***
Herbert entered the office ushered by Rachel who left quickly. He sensed her discomfort with so much testosterone in one room.
"What is it now, Sebastian?" Herbert took a seat. His eyes were empty and cold.
"What did you tell Mariss about Hellena and me?"
"I told her very little." Sebastian stared at him, waiting for the truth. "I gave her what she needed to find the information on her own, though. I owed her and it was something she needed to know."
"And what makes you an expert on what she needs to know?" Sebastian couldn't believe the man's gall. His sole purpose was to keep this information from getting out and he'd given it away to the first person who asked.
"If she's cavorting with you, she needs to know."
Sebastian crossed the room in two long strides and jacked the man up by his throat. "Mariss is not cavorting with anyone, and I resent the accusation. It seems your usefulness to me has expired. I will no longer require your services."
Herbert loosened Sebastian's grasp and wrenched away. His gaze was fiery.
"Very well. It was nice working with you, Sebastian. Always a pleasure." His words dripped with sarcasm.
"Of course." He waited for Herbert to leave before he called Rachel in.
"Yes, sir, Mr. Boa." She shoved her heavy glasses back up her nose.
"Have the car brought around. I have a meeting. You are to stay here until I return."
"Yes, sir."
Sebastian poured himself a glass of brandy.
"Yes, um, I'm calling to have Mr. Boa's car brought around front."
"Rachel." He closed his eyes as he tried to calm himself.
"Yes, sir, Mr. Boa."
"When I said you were to stay here, I meant in the apartment. Not in the office."
"Oh. Right. I'm sorry, Mr. Boa."
Sebastian waited until the door was shut to release his growl of frustration. If Juliet didn't come back to him soon he was going to drag her back by her bloody toenails.
***
The diner was a bit seedy, but it was the best place for a situation like this. Sebastian polished his spoon before he took a bite of his warm apple pie. A dollop of vanilla ice cream melted over the top.
"Mr. Boa."
A tall, thin man with wiry hair and spectacles stood before him. Behind him was Mindy.
"Please, both of you have a seat." He pushed his pie to the side and straightened in his seat.
"Thank you." The man, a lawyer named Ronny Fickle, slid into the booth. "You understand, this is highly out of the ordinary."
Mindy slid in next to Ronny. She refused to look up at Sebastian, preferring her badly manicured fingernails.
"Yes, of course. I won't take too much of your time, but I had a few things I wanted to discuss before the hearing. The accusations against me are astounding. No doubt, the purpose was to ruin my reputation, which they have done, well and proper. I commend you, Miss Williams, for your creativity."
"Mr. Boa," Ronny said, appalled. "Accusations of," he looked around and lowered his voice, "of rape are not to be taken lightly."
"Absolutely. I agree."
"To refer to such things as a creative means to ruin your reputation is insulting and offensive at best."
"Once again, Ronny, I fully agree. But that is what they are, isn't that right, Mindy?" She looked up at him briefly before casting her eyes down again. "For years, I worked with women against the abuse of under-aged female models. I am still the face of their organization, which is now crumbling because of the ridiculous accusations against me. I'll give you a chance, Miss Williams. Do you have anything to say to me right now?"
Mindy shook her head. Still, she wouldn't look at him.
"Mr. Boa, if you're trying to intimidate my client into dropping the charges…"
"I'm not trying to intimidate anyone." Sebastian watched them both for a moment. Ronny was getting angry. He knew he'd have to get on with this if he hoped to make his point. Mindy was nervous as hell. They both knew nothing had happened that she didn't want. "One of my close friends was raped repeatedly when she was sixteen years old."
Mindy looked up then. Sebastian kept his features even and unreadable, but the look in her eyes said she knew who he was talking about.
"You knew that," he said. "That's interesting. I'm almost done, but I want to give you another chance to amend your statement. This will be your last chance."
"If all you're going to do is bully my client, then I'm going to have to insist that this meeting be over." Ronny put his hand on Mindy's shoulder to usher her out of the booth.
