The Caspian Wine Mystery/Suspense/Thriller Series

by Maggie Thom

Tijan’s stomach did a flip as she looked at the ominous black gun he was pointing at her. A movement through the large glass window caught her eye. The yard was fairly well lit but whoever was moving was sticking to the shadows. Something told her it wasn’t Mr. T’s men.

  “Fine. So, you want his business. I guess since you think your slimy money built it into what it is today, it should be yours. Do you realize you could have given him all the money in the world but without his hard work it wouldn’t have been successful? You think you’re the first person to be pissed at him? Well, you’re not. There’s a long line that would probably wrap around Tor—”

  Tarin seemed to catch on to what she was doing. “It’s true. He’s not a nice man. He’s caused a lot of problems. And let me tell you being his daughter hasn’t been easy either.”

  “Shut up.”

  “No. That’s true. It’s really been difficult. Have you ever had a parent reject you?”

  “Or smother you?”

  “Shut up!” He waved the gun in their direction before pulling out his cell.

  “Now.” Tijan said softly to her sister. She knew instinctively that she would understand; they were to tackle him from different directions. She ran to her left, knowing Tarin was going to the right.

  “Where the hell are you? Get in here!”

  Tijan dove low, hitting his knees with her full body momentum as he fired the gun. She quickly climbed up his body and flipped a stunned Mr. T onto his belly. She kneeled on him, relieved to see the gun had gone flying when he’d landed. She grabbed both his wrists and pulled them hard up into the middle of his back.

  He grunted but it only took a moment for him to start bucking like a mad bull. Tijan held on with all her might as Tarin arrived at her side with some rope.

  “Get off me, you bitch. I’ll kill you and your sister—and your father.”

  “Shut up. You already tried to kill my father,” she said as she tied the rope into a noose.

  “I didn’t but I will now.”

  “I’m tired of listening to your hot air. You launder money, kill, steal, sell drugs and you want respect?”

  “Damn right. I didn’t kill off my competition and any judge or cop I couldn’t buy just to have a little snot of a girl take me down.”

  Tarin slipped the noose she’d made over one of his hands just as a commotion caught her attention. As she turned her head, she was sent sprawling sideways.

  Chapter 63

  “Alright, that’s enough Tarin. Wait, there are two of you.”

  Tijan looked up from her position slouched on the ground beside Mr. T, who was struggling to sit up. Her jaw couldn’t have dropped any further. So much for thinking it was help that had been outside.

  “Mary. What are you doing?” Tarin sounded as shocked as she felt.

  “I’m here to get what’s mine. Get away from him. The two of you over against that wall.” Mary waved the gun she was holding at them. “Get up, Don.”

  Tijan looked at Tarin but she was watching Mary closely. “So, the two of you thought you’d team up and take down my father?”

  “Give me the gun, Mary.” Mr. T slowly got to his feet and brushed off his white suit.

  Tijan shivered as much from the situation as from the cold cement floor. “Which one of you shot our father? Mr. T, you’d be my guess. Tarin, who do you think?”

  “I think Mary got tired of waiting for my father to fall in love with her.”

  “I was good to him. I did everything he asked. I looked after him like a damn wife and he couldn’t give me the time of day. And he wouldn’t give my son—”

  “Your son?” Tarin was quick to ask.

  “Shut up, Tarin. Miss goody girl. Your father doted on you and what do you do but embarrass him.” Mary waved the gun as if she was waving a wand.

  The door opened and JT strolled in as if on cue.

  It hit Tijan the moment he stepped into the light. “JT or should I say, Chris Simmons, is your son.”

  “And he’s going to get the recognition and position he deserves.”

  Tarin gasped. “Mary, I know my father is not always a nice man but you don’t—”

  Mary snorted.

  “I’m sorry about JT. It can’t have been easy knowing he was adopted—”

  “Shut up! JT, tie these two up,” Mary snapped.

  JT moved to do his mother’s bidding.

  Tijan’s mind had been blank watching the whole thing unfold.

  “You’re going to forgive a mom, who gave you up?”

