“I’m okay,” she lied, of course. Her dad was standoffish, his anger and disappointment clearly evident. Remi knew this was going to be tough as she walked over to Marlene, who wrapped her arm around Remi’s shoulder, giving her reassurance. “I’m saddened by Liam’s actions, but I still love my grandson.”
It was just what Remi needed at the moment. When they reached her apartment, they noticed the police tape strewn across Liam’s door but tried to ignore it. Once inside Remi’s place, she offered them something to drink, but they all declined. However, she took out a bottle of wine that was in the refrigerator and pulled out a few glasses from the cabinet. “Just in case,” she said, smiling nervously. She then excused herself for a moment and retreated to the bathroom. Once in there, while staring into the mirror, she splashed cold water onto her face. “Our story,” she whispered, thinking about what Liam had written in the letter. When she emerged, everyone was seated and ready for her. “Are you okay?” asked her dad. She nodded as she poured herself a glass of wine and took a few generous sips. Penny had been on the phone and as soon as the call ended she revealed. “Well, the mastermind of the heist has officially been arrested and charged.”
Tony asked who it was but before Penny could utter the name. Remi blurted, “Mitchell Denton.”
A collective, “You knew?” was asked by everyone.
Remi poured more wine into the glass, held it up and declared. “Yup!”
Tony just shook his head in disgust while a stunned Beth asked, “Is he related to your boss?”
Remi slammed back the entire glass, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand then replied, “It’s her ex-husband.”
And right on cue, Olivia arrived. She told her to come on up and approximately four minutes later, Remi opened up the door and without a single word said, the look of repulsion on Olivia’s face divulged that she too knew about Mitchell’s arrest and his connection to Liam. Olivia instantly began laying into Remi. “How could you lie to me all these weeks?”
Remi tried to get a word in, but Olivia just kept going on and on. “You knew I suspected Mitchell, and yet you said nothing. Instead, you accepted my job offer and looked me in the eye every single day all the while knowing I was right about him.”
“Olivia, please let me explain,” she begged. “Explain…what are you going to explain?” she asked harshly. “How your boyfriend worked for my ex and how he was one of the gunmen who held you hostage?”
“Yes, Liam did work for Mitchell and yes he did hold me hostage, but he also saved my life,” she snapped back. Olivia huffed, her cheeks crimson, as her anger was in full gear. She was mad and rightfully so, but Remi just wished she’d let her tell her side of the story. “Look, I get where you’re coming from, but I really need for you and everybody else here to listen to me,” she said, her voice cracking with desperation. Beth and Marlene both protectively walked over to be by her side. “We’ll listen, sweetheart,” said her mom. Olivia stepped towards the door, a sign she had no intention of staying. “Please don’t go,” called out Remi. “All I’m asking from you is just stay for a little while and hear me out.”
She thought about it for a moment before finally relinquishing, but her stiff demeanor proved she wasn’t going to be easily swayed. And Remi had her work cut out for her. Tony and Warren were both conspicuously quiet. Both for different reasons, Tony was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that Liam was very much a bad guy while Warren couldn’t believe that his only child had turned into a criminal. Remi gathered everyone into the living room and instructed each to get comfortable. As the women, sat on the couch and love seat. The two men opted to remain standing. “Okay, I’m going to tell you everything that happened, and I would appreciate if you all just kept questions and comments to yourselves until I’m finished,” she pleaded. “I promise I will answer whatever questions you have, but I need to get all of this out first.”
All the guests nodded in agreement, even a reluctant Olivia.
Remi began with the heist, more specifically, her being the one taken to the vault by two of the masked gunmen. “At the time I didn’t know one of them was Liam, or that the other was Tom Schaffer, the guy I shot in the warehouse and the guy killed by Liam.”
Everyone’s mouths dropped, especially Warren’s. Hearing it told by Remi put things into a whole new perspective. “But I digress,” she casually remarked. “Once Liam and Tom retrieved the pink diamonds,” she said, looking directly at Olivia, gauging her reaction, which surprisingly there was none. “They were about to leave the vault when Tom asked Liam what to do with me, and Liam told him just to leave me there.”
