by Tara Thomas
“I fucking loved it and you know it.” His nostrils flared. “I don’t know what bozo told you that you should keep quiet in bed and not ask for what you want, but he was wrong. And it’s time you stopped listening to him and listened to me instead.” He put a hand on both of her shoulders. “There is nothing sexier to me than a women who knows what she wants in bed and out of bed and is strong enough to not only ask for it, but to command it.”
She almost didn’t say it because she knew in saying it, she wouldn’t be totally honest. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to have sex with him. Hell, she’d have to be comatose not to want to have sex with him. That wasn’t it.
They’d been arguing about her giving herself up as a pawn to The Gentleman and Kipling had been very clear he did not want her to do it.
Even so, she closed her eyes and said it. “Prove it. Prove to me how sexy you think it is when a woman asks for what she wants in bed.”
He dipped his head low, from all appearances, it seemed as if he was going to kiss her, but at the last moment, he turned just a tad and whispered. “For the record, I know exactly what you’re doing.”
She blinked her eyes and tried to look as innocent as possible. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t play coy with me. You want to have sex, I’m pretty much down for it whenever. But don’t think for a second that I’m led so much by my dick that I don’t know what you’re doing.” She opened her mouth to speak, but he placed a finger over her lips, cutting her off. “I can’t let you do it, Alyssa. You can’t go to him. I’m petrified thinking that if you do, you’ll never come back.”
There was a time and a place to argue and or discuss how to best take The Gentleman down, along with the pros and cons over who would be the best pawn. Right now was not the best time. “I’m not saying I agree with you or that I won’t keep pushing for the role I think I’m best suited for. However, I’m willing to agree that this isn’t the best time to make those decisions.”
He chuckled. “Why do I feel as though you came out on top?”
“I don’t know.” She reached for the zipper of his pants. “But if you play your cards right, I’ll let you be on top this time.”
CHAPTER 14
THIRTY-THREE YEARS AGO
WEDDING RECEPTION OF FRANKLIN AND HELEN
Howard had experienced bad days before, but until he’d stood at the front of a church and watched his best friend marry the woman he loved, he’d never known just how bad a bad day could be. At times during the ceremony he had to hold himself back so he wouldn’t interrupt the minister and tell Helen in front of her obscene amount of bridesmaids and ridiculous number of guests that she was minutes away from making the worst mistake of her life.
And then she had.
The same minister he had been seconds away from interrupting was introducing Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Benedict. The bridesmaids and guests clapped and Howard could only stand and wonder how he was going to live the rest of his life knowing that Helen had married Frank and he’d been helpless to stop it.
He made up his mind then and there that no matter what he had to do, he would never feel helpless again.
He did his best to abide by Helen’s wish to stay away from her. It actually wasn’t all that hard to do. Not only did she shoot him an icy glare that not only further froze his heart, but ensured nothing would ever make it thaw again. In addition, he found that anytime he got close to her, Frank was right there with her. At her side, holding her hand, holding onto her arm, or worse yet, kissing. For the first time in his life, he wanted nothing to do with Frank Benedict and he wasn’t sure how that was going to work out for either of them because right before they graduated, Frank had asked Howard to come and work for him and his father at Benedict Industries. And Howard had accepted.
In his mind, he’d figured if Frank and Helen ended up getting married, and if he worked in the family business, meaning they would all spend a lot of time together, it’d be a good way for him to keep his eye on both of them. Make sure Frank didn’t cheat on his wife the way he had his girlfriend. In other words, wait for their divorce.
The wedding director announced that the newlyweds were leaving and everyone stood to wish them well. But while everybody else was throwing rice at the tin can decorated car, he stood off to the side and fed rice to the birds. All the while, imagining their little bellies exploding. Later he would realize that while Frank and Helen were saying their goodbyes, he was ensuring a slight decrease in the pigeon population. It seemed only fitting in his mind. If nothing else, at least being busy with pigeons meant he was spared having to watch Helen leave him one more time.
He looked up and the newlyweds had thankfully left. The festive mood started to die. And just like that, the wedding of the century was over.
Thank goodness.
It didn’t take too long for the remaining guests to start leaving and for the crowd to thin out. He wasn’t sure why he was one of the last to leave. Perhaps he had some unreasonable hope that Helen would realize her mistake and come back. That on her way to whatever paradise Frank had picked out, she came to her senses and realized he’d been right the entire time.
But of course she didn’t. No, of course not.
When he finally decided to leave the reception, he didn’t feel like going back to the apartment he’d shared with Frank. Going back to his parents’ house meant either twenty questions on why he was in such a piss poor mood or worse, when was he going to settle down. He could stomach neither.
For a while, he drove around. It was dark by then, and not a lot of people were out. Those that were, hurried along, as if driven by some outside force to make it to whatever place they were going as soon as possible.
That was what made it so easy for him to find her. While everybody else was running around, she was taking her time. Everyone else had somewhere they had to be and she was content with needing to go nowhere. It was her lack of hurriedness that first caught his attention. However what kept his attention was her blonde hair and blue eyes.
