Obliterate

by Autumn Grey

  Forty-five minutes later, I was at the hangar where the St. Germain family jet was waiting to fly me back to Provence, my heart pounding hard in my chest. The thought of Adrien and Selene in danger made me nauseous. I hadn’t prayed in a while, but now I did. The words poured from of my lips repeatedly, like a mantra.

  God, please keep them safe.

  After the plane touched down, I rushed to my car that had been parked on the other side of the hangar when I left for London. I climbed inside and took deep breaths. My hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly that the veins were prominent under the skin. I had to calm down for the short drive home. Easier said than done. I drove to the château like a man possessed. Unable to wait long enough to park in the usual spot, I left the car in the middle of the drive, jumped out, and dashed inside. Èric was pacing in the living room, dragging his fingers through his blond hair in agitation.

  Èric’s head shot up and saw me. The frown left his face. His shoulders drooped immediately, but at the same time, I saw wariness enter his face.

  “Where are they?” I asked him when he halted in front of me.

  “Adrien’s room.” I dropped my travelling bag on the floor and dashed upstairs.

  Selene lay on her side with Adrien tucked safely in her arms. My heart swelled at the sight of such tenderness and a feeling that had now become familiar whenever I saw these two together, unfurled in my chest.

  “Dieu, merci,” I whispered under my breath. I closed the distance to the bed and sat on the edge of the mattress. I leaned down to press a kiss on Adrien’s forehead, and then I turned to brush my lips against Selene’s. She stirred and her eyes flew open. She blinked several times as her vision adjusted to her surroundings. She stiffened and her arm tightened around my son as she pulled him into her body. When it finally dawned on her who I was, she gasped and the fear in her eyes receded, replaced by relief.

  “Oh, my God, Remington,” she said hoarsely. She flicked a glance at Adrien and slowly unwrapped her arm to keep from disturbing him in his sleep. Then she pulled the covers to Adrien’s chin and twisted around to face me, her eyes filled with tears, which overflowed and rolled down her cheeks. She fell into my arms and I held her as she buried her face into my neck. “It’s so good to see you. When did you arrive?” Her voice trembled and her body shook.

  “A few minutes ago.”

  She nodded, but didn’t lift her head. I hadn’t noticed any traces of tears on her face when I came into the room before. She must have been holding them back until now.

  I continued to hold her, my arms tightening even more with her every sob. My eyes locked on Adrien, sleeping peacefully on the bed. I wanted to touch him so badly, but I didn’t want to wake him. He needed the rest after such a horrific ordeal.

  We didn’t talk and I was grateful for that. My throat felt swollen and I was sure no words could pass through my lips just then.

  Finally, Selene pulled back and smiled, even as tears lingered in her eyes. Then, she wiped her nose with the back of her hand and sniffed. “I can’t tell you how good it is to have you back, Remington. I’ve never been so frightened in my life.”

  “If I had known what was happening, I could have gotten here faster. I’m so sorry for taking this long, ma belle.”

  She shook her head vehemently. “Caleb needed you. Besides, no one knew this was going to happen.”

  I stared at her. Even crying, she was beautiful. She wasn’t throwing a fit and blaming me for not being here on time. She thought about Caleb instead.

  This woman was amazing. “Do you want to talk about it? Tell me what happened?”

  She took a deep breath and poured out the whole story. She got to the part where the music blasted through the compound. And when she mentioned the song had been “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,” I felt the hair rise on the nape of my neck. When she was done, I excused myself and went back downstairs to speak to Èric. He gave me a short version of what happened, and then told me Gilles would be arriving the next day with two of his security personnel.

  I had one more thing to check before heading up to join Adrien and Selene. I went to the cabinet located between the fireplace and next to the television. I opened it and did a quick inventory of the CDs inside. The case with the soundtrack for one of my favorite operas, The Nutcracker, was missing.

