by M. G. Morgan
“Well, it’s not as though I have anything to tell them. I didn’t see their faces, I’m not going to be much use to them.”
I didn’t say anything, there was no point. He obviously wasn’t ready to tell me what was going on and until he was I wouldn’t get anything out of him.
The car drew to a halt and David climbed out with a smile on his face as he met the uniformed officers halfway between the car and the house. I followed them as David led them up to the house and inside.
“We’re going to need to take a statement from you, Mr Ashcroft,” I heard one of the officers say as he paused in the entrance hall.
“I’m not sure that it’s going to accomplish anything, I didn’t see anything,” David said, his voice light but I could tell from the slight tightening around his mouth that there was more to the story than he was saying.
Whatever had happened, whoever had jumped him, David knew them, but it didn’t make any sense for him to continue protecting them.
Why bother?
“Well, when you’re ready, we’d appreciate it if you’d come down the station and give us your statement,” the older officer said. Everything about him said he didn’t believe a word that David spoke. But he was experienced enough to know that there was no point in pushing it.
“Of course, I’d be happy to,” David said, directing them back towards the door. “Thank you, officers, but if you don’t mind I’m just home from the hospital and I need a shower and to spend a little time with my family.”
They didn’t argue; instead, they nodded in agreement and moved down the steps and back to their car. I watched the tension slowly seep out of David’s body as they drove down the drive and disappeared through the gate.
“We need to talk,” I said, my voice brooking him no argument.
I’d watched him lie to the cops and I wanted to know why, I deserved that much.
David’s expression told me he wasn’t happy but he followed me into the office without another word.
The minute I watched him close the door I sucked in a deep breath.
“I know you told me last night to trust you, and I do, but, David, I just watched you lie to the cops. You wouldn’t do that lightly and that’s what worries me.”
“No, I wouldn’t do it lightly, but it was necessary.”
“Then tell me why, tell me what happened to you that night? Help me understand why this is a secret you need to keep.”
He sighed and pushed his hands back through his hair, he looked at me, his eyes pleading with me to simply drop it but I couldn’t do it. We’d been through enough together to know that secrets were nothing but destructive.
I didn’t want to wake up one day to a world where David wasn’t in it anymore simply because he felt the need to protect me by keeping secrets.
“Carrie, I…”
“Just tell me. Keeping it a secret from me never worked in the past, it’s not going to work now.”
He nodded and stalked past him, a look of resignation on his face as he pulled a bottle of brandy from the shelf next to his desk. I let him pour a generous measure and swallow it down before he dropped into his chair behind his desk.
“I owe someone a debt and they’ve decided to collect.”
It seemed like such an ominous statement. Images of gambling in smoke-filled back rooms filled my head but that was just what I knew from watching the television, things rarely happened like that in the real world and this would be no exception.
David wasn’t even the type to gamble. For as long as I’d known him, gambling had never been a vice of his.
“What sort of a debt?”
“The less you know about the actual debt, the safer it will be for you.” There was a thread of fear in his voice and I knew it was there for a reason.
“Don’t bullshit me, David, if someone is threatening our family then I deserve to know the truth. What sort of debt is this?”
“It’s one Henry had. But, because I inherited the company, it’s become my debt.”
I shook my head and the world spun around me. I grabbed onto the edge of the couch, digging my nails into the leather in an attempt to ground myself in the moment.
“That makes no sense, why can’t you just pay it off?”
“It’s not that sort of debt, Carrie. I’m not sure what my father was really involved in but they won’t just let me pay them off. I tried… Why do you think I look like this?”
I swallowed back the bile that crept up the back of my throat.
“Then you need to go to the police, you need to tell them what’s going on. You can’t just let them blackmail you!”
David pushed up from his seat and crossed the room in two long strides. He cupped my face with his hands, tilting my head so I was forced to look up into his eyes.
“They will kill you, Carrie, kill you and the child you carry.”
His words shocked me and I felt my tears begin to well in my eyes. I tried to blink them away but there were too many of them and they clung to my lashes before slowly trickling down my cheeks.
“I won’t let them harm a hair on your head… The things they threatened…” David’s voice trailed off and I knew he was remembering their words in his own head. “I won’t ever let anyone hurt you, the baby, or Jenson.”
“They didn’t threaten Jenson, did they?”
David shook his head, a bitter look flashing through his eyes.
“They want him alive. He’ll inherit the debt once I’m gone.”
David’s revelation was like a punch to the gut and I felt my body fold in on itself as I sank to the floor.
The air grew heavy and I struggled to suck in a deep enough breath as my heart hammered in my chest.
It couldn’t possibly be happening all over again. We were supposed to be safe.
Rachel, Henry, and Richard were all gone…
We were expecting our second child and this time it was supposed to be different…
And now this.
