by AC Arthur
Kaymen really didn’t seem to care that Tamika and Roark were there, because when Roark heard footsteps, he eased back to the door and opened it so whoever was outside would know they were there. Tamika took those moments to move closer, walking to the other side of the room, opposite of where Kaymen was still yelling at her mother.
“Kaymen, I’m so sorry. If we’d known…if I’d known you weren’t with us at first, I would’ve said something. And when we wanted to go back…we just couldn’t,” Sandra said.
“Why? Because they told you to leave me, didn’t they? Tony and Gabe, they told you to leave the poor no-class Kaymen behind. They never liked me, never accepted me, because I didn’t bend down to lick their rich-ass boots.”
Sandra was shaking her head now. Her arms and hands were taped to the arms of the chair, her ankles likewise taped to the legs of the chair. “Nobody cared about money, Kaymen. You know that. None of us cared which one of us had what.”
“Oh, you cared! All of you cared! That’s why Ronnie kept sleeping with Tony. Even until they took their last breath, she was still sleeping with him and not giving a damn about me. You all forgot about me!”
“Kaymen, I need you to step back and put the blowtorch down.”
Tamika heard Cade’s familiar voice, but she didn’t stop moving. She was getting closer.
“Fuck you! Fuck all of you! I’m not putting nothing down, and she’s not getting out of this house alive!” He fired up the flame on the blowtorch and held it close to Sandra’s face again. “If you were gonna live, you’d have to live looking just like me!” With his free hand Kaymen, flipped off the helmet and hood beneath it.
Tamika paused and gasped at the sight of his completely burned face. What was left of his skin had healed over, and she could tell there’d been attempts at skin grafts, but the result hadn’t been good. He looked like a creature.
“If you touch her with that, you’re dead, Kaymen. I’ll shoot you where you stand,” Cade yelled.
Kaymen shook his head. Tamika could see as his eyes moved and he spared Cade a glance. “You think I give a damn about dying, man? I ain’t had no life since that day. There’s nothing left for me here. Nothing, and it’s all her fault!”
Tamika was just about to lunge toward her mother’s chair when Pierce grabbed her this time and pushed her back out of the way. “Stay there!” he yelled at her.
When he pushed her, she fell back into Roark. She hadn’t realized either of them had crossed the room with her.
“He’s right, stay back and let them handle this,” Roark said.
“They’re talking, and he’s gonna kill her. If I don’t get to her, she’ll die!”
“She’s gonna die anyway. Just like the rest of them. They all deserved to die, just like they thought I did!”
The next seconds passed in a blur as Kaymen touched the torch to Sandra’s cheek and gunshots rang out. The blowtorch fell to the floor, and Kaymen’s body fell back. Roark left her side at that moment and she followed him, both of them going to her mother. They were ripping away the tape to free her from the chair when the first flames shot up from the floor.
Tamika shook her head as she saw it following the trail of gasoline. “We gotta go now!”
Roark pulled Sandra up from the chair and tossed her over his shoulder, while Pierce wrapped an arm around Tamika’s shoulders and hurried her to the door. Cade was behind them, yelling, “Run! Run! Run!”
The next minutes were a blur as Tamika only felt herself running, her lungs burning from the smoke, and the smack of cool night air against her skin when they finally made it out of the house.
“How the fuck did he get in there?” Ridge bellowed.
Pierce paced the length of the waiting room and Cade sat in the chair beside Roark.
“That’s the million-dollar question,” Cade replied.
“It’s the only question,” Roark said. Damn, he didn’t want to be sitting in this hospital again, and he definitely didn’t want to be trying to figure out how the clubhouse had been set on fire right beneath their noses. He’d done everything Cade and Pierce had told him to do. Had hired two security teams and personal guards, leased new vehicles, and upgraded the security system throughout the entire Dynasty Manor property. Hell, he’d even had Devlin send him a trunk full of guns to use just in case he came face-to-face with Kaymen Benedict.
