A Chance in the Night

by Kimberly Van Meter

  Tomorrow, he decided. He’d call tomorrow afternoon before his shift started at the bar. But what would he say? He didn’t know. He needed strategy. But he hardly knew her so what could he use…a slow grin spread across his face as an idea came to him.

  But first, he needed to call someone else. If everything worked out, by tomorrow he’d have his in.

  SKYE COULDN’T SLEEP. She flopped onto her stomach and bunched her pillow beneath her but she might as well be lying on rocks for all the comfort she was getting. Her thoughts were a ridiculous mess. She had Belleni to thank for that, she grumbled to herself but even as she thought it, she knew that wasn’t entirely true. Of course, he was in her head but something—or someone—was also taking up space in her thoughts and frankly, it shocked her.

  Christian.

  A total stranger. A man she should definitely steer clear of. She didn’t need nor want another complication in her life. Yet, he kept popping up in her head, teasing her with that boyish dimple and those ridiculously blue eyes.

  For just a wild, reckless moment she wondered what it would be like to enjoy a little harmless flirtation. To allow herself the freedom to engage in playful banter that wasn’t a means to an end, an act she put on to charm the client. She wondered what it’d be like to go on a date with someone who didn’t have the expectation of sex just because he paid a little extra for her services. She wanted to remember what it felt like to go to dinner with someone and as they sat apart from one another, be just as ignorant of how the evening was going to play out as the other person. Would they kiss? Would they hold hands? Would they want to see each other again? It’d been so long since she’d enjoyed such simple dating rituals that she almost didn’t remember how they worked.

  She allowed her thoughts to wander further, tantalized by the engaging fantasy of mundane normalcy, to wonder where Christian took a woman on a first date. Was he the kind of guy who did the dinner and flowers thing or was he the adrenaline junkie type who took a date bungee jumping? She hoped he was somewhere in between.

  She smiled at the memory of how persistent he’d been at the park, the way his eyes had lit up for a boy that wasn’t related to him but still gave him joy. She allowed a small sigh. What would it be like to be with someone so generous? She turned on her back and stared at the ceiling. Once she’d thought Belleni was kind. But what she’d mistaken for kindness had actually been a calculated facade. How had she ever been so naive?

  Ten thousand dollars. Gone. Handed over to Belleni as punishment for her deception. It curdled her stomach to think of how close she’d been to putting this whole sordid mess behind her only to fail so miserably. If only Belleni would find someone else to fulfill his obsession. She didn’t understand why he remained fixated on her. By all accounts she was difficult to manage, needed constant supervision and had already tried to run several times with disastrous results. Yet, he continued to tether her to his side like an exotic collared pet. And God, how she chafed at his possession.

  If it weren’t for Nico she’d have found a way to split a long time ago. But her son was Belleni’s ace and he played it whenever he felt the need to corral her. He parceled out visitations like tiny morsels to a starving person. He threatened to send Nico away to his family in Italy if she didn’t behave. The boy already had dual citizenship due to his father and it would be easy to spirit the child out of the country with Belleni’s influence. That’s why she’d banked up the ten grand, to ensure they left no trace of their disappearance and could stay underground for at least a year in the hopes of leaving Belleni behind forever. A mere couple thousand wouldn’t have sustained them long enough. But it was all gone now.

  She supposed this was another of those little reminders that Belleni had all the power and she had none. She would get through it. And she would find another way out of this craptastic mess.

  She just needed more time.

  And a miracle.

  BELLENI STROKED HIS NEATLY groomed facial hair, his thoughts troubled. Vivian, his right-hand man, so to speak, was talking about something he should care about but his focus was elsewhere. He felt the years pressing on him like never before. He suspected it had something to do with the recent turn of events surrounding Skye and her deception. Somehow she’d managed to amass a tidy sum of money without his knowledge, squirreling it away for more than a rainy day. He ached at the knowledge that she’d been planning to run. Had he not given her every advantage? Provided her with a life most would covet? He asked so little of her but expected her loyalty. His hand stilled, dropping to his side to clench in anger. Had he not rescued her from despair when she’d lost everything dear to her? Did he not allow her to contact her family once a year? It was more than he allowed his other girls. And yet…she repaid him with treachery. She was a jewel in his crown but he swore she was poison, too.

