To this day, no one had been brought to justice, which seemed incredible to me even though Alex once warned that we might never know who was behind the threats.
I remembered what Alex said to me when we first were attacked: Not every mystery has a solution, Jennifer. You need to be prepared for the fact that we might never know who did this. This isn’t a book and it isn’t a movie where everything is wrapped up in a neat bow at the end. Those stories are illusions. This is real life, and real life often fails us. Whoever attacked us might be satisfied with me in a hospital bed. That could have been all they needed to feel vindicated for whatever it is they needed to feel vindicated about. It could end with this, or it could have just begun. Until I speak with my team, that’s all I know. And that’s the truth.
And there was this exchange: “Who would want to kill you?” I asked.
“Take your pick. Wenn has taken over dozens of companies and corporations. We’ve driven people out of business. People have lost their jobs because of us. My father was a frequent target of threats. As I said, this is nothing new for me, with the exception of what just happened. No threat has ever risen to that level. Otherwise, I’m used to it.”
“What kind of life is that?”
“The life I inherited from my father.”
What I knew now is that Gordon Kobus wasn’t behind it. Because of me, he’d fully been investigated, interrogated and, in the end, he was released as a suspect. The same was true for Immaculata. I knew her involvement was a long shot, but I couldn’t rule her out. Now, I knew I could. Turns out Immaculata wasn’t the murdering bitch I thought she was. As for the server in the photograph that was sent to me? He turned out clean, as did other men and women who’d been investigated. When I was in the hospital, Blackwell told me that the investigation was ongoing and could take months.
Months? Really? For someone as high profile as Alex? I rejected it.
Now, I glanced at my watch. “I have to go,” I said to Lisa. “Otherwise, I’ll be late.”
“Blackwell won’t have that.”
“At this point, I think she’d cut me some slack.”
“I’m glad that you have her.”
“And you. I’ll miss you today. You’ve been by my side for a month. Thank you for all that you’ve done for me, Lisa.”
“I’ll be with you forever, Jennifer. Now go. You can do this. We’ll talk.”
We gave each other a brisk, meaningful hug before I turned away in tears and went to face my new life.
* * *
When I arrived via limousine with one guard sitting beside me and one at the wheel, Blackwell was in the lobby to greet me.
Seeing her was a welcomed surprise. I hadn’t seen her in two weeks, not since the day she stopped by the apartment to help me plan out my new role at Wenn. And it was a relief to see her. I didn’t hide my emotion. When I saw her waiting for me in the lobby, near the elevators, I quickened my step and fell into her arms.
For a moment, we just stood together, held each other, and said nothing. I felt her warmth, and I know that she felt mine. What a ride we’d had. From loathing each other to respecting each other to loving each other. And I did love her. I loved her more than my own mother.
After awhile, I said in her ear, “I’ve missed you so much.”
Any trace of the caustic humor I’d come to associate with her was gone when she said, “You’re my third daughter, Jennifer. Sometimes, because of the way I treated my real daughters, I feel as if you’re my second chance.”
She pulled away from me and put a finger under my chin.
“You’re too pretty to cry. Come on now—give me a smile. And wipe your eyes. That’s better. I know you have mixed feelings about today, but it’s a new start. Scary, yes. Sad in many ways. But by letting go of all you know, and by knowing that Alex will always be an essential part of your life, you will move forward with him firmly by your side and at your back. I have no question that he will always be there with you. Now, look. The board has given me some paperwork for you to sign, and there are other things you should be briefed on. So, let’s go to my office and talk.”
“Before we do, I want to see his office,” I said.
* * *
We took the elevator to the forty-seventh floor, which was dim as usual when we stepped out of the car. It also smelled slightly stale, as if this space had been forgotten.
That offended me. Were they not looking after this floor as they should? Obviously. I’d address that with Blackwell later. Now, I looked around for Ann, Alex’s executive assistant, but there was no sign of her. When Blackwell and I came around to Ann’s desk, I saw that it had been cleaned off. She was gone.
“Where is she?” I asked.
“Reassigned.”
“To where?”
“She has a fine position. Don’t worry. I took good care of her.”
“She was very kind to me that first day I met her. I remember her asking me if I’d like to have a martini, and I thought, ‘Who the hell has a martini at noon?’ She said that she’d make it as smooth as silk and as cold as January, and she did. I wish I’d gotten to know her better. She seemed special to me.”
“She is. And you’ll see her around. That’s one woman I would recommend you get to know. She is an absolute professional. Good marriage. Lovely young son. Impeccable manners. Exacting on the job. And she’s knows how to dress. You two could become friends. I can see that happening.” She motioned toward Alex’s office. “Are you sure about this?”
Given all the memories that were about to strike me, I dreaded going inside. But in order to move forward to the next stage in my life, I needed to see it a last time and be done with it. So, I said, “Yes. I’m sure.”
* * *
When we stepped into the room, I could smell the faint scent of leather and the even fainter smell of cigar smoke, neither of which was unpleasant.