  Tijan caught on to what Tarin was doing. “Yeah, you didn’t want anything to do with her at the office, once you really knew who she was.”

  “Shut UP!” Mary screamed. “JT if you want that VP position, move.”

  The door flew open again.

  “Isn’t this a quaint family reunion.” Eleanor waltzed in as though she belonged there. Her gun was pointed at Mary. “Mary, put the gun down or JT will get it first. Good girl. JT, tie up your father. Then those two.”

  Tijan’s head was muddled with all she was learning. She thought Tarin’s expression of shock was mirroring her own. JT was doing as she asked.

  “You bitch! You and JT?” Mary screeched.

  “You double-crossed me with him?” Mr. T swiped his hand across his face as blood trickled from his nose.

  Tijan felt a bit of satisfaction that she’d done some harm. Every one of them was crooked; people she didn’t like but she’d never have guessed this.

  Eleanor, who looked as cool and collected and stylishly dressed as though holding a board meeting, shrugged nonchalantly. “Yes, he’s a good lay. Almost as good as you, Mr. T. But the truth is JT is self-serving. He hooked up with my lawyer Martin to defraud C-Lite Hotels. He only played me to find out what you were doing and what James was up to. You’d be happy to know your son, JT, is as crafty as you.”

  There was a collective gasp; Tijan was quite sure she wasn’t the only one shocked.

  “You and him?” Tarin asked of Mary as she nodded toward Mr. T.

  “He raped me and then took my baby away from me. He let someone else raise him. I had no choice.” But rather than tears there was fury spitting from her eyes.

  Tijan felt like she’d been dropped into a dangerous family reunion.

  “The joke is on all of you. I’m walking out of here with all your money and assets. Each of you will sign them over to me. See, I’m not just a smart lawyer. I’m a smart person who knows opportunity when she sees it. I’ve been funneling not only information but money from each of you for a while now. All except for you, Mary. You turned out to be a complication I hadn’t counted on. James will never love you. He’s incapable.”

  Mary moved fast for her age. A gun fired. Tijan grabbed her sister and dove behind the wine tasting counter amid more shots. They shuffled on hands and knees as fast as they could. Tijan scooted to the far end, sure that Tarin would know her way around and get them out of there. Just as she was about to make a run for it, the front door flew open and several armed men entered.

  “Police. Hands in the air.”

  Tijan looked at Tarin, who nodded. Tarin inched past, indicating she was going to scoot through a side room and that Tijan should follow. Tijan couldn’t help it peeking around the end of the bar. The police had Mary, who was bleeding, and JT on the ground. Eleanor had also been shot. But there was no sign of Mr. T.

  Suddenly Tijan was grabbed from behind and jerked to her feet. “I’m leaving. Get out of my way or I’ll kill her.”

  Her hands grasped the arm lodged around her throat. She was startled that she’d underestimated the slimy guy. He shoved her upright and pushed her toward the door.

  “Open it,” he barked.

  “Can’t breathe,” she squeaked out and let her body sag a bit.

  He shoved her forward, face first into the door. Her hands rose out of reflex. The door opened. Several police officers had their guns drawn and pointed at them. Tijan wanted to beg them not to shoot. They�
�d barely cleared the door when someone tackled Mr. T and she was catapulted forward. The sudden jolt loosened his arm and she scrambled on hands and knees away from him. She’d barely made it a few feet before someone grabbed her arm. She spun around swinging. There wasn’t time to stop her punch, but she was glad the policeman had quicker reflexes and was able to block it.

  “Sorry.”

  He moved her away from the area. She gladly followed but, ever curious, she glanced over her shoulder. August was punching the crap out of Mr. T. She jerked away and ran back.

  “August, stop. I’m okay. I’m okay.” She grabbed his arm to stop him.

  He looked up at her and then down at the man who had his arms covering his face. The police grabbed August and held his arms until he got to his feet and stepped to the side. Tijan leaped at him. His arms snapped around her, holding her tight.

