The Perfect Burn_A Thrilling Romantic Suspense

by Madyson Grey

  Twenty minutes went by while Shelly snipped here and snipped there, shaping, repairing, and doing her best to make some semblance of order out of the chop job that had been done on Victoria. Finally she declared that she had done all she could do, and they would just have to wait until her hair grew out.

  Victoria looked in the mirror. It wasn’t great, but it looked a whole lot better than it had before Shelly started, and she told her so.

  “Thanks so much, Shelly,” Victoria said. “It certainly looks better than it did.”

  “Well, I didn’t have much to work with, but I did the best I could,” Shelly answered. “Lena, do you want anything done while I’m here?”

  Reflexively, Lena ran her hand through her hair.

  “Well, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to have a little trim,” she said. “It has been a while. So since you’re here, I might as well.”

  Lena sat down on the stool that Victoria had just vacated. Under Shelly’s skillful hands, Lena’s hair was trimmed and shaped in just a few minutes. Looking in the mirror, she was pleased with the results.

  “That does look nice, doesn’t it?” she remarked. “Thank you for suggesting it.”

  Before Shelly came, Victoria had put some money in her jeans pocket so she would be ready to pay her without having to go dig in her purse. So when Shelly was through with them both, Victoria reached into her pocket and took out one hundred dollar bill and handed it to Shelly.

  “I hope this will cover your services today,” Victoria said. “I so appreciate you coming to me.”

  “Oh, this is more than enough,” Shelly said. “I can certainly understand why you didn’t want to go out to my shop. I wouldn’t want to go out either, in your condition. Let me get you some change, though, because this is too much.”

  “No, it’s not,” Victoria insisted. “You keep all of it. It’s worth it to me to have home service. If you have a card, I’ll keep it on hand and the next time I need a haircut, I’ll come to your shop. We moved to this area recently, so I hadn’t found a salon close by yet.”

  Shelly pulled a business card from her purse and handed it to Victoria.

  “I’ll be glad to have you as a customer,” Shelly said. “Both of you. I’m sure your hair will need more shaping as it begins to grow out, so just call me anytime you need an appointment.”

  “Thank you so much,” Victoria said, and Lena echoed her thanks.

  They all walked to the front door together and bade each other goodbye. After Shelly was gone, Victoria went to look in a mirror again at her hair. It was no more than an inch long in the longest spots, and even shorter in some places. She had never had her hair this short before, and she thought it was awful. Those evil men had hacked it up so badly that this was the best that could be made of it.

  “I sure hope my hair grows fast,” she remarked to Lena. “I hate it this short.”

  “I’m sure it will,” Lena said to reassure her. “It always grew fast when you were little.”

  “At least it isn’t choppy now,” Victoria conceded. “Shelly did a good job with what she had to work with. Yours looks nice.”

  “Yeah, I think she did a good job on mine. She did good on yours, too. It looks better than I thought it could.”

  Rafael had been so engrossed in his work that he hadn’t come out of the office while the hairdresser was there. He had heard the voices and knew what was going on, but had stayed at his tasks. But he had finally finished the projects he had been working on, and his stomach was telling him that it was getting close to suppertime. So he went out to the kitchen to see what was going on.

  “Well, this is as good as it gets for now,” Victoria said in greeting as he entered the kitchen. “The hairdresser did the best she could.”

  “Doesn’t look too bad,” Rafael said. “It’s better than it was. And it will grow out again. I’m just thankful that you’re here and alive.”

  He put his arms around his wife and drew her close, being mindful of her bruises.

  “I’m hungry,” he said. “What’s a man gotta do around here to get fed?”

  “Kiss the cook,” Victoria said with a giggle.

  “I would if I knew who was cooking today,” he said, trying to look serious.

  “Both of us,” Victoria said with a mischievous grin.

  Rafael proceeded to drop kisses on both Victoria’s bruised cheek and on Lena’s smooth one.

