shower and get dressed, and as she was toweling her hair dry, she walked past Lisa’s room. Lisa’s laptop sat on her bed. Padme stared at it for a long moment before going to check where Enver was now. She saw them far down the beach. Dropping the towel, she scooted back to Lisa’s room and opened the laptop.
Opening a browser, she resisted the temptation to look up her family and friend or any news in Seattle and instead concentrated on her immediate problem. She typed in “Abortion in The Maldives” into the search engine, then saw with a sinking heart that it was prohibited, and in any case the spouse or significant other had to be informed.
“Shit.” She held her head in her hands for a moment then slid a hand over her belly. This was real, it was happening. “It’s not that I don’t want you, little one,” she said, her voice breaking, “it’s that I can’t want you right now.” She sighed and scrubbed the browser history.
The weight of responsibility was crushing her, and she gave into her worst instincts, and google searched Severin, Harpa, the Forrester’s, and then finally, Dale.
The shock was icy cold. F.BI. Agent found beaten, near to death on city landfill. A photo of Dale in his graduation uniform. She read the whole article.
Only a year into his fledgling F.B.I. career, Agent Dale Fortuna, 33, has been found almost beaten to death on a Seattle landfill site. He was rushed to hospital where he underwent a thirty-hour brain surgery to save his life and while doctors were successful, the Tacoma native lies in a deep coma in a Seattle hospital and doctors say it is too soon to know if he will ever come out of it.
It’s not the first time tragedy has touched the young agent. Just over eight months ago, his agency partner, Padme Kaur was shot protecting tech billionaire Enver Toscano as he gave evidence against the mighty Ingles Corporation. Miss Kaur survived the attack despite being shot three times, but was recently the victim of a savage murder.
Padme was shaking, trembling so hard that when she stood to go to the bathroom to throw up, she slammed into the walls and doors as she staggered. She barely made it to the toilet before she threw up and up and up. She sobbed out all her pain, every microbe of it, from since before she came here, leaving her friends, her mom, the horror of being shot, the separation from Enver…who had lied to her. She knew without a doubt that the news about Dale was what Lisa had told Enver yesterday – and he had kept it from her.
She cried for seemed like hours, but when she felt Enver’s arms go around her, she fought him off, screaming at him not to touch her, and ran from the house, passing a shocked Lisa. She ran and ran down the beach. Enver caught up with her, but she screamed at him to leave her alone and kept running before collapsing into the sand and gasping for air. Enver had lied to her. About something as big as this, about Dale being nearly killed. What else was he keeping from her?
All she knew, right now, was that she had Enver’s child growing inside her – and a lover who she didn’t know if she could trust…and a best friend who was lying in a hospital bed because of her.
Enver, shell-shocked, returned to the house to be greeted by Lisa carrying her laptop. “Enver…she used my laptop.”
Enver felt his heart sink. Padme knew about Dale.
Severin wondered at the sheer tragedy of it. Eight months ago, she was sitting by Padme’s hospital bed; now she was here with Dale. Another soul who had no-one else in his life. She held Dale’s hand as she had Padme’s and willed him to survive.
“Hey there.” Henry Jones pushed the door open. “The nurse told me you were with him. I thought I’d bring you some hot coffee and a Danish.”
Severin smiled at him. “You are a sweetheart, thank you.” She took the coffee from him and sipped it.
Henry went to Dale and place his hand on his forehead. “How is he?”
“No change.”
Henry shook his head. “God.” He sat down opposite Severin. “You visit often?”
“Every day,” she said softly, reaching out to take Dale’s hand again. “He doesn’t have any one else.” She smiled at Henry. “Sorry, I mean, apart from you.”
“He and Pad were like children to me. Both brilliant, dedicated…even if Padme chose a different path eventually.”
“He’s still alive,” Severin said softly, not looking at Henry.
“What?”
She smiled a little reprovingly. “You said ‘he and Pad were like children to you.’ Dale is still alive.”
“Yes, of course, sorry. A slip of
the tongue.” They sat in silence for a moment. “How are you dealing with Padme’s loss? I mean, is there anything I can do for you?”
Severin shook her head. “No.” She debated whether to tell him Dale and her theory, that Padme was alive but she didn’t want to put Henry in a difficult position. Dale had been so adamant that they should keep it to themselves. “No, thank you, Henry.”
