To my surprise, she kept her composure and asked about the woman and her car, which turned out to be totaled. Sophia showed us a picture of the accident. It was truly a miracle for the woman to have walked away from it with nothing more than a mild concussion. The only reason she had to stay in the hospital overnight was to be monitored.
“There’s more isn’t there? Otherwise, there’d only be a few of you here.” I loved how smart she was. I knew there wouldn’t be much I could get past her.
Rick took out some copies of phone records. “James has been true to his word that he hasn’t called anyone in the area since he left. He had no clue about the insurance policy, even complying with our request for a polygraph test to ensure he was telling the truth.”
I could sense there was something they weren’t telling us. “What are you holding back, guys?” I wrapped my arm around the back of Marjorie, pulling her tight against my side, preparing us for whatever words they were about to deliver.
Derrick pointed to the call records. “We have a record of numerous calls and texts made from burner phones in the Orlando area to James’s number. The phones have all been purchased with cash, so there are no trails leading back to the individual purchasing them.”
“Does James know who he’s talking to?” her voice was shaky, but I could sense the determination for this all to be over. God knows I wanted it to be.
He shook his head. “He has no recollection of even receiving any calls. He’s authorized the phone company to give us copies of his text messages. Our contact with Titan Security took a look at his phone and found the messages were erased. James had no clue they’d been on there or how they’d gotten erased.” I was about to contest that theory, when he added, “This was part of his polygraph testing and he truly had no knowledge of things, leading us to believe maybe he’d been medicated or brainwashed.”
I looked at Derrick in disbelief. “That’s a bit far-fetched, don’t you think?”
He shrugged his shoulders, not really knowing what to say, when Sophia shook her head. “Ivan and I have seen enough to know it could happen. If we hadn’t witnessed it on more than one occasion, we’d concur the idea doesn’t hold water but it does. We can’t go into the specifics of our past, but we are trying to locate a specialist we’d once worked with to see if they can probe James’s mind for clues that might help us.”
I looked up to see Ivan nodding in agreement. “If anything’s been done to alter his psyche, this friend of ours will be able to extract that information through hypnosis. Our only problem is that he’s as covert as we used to be, so it may take a bit to locate him.”
Marjorie started crying, “What does he want? Why would that bastard offer to help me? Why now?”
Rick took that one. “He seems remorseful over his previous actions. He still doesn’t understand why he’d gotten so violent against you, claiming he’d loved you, though admitted that your wealth and status were more the allure.
“He’s trying to start fresh and has been making great strides in creating a new life for himself. He’s seeing an anger management specialist, has just received a promotion at his workplace, and even showed our contact a picture of a woman he’s been starting to see on and off. If he’s trying to hurt you, he’s going to extremes to create a ruse to throw us off.” Rick’s eyes looked up to Marjorie’s, showing he was sincere in his words.
Nate spoke up asking, “But what about the woman he’d mentioned prior to meeting Marjorie?”
Rick nodded. “James vaguely remembers spending a few rounds with a woman at the club, and outside of it, prior to meeting you. He doesn’t remember much about their relationship, what they did, or the fact that it even ended. He only recalls that the mere mention of your name made her demeanor change.”
He looked up at Marjorie. “Do you have any idea who that might be? Someone you might have had a confrontation with at the club? Could there be someone from your past who might have harbored ill will toward you? Someone who might still have some resentment issues?”
I watched as she shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. “I always treat everyone with respect, despite how they may treat me. I figure everyone’s entitled to a bad day here and there, but I can’t think of anyone who treated me badly.”
“Not true, sis.” Gianna spoke up with defiance in her voice I’d never heard before, causing everyone to direct their attention toward her. “You’re forgetting about Tiffany Rosen, Cassandra Blackstone, and Sherry Wilson.”
Marjorie shook her head, waving her hand in dismissal. “Those girls are nothing but overindulgent brats. So what if they were jealous? I never treated them any differently than I treated anyone else.”
Gianna laid a hand on her sister’s shoulder, “Maybe you didn’t, but they did.” She looked around the room and began to explain. “Dad and Uncle Alex had a firm belief that we should receive an education in a public school just like everyone else. It didn’t matter that we came from money, only that we had an appreciation for all things in life and a good education to boot. We made friends easily because of our wealth, but keeping them was the problem. A few stayed around because we got along wonderfully, while others felt we owed them for their friendship, wanting us to buy them things to keep them around.
“I guess some believed that money was the road to happiness, but we all know that it is love and trust that lead that direction.” Gianna looked at Nate adoringly before continuing, “After a while, we realized who our true friends were, or so we thought. The three I mentioned hung around us, but were always borrowing our clothes or jewelry without ever returning them. They felt they were entitled to some of the perks of our lifestyle. We tolerated their friendship because we enjoyed spending time with them.”
She reached up, pushing a piece of hair back behind her sister’s ear. “They gossiped a lot behind your back. I overheard how a couple of them wished they could slide into your slot in life and take it over, feeling you were undeserving of such a station in life.” Her eyes were remorseful, “Why do you think some of the people in our sorority turned on us in college?”
