by Eve Langlais
“Let’s get you to bed.” He helped by pulling back the covers and steadying her as she climbed in.
She lay on her back in the very center of the mattress, and before he could leave, she asked, “Was the gas leak an accident or done on purpose?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it does,” she insisted.
“Then, if you must know, it was an accident. Probably a mouse or something chewed on the line.”
She knew he lied. The leak had been intentional.
Rather than let him see her expression that undoubtedly betrayed her feelings, she turned on her side to face away from him. “I seem to be having an uncommonly good run of bad luck.”
“I wouldn’t say that. Not one of those events has led to you being truly harmed or killed.”
“But how long will my luck last?”
Chapter Twelve
Upon leaving Ariel, Hugo’s steps grew quicker and quicker as if he could outrun his anger. He only barely contained it as he joined Gerome outside. His man knelt in the bushes behind the kitchen where the gas line fed into the house and the tampering had been done.
Hugo had only seen the lit cigarette by accident, the burning stick of tobacco left behind to light the fuse tied around it, which fed into the house alongside the gas line, which had been tampered with.
Things had almost ended very badly.
“Did you find anything?”
“No. But whoever did this knew what they were doing. The investigators never would have suspected arson. Rather, they would have assumed someone on staff tossed a cigarette too close to the gas and…boom.” Gerome exploded his hands, fingers splayed.
“I want every video feed checked. I want to know why nothing was triggered. Where did they come in? Where did they leave? I want a name, Gerome.”
“I’ll do what I can.” Which was usually better than most.
Yet it didn’t feel enough for Hugo. He returned to his suite and paced while keeping a digitally trained eye not only on Ariel, who slept restlessly, but also on the patio door to her room, and even the hall outside of it.
They had past coincidence now and headed straight into attempted murder. Someone wanted Ariel gone. Someone who knew that she was staying here.
Or was this related to the hit on him? Could be the pyromaniac didn’t realize Hugo had stepped out for the evening. Either way, these attacks had to stop.
The next day, Hugo was loath to leave. With the holes in his security, how could he trust that Ariel would be all right?
He spent the morning in his office mulling over the question of who the explosion had been meant for. He’d not come to an answer when he was interrupted.
A knock on his door preceded Gerome’s entrance.
“So?” he said without greeting.
“The cameras that were malfunctioning have been replaced, and I had more added to the circuit.”
“How could two cameras go offline without us knowing?” Hugo demanded. He paid for the best. What happened the night before was unacceptable to him.
Gerome sank into the club chair in front of his desk. “A glitch in the software, at least according to the tech geek I spoke to. The patch for it was somehow never applied.”
“Which indicates that someone was aware of the defect in our system and took advantage. Do we have a spy in our midst?”
That would suck given Hugo had personally vetted all the staff. He never would have expected one to betray him.
“If it’s a spy, I’d say it’s a remote one. I’ve got Francis working on improving our network’s firewall.”
“We should have Francis change all the passwords, too,” Hugo remarked. “Speaking of whom, I haven’t heard from Francis today.”
“Because it’s Saturday,” Gerome reminded. “Most people don’t work on the weekends.”
“Never understood that,” Hugo grumbled. “It’s a day of the week like any other.”
“Not everyone is as dedicated to their work as you are.”
“Are you subtly implying that I have no life?” He arched a brow.
“I wasn’t trying to be subtle. Take some time off.”
“I’ve got things that need to be done.”
“When are you going to slow down and enjoy life?”
“When are you?” he riposted.
“When your dumb ass does, because who knows what the fuck you’ll do if I’m not here to stop you.” Gerome stomped off, and Hugo leaned back in his chair.
Yes, he did work a fair bit, but in his defense, the business didn’t sleep on the weekends. Or at night. Besides, he had plenty of downtime. He worked from home almost daily now. Which counted as being more relaxed, right?
He tried to concentrate on work in between watching over Ariel, who’d once more chosen to sit by the pool. But this time, she wore a light summer frock. No swimming today.
She seemed recovered from her ordeal the night before. She’d eaten a full breakfast and lunch, according to reports. Gone for a walk in the garden, too.
But he couldn’t forget how she’d tossed in her sleep, clearly agitated.
While watching her, an alarm went off—a perimeter sensor that made the watch on his wrist vibrate.
He tapped the warning button that appeared. The screen on the wall went from showing a lovely landscape to being divided into squares, each one representing an active camera feed.
Staff was the cause of the motion in the first few. Ariel once more by the pool, caused the outdoor ones to activate. But he was more interested in the perimeter ones.
“Enlarge the views for the cameras on the northeast quadrant.” His house, with its computerized access, obeyed his command and zoomed.
It took him a moment to find the cause of the cameras’ alert—new tech he should add. The old set had gone fuzzy. Meaning, there was still a bug in the system, but the ones on the new channel fed him images.
The camouflage the intruders wore did an excellent job of helping them blend in with the foliage Hugo encouraged on the property. Not the best when it came to clear lines for security as Gerome liked to remind him, but Hugo enjoyed the wildness of the greenery.
