by Jan Bowles
“Sad?”
She saw emotion cloud his eyes as they moved closer to the gray-haired old lady, sitting serenely in a whicker chair, staring aimlessly out across the shimmering lake.
“Sad for what might have been.”
He didn’t need to say anymore, she understood perfectly, and as they strolled arm in arm, she rested her head on his shoulder just to let him know she was there for him.
The old lady, who was aged about seventy-five, seemed completely unaware of their presence. She sat with her hands neatly clasped in her lap and her head held high. Paige thought she saw the embers of the once proud and vibrant woman who used to be Sarah Caparelli.
Leon gently placed his hand on a bony, frail shoulder as they approached from behind. “Mother, it’s me.”
The old lady drew in a breath of astonishment before pushing energetically from the whicker chair. Her bright-blue eyes seemed energized with a zest for life that surprised Paige, and she watched stunned as his mother wrapped skinny arms around her son, before pressing her head against his broad chest.
“Oh, Carlo, Carlo, Carlo, where have you been? I’ve been so frightened without you. I kept thinking you’d left me forever and you were never coming back.”
Paige unashamedly wiped tears from her eyes as she watched the heartbreaking scenario unfold before her.
Leon cradled his arms around his mother’s skeletal frame and then kissed her forehead. He then very patiently and without a hint of irritation said, “Momma, it’s me, Leon, your son.”
Paige heard the distress in the old lady’s voice as she lifted her head to look at the powerful man who towered over her. Clearly confused, she whispered, “Oh, oh, oh, I’m so sorry, please forgive me. You’re Leonardo, aren’t you? You’re my…you’re my…”
“Son.”
“But you look so much like your father, Leonardo. He’s coming to visit me today, too, you know.”
He hugged his mother more tightly. “Shhh, I know, Momma.” The overhead sun caught the moisture in his eyes, and she knew, however many times they’d played out this exact scene, it always distressed him.
Oh God, the whole thing was so emotional. It was emotional for her just watching, emotional for Leon, and especially emotional for the sweet old lady who stood barely five feet tall, protected by her loving son.
Feeling like a voyeur gate-crashing something very personal and private, Paige wiped away another tear. Shit. This was more of a tearjerker than any black-and-white weepy she’d ever seen.
“Mother, this is Paige.”
“Paige you say?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, Leonardo, she’s so pretty.”
“She’s very special to me, mother.”
She took hold of her son’s hands. “Leonardo, I’m so happy for you. You make such a handsome couple, and I know you’ll be very happy together. Just like your father and me. We…”
Paige observed the old lady trying to put time and events in the right boxes, but sadly failing. Sarah Caparelli then reached across and took hold of her hands. “My dear, you and Leonardo must come and watch my husband, Carlo, today. It’s very exciting. He’s going to break the land speed record on the Bonneville Salt Flats. He’s going to fly like the wind.” She felt the old lady squeeze her hands a little tighter. “Promise me you’ll come?”
She couldn’t stop herself from leaning down and kissing his mother on the cheek. Her complexion was flawless, and she smelled of lavender. “Of course I will. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Leon wrapped his arm around Paige as a show of strength. “We’ll both come, Momma. I promise, but first you must rest.”
Uncertainty creeping in again, she replied, “Yes, I am a little tired. It must be all the excitement. Your father is a wonderful man, Leonardo.”
“Rest, Mother.”
“Yes…yes, you’re right. You’ll come and get me when it’s time.”
“Of course, Mother, now rest.”
Sarah Caparelli nodded. “Yes, but you must promise me.”
“I will, Momma, trust me.”
Leon’s tenderly spoken words seemed to alleviate any anxieties the sweet old lady had, and she watched him settle Sarah back in the whicker chair. “The lake is beautiful this time of the year, Mother. Close your eyes for a few minutes, and when you wake again, we’ll take you to see Father.”
“Oh, thank you. That’s such a weight off my mind.” She watched Sarah’s bright-blue eyes slowly disappear from view as her lids slid shut. Her final words were, “You won’t forget…will you?”
