“You kidnapped me because I was dating Jordan,” she accused. “You held me captive on an island to make him suffer.”
“I did that for you,” he said harshly as he shook his head. “And for me. I did it to show you that what you were doing was wrong. Living with two men, being with two men, you didn’t deserve that Arianna. You deserved one man who would love you like I loved you for years.” His pale cheeks were filled with color, and his lips were so strained they were as white as his skin. “I did it because I was free to finally be with you the way I’d wanted to all along. It had nothing to do with hurting Jordan.”
“What?” She couldn’t believe it. She just couldn’t. She shook her head. “That’s not true.”
“Of course it’s true, Arianna. I told you I’d planned to take you to the island all along. I wasn’t lying.” He shook his head. “Why don’t you trust me?”
Why didn’t she trust him? Because of what his mother did? Because he didn’t stop her? Because she didn’t love him? No. Staring at him she realized she did love him. Not like she loved Vince, and not like she loved Jordan. It was different, but it was love. The noises she made when he touched her. The way he took care of her. The way he looked at her. How he treated his kids. How he said her name. She loved everything about him.
“I’m pregnant, Damien.” There, she finally said it.
He changed again, immediately. He smiled the biggest smile she’d ever seen. His eyes grew wide, and he inhaled like a child at a surprise party. He grabbed her and held her close, then he twirled her around.
“This is the best moment of my life,” he said as he held her closer and kissed her mouth.
But she pulled away, and put her hands up to his chest. He set her down gently. “What?”
“I did come with you to hurt you Damien. I didn’t trust you. I wanted to punish you for taking me, because I thought you did it to punish Jordan. And I wanted to punish you for not helping the other women that were killed by your mother.”
He was upset again. His eyes were barely slits, and his hands balled into fists at his side. “But I fell in love with you Damien. And you have to know, in your heart, that this baby might not be yours.” He didn’t say anything. He was speechless. “I can’t let you believe it’s yours, when I don’t even know myself.”
“Arianna,” he began.
“I need time alone. Can you give me that? Once the baby’s born,” she said.
“It doesn’t matter who the father is,” he said. But she heard it in his voice. It did matter. “I’ll love you anyway, I swear. I’ll still marry you if you want me.”
“Thank you,” she said, and stepped forward to kiss his cheek. “But I need to know the truth. And you should want the truth too.”
He knelt down in front of her on one knee. “I don’t care, I swear. If it’s not mine, I don’t want to know. I’ll love the baby anyway, and I’ll wait by your side while you’re in labor, and I’ll cut the cord, and be the first to hold it. I swear, Arianna. Just trust me for once.”
His eyes said he was telling the truth. How easy it would be, to allow him to be there. To tell Isabeau she was having a baby brother or sister. To be a real family with him.
“Can I have time, please? Can you just give me that? I just need to think.” She pulled him up off the cold sidewalk. And then she kissed him like she did on the island. It was a moment of fear, and expectation, and trust, and love.
She took a step away from him, and raised her arm for a taxi. One stopped quickly, and she was gone. She didn’t tell him where she was going, or where to send her clothes, or if she’d be back. He climbed into the limo, and said, “Follow that taxi.”
Arianna thought about meeting the three of them someplace neutral, but she couldn’t think of anywhere. She didn’t want to cause another public scene. So she told the taxi driver to take her to Jordan’s house, and she hoped all three of them would be there. Anyway, she wanted to take her car and drive. She didn’t want to fly anywhere, she just wanted get lost on the road. She knew she’d probably end up in Ohio. Her mother was probably worried sick wondering why Arianna was traipsing around the world and not calling her.
She didn’t knock; she just opened the door and let herself in. Everything still looked the same. She heard the guys in the dining room and followed the sound to them. Jordan saw her first. His eyes grew wide, and he stood quickly, becoming totally silent. Sam looked up next, and smiled. Vince sat facing away from her, and had to turn to see who they were staring at.
Sam and Vince had both already seen her and spoken to her. But Jordan hadn’t seen her in months, and as usual he had no idea what to do. So she ran toward him and wrapped her arms around his waist and held him.