  Police swarmed the area. Mr. T, his men and JT, who was pleading he was a victim, were put into the police cars. Mary and Eleanor were loaded into an ambulance. It was very chaotic and Tijan was glad she was safely able to watch it unfold.

  “You don’t listen very well. I told you to stay.” August set her down gently as he leaned back and looked at her sternly.

  She looked up at him. He looked so good. Even with his hair mussed and sticking in all directions and dirt smudging his face, she liked what she saw. She reached up and removed the elastic from his hair.

  “Time to let your hair down.” She finger-combed it to fall gently to his shoulders.

  He chuckled. “It still doesn’t change that you didn’t listen.”

  “Well, my sister was in danger. I had to do something.”

  “I can vouch that she doesn’t listen well. I told her not to keep playing me but she wouldn’t stop,” Tarin smiled at her sister from beyond August’s shoulder.

  “You’re okay,” Tijan smiled at Tarin.

  August held her as her legs were rather wobbly, while she took the few steps to fall into her sister’s arms. “Well this is a hell of a way to get to know each other.”

  “That it is. But we are so kick-ass together.”

  Tijan stared into her sister’s eyes, so identical to hers yet full of so many different memories. However, when they’d needed to work together, they’d known what the other was thinking. Somehow, they knew each other. Tijan had never felt so whole in her life.

  Chapter 64

  “Well, that’s the craziest thing I’ve ever been through. And you guys have been through this more than once? No thanks.” August took a drink of his beer.

  “Yeah, a bit convoluted. JT was Mr. T and Mary’s son. It appeared Mr. T played her for years on that. He took her son away at a young age and put him in the adoption system. Felt he could better control her. He got her the job with James at C-Lite, and forced her to give him important information for smuggling across the border. Then she got JT the job there. I think the plan was that JT would be the CFO but it turns out he had other plans and was stealing money. JT, learned who his father was, but didn’t like not being in charge so he persuaded Eleanor to team up with him. He didn’t know she was also sleeping with James and Mr. T. JT thought he had all his bases covered. I think he wanted to impress his father that he could create a larger dynasty than his father’s. JT was also seeing Martin, one of Eleanor’s lawyers. Martin thought it was serious, so he was doing what he could to also help JT. Poor guy was really in love with JT and all that he’d promised him. JT had big plans for taking down his father, Mr. T and James, and was going to use whoever he could, even pretending to be gay. JT, stands for Junior Tesimmon. Cute hey? Tesimmon nicknamed him that at twelve. Meanwhile, Eleanor was just playing all of them.” Graham arched his eyebrows. “Isn’t this a lovely family?”

  “So who shot my father?” Tijan asked quietly.

  August squeezed her hand.

  Tarin shook her head as she leaned against Graham. “Mary. I was right. She was jealous of him and Eleanor. When he kept putting off giving her son, JT, the position she felt he deserved, it was too much. It was one thing that he wouldn’t return her unrequited love but to dismiss her son like that? So, she shot him. It appears it was in a moment of anger but she has no regrets about doing it. Although she does still profess her love for him.”

  “I don’t know what to say. All the people you’re supposed to be able to trust ripping each other apart and all for what? Power? Money?” Tijan appeared stunned.

  Tarin smiled at her sister. “Please don’t measure all of us because of our father. He has a bit of a good side. It just doesn’t show up all that often. He was so bent on power and money that he surrounded himself with people just like him.”

  August couldn’t fathom any of it. It appeared that James had attracted likeminded people into his world, only they had wanted to take him down as badly as he’d wanted to be the most powerful. And he hadn’t seen any of it coming.

  August didn’t want to get sucked into that world. To him it was done and over with and he didn’t want to go back there. He watched Tarin and Tijan together. It was Tarin who had first caught his attention but there was no denying it was Tijan who kept it. She looked amazing now that she’d showered and changed into blue jeans and a silk blouse. Her long, blonde hair cascaded over her shoulders, begging him to lose his hands in it. But he couldn’t shake that there was a sadness about her. He wasn’t sure whether it was because the excitement was over or because she was going home. She didn’t know it yet, but he planned on following her. He wasn’t letting her slip away from him.

