TheCrystal

by Sandra Cox

  Lai lifted it over her head and threw it on the floor in sheer frustration. “Why won’t you break?”

  “Why would you want to break it?” Gabby asked in spite of herself.

  “You stupid fool, playing your weak little woman’s games with the globe,” Lai sneered her voice brittle. “Don’t you realize what’s in the center of your precious ball?”

  “Uh, Christopher’s image?”

  The answer earned her an angry slap.

  Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why oh, why can’t I keep my mouth shut. Her face was going to be more colorful than a neon sign in Vegas before this was over.

  Lai picked up the ball. Beads of perspiration stood out on her sculpted white brow. She shoved it in Gabby’s face. “Take a good look.”

  Gabby’s eyes traveled from Lai’s heated countenance to the globe. She frowned in concentration. “The center is darker.”

  Lai gave a snort that did not fit the delicate features the unladylike sound came from. “There’s an emerald larger than my fist imbedded in the center and it seems I have a problem getting to it.”

  “Wow,” was all Gabby could think to say, but it was a sincere “wow”. An emerald? Who would have thought?

  “I just don’t have the right tools,” Lai muttered feverishly.

  “Maybe dynamite?” Gabby responded with a polite expression of inquiry on her face.

  “Your turn will come,” Lai promised before walking out of the room.

  She returned a moment later carrying a gray metal toolbox. Lai knelt on the floor, flipped the lock and pulled out a chisel and a set of clamps.

  Securing the globe between the clamps, Lai took a chisel and mallet and set to work. The room was silent except for the sound of Gabby’s tortured breathing and the tap, tap, tap of the chisel against the globe.

  Gabby bit down on her lip ’til she drew blood.

  Nothing happened.

  “Aiee!” Lai threw back her head and screamed her frustration.

  The hair on the back of Gabby’s neck rose. Not good. Not good. The woman was out of control.

  Lai threw down the mallet and chisel, her face contorted with rage.

  “The globe will have to wait. Rest assured the emerald will be mine. But in the meantime, I think it’s time to deal with you. And when I get through with you, I guarantee Christopher won’t find you attractive.”

  I really, really don’t like the sound of this.

  Once more the oriental glided from the room.

  A slight noise made Gabby turn toward the door.

  Christopher stood in the shadow, one finger on his lips, the other held a thin tool that he’d used to jimmy the lock.

  Gabby closed her eyes in relief. She had never in her life been so happy to see anyone.

  She heard the thud of a door and then Lai was back. She carried what looked like a perfume bottle. Her eyes were dilated to the point where they were almost totally black. “I have been saving this for a long, long time. I keep it in my safe for special occasions. Do you know what’s in this vial?”

  Gabby could only shake her head, mesmerized as if staring at a cobra doing a slow dance before it struck as Lai waved the bottle back and forth in a sensual movement, slowly pulling out the stopper.

  A voice she feared she might never hear again jerked her upright.

  “I do, Lai.” Christopher stepped between the two women.

  The stopper dropped to the floor.

  “You!” Her breath came out in a hiss. “How did you find me?”

  Christopher took another step forward. “Oh come now, Lai. Do you really think you can keep any secrets from me?”

  Lai held the bottle in front of her like a lighted torch. “Stay back, Christopher. I meant it for your whore, but I would have no problem ruining your pretty face.”

  “The only whore in this room is you, Lai.” He glanced at the vial then back at Lai. “I see you are still up to your old tricks. If memory serves that was what caused us to part company. Really Lai I would have thought by now you would have outgrown your need to star as the villain in a cheap B movie. You always were overly dramatic.”

  He kept his expression bored as he watched her. Only his eyes betrayed his alertness and he made sure they were hooded. The back of his hands rested on his hips. With his fingers, he motioned Gabby toward the door.

  “You always were too soft.” Lai’s lip curled in a sneer.

  “And you were always a heartless bitch.”

  “One that is going to take great satisfaction in marring that handsome face. I was going to kill you, but I think I’ll let you live. And when I’m through with you, I’ll let you watch me kill your cow of a fiancée, if you can see anything.” Her eyes glittered with hatred. Smoke rose from the vial, the acid inside hissing like a cobra.

  For just one moment she looked at him with real regret, anguish shining out of her beautiful brown eyes. “I loved you. I thought you loved me. Together we could have ruled the world.”

  Christopher remained unmoved. “You have to have a heart to love someone. Yours withered and died a long time ago.”

  As she raised her arm, he crouched.

  “Hello anyone home?”

  Startled, Lai glanced at the door where Aunt Tam stood.

  Faster than a panther, Christopher pulled the stiletto from its sheath in his sock and threw it. It buried itself in Lai’s arm.

  Her hand jerked and the acid flew in her face.

  Lai screamed in anguish.

  The floor smoked and holes dotted the carpet as droplets of the deadly chemical rained around Lai.

  Christopher flinched. He started forward. “I’ll get you to the hospital, Lai.”

  She backed away from him still screaming. “You have killed me.”