Yes, he thought as soon as she looked at him with those eyes that were almost the right shade, but not quite. And yet, the more he looked at her, the more he was able to convince himself it didn’t matter. The hotel room would be dark. He’d see to it.
In the dark, she would probably remind him of Helen.
In the dark, he probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.
In the dark, he could do whatever he wanted.
She didn’t hesitate to come over to his car when he pulled it to a stop beside her on the road. Nor did she hesitate to get in his car when he opened the door for her and asked her where she was going.
She told him she was running away from home and he could take her anywhere except back to where she came from. He told her that wouldn’t be a problem.
She told him her name was Rachel. He asked if her middle name was Helen.
She was smart enough to say yes.
Or stupid enough.
He still didn’t want to go back to his apartment, not with the memories of Helen and Frank being everywhere he looked. Especially those memories of Helen. He took Rachel Helen to a nearby hotel room. He opened the car door for her in the parking lot, and the door to hotel room. She laughed and called him a little gentleman.
She didn’t laugh for much longer.
She didn’t do much of anything for much longer.
As it turned out, Howard was wrong. There was no part of her that reminded him of Helen. None at all. Which is why he had to kill her.
But of course, that was Frank’s fault.
* * *
Kipling reluctantly rented a car the next day to take them to the Edisto property they now knew belonged to Howard. He looked to his side where Alyssa appeared brave and confident, but he’d held her last night while she confessed to being scared. He told himself that if she could go through doing this, he could damn well find the strength to support her.
They
didn’t say anything as he drove to the beach property he’d thought only days before was so safe.
Safety, he was learning, was nothing but an illusion.
As they got closer to the beach, he couldn’t stand the silence anymore. “Let’s go through the plan one more time,” he said.
“Must we?” she asked, sounding very tense.
He swallowed around the lump in his throat. He had a bad feeling about this day. Something told him it wasn’t going to run as smoothly as they’d hoped. Of course, he told himself, what did he expect when working with a diabolical serial killer?
“No,” he said in answer to her question. “We don’t have to go over it again. It’s only that it makes me feel better the more we go over it. For some reason it makes me feel as though I have some control in the outcome. But the truth is I don’t have any control over it, so I should just let it go.”
“You may not have any control over the outcome,” she spoke with the determination he admired so much. “But the one thing you can do is trust in me to do what I’ve been trained to.”
Her words pierced his heart with guilt. “I didn’t mean in any way to imply you weren’t up to the task.” They had almost made it to the long drive that led to the Benedicts’ beach property and he pulled the car over because suddenly it became very important for him to say what he wanted to say before they reached where they were going.
Alyssa looked at him as if he were crazy. “Kipling, what are you doing? Why are we stopping? You know we need to get there and get everything set up before he does.”
“Yes,” he said, and he actually smiled, which he wouldn’t have thought possible mere moments before. And even though he knew what they were getting ready to do was dangerous, he also knew that what he was doing was right.
“So why did you pull the car over?” She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “I will kick your ass into next week if this is some sort of delay tactic or if you think for one moment you’re going to talk me out of doing this.”
“I love you.” Three words. Three small words even, but while they’d felt so heavy on his tongue, now that he’d said them, he felt light and peaceful. “I love you,” he said a second time because she was still looking at him like he’d lost every bit of sense he ever had and because it was so much easier to say the second time.
“Kipling.” She shook her head, but before she could say anything else, he placed his finger on her lips.
“Shh,” he said. “You don’t need to say them back. In fact I didn’t say them so you’d say them back. I simply wanted you to know.” He started the car back up. “Ready?”
She only nodded, but he saw the truth in her eyes. She loved him, too.
* * *
Alyssa looked at her watch. One in the afternoon. The Gentleman wasn’t expecting them until eight, but he had to at least suspect they would show up earlier. She only hoped he wouldn’t think they would be this early.
Even so, they had parked the car at the far edge of the property in order to scope the place out. There was a chance he’d see them, but as each second ticked along silently, she couldn’t help but think that chance grew smaller and smaller.
She glanced up to find Kipling looking at her and she felt her cheeks heat and she hurriedly looked down. He loved her. Though it had seemed improbable the first time he said it, the more and more it resounded inside her head, the more and more she accepted.
He. Loved. Her.
She felt a stupid grin cover her face and she didn’t even care. She turned to say something to him and ended up almost falling down because he was right there in front of her.
“Whoa,” he said, placing his hands on her shoulders. “Careful there.”
“I’m okay.”
He kissed her cheek. “Guess what I just saw?”
“What?”
“Come here.” He took her hand and led her to where he’d stood moments before. “See that there, in between those two trees?”
She looked to where he pointed and squinted. “Is that a treehouse?”
“It is. My father had it put in when we were younger. We loved it, of course, and would spend hours there. It was the perfect location because you could see anyone approaching from the beach or street. Even better, they couldn’t see you.”