“God, I missed you,” she she happily. “You have no idea how much I’ve wished I could talk to you.”
“But you could have,” he said with his disconnected voice. “You could have called me any time.”
“Just hug me,” she insisted. And he wrapped his arms around her, and held her. And he felt whole. She relaxed into his body, needing his warmth and his caring. Secretly she hoped the baby was Jordan’s, he would be the most amazing father.
“Are you hungry? We have plenty,” he said as he pulled away from her. He wasn’t ready to give in to her just yet. She shook her head and refused to let him go. Sam smiled brightly, but Vince felt uncomfortable. He was always so jealous of the two of them.
“Do you want wine,” Sam asked with a chuckle. She shook her head. “Can I at least have a hug?”
“Of course, Sam.” He stood and she turned to him and wrapped her arms around him. It wasn’t the same as her hug to Jordan, but she kissed his cheek and whispered “Thank you,” in his ear.
“I’ve enjoyed it,” he said honestly. “And I’m so glad you’re back.”
“I’m not back,” she sighed. “I’m leaving again.”
“With Tremblay,” Vince growled. She noticed he didn’t ask for a hug.
She threw an angry look at him and said, “No, I need to be by myself for a while.”
“You can be by yourself here,” Jordan said. “You have your own bedroom.”
“No, that’s not what I mean. I’ll probably drive to my mom’s; stop along the way at hotels. You know,” she shrugged. “But I’m glad all three of you are here.”
She took the open seat at the table across from Sam, and stared at all three of them. Vince was still upset, and he flexed his hand before he grabbed his glass of wine and downed it in one gulp. Sam stared at her expectantly, with that pretty face and those bright blue eyes. Jordan stared at her too, but he wasn’t happy. He didn’t want her to leave again.
“There’s something that I need to say that could impact all three of you.” At that Vince’s eyes grew wide. He’d just assumed the baby was Tremblay’s. He always jumped to the wrong conclusion.
“What,” Jordan wondered as she paused to gaze at Vince’s changing expression.
“I’m pregnant,” she finally said.
“Really?” Sam said excitedly. “That’s great!”
“I thought you were on…” Jordan began. But he thought about it in his rational brain, and calculated how many times birth control fail. “But Sam used a condom.”
“Not the second time,” he bragged.
“So either of us could be the father,” Vince realized. “How will we know for sure?”
“I can have a DNA test once the baby is born,” Arianna said as if that should be obvious.
“You can have one before the baby is born,” Jordan corrected her. “There are two tests that can determine the…”
“Not now.” Sam shook his head, and placed his hand on Jordan’s. He became quiet. “Jordan and I will be more than happy to help you raise the baby, no matter who the father is.”
Arianna smiled at him. Jordan opened his mouth to say something, but Sam grasped his hand again. Jordan closed his mouth and sat back in his chair.
“What about me,” Vince snarled a
s he poured another glass of wine. “And since when do you speak for Jordan?”
“You left us alone to run off to New York.” Sam raised his voice. “You abandoned Jordan when he needed you most.”
“I can speak for myself,” Jordan piped up then. “And I want to raise the baby.”
“I want to raise the baby,” Vince insisted.
“Until things get tough and you run away again,” Sam yelled.
“Stop arguing guys,” Arianna interrupted, but Sam and Vince were both standing to face each other.
“It’s his fault anyway.” Vince’s anger finally bubbled over; he couldn’t keep the lid on it any longer. He pointed at Jordan. “Everyone thinks I’m the bad guy when he’s the one who had Tremblay’s mother killed. If it wasn’t for him…”
“What?” Arianna and Sam both said at once.
“What did you say,” Damien asked from the doorway.
Chapter Eighteen
Four sets of eyes turned toward him immediately. He entered while they were distracted by seeing Arianna walk in the door. No one heard the car pull up outside, or the door open. When Sam talked about having sex with Arianna he almost interrupted their little party then. But he didn’t. He continued to listen. If Arianna had even given the smallest hint that the baby was one of theirs, or that she was in love with one of them… He didn’t know what he would have done. But she didn’t. She treated all of them equally. Except maybe she shot daggers from her eyes at Vince a little.