Well, that had happened and Roark hadn’t had a gun, and Kaymen had gotten part of what he’d wanted—he’d set another fire.
“We were sitting right outside,” Cade said again. He’d been repeating that since they’d arrived at the hospital. “Pierce and I were in one truck because we didn’t think Kaymen was going to wait too long before striking. We hadn’t been able to find him anywhere, but we knew he’d find Sandra, so we waited for him to show up. We had cops added to your security force surrounding the entire house. So how did this motherfucker get in there and have time to grab Sandra out of her room, set a fire in the parlor, one of the back storage rooms and in the sitting room where he’d held her?”
“What was he, a magician and a demented killer?” Ridge snapped. “Because I don’t know any other way this could’ve happened. My sister and my aunt could’ve died in that house. My whole fucking family was in that house!” Roark stood then and went to his brother. He clapped a hand on his shoulder until Ridge looked at him. “Suri and Aunt Birdie are gonna be fine. They’re in the back being treated for smoke inhalation, and then they’ll be discharged. The firefighters were able to get them out,” he told him.
“What the hell is happening to us, man?” Ridge said, his voice cracking on the last word.
Roark wrapped his arms around his brother then and pulled him into a hug. If he held on a moment longer than was probably necessary, it was because a part of him was roiling with the fact that he’d almost lost his family in that house tonight too.
“Somebody had to let him in,” Pierce said. “That’s the only explanation.”
“Nobody would’ve done that,” Cade insisted. “And he couldn’t have disguised himself enough. Every part of his face was a dead giveaway. None of the guards or anyone inside would’ve let in someone wearing a mask or even a long dark coat and hoodie. And they especially wouldn’t have let him in at that time of night.”
“But what if they let him in earlier?” Pierce asked. “What if he’d been in the house since…maybe when the police were there in the morning executing their search warrant. There were at least two dozen cops rummaging around inside and outside of the house for more than three hours. What if someone just walked on in and went unnoticed because everyone was otherwise occupied?”
“If that’s how he got in, I’m gonna have the badges of every one of those disorganized cops, and then I’m gonna sue the entire department for negligence,” Cade said.
Roark and Ridge were standing side-by-side now, and neither of them said anything to Cade’s comment. Mainly because they were behind him one hundred percent in taking down the bastards who’d allowed this to happen.
Pierce headed toward the open doorway.
“Where are you going?” Cade asked him.
“To wake up the police chief so he can wake up his detectives and get to the bottom of this. I don’t give a damn what time it is.” Pierce not only looked angry, but his voice had a lethal edge to it Roark hadn’t heard before. “You stay here with your family. I’ll keep you posted.”
Cade nodded. “Call me immediately.”
“Will do,” Pierce said before leaving.
The next person to appear in that doorway was Tamika, and Roark immediately went to her. “How is she?”
“In shock,” she said. “He dropped the torch almost instantly after putting it to her face, so it’s a second-degree burn, but Dr. Duvall thinks it’ll heal nicely. Better than the ones on her arm, obviously. We’re just—” Her voice cracked, and she looked up at him with a panicked expression on her face.
“Come on, let’s take a walk,” he sai
d and grabbed her elbow, leading her down the hall. When they were standing near a bank of elevators, Roark stopped because he felt like she’d had time to catch her breath. “She’s going to be alright,” he said, wrapping his arms around her and hugging her. “She’s going to be alright and this is over. Kaymen’s dead.”
He wanted to feel tremendous relief at saying those words, but right now all he felt was the pain of Tamika’s ragged breaths and the hurt he knew she was feeling at this moment.
“My mother could’ve died.” Her voice was so quiet as her face remained pressed against his chest. “If we hadn’t gotten into that room in time, my mother would be dead. Not suffering from second-degree burns for the second time in as many weeks, but dead. For real.”
