His Sister's Return

by Mary Goldberger

  She talked a little more before she told him ‘good night’ and he hung up chuckling as Bea came over to him and settled in his lap.

  “So,” she asked him in a husky voice as he settled his hands at her waist, “is this Alina the one you have been focusing your attention on lately?”

  “Yes,” he said nodding his head, and he watched as Bea laughed placing her head on his chest.

  “I was getting jealous of someone you are seducing to help your sister,” she said relief in her voice. She tilted her head back to look at him through her lashes and she stated, “There is nothing for me to be worried about then.”

  Trystan didn’t correct her as she leaned up kissing him fully on the mouth before he drew back and told her, “I have a present for you.”

  Her eyes sparkled at the news and he lifted one hand from her waist to open his top desk drawer pulling out the box. “It is homemade jewelry I bought when I was in Tiers,” he told her as he handed her the box.

  Bea didn’t realize that her lips turned down at the word ‘homemade’ even though Trystan caught the tell-tale sign as she opened the box.

  She was amazed at how beautiful it was even though she knew that she would rarely wear it. “It is beautiful,” she told him honestly as he lifted it out of the box.

  “I thought about you when I bought it,” he told her as she turned in his lap so that he could put it on for her. Trystan fastened it and as she turned around, the charm nestled in the valley between her breast and he looked up to see a satisfied look in her eyes, and for some reason, he didn’t’ tell her what the woman had told him that day even though he had planned on joking about it with her.

  “Thank you,” she whispered wrapping her arms around his neck and nestling her body up against him.

  “You’re welcome,” he told her a second before she kissed him.

  The next morning, Alina was almost out the door when the room phone rung and she glanced at it before she let out a gentle sigh walking back to answer it.

  “Hello,” she said her voice calm and polite.

  “Miss Barks,” the desk clerk began, “this is the front desk and I am sorry for calling so early.”

  “I was already awake,” Alina told her. “Is there a problem?”

  “No,” the desk clerk said firmly. “Your companion from yesterday just wanted us to check to make sure that you were okay.”

  Alina’s mouth straightened before she said politely, “Thank him for his concern, but I am fine so there is nothing he needs to concern himself with.”

  After thanking the woman for her call, she hung up shaking her head as she mumbled underneath her breath when her cell phone rung.

  “Hello,” she said without looking at the caller thinking that it couldn’t be Trystan as he already had someone calling to check up on her and wouldn’t be doing it himself.

  She was wrong as his voice came over the phone. “How are you feeling this morning?”

  She gasped silently at the sound of his voice before she told him, “I am fine, but there was no reason for you to call. The clerk from the reception desk already called to check on me today so you didn’t need to bother, but thank you.”

  She was about to hang up when Trystan said “Have lunch with me today?”

  “I have plans, but thank you anyway,” Alina declined politely.

  Trystan thought fast before he said, “I want to talk with you about something so please have lunch with me.”

  Alina wanted to refuse again, but he made it sound like there was something important he wanted to discuss with her so she gave in. “Fine, where do you want to meet?”

  Trystan smiled on the other end as he said, “The same restaurant as before and I will get Rob to give you a ride.”

  “It isn’t necessary,” Alina told him. “I will meet you there just let me know when.”

  He looked at his watch as he said, “How about in two hours?”

  “Okay,” she told him before she hung up, and Trystan smiled as he ended the call.

  Bea stood in the doorway watching the smile on his face and her eyes narrowed in thought before she knocked on the door allowing a pleasant smile to settle on her face as he glanced over at the knock.

  “I came to invite you for lunch, but it sounds like you are going to have a working lunch,” she told him walking over to his desk.

  “Something like that,” he told her putting his cell on the desk as Trudy came in the room with some files in her hand. “Excuse me,” he said as he got up and walked over to the couch where they became engrossed.

  Bea stood there for a few minutes before she said suddenly, “Trystan is it all right if I use your phone? My phone died as I was coming up here.”

  “Go ahead,” he told her without looking up although Trudy did.

  She picked up the phone and quickly scanned his contacts getting Alina’s phone number before she dialed a friend’s phone knowing that they wouldn’t answer as they had turned off their phone since they were with their boyfriend at the moment.

  “She isn’t answering so I can try back later,” she told him after a few minutes of listening to it rang.

  Trystan nodded his head as he made some notes in one of the files and Bea smiled putting the phone back on the desk.

  She turned and headed for the door as she told him, “Why don’t we have a late night dinner instead, Trystan?”

  “Sure,” he told her absently as he flipped through another file and she looked at him with possessive eyes before she walked out of the office.

  “Trystan,” Trudy began only to stop when she realized that he wasn’t paying any attention as all his concentration was on his work.

  He flipped the last file closed as he looked at his watch and told her, “I am about to head to my meeting. Is there anything else at the moment?”

  “No, not until this afternoon,” she told him picking up the files.

  “I might be late coming back from lunch,” he told her as went back to his desk to get the files he needed for the meeting, and she nodded her head as they left his office together.

