“What do you mean?” She asked, apprehensively.
“She had apparently been treating Anna and Joseph like that for quite some time, but they never said anything. They didn’t want to sway my decision to marry her, either way. I wish they had told me, but I understand why they didn’t. They worked for me then and they felt it wasn't their place to get involved. Later, after my relationship ended with Madison, they told me if I had gone through with the marriage that they would have turned in their resignations. They had them typed up just in case.”
“And you didn’t even know they were your parents at that point. They probably couldn’t watch what was happening to you…to their son.”
I felt how strong Rain’s statement was. They were my parents; although I had no idea back then. They loved me. They always loved me.
“Yes, that was my thought exactly. I mean I didn't know that they were my parents back then, but I knew they were loyal, so to leave would have spoken volumes. Anyway, once we were apart, strange things started to occur. She would show up at places that I was at and I didn’t know how she found out. She started to wear maternity clothes and she wasn't even pregnant, but she told everyone she was having my baby. She told her father that I had left her because she announced that she was carrying my child. He then released me from my contract at the firm. She would go to stores and charge things under my accounts and say she was my wife. It got completely out of hand. I didn’t know what to do to stop her. Then one day a package came to my home with incriminating evidence that Maxwell Van Buren had been embezzling money from his law clients. All the information to convict him was in the packet, but there was also in the packet. I didn’t recognize the handwriting until you showed me the letter that Vincent had written you. You know the one you had to open upon his death? My dad never wrote me letters as a kid and much of what he did send me when we did interact was always typed or written by one of his secretaries.”
Rain nodded and continued to listen.
“Anyway, it said to use it as leverage against Maxwell and by doing so, all of Madison’s antics would stop. I wasn’t positive how he found out. I can only assume that Anna told Vincent what had been going on. I did exactly what the note instructed and everything came to an immediate halt. The strange shopping sprees, the stalking at every turn, and the pregnancy story mysteriously disappeared as quickly as it had started. Vincent helped me back then. I thought he did it as a business move of some kind. I didn’t think he cared about me, but then when you showed me the letter, I realized I had Vincent Kane all wrong. He did care. He did it for me. I was very wrong about him.”
“Dominick, Vincent loved you. He was very proud of the man you grew up to be. In fact, he would be even more proud of the husband and father you have become.” She smiled. It was small, but albeit a smile.
“How can you say that, Rain? I lied again and this time that sick bitch came to our home. You saw how she acted. She has no regard for anyone. She wants what she believes belongs to her.”
“Yes, but now I’m fully prepared for Ms. Van Buren, so I won’t let her hurt you or our babies. I can promise you that.” Rain sounded very sure of herself.
But just to be on the safe side, I decided that I would double the security that I had assigned to my family once we went back to the house. Rain agreed that in Madison’s case it was better to be safe than sorry.
“So Rain, should I continue?”
“Shit! There’s more?” She looked shocked.
I started to laugh.
“You realize, Mr. Kane, this is not a laughing matter?”
“I know, baby, but we needed to lighten things up just a little.”
“That’s usually my line.” Rain grinned.
I was feeling slightly more relaxed, so I decided to finish this once and for all.
“Rain, after seeing Madison at our door, it made me think about something.”
“And what would that be?” She asked.
“That maybe I was wrong about Darian. Maybe she is coloring the story, so I feel sorry for her. Maybe she is the red-haired woman that tried to hurt your dad.”
“Why the change of heart all of a sudden?”
“Well, Madison wasn’t always a sick individual. Maybe it was somewhere deep inside of her, but she never showed it. At least not until she didn’t get her way. Darian may have the same type of issues that Madison has. She appears strong, put together, but she may have cooked up this whole story to draw attention away from herself.”
“You could be right. I told you I felt that she was hiding something else. I think that the something she is hiding is more than just an affair with Mike.” Rain stated with sheer satisfaction.
“Rain, does Raven know that Michael and Darian were together? By that I mean did you tell her what I told you after you saw Darian and me in the boardroom that day?” I was curious how much my wife knew about the situation.
“I’m not sure. I know she was aware that Mike was with more than one woman, at least I think thats what she believes, but as far as who he slept with, I don’t know and I’m not completely sure Raven knows either. Why do you ask?” Rain stated.
“I thought if she told you, we could get more insight on what Darian’s story really is, which in turn may help me and your dad to find out who ran him down.”
“Do you believe that the two things are connected? I mean as much as Raven and Mike have their own issues and Mike did the worst thing he could do by jumping into someone else’s bed instead of facing his problems head on, but I don’t believe that he would be part of any plan to hurt my dad. I just don’t believe that.”
“Let’s hope you're right, baby, but Michael hasn't been himself at all lately.”