He stayed a little longer, but when she was alone, Severin felt more at peace. She went to stand at the window, looking out over the city at night. Where are you, Pad? Wherever you are, I hope you’ve found peace, safety, love. I miss you. I love you.
Come home.
Enver was sitting in the living room with Lisa, his head in his hands when Padme came back. Her face was expressionless, but her whole body was tensed. Enver knew not to touch her as much as he wanted to. He waited for Padme to speak, as she sat in the chair opposite him.
“I’m pregnant.”
Enver felt a rush of joy but seeing Padme’s pale, stern face, he had to once again restrain himself. “That’s the best news, Pad, I’m so happy.”
Padme shook her head. “Enver…no. It isn’t. We both have targets on our backs. Do you think I would put a child in danger like that?” She sighed, her shoulders slumping. “Have you any idea how long I’ve dreamed of having your child? But I don’t even know if I can trust you. Why didn’t you tell me about Dale?”
Enver sighed and rubbed his hands on his face. “Because I know what you’ll say.”
“We have to go back.”
He shook his head. “No.”
Padme leaned forward in her chair, her eyes softening. “We have to finish this, Enver. I won’t live like this – I won’t have our child brought into a world where he or she could lose us in a split second or worse, be murdered themselves. Lisa,” she looked to the other woman, sitting silently at their side. “You must see this, too?”
Lisa sighed. “I hate to agree but yes, I think it’s the only way for you both to have a happy life.”
Enver made a noise and felt both irritated and terrified. “And you don’t think putting yourself back in Ingle’s sights will be riskier? Do you remember what he did to Julia? It won’t matter to him that you’re pregnant, he’ll cut our child right out of you.”
Padme winced, but Enver wasn’t sorry. She had to know the risks. “What are you suggesting, Pad? We kill Ingles?”
She looked at him steadily without saying anything, and suddenly he knew exactly what she was saying. Yes. Kill Frederick Ingles. Without him, his family business would crumble, and they would be free.
“Pad, even if we kill Ingles, don’t you think they’ll seek revenge?”
“That’s why you reach out first to Ingle’s enemies. You told me yourself that there are so many families waiting to take over from Ingles that it won’t matter about the rest of his family, what’s left of it. They’ll be so grateful we got rid of him, we’ll have a worldwide network of protection.”
Enver stared at his lover. “You really want to get into bed with these people?”
“Of course not and I’m not saying do business with them, just make it clear that if we do this, then they owe us a life free from danger.”
Lisa shrugged. “It could work. It’s certainly no worse than hiding out here forever, waiting to be found.”
“What about the men loyal to Ingles?” Enver was starting to feel ganged-up-on by the women, and he didn’t want to admit they might be right.
Lisa scoffed. “They’re loyal to a paycheck, Enver, not Ingles. He treats them like shit.”
Enver got up and paced around thinking. “How would this work initially?”
“I call Henry, get them to ease our passage back to Seattle, get protection. Then we proceed with our ‘comeback,’ carefully stage-managed public areas where Frederick Ingles thinks he can get to us.”
Enver half-smiled at Padme. “You’ve really thought this through, huh?”
She nodded. “Ever since I found out I was pregnant. This has to end, Enver. I want Severin to know her grandchild, for him or her to play with Cosima’s kids. It’s not just about you and me anymore.”
Enver felt a wave of certainty come over him. They could do this – they could fight for the life they wanted. Padme was watching him.
“That house, that little house on the Italian coast,” she said softly, and he nodded.
“I want that too, cara mia. Okay. Okay, then. Let’s hash this out, before you call Henry and we’ll get things moving. Let’s go home, Pad. Let’s start our real lives together.”
Three hours later, Padme waited nervously as she listened to the phone ring at the other end of the line, then smiled when she heard his warm voice. “Henry…it’s me.”
A week later…
Dale was hovering at the very edge of consciousness, having climbed from a chasm of darkness. He could hear the voices around him, the doctors and nurses so he knew he wasn’t dead, but still, so tired. His head throbbed with pain. He had felt a soft hand holding his, a gentle voice calling him out of the dark. Severin.
She wasn’t in the room with him now, but as Dale thought about opening his eyes for the first time, he heard the door creak open. Someone came into the room, but didn’t say anything. He heard the faint dial tone as whoever it was placed a call.