As they headed back toward the car, Paige linked her arm through his once again. “Your mother is such a lovely lady, Leon. She’s adorable. I’m so glad I met her. Thank you.”
“Yeah, she was always there for me when I was a kid. I know it looks cruel, letting her believe that my father is still alive, but as the years have passed, and she’s shown no sign of improvement, I think this is the kindest way to treat her. We could come back in an hour and go through exactly the same scene again. Her memory is that short. And what there is of it is locked in the time before my father died. What good would it do to constantly tell her she is wrong, and the man she loves more than life itself died almost thirty years ago? It would only distress her. That approach was tried for the first ten years after my father’s accident. It made my mother’s life unbearable. So, as soon as I became old enough to take hold of the reins, I insisted that type of inhumane treatment was abandoned.”
Feeling emotional, Paige squeezed his arm. “It shows how powerful love can be, that she couldn’t bear to live on without him.”
He sighed then nodded. “That’s why it’s important we treasure every single moment with a loved one.” He patted her hand. “Come on, let’s go home, baby.”
Chapter Thirteen
One week later
Leon clicked his cell phone shut, then deep in thought, absent-mindedly tapped it against his lower lip.
That was an eye-opening conversation he’d just had, because it filled in some of the blanks that had bothered him for a while now. The straight-talking guy on the other end of the line had been Detective Dave Coogan of the Phoenix Police Department, Arizona, and he’d had lots of questions that needed answers.
He looked across at Paige, who sat demurely in a comfortable chair. Her tiny feet were elegantly crossed at the ankles as she idly flicked through a glossy magazine. Leon wondered if she had any idea what the call had been about. He wasn’t sure, but he guessed she did, because several times she’d held a page in midturn as though listening intently.
Detective Coogan had wanted to know what his link to Ryland Black was, because the guy had been found dead in his jurisdiction with a hole in his head, and he didn’t like loose ends. Without alerting Paige too much, Leon had simply said that he regularly used the private detective for business purposes. To throw her further off the scent he made mention of industrial espionage, stating that other high-end car manufacturers were more than happy to pay top dollar for insider Caparelli knowledge. He now knew why Ryland Black hadn’t contacted him, because dead men don’t make phone calls.
Alarm bells hadn’t really started to ring, until Detective Coogan mentioned that Ryland Black had information on his corpse relating to a certain piece of excrement known as Nolan Wells. Leon had felt his muscles tense at the mere mention of this animal’s name, and when he’d looked across at Paige, she’d stared right back at him.
Coogan had asked him why he’d been so interested in Wells. Determined to give away as little as possible to both the lawman and Paige, he’d curtly replied, “Curiosity, and as I’m sure you’re aware, Detective Coogan, even in Arizona, curiosity isn’t a crime.”
Leon’s smart-ass answer had clearly pissed the tenacious cop off, because he countered with, “Well, you may be right, sir, but my main concern is why you should be so interested in a guy who escaped from a maximum-security psychiatric hospital more than two months ago. Let me explain so
mething to you, Mr. Caparelli, we think there’s a good chance that Ryland Black was murdered by none other than this Nolan Wells character. He’s a deeply disturbed individual, and capable of anything. We figure your guy tracked him down, got too close, and paid the ultimate price. As I am sure you’re aware, a bullet from a .44 Magnum can make one hell of a mess of a man’s face, sir, and by the time we discovered his body in the desert, the coyotes and the buzzards had had their fill.”
Leon was shocked. This was news to him, because he’d believed the nutjob was still caged up in Coalinga State Hospital, and before his thoughts could be put into words, Coogan probed further, “Do you know a lady by the name of Paige Palmer, sir?”
Figuring the quick-witted detective already knew the answer to his question, he simply replied, “Yes.”
“Well, I need to speak to her, sir.”
“That’s not possible right now.”