  Trystan glanced at his watch as he exited the meeting heading out of the hotel and to his car knowing that he was going to be late with his lunch date with Alina. He had reached the restaurant and was about to go inside when suddenly his cell rung, and he answered one hand on the handle to the entrance.

  His face paled at what he was being told and he turned abruptly hurrying back to his car as Alina looked out the window her eyes thoughtful seeing his fast exit from the parking lot.

  As the server came over, she asked for the check since she had ordered a drink while waiting for him.

  The server frowned as she asked, “Your companion is not joining you?”

  Alina smiled and shook her head as she said, “Something must have come up.”

  She paid the bill and walked out of the restaurant a few minutes later, and she was about to cross to the parking lot when suddenly a car shot out of nowhere swiping her as she turned at the screech of tires. One of the customers came out a few seconds later and yelled out as the car stopped, and Alina knew that it would’ve backed up if the person hadn’t come out. Instead it took off with the tires screaming as the woman came over to her.

  “Are you okay?” She asked as Alina sat herself up feeling the pain radiate up her leg although she knew it wasn’t broken as she moved it gently.

  “I am fine although I think I will be black and blue for a few days,” she said jokingly, and the woman smiled at her although there was a worried look on her face.

  “Should I call the cops?” One of the staff members said as he had rushed out when he heard the screeching of tires.

  Alina shook her head as she said, “I didn’t get the license plate number” although this time she was positive that the person behind the wheel was a woman. She turned to the one who had exited behind her and said, “Did you by any chance catch the plate number?”

  “No sorry, I didn’t,” the woman admitte
d honestly.

  Alina nodded her head as she said to the restaurant staff member, “It won’t help if we call the police because neither one of us can give the plate number nor even an adequate description of the car except that it was a dark SUV.”

  The other woman nodded her head as the man looked at her and Alina gingerly climbed to her feet wincing a little as she put weight down on her leg.

  “Thank you,” she told the woman who nodded her head and they both walked her to the car she had rented that morning after she agreed to meet Trystan for lunch.

  They left after assisting her insider her car and making sure she was all right, and she sighed leaning her head back wondering what else her mystery assailant had in stored for her as she straightened up turning on the car.

  One thing for sure, she was tired of being the hunted a new light entering her eyes as she left the restaurant parking lot and turned back heading to the hotel, but first she needed some rest and to make a phone call.

  Chapter 8

  Trystan stormed into his office and Trudy looked up in surprise as he stopped at her desk. “Did Alina call by any chance?”

  Trudy looked at him in wonder as she told him, “No, she didn’t. Did something happen?”

  He waved her into his office as he walked in and strode to his desk, he told her, “I was on my way to lunch with Alina when I got a call stating that Marla had gotten in an accident so I rushed to the hospital.”

  “Oh my,” Trudy said putting a hand to her mouth. “Is Marla all right?”

  Trystan turned to her with a face made of stone as he said, “Marla is fine because when I arrived at the hospital, I was told that no one from there called me because they didn’t have a patient of the name Marla Tyeson who had been admitted from an accident.”

  Trudy’s face pale as she understood what he was telling her. “Who would do something like that?” She murmured in complete astonishment.

  “I don’t know, but they better hope I never learn whose sick joke this was,” he said a hard note in his voice that created a chill down Trudy’s back.

  His office phone rung at that moment and he hit the speaker button with a snarl as he said sharply, “Yes?”

  There was silence before a deep voice said, “Mr. Tyeson, this is the manager of Sebastian’s.”

  ‘Hello,” he said running a hand through his hair. “If this about the bill, then I will…”

  The manager interrupted him, “Sir, we are not calling about the bill because the young woman didn’t eat although she did pay for the drink that she had while waiting. The reason I was calling was to check and see how the young woman was doing and since I didn’t have a number for her, I thought I would call you.”

  Trystan stilled as he asked, “What do you mean?”

  There was silence before the manager said in confusion, “Didn’t she tell you that when she was leaving a car almost ran her over? She was lucky that she had turned at the right moment and that the car grazed her instead from what one of my staff members told me as he, and another customer, helped her to her car.”

  Trystan didn’t bother with a response as he rushed out of the office and Trudy looked on in shock as the manager said, “Sir, sir, are you still there?”

  Trudy snapping out of her shock said quickly, “Sir, my boss is busy at the moment. Let me get your name and number,” forgetting in the moment that she had both, “and we will give you a call back when we know about Alina’s condition.”

  Trystan rushed to the elevator hitting the button for down and it opened a second later only for Bea to walk out with a smile on her face as she noticed him standing there.

  “Well, I must say that I like this,” she cooed as she started toward him only to be told gravely, “Bea, there is an emergency that I have to attend to so go into the office and I will be with you in a little while.”

  She didn’t have time to respond as he quickly put her to the side and entered the elevator hitting the button for Alina’s floor as the doors closed in Bea’s face.

  The look of shock on her face turned to rage as she stormed into his office where Trudy was just hitting the speaker phone button hanging up with the manager.

