Queen Her

by Laine, Terri E.

  Any further protest I might have had was stolen by his monumental kiss. I wished we weren’t in the helicopter because I wanted him inside me one last time. Sex had never played a role in my life or occupied my mind in any way until he’d shown me all the possibilities it offered.

  However, that wasn’t going to happen given we were in a helicopter and we were heading to my mother’s house.

  “Crap. I need to text my mom. Can I do it from here?” I asked.

  He nodded.

  I sent her a text letting her know I was fine and on my way home. Then I sent another text to Jody. I couldn’t leave without answers to other questions.

  For the rest of the flight, we clung onto each other while sharing our experiences when we were apart. Liam also pressed me about how my father treated me. I had a feeling if I’d been hurt in anyway, he’d find a way to get to him for a one-on-one justice.

  I opened up about what still bothered me. I told him what my father had shared with me about my best friend.

  “I can bet Shawn is aware of the guy hired to watch your mom,” he said.

  “Do you think he’ll be arrested?”

  “He said they were rounding up those who work for your dad.”

  “And Jody?” I asked, because I wasn’t sure I wanted her arrested.

  “If she’s a part of it,” he answered.

  I checked my phone. My text had gone through, but so far I hadn’t gotten a response from Jody. My feelings were mixed about the situation. I didn’t want to believe the woman I’d grown up with and was close to would betray me that way. “Do you think she’s in on it?”

  “You know her better than I do. Maybe she didn’t know she was giving information. It’s also possible if he’s a former Fed, he could have bugged her phone.”

  I hadn’t thought of that. I leaned on him and he wrapped his arm around me as I wanted to believe that she’d inadvertently given information without knowing it.

  My gaze fell on the diamond ring on my finger. I still felt guilty, knowing trials could take months or even years when it was a big case like this one. Liam believed he could wait, but could he?

  Happiness never was my friend. It was a lying bitch who saw me every now and again only to snatch friendships away when I thought all was well. Yet, I allowed myself to accept all the comfort in the world while tucked in next to Liam.

  We landed on the side of a mountain. The terrain was flat enough to form a plateau of sorts that worked perfectly as an airstrip.

  “Home,” Liam said.

  A woman came running out of small low roofed building with lots of windows. Liam mentioned we would be landing at his father’s private airport in Clinestown. Liam’s dad was out of the helicopter to catch her up in his arms.

  “Your mom?” I asked, with a grin.

  As he whisked her off her feet, I got a front seat view of what love looked like.

  “Yeah. That’s my mom. Come.”

  He helped me out after we removed the headsets and unbuckled our seatbelts. It was good to be on the ground after a being in the air a few hours.

  “This must be Natalie,” a petite woman with light brown hair and big brown eyes asked.

  I gaped.

  Liam had told his mom about me. “Yes, Natalie, this is my mother, Natalie.”

  She didn’t hold out a hand, she hugged me. “Oh, I’m so happy to meet you. Is it weird I think it’s great we share names?” I didn’t get a chance to speak when she took my ring finger. “You said yes.”

  It was an awkward moment as I smiled, painfully. She had so much joy while Liam and I had so little time. I didn’t want to throw the cold water on the situation and face the reality.

  She moved on to hug her son. “I’m so happy for you.”

  Liam caught my expression and his soured some. “We don’t have a lot of time, Mom. I’ll let Dad explain.” The light in his mother’s eyes dimmed as her gaze bounced between the two men in her life. “I’ll call you later,” he said to the two of them.

  His hand landed on my back and he urged me forward. Ahead, I spotted his truck. He opened my side first and gave me a boost. Then he was in on the other. “You’re going to need to navigate me.”

  It felt like familiar times. I nodded and pulled out my phone because I wasn’t familiar with his town. Once we pulled onto the two-lane highway that linked each of the towns in the panhandle, I turned off the GPS. I knew the way from here.

