Son of Secrets

by N. J. Simmonds

  Without breaking eye contact, she began to slowly peel the banana.

  ‘I was simply going to eat it,’ she said to the builders. ‘But perhaps it would be more fun to imagine it’s your cock.’

  The two men smirked and moved closer to her.

  ‘Go on then, show us what you’d do,’ the bearded one said, running the tip of his tongue along his top lip. ‘That’s it, slide it in. Nice and easy does it.’

  Luci waited until almost the entire banana was in her mouth before glancing up at them and biting down hard on the fruit and then spitting it back out. Sebastian jumped at the cries of the two men who were now rolling on the ground, doubled up in agony. Crimson patches, like roses blooming in slow motion, were growing on the crotches of their beige overalls.

  ‘What the fuck!’ the younger one cried, cupping himself. His high-pitched wail increased in volume as he stared in horror at the blood dripping through his fingers. ‘It’s gone! Where’s my dick gone?’

  The older man started to vomit, colour draining from his face.

  Luci threw the rest of the banana at their feet and headed to the back of the house, Sebastian following quickly behind her.

  ‘I can’t believe you just did that! Are they going to be OK?’

  ‘I doubt it.’

  ‘What are you going to do?’

  ‘Nothing. I don’t need them anymore.’

  ‘But won’t people wonder what happened to them?’

  Luci stopped. ‘Sebastian, this is London. Strange things happen in London all the time. Luckily for us, everyone in this city is too busy and too selfish to give a shit.’

  ‘What will they do now?’

  She narrowed her eyes. ‘What will they do now? Other than bleed to death? Oh, I don’t know, maybe those pathetic men will think twice next time they make a woman feel uncomfortable for eating a piece of fruit. I guess that’s what they’ll do now—learn, then die.’

  Sebastian glanced at the workmen bleeding all over his kitchen floor and then back at Luci, who was taking cherries out of her pocket, eating them, and then spitting the stones out in the direction of the two writhing men.

  ‘This isn’t right. You can’t leave them like that.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because I’m already wanted by the police, and two dead men in my old home is going to be a bit suspect.’ He glanced back at the builders, who had both grown worryingly pale. ‘Please. Luci! This isn’t a game.’

  She sighed and walked back into the kitchen, looking down at the men groaning in a puddle of their own blood.

  ‘What would you like me to do, Sebastian?’

  ‘I don’t know. Stick their penises back on or something!’

  The builders flinched as she crouched down and placed a hand between their legs. They instantly stopped moving.

  ‘There, all better,’ she told them. ‘You won’t remember we were here. Now sleep.’

  As they slumped unconscious at her feet, she unzipped their overalls, pulled down their underwear, and laid them in a spooning position.

  ‘Now what are you doing?’

  ‘I’m amusing myself, Sebastian. You made me heal them, so as their punishment I’m giving them something a little confusing to wake up to. Their nasty, bigoted minds won’t be able to cope with this scenario—plus the copious amount of blood and vomit will add to the suspense.’

  ‘All of this because of one little banana comment? You’re unhinged! They didn’t mean anything by it.’

  Luci’s eyes were a piercing green as they bore into Sebastian’s. He flinched. Her lips parted as if she was going to say something further, but instead she shook her head slowly.

  ‘Men never mean anything, do they? Until they do, and then it’s too late.’

  ‘You are the Devil,’ he muttered.

  Luci wiped her bloody hand down his T-shirt and whispered in his ear.

  ‘Never mistake a strong woman for an evil one, Sebastian.’

  • • • • •

  There was hardly anything left in the house. Sebastian was dismayed to find not only his father’s bedroom empty but his own suite on the top floor completely cleared away; there was nothing but a few faded porn magazines in the corner and an empty plastic lighter. There remained just one room left to check—Richard’s office. Sebastian rattled the door handle, but it wouldn’t open. It made sense that his father had left this room for last.

