by M. L. Ray
“He just said ‘payback’. That’s it, that’s all. I’m figuring it was some dude with a grudge, who got the wrong person.”
Of course. That was all it was, and so Anouk didn’t say anything more. She told Ruby to take the day, come in the next day, and hugged her goodbye. “Thanks for rescuing me, boss.”
“You’re welcome. Get some rest.”
Anouk went back to her car and sat in the driver’s seat for a while, breathing deeply. Not everything is a drama, she told herself fiercely, not everything is sinister. She started the car and pulled away from the curb, then hit the brake… hard. At the end of the street she saw him. Shawn. He stared at her for a moment, then turned on his heel and disappeared down the next block. Anouk hesitated, then drove the car toward the street he’d walked down. She felt weird following him, knowing he knew what she was doing, and eventually he stopped. Anouk drew the car to the sidewalk and rolled down the window. “Shawn.”
“Hi, Nook.”
She stared at him. His expression was friendly, but impassive. “Why are you here?” She couldn’t help the accusatory tone in her voice.
Shawn leaned in her window, and she drew away at the closeness. “I live around here. I just happened to be walking this way when I saw you. I didn’t think you wanted to see me so…” He raised both hands questioningly. “You know, if you wanted to see me, Nook, you didn’t need to follow me.”
Anouk felt a flush of anger. “I didn’t want to see you. I’m just making sure you’re not interfering with my life, or my friend’s lives.”
Shawn smirked and she wanted to punch him. “Right, I’m out of here.”
“So soon, Nook?”
“Fuck you, Shawn. Stay away from me, stay away from my friends. I won’t tell you again.”
Shawn made a mocking face. “Sounds like a threat.”
Anouk’s temper boiled over then. “I know what you did, Shawn. Or should I say Mr. Vanderson? I know what you did to your children…”
He was too quick for her, reaching in and grabbing her throat. He squeezed until she choked, as her hands scrabbled at her neck. He released her after a second, and Anouk drew in a ragged breath, her hand going to the keys, but he grabbed it. “Don’t fuck with me, Anouk. Sooner or later, believe me, you’ll come back to me, you’ll crawl back to me.”
“Dream on, asshole. I never want to see you again.”
There was something in his eyes now, a darkness which terrified her, and as she turned the keys and started the car, Shawn smiled at her. “Oh, don’t worry, Nook. You won’t see me coming.”
Anouk didn’t breathe easy again until she had driven far, far away from him. The nasty encounter made her feel queasy enough that she stopped the car and threw up on the side of the road, hoping no one saw her. She got back into the car, grabbing her bottle of water, and swished it around her mouth, spitting it out. She caught sight of herself in the rear-view mirror and winced. “You are a freaking mess, Devi.”
She drove back to the office and hid herself away in her office, trying to figure out what she should do. Shawn clearly wasn’t going anywhere, and from what Martha had told her, appealing to his family to get him to leave her alone wouldn’t make much difference.
So… she was left with an ineffectual restraining order. I also have the money to hire protection, she thought, but she hated the idea of being watched over constantly. For one, she would have to tell Knox about her fears, and although they had become close again after the small blip in their relationship, she didn’t trust that Knox was on an even enough keel not to go after Shawn. She wouldn’t let Shawn win, with Knox going to jail for hurting him, or worse.
Anouk was so spaced out that she started when she heard Knox’s voice. “Spacecakes,” he said with a grin, standing at her door.
Just the sight of his smile was a balm on her frazzled nerves. “Hey, baby.” She got up and went to him, feeling his arms snake around her waist. He nuzzled her nose with his before he pressed his lips against hers. “I was wondering if I could interest you in lunch.”
“Food always works for me.”
“Oh, I know,” he grinned, “it’s one of my favorite things about you.”
Anouk smiled up at him. “Will you still love me when I have cankles?”
“I promise. Actually, I have an ulterior motive.”
“Which is?”
Knox grinned. “I’m gonna put a ring on it.” He mimicked the Beyoncé ‘Single Ladies’ dance, and Anouk stared at him.
