by J. C. Owens
Chase stopped abruptly, staring, then stumbled toward them, his gaze frantically searching.
One of the figures looked up as he approached, then stood on shaking legs to greet him.
Chase grabbed Rafe’s shirtfront, breathless, frantic.
“What the fuck happened? Where—”
Something in the bodyguard’s red-rimmed eyes made Chase take a step back.
No. Dear God. No.
Rafe reached toward him, gently taking his hand.
“Where is Enzo?” Chase’s body began to shake uncontrollably, his fingers clenching upon Rafe’s black-smeared hand.
Rafe could not even speak. He just shook his head, his whole posture one of defeat.
Chase stared at him, swallowing hard, then glanced around again desperately.
“Where’s Sergei? Sergei will have Enzo. He would never let him get hurt. Right? Where is he? Where’s Raymond?” His voice was rising.
“We’re the only ones who got out of the main building,” Rafe whispered hoarsely. “We were in the west wing when the blast happened, otherwise we would have been in there.” He gestured to the flames, before shuddering and turning away. “The staff got out before the fire started in their area. Raymond was somewhere in between. He survived, but he is in bad shape. They don’t know if he will make it, they rushed him to hospital.”
“Blast? An explosion? From what?” Chase could not believe this was happening. It could not happen, not here, not to Enzo.
“We’ve been trying to figure it out,” Rafe murmured, holding Chase’s hand gently in his. “We think it might be a murder-suicide.”
Chase stared at him in shock. “Why…”
“Just shortly before the blast, Ren arrived here, and Enzo let him into his office. That bastard was crazy to begin with. I could see him doing something like this.”
Chase slid down to his knees, tears rising. He had warned Enzo about Ren. That the man would not give up his prize so easily. Never had he thought of this, and obviously, neither had Enzo.
Enzo…
A sob rose, and he leaned into Rafe as the bodyguard slid down beside him. Suddenly, feverishly, he dug in his pocket and pulled out his phone. He needed help, he needed support. There was only one person who could make this right. Enzo could not be dead.
He pressed the speed dial.
“Hello?’ The deep voice was comfort itself.
“Kirith…”
Chase sat in the gathering darkness, oblivious of the ash that rained softly down upon his numb form. His arms were wrapped around his knees, and he rocked, ever so slightly, his mind blank. Rafe and the others stayed clustered protectively around him, some of them with tear tracks upon blackened faces.
The police had warned them they would be coming to the nearest station for questioning on the fire, but they were also noticeably nervous about forcing them. The seven bodyguards left were imposing enough to warrant caution.
The sound of the helicopter was almost lost amid the constant roaring hiss, as the firefighters struggled against the inferno, water making little impression.
Chase turned his head slowly, as he saw the police shifting rifles, nervously eyeing the eight newcomers.
The man who led them ignored the police presence entirely, striding forward, long pale hair gleaming in the shifting firelight. Chase felt his heart break as he saw the horror upon Kirith’s face as he viewed the remnants of his brother’s beloved home.
Stiffly rising, he forced his legs into motion, and moments later found himself enfolded in strong arms. He sobbed then, broken, shaking uncontrollably.
Another voice murmured soothingly, then he was hugged from behind, safely ensconced between Kirith and Landon.
“I’ve got you, Chase,” Kirith whispered, kissing the top of his head. “You are never alone. You are part of my family, now and always.”
Chase squeezed his eyes shut and nestled closer against that hard chest, burying himself, never wanting to face the world again.
Kirith guided Chase out of the police station with a warm hand low on his back, protective.
The boy was in pieces, and the questioning had not helped the matter. Kirith had barely managed to keep his mouth shut during the procedure and had coldly refused to speak of his missing brother when they had turned the questions upon him.
They had been told that Chase could not leave the area until the investigation was complete. This presented a problem in that Kirith could not take him back to the island, as he had planned. They would have to remain here, and here was a dangerous place for Kirith. The sharks that made up the Martinelli family would be only too glad finally to see him dead. Killing his father had made him a target, and only Enzo’s intervention and his exile to the Caribbean had saved him. To be here, now, amid such uncertainty, was suicidal.
Landon was a nervous wreck, having called in more men and surrounding Kirith and Chase with guards.
Kirith did not protest as he usually did. Now was not the time for personal freedoms.
Enzo’s seven bodyguards were waiting outside, having gone through their own questioning, and Landon hurried everyone into waiting vans, unwilling to have his lover and Chase exposed.
Sitting with his arm around Chase’s shoulders, feeling the young man lean into him, Kirith tried to stay positive. Enzo was not an easy man to kill. There was still hope. His brother could not be dead.
He stared out the window, his chest tight with emotion.
Enzo could not be dead. Please, dear God, I beg you.
Chase approached the hospital bed with caution, eyes filling with tears he could not withhold.
Raymond lay unconscious, hooked up to machines, his battered face looking like nothing familiar.
He had always been wary of this man, despite the fact he had never tried to harm Chase in any way, shape or form.
Now, he was the only one left of the triad, of the unbreakable friendship of Enzo, Sergei, and Raymond.
