Secret Paradise (Kimani Romance)

by Girard, Dara

  “Who?”

  She gasped. “Iona.”

  “Where is she?”

  Nikki felt a gun pressed to the back of her head.

  “She’s right behind you,” a familiar voice said.

  Chapter 20

  Nikki didn’t turn and kept her voice calm. “Where’s Callia?”

  “You’ll find out in a minute.” Iona motioned her gun at Kay. “Help me tie her up.” She dropped some rope next to Nikki.

  Kay began to tremble. “Iona, please don’t—”

  “Keep your mouth shut and I won’t kill you. I’m still debating that.” She nudged Nikki. “Go.”

  Nikki tied Kay’s hands.

  “Make it tighter,” Iona said. “I want to see her hands turn white.”

  Nikki tightened the rope, but as she made the knots, she inconspicuously loosened them again.

  “Now do her feet.”

  Nikki repeated the same tactic she’d used with Kay’s hands.

  Iona pulled something out of her pocket and tossed it at her. “Now, cover her mouth.”

  Nikki complied.

  “Good. Now let’s get out of here.” Iona went to Callia’s bookshelf and hit a knob. A door opened, and she gestured Nikki to go through it, then turned to Kay. “I’ll be back for you,” she said, then closed the door.

  She pushed Nikki down a hidden staircase. Once they reached the bottom, Nikki saw a tunnel and realized that it was likely one of the caves that led to a secret entrance into the house. It must have been a gold mine discovery for Alana and her family. They would have easily been able to hide and smuggle things into the house and get to their escape route on the beach. They had direct access without being seen.

  “I slept with the architect,” Iona said, as though reading Nikki’s mind. “Lucian thinks no one knows about these secret passages, but I do. I know where the panic room is and other ‘secret’ areas. I knew them even back then. Although most of the mansion was burned by fire, the old structure remained intact, and the new builder just built around it. I got him to show me the old hidden entrances and some new ones.”

  Nikki didn’t have time to question, because when she turned to Iona, something hit her and everything went black.

  Basilio woke to stare into the emerald eyes of the devil. It took him a second to realize that the eyes belonged to his brother, but it didn’t make the expression any less terrifying.

  “What did you tell her?” Lucian said in a low voice.

  “Who?”

  “Iona,” Dante said. He stood several feet behind Lucian.

  Basilio scrambled up and stared at them. “What are you two talking about?”

  “Callia’s missing,” Dante said.

  “And I can’t find Nikki, either,” Lucian added. “Now, what did you tell her?”

  Basilio rubbed his eyes. “What would Iona have to—”

  Lucian grabbed his brother’s T-shirt. “Don’t play stupid with me. We’ve been watching Iona, tracking her steps. Watching her moves. Gauging her. We had everything planned to snare her, but something spooked her to act out of character and rush things.” Lucian released his grip and stepped back. “What did you say to her?”

  Basilio started to stand. “Let me talk to her.”

  Dante shook his head. “She’s gone.”

  “What do you mean, she’s gone?”

  “No more questions,” Lucian said. “Tell us about last night.”

  “I just confronted her about the dress.”

  “What dress?” Lucian asked.

  “The dress Nikki first wore. I’d seen it in Iona’s bedroom before.”

  “If you suspected anything, you should have come to me.”

  “I wanted to make sure. I didn’t want to accuse her without hearing her side.”

  “But you knew she was the one behind it?”

  “It just came to me. When I confronted her, she told me that someone else had given it to her to hem.”

  “And you believed her?”

  “I had no reason not to.”

  “What else made you suspicious?” Lucian asked, reading his brother’s hesitation.

  “I didn’t say anything, but I was just thinking about the night of the fire.”

  “What about it?”

  Basilio lowered his head and shook it.

  Lucian lifted his chin. “We don’t have time for your silence. Two lives are at stake.”

