Their Seductress [The Hot Millionaires #1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Zara Chase

“Really? And how will you explain away my dead body?” Paige’s voice was deliberately condescending. “And even if you somehow do manage to get rid of my mortal remains, there’s still Ellie’s car on the drive to explain away.”

  Paige’s cell phone rang in her bag. She instinctively reached for it, guessing it must be Isaac.

  “Leave it!”

  “All right.” Paige gripped her hands together to stop them from shaking. To display any weakness in front of this deranged woman would, Paige instinctively knew, be a grave error. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Oh, nothing. I’ll do what has to be done. You’re going to have a little accident that will explain away your body and your car.” She plucked absently at her lower lip as she fine-tuned her plan, casting Paige long, considering looks as she did so. “You came here to talk about Ellie’s funeral, got upset, and I gave you a couple of shots of vodka to calm you down. That was vodka in the iced tea, in case you’re wondering.” Lana nodded toward Paige’s empty glass. “Glad to see you drank it all. They’ll find traces of alcohol in your system to back up my claim.”

  Paige was equally glad that she’d tipped it into a pot plant whilst Lana had been upstairs with Joe. “Glad to oblige,” she said, forcing a note of cheer into her tone, hoping to wrong-foot Lana with her casually indifferent attitude.

  “You were upset and intoxicated. Joe called for me, and when I was upstairs with him I heard a splash and then you cry out. I rushed down and found you floating facedown in the pool.”

  “I thought I was going to have a car accident,” Paige said helpfully.

  “You’d fallen in the pool,” Lana continued, ignoring the interruption, “bashed your head, and knocked yourself unconscious.”

  “Another bashed head?” Paige waggled her brows, tamping down her fear by reminding herself that Isaac had to get here any time now. “Not very original.”

  Lana shrugged. “Simple plans are usually the best.”

  “Well, when it comes to cold-blooded murder, I guess you’re the expert.”

  “Hold that thought, dear,” Lana said sarcastically. “Anyway, I came running down and tried to revive you, without success, obviously.”

  “Oh, obviously.”

  “Then I called 911. Near hysterical I’ll be, just to add a little authenticity.”

  “Careful not to overdo it.”

  “Sweet of you to worry on my account, but there’s no need. I know exactly how to play the police.” Lana’s rictus smile was chillingly confident. “Have I missed anything?”

  “Just a few things. For your plan to work, I have to allow you to push me into the pool, and why would I do that? I’m taller and stronger than you, and I don’t have any particular wish to die today.”

  “But I’m ruthless, and I was college dive-team champion three straight years. I’m a strong swimmer and know how to control my breath under water. I can hold you under, and stay under with you if I have to, until you run out of air.”

  “That must make you very happy.” Come on, Isaac. Now would be a good time to arrive.

  “You have no idea. I’ve never liked you, Paige, and in spite of Ellie’s claims to the contrary, I believe you were responsible for Doug Drake’s death, so it’s poetic justice that you pay with your own life.”

  Lana took a step toward her. Paige, stung by the injustice of Lana’s words, instinctively stepped backward, which was the last thing she ought to have done. Paige was furious that Lana had goaded her into moving so close to the edge of the pool when she ought to have gone in the opposite direction. She tried to dodge sideways, but Lana was too quick for her. She was smiling, genuinely this time, as she placed one hand in the center of Paige’s breastbone and pushed.

  Hard.

  “Bye, bye,” she said, waving her fingers at Paige as she toppled into the pool, screaming with shock as she hit the water.

  As she surfaced she saw Lana kick off her shoes and make an elegant dive in, barely leaving a ripple in her wake. Before she had time to wonder why Lana’s head hadn’t broken the surface again, Paige felt two strong hands gripping her ankles and pulling her down. She fought against the drag but already knew it was a battle she’d never win. With one hand on top of Paige’s head, Lana held her under whilst she bashed the side of her head against the tiled rim of the pool.

  Lights exploded inside Paige’s head as she struggled to breathe. She opened her mouth instinctively, desperate to fill her screaming lungs with oxygen but instead swallowing a mouthful of chlorinated water. She felt herself weakening and abruptly stopped struggling. The other woman had won. She had neither the strength nor the will to fight her.

