Caballo Security Box Set

by Camilla Blake

  Now we knew how they were getting in.

  I took the steps two at a time, my shoes left behind at the base of the stairs. I moved as silently as I could toward the massive master bedroom, pausing again outside the slightly ajar door. I could hear Eva inside, pleading with someone.

  “There’s jewelry in the case over there. Why don’t you just take it and go? I won’t tell anyone.”

  “You really think that’s why we’re here, sweetheart?”

  “Why are you here, then?”

  The man snickered. I could see him in the mirror that sat above the dresser, a reflection of another man dressed all in black with a mask over his face. Eva was sitting on the edge of the bed, still dressed in her sexy evening gown. It was a stupid thing to be relieved about, considering the situation, but I was relieved to see he hadn’t found her in the bathtub.

  I was about to go into the room when I heard the beep of the lock releasing on the main door. I backed up, glancing over the edge of the small landing to see who came through the door. I wasn’t surprised to see Femi’s familiar blue hair, or the blond curls of my lovely ex-wife.

  “Where’s Danny?” Femi asked.

  “He went to the party, tried to confront her. I told him not to. These people my ex works for are serious about their jobs. I doubt he even got within a couple of yards of her.”

  “He’s her manager. What if he did get to her? What if he told her everything?”

  “If he had, she wouldn’t be all over the gossip websites entering this hotel twenty minutes ago. He didn’t say shit to her. Trust me.”

  Femi walked over to the minibar and pulled out the same bottle of champagne that Eva had been working on for days. She drank directly out of the bottle itself, laughing when some of it spilled on her chin.

  “You know how much this damn stuff costs? It’s nearly seven hundred dollars a bottle. Can you believe that? A bunch of spoiled grapes, and it’s more than my car payment and phone bill altogether.”

  “Put it away. We need to be clearheaded right now.”

  Femi took another swallow, then returned the bottle to the fridge. She started for the balcony and I closed my eyes, waiting for her to sound the alarm the moment she saw my friend whom I’d tied up there. But she didn’t.

  “Don’t bother,” Marnie said. “They’ll be upstairs. My ex… he doesn’t beat around the bush when he’s after something he really wants. They were probably already up there when I called.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Where else could they be? She wouldn’t want to fuck out on the balcony for fear someone might record an unflattering side of her. They must be in the bedroom.”

  “Maybe you’re right.”

  Femi headed for the stairs, and Marnie followed. I backtracked, slipping into the small second bedroom that was tucked around the corner like an afterthought. I waited until I could hear them in the bedroom, the sound of their voices a muffled rumble through the wall. I tugged my phone out of my pocket and sent a predetermined signal, leaning back against the wall wondering if I could wait until backup arrived.

  I didn’t even have to think about it. I wasn’t waiting.

  “You’re a lying bitch is what you are!” Marnie cried as I approached the master bedroom again. They’d left the door open a bit wider this time, making me a little more vulnerable. If someone glanced in my direction, or if I got into the line of sight of the mirror, my secret would be out.

  “I don’t even know who you are.” Eva was crying. “I’m here alone.”

  “I know he’s here because I talked to him not a minute ago. And I know you’re fucking him because that’s what you do—right? You go around stealing other people’s men?”

  “Please, I don’t—”

  “Let me introduce myself, bitch.” I heard the shuffle of feet. “I’m Mrs. Noah Bernstein.”

  “Oh, hell,” Eva whispered, her voice lacking the teary sound that had been there before. That fact almost made me laugh aloud. She was playing games with them.

  “Does this really matter?” Femi asked. “Why don’t we just rough her up and get out of here.”

  “Rough her up?” the man asked, clearly confused.

  “Did I forget to tell you, Femi?” Marnie wanted to know. “That wasn’t really the plan; it’s just what I told you and Danny to get you on board.”

  “No one was supposed to get hurt!”

  “Are you calling Harry and Lloyd lying down at the funeral home not hurt?”