  “Iona was with me. I mean, I left Callia alone in the hotel and went to a club. I didn’t think it would be a problem. I met Iona and we went to bed. I woke up the next day and she was beside me and Callia was gone. I never suspected she had anything to do with it. She made me feel that she’d stand by me and keep my secret. That’s all I thought about, not disappointing you. I didn’t make the connection until recently, and I started putting certain pieces together. But I thought there wasn’t enough time for her to take Callia to the island and then come back. She told me she was with me all night.”

  “You brainless idiot!” Dante said, exploding with anger.

  “Dante,” Lucian warned.

  Dante ignored him. “She lies! You were passed out drunk or maybe even drugged. You have no idea what she could have done.”

  “I never thought she could—”

  “And because you don’t think about anyone but yourself, this is the second time you’ve put Callia’s life in danger. And now Nikki’s. What are we to say to her sister if we don’t get to her in time?”

  “We will,” Lucian said in a quiet but lethal tone.

  Dante gestured to Basilio in disgust. “No thanks to him.”

  Basilio jumped to his feet. “I didn’t know!”

  “I told you to stay away from her,” Lucian said.

  Basilio turned away. “Why didn’t you trust me? Tell me something?”

  “And how could I trust you when you didn’t trust me? For all I knew, you were both in it together.”

  Basilio looked at his brother. “I would never—”

  “I didn’t know that. Your precious secret meant more than anything I said to you. The more I warned you, the closer you got to her.”

  “I loved her.”

  “I know. You loved her enough to want to marry her. It blinded you to everything. Before coming to your room, we discovered Kay bound and bleeding in Callia’s room. She was one of Iona’s victims, too, except Iona used the allure of money with her. She told us how Iona had bragged about becoming a rich woman. Kay’s in custody now.”

  “It doesn’t make sense. Why would she want to hurt Callia or anyone?”

  “That’s not the right question to ask right now. Where do you think she is?” Lucian said.

  “There’s a cave by the cove that she used to go to.”

  The three men raced out of the mansion and down to the cove. As they neared the opening of one of the caves, they halted and Dante studied the ground. “There are no fresh marks. She may not be here.”

  “Maybe she’s left the island,” Basilio said.

  “No, she’s taken them underground. Kay says she knows the tunnels well,” Lucian said.

  “She’s right.” Basilio stepped forward. “Look, let me—”

  Lucian stopped him. “No. You’re going to go back to the house and do what you do best.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Smile and lie,” Dante said.

  Basilio scowled at him, but Lucian spoke up before he could reply. “Yes, you’re going to make sure that our guests don’t suspect anything is wrong. If they ask questions, you tell them what they need to hear. Nothing else. Now go.”

  “I think I should help—”

  “Go.” Lucian’s voice grew hard. “Don’t disobey me this time.”

  Basilio swore, then spun away and marched off.

  Dante watched him go. “Do you think we can trust him?”

  “Now that he’s no longer blind? Yes.”

  “You have more faith in him than I do.”

  “I know, bu
t he’s not the problem.”

  Now, waking again, the only thing Nikki knew was that she was in one of the caves. She had no idea how far underground they were, but knew that it wouldn’t be an easy escape. She straightened and sat up and saw Callia sitting a few yards away from her. She looked scared, and Nikki felt as if she was trapped in one of her nightmares. Someone she loved was in trouble but out of reach. Unfortunately, this one was real, and unlike in her tormenting dreams, Nikki knew she couldn’t fail. She couldn’t live with that.

  She tried to assess her surroundings—the cave was narrow, and she heard the sound of rushing water and knew there was a river cutting through it. She could jump in, but she didn’t know where it would lead. She’d have to come up with something else.

  “I knew you’d be a problem,” Iona said, her voice echoing against the cave walls.

  Nikki glanced at Callia. “Do you want a ransom?”

  “No.”

  “Then what do you want?”

  “I want brave Lucian to come down and get her and I’ll be waiting for him.”

  “He’ll come for me. You don’t need her, too. Let her go.”

