by Tara Thomas
“How are you going to get inside?”
He’d had enough. “The back door. And I still don’t know who you are, but if you’re still here when I get back, I’m having you arrested.”
“Listen to me. You can’t go through a door, that’s what she’s expecting.”
“You have any better ideas?”
“Yes, the secret passage that leads from the garden to the butler’s pantry.”
He glanced through the window. Elise was still talking. He had to get in there. “Look, girl. I get that you’re trying to be helpful, but I grew up in this house with two older brothers. Trust me. If there was a secret passage, I’d have known about it.”
She didn’t say anything but simply grabbed his wrist again and pulled him away from the window and toward the back edge of the garden. She was surprisingly strong for someone of her size.
“What are you … I have to get to Tilly.… Damn it.”
She stopped in front of an ivy-covered arbor and wiped her forehead. “Move it.”
He wasn’t sure why he did it, probably to prove her wrong, but he reached out and moved the arbor. His jaw dropped at the wooden door now freely exposed to the garden. “Holy shit.”
She didn’t even look smug, she just nodded. “Leads straight to the butler’s pantry. I’m not sure how much noise you’ll make going through, so go slow and try not to lose your patience. Do you even have a weapon?”
“No.”
She sighed and propped her foot on a nearby rock. “Here.” He watched, amazed as she drew a knife out of her boot.
“Who are you?” he couldn’t help but ask, taking the knife.
She shook her head and glanced over her shoulder as if she expected to find someone there. “Later, Keaton Benedict.” She tilted her head toward the knife. “Do you know how to use that without killing yourself in the process?”
He noticed for the first time how smooth with wear the knife handle was. The knife had been used enough that it probably fit the owner’s hand like a glove. “Yes, but are you sure?”
“Take it,” she said, looking over her shoulder again. “I have more.”
Another time and another place, he would have questioned her more, but he had to get inside. He had to get Tilly away from Elise. He gripped the knife tightly. Whatever the cost.
“Thank you…” he said, wanting at least her name.
She hesitated only a moment before replying, “Kaja.”
“Thank you, Kaja,” he said, and opened the heavy door that would lead him to Tilly.
CHAPTER 18
Tilly would have laughed with glee if Elise didn’t look so wild and unhinged. The gun had misfired. Elise had been completely prepared to shoot Lena again, but the gun misfired. The word echoed in her head. Misfired. Misfired.
It took her brain a second to absorb the reality of what that meant. Elise was unarmed. For the moment, at least, until she could get her gun working again, Tilly scrambled to her feet, but twisted her ankle in the process and fell back down.
Damn it.
Her heart pounded and she was having difficulty breathing. If she couldn’t stand, she’d crawl. Sobbing, she all but clawed her way toward the butler’s pantry. She only made it a few feet before she heard the metallic click of a gun. She froze and stood up. Elise stood between her and the butler’s pantry.
“Good girl,” Elise said. “Now, stand up and get back over here.”
She slowly got to her feet, wincing as she stood on her hurt ankle. Elise held the gun in her hand. Maybe it wouldn’t work. She’d stay right where she was.
Elise narrowed her eyes and pulled the trigger. The wooden floor just to Tilly’s left exploded.
“I just wanted to assure you that the gun is working. If I wanted to hurt you, you’d be dead.” She motioned Tilly forward with the gun.
Tilly must have hesitated a bit too long because Elise walked up to her and pressed the gun against her forehead. “I’m not going to tell you again—get over there and sign the paper now.”
Elise’s hand trembled, her finger looking dangerously close to pulling the trigger.
Tilly couldn’t think of what else to do, she didn’t even have a way to leave Keaton a note. The finality of her situation overcame her and she felt tears prickle her eyes. This was not the way she planned to go out. Not like this. Not at the hands of a crazy woman.
She held her hands up and took a step backward toward the table.
“Hell, I’m tired of this,” Elise said. “I’ll forge your name. Say good-bye.”