“True, but let’s hope his change in personality doesn’t have anything to do with the accident. That would send Raven over the edge, not to mention Tommy.”
I could see that even though Rain and I were on more solid ground after my story, all of this talk about Michael was only starting to cause more added stress to Rain’s life. I didn’t want that for her. Especially, since she was mentally recovering from the assault that happened to her here at the shore house. I needed to take her mind off of all of this. There was one thing that could definitely help relieve the added tension that Rain was feeling. Well, two things, but taking her to bed and fucking her was out of the question right now. So I opted for my second choice, the vineyard house. I needed to check in on how the renovations were coming along. So what better way than to take a surprise trip to Capri? This would kill two birds with one stone. Rain always felt better when she was in Capri and I could make sure that the house was being fixed to my specifications.
“Rain, I need to go to Capri soon.” I announced.
“Why? Is there something wrong at the vineyard house?” She sounded worried.
“No baby, everything is fine, but I need to check on things there. It’s important that I show up every now and then. So do you want to go with me?”
“Dominick, I wish I could, but it’s too soon for the twins to travel and I don’t want to be away from them right now. I already lost out on a very important part at the beginning of their lives. I’m not willing to miss any more time with them. I wouldn’t be comfortable with that. You understand, don’t you?”
I did understand, but I still had to go and I wasn’t at all at ease leaving my family with Madison Van Buren lurking in the shadows. Even with the added security, she made me feel uneasy. I didn’t want to tell Rain that I felt like this and add any more garbage to her already full plate, but I told her I would be honest, so this was as good a place to start as any.
“Rain, I have to go out to Capri, but I’m worried now that Madison showed up here tonight.” I waited for her reaction.
It wasn’t at all what I had anticipated.
Rain leaned into me and kissed my mouth hard. When she broke our union, she sat back ever so slightly on her knees, but still close enough that I could feel her whisper her statement
across my lips.
“Now, that’s what I meant when I said you needed to be honest with me, baby. You don’t have to worry. I won’t be alone. I have Anna and Joseph to help me. Plus, Tommy isn't scheduled for any business trips this week, so you go out to Capri and check on the house and kiss Mema and Antonio for me. I’ll be here dealing with Raven and waiting for you when you get back.”
Rain had a look on her face that said one thing and one thing only. It was time to take her to bed and make love to her. That everything would be okay if I could be more forthcoming with what I felt inside. That part wasn’t always easy for me, but I loved Rain. I loved her more than I could have ever imagined and I would try like hell for her, but right now my wife needed my undivided sexual attention. Something I was more than happy to comply with.
Chapter Fifteen
Deal Me In
Rain
Dominick and Raven left early in the morning when the car service arrived to take them back to the city. My dad followed them back as well. When he had heard that Tommy was scheduled to be home for at least the next week or so and had postponed his trip to Bali, my dad knew that I would be in good hands and decided that he would take the trip out to Capri with Dominick. I had a sneaking suspicion that my dad was going to have a heart to heart of sorts with his new son-in-law. I didn’t want to think about how that would pan out. They had been getting along remarkably well, but after the Madison Van Buren incident the jury may still be out on how their future relationship would end up.
Raven said that she would take the same car service to get back here tonight and stay with Tommy and me for the rest of the week.
Dominick and my dad promised to be back by Saturday for my summer party. Michael called and said he didn’t think he would be able to make it. He said his business meetings were proving to be more of a hassle than he anticipated, but he graciously thanked me and told me to tell Raven that he had gotten her message and he would get back to her next week when things settled down.
When I told my sister what Mike had said, she didn’t appear at all angry. Her response was more unsettled and confused. It was as if she needed to get something off her chest and now that he put her off again, she would have to deal with the emotional agony for a bit longer. I was grateful that she decided to transfer her cases to other attorneys at the firm after speaking with Dominick. Now she could genuinely have peace of mind in that area of her life. Michael was a different story. Hopefully, being here with Tommy and me would give her the distraction she needed to clear her mind. Plus the time she needed to rest and heal her overworked body.
Tommy thought as I did, that it was odd for Mike to have business in Philly. Mike was mainly dedicated to his clients in the city. The interesting thing was that after speaking with him, I didn't feel that his trip had anything to do with business. Mike didn’t fill me in on his agenda, but it was the way that he spoke which made me believe it was of a more personal nature. He sounded on edge. His voice was shaky, which made me think he was lying and Mike was never one to lie about anything. Yet, he did lie about what his extracurricular activities were that filled up his personal time in the past few months.
I hoped that whatever was going on with him, it didn’t have anything to do with Kane and Medici or the criminal investigation surrounding my dad and me.
The thought of Mike being involved in some way seemed incomprehensible. He not only worked for my dad since he graduated law school, he was part of our family, even before Raven and he got together.