  Iona shoved her face into Nikki’s. “When will you learn that I don’t take orders? Especially from you.” She straightened. “Alana could tell me anything. She was beautiful, pure, royal, not a mixed-blood mutt like you. I nearly laughed when I saw you in her dress. You were such a pitiable imitation. I wanted everyone to see that. And they did. Especially Lucian.”

  Nikki saw the look in her eyes and heard the anger and anguish in her voice. “Why do you hate him so much?”

  “It’s nothing personal.”

  “Then what is it?” Nikki asked, perplexed. “Is this because you think he killed Alana? He didn’t.”

  “I know. I did.” She turned away. “I didn’t want to, but she forced me to.”

  “How can that be? What did she do to you?”

  “I worshipped her,” Iona spat out. “With my heart, my soul and my life. Alana understood me. All my life I’ve been tossed aside. My parents put me in an orphanage. I was adopted by a family who farmed me out to do household work and then kept my pay. I lived hand to mouth for years. No one cared. I was invisible and didn’t matter. I, who have the looks to be a queen, was treated like nothing, like less than a slave. Men wanted me only to service them and never offered more. I learned early that it’s best to use others before they use you. Then I came here and worked and didn’t care that I was invisible like the rest. I was left alone to work and the money was good. Then Alana arrived, and do you know what she did?”

  Nikki shook her head, afraid to speak.

  “She smiled at me and made me her personal assistant. She let me choose her clothes for her, and when she traveled, she took me with her. She gave me clothes that she didn’t want to wear anymore, and I kept every last one. She also gave me jewelry and gifts she’d gotten bored with. At last someone understood me. She taught me how to eat at a banquet, how to walk and present myself. She treated me like an equal and at last I felt that I could aspire to the life that I deserved.

  “I knew that she was marrying Lucian for his money and she told me how she’d managed to seduce him. She also told me about her cousin’s activities, and sometimes I would do a run for them. We were as close as sisters and she made me hope again. She made me realize that I could also snag a wealthy man and live the same life she did. I knew my opportunity had come when Basilio arrived. I could tell that he would be an easy conquest.”

  “He really loves you.”

  Iona laughed. “I know. The young ones are the easiest to manipulate.”

  “You didn’t feel anything for him?”

  “I cared for him as one would a beloved pet. That’s one thing Alana taught me. Never fall in love with a man, or they control you. You must always have the upper hand.”

  “If you had such a close relationship, then why did you kill her?”

  “Because she betrayed me. When I told her my plan regarding Basilio, she laughed. She laughed at me! She held her sides and laughed until tears streamed down her face. She said that my plan would never work. That Basilio would know better than to fall for a maid. That I was a nobody.

  “In an instant she snatched away all my hope and stared at me like I was a dirty gold digger, though I was planning to do exactly what she had. But she said she had the class to do it. I didn’t. I knew then that she’d stolen my only hope, so I did the same to her. She didn’t deserve to be mistress of the Kontos mansion. I planted the bag of cocaine in a place I knew Callia would find it, and watched her careful strategy to marry Lucian and gain control of his island crumble. I watched her when Lucian forced her and her family off the island, and then I thought of my next step.”

  “For what?”

  “To become mistress of the house.”

  Nikki stared, now remembering Iona’s words. You want to become mistress of it.

  “I overheard Lucian and Dante talking about their carefully orchestrated plan to burn down the mansion, and I knew the perfect way to make my dream come true. I sent Alana a message, as if it had come from Lucian. I took her to the secret entrance and told her that he’d heard about the baby and that was why he wanted to talk to her. I led her to the roof to wait for him. When he showed up, I let them talk, then fired. Unfortunately, she saw me and got in my way. I killed her, but only got him in the leg. I’d meant to kill them both, but my shots were off, so I went with my next plan. I left the roof and closed Lucian’s escape route, so he was forced into the main house. I thought that would take care of him.”

  “And Callia?”