Remi cringed as she explained the next part. “The vile feeling I got from Tom frightened me, so it was a blessing that Liam had told him to leave me alone and even more of a blessing when Liam was the one who returned and the one I ended up locked inside the vault with,” she said. “Of course, I didn’t know it was Liam at the time because I never saw his face, but had it been Tom; I more than likely would have been raped, tortured and murdered,” she said bluntly. Beth gulped while Tony clenched his fists. “Tom practically admitted as much while we were at the warehouse,” she said. “He was so jealous of Liam; he ranted about how it should have been him in the vault with me, it made me sick to my stomach.”
There was complete silence in the room as Remi held everyone’s full attention and though they all had many questions they wanted to ask, they were mesmerized just listening to her. “Anyway, while inside the vault, at first things were tense, as we had no idea how long we would be locked inside and though I was afraid of the situation as a whole, I wasn’t afraid of Liam. Because for some strange reason I didn’t get the feeling he intended to hurt me,” she said. “I mean, there were a couple of times where he did threaten me, and I know that sounds bad, but he wouldn’t have followed through.”
Her dad looked extremely displeased and agitated but allowed Remi to explain further. “At one point, I fell asleep on the floor, and when I awoke, Liam had slipped his jacket underneath my head so that I could use it as a pillow,” she said. “Does that sound like a guy who was going to shoot me?” she asked, almost smirking. Marlene smiled because though he was still committing a very serious crime, he had still been a gentleman. “After a while, we had nothing else to do in there but talk and I guess you could say we got to know each other a little bit, or as much as we could under the circumstances. I mean I still didn’t know his name or see his face, but I had a better idea of why he was there.”
She subconsciously glanced at Warren, and though he showed no acknowledgment, Remi sensed he gathered it was about him. “The longer we were inside there, the more we had no idea what was happening out in the lobby,” she said. “I was scared, but Liam promised me he wasn’t going to let, Charles, the man who was running the operation, do anything to me, so when the moment the vault door was reopened, Liam made sure I was firmly at his side,” she said. “This next part is a little confusing because at the time I thought Liam had betrayed me, but he later explained to me why he did what he did.”
Remi stopped to take a few breaths, knowing the upcoming portion would be difficult. “When we left the vault, Liam sensed that Charles figured out that we had formed a bond, so to throw Charles off, Liam came up with a ruse about needing to go back to the vault, unfortunately, that left me alone with Charles,” she said, shivering as the thought of that happening all over again, played vividly in her mind. “I didn’t know that was what Liam was doing, and I thought he had lied to me and screwed me over. Which was even worse when Charles decided to slam my body and head into a concrete pillar.”
Beth cried out, “Oh my God!”
As a kind gesture, Penny grabbed Beth’s hand. “I feel like I’m reliving this all over again,” Beth said. “I’m so sorry,” said Penny, guilt in her voice. Remi continued. “I immediately drifted in and out of consciousness, and all I could think of was how I was going to die right there,” she said, staring off into
space. “It was dark, and all I could see was smoke and my life was close to being over, but then out of nowhere Liam picked me up and carried me to the back exit.”
A huge smile adorned Remi’s face, as she recalled that precise moment. “He gently sat me down by the door, and my head was bleeding profusely, so he removed his ski mask for me to use as a compression against the wound, but lucky for him it was too dark for me to see his face,” she said, snickering slightly. “I ended up blacking out and losing my memory anyway, so at the time it wouldn’t have mattered.”
Remi hesitated for a moment as the room had gotten so quiet you could hear a pin drop. She cleared her throat then said, “Afterward, when I came to, I had no recollection of what had happened. So, I honestly wasn’t lying at that point; I didn’t remember anything about the heist, my time in the vault or how I had sustained the head injury or gotten to the exit.”
Warren began to interrupt, but Penny put her hand up to stop him and whispered, “Wait until she’s done.”
“This might be a little shocking to some of you, if not all of you,” she said, looking directly at her parents, who both braced themselves for what was about to come. “Apparently, when I was rescued, I was clutching the ski mask, and while I was in the hospital, one of the EMT’s that rode with me in the ambulance, returned it to me.”
