by Claire Perry
The Dangerous Woman
Boxset
Suspense & Thriller
Mystery Story
By: Claire Perry
Copyright 2016 by (Claire Perry) - All rights reserved.
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Table of Contents
Hook~Book 1
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Epilogue
Hook~Book 2
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Epilogue
Hook~Book 1
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Epilogue
The Dangerous Woman
Book 1
Hook~Book 1
She lit the orange peels for their Mancinis with her cigarette lighter and dropped them in with decided indifference, sighing as if she was older than the Earth. Alice Cornwell certainly felt that old.
Matt was somber, jaw clenched, hands folded in his lap. She pushed the drink toward him, but he didn’t touch it – just smiled with a sad crease running through his forehead. For a moment, she thought he was paper. Transparent like stationary, yet drenched in inky secrets of a life clouded in tragic goodbyes. Her head tilted to the side with its own heaviness, wondering if she would meet a similar dusty ending.
“I’m grateful for your company, Matthew. You know, I haven’t shared a drink with a man in over six years… That’s how long ago Anders died. My husband, FYI.” She smiled at him and winked around her new frames. He laughed through his teeth as she folded her legs and dropped her black pump-clad feet on her desk.
“I know who Anders Cornwell was, ma’am. I live in the boonies, yes, but I’m still on Earth.” Matt bowed his head, trying to duck and hide his face from her fond smiles. He reminded her of her son – if he’d been a good one, anyway.
“Yes, well, I’m glad you’ve come out of hiding. Not that you were hiding or anything like that.” She shook her head, laughing at her own awkwardness and took a long pull from her drink.
“I just… It’s a tad embarrassing that it’s come to this with my son, you know? I mean, every mother wants to believe her son is perfect.” She looked at the ceiling, trying to find the right words to move the conversation forward.
“I’ve never been a mother, Mrs. Cornwell.” Matthew stared into his drink for a long, distracted moment before they both realized what he’d actually said and started laughing.
“Right, well, of course not! Yeah, but let’s just say in theory that you had… You’d want your son to be perfect, right? That’s a bit unrealistic, I know. Maybe just slightly less than perfect.” Alice let out a shaky breath. Matt leaned forward, taking a sip from the drink and then setting it on the desk next to her heel.
“But he’s not perfect, eh? Quite frankly, he has a terrible taste in women. Which is why you need me to spy on him. At first, you just wanted me to watch him and the girl. Now you want names, favorite restaurants, her SAT score, eh? They like Backstreet Cabana if they’re looking for a burger or excellent fried olives. She was a math ace. Her name is Anita Marie White, an only child. She has a deep and meaningful relationship with an astronomer.”
“Easy, cuz! How’d you do that?” Alice pinched her nostrils to keep from spewing liquor everywhere. She was astonished by this man’s skill.
“History, Mrs. Cornwell. There aren’t enough years left on Mother Earth to waste trying to write that biography down.” He wasn’t old enough to be so world-weary. What in Hellfire had happened to this beautiful young soul?
“I’ll sponsor it. Well, I will if that stubborn kid of mine doesn’t end up wasting my entire life’s savings on some glitter-painted floozy!” She bowed her head laughing. He patted her shoulder, laughing quietly along with her.
Her ring tone broke the silence.
“Ciao, baby! Oh, Joe? What? I’m in a meeting.” Alice leaned around the phone and mouthed, “It’s my son.”
“What? Really, what?! Anita was in an accident! A freaking explosion, Mom! Know anything about it?!” Joe’s shrieking was busting the iPhone’s speakers. Matt cringed and scratched the back of his neck.
“You’re accusing me? I-I’m at my office, son!”
That was the night their war officially began.
Chapter 1
She owned the world, for God’s sakes! One might think that would make her feel a little more in control!
Alice Cornwell stood in the mine’s center, allowing Arizona to sweep her dusty fingers over her and hide her from the eyes of her enterprise. She pressed her phone to her ear with a clenching fist, geyser anger erupting in her blood, making her back spasm. Wasn’t she too old to still be road-hauled through hours of anxious bickering over her son’s disruptive love life?
“No. I don’t know how many times we’re going to have to have this conversation, kid! You have a new lover every week. Joseph, every one of them is always the one with you! These girls, Joey… It’s because you’re beautiful. You’re bringing classic debonair back and you’ve got the goods. Son, don’t shout at me… It’s not that hard, okay? One day, you’ll inherit the massive enterprise your father and I built up just for you. You don’t want to share that with some girl you met once at a bar or strip club. Son… Listen, I know you’re in love, or maybe you think you are… But you’ve got to get your priorities straight, okay?”
“I’m standing behind you, Mom. Think you’ve known that for a while.” Joe’s voice bit like an adder. Alice sighed. At 59, she didn’t honestly consider herself old, but when her son was within a 100-mile radius, she began to feel herself decay, as ancient as the sand that swept over Morenci.