From behind Elise came a soft click. It was faint, but loud enough that Elise frowned and the gun dropped the slightest bit. Tilly couldn’t hold back her gasp as Keaton flew up behind Elise and held her with one arm around her chest.
“I have a knife,” he whispered, all the while looking at Tilly. “Drop the gun and I won’t kill you.”
Get away. Get away, Tilly’s mind chanted as she took a step to the side.
“If you’re smart, you won’t move again.” Elise must not have thought he was serious, but from the way she jumped and the way the last of her sentence was spoken in a high squeak, he obviously showed her otherwise.
Keaton spoke again. “I really don’t want to kill you, but I swear to God, if you don’t drop the gun now, I will.” The icy chill of his voice and the determination in his eyes told Tilly he spoke true.
Sobbing, Elise tried to push away from Keaton, but his hold on her was too strong. Unfortunately, he couldn’t grab the gun without either letting go of her or the knife.
The gun rose again and Keaton barely had time to yell, “Drop, Tilly!” before the shot was fired.
* * *
Jade wasn’t sure why she gave Keaton her first name. No one ever called her by that name. They always used Jade, her middle name. “Princess of the gods,” she remembered her mother saying. “That’s what Kaja means because that’s what you are.” It was one of the only memories she had of her mother.
She didn’t feel much like a princess today. She felt more like an outcast, and she’d be lying to say she wasn’t scared of The Gentleman’s men finding her. Damn it. She shouldn’t have stopped by the Benedict House.
But still, she had talked to Keaton and that was something.
She dropped her head as someone walked by, knowing she was out of place in the well-to-do neighborhood. Hopefully, she didn’t stand out so much that anyone would remember her later if The Gentleman sent his goons out to ask.
Once she was out of the neighborhood, she started to walk quicker. A glance at her watch told her she’d spent much more time than she’d planned at the Benedict House. She hadn’t been thinking straight. Odds were, her leaving had been discovered. Even now, she might be watched.
Though originally she’d been excited to get on a bus and head for wherever the soonest departure happened to be heading, now she was just tired. Still, she stood back and scoped out the bus station. At first, she thought she was clear, but just when she was about to step out of her hiding place, one of the men who’d beaten Tom appeared from out of the men’s room.
Jade took a step back and cursed under her breath. How did they catch up with her so quickly?
But of course she knew. The Gentleman had trained her and in doing so, had trained the way she thought. Of course he knew where she’d go to get out of town. By now, she felt certain he had men scattered all over the city and especially at bus stations.
Damn. Damn. Damn. Why had she gone to the Benedicts’ house?
Because she was an idiot.
But the important thing was not to become a dead idiot. And to do that, she had to stay one step ahead of The Gentleman. It wouldn’t be easy and it was probably damn near impossible on her own. Which meant she needed help.
Suddenly, she knew just who to turn to for help. It was a brilliant idea. Perfect. And, hopefully, it would be the last person anyone would think she’d approach for help.
She turned around, planning to put her new
plan in motion, but instead ran straight into Tom’s chest. She was so caught off guard that within seconds, he had his hand around her mouth and his other arm holding her tight to him.
She struggled, but it was no use. He was much too strong.
His deep chuckle sent shock waves of fear through her. “All he talks about is Jade this and Jade that. Makes you out to be some sort of superhero and yet, look at how easily I took you down. It’s downright pathetic.”
She couldn’t allow herself to care about his insults. She had to focus on one thing and one thing only: getting away. Turning a deaf ear to him, she lifted her knee in a move she hoped he’d think was aimed at his groin.
He released his hold over her mouth and pushed her knee away as if swatting at a bothersome fly. “You really think I’m stupid enough to let you do that?”
“No.” She reached for the knife in her boot. Moving quickly so as not to lose the element of surprise, she jerked it out and aimed it at his neck. “But you’re stupid enough to let me do that.”
