by Sienna Mynx
“They’ve been with you since you left the police station?” he asked.
“Yes,” she replied.
“They don’t look like the normal security guys we use,” Tarek said.
“Normal? Is anything about this normal?”
He turned his gaze from the window over to her. “I guess not.”
“Your father hired an attorney.” She looked over to the kitchen table where the lawyer’s card was.
“I know. He told me.” Tarek stepped away from the window.
“So you’ve seen him?”
“I have. Who else knows you’re here?”
“Reese and those men outside and probably Dale I guess. They know about the USB drive. She keeps hinting about it,” she said.
“Where is the drive?”
“Destroyed.”
“Kassidy?”
“I destroyed it.”
“Do they still think you have it?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Keep it that way, it’s what’s buying us both time.”
“I plan too. I’m glad you came Tarek.”
He shed his coat and put it on the back of the chair.
She set the gun down on the coffee table. “You aren’t well.”
“I’m fine.” He removed his cap and proved that statement to be a lie.
Shocked by the scars to his face and neck, she stood. She put her hands to her mouth and held back her words of sympathy and concern.
“I look that handsome huh?”
“My God, what did the doctors say? Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I have enough drugs in me to lift an elephant. Don’t worry, darling. I’m fine. And you’re right. There are things I haven’t told you,” he said. She took his hand and brought him over to the sofa and forced him to sit.
“What did you tell the cops?” he asked.
“They have a video of you attacking me and Daniel. They have two dead men at the ranch, and you ranting and raving like a lunatic. You attacked an officer. You choked a paramedic that tried to help you. I was exhausted and scared. I didn’t have to tell them much.” She stood and paced away from him. “I was almost killed. That’s why I destroyed the USB drive. Exactly who else was I supposed to protect in all of this insanity but myself?”
“My father didn’t try to kill us.”
“And you know this because he denies it?” She tossed her hands up in disbelief.
“No. Yes, yes he denies it, but that’s not why I believe him. I think he’s protecting my brother. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“I'm scared Tarek,” she said. Kassidy went to the bedroom and he followed. She turned and put her hand out to stop him from getting close. “I'm scared.” He pulled her to him. He hugged her as much as he could. And she could tell it hurt him to do so. She relaxed her hold on him and rested her face against his chest.
“Nothing you did deserved what I... what my family put you through. Here,” he said. She let him go. She looked at him. He reached inside his leather jacket pocket and brought out an envelope of money.
“What is that?” She took a step back.
“Enough money to get you out of the state for a few months. I need time to clean up this mess.”
“I don’t want your money!”
“Calm down,” Tarek said.
“No! I thought you came here because... for me. Get out!”
He sighed. “I came here because I care about you.”
“You came here to pay me off. If you cared about me you'd give me answers instead of an envelope full of money. You don’t know me at all!”
“You’re right!” he yelled back. “I don’t know you. We spent what, four or five months together? That’s it. But it doesn’t mean that I don’t care about what happens to you. This is me helping you.”
“That is you helping you,” she declared.
“Fuck!” he slammed his hand to his forehead. “You are the stubbornest woman I have ever met. The press will have your name soon. They’ll be all over this place. Think about them Kassidy. You know what my brother and father are capable of. I don’t want them coming after you.”
“They will come after me. They don’t know we slept together, or that we are… whatever the hell we are. But they suspect I have the USB. If I run they are coming after me.”
“I'll take care of that. I'm going to have it under control.”
“I can't trust you,” she said. “I want too, but I can't.”
He grabbed her face. “Listen to me. This stopped being a game for me a long time ago. I can’t protect you here. Not here. And I swear if you give me your trust I will protect you.”
“Let me go.”
He did what she asked. She put her hand to her waist and the other to the back of her head and massaged her nape to release the anxiety building along her shoulders and down her spine. She glanced over to him. The stitches on his forehead were the worst. But even with his bruises he was handsome. And the way he looked at her softened her heart. She was human. The time she shared her body and soul with him left a mark. Without intending to she’d developed feelings for the man. And they went past 'caring' the moment he saved her life.
Tarek tossed the money to the top of the bed. “I don't fucking want to do this. Send you out there, alone.” He looked up at her. “I want to protect you. This is me protecting you. And as soon as I figure out how to stop my brother I am coming for you. So please Kassidy. Get out of town. Warn the Garcia’s not to speak to the police or the press. Tell them not to give any interviews, no matter who calls. And don't look back. I will find you,” he said and started out of her door.
“You don’t want to leave me, but you can't kiss me goodbye?” she asked.
He continued to face the door when he responded. “If I kiss you I'm not going to leave.”
Tarek shook his head and left.
“Wait.” Kassidy went after him and caught him the living room. Tarek stared at her curiously. “There’s something I've been doing the past two days and I'm glad you came so I can give it to you.”
She went to her room, and then to the side of her bed she slept on. She drew open the top drawer and removed her laptop. She came back inside the living room and went to the small kitchen table where Tarek joined her. They sat together.