  So this was what it’s like to drown, she thought in a detached way as she lost consciousness.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Come on, come on! Let’s go, guys!”

  There was a pileup on the interstate, and the traffic was deadlocked. Isaac and Nick were going nowhere. Isaac drummed his fingers on the steering wheel of his Jaguar, becoming more anxious by the minute. They’d been stuck in the same spot for so long that they were almost on first-name basis with the people in the surrounding cars.

  “I’ll try her cell again,” Nick said.

  The anxiety in his tone caused Isaac to feel ten times worse than he already did. Nick was laid back about absolutely everything and seldom let himself get wound up, no matter how great the provocation. If even he felt there was cause for concern when Paige didn’t answer her damned phone then Isaac was absolutely convinced that something bad must have happened to her. He should have listened to his damned instincts and foregone that stupid business lunch.

  “Idiot!” he muttered, once again slamming the heel of his hand against the steering wheel so hard that he’d probably have a bruise.

  “Still no answer,” Nick said, pocketing his phone with a worried frown.

  “Perhaps we should ring Weir,” Isaac said. “He might be able to get there quicker than us.”

  “Not if he’s in Tampa, although I suppose he could get a local patrol car to stop by and check things out.”

  “The traffic’s starting to move now,” Isaac said, breathing a huge sigh of relief. “How much longer before we get there?”

  “We’re about ten minutes away, just as long as there are no more holdups.”

  “Then we ought to make it first. Don’t call the locals. They’ll probably only screw it up.”

  They crawled passed the triple pileup that had caused the delay, and Isaac was finally able to hit the gas. He barely spared a thought for the poor guys who’d been caught up in the accident, even though they almost certainly hadn’t walked away from it. He only cared about Paige, so damned much that it felt as though his heart was about to burst through his chest with a combination of worry and frustration at his inability to protect her.

  “Why the hell did she do it?” he asked for the tenth time. “I told her not to go near Lana. I was quite specific—”

  “That’s probably why she went.”

  Isaac shot Nick a sideways glance. “You’re saying it’s my fault?”

  “You were a bit dictatorial.”

  “I was only thinking of her.”

  “Independent women like Paige don’t take kindly to being controlled.”

  Isaac flashed a brief grin. “She likes it in bed.”

  “That’s different and you know it.” Nick tried out a grin of his own. “Once we get her back, you can take her to bed and tan her backside for disobeying you. I’m betting she won’t object to that.”

  “Me neither,” Isaac said. “But we’ve gotta get to her first.”

  “This is the turnoff.”

  Isaac indicated and pulled the powerful car into the slip road. Following Nick’s verbal directions, he negotiated his way to Lana’s street with little regard for neighborhood speed limits. He threw the car onto the drive behind Ellie’s Mustang, switched off the ignition, and was out of the door in one athletic bound, Nick on his heels. They rang the front
door bell and, without waiting for a response, tried the handle. As with many houses in this safe area, it was unlocked.

  The two men raced through the empty house, calling Paige’s name. No response. They paused in the lounge, wasting a precious second while they got their bearings.

  “Where the hell are they?” Nick fumed.

  “Out there!”

  Isaac saw frantic thrashing coming from the pool, and his heart almost stopped then and there. He was too late. Paige was being held under by a manic Lana, and blood was spreading across the surface of the pool in rapidly widening swaths. Had she been stabbed before Lana drowned her? Momentary inertia was replaced by the frantic need for action. There had to be something he could do. He absolutely refused to let Paige die.

  He and Nick broke into the pool area at a run, kicking off their shoes as they went. Without the need for words, they dove into the pool in tandem. Nick grabbed Lana from behind. She fought him like a banshee but in so doing was forced to relax her hold on Paige. Isaac immediately pulled Paige to the surface, hoping against hope that he’d see her take in a huge lungful of air and then berate him for being late.

