by Tara Thomas
She stopped walking and, moving too fast for him to stop, slapped him harder than anyone ever had before. “How dare you!” She nearly spat the words at him. “And on my wedding day. I used to like you, Howard Germain. I thought you were a really nice guy and a good friend to Frank. Now I see that you’re nothing but a miserable, sneaky snake. Go away. I’ll make it home just fine.”
“Helen.” He’d known it wouldn’t be easy. Had known she probably wouldn’t believe him at first, but even knowing that wasn’t enough to take away the sting of being called a liar. “You have to believe me. I wouldn’t be saying this if it weren’t true. You have to know me well enough to know I would never do anything to hurt you.”
She was standing a short distance away from him, with her arms crossed and glaring at him like it was his fault her fiancé was a pig.
“I may have thought that before, but not now.” It was too dark to see if she’d found any of what he’d said to be truthful. All he could make out was the glare. “Even if what you said was true, you’d have known about it long before now and you still waited until my wedding day to bring it up.”
“That was wrong of me, but you have to believe me, I kept thinking you’d find out and that I wouldn’t have to be the one to tell you.” Desperation raced through him; she didn’t believe him, and he didn’t know what to do to make her believe. Not only that, but he was running out of time. Why hadn’t he tried to tell her before now? An idea flashed through his mind. A foolhardy idea that would never work, but he knew he had to try. “Come with me.”
“What?”
He held out his hand. “Come with me. Let’s run away together. Just you and me. We won’t tell anyone. I can love you like he can’t.” Something flashed in her eyes—yes—he was getting through! “There will never be anyone else for me, just you. Please, Helen. Just you and me, we can do it, all we need is each other.”
But whatever he’d seen flash was gone and only contempt remained. “I hate you, Howard. Do us both a favor and stay as far away from me as possible tomorrow.” She turned, as if to head to her apartment. “I’m walking home alone and if you try to follow me, I’ll call the police.”
He had no choice but to stand there and watch as his future, his love, and his life walked away and left him all alone.
* * *
It was never a good thing when The Gentleman paid you a visit at midnight. Jade had a feeling that went double when you were already his captive. He stood nearby, the perfect picture of lunacy, watching as she stirred. She hadn’t gone to sleep, of course. Years of not only living, but also working with the man, taught her that early.
She dozed on occasion, but always lightly and never for any extended amount of time. Typically, she wouldn’t have even closed her eyes if there had been a chance he’d stop by. That it had happened at all tonight only proved how weak she’d become.
“I remember a time when you could stay awake for forty-eight hours straight,” he said. “Now look at you. Lazy. Weak. Although, I suspect you can’t really expect much else from one of Franklin’s brats. I thought at one time that if I trained you enough, I could work it out of you. I think we can both see how much of a colossal failure that was.”
She didn’t think it’d be in her best interest to talk to him, so she remained quiet.
He gave her a smile so dark and evil, she shivered. “It’s not going to matter much longer anyway. So I should probably leave you alone, but we both know that’s not my style.”
Hell, did that mean he was going to stand there and throw insults at her? She needed to change the topic of conversation before he got started. All too frequently, she’d seen how he’d switch from insult throwing to throwing punches. She knew that in his current mood, if he hit her once, he wouldn’t stop until she was dead.
“Why do you hate Franklin so much?” she asked. It was something she’d always wanted to ask, but never had.
But, of course, The Gentleman knew what she was doing. “Is it time for us to tell our life stories?” His voice sounded calm enough, but she could see the anger that rested just below the surface at the mention of Frank’s name.
Again, she wasn’t stupid enough to answer a question.
“I know your story,” he continued, not seeming to care if she answered or not. “But you don’t know all of mine.” He looked at his watch. “And we have time before the man in charge of taking out your aunt and brother is due to check in. I suppose I could humor you for a bit.”
She forced her face to remain neutral, but wasn’t sure she was successful.
He glanced around the room and pulled a chair over toward her so he could sit down. “Your worthless father and I went to college together. He thought he was a god and the women on campus obviously thought so as well, because they were always all over him. I knew they were only using him and I didn’t care because I was doing the same thing, using him, I wanted him for a job. Everything changed, though, our junior year. That was the year Helen transferred to our college. I remember the first time I saw her. I thought she was an angel, she was so beautiful, it was almost otherworldly.”
He was looking beyond her, to something in the past, if she guessed correct. Whatever it was called to him and he was once more in its spell. She wished he could reside there.
“Of course, like everyone else, she only had eyes for Franklin. I didn’t let that bother me. I knew how Franklin worked. Knew she’d be tossed aside as soon as someone new caught his eye. Except he didn’t. Weeks turned into months. Everyone was in shock. Later, they would say that love changed him and made him a better man, but all it really did was force him to be discreet.”
Jade couldn’t stop the gasp that left her throat. Of course, he thought it was funny. “I can’t believe that shocks you, his bastard daughter. Franklin was never faithful to Helen. It was the first thing that made me hate him, but it wasn’t the last.”