Alex didn’t smoke cigars, but a fair amount of the men he’d met with in this room over the years obviously had, and the scent was entrenched. Even now it lingered and the effect was almost calming.
There were no windows here, just paneled walls covered in paintings and a Tiffany lamp that, when Blackwell turned it on, cast warm florid hues upon the table to my right.
Across from me was his desk, upon which was a large silver picture frame I hadn’t remembered seeing before. I went over to it, and saw that it was a photograph taken of him and me at the first event we had attended, after I had been hired to pose as his girlfriend but before I became his true girlfriend. We were smiling in the photograph. Blackwell came up behind me and put her hand on my shoulder.
“Are you sure you want to be here?” she asked.
“Sometimes you have to face the past before you can truly step away from it. I know what I’m going into with Wenn. You and I know everything I’m leaving behind. So, yes, I want to be here. I think I need to be here and to remember him and me as we were before that night. The board thinks it’s simple. They think it’s easy to just walk away from all of it. I’m here to tell you that it isn’t easy. I’m grateful to be in here and to relive the day Alex first interviewed me. It was smooth as silk, indeed.” I turned to her. “I owe you for this. Nobody else could have gotten me in here. I’m grateful, Barbara.”
“So there it is,” she said. “After all of this time, who would have thought? You finally called me ‘Barbara’ without me prompting you to.”
My voice was choked when I looked around the room and at the photo of Alex and me before I spoke. “That’s right. And you know why.”
When she came up behind me and put her hands on my shoulders, I started to sob again. Uncontrollably. She held me until I was able to pull myself together. Once I had, I looked away from the photograph, left the room and its scent of him behind, and moved forward with the next chapter in my life.
* * *
After all documents were signed in Blackwell’s office, we looked at each other, and knew there was nothing left to say�
��at least for now. It would just prolong the inevitable.
“So,” she said. “You have your passport?”
“I do.”
“That’s all you need. Are you ready? Is there anyone you’d like to say goodbye to?”
“Just you. But I’ve already done that. And it’s not a goodbye. It’s a ‘see you soon’.”
“It is indeed.”
“You know, I never thought I’d leave Manhattan. At least not once I started earning enough to afford to live here. As for leaving Lisa, that’s probably the toughest of all.”
“I’d imagine it is. I know you love that girl. But she and Tank seem to be getting along well. She won’t be alone.”
“I hope it works out between them.”
“Time will tell. It’s up to them now.”
She stood and smoothed her hands down the length of her skirt. There was a grim sadness about her that I could tell she was trying to hide. She looked somewhat older to me. Stressed. Neither of us wanted to say goodbye.
“We should get you to the airport,” she said. “It’s a long flight, but the board expects you to start work tomorrow.” She picked up her phone and dialed three numbers. “Jennifer Kent is ready. We’re coming down now. Have the car waiting for us there.”
* * *
When we left the elevator, we walked silently across the lobby, where Tank was waiting for us at one of the doors. He was fully suited up. Gun at his side. Black pants, black shirt, black boots. Muscles popping. Solid and menacing as ever. Perhaps more than ever since what had happened to Alex.
“I won’t miss stepping out onto the streets of New York in fear,” I said to Blackwell. “At least there’s that.”
“We’re removing you from the situation. You’ll return when the beasts who did this to Alex and you are found and brought to justice.”
And how long will that be?
“Hello, Tank,” I said as we neared him.
He nodded at me. “Jennifer.”
He held out his hand for me to shake, but I brushed it aside, gave him a hug, and said in his ear, “Take care of her for me, will you?”
“Consider it done.”
I looked out the window. “That’s the car?”
“That’s the car.”
I took a breath, reached out and squeezed Blackwell’s hand, and with tears in my eyes for all that I was leaving behind and for all that was ahead of me, I let Tank lead the way.
The sidewalk was bustling with people. I felt the sun on my face and the cool breeze against my neck. It seemed like only yesterday that I left Wenn after interviewing with Blackwell and meeting Alex, only to walk home in heels to my apartment on East Tenth Street, where it was a sweatbox in August and where Lisa and I had no money for a mere air conditioner. Now, autumn had taken its bite out of Manhattan, and it felt wonderful.
The limousine’s windows were tinted so that they were almost black—another safety measure. When Tank opened the door for me, I saw the guard seated in the back of the car, and the driver at the wheel. Without incident, I stepped inside, sat next to the guard, and moved away from the door when it was shut. Once Tank was inside, the car darted into traffic.
And Alex, dressed undercover as the guard seated next to me, reached over and gripped my hand.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Weeks of planning had brought us to this point. And even though I was devastated to be leaving Lisa, Blackwell, and Manhattan behind, there was only one direction my life would take, and that was living the rest of it with Alex.
