He had gone out of her life; she had left him to be added to the memories. It was like someone from the graveyard had turned up to stake their claim on life.
‘Aren’t you going to invite me in?’
He was smiling at her, sweetly like he used to, and this was how best she remembered him. She stepped aside feeling that somehow, she owed this to him. Her head was whizzing around with so many thoughts attacking it. He was from the past while she was fast into the future.
‘So, this is where you live?’ he stood in the middle of the room surveying her home with interests and wonder. ‘And this is where you have escaped to? It’s homely, I give you that. But what confuses me is that you could have had so much with me.’
‘I’m sorry Peter…’
‘No, don’t be sorry. You’ve made my life very interesting.’
What did he mean?
‘You have surprised me Clara, more than you will ever know.’
‘I’m sorry Peter, I don’t know how many times I can tell you that I’m sorry. I know I’ve hurt you.’
‘Perhaps at first, you did. I didn’t know what I had done to upset you. You know, you really are an enigma.’
He wasn’t frowning now; it was as if everything which perplexed him had become clearer.
‘You have no idea how rich I am. I own three Picasso’s—originals. Not just one but three, and even a small Van Gogh although personally, I don’t know what they see in him. However, if a part of his life makes me prosperous, then I’m all for it.’
She thought through the surprise that she might have been pleased to see him, but she wasn’t, her nerves were in shreds. There was something menacing about him. He didn’t like being stood up.
‘What do you want with me, Peter? Why are you here?’
He grinned; he was pleased with himself.
‘A proposition, I am going to make you a proposition.’
‘Don’t you understand Peter, I don’t care how much money you have or how handsome you are; because you are, Peter, you are very handsome. You could have anyone in your life. You have so much to offer other females, you won’t be lonely ever again.’
‘But Clara dear, it’s not them I want, it’s you.’
She sighed; he was not going to give up.
‘Perhaps, you should listen to my proposition first.’
‘I like you Peter, but I can tell you now that I’m never going to fall in love with you.’ It was a big mistake to open the door, but he would have come back again, so it might as well be now than later.
The expression on his face dropped a little, but he was determined.
‘Perhaps,’ and then he smiled to himself before looking up. ‘I know all about you…’
‘No, you don’t, you only think you do. I lied to you all the time. I don’t have a large family, I have some cousins somewhere, Canada and New Zealand, I think. And as for my mother, I don’t care if she is in hell.’
‘Well, that sorts the family out,’ he grinned please with himself again. ‘My father and mother want nothing to do with me either, but that’s fine with me. They always favored my younger brother.’
Restless, Cecelia turned away wishing he was gone.
‘I don’t care about families—yours or mine. I just care about you.’
She had to be firm. ‘Peter, I’m getting on with my life now, it’s a bit late, but it’s better now than later.’
‘I know what you’re doing, I now know everything about you thanks to a very wealthy friend of mine,’ he waited a few seconds to deliver something explosive. ‘Did you know that there is someone after you Cecelia? Someone, who is dangerous?’
He caught her with a crack of thunder, a lightning strike which had electrocuted her with a shocking surprise.
‘You’re in great danger, Cecelia. Someone has sent someone to take care of you.’
Cecelia gasped. It was true, all her thoughts collided into one big bang. But, how did he know that, and how did he know her real name?
‘I am here to offer my services to help you, Cecelia. I will take you away and protect you. Believe me, I know how to protect.’
‘Someone is trying to kill me?’
He nodded that was enough.
‘I thought…’ she stopped taking her eyes to his face again. ‘But, if they are out to kill me then, how could you protect me?’
‘Because I am the one, they have sent.’
19
She had fainted, the world had run off with her consciousness and upon giving it back to her, she found herself lying on her small sofa.
‘It’s very good, Cecelia,’ Peter’s voice came from her table. ‘But I don’t think you should publish this. People won’t like it.’
‘Which people won’t like it?’ Cecelia pulled herself up to sit on her sofa. She saw that Peter had her story in his hands. She stood wanting to take it from him. All her hard work much of it spent from her own ingenuity and on her feet, and he had her special story in his hands.
‘I was sent to kill you,’ he turned around to look at her. ‘Isn’t that strange? What are the odds that we should meet like this, at the same lodgings and even at the same table? That we should gravitate towards each other must suggest that we were meant to be.’
This was her killer in her own home, and she had known him all along.
‘I don’t believe you.’
‘No, I didn’t think you would, and in your place, I wouldn’t believe me either, but that’s how it goes,’ he smiled and looked at her sofa. ‘May I?’
Quickly, she moved from the sofa and went to sit in the highchair. Peter noted this and grinned. He liked this about her, she was always surprising him.