I needed to look further into this and had originally decided that once Dominick landed in Capri and made his usual call to check in with me, I would ask him about Mike’s business agenda. Then I changed my mind. Dominick might get a hint that my inquiries were more than just mere curiosity, and he could have easily figured out that I was up to something.
If that happened, then he would realize that I had not given up on my quest to find the red-haired woman, and if Dominick knew that, he would be infuriated and confinement would be the least of my worries. I hated that I had to keep this from him and in all honesty he would have every right to be angry with me because the one thing that I always asked of him and we just recently fought over was for him to always tell me the truth.
Now, I was the one hiding something from him. No, it wasn’t about me and my past, but Dominick never liked when I took any kind of risk and investigating a person who had the capacity to hurt another person was taking a big risk; but I had to do it. This was my family and I needed to protect them at any cost.
The truth of the matter was that I was doing it for another reason, well two other reasons, Joseph,Jr. and Angel. The woman that assaulted me took the experience of the birth of my twins away from me. I will never get that back. I thought it was going to be impossible for me to have children back when I was confined. At times, I felt that I might never have a normal life, but I have both now. Well, as normal as normal can be after being kidnapped and then marrying my abductor.
I had every right to experience what every mom does when her children are born. Yet the individual who assaulted me felt the need to try to take that from me…and they succeeded, but they didn’t win.
As my thoughts replayed that horrible day, it dawned on me that it might not have been me that they wanted to hurt. It may have been Dominick all along. My theory was interrupted as Tommy came into the room with his hands filled with notes and negatives for the book project.
“I thought we were going to go over the investigation?” I asked.
“We are, but we need to make it look like we’re working on the book. You know, just in case your stubborn sister returns earlier than we planned on seeing her.” He grinned.
“Good thinking, besides, we could probably get a little of both done.”
We settled on the floor in the living room near the coffee table. Angel and Joseph,Jr., had eaten and were asleep in their cribs within earshot of us. Anna and Joseph went out with Daniel for breakfast this morning. They said they would be back later to help. I told them what we were doing and my second thoughts worried me. I thought that they would perhaps try to stop us, or worse, tell Dominick, but when I explained my motives, they understood and said they would help in any way they could.
“Where do we start?” Tommy asked.
“Originally, I would have said let’s start at the beginning, but now I feel we should start at the end and move backwards.” I confidently stated.
“Why is that, Rain?” Tommy seemed puzzled.
“It was something that came to me just before you walked in. I was thinking about how I lost out on the twin’s births and that although I do want to know who hurt my dad, I also want to know if this is the same person who took that chance from me.”
“I’m not sure I totally follow you.”
Tommy was thrown off by my revelation, so it was time to enlighten him.
“I think the person who tried to hurt my dad, and then tried to hurt me, were really trying to hurt Dominick. I don’t know if any of these events were directly related to our family. I think they might possibly be directly related to Dominick.”
“Well, you always said it might have been a client at the firm or someone working there because of the issues surrounding the clients that left and the personal information that was being leaked. But your dad did get targeted, so how can you assume that it had nothing to do with him?” Tommy concurred.
“I do believe that could be partially true, but it doesn’t explain why the person used Dominick’s car to hit my dad. Why not use any car or a stolen car that couldn’t be traced to anyone at all. It was personal. It was Dominick’s car.”
“Rain, what are you getting at?” Tommy asked with apprehensive curiosity.
“I think that the person who attacked me and my dad did it because of, or for Dominick.” I revealed.
“Baby, even if that were true, and I’m not saying it is, but the incident with your dad doesn’t totally tie in with your theory.”
/> “Why is that?” I asked.
“Because your dad was attacked prior to Dominick merging his firm with Kane & Medici.”
“True, but what if that’s what the mystery person wanted all along? What if they wanted Dominick to get Kane & Medici? With the Medici family out of the picture, then Dominick would be the head of the firm and would have a complete reign over the business.”
“I don’t know, Rain. That’s a bit of a stretch, don’t you think?”
“Tommy, please hear me out. What if the person or persons involved knew more about Dominick and Vincent than they let on? Or what if these ‘said’ people also wanted to seek revenge against Dominick for something Vincent did? What better way to accomplish that than to hurt his new wife. New and pregnant wife, I might add.”
“Rain, you’ve lost me, again. First you said it was someone that wanted to hurt Dominick. Well, hurting you while you were pregnant would do just that, but the thing with your dad and the firm doesn’t fall into place for me with your new scenario. Dominick became much more powerful by joining Kane and Medici. That didn’t hurt him. In fact, that advanced his career and gave him everything he had been hoping and planning for from the very beginning when he took you in the first place.”
The Ties That Bind (Miss Taken Identity #3) Page 14
