“No . . .”
“I rest my case.” Lea waited for Cassie to meet her eyes.
“Big brother has it bad for you. He always trusted me to do my job. Although he never asked me to protect his charges for him, he also never checked up on me. Yet, with you, he felt the need to make sure you’re all right. Sneaking out in the middle of the night is not his usual modus operandi.” She leaned forward, pressed a finger under Cassie’s nose and her eyes blazed.
“Don’t mess with him. He doesn’t deserve it.”
The not so subtle warning had Cassie’s hackles rising. How dare Lea assume she was anywhere remotely in the same league as Sarah. “I think you’re mistaking me for someone else. I don’t like threats. I doubt Jake would appreciate your interference on his behalf.” Cassie wiped her mouth with a napkin and rose. She’d had enough of this lecture.
“Cool your jets, will you. I had to make sure you felt enough for Jake not to hurt him.”
Cassie glared at Lea who sipped at her coffee, a mock-innocent look on her face. It didn’t suit Lea any more than it would have suited Cassie and against her will, Cassie smiled. She couldn’t fault Lea for looking out for her brother and she would probably have done the same.
“You took a big risk in inviting confrontation like that.” Cassie put her handbag on the table and relaxed in the chair.
“Nope, I knew you would come through.” She shrugged. “And if you didn’t, I proved my point.”
Cassie only shook her head. Lea was still an enigma to her. Their conversation turned general after that and later that evening Lea loaded an action movie into the DVD player. Cassie’s interest wandered after a couple of minutes.
Jake hadn’t called or left any messages. Lea was great company, but she missed Jake. She missed his smile and his sense of humour. She missed the way his presence filled her apartment so that it became difficult to breathe at times. You better get used to it girl, her inner voice chastised, it had always been only temporary.
When the movie finished, Cassie retired to her bedroom and after twisting and turning for what felt like hours, she finally fell asleep. And dreamt of Jake making love to her. His hands gliding over her body, his palms grazing her breasts, his fingers delving into her vagina and taking her to the brink of orgasm before he eased his cock inside her. She awoke with lust moistening her pussy and her nipples aching. Damn it, she wasn’t sixteen and no amount of hormonal lust was going to control her. The resolution eased her conscience, but did nothing to alleviate the throbbing need between her legs.
Chapter Forteen
Once at the office, Lea left her at the bottom of the elevator and Cassie pressed the button for the top floor. The doors opened to an empty corridor and she breathed a sigh of relief. Few members of staff ventured into the office at six in the morning and the place had an abandoned feel. Although she trusted Jake and Matt to do their job, she tensed as she entered her office. In front of the window, a cleaning cart stood diagonal to her desk. The cleaner rubbed a cloth over the bottom of the glass and straightened.
Relief flooded through Cassie as she stared into the friendly ebony face of the man. A smile nearly split his face in two as he greeted her. She returned his friendly greeting without hesitation and slipped behind her desk. In a short while, the minutes of the meetings of the previous day captured her concentration. Engrossed in sorting out the details of the prospective contracts, Cassie briefly glanced up as the door clicked shut.
The bottom dropped out of Cassie’s stomach. She didn’t need to consult the picture in her handbag to identify the man behind the cleaning cart. Marvin Sparks remained motionless with his hand on the handle of the door and Cassie cringed at the hatred spewing from his eyes. Her heart thumped in her chest and she covered her one hand with the other to mask the tremble in them. How was she supposed to act as if she didn’t know who he was when all she wanted to do was scream at the top of her lungs and run from the office?
“Can I help you? Someone already cleaned the office.” She prayed the rapid beating of her heart remained audible to her own ears alone.
Marvin pushed the cleaning cart under the handle of the door and Cassie swallowed convulsively. The blood drained from her face and she searched the office for a means to escape. There were none. By the time Marvin turned to face her, she had already calculated her chance of survival should she throw herself out the window.