“Carrie, breathe. Relax and breathe, sweetheart,” David’s voice cut through my panicked and rambling thoughts.
He held my face once more, forcing my head up so I could look into his dark eyes as he tried to talk me through the panic attack.
And that was all it was, a stupid panic attack and I was letting it gain the upper hand over me.
Against all the odds, we’d weathered the storm. We’d done it before and there would be a way to do it again, there had to be.
“David, how do they know I’m pregnant, we never made the announcement. The only people who know are Heather and Aaron.”
It shouldn’t have been possible for anyone else to know the truth. We’d been more than careful to keep it a secret at least until we were over the first three months and while we were nearly past that point we still hadn’t breathed a word of it to anyone else.
He shook his head and his gaze fell away from mine.
“I don’t know, but they seem to know an awful lot about us.”
“This all started the other night with Anthony. You went into the back room with him and…”
David’s gaze shot back to mine and I swallowed back the rest of my words.
“He warned me of what was coming, but I have no idea if he’s the one behind it all.”
“Then who could it be?” I started to climb back to my feet and David helped me up, his arms holding me upright as he guided me around to the sofa.
“I really don’t know, they never gave an indication. They just said they’d give me some time to think about it all and then they’d be in touch.”
“How much are they asking for?” I said, gripping the edge of the couch in an attempt to stop the world from spinning around me.
“They haven’t said but I don’t think this is all about money.”
“What? How can you owe them a debt but it not be about money?”
He shrugged, closed his eyes and leaned back against the sofa.
We sat in silence. The only sound in
the room was the ticking of the clock over the large marble fireplace.
David was afraid. I’d seen him afraid before. Afraid something might happen to me or Jenson, but he’d always been in control.
This time it felt different and I knew his fear ran far deeper than anything else we’d ever been through.
“We can’t let them win, David, I won’t let them threaten our family, blackmail you, almost kill you…”
He sat forward and pressed his fingers to my lips and shushed me. “Carrie, I won’t let them hurt you. You can believe me about that.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about. I know you’ll do your best to protect us but they know things about us they shouldn’t be able to know. They can’t get away with this, I won’t let them and I won’t live in fear.”
“Then what do you propose we do? Because if I don’t accept their proposal I know what’s going to happen and I won’t sit idly by and allow that.”
“I don’t know but I do know I won’t allow you to risk your life for me.”
David grabbed my shoulders as he stared down into my face.
“Carrie, this is my life and I will do what I think is best to keep you safe. No matter the cost, because I love you.”
“That’s not what I want. I never wanted you to have to risk your life just to keep me, or Jenson, or the new baby safe. That was never part of the agreement. We’re a team, David, we’re supposed to protect each other.”
“Then let me do what I have to, in order to protect you,” he said. His answer was so simple, so sweet and yet I knew the danger that lurked in an answer like that.
I knew what would happen to him if it all went wrong, and as far as I was concerned the cost was far too high.
I opened my mouth to speak when the door to the office swung open. Aaron stepped into the room, the look on his face thunderous, and I couldn’t help but wonder how much he actually knew.
“Who the hell was Henry involved with, and why the hell are they sending me threatening letters?”
Chapter 11
Aaron’s announcement sent shockwaves through the room and David stood up from his place on the couch.
“Threatening letters?” he asked, his tone suggesting he wasn’t sure he could believe it was true.
“Don’t play coy, David, I know you got one and if you didn’t, then this”—he gestured to David’s bruises—“is obviously connected somehow. So what do you know?”
“Let me see the letter.” David held his hand out and Aaron pulled a cream-coloured envelope out of his inside jacket pocket.
David tugged it open as soon as Aaron passed it over to him, his eyes scanning down the contents.
“Who would send something like this?” David finally said, lifting his eyes from the page in front of him.
“I don’t know, I was hoping you would.”
David shrugged and shook his head. “I received a similar threat but they gave it in person, hence the beating. But they never identified themselves. They just said I owed a debt because I was Henry’s son and I had inherited the company.”
Aaron dropped down onto the couch and buried his face in his hands.
“Well what the hell am I supposed to do? I can’t just let them threaten Heather, and how do I keep something like this from her?”
“You don’t,” I said, interjecting into their conversation.
David and Aaron were brothers but sometimes they behaved more like a person with one mind as opposed to two completely different people.
“I can’t tell her this, not after everything with Jude. We were finally beginning to find some semblance of normality.”
“You can’t keep it from her either, she deserves to know. You can’t just leave her unprepared, what if something happened to you?”
Aaron’s faced paled and I could tell he hadn’t honestly thought about the possibility of something happening to him.
“It’s not just your life at risk, if anything happened to you, how would Heather cope? You’d be leaving her vulnerable.”