  “There now, my part is done,” he said. “Where’s my supper?”

  “Just keep your pants on, young man,” Lena said firmly. “You’ll get your supper in due time. Now, take your wife and get out of my way so I can get some supper.”

  “Well! If that’s the way you feel about it,” Rafael said with mock huffiness. “We’ll just go and let you do all the work.”

  Lena swatted at him as he walked past her, Victoria in tow.

  “Ow! Your mom hit me!” Rafael whined.

  “Oh, buck up, you sissy!” Victoria retorted, grinning at him. “No sympathy. I don’t get no sympathy,” he fussed, deliberately using poor English for emphasis.

  “You’re gonna need sympathy if you don’t get out of my way,” Lena warned, her eyes twinkling at him.

  “All right, I’m going, I’m going,” he said, scooting out of her reach. “But I get extra dessert to make up for the abuse I’ve suffered.”

  “Hah!” Lena snorted. “It’s bread and water for you tonight if you don’t behave.”

  The three of them laughed at their own antics, and then Lena busied herself pulling things out of the fridge and the freezer to fix for supper. Victoria still didn’t feel like eating chewy foods, so Lena thought she’d make spaghetti. It was relatively soft and easy to chew. She would have peas, too, rather than salad, for the same reason.

  Victoria stayed behind to help, while Rafael sat down at the kitchen table to watch. She chopped the onion and garlic while Lena got the water to boiling for the pasta. Within thirty minutes the food was on the table ready to eat.

  By the time supper was over, Victoria’s pain pills were wearing off and she was not feeling so hot again, so she excused herself to go take a couple more pills. Rafael and Lena took their dessert into the family room to eat while they watched the evening news on TV. Victoria rejoined them in just a couple of minutes with her dessert, too.

  It wasn’t long, though, before she wanted to go up to bed. She tired easily still. Lena went to her suite, and after Rafael locked up the house, he, too, went upstairs. After they were in bed, Victoria cuddled up to him, but that was all.

  “I just need to feel safe,” she murmured. “Safe and loved.”

  “You are both,” Rafael assured her. “Especially loved.”

  He gently stroked her arm until she fell asleep, which only took a few minutes, thanks to a sleeping pill. As he lay there thinking after she went to sleep, he wondered if this attack would trigger a whole new bout of nightmares. The sleeping pills may keep her sound enough asleep as to prevent the nightmares. But what about when she quit taking them? Well, he would just have to wait and see. Meanwhile, he wouldn’t say anything to her. The power of suggestion is strong, so he didn’t want to even bring up the subject.

  Thanks to the kind attentions of her husband and mama, Victoria got better within just a few days. The bruising would take a little longer to fade, but the swelling had subsided, and the cut on her lip was healed.

  When Lena’s dad came home from the hospital, she went to her folks’ house and stayed for two weeks helping her mom take care of him. He made slow progress, but he did regain his mobility in time. Lena tried to encourage them to take Rafael up on his offer to let them live in the other house on the property.

  Where they had been resistant to the idea before, they were now taking it under serious consideration. They saw the need to be closer to their daughter so she could care for them as they aged. And now that it was all out in the open that Victoria was their granddaughter, they felt as if they had some catching up to do.

&
nbsp; Chapter Eight

  January finally gave way to February, and the crocus began to poke their heads through the soil, and the almond groves bloomed their lovely pink blossoms. The bruises on Victoria’s face faded with time and her hair was slowly growing back. She didn’t bother to buy a wig, as she had earlier threatened to. The wounds to her soul were healing, too. Somewhat.

  She still wasn’t able to bring herself to be intimate with Rafael. They cuddled and kissed, but when his hands would begin to move downward, she would freeze up. It was frustrating to her, and very frustrating to him. But he was determined to be patient and let her take things at her own pace.

