Persona (The 'Professional' series)

by Ceri Bladen

  Ella was stunned as she watched Lindsey, the secretary from Daniel’s agency, walk over to the carpenter and give him a cup of coffee. Confused, Ella enquired, “Is Daniel here with you?”

  Lindsey turned, “No, just me. I had to come over with some contracts for him to sign and the carpenter kindly let me in.” She smiled a sugary sweet smile at him, which looked a lot like an attempt at flirting to Ella.

  Ella relaxed. It most probably wasn’t unusual for her to come around. “It’s okay, I’ll get myself a cup now as you have made some. I’ll be back in a sec. Take a seat, Daniel shouldn’t be long.” She called from the kitchen, while pouring the aromatic Arabica coffee into a cup. It smelled delicious.

  When she returned to sit with Lindsey, the carpenter had just finished tidying and had already finished his coffee. Ella thought he must have a mouth like asbestos not to scold it on the hot coffee. She sipped hers, her hands wrapped around the mug tightly, for some reason she couldn’t name, she felt chilled to her bones.

  After the carpenter had left and the small talk had all but run out, Ella noticed that Lindsey was becoming agitated. Perhaps she had other things to do rather than sit around waiting for Daniel. “You can leave those contracts here, if you want. Daniel can return them tomorrow.”

  Ella noticed the twitchy reflex on Lindsey’s face, her hazel eyes becoming troubled. “No, I need to give them to Daniel. I need to see him.”

  “Fine.” Something was troubling Lindsey and making her uptight. “Daniel shouldn’t be too long. Would you mind if I went and changed into something a little more comfortable? I have had a long drive back and would like to relax in more appropriate clothes.”

  The disturbed look that was on Lindsey’s face seemed to disappear and a smile appeared on her thin lips instead. “No, take your time. I’ll refill my coffee.”

  Ella was glad to get out of the room. You could have cut the tension with a knife. What was wrong with that woman? Was she shy or just strange? Oh well, Ella reasoned that she did not have to meet her again once her job was done. She sat on the chair, which was facing the bed, to take her shoes off.

  She heard crashing, something had broken, then Lindsey’s voice shouted, “Don’t worry I have just knocked over a lamp. I will sort it.”

  Ella shrugged. After she changed she would go and see what happened. She bent down to massage her toes.

  The carpenter had done a good job, he had taken enough off the bottom of the door that it no longer caught the carpet pile. It no longer made a noise either when the door was opened.

  Ella felt a horrendous pain on the back of her head, and then drifted into the waiting blackness.

  Chapter 20

  Daniel was smiling to himself, he was in high spirits. He was going home early because he knew that Ella would be back. He knew he couldn’t ever be with her in the physical sense, but he enjoyed her company and he had decided over the last couple of days without her, that he was not going to deprive himself of another minute with her.

  He had gone out this morning to buy red wine, thick, juicy steaks and beautiful prawns to make a ‘Surf and Turf’ meal for them. Eric had phoned him earlier on to say that he had a date and so would not be home. Usually, that would have been the time that Daniel would make sure he wasn’t home either. Today was different, he felt different, sort of calm. Tonight would be relaxing and pleasant, just him and Ella.

  His calmness vanished as he walked into the apartment. A lamp was smashed on the table. There was something not right, he looked around searching quickly for answers to what was going on. Christ, Ella. His heart hit his toes quicker than a rollercoaster. His stomach lurched. What happened if there was a burglary and Ella had been hurt? He desperately called out her name.

  Ella was dazed, but she tried to muffle out a warning. The ties around her mouth were too tight. It was no good, she couldn’t do anything.

  A movement from his bedroom caught his eye. He was confused. Wasn’t that Lindsey leaning up against the doorjamb, clad only in some sort of thin, black negligee? She smiled suggestively at him. Now he was confused. Usually she looked at the floor when he was around.

  He caught his voice. “Oh, Lindsey isn’t it?” He tried to play a long, he was an actor after all. He hoped Ella was not back yet. “Not that I am not over the moon of having a beautiful lady coming out of my bedroom, but what are you doing here?”

  “Waiting for you.” She tried to answer sexily, her arm still draped up the door jamb.