He reached out, laid a tentative hand over Raymond’s arm, in a small area that did not seem to have bruises and contusions.
“We’re with you, Raymond. Don’t you give up, all right? We need you.” His voice choked off. “Enzo will need you when we find him. We will find him. I know it. We have to. And Sergei, he will be OK too. He will. You just need to get better and it will all be fine. Please.” His voice failed him.
He turned away into Kirith’s broad chest, breaking down finally into uncontrollable sobs.
Chapter Thirteen
“You need to eat.”
Chase looked up, taking some moments to identify the speaker.
Rafe attempted a smile, though it was shaky at best. “I made some toast. Thought you might like a piece.”
Chase just stared at him, unable to take in the words.
Rafe pushed a plate of buttered toast toward him. “We have to keep going. Enzo would not want you to grieve yourself into illness.”
Chase felt the tears rise again, and he ducked his head, staring blindly at the offered toast. Tentatively, he reached out and took a piece, biting into it listlessly.
He choked it down and was rewarded with Rafe’s relieved smile. “I’ve got to look after you. Enzo would expect that of me and the others. You have to let me do my job. It’s all I have left.” He looked away then, and Chase roused himself enough to lay a comforting hand on his arm.
Rafe took several deep breaths and turned back, putting his own hand over Chase’s. “When this is all over, you need to go to college, just like you had planned.”
Chase stared at him in disbelief. “I’ll go back to the island. I want to be with Kirith.” He rubbed his tear-swollen eyes. “I can’t stay here.”
“You can. Do you think Enzo would have wanted you to quit? After how hard you have worked for this?”
Chase curled into the kitchen chair, wrapping his arms around his torso in a futile search for comfort.
“Look, I’ve got a fairly large house, and I have already taken in two of
the other guys who lived here. There’s an extra bedroom, and it is just two blocks from the college. You could even walk there. You have to have something to do, Chase. You’ll go crazy otherwise. He wanted this for you. Don’t let him down now. Plus you can visit Raymond. The doctors seem to think there is hope he’ll pull through, and maybe with you there…”
Chase bit his lip against further tears. He had done nothing but cry for the whole week since the fire.
No miracle had saved his heart. There was no sign of Enzo. Kirith’s men were searching, but so far, nothing. It was becoming clear that Enzo had indeed been in that house and had not made it out.
Chase’s world had ended. He could not sleep, could not eat or think.
Rafe’s words impacted his mind with startling force. He could not, would not let Enzo down. That was what he had always sworn and had worked so diligently toward. But to go to classes, as if nothing had happened, as though he was not shattered and broken. But, for Raymond, to be there for someone Enzo had cared for so much…
“I’ll think about it,” he whispered finally, feeling Rafe’s hand rub comfortingly over his back. “Thank you.”
Rafe smiled, small and tentative. “We’re all that’s left. We have to stick together, you know?”
Chase nodded, but his heart felt cold, and he wondered with dim desperation how he could possibly go forward.
Kirith sat in the shade of the patio, sipping coffee and watching Chase and Rafe walk down by the ornate fountains of the rented house. It was good the boy had a friend in the bodyguard. He was so alone now, so fragile.
He heard footsteps and leaned back in his chair as Landon bent over and kissed him lightly before sinking into a chair beside him.
Kirith gestured for more coffee to be brought and eyed his lover questioningly, hoping…
“Nothing,” Landon grunted, looking tired and fed up. “Not a goddamned thing.” He leaned forward and took Kirith’s hand. “It’s not looking good, Kir. I hate to say it, but if our team has found nothing…”
Kirith felt his chest tighten, and he bit his lip viciously to prevent tears from rising. Chase needed him to be strong right now, not to fall to pieces.
His Enzo—his beloved brother. He had always feared that this would happen. Enzo lived far too violent a life for this not to be a possibility, but to die so needlessly at the hands of a friend…
He drew in a deep shuddering breath, trying to control himself, unable to meet Landon’s concerned gaze. How was he going to tell Laura that her much loved zio was gone? Kirith scrubbed a hand over his face, feeling the shake in his hand. This was all so unbelievable. There seemed to be nothing in him that could accept that Enzo was dead. His brother was so strong, so dynamic and powerful, that death itself seemed unable to touch him.
And yet, now, it seemed it had suddenly and viciously ripped him away from them.
Enzo was not the only one lost either. As far as they could tell, at least six of the men on duty that day had died in the explosion and resulting inferno as well, including Sergei.
Thoughts of the grim captain made Kirith squeeze his eyes shut in a paroxysm of further grief. He had always liked the man who had been Enzo’s shadow, and later his best friend and guardian. Sergei had been kind to a younger brother, his grim features always softening in Kirith’s presence. Whatever had happened, he would not have gone down quietly and not without being at Enzo’s side.
His mind shied from the images of being trapped in that god-awful fire. He prayed fervently that all concerned had been dead or unconscious, that they never suffered. He was unable to sleep for the thought of that suffering. Landon had had to soothe him from recurring nightmares ever since.
He wanted to go to the hospital that evening, touch Raymond, make sure the man was still there, still alive. Kirith had never feared Raymond, had always trailed around after him when he was younger and the man’s patience had shown a completely different side to his character.