  He reached out his hand. “Lai.” The woman was pure evil but he would never have wished this on her.

  She kept backing away screaming. “I curse you and your children and your children’s children.” She pulled the stiletto out of her arm, causing the blood to flow like a river down her arm and drip to the floor, the bright scarlet blotches mingling with the turquoise oriental carpet.

  Christopher leaped toward her but before he could reach her she buried the stiletto in her own heart.

  As her last breath slipped away, he murmured, “Go in peace on your journey and begin your next cycle of life free of the scars that twisted your heart.” With two fingers, he touched his forehead then his heart.

  Christopher lifted his head. His unfocused gaze settled on Gabriella. She was on her feet, Tamara’s arms wrapped around her for support.

  Gently, he laid Lai on the floor, walked to the couch, picked up a blue silk afghan and placed it over her mutilated form.

  He straightened then turned toward Tamara and Gabriella. Tam was untying Gabriella’s hands.

  Gabriella moved them and winced as sharp needles of pain ran up and down her arms and the blood began to course sluggishly through her veins.

  “Gabriella?”

  She looked at him her face expressionless, distant.

  An almost physical wave of pain washed over him. What the hell had he expected?

  Tremors of reaction shook Gabby’s body. “Get her home, Aunt Tam, I’ll take care of things here.”

  Tamara nodded.

  “Thanks, Aunt Tam,” Fatigue roughened Christopher’s voice. He gave her a quick smile. Gabriella had already turned away.

  Tamara paused at the door. “Should I call the judge?” She was really asking whether Christopher Saint or The Tiger was going to deal with this.

  Christopher sighed. “Yes, you better call him.”

  * * * * *

  Several hours later, he pulled to a stop in front of Aunt Tam’s. Cutting the ignition, he leaned his head against the headrest of the car and let his body relax and his mind drift back over the last few hours.

  Things could have been a lot worse. The judge showed a sharpness and acumen that had stunned Christopher.

  After he t
old him what happened, the judge had summed it up neatly, “You’ve got two eyewitnesses that will swear it was self-defense so you’ve got nothing to worry about. It will be a nine-day wonder, but I’ll keep the lid on the newspapers as much as possible. This is New Orleans after all. This city’s seen far worse.”

  The hardest part had been when Lai’s lover came in. Thank God the body had been removed. Becka had been inconsolable. If she’d seen what the acid had done to her lover’s face… He shuddered then gave a wry smile. When she found out Lai had no family and there would be no one coming forward to claim her sizeable fortune, it would go a long way toward assuaging her hurt.

  Of course the courts would get a lot of Lai’s money, but knowing Lai as he did, he was sure there was a fortune in diamonds, currency and pictures strewn around the apartment that would keep Becka in comfort for the rest of her life.

  Christopher got slowly out of the car. He could feel his bones creak. It wouldn’t surprise him to look in the mirror and find his hair gray. He felt a hundred years old. Reaching over, he picked up the crystal that was sitting in the seat beside him.

  Who would have thought this seemingly harmless globe would have been a catalyst for so much destruction. No. The globe couldn’t be blamed for that. Man, or in this case woman, had brought it all on herself.

  He trudged down the cobblestone walk toward the house. Looking up, Christopher saw Aunt Tam waiting at the door. She hugged him briefly, globe and all. “Everything all right, dear?”

  He nodded. “God I could use a drink.”

  “Why don’t you take the globe on out to the solarium and I’ll have one ready for you when you get back.”

  Giving a mental groan, Christopher nodded.

  He walked through the house and out the back door into the solarium. Lush exotic scents assailed him. The sun had not quite set and the red and purple hues painted a beautiful backdrop to the verdant greenery around him.

  He sat the ball in its holder, turned around and saw her.

  Gabby sat on the bench watching him. He took a step toward her and she stood up.

  Christopher reached for her but she stepped back.

  “You changed your shirt.”

  He nodded. “In the car, before I left.”

  “When you stepped away from Lai, you were covered in her blood just as the crystal prophesied. Only I thought it was your blood that would be shed.”

  His lips lifted at the corners. “I’m very glad it wasn’t.”

  “You loved her.” Her voice and eyes were flat, the normal glitter in her sapphire orbs extinguished, purple-stained shadows underneath them.

  He looked at her face and shook his head. His Nordic queen had taken a bit of a beating. One eye was puffy and closing. Four scratches stood out vividly on her cheek from Lai’s talon-like nails.

  He reached a finger toward her cheek, but she turned her head. Christopher sighed. “At one time, I was…”

  Pain flashed in Gabby’s eyes and she bit down hard on her lip.

  Christopher continued, “Enamored and very much in lust. But no, I’ve never loved her. What finished us for good and all was when I found out she’d thrown acid in a young woman’s face for looking at me. Whatever desire I felt for her shriveled and died at that moment and never returned. I had despaired of ever finding a love like that of Aunt Tam and Uncle James. And then I met you.” His voice was gentle and his eyes beckoned hers. “I’ve only loved and will love one woman in my lifetime and that’s you.”