  “Your melancholy is obvious.” Vivian cut into his thoughts, pulling his attention with her sharp tone. She arched a thin brow, adding with a put-out sigh, “As is the cause. What are you going to do with her?”

  “What’s to do? There is nothing to do,” he groused, irritated that Vivian knew him so well but that was to be expected given all that they’d shared over the years. He roused himself to broach a subject he knew was bound to ruffle feathers but there was no avoiding it. “Vivian, you must stop being so harsh to Nico. It upsets Skye.”

  “Oh, does it? And why should I care if a whore is upset?” she asked, blinking in feigned surprise.

  “Don’t play innocent. It is beneath you.”

  Her face hardened. She regarded him with those chilly blue eyes, saying, “Fine. This ridiculous obsession of yours with that woman is going to destroy all you’ve built. Let her go. It’s beside the time to do so. There are hundreds of girls out there who will suit the same purpose with less trouble. I say good riddance.”

  He couldn’t say the same. He couldn’t let her go. It gave him a physical pain that baffled him. And it drove him to madness to think of her building a life away from him. “She is a moneymaker,” he stated as if that were the only reason he refused to cut her loose. Though, he knew in his heart of hearts, Vivian spoke the truth. He was crazy to keep her around. She was a loose cannon. Or worse, a ticking time bomb. “She has grace, class and style aside from physical beauty. Besides, I have invested too much to simply make her disappear now.”

  “Yes, we all know how you’ve made a fool of yourself,” she said, her tone clipped and disapproving. He cast a short look of warning her way but she ignored it. “You’ve created an additional challenge with that boy. I can only imagine what you were thinking. He is more than a loose end. He is a liability. An unfortunate accident is your only way out of this growing mess of a situation.”

  “Stop talking nonsense, woman,” he barked, annoyed that she would even suggest such a thing. “He is my son. You seem to have forgotten that important fact.”

  Her mouth pinched and her body tightened in a rigid line. In that moment he could’ve sworn hatred flared in her eyes and he wondered if perhaps the ghosts from the past were becoming too much for her. The moment dragged out between them and guilt prodded at him to offer a gentle word but she collected herself to say, “It is impossible to forget. He is your spitting image.”

  That he was. And it gave him an odd thrill that Skye’s child shared his genes. If only she didn’t loathe him. Oh, yes, he knew. A heavy weight settled on his shoulders, pushing him further into a sorry state of mind. He wished it didn’t matter, that she was like so many of the others, but there was something about her that pushed him to do things he’d never consider with anyone else.

  Such as father a child.

  He averted his stare away from Vivian, away from the condemnation radiating from her thin frame. “You will stop this nonsense when it concerns Nico,” he demanded roughly, risking a look at the woman who knew all his secrets. “He is my family. Like it or not.”

  She inclined her head in his direction, her rage cooling into a bitter freeze
. “Of course. Then, I would suggest you exert your influence on Skye and convince her to send him away. She will poison him against you eventually. Mark my words. She will ruin you through that boy,” she counseled. “Besides, allowing her to have Nico around makes her difficult to manage.”

  He grunted his agreement. Vivian had a point. And he sensed that Skye would endeavor to find another way to bolt. But he knew she would stay put if he held her son, which is why he refused to return him to her full-time. “Excelsior is a fine school,” he mused, catching a quiet gleam of triumph in Vivian’s eyes. “And a boy such as Nico will need the best education there is. Procure the necessary arrangements to ensure his early enrollment.”

  For once Vivian’s smile reached her eyes but it was enough to chill his blood. “It would be my pleasure,” she murmured, exiting the room with a soft chuckle.

