Seduction: Book 2

by Joyce Jordan

  It wasn’t what the family wanted to hear. Maggie was so discouraged Gabe had to send his mom to do damage control. He didn’t want her crying all over Ana. If ever they needed positive vibes it was now.

  Friday morning, the private investigator had managed to find the names of the four boys. Nate and Rafe had his best people digging anything and everything on them. The next day someone dropped off copies of the reports and each brother picked a copy to go over that night. Nobody was going to sleep that night. They were going to be pouring over the documents finding weak links, crimes committed but covered up. They also had the PI look into that criminal angle too, for both parents and kids.

  Kelly went back to work Friday morning. Every break and lunch, she would come over to visit with Ana.

  Stefano whose flight was leaving Saturday, had postponed it for another few days.

  Gabe was working with a flash light in Ana’s room going over his report while his brothers each had their own reports and were in the private sitting room. He held Ana with his left hand and had a pen and highlighter in his right hand. He felt a movement and squeezed Ana’s hand absent mindedly before it registered in his mind what the movement meant.

  “Shit,” he said as he leapt up. The movement came again and he knew he wasn’t dreaming. “Baby please open your eyes.”

  “Water,” she croaked.

  “Water, someone please get me some water. Fuck she’s awake. Hurry. And someone get the nurse.”

  Suddenly the room was filled with people. Nobody dared to breathe as they waited for Ana to say something. Gabe held the cup to her mouth and she took a few sips using the straw at the end.

  “What’s going on?” she asked confused.

  “You don’t remember?” Gabe asked her.

  She shook her head and cried out in pain.

  “Oh baby. Don’t try to move or talk. Just stay still. We are just happy that you are awake. You scared us.” Gabe took the hand he had been holding the entire time and kissed it.

  The nurse walked in and took her vitals.

  “Ms. Summers. How are you feeling? Any pain?” the nurse asked

  “Headache,” she croaked.

  “I’ll bring you something for that and a doctor will be up to check you shortly. Okay.”

  “Thanks. Can I have more water please?”

  “Sure, but it’s probably easier to get ice for a while.”

  One of his brothers rushed out to get ice and Gabe fed it to her slowly. A doctor on night shift walked in a few minutes later to check basic brain functions. He indicated everything looked okay but would have her get another scan to make sure. Someone came to take her and she refused to go without Gabe. Since it wasn’t busy, the technician allowed him to tag along but remain in the room outside.

  “Baby, I’m not leaving you. But you need to let them run the necessary tests on you.”

  “You haven’t told me what happened.”

  “I will. Let’s get this out of the way okay. I will be right here, outside this door.”

  “Okay,” she said then finally let go.

  For the next thirty minutes Gabe was pacing outside the door. His heart was beating a mile a minute, about to explode with happinesss. His Ana was awake. And he wasn’t letting her out of his sight for the next several days or weeks as she healed. After that, he was having her guarded better than the US president. He knew there was going to be a fight about that, but this was a fight he was prepared to win. Once those boys were in prison, then he would loosen up, but she would have to promise that never again would she be going anyway without a tail and a car and driver.

  When she came out, he took her hand as her bed was wheeled back to her room. The doctor was back after he had checked the results and said everything looked good. They would monitor her and then run another battery of tests in twenty four hours before they could release her.

  It was now four, an hour after she had first opened her eyes. Gabe gave the go ahead for his brothers to make calls to tell everyone Ana was awake. He knew he would catch hell if he didn’t let his family know.

  “Do you remember bringing some notes to Kelly, and using the subway?” Gabe asked her.

  “Yes, I got on the train and there was a group of boys messing around with some old woman. When I stepped up for her, they took it out on me and shoved me around until I lost my footing and fell. After that I don’t know what happened.”

  “You lost conciousness and I guess went into a coma that lasted several days.”

  “What day is it today?” Ana asked?

