The Winter Wedding

by A. C. Arthur

  “It’s my fault,” she started and backed away from him. “She said the guy called my name. Why would he call my name and then hit her? Why would someone do that?”

  There hadn’t been enough time for Logan to process everything that Cassie had just said. He had, for the first seconds after her statement, wondered if the pain medication was cause for her to say some things that were a little off. He and Cheyna had been standing in Cassie’s direct line of vision, so maybe seeing them had confused her.

  “Listen, let’s just calm down and think this through. I’m sure there’s a logical explanation.” He was praying there was one. Saying he was “sure” there was, could be a bit of a reach.

  Logan didn’t know what the hell was going on. One minute he’d been at his office going over drafts of the first advertisements for the galleries, putting in double time on a Saturday because he hadn’t been staying late or getting into the office early in the past couple of weeks. Next thing he knew he was getting a call from Perry saying he needed to get to the hospital, and then Cheyna had shown up and he’d felt steady and comforted the moment he saw her.

  “There’s nothing to think through, Logan! This is all my fault! Whoever is gunning for me made a mistake. He was trying to run me down and hit Cassie instead!”

  Tears streamed down her face as fast as the words fell from her mouth. Logan was torn between wanting to talk this through, hugging her and telling her that it was alright and fearing that what she was saying held some semblance of truth.

  “Look, let’s just wait until the cops arrive and then we’ll go over Cassie’s statement again. We can call Sam and his team and get them out here and we’ll figure out what to do next.”

  She was already shaking her head and Logan was flexing his fingers at his side.

  “I knew this was wrong. I knew it from the start. We met because of business. We’re working together. It should have stopped there.” Cheyna ran her fingers through her hair. She took a deep breath and released it slowly before turning away from him and using the back of both hands to wipe her face.

  The elevator doors opened. A nurse and two other women stepped out. Logan walked to where Cheyna now stood near a wall of windows. He tentatively touched a hand to her shoulder and was shocked when she didn’t pull away.

  “Let’s not do this here,” he stated, his voice lowering. “We can get you some coffee, go back to the waiting room and sit there while we wait for the police. There’s a solution to this, Cheyna. We just have to take our time and figure it out.”

  “Stop saying we,” she told him.

  Her body was stiff as she stood with her arms folded over her chest.

  “This is not your problem. It never has been. All of this is happening because of me.”

  “All of this is happening because some asshole doesn’t like to lose.” He spoke through clenched teeth. Logan’s temples throbbed with incessant pain as he fought with everything he possessed for control. “He tried intimidating you as your boss and as a man, and when that didn’t work he thought of another way to get to you.”

  “I don’t know who’s doing this to me. Not for sure. But I have to trust the police to find out. That’s their job, to protect and serve the people. I have to let them do their job.”

  “Right, baby. We will let them do their job and we’ll help them by working with Sam and his team. I can call them right now.” Logan dug into his back pocket and pulled out his phone. “I’ll call them and we’ll meet with them as soon as we leave here. We’ll tell them everything that Cassie said and they’ll find out what’s going on. They set up the security systems for you and they’re working on some leads to Liam’s killer. We’re going to get to the bottom of this, Cheyna. I swear we will.”

  Because there was no other choice. Logan was not going to stand by and wait for Cheyna to be hurt and he damn sure wasn’t going to take Cassie’s injuries lying down. If Zeke Volker wanted to come after his family, he was in for a rude awakening. Thoughts of storming into the man’s office first thing Monday morning and pounding his fist into his face flashed quickly in Logan’s mind. His blood pulsed with the thought and he closed his eyes to a fury so intense his body shook.

  “It’s my problem, Logan.” Cheyna eased away from him. She turned so that she faced him, her shoulders squared.

  “I don’t want to do this anymore.” Her words were spoken with an eerie calm. “I cannot do this with you anymore. It was a mistake. And I’ve made mistakes before so I know when I’ve done so again.”

  He opened his mouth to speak.

  “No.”

  That one word spoken with emphatic calm stopped him.