  “You said that was an accident.”

  Marnie laughed. It was a sound I’d never heard coming out of her before. She’d gone around a bend, jumped off a cliff that no one else could follow her over. It made me sad in a way I could never describe to anyone. Sad and angry as all hell.

  Why hadn’t I seen this coming? Why didn’t I do something to stop it?

  “You can’t do this!” Femi cried.

  And then the sound of someone falling, a crash as a body hit the floor. A gun fired just seconds later, the sound reverberating a million times in my head as I imagined Eva bleeding. I rushed the door. The man in black was standing over a jumble of colors on the floor. I grabbed him around the neck, jerking him back as I went for the gun. He got off another shot, but I managed to break two of his fingers, forcing him to release his grip. He screamed, rearing up as he tried to break my hold on him. I managed to hold on, twisting him toward the doorway, slamming his head on the doorjamb. He fell just as solidly as his buddy had done, crashing to the floor with blood oozing from a significant gash on his forehead.

  When I turned again, shoving the other guy’s gun into the back of my pants, all three women were on the floor. Eva had blood on her hands and Femi, a massive set of scratches across one cheek, was sitting back against the edge of the bed, rocking herself as she watched Marnie bleed all over the cream-colored carpet.

  “Oh, no!”

  I dropped to my knees, skidding across the carpet as I rushed to Marnie’s side. I pushed Eva’s hands away, my heart threatening to stop as I watched a gush of blood flow from a bullet hole right in the center of her chest.

  “What did you do? What the hell did you do?”

  I pressed my hands against the wound, staring into her familiar face. At first, she was just staring up at the ceiling, gurgling as blood backed up into her throat. But then she focused on me and a slow smile spread across her glossy lips.

  “I… knew… you…”

  “Don’t talk, Marnie. Just wait for help.”

  “You… couldn’t… resist!”

  Her smile widened, then faded slowly. The light left her eyes as the smile disappeared, her eyes becoming glossy as she stared at me.

  “No, Marnie! Don’t you dare do this! What about Josie? Did you think about Josie before you did this? Did you?”

  Eva gasped. Femi moved over to her, wrapping her arm around her shoulders. Eva took the comfort Femi was offering, resting her head on her shoulder as real tears began to rush from her eyes.

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  I wasn’t sure if she was talking to me, or if she was talking to Marnie. I wasn’t sure about much of anything in that moment. And then the chaos of the aftermath began, Max and Prescott and Oliver rushing into the room, someone on a phone calling for an ambulance. Questions began to flow. I’m not sure how many I answered. I’m not sure I answered any of them.

  ***

  I checked my hands again, making sure I’d gotten all the blood I could off them. The house was quiet, only a few lights still on at this late hour. It was just a bit before two, but I knew she would still be up. He told me she often stayed up to all hours during the summer and Marnie let her, figuring bedtimes should only be enforced during the school year.

  I debated between knocking and ringing the bell. Knocking seemed less intrusive, but it was such a large house I wasn’t sure she’d hear if she was up in her bedroom. I compromised and did both, knocking with the back of my hand before pressing the doorbell once. />
  Josie pulled the door open, bouncing around in that way teenagers have. She was wearing shorts and an old T-shirt I recognized almost immediately. It was one of mine.

  “Hey, Daddy!” she said, a smile of pleasure spreading not just over her mouth, but all the way to her eyes.

  “Josie.”

  “Mom’s not here. Neither is Noah, I don’t think. He tapped on my door a while ago and said he had to go to the hospital.”

  “Yeah, I know.” I was relieved to receive reassurance that Noah hadn’t said anything to her. At least she got to be a normal, healthy fifteen-year-old for a few minutes longer, with her world still largely intact. It wouldn’t be soon enough. “Can I come in?”

  “Sure.” She stepped out of the way, that smile losing a little light. “You don’t usually like coming in, especially when Mom’s not here.”

  “I know, but I have something I need to talk to you about.”