“Well, when you see her, you tell the lady to call me right away. That’s Detective Coogan of the homicide division Phoenix Police Department, Arizona. Checking into the history of the situation, there’s a chance this guy could be coming for Ms. Palmer, and we need to make her aware. Of course, she already knows that Wells escaped from Coalinga State Hospital more than two months ago. As a matter of routine I contacted the maximum-security institution in question, and they assured me that they’d informed Ms. Palmer of his escape within three hours of it happening.”
Bringing his thoughts back to the present, Leon quit tapping the cell phone against his mouth and placed it on the table, and then, feeling anger rise within him, he stared directly at Paige, who stared right back for the briefest of moments before lowering her gaze. Her submissive actions left him no doubt that his hunch had been right.
Goddamn it, she’d known all along that this psycho had been on the loose for some ten or eleven weeks, and yet she’d kept that important information to herself. Why?
“Paige.” His voice was stern.
“Yes, Leon?”
“You remember that conversation we had a while back.”
“Which one? We talk about everything.”
He saw it in her beautiful green eyes. She was lying and knew exactly what he meant. However, he’d play along for now. “You know the one. The one where you told me everything about your past life, holding absolutely nothing back.”
He saw her tremble slightly and lower her gaze again. “Oh, that one. Yes, I remember.”
“Do you recall me saying however beautiful you are, and however much I love you, it would make me angry if I found out that you’ve been lying to me?”
Her chin virtually rested on her chest now, and a single word that told him everything he needed to know slipped from her mouth in barely a whisper. “Yes.”
With his anger rising to the surface, he strode right up to her, roughly lifted her chin with two fingers, and stared directly into her frightened girl-like eyes. “Anything to say?”
“About what?”
Goddamn it, she was still trying to call his bluff. Maybe she figured he didn’t have all the answers yet, but he did.
He applied more pressure with his fingers, angling her head so severely, the muscles in the back of her neck must have hurt like hell on earth. “Don’t fuck with me, lady. Don’t dare to pit your wits against mine, because there will only ever be one winner in such a contest.”
All resistance gone, her face suddenly crumpled, and she squeezed her eyes tightly shut. “I’m sorry, Leon. Please believe me, I’m so sorry. I know I should have told you that he’d escaped, but I was just too frightened.” Even though her eyes remained tightly shut, salty tears still managed to find their way through.
“Frightened? Frightened of what? You lied to me, pure and simple. Even you’re not naïve enough to think I’m about to tolerate that.”
She shook her head. “No.”
“No just doesn’t cut it.”
He dismissively let go of her chin, and she immediately wrapped a hand around the back of her neck and kneaded the muscles.
“That hurt.”
“It was meant to, child. That’s what happens when dishonest little girls lie to their masters and employers. Stand up.”
Paige looked up at him with uncertainty etched in her eyes, but seemingly rooted to the spot with fear and indecision, she didn’t move.
“Now.”
Upon hearing the uncompromising tone of his voice for a second time, she immediately sprang to her feet and stood before him like a frightened girl. “Wait here.”
As he savored her submissive posture, he experienced the usual mix of emotions. Anger, which he had every right to feel, and sexual arousal, which he enjoyed just for the hell of it. Aware that she studied his every move, he strode purposefully to a bureau in the corner of the room, and then, after turning the key in the lock, he pulled an ultrathin reed cane from one of the drawers.
Wanting to create an atmosphere of total domination, he repeatedly raised his right arm high above his head before bringing it down again as he slammed the instrument of correction hard against the mahogany bureau. He enjoyed watching her wince with painful anticipation when she heard each and every ominous crack.
“Face the wall, and brace yourself against it with your hands held high above your head.”
Clearly distressed, she sobbed, “But if you’ll only allow me to explain, Leon.”
“I said face the wall.”
He was angry, but she looked so fucking sexy with tears streaming down her face. She slowly turned from him, then did exactly as she was told. Leon saw her breathing was fast, something that always turned him on in a woman, and the way her long chestnut curls cascaded down her back made his prick harden uncomfortably in his pants.
