Controlling Darkness (The Control Series Book 4)

by Anna Edwards

  "They should charge on the M25; might lessen the amount of time I have to spend sitting in traffic when Miranda's off on one of her excursions to the gardens with the other ladies."

  "It probably won't make much difference actually. We're just too small a country for the number of vehicles on the roads."

  "France has definitely been easier to travel in. How long have you been coming here?"

  "My parents moved here after they retired but we've come here since I can remember to see mum's family. I've spent many a summer helping out in the winery."

  "Do they still crush the grapes with their feet?"

  "No, my family have a machine that does that now. My grand-père's feet weren't exactly hygienic. There is a festival during picking season though where they still do some by feet. I'll have to see if I can bring you to see it."

  "I'd like that very much."

  The expanse of symmetrically laid vine plantations loomed in front of them as they drove further and further into the countryside leaving behind the alternating fields of vines and asparagus they had been seeing for the last thirty minutes or so.

  Matthew turned a corner, and a sea of sunflower heads, illuminated by the vibrant afternoon sun revealed themselves to her. "Oh my God. So many of them. What do they grow them for?"

  "Oil mainly."

  "Can we stop, please? I want to take a picture."

  "Of course." Matthew pulled the car over.

  She jumped out of the car and stood beside the field. Matthew turned the engine off and joined her. He wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her against his hard body.

  "They are beautiful."

  "Tu es belle. Je t'aime." He whispered into her ear and pressed kisses against her cheek.

  His hands lowered over her hips, pulling her tightly against him.

  "Je pense que ta mère préférerait que tu rentres à la maison d'abord."A masculine voice came from behind them, and she jumped back.

  "Putain. Oncle Henri. I'll go see my mother soon."

  "I don't think that’s any way to speak to your Uncle." The two men drew each other into a warm embrace, kissing each other's cheeks in a traditional French greeting and thumping each other's back in a not so traditional one. "Your aunt Lourdes and your mother have been cooking all your favourite dishes since first thing this morning. It has been such a long time and to be bringing such a belle femme with you." Matthew's uncle reached over and brought her into the traditional greeting now. "As my nephew isn’t introducing me himself, allow me. I'm Henri Bresson. My sister is Matthew's mother."

  "I'm Sonia Anderson. I'm Matthew's girlfriend. It's lovely to meet you." Henri had come from the direction of the sunflower fields. "Are these your fields?"

  "Yes. From the Chateaux to as far as the eye can see."

  "Wow. Matthew told me his family had a winery, but I didn't realise you grew other crops. The sunflowers are just stunning."

  "Do you want to come back on the tractor with me?"

  "She’ll be safer in the car," Matthew answered before she could.

  "Tres bien. A bientôt."

  "See you later, Uncle." Matthew led her back to the car. He opened the door for her, but before she got in, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed him.

  "What was that for?"

  "For being you."

  "Get in the car before I change my mind about going to the house and find the nearest hotel and fuck you till morning."

  That took the breath out of her chest.

  It didn't take them long to get to the winery. The driveway leading up to it had meandered through a forest before the horizon opened up to expose a large farmhouse surrounded by neatly organised vines.

  "This is your family's?"

  "Yes. Welcome to the Chateaux Maison Du Bresson. My mother's ancestral home."

  A small woman with jet black hair and a dark tan threw herself at Matthew when he got out of the car. "It's so good to see you, mon petit. It's been far too long." Matthew greeted the woman whom Sonia assumed was his mother. A tall gentleman that could only be described as pale looking and British greeted him next.

  "Hi, Dad. Mama. Aunt Lourdes. I'd like to introduce my girlfriend, Sonia Anderson."

  "Right, inside everyone. We have cheeses and bread ready to be eaten. I'll serve dinner later, but I know that it has been such a long journey for you both so you must be hungry.

  "That would be lovely Mrs Carter." Despite stopping on the way down her tummy started to rumble at the thought of a snack.

  "Phillip, I hope you opened the vintage 2010 when I told you so that it could breathe. I'm sure they're both in need of a drink as well. "

  The bottle was not only opened but had been decanted, and a selection of cheeses were laid out before her.

  "When are you two marrying?" Aunt Lourdes hovered over Matthew, filling his plate with more food.

  "I think that’s a bit premature."

  "Zut alors, Matthew. You’re not getting any younger. This isn't the first...."

  "Aunt." Matthew's abrupt interruption made Sonia jump. "Sonia and I will discuss marriage when are ready to. At the moment, we still have a lot to learn about each other. A lot to learn." He stressed the last few words and that confused her. Henri reached out and took his wife by the hand.

  Sonia took Matthew's hand and noticed a little look pass between him and his mother. She couldn’t place what it meant, but it made her uneasy.

  "Matthew, why don't you take Sonia on a tour of the house? I've put you in the guest quarters out back. I thought maybe you'd like some privacy."

  "Good idea. I think we could do with a lay down."

  "I should help your mother tidy away first."

  "No need, you're a guest here Sonia. I know how hard you and Matthew work for Mr North. Please, this is your holiday. Rest and relax. Take the bottle of wine and glasses with you. I'll call when dinner is ready." Matthew's mother took her plate from her hands, and Matthew led her from the room. They got outside, and she dug her heels in.

