“And Blossom was my neighbor but that didn’t stop me.”
May watched the big Russian as he made some more giant sandwiches, polishing off her own. He didn’t look like a man who crunched numbers every day. And until he opened his mouth you wouldn’t have any idea how dangerous he really was. He was handsome with a smile that could make a woman weak at the knees. May was sure that’s what had drawn Blossom in.
And he was a good chef despite the strange combinations.
May finished off her last sandwich as Illya sat down to eat his own. She slid off the stool and went to the fridge, fishing out a bottle of water.
“Can I ask you something, Illya?”
“Depends what you’re asking.”
“How long did it take for you to realize Blossom was the one for you?”
Illya smiled around a mouthful of sandwich.
“Pretty quickly. You don’t come across women like her nowadays.” He gave May a knowing look. “I have a feeling Chris knew soon after meeting you.”
May snorted, taking a long draught of water.
“Come on, it’s been two years. Wouldn’t he have said something before?”
“Sometimes we don’t say anything right off. Boss-employee relationships can be sticky.” Illya shrugged. “Chris isn’t exactly the clean-cut guy you would want but he is a loyal man.”
May knew that much. Chris may not be the most honest of people when it came to his job but he looked after his own. He did everything he could to make sure he had your back. And Chris had been doing that from the start with May, from her chemotherapy treatments to protecting her from racial comments she had encountered in his presence. May would always be appreciative of his support. When Chris was loyal to someone, he went all out.
“Illya.”
Ivan suddenly appeared in the doorway. May started when she saw a gun in his hand. Illya asked something in Russian and Ivan replied with such speed May couldn’t keep up. Her Russian was basic, at best, and this was completely over her head. Then Ivan had disappeared and Illya was practically leaping off his stool, pulling a gun out from the back of his jeans.
“What’s going on?”
“We need you to get out of here.” Illya grabbed May’s arm. “Now.”
“I need shoes.”
“Your sneakers are by the side door. Come on!”
Illya led her through the house towards the side door, which was tucked away out of sight. No one would know the door was there unless they were looking for it, which was what Chris was counting on.
“What’s happening?” May panted, hurrying along beside the big Russian. They stopped at the side door momentarily as May grabbed at her sneakers.
“Ivan’s sensed someone in the grounds.”
That was when they heard the sound of breaking glass. Moments later there was a huge whoosh.
And May felt heat at her back.
*****
Chris saw the smoke as he turned into his driveway. Then he saw the flames. His house was on fire.
He began to panic. May. She was inside. Where was she?
The fire department was already there, focusing on putting out the fire. Chris pulled up behind one of the two engines and was out before he had barely put the car into park. He ran through the crowd of people charging around, focused on the fire.
“May!” Chris could barely see anything with the smoke. “May!”
He could feel the smoke coating his throat. Coughing as his eyes streamed, Chris tried to see amongst the throng of people.
“May!”
“Campbell!”
Then he saw them. Ivan and Illya were standing off to the side near Ivan’s car. Hernandez was with them. Huddled against the tree with Illya’s arm around her was May. Relief making him stagger, Chris ran over to them. When May saw him, she was running into his arms, her grip tight around his neck as she hugged him tightly.
“Thank God!”
“You took the words right out of my mouth.” Chris kissed her hard before tucking her close to his side as he turned to Hernandez. “What the hell happened?”
“Your house was torched.” Hernandez nodded at Ivan, who looked like he had been rolling in grime. “Mr. Chekov said gasoline was poured through the letterbox and onto a brick that was thrown through the kitchen window. Then a match was set and the whole thing went up.”
Chris watched his house burning as the firefighters fought to contain it. It looked like they were winning but everything was being destroyed. If the fire didn’t get it, the water damage would. Chris was glad his computer documents were encrypted. Nobody would be looking at that when they had an arsonist set on committing murder.
To think that May could have been asleep and Illya and Ivan might have been unable to get to her in time. He hugged the trembling woman closer.
“Was it Sara Monahan?”
“I saw a woman briefly out in the grounds,” Illya said grimly, wiping sweat off his face, “But she disappeared. I was more focused on May.”
That didn’t help. Chris growled and glared at the other man, who didn’t blink.
“Which side did you see her?” He snapped.
“The east side.” Illya pointed to their left. “Up that way.”
If Sara had canvassed the grounds, she would know the best places to hide. Chris had an idea what she was up to.
“I know where she’s gone. There’s a folly at the edge of the woods near a river that cuts through my land.”
Hernandez and Illya exchanged glances.
“You have a folly?” Hernandez said.
“I’m rich. Sue me.” Chris kissed May’s head and released her. “Illya, take May with you. I’ll show Detective Hernandez where the folly is.”
Chapter 11
“No, you’re not.” Hernandez wagged a finger at him as he took out his gun. “You’re staying here.”
Chris growled. He wasn’t in the mood to argue.
“Either I go with you willingly or I go on ahead myself. She’s just set fire to my house and tried to kill people. I’m not standing around.”