  “Is it that girl? Did you get over yourself and ask her out?” She giggled. “I certainly hope so. Mom’s been married so many times, but you hardly even date.”

  “It’s not about me, babe.”

  “Oh.” She turned just inside the threshold to the living room, forcing me to remain in the large entryway. “Don’t tell me Mom and Noah are getting divorced. Did she send you over here to talk to me like the last time?”

  “Josie, if we could sit down…”

  “Just tell me, Dad. I’m practically an adult now.”

  Earlier in the day, that proclamation would have broken my heart for reasons so different from the reason why it hurt me so deeply now. She was nearly an adult. But not quite. And she’d have to do the rest of her growing without her mother here.

  I turned my face away for a second, fighting tears for the first time since the party ended. How was I supposed to tell her this? How was I supposed to destroy her world?

  “Daddy, you’re starting to scare me!”

  “It’s your mother, Josie. There was an accident—”

  “What kind of accident? Was she driving too fast on the ten again?”

  “No, it wasn’t a car accident. She… It’s complicated, baby.”

  “But she’s okay, right?”

  “No.” I forced myself to face her, forced myself to put my hands on her shoulders and look her right in the eye. “She died, Josie. She died before she got to the hospital.”

  Josie shook her head, denial her first reaction. But I could see the news sink in, see the pain burst through her. She wailed, a sound she hadn’t made since she was an infant. Her knees went out from under her and she began to buckle like a weak piece of wood placed under too much pressure. I swung her up into my arms and carried her to the couch, but she wouldn’t let me put her down. Her arms came around my neck and she refused to release me.

  I sat in the middle of the couch and held her, rocking her until she fell asleep, just like I’d done when she was an infant. And then I held her hours more, making promises she neither heard nor needed to hear. But they were promises I needed to make.

  I’ll never let anything happen to you.

  I’ll never leave you.

  I’ll never hurt you.

  Promises I’d been making to her since she was born, and promises I’d broken tonight.

  Chapter 17

  Eva

  Confession was the word of the night.

  Ox brought Danny back to Caballo from the party and he quickly told him the whole story.

  “Femi found out first. She overheard Eva talking on the phone to her new management company. She came to me, scared that Eva was going to replace her entire team, not just me. She thought we might be all out of a job. She wanted to do something… That’s when we came up with the stalker scheme. We thought if we made Eva believe she had a stalker and that Lloyd and Harry saved her from him, or one of us did something heroic, she would realize we were the best team for her and she’d stick with us. But then Femi brought in this woman, this Marnie woman, and she convinced her that we had to go a step further.”

  “How did she meet Marnie?” Ox wanted to know.

  “She ran into Marnie in a restaurant in Los Angeles months ago. They became friends, and Femi started confiding in her. Marnie was the one who suggested the bomb. She thought it would frighten Eva, show her that we were the only ones who could protect her. But it was supposed to be Femi who came to her rescue, not you people. We didn’t even know she’d hired you until Marnie recognized your operative after the shooting.”

  “The shooting? Was that your doing too?”

  “Marnie told Femi that there were blanks in the guns. Told her that the press would eat it up and the new management firm would decide Eva was a publicity nightmare. I told her to stop. I mean, after my nephews were murdered… I wanted out of the whole thing. I just wanted to collect my boys and take my retirement as peacefully as I could. I was out. But then the shooting happened, and Eva wouldn’t answer my calls. I went to Femi and Marnie, told them to put a stop to it, but they wouldn’t listen to me. Said I was a wimp, that I deserved to lose everything.” Anger leaked into his words after that. “I told them they were headed for trouble. Told them I was going to warn Eva. You should have let me warn her!”

  And then Femi was arrested, and she quickly confessed too, backing up Danny’s story. She hadn’t just been worried about her job, but was angry with me for not going to her about my decision. She felt that I had betrayed our friendship.

  Maybe she was right. Maybe I did handle the whole thing badly.

