by Beth Abbott
“Did your friend suggest when he thought she might start responding? Is there some sort of timetable she could be following that we know nothing about?” Marcus rubbed circles on the back of Sara’s hand as he spoke.
“There’s no timetable, and there’s no guarantee she will ever say anything.” Sara shrugged. “This regression may be permanent, or something might trigger a reaction that will bring her out of it.”
“What would the treatment be if she doesn’t come out of it in a reasonable period of time?” Marcus asked. “I mean, would they do something drastic like try and trigger a reaction or a memory to bring her out of it?”
“I honestly don’t know. I’m not a psychologist.” Sara shook her head. “I don’t know if that would help or just make her regress further. And of course, the decision would have to be made by Tulli and Lara as to whether the doctors should even try something like that. It’s a difficult decision.”
“Yeah, I can see that now.” Marcus nodded.
“So, now you know the reason why I can’t leave Mischa, just to go and have wild monkey sex with you, can’t you just relax that stupid rule of yours and give me that five-minute orgasm I’ve been longing for?” Sara looked up at him from under her long lashes, her face a picture of innocent begging.
“Nah, not a chance, poppet!” He grinned. “But as you’ve been a good girl otherwise, how about I give you a shoulder rub and then a foot massage?”
Sara sighed.
“Oh, all right.” She grumbled. “If that’s all I’m worth to you.”
He tugged her up to a sitting position on the edge of the bed, and crawled up behind her, settling himself on his knees so he was half a head taller than her.
Marcus started by rubbing his thumbs up and down the back of her neck, while his hands caressed the tops of her shoulders and the sides of her throat.
He’d been gently rubbing circles over the top of her shoulders for a minute or two when he noticed that Sara’s hands had found their way onto his thighs, and were blazing their own trail up and down, down and up, not stopping at the edge of the towel before travelling down again.
He could feel himself stiffening with every stroke of her soft hands up his thighs.
“You don’t play fair, sweetheart.” He growled into her neck as he planted his lips at her pulse point.
“Maybe not.” Sara turned her lips to meet his. “But it’ll level the playing field if I’m not the only one who’s as horny as hell!”
Marcus rolled his eyes as his tongue plundered his wife’s sweet mouth.
Realistically, he’d known he’d never be able to hold out for more than a few minutes, but damn! He thought he’d at least hold out until she’d started to beg a little. Or a lot.
The way Sara’s hands had found their target now? Not a fucking chance!
Chapter 32 – Lucky
“So, tell me why we’re still sitting around an indoor swimming pool, in this fancy house, sipping cocktails and generally kicking back, when the purpose of our visit was to shoot the fuck out of a bunch of Russians, and get back home?” Pedro smirked as he downed the rest of his drink with a flourish.
“Oh, Pedro.” Luciana sighed. “Not everything has to be quick and clean, y’know. Sometimes you have to draw the moment out and let them sweat a little. It just adds to the anticipation.”
“Really?” Pedro scoffed. “You’re just ramping up the drama? That doesn’t sound like you. And besides, we had to shoot the owners of this beautiful mansion, plus their staff, so we could enjoy their hospitality in this beautiful countryside setting. Was that really necessary? Couldn’t a hotel have done just as well?”
Luciana shrugged, pretending to ignore his curiosity.
“Come on, boss-lady! This is me you’re talking to.” Pedro chuckled. “You don’t do anything for effect, and certainly for no good reason. Which leads me to believe that there’s a damn good reason for us being here. So, what gives? Or are you gonna keep me in the dark?”
Luciana stared at him long enough to have him squirming under her examination.
She trusted Pedro. In fact, he was probably one of only a handful of people she’d ever trusted in her life, but frankly, even that didn’t count for very much.
She lived in a world where you lived or died by who you trusted, and who trusted you. Put your faith in the wrong person and you didn’t last very long.
Luciana had been taught that by her father at a very young age.