‘Mr. Blaine, Hadleigh Blaine have you heard of him?’ he didn’t expect her to answer. ‘He’s been one of my customers. I’ve earned a large proportion of my money from the people he doesn’t like or have got in his way. He has been very obliging with his money.’
Her hand had gone straight to her mouth hearing this. This wasn’t a dream or a fantasy, this was real. Here was Peter, the handsome man who she shared so many meals with, and he was telling her that he was a cleaner.
‘Oh, by the way, what did you think of the apartment when you returned?’
She had no idea what he was talking about. What did he mean?
‘I could see that you left your apartment in a bit of a rush.’
She clicked; her mind and joined it together with urgency.
‘It was me, I was the one who came back to tidy it up for you, although I had no idea who I was tidying it up for. I think I made a good job of it, but if I had known it was you, I would have done better. I always believe that the inside of the cupboards should be cleared out once a month…’
He cocked his face to the side as if he was considering another aspect of her.
‘Didn’t you notice that someone had been here? The good little fairy had come to tidy up.’
‘I have just one thing to ask you before you kill me,’ her life was going to be snuffed out before she was ready. And was she afraid? No, she wasn’t. Well, fancy that. Her time had come, and she wasn’t even afraid of it.
‘And I’ve got something to ask you first,’ he was grinning, the mischief had lit up his beautiful sparkling blue eyes.
Whatever he was, a contract killer, a rich man, there was no denying it that he was a handsome man, whose only possible flaw was that he was a psychopath.
‘Do you want to hear my offer?’
She didn’t know if she wanted to or not?
‘You hear my offer first and then you can kill me, and that is you must make certain that my story goes to my newspaper.’
‘Oh dear, that’s going to be a problem. It’s the story which I’ve got to quench, and then you, of course, you are almost as important as the story. I can kill you easily, but are you prepared to die? Do you really want to die, just when the fun has started?’
‘Yes, I am prepared.’
‘Are you sure? Don’t
you want to listen to my proposal first?’
A deep sigh, ‘Very well, yes.’
‘I don’t have to kill you, you know,’ he smiled.
‘But, why are you here if you don’t want to kill me?’
‘If you had been someone else, I wouldn’t be having this conversation with you.’
He scratched just above his right eyebrow.
‘I can tell you that when I looked at the security footage, I couldn’t believe it was you. Not my sweet and lovely, Clara, although that was what you were calling yourself, Cecelia. And there you are going to the safe and helping yourself to a syringe and morphine. You; a drug addict, I couldn’t believe it.’
‘I’m not a drug addict,’ Cecelia was insulted.
‘Was it you who gave the morphine to Mrs. Blaine? Of course, it was, I see that now, how very charitable you are. Now that wouldn’t have been me doing it for that woman. Taken a chance like that for someone, who to my mind isn’t worth the life she has. Why did you do that?’
‘Because she was in pain and suffering. So, what was your offer to me?’
He grinned broadly, pleased now that they had got to talk about his plan to her.
‘If you marry me, I promise that you will always be safe. No one will ever come after you, but only if you marry me.’
‘You can’t ask me to make a promise like that.’
‘If you don’t marry me,’ he sighed, ‘I have no choice but to kill you. I gave my word to them, that when I found whoever it was who had discovered their secret. We can’t have people threatening to tell other people’s secrets, can we.’
‘Do you know what their secret was about?’ suddenly, she was angry. ‘I saw you at Angelina’s funeral. What I am trying to reveal was her secret. She was the one who told it to me. It was her mission to let everyone know how murderous these people were.’
‘Ah, the blond-haired beauty, fortunately, she went quick. She didn’t even know I was following her.’
‘You killed her?’
He shrugged.
‘I killed the other one as well, Samantha Mantle. Now she was very surprised. She had no idea that she was due to die. If only you had said something to me beforehand. But, never mind, she’s gone now.’
‘You killed Samantha?’
‘But if you like, I can turn over a new leaf and stop by not killing you. Just marry me and you will be safe.’
He was serious, he meant it.
Should she consider his proposal and marry him, be his wife forever, the alternative was frightening, and yet, she was resisting his proposal. How bizarre this life had become?
In the beginning, when she first met him, she would have said yes and lived with him. He was everything that a woman wanted. Good looks, excellent manners, and he was also wealthy. It would be stupid not to even consider his proposal. So, what was wrong with her?
He was all these things, but he was also something more. Hadn’t she experience a little of his control and possessiveness? If he could kill her just like that, her life in the future would always be lived in fear. It was better that she got this over and done with now. Being dead was better than living in fear.
‘I don’t love you and I’m afraid that I will never come to love you. So, you might as well get it over and done with now. Just do it quickly so I don’t suffer, please.’
The astonishment on Peter’s face was disbelief.
‘You would really prefer to be killed instead of marrying me? You would have half my money, I promise.’