  When we turned on my road, I noticed a lot of activity at Jody’s house.

  “Looks like the Feds are here,” Liam said.

  I silently agreed, unable to swallow the lump in my throat. He pulled to a stop in front of my house, and I jumped out of the truck, not sure if I’d closed the door.

  Though I’d gotten a response from Mom, I needed to see her to know she was truly safe.

  Before I reached the house, the door opened but it wasn’t my mother behind it. The three letters FBI were in full view on the woman’s hat. “Hi, I’m Special Agent Gandy,” she said. “You are Natalie?”

  I nodded.

  She checked her watch. “We don’t have a lot of time…”

  I blew past her, ignoring the rest of what she said.

  She called out after me.

  I didn’t stop.

  “Mom,” I said, once I passed the threshold.

  “In here,” I heard her call from the kitchen.

  I practically tackled her in a bear hug when I saw her. I hated the dark circles under her eyes. “I’m never leaving you again,” I declared.

  “Don’t say that, child. One day you’ll have a family of your own.”

  It didn’t feel that way knowing I would be walking away from Liam long before the day was over.

  “Not without you,” I told her.

  She looked over my shoulder and her eyes widened. I knew Liam had followed me. “Is this your young man?”

  He reached out a hand. “I’m Liam, ma’am.”

  Mom skirted around me with the biggest grin. “Oh, yes you are. Come here and give me a hug. You said you’d bring her home and you did.”

  She went in and he held on as I heard her sob.

  I mouthed, I’m sorry, to Liam knowing his shirt would be stained with her tears. I wondered when they’d spoken. He hadn’t mentioned it. Then again, I had called her from his phone back at David’s penthouse in Chicago.

  Thirty seconds more of her hugging Liam and I would have intervened. Luckily, she pulled back. “He’s a keeper,” she said to me.

  Having forgotten all about the ring on my finger, I scratched my head trying to figure out how to explain that keeping him wasn’t an option. She had to know that. At least, I assumed the FBI agent that stood beside the stack of boxes had explained what we were doing and why.

  “Oh my lord,” she exclaimed and took my hand in hers. “You’re getting married?”

  I opened my mouth, but Liam beat me to it. “If she’ll have me.”

  “We can’t,” I said. They turned to look at me as I began to work the ring off my finger. “We are going into the witness program, Mom. Liam can’t come.”

  “Why not?” she asked, looking as crestfallen as I felt.

  “Because he has family here, and we can’t drag him into this mess.”

  My phone buzzed and I checked the screen. When I glanced up Mom was still shaking her head. Liam was going to speak, but I held up a hand. “Jody,” I said and answered the call.

  “Oh, Nat. It’s a nightmare. I didn’t get your message until now. Dad called and said there was something going on at home and he needed me here. I drove like a mad woman and I missed your text.”

  “I’m here,” I said.

  “Here?” she asked.

  “I’m at Mom’s place. I’ll meet you outside.”

  “What? You’re not in New York? I’ll meet you halfway,” she said before hanging up.

  I turned to Liam. “I need a minute.”

  Since I’d told him all about Jody on the way here,
he agreed without an argument. I left the house but every step in her direction filled me with dread. I wasn’t sure I could handle the heartbreak if she was complicit with my father.

  When she spotted me, she ran in my direction. I didn’t. She hugged me and I couldn’t hug her back, not yet anyway.

  “What’s wrong? Did I do something?” she asked, realizing I wasn’t my usual self.

  “What did your dad tell you?” I asked, stiffly.

  “Just what I said. He didn’t tell me anything more than what I told you. I get here and the FBI has a warrant.”

  “And you don’t know why?”

  “What’s going on? I tell you the FBI is trashing my house and you’re acting like I did something wrong.”

  I wanted to believe her. So I gave her some rope to hang herself if she was a damn good liar. “My father was arrested today. FBI said they would be arresting his associates.”