“Dude. Ten years ago.” she deadpanned, then giggled as he tickled her.
“I was trying to be cool and down wit da kids, you jerk.”
“Is it my fault you’re an old fogey?”
They were interrupted by Dahlia, slightly red, clearing her throat. “Nook, I have Jonah Holland on the line for you.”
Anouk’s eyes boggled. “You do?”
“I do. Shall I put him through?”
Jonah Holland was an English artist, a recluse, who hadn’t shown in ten years, but was rumored to be wanting to exhibit again. Every gallery in the world wanted him, and now he was on the phone for her? Anouk looked at Knox, who grinned and nodded. “Go ahead, babe. Lunch can wait.”
Anouk picked up the phone and talked to the artist, who was friendly and chatty, to her surprise, while Knox lounged on Anouk’s office sofa and read the industry magazines that were scattered on her coffee table.
Twenty minutes later, Anouk got off the phone looking stunned, and not a little starstruck. Knox grinned at her. “Well?”
Anouk nodded slowly. “I’m leaving you for him.”
Knox laughed. “I’d leave me for Jonah Holland, too. So, he’s going to let you show him?”
“Yep. He wants a small invite-only evening a month before, then a full show.”
“When does he want this invite-only evening?”
Anouk grimaced. “Next week.”
“What?” He sat forward. “You can pull it together that quickly?”
“For Jonah Holland, I’m going to have to, or he’ll go elsewhere. Can you imagine how happy Tom would have been? Jonah was so kind about him. He told me that he was so torn up about Tom’s death, that it made him see his work in a new light; that he’d been given a talent and not to waste it.” Anouk’s voice shook with emotion, and Knox went to her.
“Then whatever you need to get this done, I’ll help.”
She had tears in her eyes. “You’d help with another artist’s show?”
“I’d help you with anything. Anything, Nook.” He stroked the back of his hand down her cheek. “I love you, gorgeous girl. I’d do anything for you, you must know that by now.”
She smiled but, in her eyes, he could see something else. Not doubt, but something deeper. With a shock, Knox realized it was fear, and that it wasn’t because of the impending show. “What is it, baby? What’s bothering you?”
Anouk hesitated, then shook her head and smiled. “Nothing. Just jitters. I can do this, right?”
“In your sleep, baby.” Knox decided not to push it for now. She would tell him in time, if she needed to. He smiled ruefully. “I suppose lunch and ring shopping are out of the question now?”
Anouk kissed him. “No way. I’ve always got time for us.”
“Good. Now, let’s eat because I’m starving.”
Anouk grinned and they held hands as they walked down to the street level. Knox held the door open for her and she stepped through. He almost collided with her when he realized she had stopped dead outside. “Honey?”
She was staring across the street. He followed her line of sight, but couldn’t see what had captured her attention. A second later, she shook her head. “Nothing. It’s okay. It’s okay.”
Later, Knox would ask himself why he hadn’t pressed her on what was bothering her, and if he had, would it have saved them from the horror that they were about to face?
Chapter Twenty-Six
An
ouk couldn’t believe that she, and the rest of the gallery staff, had pulled together the exclusive invite-only show for Jonah Holland’s new work in a week, but somehow, they did. Now the gallery was filling with the invited guests; celebrities, some who had flown in from Los Angeles and London for the evening, art critics, friends and colleagues of Holland himself.
The artist himself was working the room, throwing a grateful glance at Anouk every now and again, as she deftly steered him from person to person, making sure the people who mattered in the art world got time with him, as well as the celebs. She also made sure he got ample time with the people he knew, to give him a break from networking.
Knox was there, too, hyping his colleague, and he and Jonah had hit it off right away. When Jonah heard of Knox’s plan to open an arts center, he immediately volunteered his time and talent. “It’s a fantastic idea, mate,” he said in his broad London accent, “I wish we had more places like that around the world. It shouldn’t be so bloody hard to get a foothold in this world. Well,” he added, with a grin,” not that it should be easy, either.”