  He stared after Vivian, wondering when the woman had become so cold, so vicious.

  Of course, he didn’t need to wonder long. He already knew the answer.

  It was the day he’d made her abort their child…twenty years ago.

  Perhaps that was the weight he felt. Suddenly, he felt each of his fifty-two years as if they were bricks of cement pressing on his body.

  Their child would’ve been an adult by now. He sighed. Funny how life had its twists and turns. He hadn’t wanted to be a father to Vivian’s child and truly, when Skye had told him she was pregnant, he hadn’t been pleased. Until he realized it was the perfect way to tie her to him forever. Then, the prospect of fatherhood had improved.

  And he’d been correct. The child was better leverage than he could’ve dreamed.

  With the boy firmly in his control, he had Skye caged like a little bird.

  Just the way he liked her.

  He smiled and made a mental note to give Vivian a little bump in her salary. The woman deserved a little extra. It was the least he could do.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  SKYE WAS JUST BUNDLING Nico into his jacket and mittens when her cell rang. She glanced at the number, tempted to let it go to voice mail when she didn’t recognize the number but sheer curiosity got the better of her. She answered and Christian’s smooth voice caused goose bumps to riot along her forearms as a reluctant smile followed.

  “Before you think that I’m calling you up just to chase you around for a date, I have a proposition for you that is entirely altruistic,” he said.

  “How did you get my number?” she asked, puzzled but secretly impressed.

  “The internet is a wondrous thing,” he said by way of an answer but continued to his original statement. “Are you interested?”

  “What kind of proposition would that be?” she asked, wary but admittedly, intrigued. She couldn’t remember the last time someone asked her for something without ulterior motives.

  “Well, you know the program I was telling you about? The Buddy program has an affiliate program for girls called My Big Sister and they’re looking for someone to come in a few times a week to start the arts classes with the kids. And of course, I thought of you.”

  “Me?” she asked, mildly distressed yet flattered at the same time. “Why me?”

  “Why not? You’re a classically trained dancer and that falls under the arts, doesn’t it? Besides, I read somewhere that dance can help kids focus and gives them a good introduction to new opportunities.” He must’ve sensed her reluctance because he pressed a bit harder, his earnest tone pulling at her. “I don’t know what your childhood was like but I can tell that these kids don’t come from the best. At the least they’ve suffered neglect but at the worst…well, some have forgotten that there’s anything beautiful left in the world. The arts help to remind them what’s out there.”

  How could she argue with that? Everything he said was true. You could tell a story with dance. At her best, she’d been able to paint a picture with the sweep and twist of her arms and body, forgetting everything else going on in her life, good or bad. She missed it so much it was a constant ache but she’d written off any chance of ever dancing again. Tears pricked her eyes at even the thought of sliding her toes into ballet slippers again. Dance was something that had been wholly her own, something Belleni had never touched. “I’ll do it,” she blurted before she could change her mind or, worse, plain come to her senses. Belleni would disapprove but she didn’t care. “I would love to teach the children about dance. When and where?” she asked, a bit breathless, yet smiling.

  She could hear the smile in his voice as he said, “I was hoping you’d say that. How about I swing by and pick you up Friday around noon?”

  “How about you give me the address and I’ll meet you there?” she countered.

  He laughed. “All right,” he conceded with good humor. Another point in his favor. He gave an address on the west side of Central Park and she quickly entered it into her phone. “See you Friday, then.”

  “Friday,” she agreed, and added, “Thanks for thinking of me, Christian.”

  “It’s all I’ve done since we met,” he answered, his honest answer chasing a thrill down her spine like kittens after a ball of string. “I want to help you.”

  “I’m not a project for you to fix, Christian,” she said, the intoxicating warmth curling in her belly cooling considerably. “And I don’t need your pity.”

  “And I’m not offering it. But I am offering you something that I think you’ll enjoy.”