“WHAT?” Tony barked. “You had the mask and didn’t tell the police or us?”
“Dad, please just let me tell the story.”
He sighed, obviously frustrated. “Okay.”
“I knew it was wrong not saying anything about it, and I can’t explain why, but there was just something inside of me that said not to turn it over to the police, to hold onto it and keep quiet,” she said. “I had no idea why I had it, but I was convinced it would help get my memory back.”
A tiny, subtle smile formed on her lips, it was almost undetected, but Penny caught it. “Looking back now, it was the first time, I protected Liam, though, he had no idea I was even doing it, hell I didn’t even know.”
Everybody appeared speechless at the acknowledgment of the mask while Remi felt that was small potatoes compared to the rest of it. She managed to inject some levity when she started talking about the irony of moving in with Melanie and how Liam ended up being their neighbor. She laughed, “It’s funny when I think about the first time he and I met outside the elevator, I was carrying bags of groceries and dropped one, Liam stopped to help pick the stuff up, and I remember how he stared at my face as if he had seen a ghost.”
She laughed again. “After that encounter, when we’d run into each other, he gave off the most overprotective and paternal vibe it was almost unnerving. Melanie was convinced he was just attracted to me, but I got a whole different feeling. And not once did I ever think he was involved in the heist.”
Remi pulled the hoodie sleeves further down over her hands, and once again breathed in Liam’s scent, an enjoyable reminder for her. She then continued. “He began giving me rides to and from work and always telling me to be careful, which I have to admit, at the time, seemed a tad strange.”
Marlene smiled at that comment, not doubting her grandson’s concern.
“He was especially protective one night when he had been at a restaurant with Charles, and I showed up,” she said. “Needless to say, I didn’t recognize or remember Charles but definitely got a creepy vibe from him, and Liam was none too happy about that, and quickly ushered Charles away from me.”
Remi picked up the wine glass and took a large sip. “The reason Liam and Charles were meeting at the restaurant was that Liam had something Charles wanted,” she said but stopped short of divulging further. But without missing a beat, Olivia smartly surmised, “The pink diamonds, right?”
Remi nodded. “Wow, Liam had my diamonds the whole time, and you knew, and you lied to me about it,” shouted Olivia. “I can’t believe you did that to me,” she added, her disdain cutting through Remi like a sharp knife.
“I’m so sorry,” cried Remi. Olivia echoed that sentiment, “Well, I am too, I’m sorry I trusted you and thought you were somebody you obviously weren’t.”
“You have every right to feel that way, but can you just listen to the rest before you pass full judgment on me?” she pleaded. Olivia sighed, clearly unhappy being put in that position. That said, she reluctantly agreed to keep listening.
“When Liam had escaped the bank, the diamonds were still in his possession, and Charles who had also escaped wanted them too and resorted to threatening me to get Liam to turn them over.”
The more Tony heard, the more his blood boiled, especially the fact that Liam had been to his house and for all in tense and purposes seemed like a decent guy. At that moment, though grateful that Liam saved his daughter’s life, he was sickened at the fact that it was Liam who put her life at risk in the first place.
“Of course, neither Liam nor Charles was aware that another person was also in play, which was Tom, but initially Liam only thought Charles was the only threat, and Charles believed that because Liam saved me once, he’d feel the need to protect me again,” she said, smiling. “And Charles was correct because once he threatened to harm me, Liam enlisted his friend Chris to follow me and make sure nothing happened. He did this because at that point Liam was trying to distance himself from me because he was afraid the more time he was around me, the more likely my memory would return, and I would figure out who he truly was.”
Olivia was about to ask why Liam didn’t give Charles the diamonds but she didn’t have to as Remi clarified. “Liam felt the diamonds didn’t belong to Charles and deep down he knew they didn’t belong to him either; he just wasn’t sure what the right course of action was. Like, he couldn’t just turn them over to the police without implicating himself, and I think he knew returning them to you, Olivia,” she said, looking directly at her. “Was the right thing to do, he just felt he was stuck and couldn’t do it.”