  “You need to go back in there with your family. Tell them all, especially Cassie, that I am so very sorry. I never meant to hurt her or anyone else. Things were going along okay for me. After years of doubts and struggles, I’d finally found my happiness. Or what happiness I was allowed. And then you came along. And Liam was killed.” She was shaking her head now, but no more tears came.

  “In just a little over a month death and fear have been on my mind daily. My car’s being tracked, my home is now like a prison locking me in at night and locking me out during the day. I’m constantly looking over my shoulder telling myself that nobody’s there, but feeling something totally different.”

  “None of that is your fault,” he told her.

  “I know that. I know that someone else is orchestrating these events. But I’m at the center of them. Something I did is probably the root cause of this pain and misery.”

  Logan didn’t respond. He couldn’t. She was at the center of this. He and Sam had discussed that at length during their last phone call two days ago. Whatever was happening was likely because of the lawsuit Cheyna filed against Volker. The settlement had cost the man more than just the check he’d written to her. Several big clients left following gossip that stemmed from Cheyna’s resignation from the company. And Liam Edison had since been accused in four more cases of harassment. An attorney was actively looking into the possibility of more sexual harassment victims within ZV Events. If a class action suit was to be filed, there was no doubt the company would drown in the bad publicity and the debt of trying to settle civil suits with all of the victims. Not to mention the possibility of criminal charges being brought against Volker. The man had plenty of motive to kill Liam and to want to destroy Cheyna.

  “I don’t want you to blame yourself. You can’t Cheyna. You’re only responsible for your actions, not those of some egomaniac.”

  “I am taking responsibility for my actions.” Her bottom lip trembled and fresh tears shimmered in her eyes. “I’m going to get on that elevator and walk away from you and your family. I’m going to exit your lives before any more damage is caused.”

  “Cheyna—”

  “No,” she told him, this time putting her hands up to emphasize the word. “This is not open for discussion. I’m telling you what I plan to do. I will walk away and stay away. Monica and Alex’s wedding is in fourteen days. Your campaign will launch right after that. And then we’ll be finished.”

  That last word sliced through Logan as succinctly as if she’d actually driven a knife through the wall of his chest.

  “This was never going to work. I’m not like you, Logan. You’re all about family, loyalty and love. I come from nothing. Nobody and no place. My life is whatever I make of it now, but I know that love and family were never in the cards. I can deal with that. I have dealt with that. I guess I just lost sight of the truth for a while. But I won’t again. I can’t.”

  He didn’t care at this point. Logan moved to her. He reached out to touch her but she stepped back.

  “I can’t!”

  Her arms were now extended in front of her, effectively stopping him from progressing any further without forcibly invading her space. That was something Logan would never do.

  “Cheyna, baby, I need you to just take a moment. Sit down and think about this. Just think about—” He wa
nted to say “think about us” but he couldn’t. Not with the way she was slowly shaking her head and those tears moving even slower down her cheeks.

  “I can’t, Logan. I just can’t.”

  She dropped her arms to her sides in defeat and walked back to the elevator. As if on her command the doors opened. Logan stood just a few feet away staring as if he were in a trance. He felt like he was watching a movie in a theatre. He’d thought he understood what the movie was about—boy meets girl, boy likes girl, girl likes boy, enter bad guy, boy saves girl, happy ever after. But as the elevator doors closed and Cheyna disappeared behind them, Logan felt anything but happy.

  He felt helpless and bereft.

  He felt angry and disgusted.

  He felt…a ragged sound ripped through his chest and out his mouth as he turned and slammed his fist into the wall right beside the windows. He punched again and again, adrenaline soaring through his body, fury and defeat eating at his soul.

  A week later, Logan stood in the corner of the ring. He clapped his still bruised knuckles, now covered by boxing gloves, together and at the sound of the bell moved to the center of the ring and threw the first punch.

  His sparring partner, Jai, who had sparred with Logan before, took the hit and retuned some of his own. But Logan was not to be deterred. Not today. His head was throbbing even before the match had begun. It had been that way all week long. Last weekend at the hospital had been just the beginning.