Not directly, of course. Luis Castille wasn’t a man to waste his time giving lessons to a young girl, even if she was his daughter. Especially if she was his daughter.
No, she’d learned that lesson quite painfully in her teenage years, when she’d dared mention learning something about his business, so she could be useful to him.
Luis Castille had damn near pissed in his pants.
His laughter was now one of the most vivid memories she had of her papa, but not for any good reasons. He’d never laughed with her, just at her.
The day she’d made her suggestion, he’d grabbed her brutally by her chin, and pulled her face up close to his.
“Do you seriously think I would let a woman anywhere inside my business?” He’d almost spat in her face. “You might be my daughter, but all that means is that one day soon you will be some man’s whore. If you think I’ll send you to him with the secrets of my business in your head, maybe you’re not as smart as your tutors tell me.”
He’d been true to his word, and had never allowed her into meetings, or shared with her his knowledge of the world of drugs, guns, and people-trafficking.
But then, she didn’t need to be taught. You couldn’t live in the Castille complex and not see what was going on. You couldn’t walk past the factories to know a drug operation was in full production mode inside.
And you couldn’t sleep in the bedroom above Luis’ office without being able to hear what was going on below through the floorboards.
Once, when she’d been about twelve, she’d been caught lying on the floor under her bed, and had to pretend that she was afraid of a ghost. Her father slapped her face for being such a coward and a disappointment, but at least he still didn’t know she’d been listening in on his conversations.
Of course, when she was old enough to be given to Hector, Luis had all but sympathised with the man. He figured his daughter was good enough to look at, and would probably be good for breeding, but that was about it.
Little did he know that she’d already spoken with her new husband about how she saw their life together, and Hector, bless him, was at least prepared to humour her.
Of course, once she’d proved how effective and brutal a ‘little wife’ she could be, she found her husband more than happy to keep her at his side.
He obviously had more belief and faith in her than her father ever had.
So, that begged the question, why was she in America, thousands of miles from home, ready to execute dozens of people, just to exact revenge for the death of a man who didn’t give a shit about her?
Because he was her papa. It was as simple and as complex as that.
Besides which, she wouldn’t exactly be living up to her name of the ‘Widow-maker’ if she let the people responsible for her father’s death live, could she? She had a reputation to uphold, after all!
She glanced across at Pedro, who was still watching and waiting for her reply.
“Sometimes, the choices in front of you are black and white, and so your decisions can also be black and white.” She explained. “And then other times, they can be all colours of the rainbow, and you have a dilemma. Do you pick the one that is your favourite colour, but worry because other people might know your favourite colour? Or do you pick your least favourite, hoping that people won’t expect you to do that?”
Pedro stared at her, his mouth hanging open.
“Or do you wait to see which colour other people pick, and then pick something different?” Luciana mused. “It’s a little bit like a
game of strategy.”
Pedro leaned forward and picked up her empty glass and sniffed it.
“What the fuck have you been drinking, Lucky?” He grinned. “You sound like you’re fucking trippin’ or something!”
Luciana smiled.
“We came up here armed with a single piece of information.” She pointed out. “That my father was murdered because of a Russian guy. Right?”
Pedro nodded in agreement.
“Do you think that I would take such drastic action without checking my facts?” She asked. “Do you think I’m so reckless, or stupid?”
“Never.” Pedro answered solemnly.
“Do you think I trust everyone around me to have my best interests at heart?” She glanced around the pool, her eyes pausing on her brother-in-law for just a second before continuing.
“Not for one fucking second.” Pedro’s voice was little more than a growl.
“Exactly.” Luciana smiled. “And do you think it’s better to go off half-cocked, when you don’t have all the information you need, or better to wait, while the whole picture reveals itself to us, hmm?”
“Do you have the whole picture?” Pedro asked curiously.
“Not yet.” Luciana smiled. “But soon, my friend, I will have the last piece, and we’ll light this town up the way nobody ever has before. They’ll be talking about it for years to come.”
