"I know that Paul made you swear you'd carry out his wishes when he died, but I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about us.” He paused a moment, looking apprehensive. “I love my brother and I want to respect his wishes after he dies, but I don't want you to feel like you're obligated to do something you don't want to do."
Shane was a little speechless for words. He was giving her a choice. An opening - An out to all of this.
"What about the baby?" she asked.
"I'll make sure you're taken care. I'll be there for you when you need me. I'm hoping you'll grant me some visitations."
She couldn't believe what he was implying. "Why would you think I wouldn't want you in my life, Andrew?" she asked.
"I know I can be difficult-"
She pressed her index finger against lips she longed to kiss again. As much as she tried to deny it to herself, she missed making love with Andrew. She missed his touch so much. She forced his eyes to meet hers cupping his chin. "Is this what you want, Andrew?"
His face pressed into her palm and he planted a compassionate kiss on her wrist. "No, I want you to be my wife." Her breath caught in her throat and her desire for him increased.
She could see the passion in his eyes, and knew he wanted to do more than kiss her palm, yet due to the fact she was still legally married to his brother, they couldn't express their feelings in public. "And I want to be your wife," she said.
The joy in his eyes was evident and very honest. Leaning to her cheek, he planted the softest kiss and nuzzled the side of her face. Whispering in her ear, he said, "Go home, and I will be there soon for you. There’s more I want to say… and do, Shane."
With the promise of pleasure in Andrew’s eyes, she left his side and went down to the valet parking on the main floor of the hospital. Just as she gave the valet her ticket to retrieve Paul's Escalade someone tapped her on the shoulder from behind.
With exhilarating expectations to see Andrew standing there, the wide grin on Shane’s face fell flat as she looked up into Evan's concerned eyes.
"Long time no see, Shane," he said as if she had been keeping secrets from him when it had been the other way around.
She flustered a bit and even touched her stomach for the comfort and security the weight inside offered. "Hello, Evan, and yes, it has been a long time."
He looked very rugged with a dark scruffy beard and mangy clothing. She wanted to make a comment on his appearance, but decided against it.
"I see you've been busy," he said snidely, looking down at her stomach. "You must have taken my advice and became some man's mistress?"
Tightly she said, "I am married, if you must know, Evan."
The startled look was evident on his face. "When? How?"
"Months ago, if you must know."
He looked around as if they were being followed. "What are you doing here?"
"What do you mean what am I doing here? I should be asking you the same thing?"
Moving in close, he whispered, "They've been following you."
"Who?"
"Come with me so we can talk?" he said and tugged gently at her arm.
Reluctantly, against her gut instinct, she walked with him. "Where do you want to talk?" she asked when she realized they were heading for the parking structure underneath the hospital.
"Just walk me to where I'm parked and that's it," he assured her with a comforting smile, but she knew deep in her heart, she couldn't trust him no matter what he said, although there were times when he had come through for her.
With her emotions being so wavered on her feelings for Evan, she walked with him through the parking structure.
"They knew I was at the hospital?" she asked.
"Well, Trudy came up here one day to fill out some paper work and to take Donald to the doctor for his shots," he explained casually. "She saw you going to an appointment with some white guy at your side. They asked me a million questions, and I had to tell them about Paul."
"You didn't?"
"Yes I did but I didn't think you'd gotten so involved with him. Is that who you married?"
"So they know where I've been staying?" she asked worriedly.
"Yes, and they know you have no intentions of ever coming back while they're in that house. Did you get in touch with your lawyer?"
It was questions like this one that made her wonder exactly whose side he was on. "No, as you can see I've been quite busy."
"Well you need to take care of the problems in your past before you start a new life, Shane."
"What's going to happen to me, Evan?"
They arrived where he was parked and it was to see he was driving the Jeep. This was the same vehicle her aunt wouldn't dare let Shane touch, but they were allowing Evan to drive it around as if it were his.
Shane pushed away the small jealousy that arose in her. "Are you going to warn me, Evan? Are you going to allow them to hurt me?"
Evan shoved his hands in his pocket and took out the vehicle keys. His lips were pursed as if he was in a lot of pain and he bowed his head as if something heavy weighed on his shoulders.
"Fine," she snipped very angry he had decided to take their side. "I guess I know who not to trust from now on." She turned away and started to walk.
Evan took a deep breath as if he has resolved his troubles in his head all of a sudden. "Wait Shane," he called and waited for her to turn and look at him. "I've got something for you." He went to the driver's side and got in, and then reached over and opened up the passenger side for her. "Get in, I don't know if their watching or not."
Warily she slid into the vehicle but kept the door open. "What Evan?"
"Aren't you going to close the door?" he asked.
She shook her head her heart rate increasing as she nervously waited for him to give her whatever he was going to give her. Just going through a near death experience made Shane wary of what was going on, but with Evan being her friend for so long, it was difficult to think he would do something to harm her
He reached in the back and Shane braced herself as he brought out something wrapped in tissue paper, then carefully set it on Shane's lap.
The heaviness of it was instantly noticed and Shane gingerly opened the gift and frowned as she stared down at it. It was a black heavy insulated vest. With it being the end of summer, Detroit was still experiencing warm temperatures and the vest wouldn't be very convenient for someone in her condition.
