by Olivia Gates
She sat her down. “I need to tell you something—important. A lot of things, actually. About my past.”
The worry hovering in Rose’s eyes mushroomed into anxiety. “I always knew you were hiding something big, kept wishing you’d tell me.”
Isabella reached for Rose’s hands. “Before I do, I want you to promise to act according only to your and your family’s best interests.”
Rose grimaced. “Shut up and tell me everything, Izzy!”
And she did. Everything minus Richard.
All through her account, Rose’s expressive face displayed her shock, horror, anguish and outrage on her behalf in minute detail. Her tears came at one point and wouldn’t stop until Isabella fell silent and she hurled herself at her and crushed her in a nonending, breath-depleting hug.
“God, Izzy, you should have told me!” Rose sobbed between hard squeezes. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Isabella’s tears flowed, too, as she surrendered to Rose’s searing empathy. This...this was what she’d needed all these years, what she’d deprived herself of.
She thankfully let Rose inundate her with frantic reprimands before she finally pulled away, her tremulous smile teasing. “That’s why I didn’t tell you. I was afraid you’d drown me and flood the practice. Like you’re doing now. When we’ve just finished decorating.”
Rose burst out laughing. “God, Izzy, how dare you make me laugh after what you just told me?”
“Because it’s all in the past. I just needed you to know everything about me, needed to share what I can’t share with even my mother. But it is really all behind me.”
Rose’s resurging tears suddenly froze, her face filling with reproof again. “What did you mean by that prefacing warning? If you thought it a possibility this would change anything between us, you’re stark raving mad!”
Isabella’s heart expanded at the proof of her friend’s magnanimity and benevolence. Then it compressed again. “Don’t make any decisions now. Take time to think about it.”
“The only thing I’ll do with time is fume for months that you didn’t come to me with this years ago!”
Isabella’s lips spread at her friend’s steel conviction. “At least wait until you see what Jeffrey thinks.”
Rose’s eyes widened. “You want me to tell Jeffrey?”
“I just assumed you would tell him.”
Rose looked terminally affronted. “Of course I won’t tell him!”
Isabella reached a hand out to hers. “I want you to tell him.”
Rose snatched her hand, fisted it at her chest. “No.”
It was Isabella’s turn to burst out laughing at the growling finality in Rose’s usually gentle, cheerful voice and the furiously obstinate expression that gripped her gorgeous if good-natured face. She looked like a tigress defending her cub. Isabella’s laughter made her crankier.
Isabella tried to suppress her smiles. “I consider Jeffrey part of you. Not to mention a part of us, our team.”
“I said no. You told me because you needed to purge the burden from your system by sharing it with someone who’s strong enough to carry it with you, someone you fully trust.”
“That’s absolutely right, but Jeffrey—”
Rose cut her off. “You also needed to have someone fully appreciate what made you the wonderful human being you are.”
“Uh...not that I’m not delighted you think I’m wonderful, but that’s not how I...”
Again Rose bulldozed over her protests. “I tell Jeffrey all my secrets not because he’s my husband and soul mate, but because they might impact him, so he’s entitled to a heads-up. But if you really wanted him to know, and thought he should, as himself, not as a part of me or our team, you would have sat us both down and told us both all that. But you chose to tell only me.”
Isabella shook her head at the incredible combination her friend was. The most romantic person on earth who melted with love for her husband, and the most no-nonsense pragmatist around. And as she’d always known, the best, strongest, most dependable friend anyone could aspire to have. She always felt the fates had chosen to compensate her for all the hardships of her life with Rose. And now she’d unburdened herself to her, not to mention knowing her relationship to Richard and therefore to Mauri, she felt the uncanny bond they’d shared from the start had become even deeper.
“And you did because I’m your closest friend. We’re even closer than I thought. We both had our souls almost shattered by the same monster. And we both survived him.” Rose’s eyes shone with admiration. “Though I can’t begin to compare our ordeals at his hand. I didn’t fight for my life and that of my family for years like you did. I survived by accident.”
Isabella now knew that wasn’t true. Beyond escaping death in her family’s car crash, Rose’s survival had been no accident. She’d been saved. By Richard. He was the one who’d created her second chance in life. He was the real difference between their lives. She hadn’t had a savior and champion like him.
She couldn’t tell Rose that. The older brother who’d been looking out for her since she was ten didn’t want her to know.
But although she’d always thought he’d played the opposite role in her life, that of conqueror and almost destroyer, it was still him who’d rid her of Burton forever. That made him the one who’d given her this new lease on life.
“What about Mauri? Is he...?” Rose choked. She couldn’t even say Burton’s name.
“No. I would have never let myself get pregnant by him.”
But she had let herself get pregnant by Richard. When she’d discovered her pregnancy, even after he’d left, even knowing the danger she’d put herself in, she’d been giddy with delight that she’d have a part of him with her always.
So far, she’d risked it again. Four times, if she wanted to be accurate.
Rose’s voice dragged her out of her turbulent musings. “Whew. It’s a relief to know that monster didn’t manage to perpetuate his genes.”