  "I was happy for you to keep whatever secrets you wanted till you thought you were robust enough to tell me but I will not sit in a room with a group of people who obviously know everything. That is disrespectful to not only me but also our relationship. I will not be made a fool of."

  "Sonia, please. Give me time."

  "We've been together for six months. What is it? Do you not trust me? I've told you everything there is to know about me. I've opened my heart, let it bleed truths. Now is the time, Matthew. Now or never. Your decision." She turned around and stomped towards the guest house without looking back to see if he was following.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Matthew

  His world was shattering in front of him.

  "Sonia." It was all he could say, and his voice wavered.

  "Your choice Matthew. I'm going to lay down."

  She slammed the door to the guest house, leaving him outside.

  "Give her a few minutes to calm down and then go and tell her everything."

  His father appeared beside him and placed his hand upon his shoulder.

  "I don't know if I can."

  "Do you love her?"

  "More than anything."

  "Then you can."

  "What if she hates me?"

  "You did nothing wrong, Matthew."

  "Dad."

  His father stopped him.

  "You did nothing wrong. It was her choice. She made the decision to die. Not you."

  "But I could have stopped it."

  "I wasn't there, but I know when someone is determined to die, nothing will be able to stop them. You can’t watch them twenty-four-seven."

  "I should have done something."

  "Matthew, she is the past. Sonia is the future. Don't lose her."

  His father was right. He needed to face what he always tried to hide.

  "Thanks, dad."

  "No worries. Now go and sort everything before dinner. If your mother’s meal is spoilt, she’ll be a n
ightmare for weeks."

  "I will."

  With rather hesitant steps he trudged towards the guest house.

  "If you haven't come to talk to me, then you can turn around and go back the way you came." Sonia turned the water off, dropped the towel that encased her body and got into the bath. She didn't even look at him. He took a seat on the toilet. His long legs crossed in front of him and an arm resting on the cistern. To an external viewer, he may look relaxed, but he was far from it. Sonia looked over to him and then ducked under the water to wash her hair. When she surfaced, he'd finally managed to find his voice.

  "I did many different assignments when I was in MI5 and also when I was seconded to MI6. I travelled to lots of different countries. I always returned home to England or came back here afterwards. I took time out and broke from the intensity that each assignment brought." He was staring in front of him, not really at anything, not even at Sonia. The chill of the memories surrounded him. This was why he hated to say anything, to go back to those places. Sonia thought his parents knew everything but the reality was he had never told a living soul all that happened on his last assignment. "I was given a commission by MI5 to Paris; it wasn't to be a short one. I was told from the outset that I could be there at least a few years. I had an American woman from the FBI as, my partner. I was given a new identity, Matthias Durand. The American agent was supposedly my wife, Jennifer. Jen as I called her. I'd left the south of France at a young age with my family and made my fortune and name in England and America as part of the Milieu or mafia branch there. I'd met Jennifer when she'd started working for my firm. We'd apparently fallen in love and married. I'd grew tired of the hatred for foreigners in England though; the discrimination only worsening. Especially when Jen was assaulted for being married to a Frenchman. We had left and moved to Paris to start afresh in a country which would welcome us both and our money. My task was simple, to infiltrate a particular section of the French mafia and help eliminate human trafficking in the UK and USA." He paused. He could vividly remember his first meeting with Francois LaFont, the leader of the Corsican gang of the same name. "We were able to get in, and I started off as a soldier but soon became a captain."

  "After I became a captain, an opportunity came up that brought me in direct contact with the boss, Francois Lafont. I was his consigliere. It was the connection we needed, and I started to take the firm down from the inside."

  "What about Jennifer? Or...what was her real name?"

  "Beth."

  "What about Beth?"

  He sighed heavily. “Beth and I got close. Eventually, we became lovers. She inserted herself with the wives and girlfriends of the gang and used that to help with bringing them down. I had to travel to England for a deal and took her with me. We made an on the spot decision, went to Gretna Green, and were married." Sonia let out a pained breath. He tried to hold her again, but she stood, her hands held out in front of her.

  "You're married?"

  "No."

  "Divorced?"

  "No."

  "Dead." The word caught in her throat.

  He nodded.

  "Oh God."

  She put her hand over her mouth like she was going to be sick.

  "Shortly before the assignment was due to end, Beth was lunching with LaFont's wife and several other women attached to the gang. The restaurant was attacked. LaFont's wife had her throat slit in front of everyone. Beth had a knife plunged into her stomach."

  "She died because they thought they were killing the wife of the consigliere?"

  "She didn't die from that attack."

  "What? I don't understand."

  "She did, later. Francois had a son, Jean-Claude. He had arranged the hit. He had told the attackers to kill his mother but only injure Beth."

  "His own mother?"

  "He knew it would weaken his father and make him vulnerable. What he didn't know-- Beth was carrying our child. The baby died, and she had a hysterectomy to save her life."

