There was no doubt. The body was that of her husband. She could see multiple deep cuts and abrasions and it was clear the doctor had attempted to clean him up at least a little. He was so white... chalky. She reached to touch him, but the doctor stopped her.
"You won't want to do that, Mrs. Bennett. His body is already getting cold. It's best if you remember him as he was."
She bent to his guidance, unable to rally enough emotion to do anything but follow directions. A single tear tracked down her cheek as the sheet was replaced over his face. It felt so final.
The doctor looped his arm through her own, leading her slowly around to the second covered body in the room. Cali had almost forgotten about this part.
"Again, I'm sorry to make you go through this after all you've already experienced. This victim has a bit more damage than your husband."
For the first thirty seconds after the sheet was pulled back, Cali had to fight back the urge to puke. The head of the dead woman on the table was crushed in several places, making it impossible to make out her facial features. Her question flew out, unguarded. "She must not have been wearing her seatbelt?"
When none of the men answered her, she looked up, locking eyes with the doctor. His answer was clinical. "She was not wearing a seatbelt. Based on the evidence at the scene, we believe this woman had your husband's penis in her mouth at the time of impact. His organ was severed completely and her head was crushed between the steering wheel, the airbag and your husband."
Her legs collapsed from under her. The officers were not fast enough to catch her before she slammed her head against the metal of the stainless steel examination table holding the woman's body. The woman who had bitten Kevin's cock off his body.
Finally... emotions coursed through her body. Many conflicting emotions, but the most prevalent was rage. Pure, unadulterated fury. It manifested itself in manic laughter. The officers attempted to lift her to her feet, but she slapped their hands away. She sat on the cold concrete floor of the darkened morgue, laughing and sobbing in equal measure. Surely this was what a nervous breakdown felt like.
To their credit, the men stepped back, letting her expend her rage until she had no more tears. Officer Jackson held out several tissues for her as Officer Stanton helped her to her feet. They were being so kind, yet she felt infuriated that they had put her in this position. It was wrong of them to ask her to identify the woman who had severed Kevin's cock. Strange thoughts flicked through one's brain in times of stress and Cali wondered that surely there had to be some unspoken etiquette rule about this.
A sudden need to be as far away as possible from this room of death consumed her. She needed to think. She started to step away, but the doctor had lowered the sheet to display more of the woman. Cali avoided looking at the mangled face, but focused on the shoulder length sandy blond hair with salon highlights. Nothing remarkable. The body wore a gold necklace, again nondescript.
It was only when the doctor pulled the body's left hand from under the sheet to hold it up for Cali's examination that the first flare of recognition stirred. In her precarious state, it didn't come to her immediately. A niggling memory floated through her brain, trying to take hold. The long, manicured fingernails were not unusual. It was the wedding ring. The home-wrecker was married too. Somewhere, a husband slept in their bed not knowing his wife had died a few hours ago with another man's cock in her mouth. A wave of empathy for the unknown man invaded. Only she could know what he would soon face.
It took several long minutes before it came to her. She forced her brain to focus long enough to remember seeing that huge square cut ring with dozens of surrounding baguettes set in white gold. She had admired it at the time while thinking the shrew wearing it didn't deserve it. She snorted a laugh as she realized maybe the bitch had gotten exactly what she deserved.
Cali looked at the officer across the body from her. Their eyes locked before she answered his questioning gaze. "Her name was Veronica Mikos. Her husband is a lawyer at the same law firm where my husband worked. His name is Nicholas Mikos."
Chapter Three
"Nick. Did you hear what I said?" Nick had been lost in thought, staring out the kitchen window into his back yard. The fresh snow cover had a way of hiding the ugly, frozen ground. He wished it could hide the ugly reality of the last three days. He reluctantly turned his attention to his older sister standing at his kitchen island.
"I'm gonna wrap up some of these leftovers and put them in the freezer. There's no way you and Andi are going to be able to work through these before they go bad and it will be good for you to have some meals you can pull out later."