  ‘It’s no use,’ he said to Luci. ‘The door’s locked.’ He barged it with his shoulder. ‘His computer is in there. I bet if I can find that little notebook where the old fool keeps his passwords, I can get into his emails. There must be a message from Felicity or Ella in there.’

  Sebastian threw himself at the door again and winced at the pain. Luci rolled her eyes.

  ‘You really are pathetic.’

  Moving him gently to one side, she laid her hand on the lock. There was a small click from inside the door’s mechanisms, and it swung open silently.

  The office was immaculate. The antique mahogany desk shone, and beside it was a large bookshelf displaying old volumes of encyclopaedias in alphabetical order and a framed photo of Richard and Felicity’s wedding day, their children by their side. Ella was the only one in the photo not smiling. Sebastian stirred as he remembered what had happened an hour before that photograph was taken. He had to find the bitch and give her what she deserved. Little cocktease had been asking for it, and now everyone thought he was some kind of monster!

  Yanking open drawer after drawer, he rifled through files and paperwork until he came across a diary. Would that hold his father’s passwords or offer an explanation as to everyone’s whereabouts? There were scribbles in the margin about meetings with his accountant and lawyer, along with a completion date for the house and a note about a conference in St Lucia. Maybe that was where Richard’s new hotel was going to be? Sebastian made a mental note to look it up online later. He was secretly relieved his father wasn’t around. Sebastian wasn’t sure if he was ready to talk to him yet, but it helped to know where he was. He turned to today’s date in the diary and laughed.

  ‘No passwords, but looky here.’ He showed Luci the diary, pointing at the date circled in red. ‘It’s my baby sister’s twenty-third birthday today. If we can figure out where she is, maybe we’ll get to her in time to give her a special surprise?’

  ‘I don’t care about your petty nonsense, Sebastian. Just help me find her.’

  ‘But how great would it be to interrupt her birthday celebrations and…’

  Luci sighed and held up a small address book. ‘Is this what we’re looking for?’

  He snatched it out of her hand and flicked through it. This was too good to be true. Not only was he going to finally get his revenge on the little tramp, but he was going to do it on her birthday, too. Then Luci could help him get away with murder. Literally. He grinned and turned to E for Ella and then to F for Felicity. All that was listed were websites and passwords but no addresses.

  ‘This is useless. We may need to call my dad’s office or Felicity’s work. If you call, they won’t recognise your voice. I can’t take the risk.’

  He picked up the office phone and then put it back down.

  ‘Forget it. The phone line’s already been cut off.’

  He couldn’t call his father on his own mobile phone or even Luci’s. If the police found out, they would track them down. He flicked through the address book again and turned to H for Hotmail and then to G for Google. Finally! There was the password to his father’s private email address.

  ‘His password’s “Felicity.” Predictable old fool, I could have guessed that,’ he said, punching in the letters.

  There were only fifteen emails from his father’s wife and Ella, but they were all over a year old and were nothing more than ‘Hi, how are you?’ messages. There was no mention of an address or where Ella now lived.

  ‘I don’t understand—she went to university down the road. She must be living somewhere in
London, but there’s no mention of her anywhere. Maybe she changed her surname?’

  ‘Is this her?’ Luci asked, running her finger over the wedding photo.

  ‘Yeah, that’s the whore. Although the photo’s seven years old.’

  Luci looked at him steadily.

  ‘She has a nice face. I doubt my son would risk coming to Earth for a…whore, as you put it.’

  ‘I thought you didn’t like her.’

  ‘I never said that. I don’t know the child.’

  ‘But I can still do what I want with her when we find her, right?’ he asked over his shoulder as he continued to search through Richard’s emails. ‘That’s what you promised me.’

  Luci stared at him for a long time, her eyes like slits and her lips settling into a straight line. He looked away, scared that she would try brainwashing him too. After a while she sighed and turned to the bookshelf, her back to him.

  ‘Sebastian, do what you want with Ella,’ she said eventually. ‘Just find my boy.’

  He could hear her pushing books to one side and flicking through their pages. After a few minutes, the sound of light laughter made him look up. She was holding a card in her hand.