Anouk felt as if she could breathe for the first time in a week, as she slipped upstairs to grab some paperwork. She felt Knox’s arms slip around her, and his lips pressed against the nape of her neck. “Have I told you that this dress is doing really bad things to my self-control?”
Anouk chuckled. She was poured into a white bodycon dress, which highlighted her figure and made her dusky skin glow. Her hair was pulled into a messy up-do, and she was glad of it now as Knox’s lips trailed up and down the back of her neck. She caught his eye in the reflection in the window. “How bad?” She asked softly, and laughed as he growled. She turned in his arms, looping her arms around his neck. “I dare you.”
Knox blinked. “Huh?”
She leaned forward and whispered in his ear. “I dare you to fuck me right here, right now.”
Knox’s smile widened and he crushed his lips against hers, not hesitating for a moment. His hands pushed up her skirt, bunching her panties up in one fist and yanking them free, making her squeal at the snap of elastic against her soft flesh. “Shh, baby, people will hear us.”
He kissed her again as she freed his already stiffening cock from his pants, stroking it until it was rock hard. Knox lifted her and thrust into her, holding her close as they moved slowly, their lips seeking each other’s hungrily.
It was a quick, dirty and thrilling coupling, and by the time they had both come, caught their breath, and tidied themselves up, it was already eleven-thirty, and the party downstairs was beginning to wind down.
Jonah came to find Anouk. “Nook, the three canvases I decided to hold back… I’m weak-willed and easily led, and Henry Fields, from The Observer, is hounding me to see them. He always gives me a good write-up so…”
Anouk grinned. Usually, she would persuade her artists to stay true to their plan, but tonight had gone so well that she relented. “I’ll go grab them from the vault, Jonah. It’s no biggie.” She looked at Knox and handed him her glass of champagne. “Here, babe, you stay and make sure Jonah doesn’t promise anything else to anyone.” She narrowed her eyes at Jonah, then chuckled as the men laughed.
She kicked off her heels at the door to the vault rooms, and slipped quickly down into the temperature-controlled rooms of the gallery’s basement. Flicking the lights on, she padded quickly to the section where Jonah’s artwork was, and began to look through the racks.
The lights flickered off. Anouk cursed and felt her way to the end of the rack, where another light switch was placed. She flicked it on, turned… and found herself facing her worst nightmare.
***
Knox glanced at his watch. Anouk had been gone for at least fifteen minutes now, and Jonah Holland was casting worried glances towards him. Knox held up his hand and nodded at the artist. I’ll find her.
He set down the champagne glasses and went out to the basement steps. At the bottom, he pushed the door to the vault open and called out. “Nook? You here?”
There was no answer. Maybe she’d gone to the office. He turned to go upstairs, but then saw her shoes discarded at the entrance of the vault. A small ribbon of unease started in his chest and he went back inside the dark vault. “Nook?”
He felt along the wall for the light switch and flicked it on. For a moment, he thought the place was empty; then, at the far end, he saw something. As he moved forward, he realized with growing distress that it was a foot. A foot sticking out from behind the racks of paintings. A bare foot. He was running now, and as he almost fell in his urgency to get to her, he stumbled onto the worst scene of his life.
Anouk lay on her back, one arm flung above her head, the other across her body, across her red dress… except her dress had been white, and the reason it was red was the blood… so, so much blood. Knox fell to his knees, all reason and sanity gone as he cradled his love in his arms, screaming for help, screaming for her to wake-up.
All his crazed mind could focus on was the pool of her own blood that Anouk lay in, and the hilt of the knife that was still buried in her soft belly.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
She had turned around and he was there. Shawn. There was no comically evil smirk on his face, no long mocking speech about how and why he was going to kill her. Just Shawn, and the knife, and the many, many times he drove it into her. She hadn’t known pain like that existed. It was confusing, bewildering agony, and it didn’t stop as Shawn stabbed her again and again. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t scream, forgot who she was, where she was. All that existed was searing pain and the smell of rust-and-salt. Blood. Her blood. She was falling, but Shawn caught her and laid her on the floor. She hadn’t had a chance to fight back.