  Sonia had tied him down to his story this far, kept him from falling deeply under the spell of his memories but no longer. He was back there the day of her death. The sounds and smells of the vibrant city of Paris invaded his nostrils as he looked around to see Beth's final moments.

  "Are Jasper and the others on the way?" Beth moved slowly over the sculptured lawn of the LaFont mansion's gardens.

  "They will be here within the hour. They have enough evidence to take down Francois and Jean-Claude. They will rot in prison forever."

  "And we will go back to our regular lives."

  "Isn't that what you want?"

  "I don't think life will ever be normal for me again."

  She held her hands over her stomach where stitches still marked the effects of the knife that had stolen their child.

  "I love you, Beth. This changes nothing." He took her hands and kissed both of them before kneeling before her and kissing where the baby had grown.

  "I'm not a proper woman anymore."

  "You’re all the woman that I need. Child or not. We will always be together."

  "I should go see Francois. He wants me to help pick out clothing for his Elise's funeral dress."

  "I'll come with you."

  "No. There is no need. You go get everything ready for Jasper."

  "I'll at least walk you in. Francois may be an awful man, but I can't deny how much he loved his wife. I owe him condolences for that.

  "Five minutes. Then you go."

  "Okay, bossy."

  Matthew followed her into the house. Monsieur LaFont was sitting shrouded by the darkness of thick drapes in his grand sitting room. He looked like he hadn't slept in weeks not just days.

  "Francois?" She cooed. He didn't answer. Just beckoned for her to come to his side. The old man looked directly at him.

  "Matthias. You’ll find who did this and bring them to me." Francois spoke in French, but the words entered his head in English.

  "They will die painfully. You have my word on this."

  "You’re good. I'm glad that you're here with us. Even if it means suffering to your beautiful wife. When the funeral is over; take a break; go to Corsica. You can stay with my friends."

  "That is very generous of you Francois." Beth placed a blanket around the old man's shoulders.

  "I'm going to go and speak to my sources, see what I can find."

  Francois took Beth's hand. "Let’s go choose a dress for my wife."

  "Au revoir, Matthias." Beth kissed his cheek.

  Matthew watched them go.

  "Matthias. Where's my father?" Jean-Claude called from the doorway.

  Jean-Claude had always been a bit of a mystery to Matthew. He appeared loyal to the LaFont's, but there was always a question mark in his mind as to how far that allegiance ran.

  "Do you know who did it yet?"

  "Not yet but I'm working on it."

  "Work quicker. I want answers by the end of the day."

  "You'll have them." Just not the answers that he wanted.

  "How is Jen? Should she be up and around already."

  "She's stronger than she looks."

  "I'm sorry she was involved."

  "So am I for her sake and the baby."

  "Baby?"

  "She was pregnant."

  "What?" Jean-Claude's face paled. "You hadn't said?"

  "It was early stages."

  "Fuck."

  "That is putting it mildly."

  "I should go check on my father." Suddenly the younger LaFont couldn’t wait to get away from him. Matthew didn't care, though. His phone rang.

  "You here?" His screen flashed up the code name for Jasper.

  "Yes."

  The next thing Matthew knew he was thrown through the air. A massive explosion ripped through the mansion in a violent crescendo of flames and flying debris. Hard stone rained down on him, bruising and bloodying his skin. He fought to remain conscious.

  "Matthew?"

  "Explosion." It was all he could manage
as dust starting to settle all around him invaded his lungs. The coughing started.

  "We'll be there in five minutes."

  Matthew turned to look at what remained of the mansion. Nothing.

  "Beth?" Was the last word he had managed before the darkness claimed him.

  "Who was responsible? Jean-Claude was in there. It couldn’t have been him."

  Sonia was sitting right beside him now. She had a hold of his hand.

  "Beth did it."

  "What?" She shook her head disbelievingly.

  "I found out afterwards. She had rigged the mansion to explode. That day she took the detonator with her. She destroyed herself and Jean-Claude but allowed me to live."

  "I'm so sorry Matthew."

  "I've never told anyone as much as I've said today. James knows bits."

  "You lost your wife and child in the space of a few days and in a violent manner. No wonder you’ve wanted to keep that buried so deep within you." She leant into him, her warmth surrounding his body. For once she was giving comfort, and he was taking it.

  "The darkness is locked away where it can be controlled. If you let it out it destroys you. That's the reason I left Paris the day she died. My father dealt with the funeral. He hadn't even met Beth. He had her buried in a small graveyard near where we'd lived."

  "Have you been there?"

  "No."

  "But you can’t hide from what happened forever. You taught me that."

  "I was never one to follow my own rules." He kissed the top of her head.

  Sonia shifted on the bed so that her deep brown eyes looked up at him. "You forced me to confront my past, so we are going to do the same with you."

  "What?"

  "We are going to go to Paris so that you can say goodbye."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Sonia

  "Do you know what plot she is in?" Sonia looked around at the old mementoes to those that had been lost to heaven.

  "No. I don't." Matthew looked down at his feet in shame.

  "It's ok." She squeezed his hand reassuringly. "I'll go and ask."

  "Slight problem."

  "What?"

  "You don't speak French."

  "Damn it. You go."