  Whoever this person was clearly knew their way around the château. They also knew how that song affected me, and how much I treasured it. When I was thirteen, my mother took me to my first opera in Paris. It was at that time she met Bernard, the man who had completely changed our lives for the better. He had given me the CD as a gift on my fourteenth birthday. It held my most treasured memories. Once again, I tried to recall if I had shown anything other than casual interest to the women I dated before, but none came to mind. But how would they know their way around this place? The thought of someone I probably knew working with this person niggled at me on the back on my mind.

  I closed the cabinet doors and returned to the living room. After activating the alarm system, I said good night to Èric, who still wore a troubled look even after I assured him the incident wasn’t his fault. Finally, I went back upstairs, my thoughts clamoring in my head.

  Selene had slipped back into bed, but she was still awake. I lifted Adrien in my arms and gestured for her to follow us. Inside my room, I lay my son on my bed, changed into a pair of pajama bottoms and a T-shirt, and joined them in bed. There was no way I would sleep without, at least, stretching a hand and feeling the two of them nearby.

  THE LAST couple of days, the château had been a very busy place. The police stopped by regularly to investigate the site. They confirmed this as arson, but I already knew that. Everything was getting so bloody fucked up and I felt as though control was slipping out of my grasp. Caleb’s situation was getting worse and the doctors were considering operating soon.

  Most of the vineyards were destroyed in the fire. The garden and east side of the château had been grazed by the blaze and needed repairs. I spoke to my mother and told her what happened. She would be arriving tomorrow in one of the family airplanes. Then we would travel to Paris until the building was repaired, although I knew that getting my mother to leave this place was going to be impossible. I hadn’t told her exactly who or what caused the fire. I wanted to speak to her face-to-face. I knew she’d have questions as soon as she met Selene, and I was prepared for that.

  Today, we went into town to get away from the château, which ended up being a good thing. Adrien seemed more cheerful and lively, much more than he had been since the fire.

  Right after dinner, I went outside to speak to the two men from Gilles’ security firm. Gilles had returned to Paris to follow up on a trail he was positive was the person causing all the havoc in our lives. One of the hidden surveillance cameras in his office had recorded what had happened in his office, confirming it had been a woman by the shape of her body and how she carried herself. Other than that, her face had been covered in a fitting mask. The only thing that gave her away had been the label peeking on the back of her trousers that appeared to be custom made. After further investigation, Gilles found a boutique located in the 10 arrondissement.

  Feeling relieved that we were finally getting somewhere with this madness, I led Adrien to his room. After brushing his teeth, he climbed in bed, pulled the bed covers up to his chin and took the book he had chosen for tonight’s reading from the night stand.

  “Can I ask you something, Papa?”

  “Always.” I settled in the rocking chair next to the bed. I never could bring myself to remove it from the room. It held too many memories of me rocking little Adrien to sleep.

  His eyebrows tugged into a frown. “Why does Selene have to leave? We could keep her here with us and she could be my real mama.”

  I placed the book on the bedside table and reached out to smooth the frown away. I had known this question would come up eventually.

  I studied my little boy, renewing my vow
to convince Selene to stay with us longer. “We can’t keep her, Adrien. She has a family back home. I’m sure they miss her a lot.”

  “Doesn’t she want to be with us? You two love each other, no?” He cocked his head to the side, his eyes intent on mine.

  I rubbed a hand across my jaw, thinking of the best way to answer his question. This was new ground for me. Adrien never got a chance to meet the women I had dated before because I never felt any real connection with any of them, but Selene made me want a second chance in life.

  Adrien shifted on the bed impatiently as he stared at me with a fierce, hopeful look in his eyes. It made me want to give him anything he wanted right there.

  “She is a very special woman,” I answered him, fighting the urge to blurt out my real feelings. If I were going to tell anyone how I felt, Selene would be the first person on my list. I wanted to look into her eyes when I finally bared my soul to her. She might have the same feelings as I, or maybe not.

  My son stopped fidgeting and a smile replaced the frown on his face. “I love her and I want her to be my mama.”

