by Jessica Wood
“Don't blame yourself, darling. He deceived us all.” Harry comforted his only child.
Clint said simply, “The important thing is Lori is safe and was never in real danger.”
Gemmawiped her eyes with her father’s tie and said, “Yes, but he already bought the stock shares. The Adams Corporation is under his control now and it’s all my fault for being blinded by love. I should have seen the warning signs, but I didn’t want to.”
Harry hugged her tight said “Don’t worry about that now. We built this company up from nothing and if we need to start over and do it again we will. What’s important is we’re a family and nothing can destroy that. Now let me drive you home. It’s been a long day.”
Sara stroked Gemma’s hair lovingly and said, “No, she doesn’t want to back to that empty apartment. Come home with your father and me, dear. You can sleep in your old bedroom. We’ll take care of you.”
Liamis looked at both her parents and smiled. “Thanks, but I’m going to go back to the mansion to sleep tonight. It’s become more of a home to me than anyplace else and right now that’s where I want to be.
Her parents were surprised but they didn’t argue with her about it. Although she hadn’t said so, they properly guessed the mansion was the place where she felt closest to Ben and that was the comfort she needed most right now.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
The Liamworth Mansion had never seemed so welcoming and Gemma felt like she was home as she walked through the doors. For her first order of business, she gathered all the staff together and told them the news that Ben Liamworth had been arrested. Many of them embraced her, including the chef, Stephan, and her personal maid, Jennifer.
“We know; the police already came with a warrant and searched his private office. They took everything; including his computer and files.” One of the maids said. Gemma realized she shouldn’t be surprised by that and yet it still came as shock. Although she was the one who had turned Ben into the police, the fact that they had searched her home and removed possessions from it felt like a gross invasion.
“Is there anything we can do for you?” Jennifer asked, seeing that she had turned pale. The maid had been one of her closest friends since she first came to the mansion and hugged her warmly.
“Thanks, but I just need some time alone to work this all out in my head.” Gemma said, putting on a brave smile. “Everybody can go home. There's no need to stay here just to wait on me and I don't know if any of you will be getting a paycheck until Ben gets out of jail. I'm sorry; I feel like it’s my fault you all might lose your jobs.”
“You can't blame yourself for this.” Jennifer said and the words brought Gemma to tears once more.
One by one the staff members left, and before she knew it Gemma found herself alone in the vast and empty mansion that suddenly felt more like a museum than a home. She walked from room to room staring at the beautiful antiques,rare art, and fine furnishings. She told herself she just wanted to stretch her legs, but in truth she was searching for some clue she might have missed that would have told her the truth about Ben.
The downstairs rooms gave her an idea of what it must have been like for Ben to grow up here as a boy. Everything was impossibly beautiful and perfect, but there was no lasting warmth or love in anything. Especially the portrait of his mother that hung by the grand staircase; the great Brooke Liamworth. To Gemma, her smile seemed like a façade with no depth behind it; sucking men into the bottomless chasm of her neediness and drowning them there. Brooke’s own beloved son had been one of her victims, as was her husband and even Gemma’s own father. The thought of it gave Gemma chills, and yet she knew how much the woman had meant to Ben and what an important part of his life she was.
Gemma walked up the grand staircase to the second story of the mansion, searching for more clues. The door to Ben’s office was blocked by yellow police tape, but she opened the door and peaked inside. The beautiful office that he had guarded so secretly was completely ruined. The police had upended every drawer and removed every book off the shelves. His computer, file cabinets, and even his desk were all gone. Gemma swallowed hard against the lump in her throat and reminded herself that he deserved it. After all, he had faked Lori’s kidnapping in order to destroy her family. At least that’s what she had believed when she turned him in. Sure, Lori had denied it, but victims often told the lies their abductors forced them to say. Gemma just had to keep reminding herself that Ben was the liar and the villain here. She just wished it wasn’t so hard to keep hating him. When he’d given that speech in her father’s office, she’d wanted to run to him and embrace him in her arms, telling him she loved him too. That was the con however; that was how he manipulated and lied to her. Wasn’t it?