“Yeah?” Pedro grinned. “That sounds so good, Lucky.”
“Yeah, it does, doesn’t it?” Luciana sat forward and slipped off the side of the pool into the warm water.
“Could you just do one thing for me first?” Pedro asked, causing her to turn around. “Could you wait until at least late tomorrow to light up the town? If I have one more of those cocktails, it’s gonna take me twenty-four hours to sleep it off. And I really want to be sober for this party!”
“Don’t worry, Pedro, there’s no rush.” She reassured him. “No rush at all.”
Chapter 33 – Tulli
Tulli sat on a chair by the side of Tuck’s pool watching Lara and Mischa in the water. Joel was also in his swimming shorts, sitting on the side, but he seemed to have appointed himself as lifeguard for the session, as all the other men had gone into a meeting with Tuck.
Mischa was continually smiling and laughing, but still, a week after the dramatic rescue that had brought them back to America, she had yet to speak to anyone, or even make eye contact with anyone properly.
The closest she had come to communicating with anyone was with Joel, when she would giggle at his jokes, and even hold his hand.
Tulli worried what would happen to her if she never improved beyond this point. Not that Tulli would ever leave Mischa to fend for herself, not as long as there was air in Tulli’s lungs and a beating heart in her chest.
But then she had to consider that she was eight years older than Mischa. What if Mischa outlived her and Lara? What then?
“Mischa is looking very relaxed today.” Charlie’s voice made her jump, lost in her thoughts as she’d been.
“Sorry, Tulli.” Charlie apologised. “I didn’t realise you hadn’t heard me coming.”
Tulli blushed as she smiled.
“It wasn’t your fault, Charlie. I was in a world of my own.” She explained. “I spend a lot of time with my own thoughts, these days.”
“I’ve noticed that.” Charlie stared at her intently. “And have your thoughts taken you forward at all? Or do they keep taking you back to Colombia?”
Tulli smiled at the astute young African American.
“A few times they’ve taken me back there.” She admitted. “But my conversations with Gregor have proved most effective at helping me make sense of what happened to us. Mostly my thoughts turn to what the future holds for the three of us. It’s almost as scary as what happened in the past, albeit in a completely different way. The past can’t hurt us anymore, but the future is one great big unknown.”
“You seem to spend a lot of time on the phone to Gregor.” Charlie smiled. “And afterwards, you seem to have found a happy place.”
Tulli blushed, as she glanced back at the pool.
“I guess we’ve formed a strange connection.” She admitted. “Maybe we were both in need of someone to talk to, and we found each other at the right time.”
“If you don’t mind me saying, you and Gregor seem to have found a lot more in each other than a friend to talk to.” Charlie pointed out. “You seem to have discovered something a lot more meaningful than that. Everyone around the two of you can see that.”
Tulli didn’t want to lie about her own feelings for Gregor, but nor did she want to presume that Gregor’s feelings for her were anywhere near as strong.
“My mother would have described us as ‘kindred spirits’. People who simply connect for no apparent reason.” She smiled.
“Oh, I think there’s plenty of reason for the two of you to connect.” Charlie smiled. “You and your sisters have a delicate beauty that can be seen from a hundred paces. And then when a person gets up close, you have those fascinating grey eyes, always changing from light to dark depending on your mood. They’re quite beguiling.”
“Why, Charlie!” Tulli chuckled quietly. “If you hadn’t been looking straight at Lara when you said that, I would almost have accused you of flirting with me.”
Charlie’s eyes shot to hers, and his cheeks reddened with embarrassment.
“It’s Ok, Charlie.” Tulli said quietly. “You’re not the only observant one around here. And I’m not so absorbed in my own drama that I can’t see what is going on right in front of me.”
Charlie looked down at his hands.
“I’m amazed you found anything to see.” He shrugged. “There’s nothing been happening that would cause you to comment, I’m sure.”