  “Me, too,” I whispered, and then leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his hair.

  Mon Dieu, I loved this boy so much. The thought of something ever happening to him almost brought me to my knees and sweat broke out on my forehead. The fact that Selene had lost a child and survived made me admire her all over again.

  “Time to get some sleep. Are you happy to see mamie tomorrow?” I asked him, reminding him my mother was arriving the next day. Selene was still nervous about meeting her. I, on the other hand, was anxious for my mother to meet the woman who’d succeeded where other women had failed in the past four years. The woman who had managed to erase the pain and hurt of betrayal and claimed my heart.

  “Oui, Papa!” he squealed happily and snuggled deeper into his covers.

  I retrieved the book, opened it to the bookmarked page, and started to read. Five minutes later, Adrien was still restless, turning and kicking the covers all over the bed.

  I sighed and stopped reading.

  Tonight, I had been looking forward to spending more time with Selene. Even though we’d had sex after we arrived home just over two hours ago, I still wanted more. We hadn’t had quality time since the incident. My need for her knew no bounds and I was a glutton for her. Blood pumped loud in my ears at the thoughts of sinful naked body pinned beneath mine flashed in my head.

  I groaned inwardly. I had to stop this. I was in my son’s room and having naughty thoughts about the minx sitting downstairs.

  I shifted on the chair, biting back a groan as my cock throbbed painfully inside my jeans, and tried to focus on my son.

  “What’s wrong, Adrien?” My voice sounded hoarse. Adrien gave me a funny look and I cleared my throat.

  “I saw her again today.”

  It took a moment for my lust-addled brain to catch up. “Saw who?”

  “Her. The woman who visited me in school in Paris.”

  Those words cooled me off and my heart rate sped up. He had never mentioned any woman visiting him in school. “What woman?”

  He shrugged. “She told me soon she would be my new mama. I don’t like her.”

  Sweat formed and slithered down my spine, even though the room was reasonably cool. “When did you see this woman?”

  “After dinner.”

  I opened my mouth to ask him what the woman looked like, but I was interrupted as my mobile vibrated inside my jeans pocket. I dug it out impatiently, and swiped the screen without looking who it was.

  “St. Germain,” I announced myself, leaning back in the chair.

  “Gilles here. Listen, I know you told me to call off the background check on Selene.”

  “Yes, I did,” I snapped impatiently. “Any news about this woman? Did you visit the boutique?”

  “Yes. The owner will fax me the receipts and any other details about this special customer. He was reluctant at first but when I told him what would happen if he didn’t cooperate, he gave in.” A pause, then. “But that is not why I’m calling you. Some information about Selene arrived in my email earlier today.”

  I stood and walked toward the window, my heart thumping hard in my chest. “What the bloody hell? I told you I wasn’t interested in investigating her behind her back, Gilles.”

  “Calm down, Remington,” he said in a cool, gravelly voice. “The man I hired stumbled on something he thought you might want to know. Would you like me to destroy the information or would you like to know?”

  I dug my fingers through my hair and shut my eyes. I’d asked Gilles to hire a private investigator in the heat of the moment, but finally, when I realized it didn’t matter who she was, I asked him to call it off.

  I blew out a breath. “Sure.”

  “Right. So—” He inhaled deeply. “According to this report, Selene Michaels is twenty-six years and her address—”

  “Cut to the chase, Gilles,” I growled on the phone, eager to return to my conversation with Adrien.

  I heard the click of what sounded like a computer mouse, followed by a few keyboard taps. “So, Selene was born twenty-six years ago in—merde! Where did you say she was born?”

  My stomach clenched at his hesitation. I glanced over my shoulder at Adrien. He was busy, playing with two Lego men. I turned back to stare out the window at the moonless night. “New York.”

  Gilles was quiet for a few minutes. “According to this report, she was born in Paris to Monsieur Anthony Michaels and Madame Inés Dubois in the Armand Trousseau Maternity Hospital.”