“I know. I know.” All he could do right now was repeat the words, because Roark did know. He’d watched Tamika about to risk her own life to save her mother’s and while he’d been scared to death of what might happen to her, he knew if he’d been in her position, he would’ve done the same thing. “But she didn’t, and you’re going to be able to go back and see her and be with her, and this is going to pass, sweetness. It’s going to pass.”
Each time he’d fallen or hurt himself in some way when he was younger, or when he’d gotten older and someone had disappointed him or he hadn’t gotten the grade he’d expected, his mother would hold him and say, “It’s going to pass.” So Roark said that to Tamika, believing with all that he and his mother had shared that the words were true.
Her body jerked while he held her, and in the next moment, he heard her first sob. Roark held her tighter.
“I don’t cry,” she said and lifted a hand to wipe her face. “I try not to cry. When my dad died, I cried a little at the hospital with my mom, but then not again. Not at the funeral when all those people were there staring at me. And not at the cemetery when my legs threatened to buckle beneath me as we left him there. I didn’t cry.”
But now she was sobbing. Thick, ragged breaths ripped from her, tears came and her entire body shook in his arms.
“It’s okay to cry, Tamika. I cried when the paramedics came out of the house and told me Mum was dead. I cried at the funeral and then again when I was home alone. Because it hurt so much, it felt like a part of me was being ripped out of my chest.”
And a tear rolled down Roark’s cheek now, because he knew Tamika’s pain and also because there was a part of him that hurt for each sob that broke free from her. He didn’t like seeing her this way, didn’t like that she had to suffer at all.
“She’s gonna be okay,” she said softly when the sobs stopped taking her breath away. “She’s gonna be okay.”
“We’re gonna be okay,” he told her. “We’re all gonna be okay.”
Chapter 20
One Week Later
“Aunt Birdie and Suri insisted on having this party tonight.”
Tamika brushed her hands over the lapels of Roark’s tuxedo jacket. “You look great in a tux.”
“You look great in anything,” he said and looped an arm around her waist to pull her up against him.
It’d only been a few hours since they’d escaped to his room and had sex for what felt like the billionth time this week. Whoever said relationships that started under intense circumstances didn’t work out was a coward. Roark felt closer to Tamika now than he had a week ago, and he knew she was feeling the same way, because whenever she hadn’t been with her mother these past seven days, she was with him.
“Stay focused,” she said with a grin. “This party means a lot to your aunt. She said the Donovans need to show their resilience under extremely trying circumstances. Suri said she just liked big fancy parties. They’re both pretty excited.”
“Yes, they are,” he agreed. Roark was excited too, but that wasn’t because of the party or the beautiful woman he held in his arms. It was more about what was in his front pant pocket. “I don’t want to be here long,” he confessed.
She eased out of his grasp and took his hand. “Well, we should at least mingle a little, show everyone we’re here. I think they invited some people from the media just to make sure there was full coverage.”
“That sounds just like Aunt Birdie,” Roark said as they started walking through the open glass doors at the back of the Manor.
Since the fire, they’d all relocated to the manor. Work on Sandra’s cottage would be completed in a couple of days, and she and Tuppence would be leaving then. Aunt Birdie had a cruise lined up for next week, and Suri mentioned having a big budget meeting in a few days. So this was the best Saturday to have their little party.
A little party that was actually a very big party with two-hundred fifty guests.
They stepped out onto the tiled veranda, a warm evening breeze surrounding them. Above, the sky seemed full of stars, the moon shining extra bright, as if Aunt Birdie had dared them each not to show up. Roark chuckled at his thoughts and continued to look around at all the people moving about. The party stretched from the large veranda down the stairs and into the garden area of the manor.
White tables and chairs had been set up with dainty pink-and-white striped linens. Flowers were everywhere, from the center of each table to along the trellises lining the walkway, and in huge terracotta pots placed strategically throughout the veranda. His mother would’ve been pleased.
Roark could think about Maxine now without his chest constricting with pain, because he knew why she’d died and at whose hand. The knowledge didn’t make him forgive Kaymen Benedict, but it had given him the closure he needed.
