Max opens the car door for Marceline and she gets into the back. She doesn't notice Victor straight away until she goes to put on her seat belt.
"Victor, what are you doing here? I thought I was meeting you at a 'secret location' for our date?"
"I couldn't wait any longer to see you Marceline and you certainly haven't disappointed. You look gorgeous tonight. I especially love those tight jeans you're wearing."
Marceline blushes and bites her bottom lip.
"Please Marceline don't bite that lip, you have no idea what I would do to bite lip of yours."
This makes Marceline blush again.
"So can you tell me now where we're going? I've tried to work out what we'll be doing all week."
"Don't worry, you'll find out soon enough. I just need to make one last call to make sure everything is ready for us to go."
Marceline looks a little confused.
"Hi Evan, is Charlie Tango ready? Ok we'll be there in approximately 10 minutes."
Evan? Who's Evan? And who is Charlie Tango? Ok we must not be going on a date alone. I'm totally lost.
"Victor. Who are Evan and Charlie Tango? Is it not going to be just the two of us tonight?"
"Evan is my right hand man, sort of, as for Charlie Tango, well he is the surprise. Don't look so worried Marceline it is just going to be the two of us, Charlie Tango is just going to be the one taking us to our destination. Just trust me, You'll see soon enough.
They arrive at a building. I doesn't look like much but Victor has the biggest childish grin on his face. Once they are out of the car he walks around to Marceline's side and takes her hand in his. That instant jolt of electricity runs through both of them as soon as their skin meets. He pulls her towards the building and through the glass doors. They make their way over to the elevator and get in. The atmosphere between the two of them is intoxicating coupled with the sparks they feel at meer the touch of their skin. It's a short ride to the top floor where Marceline suddenly realises they are on the roof of the building and she is staring at a helicopter. She sees what looks to be a woman near the door the helicopter. She walks over to where Victor and Marceline are standing.
"Evening Mr Fischer. Everything is ready for you to go."
"Thank you Evan"
Ah ok so this is Evan his 'right hand man' well she doesn't look like much of a man to me. Just act cool there's no need to get jealous.
"Are we going in that?" Marceline asks looking at Victor with a mixture of fear and excitement.
"Yes we shall be flying to our destination."
"Ok, but it's rather small to fit all of us all in there surely. It looks like you can only fit two people." Then suddenly it dawns on her "You are going to be flying us to our destination."
"Oh Marceline nothing gets past you."
"You have flown before right? Please tell me you have otherwise I think I'd rather drive to where every it is we're going."
"Don't worry Marceline I've had my pilot's license for over 4 years, you're in safe hands. Trust me I would never do anything that would put you in harm's way"
"Ok I trust you" and she did more than she cared to admit. She took Victor's hand as he helped her into the passenger side of the helicopter.
"Ok now don't touch anything I'm going to strap you in" he says with a gleam in his eye, like there is some sort of hidden meaning behind his words.
Oh how I can't wait to tie her up like this in my playroom.
He finally gets himself all strapped in and starts to flick some switches and buttons and the helicopter comes to life.
"Put these on. It gets a little loud so you're going to need these to hear me." He hands her what looks like headphones.
"Ok, tower. PDX this Charlie Tango Golf - Golf Echo Hotel, cleared for take-off. Please confirm. Over"
Ah ok this the helicopter is called Charlie Tango. It all makes sense now. Then a voice comes over the radio through the headphones.
"Charlie Tango - you are clear. PDX to call, proceed to one four thousand, heading zero one zero, over."
"Roger tower, Charlie Tango set, over and out. Hope you're ready?" He asks looking towards Marceline with a childish grin
"So are you going to finally let me know where it is that you're taking me? Or will I have Cathy sending out a search party for me tomorrow?"