  Daniel’s brain was still tumbling wildly, trying to make sense on what was going on. He noticed something silver glinting in her hand, was that a knife or gun? Christ.

  “Well, you seem to have caught me on a bad day. I have a friend coming around tonight. So perhaps we could take a rain check?” He noticed her body stiffen and something unattractive flitted across her eyes.

  Her eyes darted towards Ella’s bedroom. “I know all about your friends.”

  The same time he noticed Ella’s suitcase, he spotted blood on Lindsey’s hand.

  If he thought he felt bad when he thought he was on his own with her, he now felt sick. What had she done to Ella? He looked back at her. What could he do? If it was a knife, perhaps he could overpower her. She was tiny, although looking at her again, he realised that most of her was pure muscle. He kicked himself for not noticing her strength before. She had hidden it well under those frumpy clothes. What if it was a gun? Well he wasn’t silly. He would have to pretty much do anything she asked.

  He had to pretend he didn’t know Ella was here. If she wasn’t hurt already, he had to make sure that Lindsey’s attention was on him only. He had to push down the rage that was boiling at the thought that she had hurt Ella. Control things, control the situation his mind was telling him, through the haze of fear. He tried to think straight. “Would you like a drink?” He started to walk towards the kitchen, plenty of knives there.

  “Stop. I don’t think so.” Lindsey showed her hand - so it was a gun.

  He swore under his breath.

  “The bedroom, I think. You normally take all your lovers there don’t you? I’ve been watching you for years, I know all about your lovers. Now it is my time to be with you.” She rubbed her hand over her body cupping her breast, it made him feel sick.

  Oh Christ, she was delusional as well as psychotic. How was he going to handle this? He did not have much choice; choices were taken away when she had shown him the gun.

  He took a hesitant step towards her and the bedroom, hopefully away from Ella. Perhaps if he kissed her, he could make a play for the gun. It was worth a try, although the thought of kissing this psycho was turning the food in his stomach.

  She smiled a sickly smile when she saw him move towards her.

  “Oh no,” she waved the gun. “The first time we touch, I want to pleasure you. You can return the favour next time. Sit down.” She pointed to the bed.

  He noticed her hazel eyes looked empty, they had glazed over. He was in trouble.

  She threw some handcuffs at him. “Put those on. Only one arm now.” She looked him up and down as he slowly stood, trying not to spook her.

  “You need to take your clothes off first.” She licked her lips. “Leave your underpants on though. I would like to take those off you.” She blew him a kiss.

  His stomach was churning, his head was spinning. He took off his jeans and shirt, the gun pointing at him at all times. He looked at the handcuffs she had thrown at him, luckily they seemed a cheap pair. One tug and they should come loose. He looked at her face, she looked smug. Obviously she didn’t know they wouldn’t hold. At last something that was to his advantage. He put them on loosely.

  “Lie back on the bed. Put them through the spindles.”

  A thought suddenly came into his mind. It was Monday, so the cleaner would have been in today. She would have opened the lock between his bedroom and Ella’s bathroom. He was hoping Ella hadn’t been home long enough to lock it again, something which she always did. If he
could get in there, he could lock them both in and hopefully phone for some help. All he needed was Lindsey to give him time to escape.

  She looked at him from head to toes, bringing her eyes back up to his broad, muscular chest. Yes, all mine! she thought. After all these years, he will be with me and never need another one of those sluts again. A wave of uneasy spread through her as normal thoughts tried to get through, no time for doubts, she pushed sanity away.

  First, she needed to make sure she was clean and fresh. She had taken time read those disgusting books on how to pleasure a man. She hoped she could remember everything that she had read, she never wanted him to forget her. She looked at him again, lying on the bed, in her eyes, waiting for her to join him. She had saved herself all these years for Daniel to touch her first. “I’m just going to the bathroom to freshen up a moment. Wait there ……… my lover.”

  Daniel held his breath for a minute. He hoped she hadn’t noticed the door that lead to Ella’s bathroom. No, she walked towards his bathroom instead.

  This was his chance. In one swift move, he rolled off the side of the bed and ripped the spindle with him. He ran to the bathroom and heard a guttural cry from Lindsey as she came running after him, gun in hand.