“I’m not here to clean your office. It’s you I want.”
Cassie feigned indignation. “Get out. Collect your wages from the personnel office and don’t bother returning.” She fixed him with her coldest stare while anticipating her heart beating itself right out of her chest. Blood roared in her ears and saliva in her mouth turned to ash. Where were Jake? How could he leave her alone to face this maniac?
“Darlin, that’s not going to work on me.” He pulled something from his overall pocket and Cassie stared transfixed at the serrated half-moon shaped blade attached to a sturdy ivory handle. He wiped the blade against the leg of his trouser and turned it in his hand, as if admiring the craftsmanship.
“Who are you and what do you want?”
“Tut-tut, not so fast. You owe me the same favours you so willingly handed to that pumped up security guard.” Marvin beckoned with his tongue and revulsion crawled along Cassie’s spine. He took a couple of steps closer to her and Cassie resisted the urge to jump up and put more distance between them.
Don’t show him he intimidates you.
Yeah right, he didn’t intimidate her, he scared her senseless. She straightened her spine and prayed her voice held enough ice to mask the fear rambling through her body.
“Don’t waste my time. What do you want?”
Marvin sauntered closer and Cassie shrunk in her chair at the menace radiating from his eyes. He waved the knife in front of her face. “You and your old man slept under cushy blankets in your mansions while I had to content with rifling through garbage cans on cold winter nights.”
Cassie shook her head. “I’m sorry your circumstances were bad, but what does it have to do with me . . . or my father?”
Marvin slammed the knife on the table and Cassie jumped. He pressed his face almost against hers and she strained to hear his hiss. “He refused to acknowledge me as his son.”
Cassie bolted from the chair and hurried to the other side of the desk. “He couldn’t be your father,” she whispered.
Marvin’s face contorted into a mask of rage. With a strangled cry, he scaled the desk and grabbed Cassie by the hair. Tears sprung to her eyes as he pulled her head backwards. Her breath stalled in her throat as he pressed the cold steel of the blade against her exposed neck.
“That’s what he said and then he laughed at me. I swore I would get him for that one day. You don’t humiliate a sixteen year old boy and remain unpunished.”
Cassie forced air into her lungs and swallowed convulsively. “Listen to me . . .”
His grip on her hair tightened and absently Cassie wondered how much more strain her vertebra could take before her neck snapped right off. “Listen to me,” she repeated. “He couldn’t be your father because he was sterile. Both my brother and I were adopted as babies. My father couldn’t have children.”
“Liar.” The scream reverberated off the walls and he increased the pressure of the knife on her neck. “ He left my mother to fend for herself when he found out she was pregnant. He used her and discarded her like garbage.” Cassie watched fascinated as a sliver of drool dripped from his chin, trying to ignore the trickle of blood running towards the valley between her breasts.
“She lied to you. I can prove it. Just let me go and I’ll show you.”
The pressure on her neck eased and Cassie sucked air into her deprived lungs. She turned her head and her heart stopped. She watched, immobilized with terror, as Marvin lifted the knife above his head. In slowmotion the blade barrelled towards her chest.
“My mother never lies,” he screamed as a shot rang out from
the bathroom. Surprise flowered in his eyes just before a freight train ran into Cassie and flattened her on the floor. Struggling for breath, Cassie shoved at the body covering hers, but it only lifted a fraction to allow her chest to expand in take in some air. Mayhem reigned as Marvin kept screaming obscenities at Matt and Lea. The rest of the security team entered and secured Marvin before leading him from the office.
Jake lifted off her and helped her to her feet. Her body shook in reaction to the sudden turn of events and to her horror, a tear ran down her cheek.
“It’s okay, Sweetheart. It’s over, you’re safe.” Jake hugged her close and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. The single tear turned into a river and Cassie buried her face in his chest. What must the others think of her? She, the CEO of a hard-core manufacturing company, turned to mush at the first sign of a little danger.