It was just like Natalie to be taking charge. He knew she was coping, trying to help her baby brother in any way she could. What else could she do to help? Veronica, his wife and the mother of his only child, was dead. That alone would be hard to deal with. It was the humiliating way she had died that made the already bad situation that much worse.
Nick had seen the pity in the eyes of his friends and neighbors at the closed-casket funeral this morning. The local newspaper had done a stellar job with their investigation into the fatal car accident. He didn't blame the media. Not really. Two married people killed while sneaking around behind their spouse's backs. It was a salacious story.
Nick had barely slept since the police came to the house Friday morning. He'd been trying to get Andi ready for school so he could drop her off on his way to the office.
Roni had told him she needed to go to New York to visit her sister whose marriage was crumbling. Only when his sister-in-law had shown up with her husband in tow for the funeral did Nick know the excuse had been completely fabricated. Veronica's lie had set things in motion to allow his wife the opportunity to die in the car with that prick, Kevin Bennett. The fact she had cheated on him was bad enough, but that it was with the pretentious asshole Roni knew he hated, made it hurt that much worse. So far, the only consolation he had received was that at least the bastard had paid with his life.
Nick mourned for his lost wife - his lost marriage. Even more, he mourned for his daughter's lost mother. No seven year old should have to lose a parent. It wasn't right. Still, as he moved to the doorway to the dining room, he watched Andi playing a board game with her grandma. Only her simple black dress gave away her recent loss. He didn't think his daughter really understood what was happening around her, and for that, he was grateful. There would be plenty of time for her to come to terms with their loss.
She looked up then, smiling a comforting smile that seemed beyond her young years. Damn, he loved that little girl. She was all he had left of Roni now. As Andi returned to the spirited game, oblivious to his pain, Nick remembered the first time he had set eyes on her.
She had been a few weeks old by the time he met his daughter. He had dated Roni for a few months the year before, breaking things off when he had seen how manipulative she could be. When she'd shown up on his doorstep with a baby who looked exactly like him, his heart melted on the spot. Andi had his own olive skin and black hair. She'd opened her eyes and stared directly into his soul just before the month old baby broke out into the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. He knew in that moment his life would never be the same.
They had married just a few weeks later. Nick had a lot of regrets about his tumultuous relationship with his dead wife, but he'd never regret that she gave him Andrea. She was perfect. A wave of panic invaded as Nick worried for the hundredth time how he was going to manage raising Andi on his own. Veronica may have never won the mother-of-the year award, but she was at least there to do what needed to be done. Even after Andi was in school, Roni had elected not to work. At Nick's insistence, she had shuffled Andi to gymnastics and dance lessons over the last few years. Nick mentally added finding a nanny for his daughter to his growing to-do list.
"Have you thought about what you're going to do next?" His sister had come up beside him to look on the handful of remaining close friends and family members milling
about. Part of him wanted to scream at everyone to get the hell out so he could be alone and think. The other part of him was terrified to be alone in the house with just Andi. He knew that would be when it would really hit him that Roni was gone.
He finally answered his sister. "Not really. I've taken the next two weeks off to try to get my head on straight and figure out what I'm gonna do."
"I wish I could stay to help longer, but I can only stay a couple more days."
"It's okay, Nat. I know you can't be away from the kids and the restaurant forever."
"They'll be okay without me for a few days. I'm gonna make you an offer, but I don't want you to be pissed at me." He heard the hesitancy in her voice, and turned to look down into her eyes before she continued. "I can't stay, but I'm happy to take Andi home with me." Nick immediately started to interrupt, but she held her fingers to his lips to shush him. "Not forever. Just until you have time to figure out what you want to do."
There was no way he was gonna let his little girl leave. "I appreciate the offer, Nat and I know you mean well, but Andi belongs here with me. I'll figure something out."