A flash of something that looked like rage simmered in his expression. She didn’t want to know what her father did to earn that much anger. Fortunately, whatever it was disappeared quickly and he continued where he left off.
“A year later their engagement was announced and I saw my chances with her start to disintegrate. I wasn’t ready to give up, however, so the night before the wedding, I managed to get her alone and I told her everything. I’m not sure what I thought I was going to accomplish. All I got for it was a smack across my face. I never could figure out why she reacted the way she did.”
“Did you ever find out why?” she couldn’t help asking.
“Kipling was born six months after the wedding.”
Jade nodded as if she understood everything, but in reality, she didn’t. He fell in love with his friend’s girl and that turned him into the monster he was today? But The Gentleman wasn’t finished yet.
“Guess when I made my first human kill?” Without waiting for her to answer, he continued: “After the wedding, I was on my way home and there was a young girl hitchhiking on the side of the road.”
She didn’t want to hear about his first kill. The poor girl hitchhiking on the side of the road. But he wouldn’t stop now. Not when he had that bloodthirsty look in eyes. She wondered if she could tune him out, if she focused really hard on something that was the opposite of killing and rape and everything else he was guilty of.
She had been trying so hard to tune him out, it took a few seconds for her to realize he was no longer talking, but had taken his phone out of his pocket and had answered it.
“Yes,” he said, and that evil smile of his had once more returned. “Excellent.”
Those were the only two words he spoke, but they were the only two he needed. He turned to her. “Story time is over. Our evening entertainment has just arrived.”
* * *
Jade leaned her forehead against the cool stone wall and spit, wishing for some water to rinse her mouth. The Gentleman had let her go when she started vomiting and she’d fallen to her knees. Just thinking about her guardian
made her stomach revolt and she took deep, even breaths to try to calm down.
“Worthless,” he said from somewhere above her. She couldn’t see him, but she felt this foot when he kicked her. “Stand up.”
She slowly got to her feet, knowing it would only be worse if she stayed on her knees. But one look into The Gentleman’s eyes and she knew it would be bad for her no matter what.
“You’re weak. I’ve never seen you so weak. Even when you were a child, you were stronger than you are now.”
He didn’t say anything else for what seemed like a long time. He only stood there, looking at her with contempt.
“If I had ever thought you would be of use to me again, what just happened proved you never would be.” He looked over her right shoulder. She supposed a guard was standing there. “Take her back to her cell and chain her.”
And just like that, she was dismissed.
The guard didn’t say anything to her as he took her back to her cell. She didn’t want to be back in there because she knew once he’d left her alone, she’d replay the evening in her head.
From the moment David was rolled into the room, gagged and tied to the thick wooden board and propped up so he faced everyone, to the moment he realized what The Gentleman had planned for him, and finally that second when his worst fears were confirmed as one of the last remaining assassins, The Gentleman had stood before him and prepared to throw the first knife.
The Gentleman had laughed when the first knife stuck. “Just like those insects in Biology.”
Jade hunched over and vomited on the guard’s shoes. Even then, his sounds wouldn’t stop. Her mind replayed the bloodcurdling screams slowly becoming groans as life drained away from the young man’s body.
* * *
With nowhere else to go, Alyssa suggested to Kipling that they return to the school. It was a long, arduous trip back, but they took so many convoluted turns and doubled back an innumerable amount of times. So much so that they both questioned at different times if they even knew where they were going.
Though someone might have started out following them, they were both completely positive they arrived at the school alone. Earlier in the day, they had set up cots in a storage closet they felt certain no one would venture into. Especially considering the students and most of the faculty were still on break.
“Remember when I said I would crash later?” Alyssa dropped onto a cot. “This is me crashing.”
Kipling took the cot next to her and reached out his hand for hers. “I’m right there with you. I think I could sleep for two days and not move the entire time I did so.”
Alyssa gently squeezed his hand. “Do you think they got Jansen?” Though why she asked, she wasn’t sure. Part of her could be happy forever being able to pretend he was safe.
“Do you really want to know what I think?” Kipling asked with a pointed look.
She thought through her response before giving it. “Yes, I think I do.”
“There were gunshots fired right as we left the property. I’d be shocked if he survived.”
“But it’s possible, right?” she asked, surprised at how hoarse she sounded.
“Yes.”
She sniffled. Damn, this case was getting to her. Either that or she was going soft. She didn’t like either one of those options. She wished more than anything that they weren’t sleeping on cots. But rather that they were sharing a bed.
If they were in a bed, he would pull her close to his side and tuck her head under his. It made her smile that they had shared a bed only two times and already she knew how they would position themselves. But not tonight. She sighed.
“Come here, Alyssa,” he said, rolling to his side and scooting over to give her room on the cot.
She didn’t stop to ask if he was sure or if he’d have enough room. He’d offered and she was going to take him up on it. Within seconds, she was in his arms and content. She guessed she was seconds away from sleep when his phone rang.
They were both immediately on high alert. As far as she knew, only his brothers, Lena, Tilly, and Bea had the number to his burner phone and no one had used it so far. She looked at her watch. For sure, there wasn’t anything good going to come from a call this time of the morning.