  “What kind of emergency does Trystan have now?” She sneered at Trudy as she crossed over to the chair throwing her body in it.

  Trudy looked at her confused for a moment before she fibbed without a second thought, “A guest accused one of the staff members of stealing from him so Trystan is going to talk with the man about it. It will probably take him some time so if you would like…”

  “I will wait for him here,” she said settling back against the chair her leg swinging angrily. “Get me a bottle of water, Trudy.”

  Trudy didn’t say anything to the high-handed order as she walked out of the office, but there was a satisfied look in her eyes as she did as ordered knowing that if Trystan was going where she thought, it would be some time before he returned.

  Trystan didn’t worry about what Bea thought as he stared at the doors in front of him his hands clenched at his sides.

  “Are you this unlucky or is something finally catching up with you,” he muttered tightly as the elevator finally stopped at her floor and he headed out almost bumping into a couple who was waiting for it.

  He walked with long strides down to Alina’s door and as he reached it, he banged on it with his fist.

  Alina opened her eyes suddenly as her room erupted with a pounding fist on her door and she sat up slowly in the cooling water as the banging continued. She sighed as she started to ease herself out of the tub while she called out in a weary tone, “I will be there in a minute.”

  She grabbed the long terry robe that she had placed over the toilet seat and wrapped it around her body. Her whole right side was aching and she could already see the bruising that was beginning to show, which would be more than visible tomorrow. Her hand was throbbing although she hadn’t put it in the water, but when she landed on the pavement she hadn’t been thinking about the palm and it hit down first. She lifted up the hand noting that it was slightly damp and she muttered as she started out of the bathroom, “I probably should’ve waited until after my bath to rewrap it.”

  The banging started again just as she reached the door and losing her patience due to the aching of her body, she yelled, “HOLD IT, DAMN IT. I SAID I WAS COMING.”

  Trystan stilled as she yelled from inside the room and a few seconds later, the door was snatched open her eyes blazing with pain and impatience her hair wet as she scowled at him mumbling ‘figures it would be you’ before turning and walking away from the door.

  “If you are coming in, close the door behind you,” she told him crossly before disappearing from his view.

  He walked into the room shutting the door behind him as he followed her thinking about her words when she saw him at her door. She was lying on her bed rolled on to her left side her injured palm resting on a pillow.

  “Are you okay?” He asked softly going over to sit on the edge of the bed. “The restaurant called Mr. Tyeson as he is a regular and they knew you were staying in his hotel so he called me.”

  “Fine,” she told him tersely after his long winded explanation. “Is whoever you left the restaurant for okay?”

  At his startled look, she told him quietly, “I figured you had gotten bad news from the way you pulled out of the parking lot this afternoon.”

  A scowl came to his face as he told her the truth, “Someone’s idea of a sick joke calling to tell me that my sister was involved in an accident.”

  She turned her head to look up at him her face showing her concern as she asked, “Is your sister okay? Are you sure it was a joke?”

  He reached out pushing wet hair away from her face as he told her gravely, “I called my sister after I hurried over to the hospital and she was fine getting ready for a date with her fiancée.”

  Alina sighed heavily as she let her eyes close before she murmured, “It seems we both didn’t have great days.”<
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  Trystan looked down at her his hand still resting against her face as he asked seriously, “What is going on, Alina, because I don’t think this is a coincidence anymore?”

  Her eyes fluttered open to look at him and she opened her mouth as if to tell him before she let her eyes close again as she chuckled without humor. “If I tried to explain, I don’t think you would believe me.”

  Trystan frowned at her answer and he was about to respond as she murmured wearily, “You should leave now as I promised your girlfriend not to get you involved in my problems anymore.”

  At her words, the hand that had been sliding through her hair stopped and he whispered, “My girlfriend?”

  As Alina was half asleep, she answered him honestly something she wouldn’t have done otherwise, “The redhead who is very beautiful if I must say, and it makes me wonder why you are playing with me? What do you get from getting me to like you?”

  Trystan didn’t have time to respond to her questions because she fell asleep after she finished speaking them aloud, and he sighed as he looked down at her. Her palm face up on the pillow was slightly damp, but he could tell that it was a fresh bandage and he lightly stroked a finger down the center, and her fingers closed lightly around his hand at the touch.

  He glanced down at the terry robe she wore and he knew that she must’ve just gotten out of the tub when he came banging at her door. He eased gently off the bed and slowly as not to wake Alina lifted the terry cloth to uncover one leg, and he paled seeing the big bruise that was already showing as he lowered the cloth before sitting back down on the bed.

  “I’m sorry,” he sighed as he leaned down kissing her lightly on the cheek before he lifted her up enough so he could pull the blanket and sheet out from under her. He eased them down before he put her back down gently and pulled the covers over her.

  He stroked the side of her face gently with a fingertip and as she shifted at his touch, he redrew his hand. He stood up slowly looking down at her and he whispered in his own confusion, “Right now, I don’t have the answers to your questions.”