‘I don’t love you, Peter. I’m sorry.’
He stared at her hard, it was a look which promised her, her death.
From underneath his overcoat, he took his gun from its holster. Pulling back the hammer he aimed the pistol at her. She squeezed her eyes together, this was her end, and she was not going to run away from it. The noise that sealed her death was quick and then, she opened her eyes.
‘I can’t do it,’ he said putting her pillow down which he had used to silence the shot. ‘You are the first person I have never been able to kill.’
He wasn’t angry. He wasn’t anything except perhaps resigned. Putting his gun away as he came over to her, he took hold of the back of her neck in his hand and pulled her towards him to kiss her on the forehead.
‘Look after yourself, Cecelia, for me. I’ll do the best I can for you.’
Baffled, she watched him letting himself out of her flat. She had lived and died and lived again in the space of a minute.
20
Over the next few days, there was a spate of deaths in LA which was thought to have been committed by a hitman. Mr. Deer was one of them, and so was Mr. Blaine. Shock ran all around the world. But the world fell silent when what had been discovered in Mr. Deer’s freezer was revealed. One fully formed child, broken in pieces had had his revenge. His mother though, Mrs. Ruth Blaine had disappeared into the heavy morning LA smog.
Once in a while, a card or a letter would arrive, no name, but a message to remind Cecelia to take care of herself. After three years, these messages stopped.
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Other Books by Kate Mitchell
Girl in the Middle. - A Psychological Romance…
Fabulously wealthy and beautiful, Olivia finds herself in conflict with Archie her lover, he wants to marry her, she accepts but only with a prenup. He rejects her and takes another to the annual charity ball, but she still wants him and with the aid of Jack one of her gardeners, she attempts to get him back.
Things don’t go as planned, is Archie only after her money? Is it Jack which she really loves? Stuck in the middle she feels like she’s being pulled from one to the other; which one of these handsome guys deserves to win the hand of this beautiful heiress?
A gripping story of conflict, lies, and deceit, with lots of twists…
Angel – A Psychological Suspense Thriller…
Is it possible to be your own worst enemy? Ask Vivian, she not only knows the answer, she’s living it…
Divorcing her husband of many years she feels empowered. Her high-flying position as a well-paid magazine editor is more than enough, so she lets him have everything to get out of this tedious boring marriage.
Her husband, John she discovers after the divorce was not so boring, he had been living a double life.
A serious and disfiguring car crash ends Vivian’s career in the shallow world of beauty and fashion. Rejected by her friends, she’s now alone. Then she discovers her ex is dead, so she decides to retrieve some of the money from their severed marriage.
In her search, she meets the other woman, Angel. Then the cat and mouse games begin…
A story of sinister deception played out by two cunning women…
She Lies Beneath – A Psychological Sinister Thriller…
When someone is murdered, who takes the blame and the punishment? Yes, it's the one that committed the crime, right? But that is not always true; as when it comes to relationships, psychological and sinister manipulation can fragment the truth until someone else takes the blame.
So, who killed the child? Who is convinced they killed the child? But who really killed the child? Who will be the one to pay the price?
A twisted sinister tale of psychological manipulation with a tragic end…
Tinker Tailor Conman – A Psychological Thriller…
Whether it was in search of love and romance or just plain greed, or that unmissable bargain you didn't need that would disappear forever if you didn’t get it right now? It can be said they do not con you, but you con yourself by believing their lies and falling int
o their trap. But when the truth dawns on you, the question is – what are you going to do about it?
Laura was conned through romantic deception, read her story and find out what she did about it…
Based in part, on an original true story…
Suffering from mental illness and looking after a sick mother, Laura turns to a dating site in search of a friend but finds a conman.
With the passing of her mother she sees the world in a different light, she is free, and now she is also free of the conman. She needs closure and the only way for this is revenge. With the aid of Darren Grant, a Private Investigator, she ventures out into the cold darkness of the criminal world.
Will she succeed or will she suffer a final damning end?
Read this rollercoaster of a psychological thriller and find out.
Children of the Mask – A Psychological Crime Thriller…
On the surface, Deborah could be an unassuming girl who lives next door, but on the inside, she desires to marry a rich man – a very rich man…First of all, she must learn the rules of the game, and what better place to learn them than being a maid to one of those expert social climbers.
But if things don’t work out what else could she do to get to the money? Rob a bank, hustle, kill?
Deborah didn’t do any of these, she didn’t need to. The opportunity arrived in the murder of a neighbor and all she had to do was take the chance and walk into the life of Samantha.
But what happens next?
When you take on someone's life, you also take on their problems, and this isn’t easy even if you do look like this other person.
Deborah’s move into the world of the mega-rich which brought new friends and new challenges, but were these friends really friends, or were they just there for the pleasure of her riches?
Third Child Page 19