by Lucy Leroux
Costas shook his head wearily. “You just have to be careful around Elynn, son.”
“If she develops a crush—” he began.
“No, that won’t happen,” his father said, shaking his head and waving away his concern. For a second, Alex was almost insulted, but his father’s next words cut off the sentiment. “You have to be careful. She’s been through a lot. Too much…”
Costas turned away, and Alex finally noticed how tired and haggard he appeared. It was weird. For the first time, his father looked old.
“Dad, why do you have so many bodyguards?” he asked again quietly.
Costas looked at him and sighed heavily before taking out his keys. He opened a locked desk drawer and pulled out a file. His eyes were troubled as he reluctantly put a photo in front of Alex. It was of a young man, eighteen or so, with blond hair and blue eyes. The kid was in a football uniform and he was smiling.
“Is this a former boyfriend of Elynn’s?” Alex asked, wondering why he found the idea distasteful.
“No. Her mother and all the witness reports are quite clear on that subject. Elynn doesn’t have any interest in boys. Not yet anyway. But some boys have a hard time being ignored.”
There was pointed silence.
“Tell me everything.”
His name was Stephen Wainwright, and he was a son of privilege in the small town where Mary raised Elynn. His uncle was the mayor, and his grandfather was lieutenant governor of the state. He was successful and popular and had his pick of girls. But some guys only wanted what they couldn’t have.
According to her neighbors, Elynn tripped through town unaware that boys even existed, except as friends. She collected insects and lizards in addition to mushrooms in those days. Most people considered her a nerd, but Elynn didn’t seem to care what people thought of her. And then she hit puberty, and the people who had called her names stopped and stared at her instead. Not that she noticed. Mentally, she was a late bloomer who was unaware of the way others saw her.
When she was just fifteen, Wainwright took to cornering Elynn in the hallway to flirt with her, efforts that were completely misunderstood by her. She was friendly but did not flirt back. She didn’t know how. Eventually, he asked her on a date, but she told him she wasn’t allowed. Undeterred, the boy asked Mary if Elynn could date him.
Concerned by the boy’s intense manner, Mary told him that Elynn could only go on supervised or group dates. She didn’t want her daughter to miss out on any seminal high school experiences, but she wasn’t prepared for a full-blown romance yet. Except Elynn wasn’t interested in any of those things.
When Wainwright cornered her again, Elynn begrudgingly agreed to a group outing, not realizing it was a date. She took a bunch of classmates with them mushroom hunting. According to the testimony of her friend, Michael, Wainwright grew furious when Elynn disappeared for half an hour. He was already annoyed with her for virtually ignoring him. At the end of the outing, Michael warned Elynn not to spend any time alone with Wainwright.
She refused the boy’s subsequent requests for more dates, and according to everyone, Wainwright just lost it. He started following Elynn home, frightening her and her mother. Things were found broken in their yard, clay pots and garden tools. Then things escalated and dead birds and squirrels were found. The women were living in a state of constant fear and anxiety when things started disappearing from inside their house.
“What kind of things?” Alex asked, dread pooling in his chest.
“Hair things at first. You know those barrette things and hair ties. Knick-knacks. And then some…underthings,” Costas said, his mouth twisting.
Alex saw red. He was suddenly angrier than he had ever been in his life. Bile rose in his throat, and he wanted to punch something. “For Christ’s sake, she was just a kid. She still is. Did Mary call the police?”
“Yes, but it didn’t do much good. His family denied he had done anything wrong. He hadn’t been seen breaking into their home. The police claimed there were no prints, but I seriously doubt that. The police would have been on the boy’s side. It was a small town, and the Wainwrights were the most influential family in it. Mary decided they had to move away, but before she could find another job, Wainwright broke into their home when she was at work and Elynn was alone.”
Alex didn’t know how he managed to keep his voice steady. “Did he rape her?”
“No…No…but only because she fought back. Harder than he expected, I’m sure. Soon it was about more than rape. She fought for her life,” Costas said with tears in his voice, fingering another photograph in the file.