  “What? Are you suggesting my father is in league with yours?” She looked incredulous.

  It was so good, she’d be worthy of an Emmy nomination if she was acting. Finally, I just said it because I wanted to see her face.

  “Father told me that he’d hired a man whose wife had died, leaving him to raise his young daughter alone. This daughter was of a similar age to me which made him a perfect fit for the job of watching over Mom and me.”

  Her jaw fell open a second before she vehemently shook her head. “No. No, he wouldn’t.”

  “He went on to tell me that said daughter gave her father information about me, which they used to intimidate the boys I dated.”

  “No. No. No,” she repeated.

  “He knew about the doctor and the date I was supposed to have at his house. You’re the only one I told.”

  “No,” she kept saying.

  “He knew about me sharing a hotel with a guy.”

  “I swear, Nat. Dad always asked about you. Why wouldn’t he? We’ve been best friends forever. When he asked recently, I joked that you’d met a doctor and were going on a date with him. I might have mentioned that you’d shared a hotel room with a guy who helped you out. But I didn’t give any specifics like their names.”

  When I thought back, my father hadn’t said their names either. He’d called them the doctor and hotel boy. Her truth fit the woman I knew. I closed my eyes.

  “I’m sorry I ever thought otherwise.” I reached for her, but it was her time to hold off.

  “I need you to know that if my father is working for yours in some way, he’s being forced. My father is a good man, Nat. You have to know that.”

  I wanted to believe her, but I couldn’t go that far yet. “I want to,” I said.

  She nodded. “If it’s true that my father has been arrested, I need to get him a lawyer.”

  “You probably should,” I said, feeling my heart breaking because I could see the hurt I’d caused in her eyes. “I didn’t want to doubt you, but my father has a way.”

  “I know. But I thought we were better friends.”

  “Jody. I believe you. I just needed to see you in person.”

  “I never lied when I said you were my sister. I always had your back,” she said, as I felt the first fracture in our friendship. “I have to go save my father.”

  “I’m sorry, Jody.”

  “Me too.” She looked over my shoulder. “Is that him?” she asked.

  A glance around revealed Liam had followed me but had stayed back a respectable distance to give us privacy.

  “That’s Liam.”

  She smiled slightly. “He’s a keeper.”

  I bobbed my head. “Mom says that too.”

  As the silence between us grew uncomfortable she said, “Goodbye, Nat. Stay safe. Give your mother a hug from me.”

  “I will and you stay safe. My father isn’t a good man.” But she knew that.

  “Mine is whether you believe me or not.”

  I nodded, watching her walk off with no promises to call.

  To protect my mother, I had to walk away from Liam and Jody. All of a sudden, I’d lost two important people in my life.

  When I turned back, I jogged into Liam’s open arms. He held me as I sobbed. Once my tears dried up, he helped me pack. The house belonged to my father and would likely be seized by the government. So we were forced to put anything we didn’t want in the trash. We weren’t allowed to take everything. Most of what we kept would go into storage courtesy of the government for the time being. The rest would go wherever they sent us.

  It was a small house, and it didn’t take much time to clear out the place. Most things were easily parted with. Pictures and keepsakes my mother had from her parents and our life here were the main things that went with us along with clothes worth saving.

  Time passed far too fast before the agent announced it was time to leave.

  “You don’t have to wait for me,” I told Liam for the millionth time as I tried once again working the ring off my finger.

  “I will find you. However long it takes,” he said, refusing to take the ring back. “When I do, you’ll either be wearing it or you’ll give it back.”

  I wanted to say something.

  “Don’t answer now. Just kiss me.”

  I lifted on my toes and did just that, pressing my mouth to his. “I love you,” I whispered against his lips.

  “Forever,” he said before reluctantly letting me go.

  He stood there in front of our house as the agent herded us into a black sedan. I turned to watch him fade in the distance as we drove away.