Now, Kirith could give back, if only Raymond would wake up.
Landon pulled his chair closer and wrapped his arms around Kirith, who dimly realized that he was shivering uncontrollably at the direction of his thoughts.
Despite his partner’s comforting presence, he suddenly felt very alone, without the shelter of his brother’s unconditional love. The foundation of their lives had suddenly been torn away, and everything teetered precariously at its loss.
Chase was speechless.
“You are a very wealthy young man now,” Ray Stein intoned gravely, shuffling papers, as he finally looked up into Chase’s stunned face.
The lawyer then glanced at Kirith, who was struggling to withhold emotion at this blatant reminder of his brother’s love. “As are you, Mr. Martinelli. Neither of you will ever want for anything. Your brother invested shrewdly, and with caution, and there is absolutely nothing to link any of this with his other—dealings. This is all above board and scrupulously clean. Nobody else can touch it. As well as the businesses, there are several homes involved in different parts of the country and a large isolated ranch in Canada.”
“A ranch?” Chase whispered in disbelief, that fact above others seeming unreal to him.
Ray cleared his throat, and sat back in his chair, regarding them both with sad eyes. “I was under the impression from what Enzo told me, that he had some designs of retiring there permanently.”
Chase shook his head, glancing at Kirith for support. “I cannot imagine Enzo wanting to be anywhere near a ranch. He did not seem to be the kind to enjoy that lifestyle.”
Kirith gave a weary smile, edged with grief. “He loved horses. Had from the time he was little apparently, even took some riding lessons when he was younger. When he was training as an assassin down in South America, they did a lot of travelling on horseback through regions that vehicles cannot possibly reach, and I know he loved it.”
Chase felt a pang in his chest. He had known nothing of this. Enzo had never mentioned it to him, and it brought about the realization that he knew so little of the man who had been his lover.
Had been.
Tears rose again. He felt that he should have run dry a long time ago, but still the sorrow did not cease. Would never cease. How could he ever move past this loss? Impossible. There was no one in the world like Enzo. No one could possibly ever take Enzo’s place in his heart.
He glanced over at Kirith’s wan and exhausted features. Nor in Kirith’s either.
A month now, and the pain was an ever present ache for the two of them.
They left the lawyer’s office in stunned silence, Landon guiding both Kirith and Chase through the waiting bodyguards and into the car.
Chase stared out the window, silent despair overwhelming him as he realized how little he knew of his lover. They had had so short a time, just beginning their journey together, just starting to learn each other’s secrets.
Now, it had ended.
He sagged against the leather seat, cold reality washing over him. A month had passed. Landon’s team had found nothing.
Enzo was dead.
His heart could not accept that. Foolish though it was, there was still a sliver of hope in his heart. Kirith was the same. Perhaps only time itself would cure them of such madness and make them see the cold truth.
Perhaps time would ease this unbearable sense of emptiness as well.
They arrived back at the rented house in weary silence. Landon hustled them in the door, uneasy with them being outside at all.
“Daddy!” Laura sprang up from the deep leather couch, flinging herself upon her father.
Chase watched Kirith’s expression lighten as he embraced his daughter with fervent appreciation. With the extended stay here, they had had no choice but to bring Laura from the safety of the island to this well-guarded house.
She clung to him, giving him kisses and stroking his face anxiously. Laura, though she grieved for her zio deeply, had found comfort in caring for them all, fussing over them, and giving love freely
and often. She seemed so mature in her manner, so unlike a ten-year-old. Yet her experiences of the past, kidnapped alongside her father, had changed her radically. Her eyes were too old for a child, her thoughts above and beyond her age. To put aside her own loss in favor of helping others…
She would grow up to be an amazing woman, Chase mused, managing a smile as she turned to him. Her hug and kiss was cathartic, and he drank in her love with gratitude. She left his side to go to Landon, and Chase saw the love they held for each other. For just a moment, Landon’s stoic mask cracked, and he saw the stress the other man was under, trying so desperately to keep Kirith, Chase, and Laura safe, and comfort his devastated lover.
They were all falling to pieces, and Chase saw no way to halt the process. Perhaps time itself, but that was vague and far away, the pain too present and sharp.
The only good news was that Raymond had regained consciousness at last. His memory was sketchy at best, and there was no guarantee of what would return, but he was improving day by day.
Kirith was already making plans to move him to the island for rehabilitation, once the rest of them could return.
They ate supper together, Laura chivying both Kirith and Chase to eat. Both had been losing weight, and Chase found himself complying, more to inspire Kirith than to satisfy himself.
Kirith could not afford to go back into the old patterns he had fallen into after his kidnapping. It had taken all this time for him to gain back his muscle mass and proper fitness. For him, Chase choked down the tasteless food, though he felt ill afterward.
They clustered in the living room, gathering to watch one of Laura’s favorite movies. Laura snuggled up to her father on the right, with Chase on Kirith’s left, sandwiched comfortingly between Kirith and Landon. Both men held him close, and he leaned his head on Landon’s shoulder, drinking in the warmth of body and mind. They genuinely cared about him, were not going to abandon him. It seemed so unreal.