  He slammed Ella’s bathroom door shut and pushed across the lock. The gun was fired. He ran through the bathroom into the bedroom, not taking time to look at Ella, although he knew she was there on the bed.

  He put the lock across the bedroom door and pushed the cabinet under it. He was able to tear one of the handcuffs off, while he turned to look at Ella, all bound up on the bed. He heard the bedroom door handle rattle. Another shot came.

  It wasn’t safe in the bedroom. He ran over to Ella, swept her and the duvet up and ran into the bathroom. He put her in the copper bath. He didn’t know if it was strong enough to stop a bullet, but it seemed the safest place at the moment.

  Daniel bent down to her, it tore his heart when he saw her tears falling. He carefully removed the ties from around her mouth. He cursed, Lindsey had not been so careful with her. Her mouth was swollen and cut. He resisted the urge to kiss them better.

  ‘Sshh! I’ll try and use the phone.’ He placed a gentle finger on her lips to silence her. Ella shook her head. She whispered in a hoarse breath. ‘It’s no good. She tore out the phone socket and smashed my mobile into pieces.’ He cursed, his mobile was in his jeans pocket, in his bedroom with Lindsey.

  Daniel could hear Lindsey screaming and banging the bedroom door. Thank goodness he had gone for solid, quality doors. She obviously couldn’t get in. No more shots came for a while. The only sound was their rapid breathing.

  Suddenly, the banging started on the door again. This time Lindsey’s voice was pleading, with undertones of anger. “Daniel, get out of there. That whore is in there. You are mine, not hers.” Her voice quickly switched to that of a pleading child. “Please darling, open the door. I just want to show you how much I will please you.”

  Silence followed by more pleading. “Darling, I have saved myself for you. No other man has touched me.” The anger glimmered through again, “Come out now and that slut can live.”

  Daniel felt his insides curl. There was silence again. He turned to look at Ella in the bath, tension still etched on her face. He remembered that she was still bound around her wrists and ankles. He couldn’t leave her trust up any longer. He leaned into the bath to turn her and very carefully undid the ties that had tightly bound her. It was obvious that she had struggled against them, her wrists were bloody. He quietly went into the bathroom cabinet to get some soothing medicine for them. When he came back he carefully rubbed it in. Her heart felt as though it would explode.

  Daniel sat on the travertine floor with arms draped over the bath, gently holding and looking at her arms. He looked from her sore wrists into her grey eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

  More tears trickled out of her eyes. She couldn’t seem to stop them. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t know what was going to happen. Just the same as I walked into it.” He wiped her tears away with his thumbs.

  “How did she get in past security and into the apartment?” he whispered.

  “I don’t know how she got past security. I do know that the carpenter let her into the apartment. He was here with her when I arrived.” she whispered back.

  “Are you okay, Ella?”

  She nodded, biting her bottom lip. She hurt all over and was still scared. There was still someone outside the door with a gun, but somehow she felt safe with Daniel. She breathed in deeply to calm and took in the scent of him. “Yes, I’m glad you are here. I wanted to warn you but I couldn’t call out. When I heard the shot…..” She shook her head. She had been so frightened. She thought that he had been shot.

  They turned towards a loud noise. Something had been pushed over. They heard Lindsey’s fury start again. “Come out. If you stay in there any longer, I know you have chosen her.” They heard manic crying. “Right, that is it. You’ve made your choice. If either of you come out of the bedroom, I will shoot you! You got that? Stay in there with your whore, but if you dare to come out, you’re both dead!”

  He saw Ella chewing her bottom lip, she looked terrified. Her grey eyes had started to mist up with unshed tears. He got up on his knees and hugged her tight. His breath tickled her ear. “We’ll be alright. She hasn’t got enough strength to push the doors in and the bullets don’t seem to be able to penetrate them. We will stay in the bathroom though, just in case.”

  Ella noticed him shiver. He didn’t have any clothes on, apart from underpants, and was leaning over the copper bath, which would feel cold. What had happened in the bedroom with Lindsey? She did not want to know. “You’re cold.” She opened the duvet that was wrapped around her. “Warm yourself in here.”