  “It’s now Sunday morning. It’s barely four and soon this room will be filled with people. Everybody has been spending the day with you. Sitting and holding your hand. Everybody loves you baby. I love you baby.”

  “Oh Gabe. I love you too.” Tears welled in Ana’s eyes as she looked into Gabe’s eyes. “I’m sorry I wouldn’t answer your calls.”

  “Shhh baby. You had every right. I swear I will never jump to conclusions again,” Gabe leaned over and kissed her lips. He was gentle as he ran his tongue over her lips and pressed her lips to his.”

  “It’s our turn to kiss Ana,” Manuel said from the foot of the bed.

  “Since I am feeling really generous, I will allow it. Go ahead.” Gabe lifted off Ana and sat in the chair he had just abandoned.

  One by one, Manuel, Nate then Rafe, all kissed Ana’s cheeks. They sat and told jokes. Kelly and Stefano were the first to arrive. They both carefully hugged her, afraid she would break into tiny pieces. Kelly started crying again but this time they were tears of happinesss. Jim, Maggie, Mark and Matt arrived not more than ten minutes after Kelly and Stefano. Gabe hadn’t told her they were here, and she was surprised to see them all. Her mum cried and fussed all over her. When Eva and Evelyn arrived, she was equally hugged and there were more cries. Soon the men had taken leave of the room, leaving the women alone.

  Tired with everyone talking at once and the excitement of the past few hours, Ana fell asleep in the middle of the chattering. Maggie panicked thinking she had fallen back into a coma again, but Kelly explained to her that this was now a natural sleep and that she would probably sleep for a while.

  They all piled out of the room. Kelly said she would just hang around until her shift started. There was no need to go home only to come back shortly. Jim, Maggie, Matt and Mark all went back to shower and change. Eva and Evelyn also followed and promised to be back in a few hours. Stefano remained with the guys and helped go over the reports. Kelly went back to Ana’s room and sat with her and left the guys in the private sitting room. Coffee was passed around and people got to work. They were not leaving any stone unturned.

  A nightmare woke Ana around noon. She was thrashing and screaming. Everybody jumped and rushed to her room.

  “Ana baby, it’s a nightmare. You need to wake up. Baby, wake up please,” Gabe held her body against his and kept his voice low but urgent.

  Crying she opened her eyes and fixed then on Gabe. “Oh Gabe. Please hold me.”

  “Baby, do you know what you were dreaming about?” Ana was shaking and Gabe was trying to be calm, but his mind was thinking that those boys had given her nightmares.

  “I was on the train and…and…” She started wailing and shaking violently.

  “It’s okay baby. You don’t have to relive it. Just breathe slowly and you will be okay. You are right here with me.”

  It took some time, but she finally calmed down and sighed against his chest.

  “You okay now?” Gabe asked her.

  “Yes. I think so.”

  “I’m going to let you lie down on the bed now, okay.”

  When she nodded, Gabe placed her back on the bed and lifted his upper body from the bed. “Don’t leave,” she said in a panic.

  “Baby, I’m not leaving. I’m just taking a seat.” He took her hand and brought it to his lips. “Are you hungry?”

  A second later her belly rumbled and they both laughed.

  “What w
ould you like to eat? I’ll have someone go and buy it.”

  “There is a deli around the corner that serves great tacos. Can I get two?”

  “Baby, anything you want. Let me get someone to go. I’ll be right back. But your mum may want to come in for a second. She was worried when you screamed.”

  “Okay, but don’t take too long,” she said.

  He gave her a light kiss then opened the connecting door to the private sitting room. Gabe realized that at some point everyone had left them alone.

  “She’s okay now. Hungry too. She says she wants tacos from some deli close by the hospital. Can someone go and get her some?”

  Manuel and Stefano opted to go. “I’m not sure in which direction it it, but Kelly would probably know,” he told them. He turned to Ana’s mum. “Maggie, go and see her. I’ll be back with her when her food arrives.”