Gemma crossed her arms in front of her chest like a shield, straightened her spine, and forced herself to stay strong. As she continued down the hallway, however, things just got harder. Now she had come to the master bedroom suite she shared with Ben.
Just seeing the room made her body tingle with sexual desire and she thought of the countless times they had made passionate love together. He was able to do things to her body that no other man ever had and she did the same for him, bringing him sexual pleasure far beyond anything he’d ever experienced. She had thought it was proof that they were meant to be together; now she wondered if it was the manipulations of a sick and twisted man.
She searched his half of the room thoroughly; riffling through his dresser and the big carved oak bureau by the mirror. As expected her search turned up nothing unusual, except for a velvet jewelry box hidden beneath his socks. Gemma opened it and gasped in awe at the most exquisitely beautiful diamond ring she had ever seen. It was huge, with perfect clarity and set in a platinum band exclusively designed by the best jeweler in the city. Gemma snapped the box shut and shoved it back in the bottom of drawer. Her hands were trembling and she realized she was hoping it was an engagement ring that Ben planned to offer to her.
“What is wrong with me?” Gemma cried aloud to the empty room. “Ben is not who I think he is! He’s not the man I fell in love with! He lied and tricked me so he could destroy my father. I’ve got to stop trying to believe he’s some fucking prince charming because he’s not!”
Gemma ranted at herself, trying to change the feelings of her heart; but it was useless. The hopeless truth was she still loved the asshole, even after all he had done. Emotionally exhausted by the day’s ordeal, she collapsed onto the bed. That’s when she saw it. There was a loose corner on one of the pieces of molding that decorated the intricately carved headboard of the bed. Gemma pried at it with her fingernails and it popped open, revealing a secret compartment inside the headboard. A leather bound book was tucked inside.
Gemma opened the cover of the book and saw it was a diary written in Ben’s distinctive handwriting. The first entries were dated several years ago, when he’d come home from college. At first it was mundane stuff about what it had been like to return home after being gone for so many years, how much he missed the gardens, and how great it was to see his parents again. He started working with his father and soon started doing a search of every man with the last name Adams in the city.
Gemma was enthralled and disturbed as she read about the day he found her father and how excited he was. His words described in graphic detail his hatred and dark need for vengeance. It sickened and repelled her, and yet she needed to know every disgusting detail, so she kept reading. Then she came to the section of Ben’s diary where they first met and he invited her to live in the mansion for a month.
“If anything can get me to fall out of love with that son-of-bitch this will do it!” Gemma grumbled under her breath as she read of his plans to lure her into the mansion and seduce her. He planned to use her to hurt her father further. Only, things hadn’t gone as he planned; in fact just the opposite happened.
Gemma couldn’t stop turning the pages, even though she could barely keep her eyes open. It must have been going on
two o’clock in the morning and still she read. She could see the transformation of Ben’s heart, recorded in his own words as he described them in the secret diary she never knew he kept. At first it was all about sex. He talked about her body, how beautiful and sexy she was, and about how incredibly hot their fucking was. Very quickly however, the tone of his writing changed. He started talking about her personality, how kind she was, generous, passionate, and giving. He wrote about how wonderful it was to finally have someone to talk to, and she blushed to read how witty, funny, and bright he thought she was.
It’s so refreshing to have found someone like-minded, with whom I can talk business, movies, and even share the heartbreaks of my childhood, Ben had written and Gemma felt the profound loneliness and desperation for companionship he must have suffered before she came.