She straightened her spine and swallowed the sobs raking her body. If she gave in now, Marvin would win. Cassie lifted her head and stared up at Jake. His eyes followed the movements of the police and the rest of the team through the room and the stern set of his jaw revealed his irritation at the process taking so long.
“I’m fine now, thank you.” She stepped away from Jake and turned to survey the room herself. It was hard to believe a couple of minutes ago, only she and Marvin occupied the office. Now, half a dozen people milled in the room, each seemingly busy with collecting and securing evidence. She paled as a policeman unpacked Marvin’s cleaning trolley. Besides a variety of knifes, he packed scalpels, tongs and even a firearm inside. He came prepared for war. And with the intent to hurt her. Not just kill her, make her suffer. The blood drained from her face again and for a moment, she thought she was going to be sick.
The policeman must have felt her stare because he turned and shrugged an apology to her. Cassie nodded, slipped out from under Jake’s arm and walked to her desk. Once seated behind it, some control returned to her day. Despite the early hour, her muscles ached and fatigue threatened to overwhelm her. The familiarity of the feeling struck her and she sighed softly. Like before, she will use her work to bury these memories. Marvin Sparks will not win.
In a strange way she sympathised with him. His mother lied to him, betrayed his trust and lead him onto a path of self-destruction. Once upon a time she might have known Graham Adams and judging by the photo’s on the flash drives, she might even have had sex with him. Maybe she even believed he was the father of her child. But her actions destroyed her son. Just like Cassie’s father with his indiscretions, almost cost her her life.
“We need to get a statement, ma’am.”
Cassie nodded. The sooner she sorted this mess out, the sooner she could return to her normal routine. She spent the rest of the day overseeing the starting of the production plant, giving numerous statements to the police and finalising the details on the contracts entered into during the past two days.
By six in the evening, she had an overdose of caffeine and her stomach growled. Jake had left with the police and she hadn’t seen him since. Not that she expected to for a couple of days at least. They’d solved the case and she didn’t need protection anymore. He had no reason to stay.
It wasn’t that she felt abandoned, she kept telling herself. She merely wanted to know how far the case progressed. As she walked past Megan’s office, a shadow detached itself from the corridor wall and Cassie’s heart jumped in her throat. Jake.
“Hi, Sweetheart.” Jake hugged her to him. “It’s over now.”
Cassie nodded and rested her head against his chest for a few moments. His steady heartbeat thundered in her ear as she hugged him fiercely before letting him go and stepping out of his embrace.
“What happened to Marvin?”
Jake matched his stride to hers until they reached the elevator. “He’s being detained, but he’s mad as hell. Matt brought his mother in and she admitted that she was a cleaner a long time ago in the company and when some low-life with no prospects got her pregnant, she resigned. When Marvin confronted her about his father, she made up the lies to protect herself.”
“Poor Marvin.”
Jake stared intently at Cassie. “You can’t feel sorry for him. He almost killed you.”
“I know, but he built his entire world on the lies his mother told him. You have to agree, it’s sad.”
He shook his head in disbelief, but didn’t offer any further comment. “He cloned your laptop using the same IP address to log on to the network. With the camera installed in your office, it was easy to transfer the funds. He did the same to your father. Matt found most of the funds in the trust’s bank account. Except for about five million Rand, you should be able to retrieve all the losses.”
“That’s wonderful.” The opening of the elevator doors saved her from further comment. She should be elated that the nightmare ended, but instead, a sense of loss threatened to close her throat with unshed tears.
For the first couple of floors neither of them spoke. Jake seemed to come to a decision and with a muffled curse, he pressed the stop button and shut off the alarm.
“I can’t do this. I can’t let you go like this.”
Cassie shook her head. “We both knew this was temporary. There’s no future for us in a relationship. You have your world and I have mine. In normal circumstances we never would’ve met. Let it go.”
“No.”