  She ate like a starved person, which she probably was by now. Detectives Smith and White showed up just as Ana was done with her lunch. Gabe wasn’t sure if she was up to questioning. Ana said she was okay and she needed these guys caught and brought to justice. So if she had information that could help the detectives she wanted to help.

  “If you start feeling tired, we need to stop. If your head hurts we need to stop. The detectives can always come back when you are feeling better.”

  “Okay. I just need you to hold my hand,” she told Gabe.

  Gabe held her hand in both his hands. He squeezed then kissed it then continued just holding her as she gave an account of what happened that day on he train. They made her go through it a second time then Gabe told them it was enough for the day. They could come back tomorrow, but she had already been through enough for the day. “Baby, I’ll be back. I just need to walk the detectives out.” Gabe walked them out to the private sitting room then asked someone to sit with Ana while he talked with the detectives. Eva, Maggie and Evelyn all went to sit with her.

  As soon as the connecting doors were closed, Gabe let it out on them. He told them he knew someone was protecting someone and he was going to find out who and what it was. Now that Ana was awake he was going to devote more time to bringing these teenagers down, and their parents if they were involved in any cover ups. He told them how she had woken up from a nightmare not more than an hour ago. “Tell your bosses that this isn’t going to go quietly. You all have had enough time to nail those good for nothing teenagers. Yet none of them have spent even a single day in jail. And now someone is saying it’s all circumstantial at this point? Do you think that’s what her parents who flew in all the way from Dallas want to hear? There is nothing circumstantial about this whole case. Right now, I’m done. I’ll deal with this in my own way.”

  “Mr. Boyd, I hope you are not trying to take the law into your own hands. Because that would be very bad,” Det. Smith cautioned.

  “You can rest assured everything I do will be within the law. Good Day detectives.” Gabe turned and opened the door for the detectives to exit. He was mightily pissed. As soon as they left, he shut the door and started the pacing.

  “You know there is nothing more than a rich man treasures than his money. Sometimes the war is won in the boardroom rather then the court. If you need help looking into their corporations just let us know, Mark and me have developed a skill for digging through the rubble and finding where the stash is,” Matt offered.

  “That’s exactly my strategy. The files we were going through with my brothers are mainly personal. Now I think we need to dig into the business side of things. People who hide like that, have a lot of skeletons hidden. I’m sure we can uncover one or two that we could use to our advantage. By the time I’m done with them, those boys won’t have any trust funds left standing.”

  “Gabe? Ana is asking for you.” Gabe heard his sister say. She was standing at the connecting door, waiting for him.

  He walked right into an argument among the women. He heard Ana saying she needed to use the bathroom then take a shower. But the two mothers were clearly against her, and thought it would be best if she used a bed pan then they could give her a sponge bath after that. Maggie had tears in her eyes and was telling Ana that she was too weak to stand in the shower by herself. She could get dizzy and fall, hitting her head again.

  “Look, I have been stuck to this bed for days on end. I’m not going to use a bed pan when the bathroom is ten steps away. And neither am I going to have another sponge bath, my hair is a mess, and I just need to stand under the shower and wash the stink of those filthy boys away,” Ana was now huffing and puffing, but trying to avoid tears from spilling over.

  “Ladies, let me talk to Ana for a minute. I’ll meet you out front.” Grudgingly they left and her tears spilled over. He took her into his arms until she had quietened. “It’s okay baby. They are just trying to help. You scared them when you had this accident happen to you.”

  “I know, but they don’t seem to understand that I don’t want to remain a victim. I need to start doing little things like the most basic personal stuff which they are now taking away from me.”

  “I’ll help you to the bathroom, then hold you while you shower. How’s that? But I need to confirm with the nurse first, about your hair. There is a cut on the side that I’m not sure if we can use water yet or not.”

  “Okay. Thank you.”