“I don’t know that number,” he said, before putting it on speaker and answering. “Hello.”
“Kipling Benedict,” an unfamiliar voice said, but from the way his jaw tensed and the way he went from relaxed to rigid in two seconds, Alyssa could see that Kipling knew exactly who it was. Somehow she knew that this call was going to change everything.
“Howard Germain,” Kipling replied, and Alyssa sucked in a breath. Damn, but she’d hoped she’d been wrong. “What can I do for you?”
“I was calling to see if you were interested in seeing your baby sister again?” Howard asked, and Alyssa decided he had the creepiest voice she’d ever heard.
“What kind of question is that?” Kipling demanded, and even though his voice was calm, she saw the anger in his expression and knew he was using all his self-control to remain calm. “Of course, I want to see her.”
“Excellent,” Howard, or The Gentleman, as she now knew he went by, said even as she worked to make sense of the fact that this man was not only the fiend she’d been chasing because of his involvement with the local missing women, but was also responsible for her sister’s death. It was almost surreal. “That’s exactly the response I wanted to hear. And in order to see her and get her back alive, you only have to do one thing.”
“And what is that?”
“Bring me the police officer.”
For a second, it felt as if her entire body shut down. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t move.
“Why?”
Howard only laughed. But it wasn’t a normal laugh, it wasn’t funny at all. It was scary as hell and she knew, after only hearing it once, that it would haunt her forever.
“What does it matter to you why I want her? You’re getting your sister back. Or half-sister, that is.”
“I’m not about to put my worst enemy in your hands, do you actually think I’m going to hand someone I care about to you?”
“Oh no, Kipling.” Howard made a tsk-tsk sound. “Don’t tell me you’ve grown close to the officer? The one who arrested you and made you into a laughingstock? You actually care what happens to her? It’s a good thing your parents aren’t here to see this. They would not approve of you dating someone in that profession. Honestly, between you and your brothers, you have managed to tie yourselves to the most worthless women.”
“If you don’t have anything else to say,” Kipling said, with barely contained rage. “I think it’s time to end this call.”
“That’s fine. You go and think about what you want to do. As for me, I’ll be in the backyard of your beach cottage tomorrow night at eight. You always talk about how important family is, all I’m doing is giving you a chance to prove it.”’
Kipling didn’t say anything else, he simply hung up. One look at her must have been enough for him to guess what she was thinking. “No,” he said, without even waiting for her to say anything. “It’s out of the question. Don’t even think of it.”
She put her hands on her hips. “When you decide to knock off the annoying mind-reading trick, let me know and we can have a reasonable conversation like two adults.”
“Are you implying that I’m not an adult or that I’m not reasonable?” he asked.
“I’m not implying anything. I’m saying that when you assume what I’m going to say or do and then tell me I’m not going to do, it’s annoying. You need to stop using it and falling back on it when things don’t go the way you think they should.”
“Is that what I’m doing?” he asked.
“No. Not right this second. Right this second, you’re just arguing with me and being a pain in the ass.”
“Okay, fine. Stand there right where you are, look me in the eyes, and tell me you weren’t thinking about offering
yourself as a pawn to The Gentleman, in order for me to get Jade back.”
“You make it sound so black and white, and it isn’t. I’m a trained police officer, I know how to take care of myself, how to get out of certain situations, and when I can’t, I know how to fight.”
“Excuse me for pointing out the obvious, but Jade has been under his care for all of her life. Almost. Are you seriously going to stand there and tell me you think you know how to handle him better than she does?”
She couldn’t believe that was his reasoning. “Frankly, seeing the way she looked when she came by your house that night, add in a few more weeks on the streets, and now her guardian has kidnapped her. Yes. Actually I do think I’m better prepared and equipped to handle Howard Germain than she is.” She cocked her eyebrow at him again. “Truth be told, I’m probably better equipped and prepared to handle him than you are.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Oh, excuse me. Are you going to go macho on me now? Must protect the little lady from getting her hands dirty and all that? Seriously, I thought better of you.” She turned to walk away, but Kipling was having no part in that.
“Don’t walk away from me, I’m not finished with this conversation yet.”
“Perhaps not, but until you can say something worthwhile or meaningful, I’m not going to listen to it.”
“You are the most infuriating woman ever.”
“At least you found that out early. Now you have time to look for a docile Southern belle who will abide by your every whim and command.”
“I have no interest in that and you know that for a fact, Alyssa.”
“Not based on this conversation I don’t.”
He took a step closer to her and she swore she felt his body hum the way it had at his family’s beach cottage right before he’d taken her down the hall to his room. “I seem to remember you were very vocal with your own commands not so long ago, weren’t you?”
She told herself she wasn’t going to blush over anything she’d asked him for in bed. “Yes, I was and if I remember correctly, you liked it. A lot.”
He had somehow completely crossed any remaining space between them. She could smell him and she bet if she moved her lips just slightly, she’d be able to taste him.