I watched as Marjorie shook her head, “No. I can’t be.”
Gianna nodded. “Somehow Cassie and Tiffany had managed to convince them to give us the boot during our final year. They were the ones who snuck those guys into our room and paid them to pretend we were romantically involved, so it’d be a violation and our membership would be withdrawn.”
“But why wait to tell me?” Marjorie’s voice was full of anger and her hand was squeezing mine to the point of pain.
“I knew you’d find pity for them and they didn’t deserve it. We were better than them anyway. We saw the beauty in all people, no matter how much or how little they had to offer. They could only see what was in it for them. I wanted away from their evil influence.” She slapped at her sister’s knee, trying to lighten the mood. “You have to admit, we had the last laugh being able to travel abroad our final semester in school as part of an exchange program. We got to live it up in Europe, while they were still stuck here in Orlando.”
Marjorie finally released the grip on my hand, picking it up to kiss the back of it and mouthing the words, “I’m sorry”.
The story left me wondering, “Could one of these women be the cause to all of this? Could simple jealousy be enough to cause someone to resort to attempted murder? And if so, how does James play into all this?”
Derrick spoke up. “We are examining every possibility, no matter how small of a connection, to find out what’s going on. We want this resolved sooner rather than later. We want to prevent a potential poisoning, or what happened this morning, from occurring again. We’ve even brought my dad’s company in on this to try and speed things up.”
“So where does that leave us?” I wondered aloud.
Derrick rubbed the back of his neck while he began telling us the plan. “Mr. Prescott wants the two of you to work remotely from here. Whatever Marjorie’s unable to do from home, Dane and Maris
sa are willing to do at work. As for you, Ethan, your second in command, Marshall, will fill in at the office for similar purposes.”
I’d been a bit reclusive over the years, so staying at home for long periods of time wasn’t a huge stretch for me. But for Marjorie, “I can’t stay locked up!” She was already freaking out. She was a free spirit, a definite yin to my yang.
I leaned over toward her ear, whispering so that only she could hear me, “We may be under house arrest for our own safety, but I can think of a few ways to pass the time. I’m actually looking forward to some of your tutoring, Mistress, or should I say sub?”
I listened as her breath caught and watched as her eyes heated with desire as a slow blush crept up the side of her neck. She tried to act all nonchalant, slowing her breathing down as she turned to me with a slight sparkle in her emerald eyes. “Well, when you put it that way, I guess I could follow directives and be accommodating.”
I could hear a few smirks throughout the room but didn’t look to see who they came from. All I knew was that I wanted this done and over with so we could enjoy our lives.
Rick added, “We know you’re going to get cooped up and want to escape, so we’re going to see what we can do to get you access to your parent’s place, your uncle’s house, and even the club if we can swing it. Your sessions with Kent and Carol will be conducted here to insure privacy and safety. We’ll keep around-the-clock surveillance of the building and garage to ensure no further tampering to the cars and no attempted deliveries of any kind.”
As far as the family and team were concerned, we were on a permanent vacation within the confines of my residence. The operative who’d been hired to portray Marjorie would return to work in a few days and pretend to be shaken up. She’d continue acting the part to put up a front for the individual in case they were watching. Derrick was close to my height and build, so he offered to dress my part and make it look like I’d taken a flight out of town to a software symposium, which wouldn’t be unlike me at all.
It sounded like a lot of trouble for nothing, but we were assured that anyone watching us knew we were at least friends, if not a couple by now. If they thought I wasn’t around, they might feel Marjorie was more accessible and be drawn out of hiding.
The only thing that we both hated, but agreed it had to be done, was to install a special covering where the windows looked dark and deserted, giving the impression no one was home. It would’ve been easier to put up blackout curtains, but we both needed the ability to see out and see what was going on in the world, to keep our sanity.
Mr. Prescott, Marjorie, and Gianna’s dad all called to check up on everyone. None of them were happy with the extremes they had to go to in order to ensure our safety, but we all agreed that the sooner the person was caught the better. Whoever this sick-minded individual was definitely had it in for my girl and was upping the ante with each new attempt at her life. Hmm, my girl. I like the sound of that.
Marjorie and I stayed back as everyone left the apartment so no one passing by in the hall could see that we were home. If there were any more attempts, then we agreed we’d move our location to the safe room at Alexander’s place and relinquish any sense of control we still had regarding the matter. At least here, we still had some say in the matter.
I watched as Marjorie sat forward on the sofa, leaning in to whisper something to her sister. She nodded before grabbing hold of Sophia and asking her to follow them downstairs.
I HATED WHISPERING TO Gianna, but I wanted to surprise Ethan with a few items we could use in training. I’d been opposed to the idea of being cooped up in the apartment, but the idea of using the time to teach him the role of a dominant and show him what I liked as a submissive – well, let’s just say it appealed to me in a big way. I tried to hide the fact that my nipples had hardened, turning me on, while everyone was here talking.