Grabbing the opportunity to steer the conversation in a less-emotional direction, she pulled a face at Rose. “You should know me better than to think I’d inflict those on my child.”
Rose pounced, hugging the breath out of her before pulling back. “But you’re so amazing your genes would vaporize any dirt or perversion in any others. Mauri would have turned out to be the awesome kid he is just because you’re his mom.”
Feeling suddenly lighthearted, when she’d thought she’d never feel that way again after losing Richard for the second and last time, Isabella dragged Rose closer and smacked kisses on both her cheeks.
“Have I told you lately just how much I love you?”
Rose gave her a mock scolding glare. “When have you ever told me that?” When Isabella started to protest, Rose pulled her into another hug. “You never needed to tell me. I always knew. And I love you, too. Now more than ever.”
* * *
Isabella hadn’t expected to go home happy. But thanks to Rose, and to work, not to mention to Prince Charming Jeffrey, the day she’d predicted would be an endless pit of gloom had turned out to be the best she’d had in a couple of decades.
She didn’t expect her buoyant condition to continue, knew misery would descend on her more aggressively than it had the first time she’d lost Richard. Back then, there’d been distractions vying for her mental and emotional energy, fractioning her turmoil over him. Now, without anxieties consuming her focus, she’d experience the full measure of it.
There was another reason she was certain her despondency would only deepen. Before she’d met him again, she’d had this vague hope she’d find love again. She now knew this was an impossible prospect.
Richard would remain the one who could make her turn off the world and lose herself in his ecstasy. She didn’t want—couldn’t stomach—anything less than that. So now she knew. She’d spend the rest of her life as a mom, a daughter, a sister, a friend and a doctor. But the woman part of her was over. Only Richard had the secr
et code to this vital component of her being. And he was gone. Forever this time.
Turning onto her street, she shook herself. She was sliding again, and she owed it to Mauri and her family not to expose them to her dejection. She’d promised them a shining new beginning and she’d be damned if she didn’t deliver.
And then she had to count her blessings. She’d unburdened herself to Rose, their bond had become more profound, her family was safe, they loved their new home and she loved her new workplace. If she obsessed over Richard more than ever, if her body demanded its mate and master now that she could no longer swat her hunger away with hatred...tough.
She’d just mentally slapped some sense into herself when she saw it.
Richard’s car. Parked—again—in her spot.
Her heart followed the usual drill when it came to Richard. It crashed to a halt before bursting out in mad gallop, stumbling like a horse on ice.
She didn’t know how or where she ended up parking, or how she made it inside the house. The empty house. Where was everyone...?
Shouts burst from the kitchen. Her heart almost exploded from her chest as she burst into a run, then she heard...clapping. Clapping?
Screeching to a halt at the threshold, she saw...saw...
Richard was in her kitchen. He had every member of her household at the huge semicircular counter island and he was...
Performing for them. Knife tricks.
He was swirling knives with such speed and skill, his hands were a blur; the feats he performed with four—no, five...six knives nothing short of impossible. He made it look effortless. His captive audience was openmouthed and glassy eyed.
She sympathized. She would have done the same if she wasn’t shocked out of her wits.
With everyone hypnotized by his show, they didn’t notice her. Only he slunk her a sideways glance, that half smile that reduced her brain functions to gibberish on his lips. She stopped behind Mauri, and Richard escalated the level of difficulty, catapulting knives above his head, behind his back, turning this way and that to show them the intricate, mesmerizing sequence.
At the crescendo of his routine, he tossed what looked like a fish filet in the air, threw the knives in blinding succession after it, slicing it to equal pieces in midair. After catching the plummeting knives in one hand and the fish pieces in the other, he spread his arms and took a bow.
A storm of applause and yells erupted. She almost clapped and cheered, too. Almost. It was a good thing she was still breathing and on her feet.
Everyone’s excitement intensified when they noticed her. Richard slinked a tea towel over his shoulder as he approached her, his gaze unreadable, his mouth curved in that devastating smile. Her head filled with images of her winding herself around him, dragging that arrogant head down and taking those cruelly gorgeous lips.
“Did you catch Richard’s unbelievable show?” Amelia exclaimed.
“I caught a slice of it.” Everyone laughed at her reference to his closing act. Including him. She wanted to be mad at him for crashing her home again, but couldn’t. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t still reprimand him. “How will I convince the kids not to play with knives now?”
He waved away her concern. “I already took care of it.”
“Oh, how did you do that?”
“I told them only I was allowed to do such things, as I spent more years than they’ve been on this earth practicing.”
“And this convinced them?”
“They are extremely obedient cubs.”
She blinked. “Uh, are we talking about the same trio?”
“Or I’m too intimidating even when I’m trying not to be.”
Said trio was flitting around preparing the kitchen table, their awed eyes almost never leaving Richard. “They don’t look intimidated, they look enthralled.”
“Same result.” His smile grew placating. “Don’t worry. I got their promise they’d never try anything with sharp objects. I promised Mauricio I’d teach him to juggle. With environmentally safe plastic.”