“That’s not an excuse,” Olivia harshly countered. Remi nodded, somewhat agreeing with her. Though she would defend Liam to the earth’s end, she remembered back to that time where she suggested to him that he give them to Olivia and he responded that it wasn’t an option. If only he had listened, she thought. “Anyway, I had no idea Chris was following me, and I think Liam tried his best to avoid me, but it was futile because we both still managed to end up in each other’s orbit,” she said. “Mostly because Liam was still worried about me, it was as if he couldn’t shut off the concern, no matter how hard he tried.”
Penny was in complete awe listening to all of this, to think that this was her son Remi was talking about, was unfathomable. Warren’s demeanor, on the other hand, was harder to gauge. “There was one particular instance where I was out one night with Melanie and her boyfriend Justin, we were at a bar, and Chris was there, and I was getting drunk, and Chris the diligent soldier called Liam to inform him what I was up to. Needless to say, it took no time for Liam to show up and make sure I didn’t do anything stupid or get myself into trouble, which might have happened as I got pretty intoxicated.”
Tony sighed rather loudly as his fatherly discord couldn’t be hidden. “Of course, I did do something stupid in my drunken state, I divulged to Liam and Chris that I had the ski mask, though I obviously didn’t realize that the mask actually belonged to Liam,” she said, then added with a laugh, “I wish I could have remembered his expression when I said it, I imagined it was priceless.”
Marlene smiled while Olivia rolled her eyes. Penny held in her laughter while Warren sat stoically trying not to react in any way, shape or form. “After a while, I was hammered, and Melanie didn’t want to leave so Liam drove me home, and since I didn’t have the key to my apartment, Liam let me stay at his place where I ended up passing out,” she said. “So you see, he made sure that I wasn’t in harm’s way, he took care of me, and didn’t lay a finger on me either, a perfect gentleman.”
Marlene continued to smile, hearing this. “The next morning, he offered me
coffee and Tylenol, but then he said that there wouldn’t always be someone to watch over me, and though I felt it was a curious statement, I sort of blew it off cause he covered it by saying he’d look out for any young woman in distress, but that line and his actions is what set my memory recall into motion,” she explained. “Though it didn’t happen right away, it was the catalyst.”
Beth and Tony realized their daughter had even withheld from them when her memory had returned. Though both felt somewhat betrayed, knowing her and the more they heard, they understood. “Liam didn’t say a word about me mentioning the mask, so when I had gone back to my apartment to get ready for work, I was stunned when Mel had told me that I had opened my big mouth about it,” she said. “However, when Liam drove me to work that morning, we ended up talking about me having the mask and of course he didn’t admit it was really his, but he said that he didn’t think it was stupid that I had kept it. Which that too would come back into play when I began to put all the pieces together.”
Remi again turned all her focus towards Olivia. “The irony too about that specific morning was that was when I first met you.”
Olivia’s eyes widened as she remembered that meeting. “Yes, if I recall, you asked me about the pink diamonds, and we talked about my ex-husband.”
Remi nodded, and before Olivia could even ask, she answered her. “I swear at that time, I didn’t know anything about the diamonds, only what Detective Weston had told me, and I knew nothing about Mitchell.”
Olivia gave her a slight nod, it wasn’t much, but it was something. “When I left our meeting, I ran into Chris at the elevator, which completely blew his cover but he was smart enough to play it off. I had only just met him the night before, so it wasn’t a big deal, we chatted for a minute, and then I was on my way,” she said. “Chris must have panicked that I was at Olivia’s office and called Liam because when I got back to my job, I happened to spot Chris outside my office building. Which, seemed coincidental but not out of the ordinary, it’s a big city, I thought maybe he just happened to be working in the same area, that was until about a half-hour later I spotted Liam outside the building with Chris,” she said. “And at first I thought maybe Liam was there to see me, but then he never came inside plus he appeared angry with Chris. The whole thing was just strange because after a few minutes they both just left, and after work Liam was waiting outside to give me a ride home and never once mentioned that he had been outside my job a few hours earlier, so that along with all the other things, the red flags came out in full force.”
UNMASKED: Sequel to Behind the Mask Page 41