“Let me see it,” he told him, but the older man shook his head sadly.
Alex stood up and took the folder from his father’s unresisting fingers. And then he wished he hadn’t. There were multiple photographs of Elynn taken at the hospital. Her face was bruised so badly he barely recognized her. She was hooked up to tubes. Others of her hands showed defensive wounds, torn nails, and scrapes. There were a lot of bruises on her body and even a faint bite mark on her shoulder.
“You’re sure he didn’t…” Alex couldn’t finish the question.
“The rape kit was negative. He didn’t get to finish what he started. Mary and a friend of hers came home while he was still there. They heard him tearing out of the back door, but they didn’t see him. Elynn was in a coma for two days.”
“Oh God. That poor kid,” Alex mumbled.
He was sick to his stomach. How could anyone hurt Elynn? She was such a sweet person and so damn innocent that it was crazy to think someone could target her that way.
If I ever see that kid I’m going to kill him.
“We were so relieved when she actually spoke to you and seemed to like you,” Costas said after a long moment. “She hasn’t reacted well to men in general. Especially the blond ones. When you sat next to her that first time at brunch, we were nervous. Sometimes she has panic attacks, although they’re becoming less frequent now.”
That explained the supposed power play at that first brunch, he thought, reflecting on his father’s and Mary’s odd behavior when he took the seat next to Elynn instead of the one opposite.
“Don’t let on you know,” his father instructed. “It upsets her when people find out. Even if it’s just a bodyguard that needs to be informed.”
He nodded. “The female guards,” he said, putting two and two together. “I thought that was weird. And your meeting today—I take it there’s been some development,” he continued.
“Stephen Wainwright entered the country two days ago on his own passport.”
“How is that possible?” he asked furiously, sitting up in his chair.
“Despite overwhelming public sentiment against him, Wainwright managed to buy his way out of a prison sentence,” Costas said with a disgusted shake of his head. “A lot of money must have changed hands. Not that Mary waited. As soon as she got the all clear from the doctor she packed up Elynn and left town. They lived in Connecticut briefly before she got the job working for us. Mary confided in me after I proposed. She wanted to explain why Elynn was so skittish and withdrawn. She’s a lot better now, but not as comfortable with other members of the opposite sex as she is with you. The irony of it is I think she finds it comforting that you’re only ever interested in supermodels and actresses. She feels safe with you. Don’t disturb her peace.”
Alex ignored the warning. He wasn’t a threat to Elynn—and she knew that or she wouldn’t have wanted him around this afternoon.
“Someone called her,” he said suddenly. With all of the revelations, it had almost slipped his mind. “Someone who didn’t speak. Just breathing. It scared her, and she threw the phone in the pool.”
Costas tensed, his face growing dark. “Do you think it’s a coincidence?”
Alex shrugged. “Does it matter? Don’t take any chances,” he said, half-wondering if they should add more bodyguards. Costas nodded, and Alex rubbed his temple. “Is she getting therapy?”
/>
“She has a counselor she likes now. She went through a few of them in the first few months. But the last one clicked.”
“That’s good,” Alex murmured absently.
Costas still looked very upset. Alex knew he should have said something else to comfort him, but he was trying to digest all the news. And it was hard thinking clearly when he was so angry.
****
Alex was in China in between meetings when he called Elynn on the phone directly for the first time. He had delayed his business trip as long as possible in case his family needed him, but eventually he’d been unable to put it off, and he’d left.
Except for the one mysterious phone call, which they hadn’t been able to trace, there had been no signs that Michael Wainwright was trying to get in touch with Elynn. None that they could detect anyway. Costas had decided the call was a simple wrong number, but Alex wasn’t convinced. He insisted on getting regular reports from the security staff and had chosen Elynn’s replacement phone himself. He picked one in her favorite color, navy blue, and had demanded that it have the kind of security encryption normally reserved for CEOs and politicians.