  He looked into her eyes as he climbed in, trying not to fall on her. Thank goodness it was a big bath. “Turn onto your side.” He tried to make light of the situation, he wanted to hear her laugh. “Although they do say that to warm up quickly, you need skin to skin contact.”

  She chuckled and rolled her eyes at him. “I bet you say that to all the girls! Sorry, I am keeping all my clothes on. I don’t want to be naked when the police arrive.” She really hoped they would arrive.

  If he hadn’t loved her before, he knew he did now. How many women could be so calm in this situation and even laugh? She was one strong woman, frightened for sure, but not at one point had she become hysterical.

  He wrapped the duvet around them both, bending his legs up behind her. They didn’t have pillows, he did not want to risk going back to the bedroom, so he gently placed her head on his outstretched arm. He made sure the handcuff didn’t hurt her. He placed his other arm over her waist and pulled her tight up against him. It felt wonderful, so right. He heard her sigh and felt her body relax against him.

  She was exhausted. Her eyelids were starting to feel heavy. His arm, which had become her pillow, comforted her. She could feel his naked chest rise and fall in even breathing, making things seem calm. All the pumping adrenaline, which had surged through her and was now waning, made her feel really drowsy. She felt so warm and safe in Daniels arms, she was asleep in no time.

  Daniel was too pumped up to sleep. He tried to appear calm for Ella, enough for her to get to sleep, but he couldn’t. The danger hadn’t passed. He needed to be alert just in case.

  He was hoping that Eric didn’t walk in on Lindsey, hopefully his date would keep out late. He lifted his head slightly and looked at Ella, quietly sleeping on his arm. He smiled to himself. Why was it whenever he got Ella near a bedroom, she was asleep within minutes? He pulled her closer. Her bum gave a slight wiggle against him. On second thoughts, perhaps it was a good thing that she had fallen straight to sleep, she was warming him up very fast.

  Daniel’s eyelids started dropping, his eyeballs were dry. He had been awake for hours now, waiting for a noise, anything. The only noises now came from Ella’s shallow breathing.

 
; She had tried to wiggle away from him a couple of times during her sleep, but he had pulled her softness back into his hard body. Her body was so close he could smell the fruity toiletries that she seemed to use. She always smelled fresh and fruity. She didn’t seem to go for the heavy scents that a lot of women seemed to like.

  The only good thing to come out of this mess was that he got to spend the night with Ella in his arms. Daniel blinked his grainy eyes. He noticed dawn was breaking. It was getting lighter. Surely, Lindsey would be gone by now?

  He relaxed a little. He would give it ten more minutes and then carefully check if she was still around. He took a big breath in, unable to keep his eyes open any longer and fell asleep.

  Chapter 21

  Ella woke up to banging on the bedroom door.

  She had no idea what time it was. She was terrified again. She nudged Daniel, who within seconds, was wide awake. He put his hand over her mouth to keep her quiet so he could listen.

  “Daniel? Daniel, Ella what’s happened? It’s Eric.” The banging grew more frantic.

  They both tried to scramble out of the bath, the tangle of the duvet making things awkward. Daniel got out first and held his hand out to help Ella.

  “Eric, thank God.” He unlocked the door and threw it open. “Are we glad to see you or what!”

  Eric took in the scene, Daniel naked apart from underpants, Ella with a duvet wrapped around her, both walking from her bedroom. “Um, I’m sorry. Have I interrupted something?”

  “Goodness, no!” exclaimed Ella going red. She needed to gather her thoughts. She could feel her body start to shake with shock or relief, she didn’t know. “I’ll let Daniel explain. I need a minute or two.”

  “Not yet, you don’t.” Daniel grabbed the corner of the duvet and pulled her back against his chest. Ella was spun back and pulled against his solid chest in one motion. He hugged her and kissed her hair, his warm breath was disturbing her.

  “You’re shaking. You are safe now. I’m going to call the police. Don’t you worry.” He kissed her forehead and took a step back holding her shoulders lightly. Desire, that had smouldered through his eyes as it swept possessively over her, was quickly squashed. “Now you can go and have a lie down.” He had needed that hug as much as her, or if truth be told, even more.