Burning Obsession

by Rice, Rachel E.

  BURNING OBSESSION

  by Rachael E. Rice

  #3 in the Obsession Series

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  Cover copyright ©2012

  by Jimmy Thomas

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  Published by Rachael E. Rice

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  Copyright © 2012 by Rachael E. Rice

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  Smashwords Edition

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission, except for brief quotations to books and critical reviews. This story is a work of fiction. Characters and events are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

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  BURNING OBSESSION

  By Rachael E. Rice

  Book #3 in the

  Obsession Series

  Chapter 1

  Paris, France

  After a twelve hour flight, a limo awaited Steven, Sydney, and the children at the airport in Paris. The scenic tour was more wonderful than everyone could imagine. All the sights came alive, and the arrival at the Four Season Hotel George V just off the Champs-Elysees was an experience with its floral and a parade of chandeliers in the red-and-gilt lobby, and its stunning Courtyard café. It was about seven or eight that evening because the Eiffel Tower gleamed with the illumination of lights. “Look at all the lights, children,” Steven said full of glee.

  “Paris is called the city of lights,” Sydney added.

  “I knew that,” he said laughing.

  Sydney and Steven were excited. They could feel the spirit of Paris. “I love this city!”

  “Quiet Steven, you’ll wake the baby.”

  The entourage strutted through the hotel. The concierge showed them to their suites. The hotel located between the Champs Elysees and Avenue Montaigne was a superb choice for Steven and Sydney. It was known for its superb service. Danny’s secretary, now working for Sydney had arranged for three connected luxury suites.

  The children and the nurse were the first to enter their rooms, and the children scampered to inspect their beds. Steven and Sydney walked in circles with their mouths opened. They turned clockwise to view the room, with its amazing view of the Eiffel Tower.

  “My god Sydney, I didn’t know you had that kind of money.”

  “Yes and it’s time to spend some of it. Enough talk of money. Let’s have some fun for a chance. Steven, maybe you’ll find a Parisian lover. I hear they’re good lovers and they don’t kiss and tell.” Sydney raised her eyebrow.

  Steven shot back, “Maybe you’ll find someone too.”

  “I doubt it. Where in a lifetime could I find the likes of a Danny McCloud with his warm loving good nature, and a body that I could have spent a lifetime desiring and loving? Where indeed would I find another Phillip, so understanding and giving? I’ve given up.”

  “No, say it’s not so, Sydney. Not you? You are too young and I am too old for that bull shit you have just shoveled,” Steven said, grabbing her hands and turning her around in a circle.

  “I’ve met, lived with, and married some of the most beautiful, handsome, rich, and interesting men in the world. I’m done.” And she walked to the door to answer it. Steven continued talking.

  “The world is full of good men; you have only met and loved one percent. Think about all the ones out there you haven’t met.”

  The maid came in with a basket of goodies and loads of cheese and wine. Sydney and Steven continued on the same conversation.

  “What about Jeremy?” he said raising an eyebrow and his wine glass.

  “What about him?”

  “Where does he fit in? And what are you going to do with him?”

  “He’s getting married to Nadia”

  “What?”

  Steven sat up and placed his wine glass down to keep from dropping it. Then he waved his hand at Sydney, gesturing for her to get up.

  “Go to the mirror, Go.” Sydney did as he wanted. She slowly eased out of the chair, lumbered to the mirror.

  “What now?”

  “Look at your face.” Sydney tried to humor him to see where he was going. “You’re in love with Jeremy.”

  “I am not,” she protested. “I’m not!”

  “Me think that you protest too much.”

  “Now you know Shakespeare?”

  “Well I’m not completely ignorant and I know when someone is in love. It’s written all over your face.”

  “I can’t. He’s my husband’s brother.”

  “Yes and the father of your baby. Your husband is dead.” Steven stared at Sydney and picked up his glass of wine and handed her one. Then he plopped in a plush white, silk, antique chair.

  “That was a mistake,” she said turning her back to him. “I will never forgive myself.”

  “A gigantic mistake,” Steven mused. He glanced at Sydney saw her furrowed brow and sad eyes. He jumped up reaching for her hands, “Let’s go for a walk, I’ll hold your hand and we can pretend we’re in love.”

  “I do love you Steven, you are a dear friend, and I don’t know what I would do without you?”

  “Oh that’s so sweet,” and he took her face in his hands and kissed her cheek. “Now enough of the sweet stuff, let’s go. It’s beautiful out, forty degrees, come on. Steven pulled her to the door. “Get your coat.”

  “Wait I have to tell Ana we’re going for a walk.”

  * * *

  Nadia and Jeremy reached Paris a few hours after Steven and Sydney. They arrived at her brother’s apartment who had not returned from Brazil, where he was overseeing the building of an enormous hotel chain. Alan had one special project, an eco friendly paradise in the jungles of Brazil.

  The cabbie drove through the city. Jeremy fell in love again with Paris. Looking out at

  the lights, he thought about how wonderful it would have been to show Sydney the city he loved. “The city of lights. The city of love,” he said tapping on the seats in the cab. “We are here, we’re here, Nadia.”