  ‘Well look at this!’ she said, waving it in the air. ‘Torre de los angeles. Ella has a sense of humour.’

  ‘What’s that?’ he asked, taking the card off her. ‘Looks like an invitation from last year. Tarifa? Isn’t that in the south of Spain?’

  ‘Yes. It’s also where Ella has her hotel.’

  ‘A hotel? Let’s go now and catch the next flight. Zac is bound to be there if it’s her birthday.’

  ‘No, Sebastian. If we do that, we won’t get there until this evening, and that’s when the angels are at their strongest. I can’t take the risk of them watching her and seeing me arrive. Plus, she’ll probably be out celebrating. If Zadkiel doesn’t want Mikhael to know he’s with her, then he’ll go at dawn too—if he hasn’t already seen her today. We’ll leave at first light. Even if he isn’t there tomorrow, he’ll come running if he senses she’s in danger.’

  Sebastian huffed with disappointment; there was a certain poetic romance about ending her life on her birthday. Then again, if this Mikhael creature was more powerful than both Zac and Luci, he didn’t want to bump into him either.

  ‘Fine. Wait up, isn’t Tarifa across the water from the north of Morocco? We could have got a bloody boat there. If we’d known that, we could have saved ourselves the hassle of coming to London!’

  Luci snatched the invitation back from him and smiled. ‘London is never a waste of time, stupid boy. I’m off to Bond Street for a spot of free shopping before tea at Claridge’s and a stay in their penthouse. Coming? My treat.’

  He didn’t exactly have a choice.

  EVERY ITEM OF Ella’s wardrobe was heaped in colourful piles on her bed. She’d tried everything on and hated it all. Nothing looked right. She checked her phone again. No messages. Josh had said he would see her on her birthday, so at first light she’d been up and showered. She’d arranged her hair ten different ways before finally twisting it in a loose plait over one shoulder. She’d made up her face, then wiped the lipstick off, then added smoky eyes, then took it all back off again and finally settled on something more natural. She was wearing a simple sundress and sandals but was still thinking about changing into jeans.

  Oh, what did it matter? What if he didn’t even call?

  She looked at the time on her phone. It was nearly ten in the morning. She smiled at the photo on her screen. It was an old one of her and her mother on her sixteenth birthday. Felicity was wearing her treasured gold-and-amethyst necklace, and for the millionth time, Ella wished it hadn’t been lost when Zac died. He’d been convinced it was a sign, that it was somehow connected to his mother and was proof he would return if he killed himself. What a load of crap that turned out to be.

  She groaned out loud. She didn’t want to think about Zac anymore! She had more pressing matters to deal with, like the fact that she only had three hours left until she had to leave to pick up her friends from the airport and Josh hadn’t called yet. What on earth was she going to say to Mai Li and Kerry about him anyway? Were her and Josh an item or…?

  She had to stop worrying about it. He made her feel happy; that was enough for now. She smiled. She was happy. Thanks to Josh, for the first time in three years she hadn’t had a cold, sharp rock of grief and sadness nestled behind her ribcage as soon as she’d woken up.

  The previous day, after she’d spoken to her mother when Josh had left, Ella had run upstairs and called an emergency team meeting. The hotel was small and there were only ten staff members: Paloma the office manager, a receptionist, two girls in housekeeping, three in the kitchen, a doorman, a gardener, and an odd-job man.

  ‘Tomorrow is my birthday,’ she’d announced. ‘We have no guests booked until the end of the week, so I am closing the hotel for the next six days. Full pay. Go home and enjoy yourselves. I’ll see you Friday morning.’

  They’d all looked at her with wide eyes.

  ‘But Mr de Silva asked for his room again this morning,’ Paloma remarked. ‘We have one guest.’

  ‘Don’t worry. I’ll look after him.’

  Paloma smirked, and Ella raised her eyebrows at her in warning.

  ‘Have a great birthday!’ her team shouted as they rushed out of the hotel, not needing to be told twice.