“Carrie, you don’t understand, I have to think of the danger I’d be putting her in by telling her the truth. If I just give them what they want, then—”
“Then they’ll find something else they want from you. God, are you both blind? Don’t you understand? Once they succeed this time and get what they’re asking for they’ll have you hooked and they’ll keep asking for more and more. The only thing you can do is go to the cops.”
“Carrie, I told you that’s not an option,” David said, his voice weary.
“And I don’t understand why it’s not, they protected us before. They can do it again.”
“I don’t want the cops involved and that’s the end of it,” David said, his voice firm.
I wanted to argue, to tell him stupid he was being, how short-sighted. He had to see that the risk he was taking was far too great. But how was I supposed to convince him of something like that when he really didn’t want to know anything about it?
“I’m going to go and get washed up,” I said, the anger in my voice clear as I stalked from the room.
If he wasn’t going to listen to me then there was no point in hanging around, listening to them discuss the best way to deal with the situation.
“Carrie, wait!” David followed me out into the hall.
He caught my arm and forced me around to face him but I shrugged him off.
“I don’t want to hear it. You and Aaron have already made up your minds about what you’re doing. I don’t need to sit in and listen to you both clap each other on the back and declare how right you are.”
“That’s not true, why can’t you understand that I’m just doing what’s best for all of us?”
“Because it’s not, David. Taking a risk like that is not what’s best for all of us. Would you be happy if I did it?”
“Of course not, but—”
“There’s no difference, no buts about it. I love you, but you’re playing with fire and I can’t support you in doing that.”
I started for the stairs and David came after me.
“What does that mean?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know, I need time to think about all of this.”
“Carrie, I love you. I’m doing this for you, for both of you.”
I shook my head and swallowed back the emotion that threatened to overwhelm me.
“I never asked you to be a hero, David. All I ever wanted was your love and I have that. But if I don’t have you then I don’t have your love and I didn’t sign up to take risks like this.”
Turning away from him I started up the stairs without a backwards glance. I didn’t want to look him in the eye, I didn’t want to see the hurt I knew I would find there.
I didn’t understand David and his need to always be the hero, but he didn’t understand me either. My need to keep our small family intact was too strong to ignore and I just needed to figure out a way to use it to my advantage.
I needed more information and there was only one person I knew I could turn to for that…if she was willing to share it with me.
Chapter 12
Tugging my cell phone from my bag I quickly searched through the contacts I had saved until I came to her name.
Pressing the cell to my ear I listened to it ring, until finally a female voice answered.
“Hello?” Tamara said, her voice more than a little suspicious.
“Remember me, Tamara?” I asked, doing my best to keep my voice as neutral as possible.
“Carrie, isn’t it? Of course I remember. How is that delectable man of yours? If my memory serves me correctly, you both still owe me a favour any time I ask for it…”
“I haven’t forgotten, but you haven’t asked for it yet.”
“No, not yet,” she said, and I could imagine her sitting at her desk with a wide, predatory smile on her face.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of this phone call? Call my cynical, but I don’t think you rang just to say hello.
”
“I’m looking for information and I’m willing to pay for it.”
“Carrie, we went through this the last time. I don’t need your money, which means my information is not for sale.”
I sighed and gripped the phone a little tighter as I glanced out into the empty hallway. David was obviously still downstairs with Aaron; I couldn’t hear their voices, but that meant they couldn’t hear me or the conversation I was having.
“Tamara, you know I wouldn’t ring unless I really had to. Now if you’ll just meet me and hear me out, you’ll soon change your mind.”
Of course what I was saying to her was just a bluff, she was right when she said she didn’t need my money, and as far as I was aware there was nothing I could offer her for the information I needed.
“You sound desperate,” she said, and the glee in her voice was unmistakable.
“I am, that’s why I’m calling.”
“Come by the club tonight, I’ll put your name on the guest list so you don’t need to worry about an invitation.”
“Tamara, I’m not sure I can meet you at the—”
“You want to see me and I’m giving you your opportunity, take it or leave it. But know this, if you don’t come, don’t bother contacting me again, for any reason. Have I made myself clear?”
“Yes.” As soon as I answered her the line went dead and I was left staring down at the blank screen of my cell phone.
There was no doubt about it, Tamara was a cold woman and I couldn’t help but feel curious about what had happened to make her that way.
But it wasn’t my place to pry, and with everything else that was going on I wasn’t sure I really wanted to know her secrets.
* * *
Standing in front of the mirror, I stared at my reflection. The black and nude lace dress was beautiful but I couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable.
The last time I’d attended the Sovereign Club, it had been with notorious playboy Gabriel Hawk, and although he was a player he had at least provided me with some semblance of safety.
This time I was going alone and the activities I’d seen in the club, things normally reserved for the privacy of a bedroom, had my stomach flipping nervously.