"Ok I suppose I can't tell you now. We're on our way back to New Orleans. We are going to my place for dinner. I wanted to be somewhere more private so we could talk freely with each other. I hope that's ok? I don't want you to think I'm expecting anything from you tonight so if you'd rather we went to a restaurant instead I can make the arrangements." He looks at her with a concerned expression when she stays silent a little longer than he was expecting.
He wants to go back to his place, he's not expecting anything? I think he'll probably be running to the hills after I've opened up to him and will definitely not be expecting anything. Shit Marceline you've stayed quiet too long he's starting to look worried. Well go on say something to him.
"It's a little unexpected but I can't wait to see your place." She replies with a reassuring smile. I really hope he doesn't run off. I like him so much.
They stay quiet for most of the journey apart from Victor's occasional updates to and from air traffic control. This is mainly because Marceline is so taken aback with the amazing views she is seeing. She hasn't flown that often so it's all a novelty to her. It takes them just over an hour but they see the New Orleans skyline in front of them.
"So where will we be landing?"
"On the roof of my apartment building. You'll see it any minute now." He says as they fly in between the buildings. Suddenly she sees the magnificent building before them.
It's like an ivory tower and I bet Victor is in the penthouse right at the top.
Once they have landed, Victor gets out and heads around to Marceline's side and helps her out of the harness and out of Charlie Tango. He takes her hand and the walk towards the stairwell doors. They arrive at his apartment and they are greeted by another of Victor's security detail. He just smiles and nods towards the man and heads through the door into the apartment with Marceline close by his side. He leads her to his kitchen where they are greeted by a warm friendly face.
"Marceline this is Abigail, she is my close friend and lives here at the apartment."
"Hello Marceline. It's lovely to finally meet the young woman who has had Victor grinning from ear to ear since he met you."
This time Victor is the one blushing at Abigail's words.
"I'll leave you two to your dinner. Anthony will be here soon and then you two can have some peace."
Who's Anthony? All these new people I'm going to be meeting. I don't think I can take in any more new information.
Victor see's the confused look on Marceline's face "Abigail is my in-house housekeeper but is more like family to me. Anthony is Max, it's his first name."
"Ah ok that makes sense now."
Abigail leaves them and they make their way over to the beautifully laid out table complete with candles and a single red rose places where Marceline presumed she was to sit. Their meal was already waiting for them when they sat, it was oysters to start, lamb chops for their main and what Marceline describes as "the most delicious strawberry cheese cake she has tasted."
After having sat and talk about their week and generally catching up over dinner, Victor gets up and clears their plates. He grabs the bottle of wine and shows Marceline into is lounge. They sit and Marceline decides it's finally time to tell Victor about her past.
I have to tell him. I've never felt this way about anyone. Just the way I feel being near him is intoxicating. Ok just do it, just tell him, it'll be like ripping off a band-aid.
She sits next to him on the sofa and just looks into his eyes.
"Victor, you know when you ask me about me past and I told you I wasn't ready to talk to you about it until I felt I could truly trust you."
Oh shit this is happening. S
he's going to tell me. Brace yourself Victor, you like this girl. Nothing she says can make you run away from her. She looks so beautiful, her eyes are like pools filled with pain and she trusts you enough to tell you her secrets.
"You have to promise me you won't say anything until I've told you the entire story."
"Ok, I'm sure I can do that."
"Right well here goes..."
Ok here goes nothing.
"In order for me to tell you what happened, I'm going to need to give you some background details first. When I was just a baby, my father passed away which left my mother struggling. She had a 9 month old, no job and was finding it hard to pay her bills and cope with the fact that her husband had just died. She ended up having to move us back to her parents house until she could get her self a job and save enough money to get a place of our own. She went from job to job for a few years but finally found work in a local bar which was owned by a friend of my grandfathers and his son. The son's name was Benjamine and my mom and Ben hit it off almost instantly. Things were moving so fast with them that after only a few months they decided to move in together and got engaged. I was about 5 years old when they first got together and Ben was such a nice guy. He always went out of his way to take my mom and I on trips to the zoo and park. He had a son from a previous marriage who was almost 8 then. His name was Adam and he was great, he told me he'd always wanted a younger sister and we got on so well. I was so excited to be moving in with Ben and Adam as I thought we could be a happy family like the ones all my kinder garden friends had. They got married after a few months of living together and everything was perfect. I had a mother, father and even a big brother."