Eventually, Costas told him that Wainwright had left the UK without incident. But Alex had wanted to hear from Elynn herself, to check and see if she was okay, even if she hadn’t been aware that Wainwright had been in the country.
She was very surprised to hear from him. He asked her if she wanted him to try and find some Paddy Straw mushrooms.
“No, but maybe if you have time you can ask one of your people to go to a Chinese herbalist and get an assortment of medicinal mushrooms. They use a lot of different things there that we can’t even imagine. I’d enjoy seeing some of that stuff,” she said wistfully.
“Done,” Alex said and then made enough small talk to make even his most experienced PA turn to him in surprise.
Alex was notoriously short with everyone when he was working on a big deal. Phone calls home never lasted more than a minute or two. Even calls to his father.
After that, calls to Elynn became a regular occurrence. His duties with Hanas Industries took him all over the world, and it was nice to have someone normal to talk with. Someone who never made any demands on his time or for his money. He kept a breakneck pace that would have wrecked a normal man. The turnover on his personal staff was high; in fact, they frequently quit in exhaustion. Those that remained were loyal and worked hard to meet his exacting standards, but he never confided in them or asked them about their lives. Elynn was different.
A crisis in the Chinese stock market called Alex away the week of Elynn’s eighteenth birthday. He’d wanted to be there but had been mollified to learn that all he was going to miss was a quiet family dinner because Elynn didn’t want a big celebration. He was pissed off when his father told him Mary had talked her daughter into inviting a few school friends over for dinner and cake.
It was Elynn’s first birthday party in their family and he wasn’t going to be there. Well, screw that. He proceeded to attack the business at hand with a brutal efficiency that startled his seasoned staff. There was no way he was missing that party.
****
Despite his exhaustion, Alex practically ran up the stairs of the house on the evening of Elynn’s birthday celebration. He had just flown twenty hours to get there, and he was even later because he’d had to stop at his penthouse to get his gift. He’d stumbled on it in Prague a few weeks earlier and had known the moment he saw it that he had to get it for her.
He swept into the dining room, shocking everyone, especially his father. But it was worth it to see Elynn’s shy smile and the quick furtive hug she gave him when she opened her gift. It was an artisan’s sculpture of a forest of delicate hand-blown glass mushrooms with a little fairy peeping out from behind one. The fairy had black hair, just like Elynn.
She was still marveling over the wonderful gift when Alex edged away from the flock of chattering girls surrounding her. Several were giggling and giving him flirtatious looks. Hurriedly, he went to pour himself a drink from the sideboard only to make eye contact with his father. Costas was frowning slightly and staring at him with a grave expression.
“I want to speak with you before you leave,” Costas said before he joined the festivities again.
An hour later, Alex left the house feeling raw and angry, hanging onto his temper by a thread. He threw himself into the Shelby and tossed his coat aside onto the passenger seat, before putting a Tupperware on top of it with more care. Elynn had surprised him with an extra piece of birthday cake on his way out.
His father’s words rang in his ears. As much as it galled him, Alex knew Costas was right. However, patience was not one of his strongest virtues.
At least the argument had served one purpose. He was no longer tired, which was good. It was a long drive back to the airport and an even longer flight back to China.
Chapter 2
Four years later.
“Elynn, where did you put those samples?” Eric, the lab manager, asked her.
At twenty-five, he was four years older than her and young for his position. He was also gay, and he and his partner Fred were probably Elynn’s closest friends in town.
“They’re in the freezer,” she mumbled, concentrating on the field under her dissecting scope.
“Hey, did you see the latest tabloid spread on your big brother?” he asked, leaning in conspiratorially.
“Stepbrother, and no,” Elynn said, looking up and laughing.
Regular appearances of the great Alexandros Hanas used to be a regular thing in the gossip rags. But in the last few years, they’d dropped off considerably. His father’s lectures had probably sunk in at some point. Costas frequently murmured to her mother Mary that Alex was finally learning to respect women, citing their happy marriage as a source of inspiration for him.
