by Jenna Jacob
“Christ, Sloane. You can’t do that, and we both know it. Stop being so goddamn dramatic,” Reed’s tone teemed with exasperation.
Sloane flashed him an icy smile as she pulled out her phone and began texting. My heart was in my throat. She obviously carried tremendous power as Judge Bernard’s personal fuck-toy, and I was convinced this was just one of many tricks up her sleeve. Giving a cursory glance at Hayden, I discovered a smarmy smirk poised on her lips. My blood pressure spiked. I wanted so badly to lean over the table and bitch slap both her and Sloane for attempting to thwart George’s wishes.
Sloane slid her phone back into her purse, leveling an arctic glare Reed’s way. “Let it be noted that I’m contesting George’s will, and paperwork on my behalf is being filed as we speak.” She and Hayden stood in unison, tossing their noses in the air, as if they’d practiced the move for years.
“You’re actually going to throw away thirty million dollars because you’re panties are in a twist that you violated your pre-nup, Sloane?” Reed chuckled.
She stopped and turned toward Reed. “Don’t think for one second you’ll be presiding over this case. Need I remind you it would be a gross conflict of interest? And if you stick your nose into any of this, I’ll have you disbarred.”
“Suffice to say, Bernard won’t be presiding over or actively engaged in the process either. I’ll make certain he suffers the same fate. I don’t have qualm one about revealing your little secret or having that son of a bitch disbarred. Are you certain you want to play hard ball with me, Sloane?” Reed smirked, arching a brow.
I couldn’t help myself. I laughed. It was empowering to watch Reed stick up for all the shit George had to swallow down in order to live in peace from his hateful ex. The haughty hag had that and more coming to her.
“I don’t know what you think you’re laughing at you kinky little bitch,” Hayden screeched as she rushed around the table looking like she was ready for a throw down. I lurched from my seat and curled my fists. Lunging forward I baited her to take a swing. I wanted nothing more than to knock her flat on her arrogant ass.
When Hayden recoiled in fear, I smirked. “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but whips and chains turned your Daddy on like a goddamn light bulb. I made his dick so hard a cat couldn’t scratch it,” I taunted in fiendish glee.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Reed grabbed my arm and pulled me back just as Hayden lurched toward me with a feral scream. Simultaneously, Sloane grabbed a fistful of her daughter’s hair and hauled her back.
“I’m going to kill you. You fucking bitch! Then every penny of Daddy’s money will be mine!” Hayden spat as her eyes bulged, and her face blazed bright red.
“Wrong, princess. It’s not yours and never will be. You have to share it with Mommy dearest. You want to tangle with me? Bring it, you repulsive, pampered bitch,” I hissed. “I’m not afraid of you or your childish threats.”
As the words tumbled off my tongue, my body trembled. Not in anger, but in a mixture of self-preservation and adrenaline. I could tell she was ready to scratch my eyes out—not because of the money—for pure spite
“Did you just threaten Leagh in my presence, Hayden?” Reed barked as he stepped in front of me and blocked both women from my view.
“Of course she’s not, Reed,” Sloane quickly assured as her voice quivered. The woman was clearly shaken by her daughter’s behavior and back-peddling to smooth Reed’s retribution. “Hayden is despondent over the loss of her father. She has no idea what she’s saying.”
“Blow those lies up someone else’s ass. If anything happens to Leagh, if she breaks a goddamn fingernail I’m pressing charges. Do you understand?” Reed was screaming. His body taut and his hands clenched at his sides. “I can’t stand the sight of either one of you. George was a good man. This meeting is over. Get the hell out of my office. Now!” Reed growled as he pointed at the door.
Peering over his wide shoulder, I watched as Sloane yanked the door open before shoving Hayden out. As soon as it closed behind them, Reed turned and leveled me a gaze brimming with anger.
“What the hell possessed you to bait Hayden like that?” he spat.
I blinked in confusion. “What did you expect me to do? Stand there and take her death threat without trying to defend myself?”
“Yes!” He yelled.
“You’re insane,” I countered. The worry in his eyes doubled my own fear. “Why are you so upset, Reed? What do you know that you’re not telling me?”