But he couldn’t stay silent any longer. He walked into the room and stood between Vince and Arianna. He crossed his arms in front of his chest. “What did you say?”
Vince became quiet and defensive. Sam took a step closer to Jordan.
Jordan and Damien faced off. Vince knew Damien was dangerous. He sent Vince to his knees with two hits. He could destroy Jordan if he wanted to.
“Did you know?” Damien turned toward Arianna.
She couldn’t comprehend what Vince had just said, much less Damien standing in their dining room. She’d never been so stunned and scared in her life. She thought about just punching Damien in his neck and knocking him out like she did other men. Then what would she do with him?
“No, you didn’t,” Damien said when she simply stared back at him. “Did you know?” He turned toward Sam. “When I asked you to represent my father, did you know he’d had my mother killed?”
“No one knew but me,” Vince said, as if that would make it better.
Damien nodded his head. “Arianna, please go to the limo and wait for me there.” He said calmly. “Sam you can leave too if you want.”
Vince looked leery, but he didn’t move and he didn’t back down. And damn it all to hell if he didn’t have his gun with him either. He’d left it in New York instead of bringing it on the plane.
“What are you going to do,” Arianna asked. Sam casually left the room.
“Leave now,” Damien ordered as he turned toward Arianna again. Vince stepped away from Damien and toward Jordan.
“Don’t do this, Damien, please,” Arianna tried to stay calm, but her voice caught in her throat. “Damien please don’t.”
“Arianna, go outside now,” Damien grabbed her arm and shoved her toward the door.
“She’s pregnant,” Vince yelled as he grabbed Damien’s other arm. But Damien let Arianna go, and sent Vince reeling with a strike to his chest. Vince stood up and ran toward Damien as if to ram him in his stomach, but Damien kicked him in his head and Vince dropped to the ground like a stone.
Arianna couldn’t believe how easily Damien knocked Vince out. Arianna thought Vince was the toughest guy she knew, and to see him lying lifeless like that shocked her. Damien moved toward Jordan next. Arianna quickly put herself between the two men.
“Arianna, he’s a man. Don’t embarrass him. Let him take his beating like a man,” Damien warned her. His eyes were that dark green color again.
“You’re not hurting him. I’m not going to let you,” Arianna said.
“Just go,” he screamed at her.
“You don’t know if he did anything to your mother,” Arianna argued. “Because Vince said it you think it’s true?”
“I never thought my mother killed herself. And I was right,” Damien screamed.
Arianna glanced away for a split second and saw Sam standing in the door with one of Arianna’s guns. He was just as surprised as Ari to see Vince lying on the ground. Arianna tried to shake her head without letting Damien know that Sam had a gun. If Damien could do that to Vince…
“I have a gun, Damien,” Sam said. “And I will shoot you.”
Damien put his hands over his head and turned slowly toward Sam. Sam’s hands shook as Damien took a step toward him. “I’ll shoot you,” he said again. But his voice cracked with fear.
“What are you going to do, counselor? Are you going to shoot me?” Damien took another step. “I’m unarmed, and there are three FBI agents here.”
“Stop, Tremblay,” Sam yelled.
But Damien could see the safety was still on the gun. “Are you going to hide my body?” He took one last step. Then Damien took one punch at Sam’s jaw, and Sam fell to the floor.
“I’ll go with you,” Arianna finally cried out. “I’ll go with you, and I won’t come back here, I swear.” Damien stopped and turned to look at her. “I won’t have the blood test. I’ll marry you, and we’ll live happily ever after in Canada.”
“Get out, now,” Damien snarled at her. His eyes were on fire when he turned back to Jordan.
“If you hurt him, if you kill him, Sam and Vince and I will raise the baby.” He paused for a split second. “Helena will raise Isabeau and Julien, and you’ll be in jail in the US. You’ll never see them again.”