What surprised her most about the diary was learning about all the little things he had done for her in secret that she had never known about. She had credited the chef, Stephan, with making her favorite pastries every morning, but she discovered in the diary that Ben had gone through great pains to learn what her favorite foods were and instructed the chef to prepare them. The same was true of the fresh flowers placed in vases by the gardener, the bubble bath arranged by her tub, and the books and movies available in the media room. All the things that brought her joy and made the mansion feel like a home were carefully arranged by Ben without her knowledge. He had ever asked for any credit or thanks; he just wanted to make her happy. It wasn’t even part of his manipulation, but something he did purely for the joy of seeing her smile.
“How do I know this diary isn’t one of his tricks, in case he got caught and needed to convince me of his lies?” Gemma asked herself, but she could tell from the vulnerable confessions in the diary that he never thought anyone else would read it. The things he said were too honest, too raw. They were the secrets of his deepest heart and now that she had seen them she knew she had made a mistake turning him into the police for a kidnapping he hadn’t committed. She just hoped it wasn’t too late to do something about it. The evidence the police had compiled against Ben was terribly damning, from the kidnapping note to the fact that he’d stranded her on island with no way to escape, to Gemma’s own testimony against him. She may doomed the man she loved to prison for a long time. Still she had to try to do something.
She picked up the phone to dial the number of the police detective who had interviewed her, not even caring that it was the middle of the night. She was just about to dial, when suddenly the phone rang in her hand, startling her.
“Open the door and let me in. I'm freezing out here!” Gemma couldn’t believe her eyes; it was a text from Lori!
Gemmaran through the long mansion halls, down the grand staircase to the front door. She turned the locks as quickly as she could and swung the door open wide to find Lori shivering in the cold night air.
“Oh, thank God your okay! We’ve all been worried to death about you!” Liamis flung her arms around her best friend and hugged her so tight the poor girl could hardly breathe. When she finally let her go and pulled her into the house, wrapping a warm blanket around her. “What are you doing here in the middle of the night?”
“The island police cut my vacation short. They told me the American Police thought I’d been kidnapped and I’d better return immediately to straighten it out. So, Ben’s private jet flew me home and his driver brought me here. With the time change, I had no idea it was so late. Sorry!”
“I’m just so glad you’re here. I think I’ve made a terrible mistake.” Gemma guided Lori into the kitchen and made them each a steaming cup of coffee with generous amounts of brandy poured into each. She listened as Lori told her about visiting the private investigator and learning that the individual trying to buy all their stock was called the Phoenix. Then it was Gemma’s turn to tell Lori everything about Ben, beginning with his childhood and ending with his arrest. She even showed Lori the diary entries and said “So now I think I’ve sent him to prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Just tell me one thing, why did you write that note? Were you faking your own kidnapping?”
“No. I was just really excited to go on my trip, but I didn’t want you guys to keep searching for the private investigator from the Phoenix after I’d already found him, so I was trying to tell you to stop your search. Don’t you get it; stop looking for the private investigators from the Phoenix…………you know, because I found him. Hello.”
Gemma couldn’t believe it and yet she could. Part of her wanted to hug Lori and part of her wanted to slap her. The hugging portion won out and she embraced her best friend lovingly. Then something else occurred to her and Gemma asked “So what was with the lock of hair and the blood you left with the note?”
“I got gum in hair while I was writing the damn note. I tried to cut it out with that pocket knife on my keychain and I clipped my ear really bad. That’s why there’s a big gap in my writing. Tell me the truth; do I have a hideous scar?”
Lori pulled back her curls and showed Gemma the deep cut on her left ear.
“Only you could cause a misunderstanding this huge and still be perfectly adorable.” Gemma laughed. “Will you go with me to police station and help me explain everything. They may not drop the charges, but I’ve got to try.”
“Are you kidding; if the victim and the accuser both refute the charges they’ve got no case. Ben will be home free by the end of the day.” Lori assured her.
“Oh my God, I could kiss you!” Gemma cried out happily, seeing that her ditzy friend was wiser than she seemed.
“Go ahead.” Lori said sensuously. The sexy scenes she’d read in Ben’s diary, combined with the liquor and the fact that her boyfriend had dumped her on the island, had made Lori view her friend in a new way.