“Christ,” he sighed and scrubbed a hand through his thinning dark hair and paced for a long minute. “The college kid that was found dead in his car about eight years ago, do you remember that?”
“I wasn’t living here then. What does some dead college kid have to do with Hayden?”
“A twenty-two year old Loyola University student was found inside his brand new Camry. He was parked outside his apartment complex with an epi pen shoved in his chest. Inside the vehicle was a swarm of bees. The kid was highly allergic to bees.”
“Okay. I still don’t know what this—”
“Let me finish, Leagh,” Reed scolded as he held up his hand. “The locks on his brand new car had been tampered with. He’d been unable to get out of a car filled with bees. The coroner’s report estimated he’d been stung over three thousand times.”
“You’re telling me this…because?” I had no idea where Reed was going with his story.
“His name was Ethan Breuer. He was Hayden’s boyfriend.”
My mouth fell open. Time seemed to freeze as Reed’s words knocked the air from my lungs.
“Are you trying to tell me that Hayden killed him?”
“I never said that. But possibly, like me, you find the details surrounding the young man’s death a bit more than coincidental. I have no proof that Hayden killed him and I don’t have proof that Sloane didn’t do it, either. I’m simply saying I wouldn’t put it past either one of them. They’re both cut from the same cloth and crazier than a couple of shit-house rats.”
My mouth went dry, and the room began to spin. I gripped the back of the leather chair I’d been sitting in to support my trembling legs. “Why would either of them want this kid dead? What did he do?”
“Hayden had made up her mind that she was going to marry Ethan. In fact at the time of his death, she and Sloane were shopping for bridal dresses. Both had iron clad alibis. Ironically they went shopping the day after Hayden caught Ethan and another girl in bed together. Tell me, do you get the impression Hayden is the forgiving type? That she’d find the man of her dreams in bed with another woman and race right out to the bridal boutique the very next day?”
“Not in this lifetime.” My head swam. “So Hayden got a taste of what George felt like when he found Sloane and Bernard in bed that day.”
“Oh, Hayden doesn’t know a damn thing about Sloane’s affair.”
“Right, because Sloane would run the risk of Hayden being crushed and end up hating the nasty heifer. And she’s invested way too much time and energy grooming Hayden to be a perfect little mini-me,” I scoffed with a brittle smile.
Frazzled by the fear that Hayden would actually make good on her threat, I began to panic. It had been a long time since I’d felt death loom so close. It was as immobilizing as it had been in the past. Then something strange began to happen, anger began to bubble over and consume my fear.
“Why didn’t you tell me any of this before the meeting, Reed? I’ve just signed my name to the top of Hayden or Sloane’s hit list.”
“I didn’t think things were going to go to hell in a hand basket, but the minute I saw Sloane walk through the door I knew it was going to get ugly. I wish I’d never asked you to come today, Leagh.”
“That would have pissed me off even more,” I hissed.
God, I was lashing out at George’s best friend trying to blame him for my own mistakes. If I hadn’t run off at the mouth and had kept a lid on my anger I wouldn’t be choking on a mountain
of fear. Their animosity I could live with; the prospect of being at the top of their hit list – not so much.
“Look, I’m sorry, Reed. I’m really not blaming you. I’m mad at myself and…shit. Hind sight is a steaming pile of crap isn’t it?” I sighed. “Did George know about Ethan’s death?”
“He shared his suspicions with me, and we discussed the possibility of Hayden’s involvement. But all we had was speculation. The official police report concluded that a queen had built a nest in the wheel well of Ethan’s car, and the bees migrated through the ventilation system.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me?” I snorted in disbelief. “Was there a hive anywhere in Ethan’s car?”
“No.” Reed pursed his lips and shook his head.
“I didn’t think so either. And that piss poor excuse was the best the cops could come up with? Who the hell was heading up the investigation…Bernard’s friends?” I was furious.
“George and I suspected that Bernard put pressure on the Police Chief. They’re hunting buddies.”