“Oh, no.” She shook her head because she knew what he was going to say next.
“I’m going to go over there and see if I can see anything from it.”
“That is such a bad idea.”
“It’s not. I might be able to see where he’s keeping Jade.”
“Or you might be walking into a trap and wind up dead.”
He gave her an are you kidding me look, kissed her briefly, and whispered, “I’ll be back before you know I’m gone.”
He was going to go no matter what she said or how she felt, she knew it. All she could do was nod, tell him to be careful and pray she was wrong.
Each second he was gone seemed longer than the one before. She took her binoculars and watched as Kipling carefully entered the treehouse. Even then she stayed exactly where she was, unable to look away. And when two men followed Kipling inside, she didn’t hesitate to go after them.
CHAPTER 15
FIFTEEN YEARS AGO
HOMELESS SHELTER
CHARLESTON, SC
He was going to have to kill Franklin’s mistress. Or his ex-mistress to be more exact. And though he typically didn’t have a problem killing people, it was a pity he was going to have to get rid of this one.
He’d certainly give it to Frank. He knew how to pick them. This one was young, and beautiful. Not only that, but she spoke with intelligence and he found her to be clever and witty. He’d thought about keeping her around. After all, he thought he could overlook the fact that she’d slept with Frank. It had been over five years. But then she’d done the unthinkable. She’d snooped around in his office.
Contrary to popular belief, he wasn’t totally without a heart, and he could overlook certain things. Unfortunately, snooping was not one of those things. Snooping was born out of lack of trust and respect. For her to snoop showed she didn’t trust him or respect him. And in the end, it meant he would have to kill her for it.
Of course, killing her brought to light even more issues. Namely, her daughter. Who just so happened to be Frank’s daughter as well.
The irony of the situation was not lost on him. Franklin had always wanted a daughter. Longed for a daughter. But the fates had not seen fit to give him one. Instead, they had given his mistress what he’d desperately wanted. That was what Howard called poetic justice.
He supposed it was also poetic justice that he would have to kill the woman.
But in killing the mistress, he would be the one who gained a daughter. He never put much stock in daughters. He had one, after all. For the most part, she was worthless. But if he were to become guardian to Frank’s little girl …
He grew almost giddy thinking about how he would train her and the things he would teach the Benedict bastard. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Unknown to anyone other than him, he could single-handedly create the ultimate weapon to destroy the Benedicts. And what better way to destroy them than with their own flesh and blood?
He tightened his grip on the knife, suddenly ready to take care of the only thing standing in the way of all his dreams.
* * *
Brock was becoming a problem. Actually, the more he thought about it, Brock was already a problem—he was just quickly becoming a very big problem. Howard walked down the hall of the homeless shelter he’d set up as a stage for his real business of human trafficking. What had started as him wanting Helen look-a-likes had turned into a profitable business when he realized that he could help other men find their own Helens.
Brock, however, was happy with his wife Ann, and their daughter, Tilly. Last weekend, Brock had flown to Seattle with Howard and Frank. Brock had to go; Frank had told him when Howard questioned him on why. Having Brock in Seattle was going to put a kin
k in his plans. Frank wouldn’t be a problem. As soon as they landed, he’d check into the hotel and then as quickly as possible, he’d be out trying to find female companionship for the duration of their stay.
Brock, however, was not only happily married, but had no interest in looking for anyone to sleep with. Normally, he spent time with Frank, but since Frank would be absent, that left Howard. He’d have to be careful and watch himself around Brock. Lately it seemed he had Frank’s ear a lot more than Howard did.
Everything had been fine, right up until everything went to hell. Howard’s Seattle contact had been able to set him up with what had to be the most perfect substitute for Helen he’d ever found. It had been that perfection that ultimately led to his current predicament. Namely, Brock had happened upon Howard at an inopportune time. To be exact, he’d shown up right as Howard was teaching Not-Helen what happened when she disobeyed him.
Howard had only seen Brock for a few seconds, but it had been enough. Enough for him to see the look of utter disgust in the other man’s eyes. Enough for Howard to realize that Brock would never see how some women had to be treated in order to make them behave properly. But worst of all, Brock had seen that the woman looked like she could be Helen’s twin.
Unfortunately, there was already talk around the office about Howard having a crush on the boss’s wife. If Brock told Frank what he’d seen, Frank would do something drastic.
So Howard had to be drastic first.
Brock had to be terminated.
* * *
Jade knew she was in trouble when The Gentleman showed up at her cell in the middle of the afternoon. He never showed up then. Typically, he’d come by either first thing in the morning or late at night. Add in the fact that he was whistling and she knew nothing good was going to be headed her way. It seemed he’d always been the most cruel after he whistled.
He was alone. She bemoaned the fact that she was nowhere as strong as she used to be. Not even six months ago, had she been in this situation, she’d be able to take him down. But now, after months of living on the streets, she was so weak, she was of no use to anyone, especially herself. Which meant all she could do was go along with whatever he had planned.