“We look a sight. You and me,” she said as she tried to connect to her Wi-Fi.
He forced a weary smile. “Yeah I guess we both do.”
“So Cash wasn’t working for you. He was always working for someone else,” Kassidy sighed.
“I gathered that.”
“I came home and started going through my old emails between Daniel and me. Here in this email Daniel asked me about your brother Dale, why his name was suddenly appearing on the wire transfers to a bank in Sweden. It was a dead end though. After I dug, I found out about an office to be opened there. Daniel and I dropped it because we thought it was useless information. Remember we didn’t care about the federal indictment.”
“That’s what’s on that drive. Proof that Dale was stealing from the company? That’s all,” Tarek said and he let go a big sigh of relief. Kassidy didn’t see any reason to celebrate it unless he was expecting something different.
“What did you think was on the drive?” she asked him.
“Never mind what I thought. This is good. I knew it. Fucking bastard. That’s the proof to open my father’s eyes.” Tarek pointed to the email.
“Not just your father's eyes but the government's eyes. You can go to them and make your own deal,” she suggested.
“I can’t do that,” he said. “You don’t know the whole story.”
“How can I know the end of the story if you don't?”
“No. You know about a few broken laws and paid off officials. But that’s not the story of who we are. I’ve done, and I will do things to keep my family in business that would turn your hair grey”
“And you’re proud of that?”
“I’m no
t ashamed of it,” he answered.
“Maybe you’re right. Maybe you are just one of the bad guys. But there is still plenty you don’t know about the other bad guys in your family. From the very beginning they have been lying to you.” She pushed the computer in front of him. “Seeing is believing, right?”
Tarek looked at the screen. He pulled the computer closer.
“When I found that Polaroid and showed it to you I was curious about your father. So, I started searching for Russian businessmen who died suddenly in 1984. Look at this Tarek. The man in this picture is the man from the Polaroid right? This is his obituary. It’s translated into English.”
“I’m done with this.” He stood. “It’s pointless now. I know what I need to know. I only came here to make sure you were safe.”
“Stop running from the truth,” she said.
“Do I look like I’m running?” he chuckled as he reached to put his coat back on.
“Yes it does. That’s what fear looks like. You, right this minute. Be the bad guy if it makes you feel important, powerful.”
Tarek laughed bitterly. She raised her voice over his mocking laughter. “But if you’re going to be the bad guy at least be smart about it!” she said.
Before, one heated look from him would have made her heart drop but not this time. More than her life was in jeopardy. He was too stubborn and blind to see it.
“Do you know how easy it was for me to find this? A few key words in a search engine and I know who you really are. Why are you afraid to know? After all of this time you’re scared of the truth? Or maybe you know the truth, but you just don’t want to let go of the lie Alek Marshall has sold you.”
Tarek wiped his hand down his face. He glanced to the computer and then to her.
“Read it,” she pleaded.
He sat back down. He turned the computer toward him. The image on the screen was of Viktor Bychkov. He scrolled down to see more details about Viktor’s life and death under his bio. Viktor owned a very profitable business in 1984. It introduced a groundbreaking technology that allowed for deep-water petroleum drilling in the Antarctic. He had a wife and a brand new baby boy at the time of his death, a son. Kassidy scrolled down to show Viktor with his wife and the baby. The woman in the photo was a striking blonde. She wore large gold bangles like the woman in the Polaroid. Kassidy could see the blood drain from Tarek’s face as he looked at his parents for the first time. Really seeing them.
“In this article it talks about the political maneuverings of Viktor as he tried to expand his business investments. A new partnership with Marshall Global Solutions to let them use his technology could have helped ease the tensions escalating during the Cold War. Gorbachev and Regan’s foreign affairs policies made this impossible for Viktor until he and Alek Marshall became allies.”
49.
Tarek had a newfound respect for her. She'd delivered on more than he thought possible. He didn’t need her to read the article to him. He was uncovering the truth word after written word. Alek Marshall could not fund such a big venture on his own, so he borrowed himself into debt. Nearly drained the Marshall accounts dry to do so. And when that didn’t work he pulled in a third-party. A Russian with criminal ties who was not as well respected or business savvy as Viktor. The name was Kovalevsky. The Marshalls’ criminal business dealing with the Kovalevsky’s is what he had to be careful with her exposing.
“It says that Marshall Global Solutions had put itself in the red to hold the deal together. Your father Viktor decided to sever ties with both of his business partners. He wanted to go into politics instead. He had already gotten so much criticism for his business dealings. He gave interviews against doing business with Americans. He never publicly named Vladimir Kovalevsky as a partner. Something Kovalevsky needed to legitimize his wealth. In fact, he denied having any dealings with them. And he called your father his lap dog, not a partner. He did this publicly.”
“I see it. Our company was headed for bankruptcy,” Tarek finished for her, “Until Viktor’s sudden death in a plane crash over the Ukraine.”
“Tarek, your real father left you a fortune, a legacy, a patent on this drilling equipment. They use computer technology much more sophisticated now, but your patent alone is worth several hundred million. Your real mother cashed out for pennies and gave the money, the patent, the technology, all of it over to Alek Marshall and Kovalevsky, which they split.”