Ok Marceline now here comes the hard part.
"Life seemed to be going really well. Ben's father had left his bar to him and my mom as late wedding present because he felt he was getting too old to deal with the demands. They turned the place around and managed to make it even more successful than it already was. I had started school and was doing well, Adam was also doing well at school and was really popular. It was shortly after I turned 7 that things started to fall apart. I would hear Ben and mom argue about things to do with the bar however, the next morning they would always act like nothing had happened and like we were the perfect family. It was another couple of month until I noticed mom wasn't her usual bright cheerful self. She wouldn't argue with Ben anymore and she seemed to be really timid around everyone. Then I noticed the marks and bruises. She insisted it was nothing and that some folk had gotten into a fight at the bar and she had tried to stop it. I wanted to believe her and I did at first until the bruises started to appear more often and in much more visible places. Adam was acting really strange too and would shout at me and always seemed to be angry. I figured he was just upset about what was happening like I was, our family was falling apart and we couldn't stop it."
Ok Fischer you can do this, she is opening up to you just let her tell you without interrupting. Shit I knew her dad had died when she was a baby but I never realised how hard it must have been for her mother. What a horrible start she had. At least her grandparents were there for her.
Her mom has found someone and they're becoming a "happy family" as she's put it, but how come she hasn't mentioned she has a brother and how did that not appear in the background search?
Oh! My! God! That bastard Ben he was beating her mother. I need to look at my files again and find out that fuckers full name and make him pay for what he's done. My poor Marceline having to deal with her mother physical abuse at such a young age. Ok she's not finished let her finish without getting angry and storming off to find this fucker.
Oh he's clearly angry at what he thinks I'm about to tell him. Mr Control Freak is doing well to just sit here and listen to me even though I can tell he's frustrated. He keeps running his hands through his hair. Oh how I want to run my hands through his hair. Enough Marceline get on with it, you've started your story you need to finish and let him know.
"Victor I know you're angry and thank you for staying quiet but it's going to get a little worse now so please bare with me ok. This isn't easy for me to tell you as it's hard reliving these memories. Ok where was I? Oh yes our order had arrived, we got chinese and we sat at the table and started to get everything set out when Ben noticed that some of the order was wrong. Adam noticed too and Ben's expression changed completely. Next thing I know Adam has launched himself from his chair and across the table towards my mom and had his hands around her throat screaming at her saying it was her fault the order was wrong. Ben ran around the table to try to pull him off but Adam could not be moved. He was like someone possessed. Ben eventually pulled him off her but he couldn't hold him, Adam grabbed a chair and hit Ben in the head with it. It shattered and he then picked up one of the legs and turned back to my mom and went after her. I was screaming and crying as I didn't know what was going on.
Then Adam stopped. He was looking at me and I could see the anger in his eyes, he was yelling at me to stop screaming and crying. I tried to run towards my mom but he chased after me, he caught me and hit me in the stomach with the leg of the chair. I fell to the ground and he proceeded to hit and kick me. My mother and Ben tried to pull him away and they managed to just as he was about to hit my head with the piece of wood. He was kicking and screaming as they pulled him away. Ben had a large cut across his brow and you could see he was getting a black eye and my mom, well lets just say she could hardly stand. As for me, I had two broken ribs a fractured wrist and cuts and bruises all over my body. I was so shocked at what had happened I wouldn't talk to anyone for days.