“You flew all the way out here to argue? Listen, this is an extremely important business conference!” Alice forced herself to turn around, stomping the heel of her cowboy boot into the dirt.
“Oh no, Mother, it gets better. You see, I drove all the way out here not to argue, but to convince you that I’m right. That Anita is the one.” Joe tossed the expensive phone on the ground and stomped it to pieces. Alice sighed. It was almost impossible for a multimillionaire’s son not to grow up a tad spoiled. Even in terms of kids lavished with wealth from birth, her boy was obnoxious. The average Joe had to make payments on such a phone for months and even years. Her Joe got a new phone at least once or twice a week. She’d ordered this last one for him a few days ago when he’d flushed the one before it down a club’s toilet.
Joe stood in the debris of his phone, wriggling his fingers. Alice bowed her small frame over, pushing her new glasses back up her nose. What more could this petulant child possibly want from her? She’d conquered the world for him, in a corporate manner. Her empire was massive. It had surmounted the ranks as the leader in gemstone and precious metals harvesting. Sh
e owned over 30 companies in the gemstone business alone. That was to say nothing of the massive cosmetic chains and film studios she’d bought off. Such a massive portion of the world of beauty was in her possession that the press had nicknamed her “the Jewel of the Universe.”
“We’re not going to do this, Joseph. I said no and that’s precisely what I meant. You have to come to the place in your life where you say exactly what you mean or you’ll never rise above the petty scrambling of everyone around you.” She nodded and turned to head back toward the bed and breakfast where she was staying.
“She’s going to marry me. It’s done. She said yes and I’ve already planned it.”
Alice felt her whole body go cold.
“You what?”
“All sales are final, Mother. She’s going to be mine. There’s not a chance in Hell that you’ll stop me, either.”
Alice spun back around, jaw clenched.
“I have a massive corporate empire to consider. You watch me. One day, you’ll even thank me. Or I can dream, anyway.”
Alice hurled a fist full of opal and quartz cabochons into Joe’s face and stormed back to her hotel.
Chapter 2
Her sobs were gathering attention.
“Anita… Baby, it’s not the end of the World!” Journey gathered Anita’s hands in her own and tried to coax her into lifting her head. She looked sidelong at her husband, Kenneth, who just shrugged and smiled painfully through his teeth.
“Yeah, no sweat, Ann! If this guy’s got half a brain, he’ll see that you’re a pretty dope chick and will give up the world for you, if that’s what it takes.” Kenneth gritted his teeth, feeling like his words were falling on deaf ears. Anita bowed her head to the counter and cried brokenly. Journey jumped to catch the mocha that was sitting next to Anita’s elbow and caught it before it could spill and scald her. She shot an apologetic look at Ricky the barista. He smiled back and waved sheepishly.
Journey wanted to sink through the floor. Starbucks was a bad choice for this basic intervention with Anita White. Half of Journey’s students were here studying for their mid-term exams! She already spotted Ginger and Grant taking notes together, staring on in horror. There was Lizzy, trying to tune out the wracking cries by shoving her earbuds as far as she could into her ears and cranking up James Newton Howard’s best scores.
“You don’t understand! It’s not him; it’s his mother! That witch! It’s like in the moldy Victorian history books. Arranged marriage and crap. She won’t let him have a wife until she’s approved of the union! She’s a greedy, greasy hag!” Anita slapped the coffee into the air. Journey bit down on her cherry-red painted nails and gave a chortled cry. Ricky caught the coffee, but half of it had already been sprayed across the lounge. Sarah sat in one of the chairs, clothes, hair, and book drenched in boiling hot coffee. Mascara bled down her face. Journey leaped up to go and help her student, who was now crying from pain, but Anita hauled her around by her shoulders.
“Have you ever heard of something so ridiculous?!” She beat her palms into Journey’s chest.
“You know, honey, I think we should leave now. Ricky, I am so sorry.” Journey gave the barista another desperate apologetic smile and tried to usher Anita to the door.
Had Journey not been there, the police probably would have been called. Sarah’s tears were unavoidable, no matter how they embarrassed her. Her eyes began to swell shut and water from the blistering liquid. She uttered a frantic sob and tried to flick them away with her fingertips, to no avail.
All of Starbucks was now moved in a frantic hustle, with businessmen, counselors, students, and even some of the employees trying to find an excuse to foot it to the door.
They never made it to the street. In stormed Joseph Cornwell. Everyone froze. His presence amongst the simple folk was stunning. Girls all but swooned. Journey noticed some of her students giggling and bending close to whisper in excited undertones.
“Okay, tell me how you’d like it cut. Or I can just get one of those hats like the Pope wears and fit it on top and you can keep the whole thing!” Joe stormed in talking nonsense, or so it seemed until he produced a white diamond the size of both his fists from his coat.