What worried me most was leaving Lisa. Would she be all right? Would I be all right without her? I’d made certain that the penthouse was hers and that Wenn would absorb the mortgage and all fees going forward, so she always would have a home, but that didn’t mean I’d have her in my life everyday, as she had been for years. Few knew the depth of our relationship. Still, when I discussed the options with her, we both agreed that I needed to be with Alex.
“We’re not exactly going to marry each other, Jennifer—though it probably would work out better than most marriages, don’t you think?”
“Just the lack of arguments over, say, going shopping at every opportunity would be a game changer,” I said.
“And since there’d be no sex, we totally could get fat.”
“Blackwell wouldn’t have it. She’d tape our mouths shut.”
She gave me a hug. “Go and live your life. You’ve been given a second chance. Not many get one. I’m not about to stand in the way of that, and I’m not about to let you pass it up, either.”
I would miss her terribly, which is one of the reasons why today had been so difficult for me. I knew that it might be months or even years before I saw her again, which filled me with such a profound sense of loss that I felt wrecked.
And then there was Blackwell. I didn’t want to leave her, either. But I was. As we hurtled down Fifth, I was filled with such a mix of emotions that when I finally looked at Alex, he saw the troubled look in my eyes and said, “I know. It’s hard.”
“It is, but I’m so happy to see you,” I said. “You have no idea.”
He took off his cap and leaned over to kiss me. At first, it was a gentle kiss, but then it became searing as our bodies at last were able to touch. He wrapped his arms around me, pulled me into his lap, and gently stroked my hair before he looked at me. “We’re going to pull this off,” he said.
“We have little choice.”
“Just you and me on a private island. A place where few have been or have even heard of. It’s that tiny. It’s that remote. A few houses, a landing strip, and beauty beyond words. We’ll run Wenn from there. Together. It’s a global world, Jennifer, all connected by the Internet. Everything already has been set up for us. If they catch the bastard who did this to us, maybe we’ll decide to come back. Or maybe we’ll decide to stay in paradise and raise a family. What matters to me is that finally, we can be with each other without any threats to our lives. You have no idea how much I’ve missed you. Or how much I love you.”
“Yes, I do.” I kissed him fiercely on the lips, felt his stubble against my cheek, and felt my body tingle at the memory of it. “Can you feel me?” I asked.
He nodded.
“No,” I said. “I mean my soul. And my heart. That’s what I mean. Can you feel me?”
“I feel you.”
“That’s how much I love you. I hope you can feel even a trace of what I feel for you. I hope it sinks inside of you and fills you up the way you fill me up. Because it’s been building for a month, and right now? It’s been unleashed.”
This was the first time Alex and I had seen each other since he pulled himself out of the East River and went into hiding. The bullet grazed his left shoulder and he stumbled back into the river, but he was able to pull himself up onto the dock that ends at Forty-First Street and slip away into the night before the helicopters, scuba divers, and police could search for him. Instinct told him to run, and he did.
Once he was able to call Blackwell to tell her that he was safe, the Wenn machine went into motion. Alex was collected and given medical assistance. It was decided that for the time being, he would be pronounced dead. He was taken to a safe house in the city, and instructed not to leave. After my time in the hospital, I was directed to stay in my apartment. No one could see me. Alex and I were ordered to have no communication between us until a plan was devised to get us out of the country. Not talking with him or being with him had been hell. But after all this time, we were here now. Finally. Together.
“Where are we going?” I asked him.
“Somewhere in the Pacific deep. There’s no name for it. It’s just an island I own. I’ve never given it a name.”
“Will we be the only ones on it?”
“We won’t. Ann, my former executive assistant, has moved there with her family. They are there now and will live in one of the houses for free. She will work for us. Her husband is a computer whiz, but he wants to take a back seat, so he’ll
tend to the grounds. He’ll home school their son. He believes that there’s much to be learned from the ocean and the earth.”
“I really liked Ann when I met her.”
“I have a feeling that all of us will become close friends. I know what you’re thinking because Blackwell told me about the concerns you voiced to her: How will we survive so remotely? We’ll survive on fish provided by the many fishermen on the neighboring islands. Fruit trees are everywhere on the property—you won’t believe what’s there. Drinking water, beef, chicken and other supplies will be delivered every month via plane—we’ll freeze what we need to freeze. Fresh vegetables already are starting to grow in a garden that’s been set up for us—some of that also can be frozen, including the herbs I thought you’d like. We’ll need to supplement for a few months, but that’s not an issue. We’ll live a sustainable lifestyle. We’ll leave Manhattan, its threats, and its phoniness behind. Wenn is still mine. Wenn is still yours. Wenn is now ours.”
“When will the media be alerted that you’re alive?”
“The moment we land on the island, Wenn will issue a vague press release that I am alive. My lawyers have documented proof of my life—the media will demand that, so we shot a video, which they’ll receive. After that, the world will know that I’m still leading Wenn, but no one in the world will know from where. No one will be able to find us. It’s just you and me. Are you up for that?”
Annihilate Me (Vol. 3) (The Annihilate Me Series) Page 13