  It didn’t happen. Instead he trod water, using all his strength to push her out of the pool from behind. In her wet clothes she was a dead weight, but desperation lent fire to his muscles and he managed it on the first attempt. Not that it made any difference. Her lips were blue, and she wasn’t breathing.

  Refusing to believe that she was gone, Nick laid her on the tiled floor and felt for a pulse. To his relief, he found a weak one. Too weak, surely? He placed his hands on her sternum and administered CPR. He noticed in the periphery of his vision that Nick had managed to subdue Lana and pull her from the pool as well. She had blood pouring from a cut lip. Isaac suspected that Nick had whacked her to stop her from struggling.

  “Not fucking hard enough,” he muttered when his gaze fell on the deathly pale Paige.

  “Call 911,” he yelled at Nick.

  “On it.” He pulled his phone from his pocket, but it was soaking wet and completely useless. “I’ll go in the house and call. Is she going to make it?”

  “If I have any say in the matter.” Isaac’s voice resonated with determination. He pushed down on her sternum again and again, willing her heart to keep pumping, hoping he was doing it right as he rhythmically repeated the action. He alternated between heart stimulation and holding her nose as he breathed into her mouth. “Come on, Paige. Come on. Don’t leave me now, baby. Don’t let her win.”

  Nick reappeared. “They’re on their way. I rang Weir, too.”

  “Good. Keep an eye on her.” He nodded toward Lana, on her feet and creeping round the edge of the pool when she thought no one was watching her.

  “Take your filthy hands off me!” she yelled at Nick when he grabbed her. She brought her knee up, took Nick by surprise, and caught him squarely in the scrotum.

  “Shit!” He let her go immediately as he doubled over with pain.

  Isaac couldn’t leave Paige, but he was worried about Lana. She was desperate enough to try anything and didn’t seem to realize it was all over. Her sort never did. What if she had a gun in the house?

  Isaac spared a glance for Nick. His face was puce, his hands protectively covering his genitalia.

  “Can you get her?” he asked.

  Before Nick could answer, a small voice cried out from the door. “Mommy, what are you doing? You’re all wet. Why did you go swimming with your clothes on?”

  Lana glanced at her child. Her gaze flipped to Paige, and all the fight appeared to drain out of her. She lunged for the child and scooped him into her arms, holding him so tight that he protested vehemently and then started to cry. Isaac barely noticed. He was still desperately worried about Paige. She hadn’t shown the slightest reaction to his ministrations. Once again, he wondered if he was doing it right. It was all very well to try these things in theory but… He blew into her mouth again and almost fell sideways when a long stream of water fountained from Paige’s mouth, drenching him. He shouted with triumph. It tasted sweeter than vintage champagne.

  Her eyes fluttered open. She looked at him for a moment with incomprehension in her eyes.

  “You all right, babe?” he asked anxiously.

  Paige attempted a weak smile. “What kept you?” she asked before passing out again.

  Things happened quickly after that. Weir and the paramedics arrived together. The professionals took over with Paige. She was still unconscious and only now that he knew she wasn’t dead did Isaac notice the nasty bash to the side of her head. It had almost stopped bleeding, and the paramedics seemed more concerned with stabilizing her breathing than dressing the wound. They wrapped her in a foil blanket and attached a saline drip to her arm, working calmly and competently enough to just about assuage Isaac’s worst fears.

  While all this was going on, Isaac and Nick exchanged a few words with Weir. Lana was being handcuffed and read her rights by Detective Archer as they did so. A woman officer had taken charge of Joe. Mike was apparently on his way.

  “We’ve got her for attempted murder of Ms. Fairfax,” Weir said with satisfaction. “And something tells me she’ll cough on Ms. Carter’s murder, too, now that she knows the game’s up.”

  “She’s a fucking maniac.” Isaac trembled with rage when he thought of how things could have—would have—ended if he and Nick had arrived literally one minute later.

  “No arguments there,” Weir said, scratching his head. “I wonder what tipped her over the edge.”

  “Hopefully Paige learned something to make her near-death experience worthwhile,” Isaac said, grinding his teeth.

  “You need to get out of those wet things, both of you,” Weir said.