  “Give me a minute.” Gabe left to go and talk to the nurse at the nurse’s station. He was told it was okay to shampoo her hair, they would just need to apply some ointment on the cut to speed up the healing. Next he called his brothers and asked them to clear the sitting room. He needed to help Ana in the shower, and he would rather do it without her parents being in the next room.

  Gabe went back into Ana’s room and carried her to the bathroom. He quickly disposed of his clothes, then removed her hospital gown. After adjusting the water temperature, he helped her into the shower stall. He let the water just run over her body before he shampooed her hair then rinsed it, and then proceeded to wash her body. Her cuts were already healing. Her clothing had protected her against too many injuries. Gabe gently used his hands soaping her from neck to toes. He squirted some face wash into her palms and she rubbed her face then she stood back under the shower to rinse the soap from her face then her body.

  “Feeling better now? Or do you want me to soap you again?”

  “I feel so much better, but can we stay under the spray for another few minutes?”

  “Sure. But not too long. I doubt your mum will be pleased to find us in here together.”

  Ana giggled before asking, “She doesn’t know?”

  “I hope not. I had to ask my brothers to find a way to clear the sitting room. One of them should be guarding the door and will alert us when they are on their way back.”

  “Okay, in that case I think we shouldn’t tempt fate. We can leave.”

  Gabe shut the water off, the sat Ana on the shower bench. He dried her hair until it was just damp, then moved on to dry her body. “Here,” he said turning. “Kelly brought you some clean clothes for tomorrow when you are released, and nightwear for while you are still in here. Or if you prefer to wear the hospital gown, there are some fresh clean ones available.”

  “I don’t think I want my ass to be on display, so we will go for the nightie and that pink robe.”

  Chuckling he said to her, “It’s a pretty ass. You could sleep on your belly, and I could get to stare at it all day. Ouch!” He felt her pinch his upper arms with enough force to make him step back in pain. “What was that for? It’s the truth.”

  “That’s no way to talk to a helpless invalid.”

  Gabe snorted. “Helpless my ass,” he muttered.

  “What was that?”

  “Nothing baby. I was just thinking that I need someone to get me fresh clothes for tomorrow.” He walked away and picked up clean clothes then threw all his other dirty clothes into his overnight bag. Once he was dressed, he came back to her side and picked her up before depositing her in a chair he had pul
led inside. He used the hairdryer attached to the sink to blow dry her hair. “Do you want to go back to bed, or sit in the sitting room with the gang?”

  “I’d rather sit for a while.”

  Gabe picked her up and walked into the sitting room. Apparently the rest of the gang wasn’t back yet. Manuel and Stefano had been left to guard the door. He took a sit on one of the empty couches with Ana in his hands. “Baby, I just need to hold you for a while. It’s been so long.” Gabe breathed into her neck before kissing her cheek.

  “Stefano, wasn’t your flight supposed to be yesterday?” Ana asked him when they moved closer.

  “I rescheduled it for Wednesday. I wish I didn’t have to go, but I need to put in my resignation and pack my stuff.”

  “Oh Stefano,” she took his hands into her. “I understand and I’m sorry you had to delay everything. I’m also sorry that we didn’t get to find you an apartment yet. But you know you can still bunk with us when you get back. In the meantime I will be looking for something for you as soon as I’m out of this place.”

  “Baby, I hate to the bad guy here. But when you leave this place, you will need to rest. For as long as the doctor says. After that we can talk. I’ll even help you look for an apartment, so long as you promise to follow doctor’s orders.”

  “No rush. Except that…” Ana paused and when they all looked at her, she finished by saying, “I wouldn’t want to cramp Stefano’s life in case he needs to bring his boyfriend over.”

  “Jesus Ana!” Manuel exclaimed.

  “I see someone has had a full recovery,” Stefano intoned.

  Gabe threw his heard back and laughed wholeheartedly. It was at that moment that the rest of the gang minus Kelly who was at work, came back in. Questions from the newcomers flew around wanting to know what they had been laughing at when they came in.