  After sending the staff home that evening, Ella had been tempted to knock on Josh’s bedroom door and check if he needed anything. After all, he’d left his luggage behind at the airport, and he didn’t even have a toothbrush with him. But no, it was late evening and he’d told her they’d see each other the next day—she wasn’t going to crowd him and ruin whatever it was they had before it had even properly started.

  She blushed at the thought of him having seen her naked that morning, not to mention what he knew about Zac. It was all too surreal. How had he gone from being a cocky fool to…to this!

  Memories of the kiss they’d shared filled her stomach with molten lava. Zac’s kisses had been like water, trickling into all her empty spaces and filling her up—both soothing her soul and setting it on fire. But Josh was different; kissing him had felt like coming home after a long, hard day and never wanting to leave again. Did that even make sense? Could kisses be that different? Could comfort be better than passion?

  She’d gone to bed that night and, for the first time in three years, she hadn’t imagined that her hands were Zac’s. Instead, she’d closed her eyes and remembered the touch of her naked body pressed against Josh’s, remembered the taste of his mouth as his tongue caressed hers, and remembered the way his fingers felt on the back of her neck as he’d plaited her wet hair and planted tiny kisses on her bare shoulders. She’d climaxed quickly, instantly falling asleep, her chest heavy with both apprehension and excitement.

  • • • • •

  A shrill beep from her phone made Ella’s heart leap.

  It was a text from her mother saying her overnight flight had been on time and she was already in London about to board her connecting flight to Malaga. She said she would stop for lunch after hiring a car so, all things considered, it would probably take her five or six hours. Straightaway, there was another beep. Her mother’s message was closely followed by a text from her father saying he was held up in a work meeting and he’d be with her in about five hours, too.

  Ella frowned. That was conveniently weird. Had her mother been lying to her about being alone in India? Had Felicity and Leo been…? No. She pushed that thought to the back of her mind—she had enough issues with her own love life without having to worry about what her mum and dad were possibly up to.

  She stuffed her unwanted clothes back into the wardrobe and leant against the doors to force them shut. Her phone beeped again. She sighed and glanced at it quickly. This time it was from neither of her parents. It was Josh.

  HEY BIRTHDAY GIRL, TAKE A LOOK OUTSIDE. X

  Ella m
ade a sound that was a cross between a giggle and a yelp and ran to the back door that led to the patio. She peered over the low garden wall and there he was on the beach, a bottle of champagne in one hand and two glass flutes in the other. He was wearing a crisp blue shirt with his jeans rolled up, his bare feet half buried in the sand. Beside him was a huge pink box with a ribbon tied in an elaborate bow on top. The box was so large it came to his knees.

  She ran outside and bounded down the stairs to the beach. His grin grew wider and wider with each step she took. In her head, she planned to walk up to him seductively and give him a teasing peck on the cheek, but as soon as she reached the bottom step she kicked off her sandals and ran as fast as she could, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, her lips locking onto his as he tried to hold her up without dropping the glasses.

  ‘What a welcome.’ He laughed as she finally let go, and he laid the bottle and flutes down on the rug beside him.

  ‘This is the best birthday surprise ever! How did you know that’s my favourite champagne?’ she said.

  ‘Ah, yes. I woke up early for breakfast and to go shopping, but the hotel doors were locked and I couldn’t get out. I went to reception but there was no one there, so I went to the kitchen and that was empty, too. In the end, I took this bottle and some glasses from the bar, figuring that since you’re the boss, it’s not technically stealing. Where is everyone?’

  ‘I sent them home. I closed the hotel.’

  ‘You left me with no breakfast?’ he said with a smile.

  ‘That was my cunning plan. Starve you out so you would track me down.’

  ‘It appears to have worked,’ he said, taking her face in his hands and kissing her again.

  Her knees nearly buckled beneath her, but with his strong arms circling her waist he held her up. What the hell was happening to her? He was literally making her weak at the knees. She nearly laughed aloud, but instead she pulled away and attempted to catch her breath.