Before she could hiss his skin off for making Mauri such a promise, he turned to his audience.
“Now, to the second part of my show. Food.”
Her mouth hung open as her mother and sister rushed to empty three huge brown bags on the other counter.
“Richard brought everything to make sure his recipe is just right,” her mother explained, her smile so wide it hurt Isabella. “We’re having a cooking contest. You’ll grade his efforts tonight against mine in our first dinner face-off.”
As Richard started preparing his ingredients, Isabella closed her mouth to keep her jaw from dragging on the floor.
Was that really him? Was this even her home? Or had she stepped into some parallel universe?
He wasn’t kidding about this being the second part of the show. He turned preparing seafood into feats of speed and precision. She was sure he assembled weapons and dismantled bombs with the same virtuosity.
All the time he quizzed the kids about the seafood, spices, herbs and vegetables he used. Their excitement at the informative and entertaining Q and A session was almost palpable. She’d never seen them so taken with an adult. Mauri asked him more personal questions than she’d thought possible, down to how he chewed his food. Richard was a good sport, rewarding Mauri’s boundless curiosity with amusing, frank, yet age-appropriate answers.
Seeing them interact the first time had been disturbing. Now it plain hurt.
After Richard started cooking, he said, “Somebody recently taught me that recipe. I was the sous chef during its preparation. Now I get to be the chef and, fingers crossed, I won’t turn what was a magical seafood feast into a curse.”
Amelia, who’d taken her eyes off Richard only to swing them to Isabella for a silent verdict on how things stood between them, piped in at once, “You have nothing to worry about. The aromas alone are a powerful spell.”
“Who taught you this recipe?” That was Mauri, of course.
“A lovely lady called Eliana.”
If he’d thrown that knife he wielded into her heart it wouldn’t have hurt more. Hearing him mention another woman with such indulgence made something she’d never felt on his account sink its talons into her gut.
Jealousy. Acrid, foul. And totally moronic. She was the one who’d turned down his offer to continue their intimacies.
But...he’d never cooked with her!
Well, he was cooking for her whole family now.
As if he could feel her burning envy of that woman who’d taken him into her kitchen and made him follow her orders, his steel-hued gaze targeted her. “She’s almost like a sister to me since she married a man I consider a brother.”
The tension drained from her muscles, forcing her to sit.
Mauri’s next question came at once. “What’s his name?”
“Rafael. Ah-ah...” Richard raised his hand, anticipating and answering Mauri’s next batch of questions. “Rafael Moreno Salazar. He’s from Brazil and he’s my partner. He’s ten years younger than me. And he is a magician with numbers.”
Numbers. The boy Richard wouldn’t leave behind in The Organization, the one he’d postponed his own escape for.
Forever needing more info about Richard, Mauri lobbed him another question. “Do you have other friends?”
“I have six partners, including Rafael. One I considered my best friend. He doesn’t like me back now.”
And that had to be Phantom.
Before Mauri pounced to extract that story, Richard gave him what she could only call a man-to-man look that said, “Later.” And wonder of wonders, it worked. Well, almost.
Mauri swerved into another tack. “What’s his name? Where’s he from?”
“Numair Al Aswad. That means black panther in Arabic. He’s a sheikh from a desert kingdom called Saraya.”
Everyone’s eyes got even wider. It was still Mauri who asked what she thought was on everyone’s mind. “Is each of your friends from a differe
nt country?”
Richard chuckled as he began to distribute food on plates. “Indeed. Black Castle Enterprises is a mini United Nations. We also have a Japanese chap, a Russian, an Italian and a Swede. My right-hand man, Owen Murdock, is an Irishman. I trained him like I trained Rafael.”
“Like you’ll train me?”
It felt as if everyone, except Benita and Diego, who chose this moment to bicker, held their breath for Richard’s answer.
He considered Mauri for a moment. “We’ll see if you’ve got what it takes first.”
“I got it!”
The kids giggled at Mauri’s impassioned claim but stopped at once. It wasn’t Mauri’s scolding look that made them look so sheepish and contrite. They never reacted like that to his “older brother” exasperation. It was Richard. He didn’t level any disapproval or reprimand at them, just a look.
She fully sympathized. Just a look from him took control of her every voluntary and involuntary response.
Her mother and sister intervened to end Mauri’s bombardment of Richard, and they all sat to eat.
It did turn out to be a magical meal, on all counts. The food was fantastic, making everyone want to meet the Eliana who’d invented the recipe, with her mother the first to declare Richard the winner of their contest. The constant mood was one of prevailing gaiety and excitement, again thanks to Richard. He was a maestro in handling people of all ages, compelling, constantly surprising, making each person feel they had his full attention, and causing them to fall over themselves to win his approval.
Although she knew this was just his expert manipulation skills, she couldn’t help but enjoy it. Delight in it. But both his behavior and her reaction to it made her more nervous.
What did he want?
Then she was finally getting the chance to find out.
After dinner, her mother and sister insisted she and Richard retire to the living room while they cleaned up. Mauri agreed to stay behind only after Richard promised a drawing session afterward.