"Oh, it's far from over," Sebastian said, his voice firm and threatening. "I have something to show you." He lifted a laptop from the seat next to him and set it so the three of them could see. "Now, I understand that this is a digitized version. I have the original tape if you'd like to look it over." He showed them the tape on the seat. "This is a security feed from my club." Mindy's face blanched. Sebastian pressed play.
The camera angle was from a security camera above the front entrance. It clearly showed Sebastian and Mindy who were joined by Hellena. There was a good shot of the look Hellena gave the other woman, and then Sebastian and Hellena left together. Mindy stood alone for a few moments before she was joined by another man. They appeared to argue for a few moments before he left and she stomped after him.
"I'm going to assume this was a relative of yours," Sebastian said to the now sickly green-faced Mindy. "You share quite the resemblance." Ronny stared, dumbfounded. "As I said, I will provide you with the original if you need to have it examined."
Sebastian stared at Mindy until she looked up at him. Her eyes were rimmed with tears she fought to hold back.
"I gave you a chance to come clean, Mindy. I believe I behaved admirably toward a woman who threw herself at me twice. Even you said I was more honorable than most, given the circumstances, isn't that right?"
Mindy nodded. "I'm sorry."
"It's too late to apologize, though I will accept it. You'll find I'm a fair man. However, as a man of position and power I cannot let this go unpunished."
"Unpunished?" Ronny exclaimed too loudly. He looked around before he said in a lower voice, "Mr. Boa, what kind of punishment do you suggest?"
"Only this: Miss Williams will go on record as saying the charges weren't true. Though the damage has been done to my reputation, I won't sue for slander and defamation if she concedes on this point. Is this acceptable?"
Mindy nodded.
"I want to know why, after how respectfully I treated you, would you do something like this to me?" Sebastian realized how betrayed he felt. After being so kind to her, given what he thought of as an unfortunate trait, why had she attacked him, and so publicly? "What did I do to warrant this?"
Mindy shook her head, the tears finally coursing down her cheeks. "I'm sorry. I was there that night because Hellena paid me to have sex with you and say you raped me."
"Oh, my god." Ronny looked like he was having a heart attack. "Mindy, why didn't you tell me?"
Sebastian's blood ran cold. If Hellena was behind this, what else was she behind?
"I'm sorry, Mr. Boa," Mindy sobbed. "Please. I didn't want to. After what we talked about, after you were okay with my…thing, I didn't want to do it, but my brother, the guy on the tape, he needed the money. He's in trouble. This was the only chance he had to take care of the problem. I…" She was crying so hard she couldn't finish what she was saying.
"Mindy, please calm down so we can talk rationally. Ronny, you'll want to take this down in whatever way you feel is best."
Ronny nodded. From his pocket he took a recording device and started it.
"You swear this is true?" Sebastian asked after he had Mindy repeat what she'd said.
"Yes, Mr. Boa."
"Alright. This is what I'm going to do. Please listen closely. I want you to understand what I'm telling you. I will give you a job of your choosing. As it is, I'm looking for a new assis
tant and I will soon have some space open at the club, if you so choose. But," and he paused there to make sure she was listening. "If I find that anything you've said to me today is untrue, or I find you trying to screw me over again, I will ruin you."
Sebastian searched her eyes. "Do you understand what that means, Mindy? I will take your job and your home. Your car and all of your assets will belong to me. Your brother will suffer whatever fate comes to him because you will be too busy trying to find a place in this world where I can't find you and take everything away. You won't find it. Are we clear?"
Mindy nodded. Strangely, at his declaration of possible war, her eyes flooded with hope and thankfulness.
"Yes, Mr. Boa. Thank you. Thank you so much. I am so sorry. I'll prove to you how sorry I am."
"I'm sure you will. I will deal with Hellena. She's been causing a lot of trouble lately. If I find you talking to her, Mindy," he made sure she was looking at him. "If I find you talking to her I will assume you are still working against me. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir. I won't let you down."