Gemma was about to tell her that she was only kidding when suddenly she felt Lori’s soft lips on her own. It had been a long and emotional day, and the alcohol and lack of sleep were getting to her too. She gave herself into the kiss, liking the gentle feel of it and let her tongue dance delicately with hers. Lori tasted so different than any of the men she had ever kissed and her lips and mouth were so much softer and gentler. She wrapped her hands in her soft curls and sighed as she felt Lori caressing her long chestnut hair.
Part of Gemma’s hair had fallen down over her left breast, causing Lori’s hands to graze Gemma’s left tit. It excited them both and on a whim, Gemma removed her blouse, revealing her full breasts to her best friend. They had seen each naked many times before when trying on clothes together, but this was different. Lori gently put her hands to Gemma’s sumptuous breasts, caressing her bare flesh with a curiosity and tenderness that was wildly sensual. Gemma moaned aloud with pleasure when Lori put her hot wet mouth upon her nipples. Gemma arched her back toward Lori’s mouth, wanting more.
“I’ve never kissed a woman’s tits before.” Lori flushed, but it was evident from her dilated eyes and rapid breathing that she liked it.
“Me neither; give me a turn.” Gemma said. She peeled the clothes off Lori’s body and caressed and fondled her firm round tits before taking them into her mouth. It felt amazing and she instantly understood why men found them so appealing.
She removed Lori’s skirt and peeled off her panties. Lori spread her legs wide and closed her eyes as Gemma sampled her first taste of another woman’s pussy. It was delightfully warm and like nothing else she’d ever tasted before. She wanted more and her lips and tongue grew more daring as she heard Lori moan with pleasure and felt her grinding her hips beneath her. Unlike giving oral sex to a man, Gemma knew just how a pussy liked to be touched and was thrilled to see how her expertise made Lori cry out with the ecstasy of an orgasm. She was surprised at just how much pleasure it gave her to make her best friend come and realized that her own panties were now dripping wet with the juices of her arousal.
“My turn.” Lori grinned and stripped Gemma naked right in the kitchen. The feel of her best friend’s lips, mouth and tongue
on the sensitive folds of her pussy were far different than Ben’s. She worked magic on Gemma’s body, bringing her to orgasm with an artistry that she had never experienced. Soon, she was screaming out in delirious rapture as she clutched at Lori’s blonde curls and then finally collapsed against the kitchen counter, gasping for breath.
“I’m a cheater!” Gemma cried as she regained her senses. She suddenly felt ashamed and disgusted with herself. “I’ve sent the only man who loves me to prison for a crime he didn’t commit, and then I cheated on him in his own house!”
“No, don’t think like that.” Lori caressed Gemma’s cheek and gave her lips a tender kiss. “This was a stolen moment in time, when you and I were both able to fulfill the secret fantasy of our youth. Now, we can return to the regular world and our normal lives. Get a good night’s sleep and when you wake up we’ll be able to set everything right in the world and everything will be like it should be.
“Goodnight.” Gemma thanked her best friend with tears of gratitude shimmering in her emerald green eyes.
Lori gave her one last sensual, passionate kiss and then retreated to one of the guest bedrooms while Gemma fell into a deep sleep in the bed she would soon be sharing again with Ben.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Ben emerged from the jailhouse looking like complete shit; three day’s worth of beard growth covered his face, his eyes were red and swollen, his suit was rumpled and covered with stains, he hadn’t showered since before his arrest. Despite his awful appearance, Gemma had never seen a more beautiful sight.
“I’m so sorry I had you arrested!” Gemma flung herself into his arms, hugging him tightly.
Ben closed his eyes to hold back the tears and hugged her back, loving the way her soft breasts felt as they crushed against his hard chest. It was a feeling he thought he’d never know a gain. “I deserved it, and much worse for all the terrible things I’ve done. You must hate me.”