My mouth gaped. “You’re telling me that George, my George, had an inkling his daughter or maybe his ex-wife committed murder, and he did nothing about it?”
I couldn’t fathom any part of Reed’s story. George, the man I thought I knew, would never have ignored either woman’s involvement in a petty shoplifting, let alone murder.
Reed held up his hands, deflecting my anger. “He considered the possibility, but again, he had no proof. He certainly never confronted Hayden or Sloane. But after Ethan died, George became extremely cautious. He would only visit Hayden in a public place. He was tenacious about staying safe when he had to deal with either woman.”
“I can’t imagine him living like that.” I shook my head, wondering if I ever really knew George at all.
It was unfathomable for me to imagine the man I’d spent three years with living in fear of his own daughter and ex-wife. And silly me had assumed the reason he met with Hayden away from the house, was to shield me from her caustic tongue. But knowing now, he’d done it to protect himself from potential harm sent a chill down my spine.
“But all this happened after their divorce.”
“Yes, a couple of years later. Why do you ask?” Reed’s brows furrowed.
“I’m trying to figure out why George agreed to leave Sloane half of everything. I mean, I know he wanted to keep peace among the judges and all that, but there had to be something more. Why did he do it, Reed? Why did he leave Sloane half of his estate? You knew him longer and better than I did. What was she holding over his head? And who is this Paula person? Why did George start a trust fund for her some thirty odd years ago? Is she his daughter?”
Reed clenched his jaw. Inhaling a deep breath, he stared at me but didn’t speak for a long moment. “Leave it alone, Leagh. It has nothing to do with you, okay?”
“I need to know, Reed. Even if it has nothing to do with me, it has something to do with George, and I need to know.”
“No, you don’t.” He shook his head.
“Tell me, Reed. I have to know,” I begged. My stomach twisting into knots.
“Nothing good can come of it, Leagh. Just let it go,” Reed pleaded.
“Goddamn it. Tell me,” I screamed as I stalked toward him, standing toe-to-toe with the tall man. Anguish flashed in his eyes, and sorrow lined his face. My heart thundered in my chest as I tried to prepare myself for the bombshell I knew he was about to launch.
“Paula was George’s mistress,” Reed whispered.
“You mean before me, right?” My fingers tingled, and my mouth grew dry.
“I mean for the past thirty-eight years, up until he died.”
Time stopped. Air seized in my lungs. My heart clutched. My body began to tremble, and my stomach lurched to the back of my throat.
Blindsided, no amount of preparation could have ever equipped me for Reed’s confession.
“That’s impossible,” I shrieked. “I lived with him! Why are you lying to me?
“I’m sorry, Leagh. It’s not a lie. When George married Sloane, she signed a pre-nup that she would take no other lovers. George was already in love with Paula at the time, but her husband—
“Stop! Not another fucking word. I don’t want to hear this,” I cried as I slung my purse over my shoulder then turned and ran.
“Leagh. Wait!” Reed called out as I yanked the door open and raced down the hall.
Unwilling to wait for the elevator, I found the door to the stairwell, tore it open, and ran down the stairs. Tears streamed down my face as I gripped the railing. Propelling myself down, flight after flight, taking the steps as fast as my feet could carry me.
A Mistress! For thirty-eight years, George had a fucking Mistress? Where? When? Was he spending time with her when he was supposed to be at work? All those times he went out of town for research? Had he really been gone or simply shacking up with her? Did he love her more than me? Why did he want another woman? Wasn’t I good enough? “Oh god, why George? Why? How could you do this to me?” I sobbed.
Sliding off the last step, I gripped the railing tight as forward motion flung me headlong. Wobbling backward, my ass bounced on the last step. Panting and gasping I couldn’t stop shaking. The life I’d shared with George had been nothing but a well-choreographed lie.
“Leagh?” Reed’s deep voice echoed down the stairwell as the sound of footsteps from above reverberated in my ears.
“No,” I whispered as I stood and forced myself to pull back the door leading to the elegant lobby of the office building. As it slammed behind me, people glanced my way, stared for an uninvolved second, and turned away. Digging through my purse, I clasped my keys and made my way out the revolving door.