  “Tijan. Tarin. Someone is here to see you. I’ve had them shown to the drawing room. I’ll take you down.” Dorothea walked onto the balcony, beckoning both women to come to her. She took both their hands and squeezed before walking slowly with them inside.

  August knew there was a strong connection between them when Tijan turned and looked at him before leaving. He was tempted to go along, even though he hadn’t been invited.

  “Uh, there’s something we have to tell you, August.”

  He turned to look at the two men whom he’d become good friends with, but their guilty expressions had him wondering what was coming. Since they were constantly ribbing each other and didn’t take the world too serious, he wasn’t quite sure how to take their somber expressions. “Okay.”

  “It’s about why we hired you.” Guy gave a sideways glance to Graham.

  “Uh. Yeah. We uh...”

  “You hired me because my mom told you I was a wonderful mechanic? You searched me out, found out who I was. But then got the great idea to use me as bait and a date for Tijan and now you’re feeling guilty?”

  The two looked at each other before giving him a sickly smile.

  It appeared there was more to it. Now he was starting to get really uncomfortable. “Who’s Tijan meeting with?” It would be just his luck that she disappeared... for good. He stood and looked out over the expansive view from the Caspian mansion.

  “Hey. No man. This has nothing to do with her. It’s their parents.”

  “What?” August spun around.

  “Tijan and Tarin’s mom and step-dad are here. Alright, look. We hired you because—well, we think we know who your father is.”

  August turned away, pressing his knuckles hard against the marble edge. He’d been looking a long time, and had come to the conclusion that the man must be dead. Or maybe that’s just what he’d hoped. It would save him a lot of heartache as to why a man had left a nine-year-old boy.

  “We know we should have told you in the beginning but we didn’t want to have him hurt. He’s been through a lot and we wanted to protect him. And your... uh... mom...”

  August turned quickly. “My mom, what?”

  They exchanged guilty looks again. Guy cleared his throat. “She kind of asked us to find him and to make sure that if possible, the two of you met.”

  He was glad he was leaning against the balustrade or he was sure his legs would have given out. His mom hadn’t said a word to him. In
fact, they had rarely talked about his father, other than his mom saying his dad had good reasons for leaving and he was a good man.

  “Look. We’d like you to meet him. Well, properly that is.”

  August tried to talk but found his throat had dried up and closed up. He cleared his throat a few times before finally giving up and nodding instead.

  Finding his father had been on his mind for so long, he was almost sure this had to be a joke. He followed them wordlessly, leaving them to talk and look at each other awkwardly as he followed them down the stairs. August wasn’t sure what to expect. Feeling a little less like he was being put on the spot, he walked slowly down the winding staircase. At the bottom, they looked at him and then walked out the front door. Not having a clue what was going on, he strode out behind them.

  “Hello, son.”

  It was like having that dream fulfilled when you least expected it and weren’t really ready to believe it—no matter how much you had wanted it. August stared at the older man standing in the shade beside the building. He wanted to be angry but he couldn’t. His mom had always said he was a good man, but he’d been deeply wounded and scarred thanks to the war. August took a step toward him.

  “Bill—Dad?”

  Bill walked towards him and stood at attention. “I’m sorry, son. I couldn’t be the man I wanted to be and felt you were better off without me.”

  August didn’t even try to speak. He pulled the man he’d been searching for most of his life into his arms and held on with a nine-year-old’s desperate urge to know he wasn’t at fault.

  “Maybe I can even get used to your long hair.”

  August’s heart swelled. “And maybe I can get used to your brush cut.”

  Chapter 65

  “Tarin, this is—”

  “Oh my baby. I thought you were dead. I saw you tumble through the water, you just disappeared. I prayed you weren’t.”

  Tijan stood back as Tarin ran to their mom and wrapped her arms around her. Tijan didn’t try to stop the tears that flowed freely down her face. Her stepfather appeared at her side, hugging her close. It was a long time before anyone moved or talked.

  “He paid me to get pregnant.”