Before Hernandez could respond, Chris took off, ducking past two uniformed officers standing nearby trying to stop him, and running across the grass. He could hear Hernandez calling after him but ignored it; finding Sara was more important to him than arguing over whether he was allowed or not to go after the woman who had destroyed his place.
Footsteps caught up with him and fell into easy step. Chris barely glanced over as Ivan came into view, running without even breaking a sweat. He had a feeling the big Russian wouldn’t let him take this on without him; the man was spoiling for a fight.
They slowed as they reached the river. Chris touched Ivan’s arm and motioned to slow down.
“Keep back and out of sight.” He whispered. “See if you can go around and behind her. I’ll keep her distracted.”
“No problem.”
Ivan took out his gun and disappeared through the trees. Somehow he managed to get his big frame to blend into the trees. Chris carried on along the river, which wound into the trees further along and opened out to a wide bank, on which stood a huge folly Chris had had shipped over from England some years before. It was starting to come into some disrepair, almost leaning to one side.
Sara was sitting at the base of the folly, her knees drawn up to her chest and her hands clenched on top. Chris could see she had something in her hand.
“Sara!”
Sara’s head snapped up. She looked even more wild than before. Her hair was a mess and her face was streaked with soot. The hem of her trousers looked wet, as were her shoes. Chris hoped she wouldn’t suddenly set herself on fire.
“Is that bitch dead?”
“No, she’s not.” Chris kept himself near the river, not wanting to get caught if Sara tried anything. “She’s alive.”
Sara snarled.
“You should’ve let that bitch burn.”
“I couldn’t do that, Sara. May’s important to me.” Chri
s could feel his heart pounding hard, his palms sweaty. “Just like John and William are important to you.”
Sara let out a sob. She still looked wild, close to hysterics.
“They turned their backs on me.” She wailed. “Melissa stole my babies from me. And your bitch whore helped her. She has to pay for that.”
“All she did was save your grandson from being run over.”
“Bull!” Sara shrieked. “She planned to snatch him from the start. And I won’t let her. John and William belong with me, not her and that harlot John had the misfortune to marry.”
She sounded a lot more gone than Chris realized. Glancing up, he saw Ivan appear around the bend of the folly. He needed to get her away from the folly and whatever in her hand on the ground. It looked like a lighter.
He took a step forward. Sara snapped up her hand. It was a lighter, which she flipped open.
“Don’t come any closer.”
“You really think setting fire to my house and killing May is going to sort out all your problems?”
“I knew she wasn’t back at her apartment or I would’ve torched that as well.”
“Were you stalking her?”
Sara snorted.
“I saw the RO. Your address was listed as well. After a few days and realizing she wasn’t there, I guessed she would be here, where she worked.” Sara giggled. She sounded manic. “I knew she was a whore to be fucking her boss. I figured if I couldn’t get her at her apartment, I could get her here.”
“Even when you know you’d be the prime suspect once the police suspected arson?”
“Oh, they wouldn’t suspect me.” Sara stood and swayed, hunching over a little. “Who’s going to suspect a little old lady of arson?”
“They suspect you of everything else.” Chris shook his head. “You deserve to go to jail with a mentality like that.”
Sara’s eyes were bright. She snarled.
“And you deserve to burn in hell with that little witch!”
Chris saw it happening but couldn’t duck out the way in time. Sara flung the lighter at him, something coming out of her other hand. It splashed Chris’ jacket moments before the lighter bounced off his arm.
Barely a second later, his arm was on fire. It was a white-hot pain that made Chris cry out. He could hear someone shouting and someone else pushed him to the ground. Chris’ brain snapped out of it and reacted, rolling on the ground. Moments later, the fire was out and his jacket was in shreds, the skin of his arm underneath bright pink and already blistering.
Sara was on the ground with Ivan pinning her down, screaming her head off. There was a lot of nonsense coming from her but Chris was sure the ringing in his ears from the panic had something to do with it. Then he saw two uniformed officers take over from Ivan, cuffing Sara’s wrists behind her back.
Hernandez came into view, kneeling in front of Chris.
“You okay, Campbell?”
“I’m fine.” At least, he thought so. Chris flinched when the shock disappeared and the pain came back, this time feeling worse than before. “Jesus, that hurts.”
Hernandez shook his head.
“I’m not surprised. You looked moments away from becoming a human fireball.”
“I take it you’re the one I have to thank for pushing me down.”
“Well, if you don’t listen to verbal, maybe physical would get you to listen.” Hernandez chuckled dryly and held out his hand. “Come on, we’ve got to get you to hospital.”
Chris wasn’t going to argue with that. He took the outstretched hand with his good one.
“Any chance they can give me a new arm?”
“I don’t think they’ve done an arm transplant before.”
“I can be a test subject.”
Hernandez rolled his eyes.
“Come on. May’s waiting for you.”
That sounded a lot better than hearing Sara Monahan screaming her head off.