  They had to go to court a few times to give testimony, both for the human trafficking charges leveled again the smuggling ring, and for the kidnapping and rape charges against the men she had heretofore only known as Gus, Butch, and Lenny. Augustus Klein, Robert Norris, and Leonard Whisnant, properly.

  When it was finally all said and done, Augustus Klein, the ringleader, Robert Norris, Leonard Whisnant, Jerry Jasperson (the adult bookstore manager), and a couple of dock workers who were part of the smuggling ring were all sentenced to five years for each of the girls that had just been brought in when this storm broke.

  There were a total of fifty girls in all, between the ones found in Antonio Cantu’s apartment, ones found in the adult bookstore when it was raided, and more found at the docks that were just being let out of a container.

  Augustus Kline, Robert Norris, and Leonard Whisnant were all sentenced to nine years each for the rape of Victoria Rivera. They were also sentenced to eight years each for her kidnapping. These were the maximum penalties allowed under California law. The judge was so disgusted by the whole affair that he dished out the maximum penalty, and made them run consecutively. That meant that the three—Klein, Norris, and Whisnant—would serve 267 years each for their crimes.

  True to the DA’s word, Antonio Cantu only received a slap on the wrist for his participation in the ring because he turned state’s evidence against the rest of the ring. He was sentenced to ninety days of community service. His testimony was taken in private, and he was not required to appear in court.

  Rafael and Victoria were relieved when it was all over with. It had been extremely hard on Victoria to face her assailants in the courtroom. She did her best to not look at them at all when she was on the witness stand, but to keep her eyes focused on the attorneys and on Rafael and Lena.

  One of the best outcomes of the trial was that the ransom money that Rafael had put up came back to them. Because they had been made painfully aware of a group of people that they had not known about before, Rafael and Victoria chose to donate the returned ransom money to Angel’s Retreat, the organization that cares for the rescued sex slaves. The organization was most grateful for the donation.

  When they went to Angel’s Retreat where the girls were housed to deliver the donation, the president of the non-profit organization gave them a tour. Then he brought all the women who had been rescued through the Riveras to meet them. The girls were all so grateful that they couldn’t express themselves adequately.

  The girls had been told about Victoria’s assault, and they all crowded around her, patting her gently, and murmuring the few English words they had learned, like sorry you hurt, and thank you for save us, and love you. Victoria felt like royalty, the way the girls were making over her. They weren’t leaving out Rafael either. They showered almost as much attention on him as they did her.

  When they left Angel’s Retreat, they discussed maintaining the organization as a regular on their charitable donation list. The list wasn’t long, as they hadn’t grown it much yet. David Thornton had a couple of pet projects that he donated to on a regular basis, and Victoria and Rafael both thought, after checking them out, that they would continue David’s legacy. But they had talked about adding one or two of their own choosing. Now, here was one handed to them. One they both believed in after seeing the horror up close. So they would continue to send regular donations to Angel’s Retreat.

  Work on Thornton Park was progressing nicely. It seemed as if they had jumped all the hurdles there were to jump and the building and landscaping was coming along in record time. The botanical garden was going in, the train tracks were being laid, the house was finished by the end of February, and the barn was then begun.

  Victoria worked with an interior decorator who specialized in nineteenth century furnishings and décor. As this was to be a common farmhouse, the furnishings would be plain and simple. The parlor would have an oval braided rag rug on the wood floor. The walls would be papered, but the remaining rooms would just be painted. The wallpaper that Victoria chose had a dainty pattern of pink roses on it.

  Victoria and Lena spent days scouring antique stores for furnishings, old framed portraits of people and other paintings to hang on the walls, old linens, curtains, kitchen utensils, and everything that would have been in a house circa 1880. Rafael went with them a few times, and would like to have gone more, but he had other obligations in regards to the park that he had to attend to.

  In a nod to her love of art, Victoria made certain that a copy of the famed “Blue Boy” painting by Thomas Gainsborough hung in the living room of the house. She also secured copies of several other paintings of the era. She found an ocean scene that was particularly appealing, and one of an old farm that seemed appropriate for their setting.