“Charlie, I’ve seen the way you look at Lara.” Tulli leaned forward to get his attention. “And I’ve seen the glances she throws your way when she thinks you’re not looking.”
Charlie glanced up, frowning.
“Really?” He asked.
“Charlie, Lara suffered every bit as much as I did, and as much as Mischa did.” She explained. “You can see what it’s done to Mischa. Maybe I’ve handled it better because I’m older… I don’t know. Maybe it’s going to come back to haunt me in six months or a year from now. We all process these things differently.”
Charlie nodded his understanding.
“Lara is somewhere in between, I think. Not so traumatised that she can’t function, but not able to put it behind her yet so that she can move on.” Tulli glanced around to watch both of her sisters. “Maybe because she and Mischa were always so close she’s suffering twice as much. Once because Mischa was affected so badly, and a second time because she was unable to protect her. Lord knows I had those thoughts for months, the guilt that as the oldest I should have looked after them.”
“There was nothing any of you could have done, Tulli.” Charlie reached over and lay his hand on Tulli’s arm. “You were all helpless, and unable to protect yourselves, let alone each other.”
“I know that, and I’ve come to terms with what happened, and to a large degree, I’ve stopped blaming myself.” Tulli nodded. “Lara’s not quite at that point yet. She’s not ready to let anyone in just yet.”
Charlie glanced back at the pool, his brows drawn low over his eyes, and Tulli could almost feel the sadness radiating from him.
“Charlie, you seem to have missed the one most important word in what I just said.” Tulli put her hand over his, as Charlie looked back at her.
“I said ‘yet’, Charlie. Lara’s not ready ‘yet’.” Tulli smiled. “Now, I don’t know how busy your schedule is, but if you’ve got a patient nature, and you’re willing to persevere, then I don’t think your efforts will go unrewarded. Not that I can put a timeline on it, mind you. But I do think Lara’s recovery is linked in some way to the improvement in Mischa. We’re not unrealistic, in that we’re not expecting a miracle recovery. But jus
t seeing her so happy, the way she’s been the last few days with Joel’s visits, does the world of good to lift my spirits and Lara’s too.”
“We had a brief conversation about our friendship a couple of days ago.” Charlie stared out at the pool. “I told her I had no plans to go anywhere soon.”
“Well, that is good to hear.” Tulli smiled. “Be patient and be gentle, Charlie, and I think your efforts will ultimately be rewarded.”
Charlie turned his head and stared into Tulli’s face for a few seconds.
“I can see why Gregor can spend hours talking to you, Tulli.” He smiled. “Thank you for the pep talk. I’ll take your suggestions on board, and I’ll give Lara all the space and time she needs.”
“I’m glad to hear it, Charlie.” Tulli smiled. “But don’t give her too much space, will you. Lara needs to know you’re there, and she needs to be able to feel your strength, without feeling coddled. It’s a fine line to walk, but if anyone can do it, I have a feeling it will be you.”
Charlie seemed to sit straighter and puff his chest out at her little bit of praise.
“Why don’t you go and have a swim, and let Joel join in the fun.” Tulli suggested. “He’s been on self-imposed lifeguard duty for an hour or more, so I’m sure he’d like time off for good behaviour.”
Tulli watched Charlie wander to speak to Joel, before going off to change into some shorts.
Lara stared in her direction, and Tulli could almost see the questions on her sister’s face.
“Oh, Lara.” Tulli smiled to herself. “If you’re as curious and possibly as jealous as you seem to be, then maybe you’re further along the road to recovery than I thought!”
Chapter 34 – Tuck
“Hannah, you know I have absolute confidence in your ability, and in everything you’ve ever done for us…” Tuck paused for breath, trying to keep his extreme frustration from making the words come out as an accusation. “But it’s been four days, honey. Is there any way your information was wrong, and Lucky Vega and her men are still on the Mexican side of the border?”