“Ingles, it’s Henry. Yeah, he’s still in a coma. Listen, I thought you said you were going to end him? I can’t have him waking up and interfering now, we’re so close. Yeah. I know, but…fuck, Ingles, she’s coming back. She’s coming back, and I’m giving you exactly what you wanted. She and Toscano are delivering themselves to me in an hour. They’re yours as soon as the money hits my account. Fine. Do it.”
Dale was rigid with shock and horror. He was glad now he hadn’t opened his eyes; he didn’t want Henry to know he had just discovered his duplicity. Henry would kill him without a second thought.
God…Henry? Kind, generous, grandfather-like Henry? And now he was delivering Padme into the arms of her killer. Dale couldn’t believe it.
He felt Henry lean over him and kept very still, not even moving his eyes under his closed lids.
“You shoulda just died, kid. It ain’t gonna be pretty from now on,” Henry said softly. Dale held his breath until he heard the door close then opened his eyes. His hand fumbled for the call button, and when the nurse arrived, he tried to speak.
“Hold on honey let me just wet your mouth.”
A blissful wetness on his lips. “Severin,” he said, in barely a whisper, “please get Severin now…”
When Severin rushed to his side, he stared up at her with pain-filled eyes and began to cry. “He’s going to get her killed, Sev, oh god…oh god…”
Henry was waiting with a limousine on the tarmac at SeaTac as Enver’s private jet flew in. Padme knew Enver was nervous; as they alighted the plane, she saw his eyes raking the scene, looking for danger. She squeezed his hand. “Stop. It’ll be okay.”
Henry hugged Padme. “Can’t tell you how good it is to see you, Padme.”
She smiled at him. “You too, Henry, sorry we had to go through all that to get me out of the country.”
“Where were you, out of interest?”
Padme looked at Enver, who cleared his throat. “We’d rather not say, Henry, you know? Just in case.”
Henry smiled. “Of course, look, we have arranged a safe house outside Seattle. Pad, Severin is waiting for you there.”
Padme looked astonished and overwhelmed. “You told her?”
Henry shrugged. “She came to me, said she knew you were alive and that I had something to do with it. Something about the DNA on the body we used…anyhoo, I thought you could use another friendly face. Enver, your men are stationed along the route and are at the house. I’ll be driving you there myself.”
Enver was surprised. “You will?”
Henry gave him an expansive smile. “I just don’t trust anyone else to do it.”
He motioned for them to g
et into the limousine. Padme held Enver’s hand in the back of the car as they set off.
Severin. Soon she would see her mother again, and it should have filled her with joy but something was off, and she couldn’t pin down what it was. She looked at the back of Henry’s head was it odd that he, the head of their field office, Henry, who was high up on the F.B.I. ladder would do something as menial as driving them to a safe house.
When she had spoken to him on the phone, he had agreed that coming home was best. “You can’t run forever, Pad.”
He’d agreed so easily that something hadn’t sat right with Padme since but this was Henry she was talking about, her mentor, her guide.
Still, she had pushed forward with their plans now they were heading to what Padme hoped would only be a temporary home. Ingles must know they were back already; she didn’t doubt that he had spies all over the airport. They had made the decision to fly back in Enver’s private plane, had filed a flight plan the day before. The wheel had been set in motion, and now they had to follow through.
Henry chatted happily, but neither Enver or Padme felt like talking. As they drove up to the small house Henry had procured, it was dusk. Henry helped Padme out of the car and she smiled her thanks. A shock ran through her when she saw Henry’s smile did not reach his eyes and somehow she knew. She turned to speak to Enver, to try and warn him, but Henry clamped his hand over her mouth and dragged her toward the house as a gang of men rushed Enver. He had no time to react.
Henry dragged a struggling Padme into the house. “I’m sorry, Pad, but it has to be this way.”
Padme kicked and bit, but Henry was too strong for her. He threw her to the floor of the living room, and she felt a hand under her chin as her face was tilted upwards. Frederick Ingles smiled at her. “Beautiful Padme, how nice of you to join me for your real murder…”
Enver was dragged inside, and he too struggled against his captors. “Motherfuckers! Figli di puttana!”
He saw Henry Jones come out of the living room. “You son of a bitch!”
His Sweet Torment: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance Page 11