  In doing this shopping, Victoria fell in love with antiques, and ended up purchasing a number of items for her own home. Rafael liked them, too, but he wasn’t quite as smitten as she was. She and Lena had so much fun that they were sorry when they were finished.

  They worked with the interior decorator to put all of the purchases away in all the proper places in the house. When they were all finished, it was as cute a house as any of them had ever seen. Victoria secretly wished that she and Rafael could live in the house. The only drawback was no indoor plumbing. She could not imagine having to use an outhouse all the time.

  The house was wired for electricity for their own convenience, but the wiring was hidden to the viewing public as it was not available in 1880. A non-useable outhouse was constructed out behind the house just for show.

  While the ladies were outfitting the house, there were men building the barn, so it was coming along nicely, too. When those two were completed, the train depot was next. They decided that it would be the perfect place for the gift shop. So they made it large enough to accommodate a modest-sized gift shop and a small snack bar. The snack bar was an old-fashioned soda fountain that would sell floats, milkshakes and malts.

  They planned to sell as many old fashioned toys and other things from the late 1800s as they could possibly get their hands on. Victoria was already scouring the Internet in search of appropriate merchandise. As she found things she liked, with Rafael’s go ahead, she began ordering things. They stockpiled the boxes in their garage for the time being.

  The little ticket booth at the entryway was put up in one day and painted and decorated a second day. It was made to look rather like a miniature of the farmhouse, and was painted white on the outside just like the house.

  Victoria and Lena, under the supervision of the landscaper who was doing the formal gardens, planted flowers around the farmhouse—rose bushes, lilac bushes, daffodils, iris, glads, and pansies. The landscaper laid sod for the lawn.

  The inspections of the Thornton-Rivera buildings had kinda fallen by the wayside in favor of constructing Thornton Park. But Rafael had not forgotten about them, and neither had Victoria. One evening in mid-March, after supper, they had a long discussion about how they should handle the inspections.

  When they had first come up with the idea of the inspections, they had planned to drive their motorhome around the country to the various locations, combining work with pleasure. But since the concept of the Thornton Park was fast becoming reality, they had to rethink their plan of attack.

  Finally realizing that the only logical
way to do these initial inspections on the properties that were out-of-state was to fly, they focused on planning so that they would only have to be gone from home a couple of days at a time, three or four max. They made out a tentative schedule that would need to flex with airline scheduling, but it would give them a framework to work within.

  They grouped the two properties in Dallas, the one in Houston, and the one in New Orleans together, as that seemed logical. Then they grouped the two in Memphis and the three in Nashville together, also. Portland was a stand-alone, as were Denver, Des Moines, and Albuquerque.

  Plotting their itinerary on a large desk calendar in Rafael’s office, they outlined a trip every other week beginning with the first week of April. Portland would be first. That would take at least two days, as there were four properties there. Then, mid-April, they would do Texas and New Orleans. The first week of May they would do Tennessee.

  After considering all the possibilities, they realized they could do Albuquerque and Denver in one trip, hopping a commuter flight between the two. That only left Des Moines and that could come the first week of June. Now that they had this much worked out, they could schedule the work on the park around these other duties.

  Even though a billing firm took care of collecting the rents on all of the properties, Rafael still liked to look over everything on a regular basis, just to see that the money was coming in as expected, and going into the proper accounts as it should. It seemed as though his plate was very full.

  On top of that, he was concerned about Victoria. She was still afraid, or repulsed by sex. He wasn’t quite sure which it was. He had thought that she would be “over it” by this time. After all, it had been nearly two months by now.

  One evening in late March, Rafael had had an especially busy day. There had been a small problem over at the park with getting the identification signs painted for the natural portion of the park. It wasn’t anything huge, but it had kinda set him on edge. Then he’d had trouble getting the quad started when he wanted to leave the park.