  “You’re behaving like a tourist, Jeremy.”

  “I haven’t been here in years and I’ve never been in this area of the city. When I first came here to study, I lived in a little hovel with my mother and we were starving most of the time.” Jeremy scanned the apartment outside, “Your brother must have a fortune. Very impressive.”

  “He’s doing well. He works all the time.” She searches in her purse. “He could be in the U.S. in the morning and France that evening.” She raises the key. “He gave me the key and I can use the apartment whenever I’m in town,” Nadia said lightly.

  One room was the size of Jeremy’s entire apartment that he spent millions on in New York.

  “Wow Nadia, you can get lost in this palace. I want one like this in New York.”

  “If everything goes the way I think, your latest painting of Sydney can buy you a home in Paris, the U. S., and anywhere in the world with money left over. You will be rich beyond your dreams.”

  That’s what Jeremy wanted to hear. He needed money to compete with the men in Sydney’s life and now he could give her everything Danny tried to give—homes, cars, excitement.

  Sydney didn’t want nor needed material things. She had all of that and it didn’t bring her the happiness she craved. Danny and her children filled all her needs. If she had Danny again, her life would be f
ull even if she didn’t have a dime.

  * * *

  Steven and Sydney strolled out into the cool and calm night air, arm in arm. The thought of Danny disappeared with the visions of light illuminating from the Eiffel Tower. They were leaving their problems and memories in New York. The chill of the winds blew away whatever haunted them.

  She tried to tell Danny to stay home because she had money and he didn’t need to work constantly. He lost much of his money during his drug-induced nightmare and some bad investments; he had been working like hell to get it back. That’s why he took that fatal trip to Brazil.

  Putting off returning to California to sell the house and close Danny’s production company had taken a back seat to the crisis that she and Steven faced. Sydney discovered that Danny was broke and didn’t want her to know. She had more than enough money for the both of them but he wouldn’t take any.

  Some would say she’s lucky. Heather sure said it. She received millions including land in Texas from her first husband Mike. Phillip had homes everywhere, where she is still trying to sell homes she can’t live in. Robert transferred all his money in Sean and Sydney’s name before he committed suicide.

  The only one man that meant anything to her died in Brazil. Now she is poor.

  Sydney wished she were walking, laughing, hands swaying and holding Danny’s hand in the city of lights. Her body ached and she missed him something terrible. She couldn’t find words to describe the hollow, empty, ache in her life.

  Steven’s eyes fell on her hands. Her hands turned cold. He glanced into her face and saw that the light was absent in her eyes. There use to be a glow, and now her face showed darkness in her lovely brown eyes. The way a corpse appears when there is no life. Only she was walking and talking and nothing else.

  After walking for an hour, they flopped in two seats in an outdoor café near the Rue di Rivoli, and ordered red wine. Sydney remembered the last time she drank wine. When Steven held up the glass to toast to a new life he caught sight of a figure and he shouted, “Jeremy!”

  Sydney afraid to raise her eyes surrendered and looked up. In the dark of the evening, with lights showering her, there stood a man with heavenly green eyes, Danny’s eyes. It was Jeremy, but not alone. There was an abrupt stop. Nadia unaware that he had stopped kept walking until she felt the tug of his hand. Then her body came to a full stop.

  Staring at Sydney in amazement Jeremy’s voice broke. “Sydney this is Nadia.” Jeremy’s voice quivered with surprise as if he had been caught cheating on a wife. Nadia’s eyes opened wide.

  “She’s more beautiful than her paintings.”

  “Sit down please,” Steven said graciously.

  Sydney’s eyes glared at him and her hand reached for Steven’s leg. When she had it in her grasp, she squeezed it. Nadia sat first and Jeremy searched Sydney’s eyes for warmth. He then eased between Nadia and Sydney. He could not escape the pull she had over him. It was as if he had gone to another planet and he headed back to earth entering into earth’s atmosphere, where gravity had taken hold and would not release him.

  “Did Jeremy tell you that I’m a curator? I have only one client now and it’s Jeremy. We have some buyers for his paintings in Paris,” Nadia stated smugly. “He told me so much about you. You have children I believe.” Her eyes bore down on Sydney. “That’s where he was spending his time when he would disappear,” Nadia smiled with lips quivering. Sydney listened.

  Jeremy traded glances with Nadia and then with Sydney. Steven leaned forward watching the drama.

  “Jeremy mentioned that he was getting married but he didn’t say to whom.”

  Sydney’s words let Nadia know that they could never be friends. Nadia felt the electrical field that surrounded Jeremy and Sydney; a field that she could never cross.

  “How long have you been in Paris?” Jeremy spoke to cut the tension and silence that hovered like a fog over the table. Steven requested more wine and two more glasses. He didn’t want to be the only drunk at the table.

  “We just arrived; we’re staying at the Four Seasons,” Sydney said meeting Jeremy’s eyes.

  Jeremy exchanged glances with Nadia.