When we got home Adam wasn't there. He had run away. I was so glad he was gone and I hate to admit this but I wanted something bad to happen to him so he could never come back. Ben filed a missing person report and explained to the police that he was violent and to be cautious if they found him. It was about two weeks after we got back from my being in the hospital that he was found. The police had found him and had placed him into care until they could get around to getting a social worked to help with what had happened to us. That night I was asleep and I woke up feeling really cold. I noticed my bedroom window was open so I got up to close it. When I turned back around I saw him. Adam had managed to escape from the care home and had climbed in through my window. I was so scared but he just looked at me and asked me to keep quiet. He was whispering to me that he was sorry and he didn't mean any of what happened, he was crying and kept repeating that he was sorry. I gave him a hug and told him that he was ok and that he needed to say sorry to mom and Ben too. He told me he would later and that he just wanted to go to sleep. I believed him so I let him sleep in my bed with me until morning when he could apologise to them both.
I woke up again and I saw it was almost morning as the light was starting to come through the window. I turned to find Adam lying in the bed naked and he was trying to take my pj's off. He saw me wake and look frightened so he quickly got on top of me, covered my mouth so I couldn't scream and proceeded to try to remove my pj's. I was so scared, I was thinking of how stupid I was to believe him and let him stay. I didn't want to struggle as I knew that would just anger him. Then suddenly my mom comes into my room to wake me up and screams when she see's what is going on. Ben comes rushing into the room and runs toward the bed and drags Adam off me. Mom comes over to me while Ben is struggling with Adam. She was reassuring me everything will be fine. He tried to rape me, I loved him like he was my real brother and he tried to do that to me. Well after that he sent to a juvenile facility and was put away for a long time. Ben and mom tried to get on with things but it was a real strain on their marriage so they soon parted ways and filed for divorce.
It turned out that Adam had a history of violence before my mom and Ben had gotten together. He had attacked children at his earlier schools and would have phases of being completely fine and would snap for no clear reason. Ben thought it was just a phase he was going through because his mother had just abandoned them. Since he
got together with my mom Adam became better and the violent attacks had stopped so he didn't think it would be a problem anymore. Obviously that wasn't the case. I found out he had started to become violent again not long after we found out my mom was pregnant. unfortunately, or maybe fortunately now she had a miscarriage. He was jealous of the thought of another child taking attention away from him. It turns out that the stress of having to be so careful around Adam may have been one of the reason she miscarried. Anyway that's it. That's my story.
Ok you've told him now so there's no going back. He's still sitting here so I'm guessing that's a good sign. Although he does look completely taken aback by it all. Oh please let don't run away from me because of this.
Jesus! Fuck! I wasn't expecting that! No wonder there was no mention of that little prick in the report I got. Oh my sweet Marceline I can't believe what has happened to you. She's been through so much at such a young age just like I have but she's not as fucked up as I am. She's finished now and you're just sitting there looking like an idiot. Say something to here. Let her know you aren't going anywhere and that you still want her.
"Fuck Marceline, I can't believe that. I wasn't expecting that outcome whatsoever. When you mentioned your mom having bruises and marks my first thought was it was Ben but never Adam. You amaze me Marceline, that you've been through so much as a kid and you are not completely fucked up." Like you, you mean. "Thank you for telling me, you look relieved?"
"Well I am to be honest. It feels good to have told you and I'm also so glad you're not running for the hills after what I've just told you. I've found it so hard to trust many guys in my life and I finally feel like I can now that I've met you." She looks away blushing at what she had just said. Victor places his index finger under her chin and moves her face back up and towards him. He looks deeply into her big blue eyes and moves in for a kiss. There lips touch and that instant tingling feeling envelopes them both. Marceline parts her lips to allow Victor access. They explore each others mouths and their kiss deepens and becomes more passionate with every passing second. After a few minutes they both break apart, panting and trying to catch their breath. Marceline has never felt this comfortable around a man, apart from Hernandez and Jay. He takes her breath away and Victor feels the same way about Marceline.
A Billionaire's Connection: Marceline's Kiss (Molding Clay Book 2) Page 4