*****
Chris was okay. May had been horrified when she saw Chris being brought back by Hernandez, leaning on the older man with his arm looking like it was in shreds. His face was white under the grime and he was clearly in pain. Behind him Sara had come along, kicking and screaming so much Ivan had ended up coming in and picking her up, carrying her in a fireman’s lift without batting an eyelid. Sara was so shocked she shut up longer enough for them to put her into the back of their van. Then she started up again, kicking at the sides of the van as they slammed the cage door shut before the outer doors blocked the shrieks and curses.
May felt like she was in a surreal dream. To have gone from an almost hit-and-run accident to attempted murder in less than a month was such a fast escalation it was a wonder her head wasn’t spinning.
She didn’t get a chance to dwell over the problems with Sara. Right now, her priority was Chris. The paramedics allowed her to ride with them and they got to the hospital with minimal fuss from Chris. May knew he hated hospitals and was always reluctant to go; he liked to see himself as the picture of health. Thankfully, even he could see that trying to get along with serious burns to his arms would be asking for trouble.
While Chris was being seen to, May took his cell phone and started ringing around people that needed to know about the fire. She phoned Chris’ personal insurance manager, who promised to get onto the paperwork as soon as possible. His housekeeper and cleaner were also notified that they wouldn’t be needed for a while. May spent half an hour consoling the Mexican housekeeper, promising that she would make sure she didn’t go without because she didn’t have a job for a while.
She also let Robert know what happened. She was shaking and needed someone with her. Sammie was at the hospital already and helping out with Chris, getting him settled enough to transfer him to the burns unit to look at his arm. She was optimistic that Chris wouldn’t need a skin graft, that he should be able to leave in a few hours.
That was comforting to May. She didn’t like pacing around looking at the clock.
Melissa and John were also called. When May explained what Sara had done, she heard Melissa in the background shouting at John that she told him his mother was crazy. John was heartbroken. He sounded morose as he thanked May for letting him know before he hung up.
The most stressful call came shortly after from Chris’ brother. Somehow Freddy had figured this would be the best time to call his brother and ask when he was going to get his head out of his backside and let his family have a share of his money. May had to listen to him go on and on for five minutes before she had the pleasure of shutting it down, telling him that he was not seeing a penny and to not call again. Freddy managed to get a few shots in, calling May a gold-digger and a whore before he hung up.
May had a headache after that. Dealing with Chris’ family did that to her. He had distant relatives who were good people but Chris kept everyone at arm’s length. Knowing what he did for a living, May knew the reason why. She was glad his family wouldn’t try anything from where they were. Yet.
“May?”
May spun around. She hadn’t heard Robert hurrying towards her. Trying not to burst into tears, she ran into his arms. Robert hugged her tightly.
“Robert.” May drew a deep breath before pulling back and rubbing at her eyes. “Thanks for coming. I needed someone with me and Sammie’s on duty.”
“Happy to do it. I let my job know I’d be a day late. Family is more important than work right now.” Robert cupped her jaw in his hand. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” May was shaking but it was just the adrenaline. “Illya and Ivan got me out before it got bad.”
The two brothers had stayed around for their initial statements and then they had vanished after speaking to Chris. May had wondered where they were going but Chris had advised her not to ask. So, May left her trust with him and dropped it.
She quickly filled Robert in what happened. Robert’s face went pale, his mouth falling open.
“Jesus.” He rubbed his hand over his stub
bled hair. “How much did the firefighters save?”
“From initial reports, the fire damaged a few of the main rooms, including our office. There’s smoke and water damage but nothing a huge refurbishment can’t handle.”
“And that woman? Sara Monahan? It was her?”
May nodded.
“Yes.”
Robert swore and paced away. May saw his huge shoulders bunching with the tension.
“What the hell is going on, May? All this was at the start was a child almost getting run over. Now it’s gone to attempted murder? What planet is this woman on?”
“The woman tipped over the edge when she realized her façade wasn’t going to stay in place.” May was surprised it had stayed in place for so long considering the two child endangerment charges years before. “Any threat to her control and she goes mad. Chris says it’s natural for women like her.”
“Oh, he knows, does he?”
“His mother’s the same, apparently.” May shrugged. “I’ve not had the pleasure and I’m glad I haven’t.”
Robert hissed through his teeth. He paced across the corridor with his hands on his hips, shaking his head sadly.
“Poor woman.”
May’s mouth fell open.
“Why do you say that? Didn’t you hear what she’s done?”
“I heard, all right. She didn’t stand a chance.” Robert scratched at his roughened jaw. “Whatever happened to just owning up to your mistakes?”
“That would be admitting that you can make mistakes and that’s not in her repertoire.” May felt Chris’ phone vibrating in her hand and glanced at the number. It was Melissa’s personal number. “I need to take this.”
“Sure. I’ll wait here.”
May hurried to the window at the end of the hall and into an alcove, answering the call before it went to voicemail.
“Melissa?”
“Oh, May, I’m so sorry.” Melissa sounded like she had been crying. “I told John she could do something this outrageous but even I didn’t realize it could go from A to B so fast.”
May leant against the wall.
“I’m fine. Chris is fine. It’s not your fault. You’re not to blame for any of this. Last I checked, you’re not responsible for that woman’s actions.”
Love In Arms_BWWM Romance Page 12