The sidewalk teemed with businessmen and women, all scurrying about their busy day. The sunlight blinded me. I raised a hand to shield the glare as I stepped off the curb wanting only to find refuge in my car and cry.
Reed’s deep voice screaming my name was cut short by a horn blaring. The deafening squeal of tires, a thunderous boom, and pain exploding through my body were my only warning before blackness devoured me in one horrific bite.
#
Deep, familiar voices tugged me from the darkness, urging me to float above the inky abyss.
“Any change yet?”
“No.”
“You look like shit, Tony. When was the last time you slept, man?”
“A couple days ago.”
“Go, home. Get some rest. I’ll stay with her.”
“I’m not leaving her, Mika. What if she wakes up?”
I tried to call out to them, but my throat was blocked. My eyes were so heavy I didn’t have the strength to lift my lids. And though I tried to stop myself, I couldn’t keep from sinking back into the empty void below.
The nightmares came fragmented and real. Matt’s snarling voice…the gun. The dead baby boy, Nathan, still and peaceful in my arms. Tears and lullabies. Hospitals and blood. My father’s angry face. My mother’s laughter morphing into silent screams. When the blessed peace settled in my head, the pain throbbed sharp beneath my flesh. Sounds melted into an irritating cacophony before falling silenced and still, I floated between heaven and hell. Unsure when or which realm I would finally awaken.
Beep
Beep
Beep
The incessant alarm buoyed me to reality. I opened my eyes. The room was dark except for a soft glow leaking beneath the foot of a door. Looking around, I saw machines and tubes. The pungent smell of alcohol and flowers assaulted my senses in an unsettling combination. Rolling through thoughts in my brain, I had no idea what had brought me to this strange place. As I tried to sit up, pain sliced deep in my head, and a muffled moan rumbled in my chest and reverberated against a blockage in my throat.
Sudden movement drew my attention, and as I lolled my head to the right, Tony’s head lifted from the mattress as his body shifted in the chair beside me. His soft brown eyes, heavy with sleep, opened and began
to fill with tears as his chin began to quiver.
“Oh, baby,” he whispered. “Thank god you’re back.”
Standing up, he leaned over and gazed into my eyes. Two tears spilled over his lashes and glided into the stubble covering his face. Dark circles ringed his leaking eyes. I tried to talk, but my throat was clogged with something more than emotion. Tony pressed his warm lips against my forehead, and my heart dissolved beneath his tender kiss.
“I’ve been so scared, Leagh. So fucking scared,” Tony spoke against my skin as his tears spilled onto the pale blue cotton gown draped upon my shoulders.
Tears slid down my cheeks; still his lips huddled against my forehead as he murmured his relief that I’d opened my eyes.
I wanted to tell him not to cry, but the best I could conjure was a groan.
Tony slowly eased back wiping his eyes before he softly blotted mine away with the pads of his thumb.
“Shhh, don’t try to talk, sweetheart. There’s a tube in your throat to help you breathe. You’re in the hospital,” he sniffed and swallowed tightly as fresh tears streaked his handsome face.
His overwhelming emotions frightened me, but his glowing smile settled me. I raised my weighted right arm and cupped his cheek.
“Oh, sweetheart,” Tony choked as he enveloped my hand with his and closed his eyes. “Your touch feels like heaven.”
Peeling my hand from his face, he placed a reverent kiss in my palm. “I want you to blink one time for yes and two times for no. Can you do that for me, angel?”
I blinked once, and Tony smiled.
“Excellent. Do you remember the accident?”
Accident? What accident? My heart thundered in my ears, and I felt my eyes grow wide before I blinked twice.
“Thank god,” Tony exhaled. “When you left Reed’s office, you got hit by a car.”
I squeezed Tony’s hand as I felt my brows furrow in confusion. I didn’t remember a damn thing. How could I not remember something as horrific as being hit by a car?
“Don’t panic, sweetheart. You’re going to be fine. I know you’re scared and have a million questions. I can see it your eyes, but relax for me. Take some deep breaths. Okay? I’m right here and I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”