The laughter of his daughter and mother as they played the game seemed out of place in the melancholy room. Brother and sister watched the two people they both loved so much having fun. "I'd leave mom here if I thought she would be a help, but she's been getting worse. I'm afraid leaving her here would do more harm than good for you."
"I've noticed she's getting more forgetful. I hate how fast the Alzheimer's is progressing."
"Don't worry about that right now. You have enough shit on your plate. I can handle mom."
"Thanks Nat. I don't think I can deal with anything more right now."
"I get that. If I didn't have my hands full with the kids and the restaurant, I'd stay. You know that, right?"
"I do, but truthfully I need some time alone to sort through everything that's happened."
"I understand. Just promise me you'll call if you need to talk, okay?"
"I will."
Several hours later, the house was quiet. The mourners had left and his mom and sister had gone upstairs to give Andi her bath and get her settled in for the night. Nick sat alone for the first time since receiving the news of his wife's death. His wife's betrayal. He downed his third bourbon, enjoying the burn trailing down his throat to his sour stomach. He enjoyed the rush of the alcohol. It would be so easy to lose himself in self-pity. The only thing stopping him was the thought of the beautiful daughter sleeping one story above him.
Instead of grabbing for the bourbon bottle, Nick pushed to his feet. He took the stairs in twos, rushing up to open the door to his daughter's princess themed bedroom. The small nightlight illuminated the room. It gave him enough light to see her angelic face as he stood over her. He was comforted by the even rise and fall of her chest in sleep. He was relieved she didn't seem upset by the fact that her mother wasn't here like normal.
Nick pulled the wooden rocking chair over from the corner. He had spent countless hours rocking his daughter in that chair, reading her bedtime stories. Tonight, he would sleep in it, rocking as he kept watch over her until exhaustion finally allowed him to slip into a fitful sleep.
Cali was exhausted. She shouldn't be. It was only four in the afternoon, but today had been hard. It was her first day back in the classroom since Kevin's accident. The school had given her three weeks off to take care of things and to mourn her husband's sudden death. She knew she should be grateful for the time off, but after struggling to hold her emotions in check all day, she wondered if she was ready to go back to work. On the one hand, it was good to have something routine to get her mind off all she had been through. On the other hand, the pitiful looks she got from her peers as she would pass them in the hallway kept her locked in the hell Kevin had thrown her into.
She had spent much of the last three weeks curled up in a ball in the middle of their king-sized bed. She felt like a schizophrenic, fighting widely fluctuating mood swings. One minute she would be fine and then she'd remember having to stand in the morgue to identify the woman who had bitten her husband's dick off and anger would consume her. Rage was becoming a frequent companion and she hated it.
Then there were the times she would remember Kevin as he was when they'd met; the Kevin she had fallen in love with, but it was the tyrant who would hurt her with his rough sexual domination that consumed her dreams. She often awoke in a cold sweat, unable to get back to sleep. Only now were the last of the bruises finally fading.
She took a nap when she got home and woke somewhat rested. Her cell phone rang with a call from her dad. She let it roll to voicemail. He'd come to the funeral, of course. He had even tried to convince her to move back to Baltimore for a while, but she knew there would be no peace in her childhood home. She would just be trading in one set of bad memories for another.
Things hadn't been the same with her family for years. Family trauma had torn them apart while she was still in her teens. She had been relieved to leave for college to escape the constant strain and bickering. She was halfway through her freshman year when her mom had died of a heart attack. Her dad had never been the same since. Now, years later, things were as strained as ever.
Her phone rang again. This time it was her best friend, Lucy. She picked up at the last minute. "Hey."
"So how did the first day back at work go?"
"As you'd expect. Hard and long. Emotional, yet good to get out of the house. Basically, as confusing as ever."
"You won't be confused forever, Cal. Sooner or later, you'll only remember the bad shit he did and you'll be able to leave him in your dust."
"If you called just to bash Kevin, I'll hang up now. I know you hated him, but he was my husband."
"He was your abuser, Cali. You were brainwashed."