There was no reason for them to be sneaking onto his property. He spoke into his wristwatch. “Ensure all staff is on high-alert.” Some people had Alexa and Google Home systems; Hugo had a custom one with preset commands to use in an emergency.
His wrist buzzed, and he saw a message from Gerome. Going to intercept.
Not alone, he wasn’t. Hugo planned on helping him. While his staff was well trained on how to act, Hugo wasn’t the type to sit back and do nothing while others defended him.
He armed himself first, the holster in his desk taking only seconds to slip on. He headed outside using the door to the garage, then a more subtle exit out of it to the side of his house where the unexpected guests were.
The wild jungle ahead wasn’t bright enough to hide Gerome’s eye-popping teal shirt. Something patterned in jellyfish, which Hugo silently admired but would never buy.
He flanked his everything man to expand their search net. The mini copse of trees filled a full acre. His oasis when he wanted somewhere unplugged to think.
There was serenity to be found walking under the heavy branches, the air immediately more humid, odorous. The hum of insects assailed the senses, as did the rustle of the leaves in the trees.
His watch vibrated. A quick glance showed a simple message.
C U
Gerome, indicating he was aware of Hugo’s position. This wouldn’t be the first time they’d done something like this together. Gerome had been acting as security pretty much his whole life, although he’d not come to work for Hugo until about twelve years ago.
The first time they’d met, Gerome had been working for another man.
Not a very nice one.
When his employer suffered a freak accident on his boat, Hugo had offered Gerome a position. They’d been together ever since. He counted Gerome among his few frien
ds and trusted him implicitly.
Whoever had infiltrated Hugo’s property was good. He almost missed seeing them. Their camouflage gear blended perfectly, and they knew to move slowly. Yet not slow enough. Flickers of motion betrayed them.
Hugo came up behind the person, stealthy as could be. But something must have alerted the intruder to his presence. Just before he could put a gun to the person’s head, they whirled and kicked out, the blow to Hugo’s hand knocking the pistol free.
His wrist throbbed, but that didn’t stop Hugo from grappling with his assailant, his size a little bigger. But that meant little, given his opponent had obviously trained in hand-to-hand.
Every blow Hugo attempted to throw was blocked. He went on the defensive as flying fists and feet came for him, a few landing with bruising impact.
He did his best to dodge and then felt clumsy as he lunged and missed. The intruder’s kick sent him reeling, and he hit the ground on his knees.
In sight of his gun.
He grabbed for it and whirled with it in hand, firing on instinct, and then grunting as the intruder slammed into him.
Hugo hit the ground hard under the attacker’s weight, and his head banged off a root.
Chapter Thirteen
The water felt soothing against flesh determined to be feverish, and not just because of the sun. Ariel had come out to the pool area after lunch in her swimsuit, partially in the hopes that Hugo would join her again.
The man had a way of igniting her senses, especially the spot between her legs. He might not do it on purpose, but the mere fact that he breathed appeared enough to rouse her libido. Dear God, was she a whore in her old life? One who constantly lusted after men?
She frowned and pursed her lips. Why would lusting make her a whore? Weren’t women allowed to desire and act upon those desires? The warring opinions on sexuality confused.
She’d take befuddlement over fear. Hugo had lied about the gas leak. It wasn’t an accident, meaning yet another attack had been made on her. But why? And by whom? Who wanted her dead?
For some reason, she saw a face, scruffy on the jaw, bloodshot eyes, the mouth twisted in anger.
Tommy. His name is—
Doing another lap, she noticed movement, but not coming from the house. Someone in overalls knelt among the tools by the waterfall.
As Ariel went to touch the wall to do her turn, she got a blurry view of the person, who dangled a cord, the power tool on the end whirring.
Ariel couldn’t have said what caused her to launch herself from the water. She hit the deck, and in the same motion, ducked as the other person swung at her, the reciprocating saw narrowly missing.
“What are you doing?” she yelled.
“Killing you, what’s it look like?” huffed the attacker as they swung again. Only Ariel wasn’t about to be a victim. She ducked and, despite the fear thrumming through her, felt energized and calm.
Perhaps that was why she reached for the assailant rather than running. She grabbed hold and twisted her body, sending the woman into the pool…still holding onto the tool attached to the power cord.
Ariel’s mouth rounded in horror as the body in the water jiggled a few times then went still, face-down.
Dead.
Uh-oh.
How would Ariel explain killing her? Would anyone believe that it was an accident? Not to mention, she obviously wasn’t safe here, and whoever wanted her dead was clearly done being subtle.
She eyed the house and ran for it. How long before someone noticed the dead body in the pool? Before they called the police to arrest her?
She wanted to change, a bathing suit wasn’t exactly a getaway outfit, but the best she managed was snaring her coverup on the way into the house.
She needed to get away. Now. As far away as she could. She understood the irrationality of it and yet couldn’t help herself. Heading out the front door, she winced at the heat of the driveway on her bare feet.
She should have at the least grabbed shoes.
Or a gun. A gun would be nice. She couldn’t have said where that thought came from.