He was smarter than she thought. He turned, which meant unfortunately she didn’t kill him. However, the gash she left in his shoulder hurt him enough that he let go of her entirely.
As soon as she felt his arms loosen, she was off. Not once did she look back. Not until she was far enough away to be safe. Once she stopped, she bent over with her hands on her knees, gasping for breath. She didn’t know a lot, but she knew one thing.
Charleston was no longer an option for her.
CHAPTER 19
SEVENTEEN YEARS AGO
“I like your hair,” the blue-eyed blond little girl said to her. “Mine’s yellow and I don’t like yellow. Except for bananas. Bananas are okay yellow.”
It was Tilly’s first day of kindergarten at her new school. She had to leave her old one because Daddy had a new job. A big job, he’d said with a smile. And with it he’d be able to buy his girls anything they wanted. It always made her laugh when Daddy called her and Mommy “his girls” because Mommy was too big to be a girl.
She’d been afraid no one would want to be her friend at the new school, but she’d only taken one step into the room when the blonde approached her.
“I like ducks,” Tilly said. “And ducks are yellow.”
The other girl’s ringlets bounced around her head as she nodded. Tilly liked her hair. She wished she could have curls, but Mommy said she couldn’t do it with her hair.
“Do you like dolls?” the girl asked. Then without waiting for Tilly to answer, she continued, “Want to go play house?”
Tilly nodded and with a quick look over her shoulder to her mommy to wave good-bye, ran to catch up with the girl in front of her. When they made it to the dollhouse, the girl stopped, gave Tilly a hug, and said, “You’re my new best friend.”
Tilly wasn’t sure she’d ever had a best friend before, but she threw her arms around her and said, “You’re mine, too.”
“My name’s Elise. E-L-I-S-E. Mommy says it’s smart of me to be able to spell my name.”
“My name’s Tilly. T-I-L-L-Y, not I-E. Some people do it with an I-E but that’s not right.”
Elise nodded. “We’re going to be friends forever and ever, Tilly.”
* * *
“Tilly! Tilly!” someone called, as the past faded from her mind, but from her place on the ground, she couldn’t tell whose voice it was. There was so much blood. Blood everywhere. All over her. All over the floor.
Her ears rang, but she didn’t hurt. Shouldn’t she hurt somewhere if she was bleeding that badly?
Multiple hands gently pushed her onto her back and she looked up and found Keaton watching her.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She glanced down at his shirt. He was covered in blood, too. She reached out a hand to touch him. Had he been shot? Was all the blood his?
He took her hand. “I think she’s just in shock,” he said to someone she couldn’t see. “I don’t think she was hit.”
But if he wasn’t hit and she wasn’t hit, that meant …
“Elise?” she whispered.
Something a lot like pain, but closer to pity, crossed his face. “She’s gone, Tilly. She shot herself.”
Tilly struggled to sit up and see for herself, but the hands pushed her back down.
“In a minute,” Keaton said. “Let’s make sure you’re all right first.”
Knowing it was for the best, she let the paramedics poke and prod her until everyone was assured she was only suffering from shock.
“Lena?” she asked Keaton, in between sips of water.
The house that had been so eerily quiet before was now teeming with activity. There were medics and police everywhere. Not too far from her, someone was covered by a white sheet. She assumed it was Elise’s body, but she didn’t ask. There wasn’t anything else covered in a sheet and she hoped that meant Lena was on her way to the hospital.
Keaton sat behind her, practically holding her in his lap. He leaned forward. His very presence calmed her. “Last I heard, she was in surgery. It’s touch and go, but they’re hopeful.”
He wasn’t able to say more because Alyssa came up to them. “Ms. Brock, I’m going to need to take your statement.” She looked at her notes and frowned. “Mr. Benedict, you mentioned there was someone at the window when you made it here?”
Knox walked up behind the police officer. “I saw her, too.”
“But neither one of you got any information?” Alyssa asked.