Anita leaped up, blubbering. The romantic essence of this moment was lost in everyone’s irritation. A local doctor who’d been enjoying a cappuccino pushed through the distracted awe to Journey’s side as they stooped over young Sarah to examine her injuries.
“You brought me a diamond, Joe?” Anita’s voice was quiet and sweet. Nothing like the obnoxious caterwauling she was making a moment ago. The manager was standing beside Ricky now, arms folded as he debated whether he should still call the cops.
Joe fell to one knee. In strode a woman with a small recorder, an expensive camera swinging from her neck. The Starbucks audience immediately recognized her as Eliza Norris, the anchorwoman for a celebrity media show that was filmed there in San Francisco.
“I’ve brought you the diamond that will become an engagement ring, if you’re interested.” He forced a smile and his eyelids fluttered dramatically. Journey felt like she might be sick and proceeded to run napkins through Sarah’s hair.
“Oh, you mean, you’re asking me to…” Anita pressed her palm to her throat on the verge of hyperventilating.
“I’m asking you to marry me, yes. With all of these people as witnesses, and with Ms. Norris here to catch it all on camera so my Wicked Witch of the Jewelry Store mother can’t interfere. What do you say?” Joe extended the diamond into the air, letting the light catch every angle of it. No one present had ever seen anything that expensive in the flesh.
Anita broke into another round of hysteric tears, this time from joy. The café patrons shuffled, shook themselves, gathered their things, and cleared out. There wasn’t the faintest sound of applause. They left the dining room empty and echoing.
Journey and Kenneth turned their backs on the scene, helping the doctor with Sarah until the girl was cared for and it was determined that she had no eye damage.
“What was that, Professor?” Sarah beat her palms into her thighs, thoroughly disgusted.
Journey blew her hair out of her face, wishing she could melt through the floor. Tenderly, she cupped Sarah’s chin in her palm.
“That was me trying to have an intervention with my college BFF, who I honestly believe has Borderline Personality Disorder or something. I thought Starbucks or some local restaurant would be a good place for me and Kenny to sit down and talk to her about her unhealthy obsessions with various men, particularly the infamous Joseph Cornwell. I had no idea she’d act out like that, or how serious her obsession had actually gotten or anything. I’m so sorry you got hurt, Sarah. If you have any medical bills later, I’ll pay them.” Journey twisted her fingers in her fuzzy red sweater, biting her lip awkwardly. The doctor shook his head.
“No. No, if she needs further care, I’ll administer it for free. None of this was your fault, Professor Erickson-Law.” He patted Journey’s shoulder with a meek smile.
Journey and Kenneth filed out of the café, trying to ignore warning glances from the manager who already disliked them for previous visits here with Anita in tow.
“Ach! That was such an epic fail!” Journey took her hair in her fists, looking to the stars for comfort. Kenneth smiled sheepishly and drew an arm around her waist.
“You couldn’t have known any of that would happen.” He leaned into her, trying to comfort her with his warmth.
“I sometimes get the strangest feeling that girl will be my ruin. Sounds dramatic, don’t you think?” Journey shrugged with a nervous giggle, but Kenneth took her words seriously.
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?” She raised tired eyes to his. He brushed her hair away from her cheeks and smoothed it down again, all at once grave.
“Say things like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like ‘ruin.’ It’s just… It upsets me.”
“Baby, my car acci
dent was two years ago!” Journey slapped his chest with a playful laugh.
“Yes, I know. Every day for two years, I’ve woken up in a panic wondering if you were okay, needing to be sure. So don’t say things like that. Don’t you ever scare me like that again…” He leaned closer to her and she peered up into his face, nose mischievously wrinkled.
“Sounds like you need an intervention now.”
He kissed her long and compassionately, feeling a strange sense of dread welling in the pit of his stomach. He couldn’t abide it, so he kissed her again.
Coughing to clear the lump from his throat, he held her to his chest as she hummed dizzily. Something wasn’t right about what just went down in the café. He wanted to be supportive of Journey and her colorful friendships, but this whole situation bothered him immensely. He held his breath and told himself that he’d just be hyper-vigilant if he had to be. Protect Journey at all costs – that was his higher purpose.
Chapter 3
Alice screamed and hurled her old cord-connected phone against the wall. It shattered into a dozen separate pieces of inner machine. Claudia covered her eyes with the backs of her hands and shielded her chest with her Swiffer.
“Can you believe this kid, Cee?” Alice knotted her hands in her graying hair and sank down the wall. She’d just gotten a call from her publicity agent. Joe had made good on his word the night before last at the gemstone quarry. He’d somehow stolen the ultimate diamond, Venus’ Heart, from her collection. Using this as his game changer prop, Joe had proposed to this Anita girl in front of a notorious tabloid’s anchorwoman.
“I can believe many things, ma’am. But then, I grew up in a war zone.” Claudia bowed her head with a humble smile. Alice studied her for a moment, watching her large ebony eyes reflecting pure compassion.