  The morning after Cassie’s accident, Logan had been asleep on the chair in the room with her. He hadn’t wanted to leave her there and he had nobody to go home to. It was early when he heard the door to her room open. Initially he’d thought it was one of the nurses who came into the room every few hours to do something. But the sound of heavier footsteps caused him to instantly sit up. He saw the man move closer to Cassie’s bed and stood.

  Jai had looked up and locked gazes with Logan.

  “What are you doing here?” Logan asked.

  “I called him,” Cassie spoke up. “I mean, I had Maxie call him.”

  Logan looked from his sometimes sparring partner and longtime friend of the family to his sister. His pregnant little sister.

  “Wait.” He’d had to shake his head, to try and find some clarity here. This was not what he’d expected. It wasn’t what he’d needed at this moment. “No. Not you.”

  Cassie had tried to reach for Jai’s hand, but he was standing on the side of the arm they’d finally put into a cast, so she had to reach her free hand over her body. The act caused her pain and she winced. Logan was at the side of her bed in seconds. But Jai had already reached out, clasping her hand and easing it back down.

  “Take it easy, baby. I don’t want you in anymore pain,” Jai told her.

  Logan smacked Jai’s hand away from his sister. “Don’t touch her.” He’d been trying to keep his voice low. He knew it was morning, but it was still dark outside and they were in a hospital room. The incessant beeping of machines in the background was a stark reminder of that fact.

  “Stop it, Logan,” Cassie insisted. “He has a right to be here. I want him here.”

  “You’ve been sleeping with my little sister?” Logan asked, totally ignoring Cassie’s comments.

  “She’s an adult,” Jai replied.

  “You’re thirty-two years old. You graduated two years before Perry. She’s ten years younger than you.” Logan spoke in as steady a tone as he could muster.

  “And she is still an adult,” Jai reiterated.

  “She’s my sister!” Logan exploded.

  Jai hadn’t flinched. “She’s my girlfriend and she’s having my baby.”

  Two nurses had come into the room at that moment and Cassie asked Logan to leave.

  On Wednesday, Sam came to Logan’s office. Logan knew it wasn’t with good news. He’d called Sam soon after Cheyna had left the hospital on Saturday night. Sam had told him he would be there as soon as he had solid answers to deliver. Logan sat back in his office chair after Sam closed his office door and took a seat in the guest chair across from Logan’s desk.

  “Volker’s in the wind. His wife believed he was on a business trip to Miami, but the client whose event he was supposed to be managing states she fired him months ago. He hasn’t been in the New York office since Thursday. Fiona Watson was last spotted on Saturday having lunch with some guy in a café in SoHo. Bailey couldn’t get a good picture of the guy because it was too crowded and she didn’t want to blow her cover.”

  Logan had cursed. He’d tossed the pen he’d been holding in his hand when Sam arrived across his desk and cursed again.

  “My brother Cole called in a favor with someone at the NYPD and got us access to Liam Edison’s condo. For some reason they still hadn’t released the crime scene and that was bothering me. A uniform cop walked us in and Bree was able to lift fingerprints that had been missed from the bedroom and bathroom. They match Fiona Watson who had been pulled over and arrested for a DUI in Manhattan three months ago.”

  It was news. Logan could not deny that. It just hadn’t been good enough news. Sam was insistent that they were close. The fingerprint match alone was not grounds for a warrant, but the fact that Fiona had not reported to her probation office in the last month was.

  After Sam left his office, Logan had tried, once again to call Cheyna. She’d rejected his call, sending him directly to her voice mail. Logan had considered going to her office or possibly her apartment but then he’d recalled his mother’s words to him on Thanksgiving Day.

  Be gentle with her.

  If he were suffering then Logan could only imagine what Cheyna was going through. Sam assured him that he had eyes on her every second of every day, not to mention surveillance he’d started on her house after Logan had reported them being watched during their jog. Logan would have to be content with that. Because when he saw Cheyna again Logan wanted it to be with answers and closure to this situation. He wanted it to be when he could pull her into his arms and tell her that this was all over and there was nothing standing in the way of their love.