Yet the fear wouldn’t let her go. She ran parallel to the driveway, the freshly cut grass staining her feet. Then she heard the distant crack of a gun. Or was it?
Her breathing huffed in and out, but she remained focused on the goal. Escape.
Only she never made it past the front gate.
Chapter Fourteen
Hugo heaved the limp body off him, waking with a throbbing head underneath the dead weight. He’d been stunned for a moment when he hit the ground, head wounds were a tricky thing, but other than a soreness to his skull, he discerned no signs of a concussion—no blurry vision, no vomiting, still knew his name and, best of all, he could stand without keeling over.
Gerome tromped through the copse of trees, a body slung over his shoulder. He eyed Hugo for damage. “You okay? You look a little out of it.”
“Whacked my head, but fine other than that.”
“I’m surprised you got here that fast.” Gerome slung the other body to the ground and eyed the one at his feet. The bullet had gone through the chest, probably nicking the heart.
Pity. He would have liked to ask some questions. By the looks of it, Gerome’s target didn’t fare any better.
“What are you talking about? I got here the moment I got the alert.”
“I take it you didn’t have trouble handling the other one, then.”
“Wait, there was a third one?” Hugo asked, trying to make sense of Gerome’s words.
“Hold on, don’t tell me you didn’t handle the one sneaking through the back?”
The moment Gerome said it, Hugo flashed on Ariel, by herself and quite possibly a target, too. He sprinted for the rear of the house, heading in the direction of the rear patio, vaulting over a low line of bushes in his way. The fence around the pool required him to grab hold of the rail and climb over. Landing on the other side, he sprinted for the blue waters, his eyes drawn to the body floating on the surface.
Right away, he noticed that it wasn’t Ariel. The fully dressed body had short hair and a stockier build. At the bottom of the pool, he saw a power tool with the electrical cord snaking from it.
An accident? An attack? Whatever the cause, that made a third dead body on his property.
And no Ariel.
Where the fuck had she gone? Or had he missed yet another intruder?
Rather than start running around uselessly looking, Hugo bolted for his office and spent a moment flipping through the cameras as he rewound the footage, right past the point where the attack happened. Then he watched. Saw Ariel sluicing her way through the pool, a person wearing utility coveralls and a ball cap pulled low slinking to the cache of tools—a stash that existed because he’d put a halt to the contractor’s work given Ariel’s presence.
He paused and rewound to the part where Ariel emerged from the water and attacked.
Frame by frame, he saw nothing to indicate that she knew the person was there. As she neared the edge of the pool and the waterfall off to the side of it, she simply slammed her feet down to vault herself. Her hand barely seemed to touch the edge of the pool as she landed on it in a crouch and then sprang.
Ariel caught the assailant’s arm and grappled. Not for long, though. She did a move with her hips and then yanked, tossing the attacker into the water—with a live power cord.
Hugo didn’t stop the video and thus saw her standing by the edge of the pool, her expression a stricken mask. Horror. Panic. Both emotions and more flashed over her face.
She bolted from the pool area to the house but didn’t go to her room. Where had she fled to?
He scrolled through more feeds, room after room. Then the outside. Didn’t see her. Scrolled again, assuming he’d missed her on the first pass.
It wasn’t until he loaded the front gate footage that he found her, tugging on the lower bars, then looking up at the sharp points topping them.
Surely, she wou
ldn’t…
She did try and climb. Predictably, she got stuck.
Minutes later, he pulled to a stop beside her on his golf cart and said, “Do you need help getting down?”
She glared at him. “Why is your gate sticky?”
“Because it keeps people from climbing it.” He tried to keep his expression deadpan, but she looked comical all twisted in her attempts to extricate herself, which only resulted in her getting even more stuck.
“The stakes at the top weren’t enough?”
“Didn’t stop you, did it?” he replied. “You know, if you wanted to leave that bad, you could have asked. Gerome or I would have opened it for you.”
“I was in a hurry.” A bleakness entered her expression.
“On account of the dead body. Understandable.”
“It was an accident,” she hastily replied.
“If you say so. But it’s not me you need to convince.”
“You call the police?”
For the moment, he let her think that. “What else was I to do when I found a body floating in the pool, and my guest missing?”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“Obviously. Which is why I’m guessing you panicked and ran. Where exactly where you going, anyhow? It’s a few miles to the nearest trafficked road.”
“I don’t know. Like you said, I freaked. I didn’t have a plan.”
“Nothing in your mind except escape.” He’d once given in to that impulse, leaving the country of his birth and ending up in the Caribbean.
“Which you foiled. I guess once the cops get here, I’m going to jail.”
“Don’t be so sure of that.”
“Do you mind if we continue this discussion after you get me down? This is massively uncomfortable,” she grumbled.
“Say please.”
“Please.” Hissed through gritted teeth.
He emerged from the golf cart with gloves and the solvent. He’d only recently bought the sticky trap and was pleased to see it worked like a charm. Animals and insects were repelled by the sticky substance, only people seemed to get caught. The stocks he’d bought in that company would be worth a fortune once it went mainstream.