I also asked my sister to pull out our old yearbooks to provide the team with as much information about the three girls as possible. Granted, several of our friends had moved on after graduation or settled down into married life, so the names might’ve changed. At least it would offer a starting point of sorts.
I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten how terrible we were treated that last year of college. I was only a couple years older than my sister, but she’d caught up to me by skipping a couple of grades. I didn’t mind, since I hadn’t been too serious about my studies until I decided on a career in business.
While we waited for Gianna to return, Ethan scooted close to me on the sofa and turned on the television for some background noise. “Anything you care to watch?”
I shook my head. “I’m not really in a watching mood. This all feels so surreal, like it can’t really be happening.”
He pulled me close to press a kiss against my temple. “At least one positive thing came out of it.”
I looked back at him like he’d grown another head, and not one in the southern direction. “Mr. Negativity has become a positive influence. Okay, who are you and what have you done to my Ethan?”
His smile was bright enough to radiate the entire room. “I’m still me. The scare we had, when I thought I’d lost you,” his voice cracked a bit, “it made me realize just how special you are to me. My eyes opened to see all the possibilities I could be missing if I didn’t take a chance with you. I decided I had used the friendship card one too many times. If we didn’t work out, I’d still be your friend, and I’d still want to protect you no matter what.”
I leaned my head against his shoulders, taking in the scent of his cologne, which I learned was a new brand of cologne, called Argos, put out by some sexy model turned entrepreneur. All I knew is that the scent drove me crazy when Ethan wore it. The aquatic marine scent, with the light hints of citrus worked wonders on him.
It was easy to just relax against one another and tune out the world around us. We’d already gone through most of the preliminary information one usually learns about one another when they first start dating. We knew we both had the same alma mater, having graduated from the University of Central Florida. He had his PhD in computer science and software design, whereas I had a Masters in business.
He knew that I’d started work in the sales department and worked alongside Dane until I’d gotten married, warranting the transfer to my uncle’s office, as his assistant, which worked perfectly since my uncle’s assistant was ready to retire. James had tried to control my hours, forcing me to quit and be totally dependent upon him. That was the only thing I’d refused, because I wouldn’t become his full-time slave. I regret that I allowed any part of me to become a slave to his demands, but if I really thought about it, I’d realize I had done it for self-preservation.
I glanced up at Ethan, watching his brown eyes twinkle as he viewed the television, while his hand ran lazy circles up and down my arm. This sure beat sitting next to one another in an uncomfortable manner, not sure what to do with your hands, where to look, or what to say. To me, this was my idea of spending a quiet afternoon at home, outside of romantic interludes, of course. That was another great way to pass the time. But after last night’s and this morning’s sessions, I had to admit I was a little sore.
A knock sounded at the door, making us both jump. Ethan showed me how to switch the TV over to the camera by the door. It was Gianna and Nate, carrying a few bags. I started to get up to get the door, yelling out, “Coming,” but he wouldn’t let go of my hand, pulling me back onto the sofa. His expression smoldered, with a slight quirk of his lips, “You better believe you’ll be coming later, love. You sit here for now and rest; you’re going to need your strength later. I’ll get the door.”
I listened as he let my sister and brother in-law inside. Nate headed straight for the kitchen with Ethan. “We know you have some food already prepared in the refrigerator, but thought we’d bring by some lasagna we made last night. Let me go ahead and dish some out since it’s close to dinner time, unless you’d both like to eat later?”
Eth
an looked over at me for direction and shrugged his shoulders. “I could eat now or we could wait. It’s up to you, Marjorie.”
I was a little hungry. It was then I looked over at the clock and noticed the time. It had been four hours since everyone had left the place. I looked up at my sister, “What the heck took you guys so long?”
She took the seat next to me on the sofa. I watched as she gave Nate a flirtatious smile and then leaned in to whisper, “I couldn’t find where I’d stashed my yearbooks. I went after them first so Sophia could start the search. When Nate saw what I was packing for you in your duffle…” a salacious smile spread across her face and she blushed.
“Oh my God! TMI, sis…I didn’t need to go there.”
She laughed. “We kept getting turned on by your items, so we had to stop off at our place and well…we got a little carried away and lost track of time. I hope you were both able to find some way to keep occupied.” Her eyebrows lifted with a hint of mischief.
I just shook my head. “What am I going to do with you?” I wrapped my arms around her neck, giving her a hug as I whispered, “I’m too sore to do much right now. We just relaxed a bit and waited for you to come back.”
She pulled back giving me an expression that only we could decipher. She’d basically asked if he was huge and I nodded in the affirmative, mouthing the word, “gigantic”.
I was surprised when she jumped up and down clapping. “We kept hoping you two would eventually come together. The sexual tension emanating off of both of you was palpable. If anyone would have struck a match in the room, it would have gone up in flames. By the way, I packed some of my special mineral salts – which helps to alleviate some of the soreness so you don’t have to take a night off.” I couldn’t believe my sister; she was giddy and winking at me.
I could feel tears form at the corners of my eyes – happy that my sister approved, for once, of the guy I was seeing. Granted, we’d been forced together by fate, but things always have a way of working out.
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