  Marnie was wrong about my new management team. They were right on the ball, eager to get me through this publicity nightmare. They had already sent an entire team of people to San Antonio to handle the press, to smooth things over with everyone. They wanted to prove to me that they had my best interest at heart.

  I didn’t really care. All I could think about was that woman dying there on the floor, right in front of me. All I could see was the shock and pain on Akker’s face. All I could feel was… nothing. I was numb inside.

  I was moved to another hotel, told there was a jet waiting to take me home. I accepted, this need burning inside of me to get as far away from this place and these people as possible.

  How had this gotten so out of control?

  Ox said that Marnie might have been jealous because of Noah Bernstein. He thought maybe she suspected he was having an affair and jumped to the conclusion it was with me because we met so often during the construction of the clinic. It seemed a little far-fetched to me, but then again, this woman was clearly out of her mind. Who plans this sort of thing? Who hires two thugs to kill innocent men, to harass an innocent woman?

  They confessed, too, these men Marnie had hired to help with her plot. They said Marnie instructed them to kill Lloyd and Harry, that chloroform was never a part of the plan. They also said she wanted them to kill me, and they’d been willing to because she’d promised to leave her husband and run off with the two of them, to live out some sort of crazy fantasy in a cabin up in the Catskills that I was beginning to think might not even exist.

  Insanity. How could someone so…

  But every time my thoughts moved in that direction, I remembered that this woman was the mother of Akker’s daughter. And then my heart hurt for him, for her, and for Brock. So much pain this one woman had brought on these brothers. It was beyond sad.

  I sat on the jet, waiting for the pilot to finish the preflight inspection. My foot was tapping, my knee bouncing. I wanted to be in the air. Now.

  I was about to get up and ask how much longer it would be when a dark SUV came racing along the line of airplane hangars, sliding to a stop as it reached this jet. I sat up a little straighter, my heart hoping it was Akker. And when the driver-side door opened, a man the same height and build as Akker climbed out. But I knew almost instantly that it wasn’t him. This man’s dark hair was longer, much longer, falling forward over his face, blocking most of it from view. It was strange because he was otherwise dressed li
ke a professional, wearing a well-tailored suit like the one Akker had donned the day we met, his hands covered in thin leather gloves despite the intense heat of the summer afternoon.

  “Ms. Rae,” the flight attendant said, coming to a stop beside my seat. “A Mr. Mills has requested that you disembark so that he might talk to you.”

  “Mr. Mills?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  My heart skipped a beat. He was leaning against the driver-side door of the SUV, his head tilted down like he was staring at the asphalt, that long hair like a curtain drawn against me.

  “Brock?”

  “I don’t know, ma’am”

  I wasn’t talking to the flight attendant, didn’t care what she knew. I stared at the man for a moment longer before slowly unfolding myself from the seat. My heart was pounding as I walked down the steps and slowly approached him.

  “I thought we were going to miss each other, what with everything that happened.”

  “I was with Akker at his place. Josie’s there… but he told me you needed to see me.”

  “I think it’s more he needed me to see you.”

  He reached up and moved a bit of that curtain, one familiar hazel eye with all that green and gold in it staring at me. My heart skipped a beat, remembering the way he once studied me for such a long time sometimes, laughing when I teased him about it. Seeing him now, hearing his voice—that oh-so familiar voice!—brought back all these memories I thought I’d carefully packed up and put away. Tears filled my eyes as we stood there, studying each other, looking for the familiar and the things that had changed over the years.

  “How are you, Brock?”

  He shrugged his shoulders, that bit of hair falling back in front of his face. “I’ve been me.” He sighed, shifting slightly. “I’ve followed your career. It’s been quite a roller coaster, hasn’t it?”

  “It has.”

  “And the acting. I’ve seen all of your films.”

  “All four of them?”

  “It’ll be five soon. You’ll be the next Julia Roberts before you know it.”

  “I doubt it.”

  “I always told you you could do it.”