"What's this for?" she asked as if he had lost what little sense he had left.
Proudly, he said, "I made it."
Shane remembered being in his basement and the sewing room. He had been planning this for some time. "W-Why is it so heavy?" she asked nervously as she lifted it up to examine it.
"Put it on, I want to see if it fits," he said excitedly.
"No, I should go," she said holding the vest to her chest protectively. "Thank you, Evan."
He grabbed her arm in alarm. "Please Shane, put it on," he insisted.
The desperate look in his eyes scared her, but she forced herself to relax instead of going with her other emotion and run away screaming for help.
She slowly put it on, after placing her purse in her lap.
Evan released her arm when she started to put on the jacket and watched her.
"How long?" She asked to make conversation in the tension of the quietness between them. "How long have they been following me?"
"For the past three months. Your aunt has been bouncing around the house talking about all the money she's going to get when you're gone."
She gasped. "Gone? As in dead?"
He nodded with a frown on his face. "I don't know how else to see it. She's never really said they're going to kill you, but.." His voice trailed off and his eyes became glassy.
She started to take off the hot, heavy vest, but he grabbed her arm harshly and she winced in pain.
"Don't take it off. Whatever you do," he said fiercely. "Don't take it off."
"I should go," she insist
ed.
Rubber from tires burned in front of them and she looked through the front windshield to see Evan's newly painted Ford Maverick pull up in to block the Jeep and any escape she might try to make.
Terror gripped her whole body as she watched Uncle Budrick get out the car and come towards the Jeep. She couldn't move, but she prayed they killed her quickly so the baby wouldn't have to suffer too long.
Chapter 38
"Call again," Paul insisted.
Andrew didn't hesitate to pick up his cell phone and calling Paul's home. Rochelle answered, but she had the same news as she had been telling him and Paul for the past three days. No one called, no one had come by, and nothing new had changed. They had gone with the regular motions of getting the police involved and despite Andrew and Paul’s position in the community and their money the law enforcement involved had turned up nothing. Yet the brothers knew because Shane was an adult it wasn’t taken as serious as a child. The fact that she was pregnant gave it a more heightened priority, but not enough for them.
The tension in Andrew's face was tight and Paul wished he could say or do something to ease his brother's anxiety, but Paul had almost the same anxiety Andrew had. The morphine the hospital was feeding Paul for the pain was making him rather placid. This helped keep Andrew calm considering the nature of the situation.
"I should have gone with her," Andrew sneered underneath his breath.
"We didn't know," he said.
Andrew cursed viciously under his breath and began pacing again. "We never should have let her out of our sight." Gravely, he asked his brother, "How many months was she, Paul?"
Paul sighed disconsolately, "She would be thirty-three weeks." Even to himself, the number sounded bad. If Shane was in distress, the baby had a chance of coming early and there was no way to know if the baby would be healthy enough to live without the proper medical attention. "We know we shouldn't have let her out of our sight , Andrew. I think we need come to the realization that she might be dead."
"No!" Andrew stated fiercely. "I won't believe it."
"I think you should," a female's deep sultry voice said at the door.
They looked to see a rather tall, slim female dressed in a tight leather body suit with a black long leather coat. Her skin was the perfect color of caramel and the black in her eyes was as soulless as the look on her face.
Paul almost thought death had decided to pay him a visit early and she looked damn good for death. Her pitch black hair was pulled in a ponytail so tight, he was surprised she could make the face she was making and it actually looked like an effort to do so.
"And who the hell are you?" Andrew derided annoyed.
"Onyx Heart, at your service." She flicked a card from out of nowhere and handed it to Paul. "My brother was doing some things for you and had to leave town suddenly last week for California, but he said that you may need some assistance."
"You know about her disappearance?" Paul asked.
"Yes, sir." She came to the bed and Paul noted the very high black leather boots she wore that gave her at least three inches of height, but she walked like she was ten feet tall.
Soon as she said her name, Paul knew who this woman was and she was not to be messed with. She was born and bred in the army almost her whole life and just recently retired to assist her brother Lethal Heart in his very successful security and private investigation business. She mostly handled security, but when she was needed to compensate for anything her brother couldn't handle she was a very determined woman and could assure everyone she could get the job done.
"How did you hear about Shane?" Paul inquired.
"I keep my ears close to the police department and when they received a request to come to the hospital to take a missing persons report, I got a little suspicious. My gut has never been wrong so here I am, Mr. Watson." She looked over at Andrew. "You must be his brother, Mr. Watkins I believe?"
"Yes, that would be correct. Are we to assume you will be the only one assisting us from Mr. Heart's agency?"
Paul knew Andrew wasn't trying to be intimidating, but he could act like that naturally, but Andrew didn't know Onyx as well as Paul. Before Onyx could respond to Andrew's snappish remark, he interjected, "My brother is unaware of your skills, Ms. Heart, or your famous attitude, so please forgive his disrespect." He gave Andrew a warning look.
"Do you keep that leash on your brother all the time, Mr. Watson," she said snidely, "Or does he ever play well with others?"