“Was it a supermodel or an actress this time?” she asked, smiling as she turned back to the scope.
“It’s the new it girl, that actress Sonia Steele. They were seen entering one of those VIP lounges in a club last night,” Eric said, leaning against the lab bench.
“Is that all they got?” she asked.
Stories from the early days of their parent’s marriage were far more salacious.
“It’s more than anything they’ve gotten in a while,” Eric pointed out. “He’s zealous about his privacy these days, isn’t he?”
“Well, Costas says he’s matured. Maybe Sonia Steele is a real girlfriend, although her name is so fake.”
“So are these tits.” Eric waved the tabloid photo, which only clearly featured Miss Steele. Alex had his back turned. “She’s a diva through and through, but so talented. There’s Oscar buzz this year for the one movie she did.”
Eric was ecstatic. He was a huge fan and had dragged Elynn to the stupid romantic comedy a few weeks earlier.
“I doubt I’ll meet her. Alex doesn’t ever bring anyone to brunch,” Elynn said, getting another sample and turning her attention back to the scope.
Eric was sorely disappointed to hear that. He wheedled and whined for a long sought-after invitation to brunch, and Elynn regretfully turned him down, reminding him about Alex’s family-only rule again.
She left work early and walked into her flat in Oxford just before the landline rang. Grabbing the phone, she went over to feed Jaws Three, her beta fish. Jaws One and Two had gone to the great big fishbowl in the sky. All three had been gifts from Alex. So was the cute little box turtle munching on lettuce in the corner. She was allergic to cats, and her landlord didn’t allow dogs, so Alex had settled for the fish and turtle. She loved them both, of course.
“What are you up to?” Alex’s drawl seemed to reach out from the receiver.
“Feeding Jaws Three and Alex Junior,” she teased.
“I can’t believe you freely admit to naming that beast after me. Try to remember who you’re talking to on occasion. I know that’s difficult for you,” he said in a resigned and put upon tone.
“I know exactly who I am talking to. Alexandros the Great. He walks on water, and when he’s done, he turns it into wine. Hey, thanks for that case you sent by the way.” Alex had sent her an assortment of wine from California during his last business trip, knowing which mellow vintages and dessert wines she was partial to. “I don’t know how you expect me to finish it all by myself.”
Elynn didn’t entertain or socialize much. She was too focused on her studies. Since she had missed a big chunk of high school because of her long hospital stay when she was sixteen, she had entered Oxford University a semester after other students her age. Her intense work ethic had paid some serious dividends, however. She had caught up and was graduating on time alongside her class. Her final project was a molecular analysis of various fungi used in ancient Chinese medicine.
“Those bottles are for when I come by for dinner. You can’t get anything decent in your local grocery, and I have particular tastes,” Alex said.
“When is this dinner supposed to happen?” Elynn asked in disbelief as she kicked off her shoes.
Alex was always threatening to come to dinner, but his busy schedule kept him in London or out of the country. He hadn’t ever made it out to her apartment for a personal visit. He did manage brunch every once in a while when Mary and Costas came down to visit, but their cherished Sunday tradition was by necessity less frequent now that she lived in Oxford.
“Soon. Are you coming up for the holiday?” he asked.
“I should be there by Friday night.”
“Good, brunch is at my place this time. Don’t be late,” he commanded before asking her about work.
While they chatted a bit longer, Elynn moved around, watering her inoculum. She didn’t keep plants. Instead, she cultivated mushrooms. Scattered in the dark corners of her apartment were various mushroom-growing kits—some she had bought, and some that she made herself for button mushrooms, portabella, oyster, and shiitake. Elynn was still trying to get her own homemade chanterelle kit to grow, but they needed a symbiotic association with certain trees to grow properly, and the saplings always died on her. She was hopeless with plants. No matter what she did, within a few weeks, they withered and died. Alex had stopped giving her bonsai trees and exotic orchids some time ago. He said it made him too sad to send all those innocent lives to their doom.