  “Yes, Mom,” Nick said, making them laugh and lightening the mood.

  “We’re ready to take Ms. Fairfax to the hospital now,” one of the paramedics said.

  “How is she?” Weir asked.

  “Still unconscious. We need to get her checked out. That knock to the head might have concussed her.”

  “I’m coming with her,” Isaac said in a tone that brooked no argument, forgetting all about his wet clothing. He threw his car keys to Nick. “Don’t bend it if you can help it,” he said with a ghost of a smile.

  * * * *

  Paige opened her eyes, wondering why she felt as though she was floating. Where was she? Everything was so white—the wall, the ceiling, the lights that were too bright for her eyes. She felt pressure on her hand, turned her head, and looked directly into Isaac’s worried eyes.

  “Hey,” he said. “Welcome back. How do you feel?”

  “Like I’ve been run over by a truck.”

  “Glad to have you with us again,” said a voice from her other side.

  She turned to smile at Nick, a warm feeling spreading through her body when she realized that both of her protectors were there for her. “You two took your time.”

  Isaac opened his mouth, presumably to read her the riot act, and closed it again. “You gave us quite a scare,” he said, his voice choked.

  “Sorry,” she said humbly. “But at least I know what happened now. Why she did it.”

  “You can remember.”

  Paige blinked. “Yes, why shouldn’t I? If someone tried to knock your brains out and then drown you, I bet you’d remember the details.”

  “The doctor said you might be concussed,” Nick said.

  “I don’t think so, but I will admit to a headache.”

  “Hardly surprising.” Isaac rang the call button. “We were told to let them know when you woke up.”

  “How long have I been in hospital? I assume that’s where I am.”

  “It’s six in the evening. They brought you in at two. You’ve been out all that time.”

  She smiled and then winced. “What’s the matter?” two concerned voices asked.

  “It hurts to laugh,” she said, and promptly did precisely that.

  The laughter turned to
tears, and she was sobbing her heart out against Isaac’s shoulder when the doctor came in.

  “A natural reaction,” he said calmly. “Now, let’s have a look at you, Ms. Fairfax.”

  He shone a light in her eyes whilst a nurse took her pulse and temperature. He asked her name, date of birth, what day of the week it was, and the name of the president. He smiled as though she’d passed some great test when she answered him correctly.

  “No concussion then,” he said. “But we’ll keep you in overnight and do a scan in the morning, just to be on the safe side.”

  “I don’t want a scan,” Paige said. “I just want to go home.”

  “Tell you what,” the doctor said, obviously used to difficult patients like her. “I’ll make a deal with you. You stay overnight, and if your condition hasn’t deteriorated, then you can go home in the morning. If it has then you have to agree to the scan. Deal?”

  “Deal, I suppose.”

  Paige proffered the hand without a drip attached to it, and the doctor shook it gently.

  “Thirsty?” Nick asked.

  “Dry as a bone, but don’t you dare give me chlorinated water.”

  “Nothing much wrong with her if she still has her sense of humor,” Isaac said.

  Nick held a drinking cup to Paige’s mouth, and she sucked water through the straw.

  “That’s better,” she said, sitting back against the pillows that Isaac thumped into position for her.

  “Feel up to telling us what happened there?” Isaac asked.

  Slowly, her voice croaky, Paige told them everything.

  “I never would have guessed that about Mike,” Isaac said, cracking a laugh.

  “Nor I,” Paige said. “And that’s the way Lana wanted it to stay. What’s more, she was prepared to do whatever it took to try and make sure that it did. ”

  “Just to think,” Nick mused. “Catching that chance glimpse of Greg and Ellie at play put a blight on the kid’s entire life.”

  “I hope you’re not feeling sorry for her,” Isaac said, scowling.

  “I think she would have resented Ellie anyway,” Paige said. “From what I can gather, her dad wasn’t that attached to Lana’s mother and lavished his attention on the kids instead. All that changed when he met Ellie because she enjoyed the same things in the bedroom that he did. Lana couldn’t come between them and was astute enough to realize it, so instead she set out to be the model daughter and make her father proud of her.”