“She told me her name was Kaja, but it was very strange that she knew about the hidden passageway in the house and I’d never seen it.” Keaton lifted his head to talk to Knox. “Did you know our house had a secret passageway?”
“No, never did, and that’s a damn shame because I’d have loved to have played in there as a kid.”
“I bet Kipling didn’t know, either. There’s no way he could have kept that information to himself.” Keaton knew his oldest brother. Had the secret passageway been common knowledge, they would have tormented their parents and houseguests over the years.
“Unfortunately, I can’t do anything with only a first name. No matter how unusual it is.”
Keaton described her to Alyssa as best he could, but honestly, he told her, at the time he was more concerned about getting to Tilly and getting her away from Elise to have taken any sort of notice beyond the fact that she was female.
“And the fact that she carried a knife in an ankle holster?” Alyssa added with a raised eyebrow.
“That, too.”
Alyssa finished up with a few more questions, told Tilly she’d be back later to interview her, and left. By that time, Kipling had made it to the house, muttering under his breath about the damn traffic and how the police almost wouldn’t let him into his own house.
He gave Tilly a hug and looked with sadness at the white sheet covering Elise. “I should be the one to tell the Germains. They shouldn’t have to hear about it from the cops.”
Tilly imagined how upset the Germains would be. Elise had been their only child. And, it didn’t matter that Elise had tried to kill her, no parent should outlive his or her child.
The coroner arrived to move the body. Keaton tried to shield her, but she saw it just the same. Without warning, she started to cry, even as he tightened his hold on her.
“I’m taking Tilly upstairs,” Keaton said to someone, and the next thing she knew, she was being lifted into his arms. She clung to him as he carried her up to his bedroom and placed her on his bed. He joined her, holding her close as she cried.
She cried for Elise’s parents, the child Elise had been, the loss of her friendship, and for the Elise who might have been. She cried because she was scared, because she almost died, and though she didn’t understand why, because she felt guilty for being okay when Lena was fighting for her life, and Elise was dead.
She clung to Keaton as if he were her sustainer and savior, and when she’d finished crying, she smiled because he was both. She snuggle
d into his arms and with a voice hoarse from crying, she told him she loved him.
His voice shook when he answered, “I love you, too. And I’ve never been more scared in my life than today, when I thought I was going to lose you.”
She turned to him. “I was scared I’d never see you again.”
He kissed her forehead. “I think if I could hold you like this for the rest of my life, I’d be a happy man.”
“I’m never letting you go, Keaton Benedict.”
“I wouldn’t go anywhere if you did, Tilly Brock.”
CHAPTER 20
TWO MONTHS LATER
“Keaton!” Tilly was calling his name. She wasn’t sure what Keaton was thinking about, disappearing right before the start of the big outside party to announce the new addition to Benedict Industries. Especially since the new division had been completely his doing.
Kipling told her that he thought he saw Keaton heading around the back of the house near the flower garden.
“And when you see him,” he added just before Tilly went outside to look, “tell him to get his worthless ass to me ASAP.”
He had a huge smile on his face delivering that last line. The smile didn’t fit with his words and she stood there for a few seconds until Kipling said, “Tilly. Flower garden. Now.”
“Right,” she said, and headed outside. It was miserably hot, and the humidity hit her as soon as she stepped outside. It felt as if her body had been wrapped up in a steaming towel. Kipling had ordered tents for the party, but those had been set up on the other side of the garden. She hoped they had some sort of fans in them.
She rounded the corner of the house and was getting ready to call Keaton’s name again when she saw him. He was turned away from her, but was standing in such a way that she could admire his profile. His hands were in the pockets of his navy suit while he stared at something that must be out of her line of sight.
She took a step and a twig snapped under her feet. Keaton spun around at the sound and smiled when he saw her.
“What are you doing?” she asked him as she made her way to him. “Guests will be arriving any minute, Lena is not resting like I told her, the caterer is mumbling something about missing shrimp, and Kipling said he wants your ass ASAP.”