  A bit unsettled but not quite sure she was capable of refusing, her desire to dance blotting out any sensible argument against accepting, she agreed to meet with him.

  Butterflies erupted and joined in her stomach with a vague sense of unease for her recklessness but the lure was too strong. She’d have to lie to Vivian about her whereabouts but she’d do anything to be able to forget for just a moment where her life had stalled and left her stranded.

  Just one moment. She huffed a shaky breath.

  She’d sort out her feelings later. After her meeting with Belleni.

  “I DON’T LIKE IT HERE. I want to stay with you, Mama,” Nico said, pressing against her side. She understood her son’s distaste. For it’s obvious wealth, it had nothing in the way of warmth. It was all designer, imported, ostentatious presentation. Belleni did that on purpose. Belleni had once confided to her that wealth put on display was a quick way to impress without saying a word. It said the company of a Belleni girl didn’t come cheap and that only those within a certain tax bracket need apply. It was hard to remember a time when she’d been impressed with the obscene showing. She seemed a shadow of that corn-fed, naive girl who’d stepped off the bus and onto the city streets so long ago.

  Vivian, with her hateful blue eyes, greeted them in the foyer and ushered them not into the study where Skye expected the meeting to take place but rather into the living room.

  “Mama, take me back to our apartment,” Nico said fretfully, to which Vivian flashed a disdainful look before giving a minute shake of her head.

  “Hush, sweetie,” Skye said, but gave his small hand a reassuring squeeze to communicate that she understood. She didn’t like this place, either.

  Vivian opened the double doors and watched as they entered. Belleni sat in a large, overstuffed fine leather chair that looked softer than butter and likely cost an exorbitant amount. His mouth lifted in an inviting smile but Skye was immediately put on guard by the shrewd light in his eyes. She glanced at Vivian and was further alarmed by the gleam in her eyes. Anything that excited Vivian usually bode terribly for Skye. Their earlier conversation came back to haunt her and she swallowed in trepidation.

  “Take a seat, my darlings,” Belleni instructed, then turned to Nico. “Would you like a root beer float?” he asked Nico. When her son nodded shyly, he gestured to Vivian who stepped forward with an outstretched hand to Nico.

  “Come, boy,” Vivian said, trying to sound kind, which to Skye’s ears was downright terrifying. She started to protest but Vivian had already clamped her hand around her son’s, pulling him to
his feet and out the door before Skye could stop her.

  “What’s this about, Belleni?” Skye asked, unable to stand the tension stringing her taut. Her gaze strayed to the door where they’d exited and she was half tempted to run after the woman. “I’m uncomfortable with Nico being with her. I told you she doesn’t like him.”

  Belleni waved away her concern. “I’ve already taken care of that. Vivian has seen the error of her ways and is looking to make amends.”

  “She’s lying,” she said, bordering on panic. “She hates him and is only waiting for the right opportunity. The last time she brought him to me he had finger bruises on his arms. Children are fragile, Belleni. Promise me you’ll protect him.”

  “Silence,” he demanded, his eyes flashing. “I told you I took care of the situation and unlike you who has a penchant for questioning my decisions, others do not. Vivian will do as I tell her. Now behave yourself before I truly lose my temper with you.”

  She blinked back tears, fighting an awful sense of foreboding yet she held her tongue and waited.

  “It’s like this…the time has come for me to bring Nico into his rightful place.”

  Her blood chilled but she remained calm. “What does that mean?”

  “Don’t pretend stupidity,” he said. “Nico is my son and someday he will inherit my legacy.”

  She paled at the thought of Belleni inducting Nico into his den of iniquity. She was still reeling from Belleni’s discovery of her cache of money. But she had thought she’d have more time to recover before Belleni started pushing for some kind of true relationship with their son. She’d never wanted Nico to know his true roots. Never. “Why now?” she asked. “You haven’t treated Nico with anything aside from passing interest up until now. He doesn’t even understand you’re his father.”

  “Yes, well, that will change,” he said sharply.