  “Very elaborate, first rate and expensive too,” Steven chimed in slurring his speech. “We have business to take care of.”

  “You have business as well, Sydney?” Jeremy tried to warm up to Sydney but she wouldn’t show him what he craved. His trembling voice and shaky hands revealed a naked obsession that everyone could see, especially Nadia.

  “Yes,” Sydney said dryly.

  “Where are the children?”

  “Here in Paris with me.”

  “And the baby?”

  “Here.”

  “Don’t you think he’s too young?”

  “That’s none of your business, Jeremy.”

  “Nadia noticed Jeremy’s reaction to Sydney. She could not figure out if it was hate or love. Steven knew the difference. It was pure love disguised as loathing.

  Steven raised his drink to his mouth, then paused, “Where are you staying? Maybe we can all get together before you two get married?” Sydney kicked him. The glass met his lips as Sydney stared waiting for the next round of questions from Steven.”

  “We’re staying at my brother’s apartment.”

  “It’s much more than an apartment, it’s more like a palace,” Jeremy said full of envy. “It’s two of Sydney’s apartment in New York.”

  Steven twisted his face and glanced at Sydney then winked. She knew what Steven was thinking: Danny’s death and Jeremy there to pick up the pieces, then leaving her. What next?

  Pushing her chair back and standing, Sydney said, “I’ve been out long enough, I have children.”

  Steven was still sitting, intent on finishing off the bottle of wine that taste far better then anything he had in New York.

  “We’re in my brother’s car and if you’d like we can have the driver take you and Steven back to your hotel. Looking at him, he may have a hard time navigating the streets,” Nadia said pointing at Steven. “What about dinner tomorrow night? My brother is coming in tomorrow from Brazil he would love company.”

  The idea of talking to someone that lived in Brazil peaked Sydney’s interest. “I would be happy to take you up on both offers,” Sydney said peeking at Jeremy, who didn’t appear to approve of Nadia’s invitations.

  “You’re invited too Steven. Can we expect you?”

  “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

  Steven and Sydney accepted the ride to their hotel. He noticed through his drunken haze that there was little or no talk between Nadia and Jeremy. Not the kind of excitement that exists between people who are in love, and will soon marry. Usually someone in love never stops smiling and chatting with each other, but with the two of them, there existed nothing. Nothing but a casual existence, nothing but an intimacy, as if they were brother and sister.

  Not the smoldering love-hate relationship that exist between Jeremy and Sydney.

  Chapter 2

  Brazil

  Danny had stumbled out of the plane unaware of the trauma he had endured. He wandered through the thick forest among the sunless sky trying to survive the elements for months, bitten by large insects, dodging poisonous frogs, lizards, snakes, and large predators. Men hunting Jaguars discovered him lying under a large green leaf in a fetal position, shaking from malaria and emaciated from lack of cooked food. His clothes tattered and torn, his handsome face scarred, running the length of his face to his torso, and unrecognizable. Scares zigzagged across his face, down his neck, across his chest in a horizontal line. His arms with deep cuts.

  The hunters brought him to a village and there he began to heal. Months passed and he was able to walk around the room which served as a hospital for the indigenous Indians in the area. Adjacent to the hospital sat a hotel of unbelievable beauty and wealth.

  He knew what a hotel of that magnitude meant: it would be filled with tourist from all over the world. He trudged to th
e sparse window in the make-shift hospital to get a closer look. His footing wasn’t even and he stumbled. Getting control of his body, he peered through the window only seeing the rear of the hotel.

  Feeling weak he headed for the small bed. Passing an old mirror, he gasped at the sight of a stranger in his room. Taking a second look, there was a semblance of a man that resembled him, and his mind asked, “Who is he?”

  Danny remembered how his eyes once deceived him, which happened during his drug-hazed days in California. Could it have been the drugs the doctor administered causing this visual illusion?

  After clearing his eyes, and with his mind in a state of clarity, he realized that the man looking at him was him, and he didn’t recognize that man. That man possessed eyes and hair he once recognized, but the scars that crisscrossed his face gave him pause, and he became light headed and dropped on his bed.

  He held his head, took a long breath. He noticed that his ring was missing. The ring Sydney gave him on their wedding day. “What am I going to do?” He said. It was his face that kept him working, it was his face that Sydney first fell in love with, and it was this face that his children knew and loved. “What will I do?”

  Laying for hours like a corpse in a morgue, feeling sorry for himself, Danny finally came to a dramatic and final decision—he won’t go home!

  * * *

  The doctor in the clinic released him after three weeks, and having no money and no identification, and no means to support himself, Danny lumbered out of the clinic, stepped into the garden surrounding the hotel, and hobbled through its doors.

  “Can I help you, stated an English speaking security guard.”

  “I’m looking for a job,” Danny said with his head lowered.

  “You speak English, that’s hard to find in this area. The natives speak one language, the Brazilians speak Portuguese, then you have the Spanish speaking ones, but hardly anyone speaks English, except for the tourist. I bet whoever built this…” he paused, “didn’t take that into consideration.”