“Hey, man. You clean up well.” Ridge was back to his joking self and by the looks of the beautiful woman on his arm, his dating life was also in full swing.
“You don’t look bad yourself,” Roark said as he noted his brother’s tuxedo was almost identical to his.
“Tamika, my dear, you look lovely as always.” Ridge released his date long enough to reach for Tamika’s hand and lift it to his lips for a quick kiss.
“You’re so full of it, Ridge. But thanks, you look really good too,” she said.
Ridge chuckled as he released her hand. “This is Yolanda.”
The woman with the striking light-brown eyes and high cheekbones smiled and extended her hand to Tamika first and then Roark. They talked for a few minutes, but Roark was glad when they walked away.
“She’s stunning,” Tamika said when they were gone. “Did you see her dress? And her hair? She looks like a supermodel.”
“Yeah, that’s usually Ridge’s type.”
“Oh, really? So, you Donovan guys have a type?”
“No,” he said with a shake of his head. “I definitely do not have a type.”
“Yeah, right,” she said, and Roark sighed with relief as Cade and his date walked up.
“Saved by the cousin,” he mumbled under his breath, and she elbowed him playfully.
“Hey man, don’t you two look lovely tonight.” Cade leaned in to drop a kiss on Tamika’s cheek. Roark hadn’t asked his cousin why or how he was still able to be here when his official job was in the US, but he planned to. “This is Miranda.” Cade introduced his date, and Roark and Tamika went through the formalities again.
“You should go over and see Aunt Birdie,” Roark told Cade when he mentioned he and Miranda weren’t going to be there long. Most likely because Cade had other plans for the lovely woman that didn’t include partying with two hundred fifty people.
Cade shook his head. “Uh, no, I think I’ll pass on that one. Besides, I have one final briefing with the police tomorrow morning that I need to be up early for, so I think I’m going to skip out.”
“Still no answers on how he got in?” Tamika asked him.
“Nah. The detectives had a log during the search, and everybody who entered and exited the house signed it. Even the guards vouched for the fact that they were at the only door the cops were allowed to enter or leave through, and they made sure everyone was signing that log.”
“Guess we�
�ll never know,” she said, her tone softer than it’d been before.
Roark moved closer, putting his arm around her waist. “Let’s not talk about this tonight. For weeks, this is all we’ve talked about. Let’s just have one night without it.”
Miranda smiled when Cade took her hand. “That’s fine by me. Let’s go hit up the bar.”
When they were gone, Tamika said, “Oh, there’s Suri, and she’s with a date. Do you know who he is?”
Roark followed Tamika’s gaze and saw his sister sitting at a table as a man approached her. She looked surprised and then happy to see him, so Roark tamped down on the overprotective-brother routine about to rear its head. “No, I don’t, and I’m not really up to meeting anyone else at the moment.”
“Oh, okay. Do you wanna go over to the bar to get a drink? Or do you want to sit and eat first?”
“Actually, I’d rather talk to you about something.” Because he couldn’t wait a moment longer.
“Roark, we’ve been together all day. What could you possibly want to talk to me about right now that can’t wait until later tonight?”
He stared at her for a few moments. Backtracking? Chickening out? Of course not; that wasn’t how Roark rolled. “Just come with me and you’ll find out.”
With a hand to the small of her back, Roark led her down the steps, but instead of going straight to where everyone was mingling, he turned to the left and walked until they were closer to the stone benches and statues that lined the outside of the garden.
“Have a seat,” he said.
When she did, he sat beside her. Then he stood again, reached into his pocket and pulled out what was inside, keeping it tightly closed in his hand so she wouldn’t see it. He sat down again and looked at her.
“I’ve been thinking about this a lot this past week.” That wasn’t the way he’d planned to start this.
“Thinking about what?” Was that worry he heard in her voice?
Roark cleared his throat. “I enjoy being with you. A lot. I mean, a whole lot.”