Sebastian held up a hand. "You've already let me down, Mindy. There's no need to make promises we may or may not be able to keep. Ronny, if you're satisfied?"
"The charges will be dropped this afternoon. Do you want a press conference?"
Sebastian sighed. "No. I will be in touch. I need to make a few calls and we'll get this handled."
"Thank you, Mr. Boa."
Mindy was on the verge of tears again. Sebastian handed her the handkerchief from his pocket.
"Try to calm down. We'll meet soon to set up your new position. In the meantime, if your brother needs confirmation, you can have him call this number." He handed her a business card. "That is my personal mobile number, so do not lose it."
Mindy shoved the card in her bra and winked. "I won't. Thank you."
Sebastian couldn't help but chuckle. "That's enough. You're welcome."
He watched them leave and took a bite of his now soggy pie before he took out his mobile. He dialed and waited. "Hello, Herbert. It seems our business may not be finished after all."
CHAPTER FORTY
Alone
Sebastian sat at his piano. The song that had become his with Mariss soared through the flat, but it was missing something that only she could provide. Without her, the tone was melancholy and pitchless. Whatever she'd done to his heart was going to be hard to fix. When the doorbell rang, he didn't answer right away. He kept playing for a moment, unwilling for the memory of them playing at his mother's to leave too quickly.
When he finally got up, the last strains of the song sighed through the room as it faded and disappeared. With an aching heart, he opened the door. Disgust rolled through his stomach when he hugged Hellena and kissed her gently on the mouth.
"Hello, Bash."
"Hellena. Are you hungry?"
She smiled. "Did you cook for me?"
"I did. We can eat in the kitchen. Have you been to the club today?"
"Not yet. Last night was kind of crazy."
Sebastian uncovered two dishes and stood on one side of the counter while she sat on the stool across from him. Her navy blue corset was impressively unembellished. Hellena tucked her matching blue and black skirts as she sat and pulled her hair over one shoulder.
"Oh? How so?" He forked some mashed potatoes into his mouth.
"Alesa invited some men who thought they could be belligerent and do whatever and whoever they wanted. I had to call the police and have them escorted out. I don't understand why people have to think they know everything, despite the fact that they've never tried to understand something new in their lives. They set their minds to something and refuse to see it any other way."
Sebastian shook his head, pretending to empathize. Did she not hear what she was saying? Did she not see that she was the same?
"Did anything happen after that?"
"The twins got into a fist fight. They both have black eyes and I had to send them home. They'll be out for a while. And the aerial acrobats have decided to go on strike."
Again he shook his head, but not to empathize. He didn't trust a word that came out of her mouth anymore.
"What about you? What happened with Mariss Red last night? You two disappeared and we never saw you again."
"I spent the night trying to calm her down. Something really upset her, but she wouldn't tell me what it was. I spent the whole night trying to keep her from hitting me. Then there were the nightmares." He dropped his fork, disgusted with himself. "She tried to hurt you too. Are you alright?"
"I’m fine." Hellena waved a hand to dismiss his concern.
"Did you take that man to the hospital?"
"He wouldn't go. We doctored him up and he left." Hellena reached into her skirts somewhere and pulled out Mariss' silver butterfly knife. "I thought she might want this back."
"Thank you. I'll have it sent to her." Sebastian stuck it in his back pocket.
"Did you have a busy day?"
He nodded slowly. "Very. I had a lot of business to handle. Haven't eaten much today." All he'd eaten was the pie at the diner.
"You need to take better care of yourself, Bash. It's not healthy not to eat."
"Yes, I know." He picked at his meal, forcing the food down though it threatened to come back up. When they were finished, he washed their plates, dried them, and put them away.
"I'm going to feed Artemis real quick," he told her.
"I'll do it."
"No, that's alright. I want to do it. Why don't you get in the shower for me."
"The shower?" Hellena frowned.