"Gotta go. Talk to you..."
"Fine. I'll stop talking about him. I actually called to see if you've talked to your dad today."
"No, but he tried to call a few minutes ago. I let it roll to voicemail."
"Well I ran into him at the grocery store today. He looked like shit."
"I'm sorry for that, but I sort of have my plate full right now."
"I'm just saying. Maybe you two could help each other. He acted like guilt is eating him alive over how your mom died and now he feels so bad for you. It was weird. He kept saying how sad it was that you wouldn't be able to have the family you deserved."
A pang of sadness contracted her heart. She couldn't go there. "Well, it wasn't for lack of trying on Kevin's part."
Her best friend snorted, but to her credit, didn't take the opportunity to disparage Kevin again. "I'm just saying you might want to call your dad."
"Fine. I'll think about it."
"Okay, I gotta go. Love you kiddo."
"Later. Thanks for calling, Luc."
Cali had been pacing around the massive house as she spoke to her friend. Not for the first time since Kevin died did she ponder what she should do with the big house. They had bought it with a sizable monetary gift from Kevin's parents for their wedding. It was meant to be the home they would raise the kids that would never be. She knew she needed to sell the house and move, but she had no idea to where. She had decided it was best to wait a few months before she made any major decisions.
Every night during the three weeks since he'd died, Cali had paced the house, nervously. In all that time, she had been avoiding her husband's home office. In part, because she rarely had been in that particular room, but more importantly because the few times she had been there were not particularly fond memories.
She had received her first punishment spanking bent over the large wooden desk her husband liked to work at. As angry as she'd been at him, even now, she knew she had deserved that particular punishment. She had crashed her car into a parked car while texting in the parking lot at the mall. It had caused over ten thousand dollars in damages and their insurance premium had gone up.
As she stood in the en
try to the room looking at that desk, she knew that had been the day her marriage had changed forever. It was that fateful day she'd discovered her husband was a sadist who enjoyed punishing his wife. She had also discovered that, in spite of the pain and how much she hated the loss of control, there was a hidden part of her that responded to Kevin's domination. Even now, over a year later, she still didn't understand how her body could react the way it had under his domination. She'd love to blame Kevin for being abusive as Lucy insisted, but only Cali knew that he had unlocked a submissive part of her she'd worked hard to keep hidden deep inside. How much easier would life have been if she'd told him to fuck off that fateful night?
Cali sat in the executive chair behind the desk, looking through the open files and loose papers her husband had left behind. The mail had been piling up on the front entry table. She'd paid a few of the bills she knew she needed to take care of, but also knew there was a plethora of paperwork she needed to sort through here in his office. She dreaded it.
Cali forced herself to start by opening the top drawer, but found nothing out of the norm. She discovered his handgun in the second drawer down, a box of ammunition next to it. Cali avoided touching the weapon, leaving it where it was. It was what she found deeper in the drawer that drew her attention. She picked up the small external disk and wondered what kind of information Kevin had stored on it.
His personal laptop sat on top of the desk. She slid her fingers across the mousepad, waking it up. It was plugged into power and fully charged. She didn't have his password and knew the chances of guessing were slim to none. She plugged the hard drive into the USB drive, but nothing happened. She continued with rifling through the desk to see what else she could find. As she opened the center top drawer, a post-it note with a strange code was on top.
Could it be that easy?
Cali was amazed when the password unlocked the laptop. It wasn't like Kevin to be so careless with sensitive information. Still, she took a few minutes to poke around. There were hundreds of files and directories devoted to clients and some for their personal finances. She'd have to spend time looking through them later. It was the file marked as 'cell phone backup' that caught her eye. Kevin's cell had been destroyed in the accident. She'd regretted that because she was sure there were names and addresses in his phone she needed in order to send out thank-yous after the funeral. Cali poked around through the directories until she found his contact list.
Twist (A BDSM & Romantic Erotica Boxed Set) Page 29