Damien closed his eyes, and his head dropped to his chest. She took a step toward him. “It’s me, Damien. It’s Arianna,” she said, and took another step. “Do you understand what I’m saying?” He nodded his head slightly. She put her hand on his chest, and he grabbed it with both hands. “Let’s just go, okay? Let’s go now. Is revenge worth losing your kids over?” He pulled her into his body and shook his head.
Arianna turned toward Jordan. He looked sad, and angry. He looked so confused. “Arianna, don’t go,” he finally said.
“I’m going with Damien. And don’t try to do anything to interfere.” Her voice was stern. “I love him, Jordan. And he makes me happy. I’ll be fine.”
He shook his head. He didn’t believe her. He knew she was leaving to protect him.
Arianna took Damien’s hands and led him past Vince, who was starting to moan, and Sam who was still out cold. She turned to take one last look at Jordan before she disappeared out of his life again.
Once they were in the limo, he pulled her into his lap and held her so tight while he cried. Silent tears flowed down his cheeks. “He killed my mother.”
“You don’t know that,” Arianna reminded him.
“I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to prove it. I’ll hire detectives. I’ll do whatever it takes,” he asserted. But he held her tighter and kissed her head.
“I don’t care what you do, as long as you don’t hurt him. Promise me you won’t hurt him.”
“I promise,” he assured her. “Tell me you love me again.”
“I love you Damien.”
“And the baby is mine,” he continued as his hand went to her stomach.
“The baby is ours,” she agreed. “Ours.”
“Yes, ours.”
“I swear to God, Jordan Stewart, if I ever see you again I will kill you myself,” Vince growled. “You have ruined every bit of happiness I could ever have.”
“Vince, you said that Jordan killed Margo Tremblay,” Sam tried to defuse the situation.
“How in the hell was I supposed to know that Damien Tremblay was standing right behind me. He’s like some kind of blond mutant ninja.” Vince wanted to hit both Jordan and Sam at the moment. “Fuck this, and fuck both of you.”
He stormed out of the house, climbed into his SUV, and squealed the tires as he drove away. If Arianna wouldn’t kill Damien Tremblay he would figure out a way to do it himself. He was tired of his happiness being ruined by the vendetta between Damien and Jordan. He was going to take matters into his own hands. He would kill both of them if he had to; he was going to have Arianna. She could be pregnant with his child, and he would be damned if he’d let another man, especially Damien Tremblay, raise his baby.
“Sam, I don’t know what to do now,” Jordan said as he sat down in the chair. “There has to be something. I can’t just let him win and walk away with Arianna.”
“I think you and Damien have hurt enough people, don’t you?” Sam was always the voice of reason.
“God, I can’t believe I messed up so bad, over and over,” Jordan said as he stared at the empty chair across from him. “I didn’t want Ari to go to prison. That was the only thing I could think of.”
“I know,” Sam said, and knelt down beside him. “But you could have trusted me. I wasn’t going to lose, Jordan. I would have defended her with every fiber of my being.”
“I just, I needed to fix it, you know? I needed to do something for Arianna, to prove…” And he stopped and looked at Sam.
“Jordan she knows you love her. Did you see how she ran to you and held you? She didn’t hold Vince that way,” Sam soothed him.
“I know,” Jordan smiled, and wiped a tear from his cheek.
“She sees in you what I see in you,” Sam sighed. “She and Vince are too alike.” Sam took Jordan’s hand and stood. “They’re both tough, but you’re the loving one.” He pulled on Jordan’s hand, and pulled him up. “You’re the caring one.” He pulled Jordan into his arms and kissed his cheek. “Let’s go upstairs.”
“Not now,” Jordan shook his head, but he followed along with him.
“Yes, now,” Sam nodded as they ascended the staircase. “Now.”
Sam opened the door to the king bedroom, where he’d been sleeping, and led Jordan inside. He pushed him down on the bed, because he’d never kissed anyone so much taller than him. And then he leaned forward and kissed his lips.
The Executioner 2: Love, Lies, and Revenge (The Executioner Series) Page 18