The fact that he hadn’t spoken, hadn’t made a sound, hadn’t broken a sweat as he butchered her, was almost as terrifying as the knife in his hand. Anouk felt herself drifting, and then there were only two thoughts in her mind. One, that she would never see her darling, her beloved Knox again.
And two, that this was somehow always going to be the end of her story. Of their story. Shawn had broken her heart and her trust, and now he was killing her, completing their fatal love story. Their hate story.
As she gave in to the growing darkness, she asked the question, the only question she had now. Why didn’t you just let me go?
She didn’t hear his answer before the darkness came.
***
Flynn ignore the pull of her aching body as she ran down the hospital corridor. She saw Levi first, his face pale and shattered, along with Ruby, Anouk’s assistant, tear-stained and in shock, and a man she didn’t know. “Levi!”
Levi gathered his sister into a bear hug and held her tightly. Flynn was shocked to feel him sobbing. “Oh, god, please tell me…”
“She’s in surgery. She’s still alive.” But she could tell from the desolation in his eyes that it wasn’t looking good.
“What happened?” Flynn looked at Ruby, and although they didn’t know each other well, Flynn reached out a hand to the young woman, and Ruby took it.
“She was stabbed,” Levi said, his voice shaking. “Multiple stab wounds to the abdomen. That’s what they said. Christ, it sounds so clinical to say it like that but… she lost a lot of blood, Flynn.”
“Flynn!” They turned to see Iris, her sweet face creased with worry and fear, come towards them. “Where is she?”
“Surgery.” Flynn found her throat closing. “It… she…”
“It’s bad,” Levi finished for her, beckoning Iris into their little group. He took her hand. The young man with them looked uncomfortable. “I should go.”
“I’m sorry,” Ruby said, taking his hand, “I should have…everyone, this is Jonah Hammond. He’s… our friend.”
“Is there anything I can do for you all?” Jonah Hammond looked as devastated as the rest of them, and although they assured him they were fine, he offered to go get them all some coffee, and headed do
wn to the cafeteria, accompanied by Ruby.
“Where’s Knox?” Flynn wiped her eyes.
“With the police.” Levi and his sister shared a loaded glance, and Levi nodded. “Yeah, he’s in pieces.”
“Not surprising.” Iris rubbed a hand over her face. “Did the surgeon tell you anything?”
Levi shook his head. “It’s too soon. She’s only been in surgery for forty minutes.” He squeezed Iris’s shoulder. “It’s good that you’re here. All good karma, you know?”
Flynn half-smiled. “If you knew how unlike Levi that sentence was, you’d be amazed.”
But Iris just looked tearful. “How could he do something like this?”
“The ex-husband?” Levi’s tone was hard now. “He’s a fucking walking cliché. I can’t have you so nobody else can? Fuck him. God help him if we find him first…”
Flynn and Iris looked startled. “What do you mean?”
Levi looked uncomfortable. “Knox asked me… we’ve sent out private investigators to find Shawn Simon, or Shawn Vanderson, whatever the fuck his name is. Knox wants this dealt with… privately.”
Flynn’s legs gave way and she crumpled to the floor. Levi and Iris went to help her, but she pushed her brother away. “What the fuck are you thinking, Levi? This isn’t you. You don’t dole out vigilante justice. Knox… he’s damaged, Levi, and he needs you to reel him in. Do you think either of you could kill someone?”
Levi’s face was like stone. “For Nook… yes.”
“And how is she going to feel when she wakes up to find her fiancé and his brother are in jail for murder? Is that her future? Visiting you both in Walla Walla? Because fuck that. You do this, you are dead to me.”
Flynn was so distressed that Iris had to lock her arms around the young woman, and hold her until she took a couple of deep breaths.
Levi crouched down and took Flynn’s hand. “I know. I know.” He looked ashamed as he rubbed her hand, more to comfort himself, it seemed to Flynn, but that was okay. She wanted Levi back, her brother who was strong and sensible and stoic. She saw the grief in his eyes and knew he was feeling this deeply. “I’m sorry, bubba.”