  My pulse thudded in my ears and my breathing was ragged. “What did you say?”

  He repeated the words.

  I shook my head wanting to shake off Gilles’s words. Had Selene lied to me about where she was born? Why would she do that? She had mentioned that her mother was French but I hadn’t thought to dig deeper. I couldn’t do this with Adrien in the room. I cleared my throat to relieve the emotion choking me. “Give me a second, Gilles.”

  I strode to Adrien’s bed and dropped a kiss on his hair. “I have some things to take care of, okay? I will ask Selene to come up and finish reading the story for you.”

  Adrien nodded as he made some funny airplane noises and swooping his hand up and down. I turned to leave, but stopped when he called out, “Papa?”

  I turned to face him. “Yes, Adrien.”

  “The woman downstairs. She told me to tell you,”—he squinted as if thinking really hard and I squirmed impatiently—“one, two . . . bang.”

  One. Two. Bang? My fingers shook and bile rose in my throat. “Adrien, do you remember what she looked like? Where exactly did you see her?”

  “In the kitchen when I went to get ice cream. She had brown hair and she was tall.”

  Bloody fucking hell! How had she made it past the two security men? Unless she had someone working with her. One of the people who work in the château. The thought chilled me further. I gripped the phone tighter in my hand, then remembered Gilles was still on the line and jammed it back to my ear.

  “I will call you back.” I disconnected the call before he could answer and turned to Adrien. “Stay in here and lock the door. Do not open it unless you hear my voice or Èric’s, all right? No one else. “

  I didn’t want to mention Selene. The woman had somehow managed to get inside the château, so I was worried she could impersonate another woman’s voice.

  As soon as Adrien nodded, I rushed out of the room, making sure he locked the door before dashing downstairs.

  My foot hit the last step and I frantically scanned the room. Selene wasn’t where I left her. I shoved my fingers into my hair and pulled, the pain keeping my sanity at bay. I had promised her I would protect her, yet the château had been infiltrated under the noses of Èric and two security men.

  I rounded the dining room, and stopped cold. Selene lay on the floor, unconscious. Her skin was pale and blood gushed from a cut on her temple. Her beautiful red lips were c
aked with what looked like vomit.

  “Oh, Christ, Selene.” I dashed to her side and dropped to my knees. I placed two fingers on her wrist to check for her pulse, but my hands were trembling I missed the count several times. “I need help over here!” I shouted to the two men standing just outside the front door.

  I needed to control myself; otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to help her. I took deep breaths, and even as my eyes burned with tears, I checked her vitals. Her pulse was weak and her breathing shallow.

  Blocking the background noise of shuffling feet, the sudden blaring of voices from the security men’s walkie-talkies, and panicked voices, I concentrated on remembering my first aid basics. I couldn’t think properly. Someone touched my shoulder, and I turned around to face Èric. He said something, but all I saw was his lips moving. He pushed me aside and dropped to his knees beside Selene while I stood up and watched him without really seeing.

  I thought I knew the true meaning of the word pain. The feeling of having my heart torn from my chest repeatedly until I felt as if I was in purgatory and hell at the same time. Turns out I didn’t. Watching Selene lying on the floor, helpless and unconscious, made me feel powerless.

  Different thoughts flashed in my head:

  I should have let her go when she left my house weeks ago.

  I should have forgotten about her.

  But I had done none of those things because I needed her, craved her. My physical and emotional hunger for her knew no bounds and I was a selfish bastard. I had been selfish to my son as well. His heart would break when he saw Selene. The thought renewed my determination. I had protected him his whole life and I would keep doing that for as long as he lived.

  I called the ambulance and after telling them what happened, I disconnected the call, returning to Selene’s side.

  Both road and air ambulances arrived and I stood back reluctantly as I watched two men check her vitals, this time with their equipment. Everything was a flurry of activity after that, so I turned around to face Èric. He looked shaken and pale.