  Twenty-Three

  Liam

  The federal trial against Nicolas Cortez had ended. It was now in the jury’s hands. It had taken months before the trial began and more months to sift through the mountains of evidence against him. I’d watched every minute of the live broadcast as I felt my life depended on the outcome.

  It had been just over a year since I’d seen or spoken to Natalie.

  “Come on. Let’s go get a drink,” Griffin said.

  I still worked for him and my dad. I worked every day I could so I wouldn’t go crazy thinking about her.

  “I don’t think so,” I said.

  He slapped me on my back. “Yes, mate. The verdict isn’t going to happen any quicker by you watching round the clock news.”

  Griffin had that way about him. I let him drive me to a dive bar in Manhattan. He was telling me a story about how he’d tried and failed to win Lizzy there. I barely paid attention.

  “Things changed,” he said when we walked in.

  The dive bar he described with pool tables looked more like a lounge with couches and a dance area filled with bodies.

  “We can go,” I offered. I wasn’t in the mood.

  “Let’s check it out.”

  The way he was scanning the room, I knew what kind of checking out he wanted to do. He led me to the bar area and ordered us a couple of whiskeys. I downed the first and asked for another.

  A woman in a short tank top and shorts came over. She approached the big guy first. Then again, I had a don’t bother look on my face.

  “Hey, handsome, will you buy me a drink?”

  She looked barely legal to me and Griffin felt the same. “You have ID, darling?” he asked in his perfect American accent.

  That wasn’t the answer she wanted. She tried her luck with me. “How about you?”

  “I’m married,” I said. I didn’t need a piece of paper to know who I belonged to. I downed the second shot.

  The scowl on my face kept most women away. Those that tried, I gave the same line too. When I’d hit my limit and was ready to go home, Griffin’s eyes were trained on a woman on the dance floor.

  She was a looker. So I didn’t blame him. For the first time that night, he made a move. Gorgeous women had thrown themselves at him and he’d turned them all down. I was fascinated how this one had caught his attention to the point he was drawn to her like a moth to a flame. All I could think was damn. It was happening to him just like it
had to Kalen, Conner, Grant, and me.

  Griffin, the biggest player I’d ever met, was dancing. His eyes were locked on the woman as hers were on his. I knew in that moment I would need to find my own way home. The way they gazed in each other’s eyes was like there was no one around. I smiled sadly remembering the moment I’d accepted that Natalie was mine. I hadn’t been tempted to be with anyone else.

  I sent him a quick text that I was leaving and stumbled out into the night. New York was alive again. The virus in the rearview mirror, I had a taste of what it was like to walk the streets with hundreds of people all around me.

  Somehow I ended up in Times Square when an alert played across several of the screens.

  Nicolas Cortez had been found guilty on all charges.

  * * *

  Natalie

  When the news came, Mom and I hugged and cried, and then hugged some more.

  “It’s over,” she said.

  “It’s over,” I repeated.

  Valentina and some of father’s cronies had turned over evidence or were witnesses in his case. They hadn’t needed Mom or me. I was grateful for that. Not that anyone knew who we were.

  Shawn contacted me once we were settled in Colorado. We hadn’t been there two weeks before he said we had to move. He was afraid that my father had active contacts in the FBI who could leak our location. In the middle of the night a friend of his, who’d been a cop in LA, showed up and drove us to another state.

  Liam was never far from my thoughts. Shawn insisted I not contact him. In fact, Shawn didn’t contact me either.

  But now that the trial was over, I would ask Aiden, the cop who was our new contact, if I could send Liam a letter. There was so much I needed to say.

  Though my father had been convicted, the prosecution couldn’t get first degree murder charges to stick. Those had been tossed out early on. He’d been charged under RICO laws for racketeering including drug trafficking, bribery, money laundering and obstruction of justice. He wouldn’t get life for that. Sentences would come later, but it was a maximum sentence of twenty years.

  I had to hope they gave him the maximum.