  A trace of color crept into Gabby’s cheeks.

  He reached over and took her left hand. She didn’t return any pressure but at least she didn’t pull away. That was all the encouragement Christopher needed.

  He touched the green crystal orb on her ring. “I see you are wearing my ring.” He began to run his fingers lightly back and forth over hers, his smile intimate. “And I have it on very good authority you’ve been shopping for wedding dresses.”

  He leaned in toward her, his head close. “I would very much like to think this means you’ve decided to marry me.” His expression grew sober and he could feel emotion glitter from his eyes. “I know I’m no bargain, but I’ll make you happy, Gabriella. That’s my promise to you.” His warm hands pressed against her cool ones. His voice grew softer and his head drew closer. “To misquote Lawrence, You, Gabriella, who see the stars As mistletoe berries burning in a black tree, You surely, seeing I am a bowl of kisses, Should put your mouth to mine and drink of me.”

  Gabby’s heart began a rhythmic thud against her chest. What woman could possibly resist this man, who was as sexy as sin, quoted poetry and loved her? But she had to. There were a few more things that had to be worked out for their future’s sake.

  “I believe Christopher Saint could do just that, but what’s to become of The Tiger?”

  Christopher slid his arms around her. “Figured that out did you? I knew it was just a matter of time.”

  Gabby could have sworn there was a note of pride in his voice.

  “Determined to make an honest man of me are you?”

  She arched her brows, but held her silence.

  Christopher drew her ringed hand to his lips and kissed it. “Dear one, The Tiger knew his days were numbered when he met you. I have no doubt who will be the tigress of our pride.”

  Gabby maintained her silence.

  Christopher gave a small laugh of surrender. “Other than the crystal, I haven’t stolen a thing since I met you.” He gave a devilish grin that made his green eyes sparkle more than the stone on the pedestal or the one on her finger.

  It caused Gabby’s poor heart to miss a beat. “Except perhaps my heart.” The words were almost inaudible and if Christopher hadn’t had impeccable hearing he would have missed them.

  Encouraged, he continued. “I have a nice little import-export shop on the waterfront. And front used to be the proper term, but lately I’ve been building up my business.” He turned serious. “We won’t ever be rich. I have an obligation.”

  She placed a fingernail on his lips and looked him in the eyes. “I know,” she said, her voice soft.

  “Woman, leave me some secrets,” he complained.

  She gave him a look as old and mysterious as time.

  He had no idea what she was thinking but it made him uneasy.

  Then it was her turn to be serious. “What about the curse Lai placed on us?”

  “Let’s hope your green ball will protect us.”

  “You believe it then?”

  “I believe it.” His voice was flat. Then he visibly shook himself like a dog coming out of water. “So girl, don’t keep me waiting, what’s it to be? Will you marry me?”

  Her smile was carnal and promised all sorts of wondrous delights. She watched Christopher forget to breathe. Laughing, she threw her arms around him and quoted, “Come lover, come lad and make my heart glad, For a husband I’ll have, For good or for bad.” She drew his head down to hers and sealed her troth.

  Epilogue

  The wedding made the society and the gossip columns. Tamara, who had taken to writing the gossip column like a duck to water, had written a sparkling, witty commentary.

  The bride, beautiful as a Nordic queen, was given away by her father, the tall handsome Police Sergeant Bell from Springfield, IL.

  She did not mention that after a quiet little chat that involved Christopher’s life as an orphan she had a feeling that the unyielding policeman might be willing to bend a bit more with his new son-in-law.

  Accompanying the stalwart father was Ms. Agnes Brown, dispatcher for the Springfield Police Department.

  The bride’s maid of honor was the lovely redheaded Amy Cooper, wearing a pastel pink designer gown.

  Billy Baker was the best man. From the way the best man and maid of honor were seen dancing together, this reporter can’t help wondering if another wedding will be in the offing.

  Father Greg Fields flew in from India to act as usher.

  Mr. John Paul Adams
of North Carolina was in attendance, bringing to the reception vintage refreshment that made the guests quite merry.

  Also in attendance was Mr. James Smith, who works for the local taxi company.

  The couple left for a romantic evening tour of the city in Mr. Mike Reese’s horse-drawn carriage with complimentary roses and champagne.

  What she didn’t mention was that, during the carriage ride, the dear girl had handed her boy his groom’s gift, a piece of paper he never expected to see, his mother’s birth certificate. How she’d found it, the lord only knew. But that was another story. The woman had all the makings of a top-notch reporter.

  All in all one of the most memorable weddings this city has seen in years.

  About the Author

  Sandra and her family, which includes a Springer Spaniel and several cats, reside in North Carolina. She loves to read and on a Friday night can usually be found at the local bookstore adding to her extensive collection of books. Sandra graduated from Eastern Illinois University, is a RWA/FTHRW member, a vegetarian and an animal activist.

  Sandra welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email address on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.

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