“That’s speculation. None of that is fact,” Tarek said.
“It’s the truth. I’m sure she didn’t do it willingly. What woman would want to give up her baby after losing her husband?”
“Where is she?” Tarek asked.
“It doesn’t say. I searched under her name and I got nothing. This all happened before the Internet. And Russia, they don’t call it the iron curtain as a joke. Your father is very good at covering his tracks, and so is Kovalevsky. He’s done it for over forty years. You have to have heard of him?”
Tarek didn’t respond.
She continued. “It was your money that saved Alek Marshall. It’s your money that Dale is stealing now. That is why Alek is cutting his losses and letting you take the fall, not just with the feds, but with Kovalevsky. Right, isn’t that why you kidnapped me? Why everyone is so damn determined to know what it is I stole from the company?”
“The less you know about Kovalevsky the better,” Tarek said.
“But Dale is stealing from him, too. Right? Those offshore accounts in Sweden under the guise of opening an office there, that’s not just Marshall money going in those accounts.”
Tarek slammed down the lid of the laptop. “No more questions. Delete everything off this computer, and throw the fucking computer away. Better yet, give it to me.”
“What?”
He got up and snatched the plug from the wall. He went into the kitchen and located the hammer she had under the sink. Kassidy watched in horror as he smashed the laptop to nothing but metal pieces. Tarek's determined anger prevented her from objecting. And then he looked at her.
“I’m sorry you were hurt. That you were almost killed.”
“Stop changing the subject. We need to talk about...”
His hand went over to cover hers. He squeezed it and brought it up to his lips. “You’re right about me. I’ve investigated and spied on everyone in my life, and my business. Just never myself. Some truths are worth knowing and some are best left buried.”
“What about this truth?” she asked.
“Give me a little time to digest it.” He smiled and winced.
“It hurts doesn’t it?” She stood and touched his chest. “Stay the night. I'll take care of you. Remember Anchorage. Remember the two weeks we spent there. I healed you then. I can tonight.”
“My leaving takes care of you.”
He kissed the side of her mouth.
“No. No. If you're going to walk out and force me to run for safety, then you stay the night. I mean it. Or I'll walk out that door and blow this whole thing out of the water.”
He set the laptop down. “You like threatening me?”
“It's the only way to get your attention.”
He kissed her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and savored his tongue. When their lips parted, he panted a little with his head pressed to her forehead. He smoothed down the back of her hair in a caress. “I'll stay until you fall asleep.”
“I don't sleep anymore,” she said softly.
“I might be able to help with that.” He took her hand and started to the bedroom where she slept, but she pulled him to the stairs. “That’s my guest room. I felt safer sleeping in there alone. My bedroom is upstairs. It’ll be more comfortable for you.”
He glanced up to the ceiling and nodded that he’d make the journey. She went up the stairs, pulling him by the hand behind her. She entered the room and immediately took off her housecoat, and hung it on the hook inside her closet door. Tarek shed his coat and put it on the dresser. He kicked off his shoes and pul
led his turtleneck over his head. She watched him closely. There was taped bandaging across his ribcage. She remembered how the tree fell on top of him and what it took to remove it. Her eyes stung with fresh tears.
She went over to the bed and decided to give him more pillows from her side to prop up his head. He came behind her. She could feel and sense him without even a single touch. Kassidy turned and sat on the bed. She looked up into his eyes as she undid his belt, dragged his jeans off his legs, and took off his socks. He said nothing. Even in his exhausted state she could see the rise of his erection in his boxers. She felt her body tingle intimately at the mere sight of it.
Tarek eased into bed. Kassidy pulled her nightshirt over her head and tossed it aside. As she rolled down her panties, she was filled with a strange inner excitement by the lust she saw he had for her in his eyes. She was naked before him, the way he preferred her their last night together. She came across the bed, impelled involuntarily by her own passion as she joined him, bringing the covers up over them both.
“Come closer,” he groaned, already fondling and touching her.
She scooted in close and let him squeeze her ass and touch her breasts. She closed her eyes when his hand slid off her bottom to push in between her thighs. The closeness was like a drug to her. It lulled her back to that place she found with him at the ranch. Their breathing came and went in unison. He caressed her in the most intimate spot, only because he enjoyed the privilege. He knew when she was in his arms she wouldn’t deny him any of it.
“Do you think this plan is going to work?” she asked.
He put a finger to her lips to silence her. She shook her head and lowered it. “This room isn’t bugged Tarek. They can’t hear us,” she whispered.
“Let’s not take that chance. Okay? Stick to the script. Okay?”
“Reese?” she whispered in his ear.
“She’ll take the bait. We just need to wait,” he whispered to her. She nodded that she understood. She eased her hand down and gently took hold of his erection. She tugged and he exhaled. Kassidy kissed his nipple then his bandaged torso. She slowly stroked and pulled on his erection.
“Put it in your mouth,” he whispered.