* * * *
Paige felt his powerful body mold to hers as he stood agonizingly close behind her. His anger and warmth seemed to permeate her clothes, and she felt hot, fast breath against her neck.
When he whispered in her ear—“I gave you every opportunity to tell the truth, and yet still you deceived me”—she knew her ass would soon be red raw.
Why the hell wouldn’t he listen to her? She’d told him everything else about her past, much of it painful and traumatic, but in her mind, she had good reason not to tell him that Nolan had escaped from the Coalinga State Hospital.
The unreasonable bastard was turned on, too. His rock-hard cock, probing insistently against the back of her jeans, was ample evidence of that. She thought his mind was set, but nevertheless she’d try one final time to reach him, reason with him. Although distressed that he didn’t trust her anymore, she was determined to keep her voice calm and level. The last thing she wanted to do was escalate matters, which would only anger him more.
With her palms still flat against the wall, she turned her face as best she could. “Leon, please let me speak. You can trust me. You always could.”
“No.” He brutally took hold of her head with both hands and twisted it, so she was forced to stare at the blank, featureless wall again. “We’ve come so far together, Paige. I trusted you, but I now realize I was a fool to put my faith in you.”
“You’re no fool. I wouldn’t fall in love with a fool.” She still felt he treated her badly.
“Two months, Paige. Two fucking months this madman has been on the loose, and yet you didn’t trust me enough to tell me. Fuck, he could come for you again. The sick bastard is crazy enough to want to finish what he started, and I’d have been none the wiser, thinking he was still locked up in the nuthouse in California. How can I protect you when I don’t even know you need protecting? The fuckup has probably been jerking off, fantasizing about what he wants to do to you. Yeah, well, he’s walking around like a regular guy now, except both you and I know the evil fucker is anything but. You stepped over the line, and you need my discipline so you don’t make the same mistake again.”
Clearly pissed with her, she felt him roughly undo the leather belt on her jeans, showing her no consideration wha
tsoever. He then popped the brass button before mercilessly yanking the rough denim down her thighs, dragging her panties with them. Leon finally relented when her clothes lay bunched at her knees.
His heavy breath behind her, a combination of anger and sexual arousal, was all she heard as she continued to stare at the wall, awaiting her fate. He was right, but she was right, too. Maybe she should have told him, should have trusted him, but Leon was a complex character, one who came with a very possessive and protective personality, and she knew exactly what he would have done had she told him.
When she heard him lift the cane off the bureau, she figured nothing she could say would make him change his mind, but she’d say it anyway, just to get it off her chest.
“Okay, Leon, you do what you gotta do. You turn my peachy little ass as red as you like. Bruise it even, if that’s what turns you on. As far as I’m concerned, you can make it any goddamn color you choose, because although I’ve upset you and disrespected you by not revealing that Nolan had escaped, I still believe it was the right thing to do.” She scrunched her eyes closed and waited for the first agonizingly painful stroke of the ultrathin cane.
Instead there was a prolonged silence that seemed never ending, before she finally heard him say, “Go on then, explain yourself. Why is it better to keep me in the dark?”
Taking full advantage of her temporary reprieve, she couldn’t stop herself from blurting out, “Because you love me so much, I just know you’d hunt him down and either kill him with your own bare hands, or pay someone to kill him for you. This sick, deranged individual had damaged and traumatized the woman you adore, so you were never gonna let it lie. Letting the law take its liberal course just isn’t Leonardo Caparelli’s way. I’m not naïve. I’m not a child. You’re a powerful businessman, Leon, and just like every other, you have contacts around the globe, and I’m worldly enough to know that some of these contacts are not decent, law-abiding people.” She shook her head, unashamed that the tears flowed down her cheeks and dripped onto the floor. “I couldn’t let you do that, Leon, because I love you as much as you love me, and I know that if you killed him yourself, or had someone do it for you, you’d eventually get caught and spend the rest of your life in jail. I can’t live without you, Leon. I wouldn’t want to. Is that a good enough reason not to tell you?”