  He hadn’t realized he loved her, not until that very moment. And there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

  There was nothing he could do about Fiona Watson and Zeke Volker being missing.

  And nothing he could do about his sister being pregnant by a guy that Logan and his brothers had considered a good friend.

  Well that, Logan thought now as he landed another punch to Jai’s chin, was something he could deal with in his own way.

  Jack slammed his hands on the ring floor and yelled to Peabo, the teenager he’d just taken under his wing, to sound the bell. Logan backed away, going to his corner. He wasn’t finished. Blood still pumped fiercely through his veins, red rage still tinged his vision as he sat on the stool that had been placed in his corner and breathed heavily.

  “Look, I only approved this because I knew you needed a release. Jai may be one of the only dudes in this gym not afraid to step into this ring with you. But if you kill him or cause permanent brain damage by punching him the way you are, your sister ain’t never going to forgive you. Understand what I’m sayin’?”

  Jack’s raspy voice sounded in Logan’s ear. Logan didn’t look down to where he knew the man was standing, instead he kept his gaze focused across the ring to where Jai had refused to sit. He stood throwing punches at the air as he worked to catch his breath. Jai wasn’t afraid of him. Or of Perry or Steph, for that matter. He’d been at Logan’s mother’s house every day since Cassie had been released from the hospital, dotting on Logan’s sister as if he were in love. The thought made Logan growl with anger.

  “You can do this, Logan. You’ve done it before. Focus your energy on punching down that anger. Punch it down so far you can’t see it or taste it any longer,” Jack continued. “That’s why you step into the ring. To work your way through the things you can’t control. You’ve done it before. I believe you can do it again.”

  But Logan did
n’t believe Jack’s words this time. He didn’t know that he could work through almost losing his baby sister and watching the first woman he’d ever loved walk out of his life all within the same week.

  “I wanna go back in,” Logan spoke over the mouthguard he’d refused to take out.

  “Why?”

  Logan knew what Jack wanted him to say but he didn’t know if he could say it.

  “I wanna go back in.”

  “And I wanna know why? Is it to pulverize him, or to understand him the way you’ve been doing in the past? You two have been coming here for the same reasons. He’s just like you and your brothers that’s why the four of you have stuck so close together all these years. He’s not your enemy.” Jack told him.

  “He’s fucking my sister!”

  “That’s true, but that’s between him and your sister.”

  “And Cheyna’s gone.” Those words came out gruff and Logan’s chest constricted.

  The feeling wasn’t because he was still out of breath and he hadn’t been hurt during that three-minute bout with Jai.

  Jack hopped up into the ring at that point. Logan saw him motion for Jai to take a seat. The older man with his balding head and steely gray eyes, squatted in front of Logan.

  “That’s where most of your anger is stemming from. That’s what you’ve got to work through,” he told him.

  Logan knew Jack was right. He knew it and he hated it at the same time. Jack picked up a bucket that had been sitting next to the stool and held it in front of Logan’s face. Logan spit the mouthpiece out. When Jack moved the bucket, Logan leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. He dropped his head and focused on steadying his breathing. It hurt. Breathing fast as he was now or breathing normally as he did while sitting in his office all week, it all hurt just the same. Every breath he took without being with Cheyna was painful and Logan didn’t know how to make it stop.

  That feeling carried him back to when Logan was thirteen years old and a group of high school boys he recognized from being on the basketball court with Steph and Perry approached him after school. Their feelings had still been bruised from that total beat down on the court that Steph, Perry, Jai and a couple other guys from their neighborhood had put on them. Logan was pretty good on the court at that age, but they hadn’t allowed him to play because his growth spurt hadn’t hit yet and he was still pretty small for an eighth grader. But that hadn’t stopped Logan from standing on the sidelines cheering the team on. The guys from the opposing team hadn’t liked that and since they’d come up on Logan while he was alone, they’d decided to show him how much.