"He tends to be a very hard man to live with if you get on his wrong side," Paul said not at all incited by her bluntness.
"In case you didn't know Mr. Watkins," she said rounding the bed, not the least bit intimidated by Andrew's size compared to hers. "I have served my country for a good number of years and I am a certified lethal weapons expert, forensics authority, and I've got so much common sense swimming in my head, I'm too smart for my own good."
"Why don't you just bend over and kiss your own ass?" Andrew snapped.
Onyx only smirked, but her eyes told him she really wanted to knock him down and Paul had no doubt she could take a man out with her hands tied behind her back. She failed to mention, she mastered in over one hundred hand-to-hand combat techniques, and could make a weapon out of a toothpick that could kill a grown man dead given five minutes.
"I would love to continue this conversation with you, Mr. Watkins, but I think it would end up with you receiving serious medical attention. My patience is short for those who are too blind to see." She turned to Paul immediately, dismissing the obnoxious brother giving Andrew her back. "Tell me what occurred from the day of your wife's disappearance."
"She left the hospital late in the afternoon with the intention of going home, getting something to eat and resting for her sake and the baby's. She was in her seventh month of pregnancy and I feared she would harm the baby if she continued to stay here by my side," Paul answered. “Especially since she came out of coma just months ago.”
"Am I to assume you were the last to see her?"
"Yes, Andrew and I saw her here at the hospital."
She came around the bed, so she could also see Andrew as well. "Were you the last to speak to your wife?" she asked Paul.
"No," Paul answered and looked at Andrew.
Onyx followed his gaze to Andrew who looked even more upset about this whole matter.
"She said she was going to go home and I was going to meet her at Paul's home after I made sure Paul was okay," Andrew answered grudgingly.
Onyx frowned confused. "Why would you be meeting her?"
Andrew actually flushed, which was very out of character for him and mumbled, "To see if she was okay."
"Andrew knew I would be concerned," Paul quickly added to Onyx. "I wouldn't be able to rest properly unless I knew she was okay. My brother was trying to make sure she was fine."
Onyx narrowed one eye and raised the opposing brow, but she didn't make any comments as to what she was thinking. "Am I to assume the baby she is carrying is yours?" she said.
"Whose?" Andrew said.
Both of Onyx's black brows rose as if she had her answer
"Yes, Ms. Heart. The baby, Shane is carrying is mine," Paul answered possessively and cut Andrew a hard look. "Andrew, could you go fill my pitcher of water?"
Andrew immediately left the room.
"He's just as upset as I am, Ms. Heart and he's not use to all this especially over a woman," Paul explained. "She was very special to us."
Onyx picked up the wedding photo Paul had set in a 4x6 frame beside the bed. "She looks special. I spoke with her father before coming over here. He assures me that you take very good care of her and love her. I do have some questions for you though concerning your estate."
"Please ask away," he insisted.
"You know your death is pending, and you've already signed all your estate over to your new wife. Why was this done so immediately? According to my sources, you didn't know her that long. I find that strange f
or a man to do this so soon after the wedding."
"I know my death is coming and I don't want any complications when it's time. I want everyone to know that I have every intention in my right mind and body to leave everything to her," he answered.
"Only because she carries your son?"
"Only because I love her," he stated emphatically.
She put the picture down as Andrew entered the room again much more composed and looking ready for battle.
"I'll want to see your home," she said to Paul. "Is it possible for someone to take me over there and let me in?"
"Andrew can do so now if you want," Paul offered. “You can take his car.”
Andrew only looked stoned faced.
Paul added, "If you don't mind his company."
"Oh no, because I do have some questions for him as well," she said with a smirk.
"Do you mind if I speak with my brother for a second alone, Ms. Heart?" Paul said. "He needs a short attitude adjustment."
Onyx only nodded as Andrew handed her his valet ticket. Once she was gone, Paul spoke sternly. "She'll do whatever it takes to get on your last nerve and whatever questions she asks, I'll tell you now, ninety-five percent of them she already knows the answers."
Andrew only nodded and Paul could not fathom what was going through his brother's mind and Paul wanted to know, but Andrew didn't look like he wanted to share his thoughts.
Paul's eyes followed Andrew as he exited the hospital room to meet with Onyx in the valet section of the hospital. Maybe Andrew dreaded losing Shane because it was his only link with the company he had worked so hard to make successful.
Or just maybe, Andrew loved Shane and if she was gone, he never had the opportunity to let her know how he really felt.
Paul prayed time had not run out for their Shane. He prayed real hard.
***
Onyx sat on the passenger's side. She was one to take the wheel most of the times when she drove with her brother, but she was always aware of how men felt about their cars. Possessive selfish bastards!
She couldn't help notice when Andrew made his way out of the hospital and towards his specially made SUV. He was a big cornbread fed white man, in Onyx's opinion, and could probably give her a run for her money, physically and mentally. Lethal had told her to be on her best behavior with the brothers, but she had every intentions of riling Andrew Watkins to make sure he was telling the truth and had no involvement in his sister-in-laws disappearance.
Drawing The Line (Mistaken Identity Series) Page 31