  “Getting past Basilio was no trouble at all. I drugged his drink and then intercepted the hot chocolate that was delivered to Callia’s room and drugged it as well. It was so easy to wait until she was knocked out. Then I carried her onto a boat I had waiting and took her to the island. No one saw us. I carried her to the house, went in through another secret entrance and placed her in her bedroom. I heard Dante and Lucian as they poured the accelerant, and I tried not to laugh, knowing the true torment Lucian was about to face. I expected the smoke to take her first.”

  “But you were wrong.”

  She frowned. “It should have worked.”

  “She was just a child. Why would you want to kill her?”

  “Because with Callia and Lucian dead, everything would go to Basilio. He would be so distraught losing his family in the fire, he would turn to the first comforting arms that were there. I planned that to be me. We would marry and then I’d be mistress and no one would look down on me again.”

  “But Callia woke up.”

  “Yes, but I had another tactic that should have worked.”

  “Kay?”

  “Yes, I thought that if I made Callia appear crazy, Lucian would have her put into an institution, and then I would plant evidence and arouse suspicion to get Lucian arrested for murdering Alana, and once again Basilio would have everything. It would have worked if you hadn’t come along. At first you were perfect, because you have some similarities to Alana and could confuse the girl, but I soon realized you were dangerous to me.”

  “Dangerous?”

  “Yes, you wanted this house.”

  “I wanted Lucian.”

  Iona ignored her. “You wanted to take Alana’s place and I couldn’t let that happen.”

  “Is that why you told me Lucian was a murderer?”

  Iona shrugged. “I was spreading that rumor so that I could implicate him later, but I told you because I wanted you to be frightened and leave. I wanted you to doubt him. I couldn’t let you get too close to him. But when you didn’t leave, I knew I had to convince Basilio to marry me. Then there would be nothing Lucian could do, but he hesitated because you were confusing his mind with questions.”

  “You should have given up,” Nikki said.

  “I never give up,” Iona shot back.

  “But your two plans failed.”

  “I won’t fai
l this time.”

  “You won’t escape. They know all about you now.”

  “They may know about me, but it’s too late. And they won’t catch me. I know this island and I know these caves. I’ve studied them over the years. By the time I was rehired, I’d put my plan in action and I knew that no one suspected me.” She gave a quick motion of her hand. “Get up. It’s time to move.” She blew out the light from the candle and turned on a torch. “Feel free to run. You’ll never find your way out. Or you can just follow my light.”

  “You go first,” Nikki said.

  Iona shoved her forward. “Give me another order and I’ll shove you in the river. Now move.”

  Nikki followed wherever Iona shone the light and felt Callia close behind her. Finally Iona shone the torch on an iron ladder bolted into the wall. Nikki knew this was her chance. A ladder pointing upward meant land. It meant a chance of escape.

  “Callia, run!” she said. Then she shoved Iona hard.

  She heard the gun clatter to the ground, then tried to dash toward the ladder. Iona got to her first, grabbing her hair and pulling her back. Nikki fought wildly, and soon they were both airborne, then falling into the water. Iona let go as the rushing water separated them, and Nikki sank into further darkness. Nikki didn’t know up from down. She tried to reach the surface as the water began to carry her away, but kept hitting rocks. She knew she was trapped in a river tunnel and that she’d likely drown. She imagined that Callia was safe. And while that thought ended one nightmare, another had just begun.

  Basilio stormed back to the house, feeling the weight of his shame. Dante was right. Twice he’d failed. He’d let a woman use him, lie to him and betray him. Callia’s and Nikki’s lives were in danger all because of him. They could… He vehemently shook his head. No, he couldn’t think about it. He wouldn’t let it happen. He wouldn’t let Iona win. He paused when he heard running footsteps. He turned just as Callia ran into him, still looking behind her. He grabbed her and she screamed.

  “It’s okay,” he said. “It’s me.”

  She looked up at him, then behind her again. “Nikki saved my life.”