"Yes, and wait for me." He hadn't seen her without her corset in a very long time.
"Alright," she replied. She left, her steps hesitant.
Sebastian slipped into the office to feed Artemis some live white mice. He dropped four in for her to hunt and made sure it was closed well. He didn't want the little guys getting out and mating. With a resigned sigh, he went to his room to find Hellena. Sebastian undressed, putting everything neatly where it went before he slipped into the shower with her. Regret for what had been and what had to be done made him ache with remorse.
Hellena's eyes were closed, so she didn't see him at first. Raised scars crisscrossed her lower abdomen and some across her ribs. He knew the scars inside her were worse. Her ex hadn't been kind. His every intention was to kill her, but she'd survived. Sebastian didn't know how. None of her doctors could explain it.
Hellena opened her eyes and gave him a wary look. Sebastian pulled her to him and kissed her. For a moment, all he thought about was how dear she'd been to him and he'd never known it until this moment. He had Mariss to thank for that and he would never be able to.
"Sebastian, what's wrong?" she asked. "You're acting strange."
He barely found his voice to say, "We need to talk, Hellena."
"Like this?" Her voice rose almost a whole octave.
"Yes."
"What is it, then?"
Sebastian turned her so her back was to him. He encircled her waist with his arms and his fingers stroked the smooth scars. She didn't like them to be touched, but she wasn't going to like much about tonight.
"Why did you invite the German to your birthday party?" he asked. He rested his chin on her shoulder and kept his tone soft and even.
"Because he's a friend of mine. I don't meet many people I can talk to in my own language."
"It didn't have anything to do with the fact that Mariss would recognize the tattoo on his chest, then."
"No," she said indignantly.
"Or that he is part of a group of people who are going to want her dead now that they know where she is."
Hellena's already tense body went rigid. "How the hell was I supposed to know that?"
Sebastian closed his burning eyes, hating himself. "The same way I know you hired Ashley to kill Mariss. You have the same contacts I have, Hellena. Stop lying to me."
Hellena twisted out of
his arms and turned to look at him. "What is this, Sebastian? Huh? What do you want?"
"I want you to tell me the truth. You hired someone to kill Mariss, you stole her phone at the awards ceremony so you could go through her contacts, you've hired Mindy to frame me for rape. What else have you done?"
Hellena gave him a hateful glare. She crossed her arms over her breasts and tried to push past him. Sebastian stopped her with his hand on the wall, blocking her escape with his body. The panic that set into her eyes made him want to lose the dinner he'd just eaten. His heart beat so fast in his chest it was like he was the one being accused.
"Please, Sebastian," she whispered. "Please, let me leave."
"I will," he said, breaking some, "but first I want to know what you've done."
"I haven't done…" She paused to catch her breath. "I haven't done anything," she panted.
Sebastian shook his head, half to clear it and half to show that he didn't believe her. "Hellena, I know that's not true."
"You don't trust me? You believe her over me?" Hellena pushed on his chest, but he didn't move. "Please, Sebastian. Don't do this. I don't want to be trapped in here."
"You aren't trapped. You know I won't harm you, but you are going to tell me what I need to know. She was like you, Hellena." Her eyes widened. "She fought her attacker and nearly killed him. The price she pays for that is these men seeking their revenge on her. Now, tell me what you've done."
"I didn't do anything. All I knew was that she feared them. I just invited one. Her mother said-"
"Her mother? You spoke to her mother and she told you this?"
"She thought she was protecting Mariss. She thought I was…immigration."
"Bloody fucking hell, Hellena."
Hellena whimpered. "I didn't know. If I had-"
"What? You tried to kill her. You tried to frame me for rape!"
She cowered away from him when he raised his voice, huddling in the corner. "I just wanted you to leave her alone. I just wanted you back. I didn't mean it. I…"
He didn't know what to believe. The betrayal burned inside him like a fire, devouring parts of him that he didn't know he had. Sebastian never knew he could feel. Not like this.
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