Jake trapped her against the wall. Need flooded Cassie’s bloodstream and she despised herself for wanting him even after the horrible events of the day. When his lips descended on hers, she met him halfway, opening her mouth to allow his tongue inside. Lust and need collided and her arms drew him closer. Just one more time. To remember.
No.
Time to say goodbye.
Her arms cramped around him before she released him and cowered in the corner of the elevator. Willing her breathing to slow, she inhaled deeply. Staring at a spot above him, she resisted the urge to hug her breaking heart.
“We had a wonderful time. Now we have to move on.”
Jake shook his head and stepped towards her. She stopped him with the lift of her hand.
“No, Jake. I will never fit into your world and you won’t fit into mine. I don’t do relationships and neither do you. A relationship implies love. What we had was chemistry. Explosive and mind-blowing, but still only lust. Let’s leave it that while the memories are still good.”
He remained silent for so long Cassie thought he wouldn’t answer.
“If that’s what you really want.”
“It is.”
They waited in silence for the elevator the reach the underground parking. At the ping, Jake mumbled a greeting and hurried through the doors.
A lone tear escaped as she whispered goodbye to her dream lover and watched the Discovery exit through the gate.
Chapter Fifteen
“The new CEO seems to cope very well.” Joshua cocked his head in the direction of the man who took over from Cassie almost two months ago. The only indication the man gave that he heard the comment, was a slight inclination of his head. Only one of the board members objected to Cassie appointing the new man and relinquishing control. Today, they all hung onto his lips as he lead the first meeting with him as permanent chairman of Adams Armoury Incorporated.
“Yes and he’s doing a better job than I could ever hope to do. I’m sick and tired of corporate games and our practice needs our attention right now.” Even to her own ears, the statement rang false, but she persisted. If you told yourself something over and over, you come to believe in the truth of the statement . . . or so they said.
Joshua shook his head. “No Cassie. You need a holiday. You’ve lost weight and look tired. After the near fiasco with the contracts last week at our practice, I don’t want you near the office for at least a couple of weeks. Take time off. Go on vacation. I don’t care what you do, as long as you get some colour in those cheeks of yours.”
“But . . . “
“No buts. Your father’s c
ompany is safe and well on its way to being the prosperous business it was before Marvin came on the scene. There’s nothing pressing at the accounting practice that I can’t handle. Now, you have to concentrate on figuring out what you want.”
Cassie sighed. The last thing she wanted was time to think. She knew what she wanted and she also knew she would never have it. What was the point in rehashing the scenarios if she always arrived at the same conclusion? Alone. And frustrated. Maybe Joshua was right. Maybe she did need some time to decide where she had to go from here and what to do to pick up the pieces.
“All right. I’ll take time off. Only two weeks though. I don’t think I’ll be able to sit still for any longer than that.”
Two days later, Cassie stared out over the Indian ocean, letting the rhythmic sloshing of the water soothe her senses. It somehow made sense to return to the place where her happiest and saddest moments started. She’d come a full circle. Having met Jake in Mauritius it was only fitting to bade his memories a final farewell in the same place.
She stifled a yawn and rose from the chair on the veranda of the cabana. A walk along the beach sounded good to clear the cobwebs from her mind. She pulled the clip from her hair, kicked off her shoes and closed the door of the cabana behind her. Jet lag dragged at her legs, but with nowhere else to be she slowly made her way to the beach.
Soothed by the waves lapping at her feet, she strolled towards the deserted palm-lined beach in the distance. A soft breeze plucked at her hair and she wiped the loose strands from her face. The other holidaymakers disappeared from view, but she kept going.
On the slight rise of a dune, she sat on the sand and hugged her arms to her. For the first time since Jake left, she allowed the tears of longing and loss to flow freely over her cheeks. The emptiness left by his departure, sliced through her like a physical pain. In the week they had together, she’d manage to fall irrevocably in love with this gentle and strong man. And she didn’t know if she would be strong enough to live without him.
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