The Red Wife

by Tyffani Clark Kemp

  “He didn't just die, did he?”

  Mariss shook her head. “Not here, Mama.”

  Katrina nodded and pulled Mariss closer, seeming to sense some kind of danger.

  Herbert motioned to Mariss with the crook of his finger.

  “I'll be right back, Mama. I'm going to talk to Sebastian and Herbert. Please stay where I can see you. And don't take anything to eat or drink from anyone, okay?” she added after a moment's thought.

  Her mother frowned, but nodded.

  “Where did you see her?” Herbert asked. He kept his voice low, his eyes trained on hers.

  “She was by that tree.” Mariss motioned with her head. “Did you see her? I didn't see where she went, but there are so many headstones around here.”

  “I'll have a look,” Herbert said. “You stay here with Sebastian and leave your knife wherever you keep it hidden.”

  He gave her a pointed look and walked away, discretely tucking his hand in his jacket where Mariss knew he kept his gun. She didn't know how he knew about her knife. Sebastian must have told him.

  “Come with me.” Sebastian's long-fingered hand was firm on her arm as he guided her around and away from the gravesite. It took Mariss a moment to realize that he was herding her toward the car.

  She jerked away from him, facing off. She didn't care who saw.

  “Mariss, get to the car.”

  “What good is that going to do? Is it bullet proof or something?”

  “Yes,” Sebastian hissed. “Get your mother and get in the car.” His tone was demanding, but his eyes held concern.

  It touched her deeply that he would think of her mother.

  “Mama,” Mariss called. “Mama, we need to go.”

  Katrina hurried over to her, suspicion for Sebastian plain on her face.

  “The service isn't over. Is it so serious that we need to leave now?”

  Mariss didn't answer. She let Sebastian lead them to the car and climbed into the backseat after her mother.

  “They found me, Mama,” Mariss said as the ache in her chest became a dull throb. The tears no longer gave her warning before they slipped over the threshhold of her eyelids to kiss her cheeks. “They found me and they killed Holden.”

  Her mother's hand grasped hers. “Is it his fault?” she asked.

  Mariss shook her head. “Mama, leave Sebastian alone. Holden knew how I felt about him and he told Sebastian to take care of me. Please, just stop.”

  “I'll let it go for now. How did they find you?”

  Mariss closed her eyes as she explained, “Sebastian had a friend, a German friend. She called you pretending to be immigration.”

  “Shit.”

  “Oh, Mama, it's all screwed up.”

  Her mother pulled her against her shoulder. “And Sebastian, the man whore? What do you feel for him?”

  “Now is not the time, Mama,” Mariss complained, but she stayed in her mother's embrace until Sebastian opened the car door and he and Herbert slipped in on the other side.

  “I didn't catch her,” Herbert said, “but I got a good look at her. I'll have a sketch artist for you to work with this evening,” he promised. “Are you alright? Neither one of you drank any poisoned water?”

  Mariss shook her head.

  “Are you alright, ma'am?” Herbert asked in German.

  “Oh, I'm fine, young man,” Katrina replied with a flutter of her eyelashes.

  “Don't get any ideas. He's married,” Mariss warned.

  “That's alright.”

  Mariss rolled her eyes. “I hate it when mom flirts,” she told Sebastian.

  He chuckled. “At least she's not flirting with me.”

  “No, I think she hates you.”

  “Like mother, like daughter.”

  “I don't hate you,” Mariss said, shocked. “How could I ever hate you?”

  Sebastian shrugged. “Seems like it.” His face was expressionless, his eyes empty.

  “I don't-”

  “May, are you staying at the hotel tonight?”

  Mariss turned to her mother. The 'disapproving mother' was again all over her face.

  “No. All of my clothes are at Sebastian's and I just don't have the energy for that today. I just want to go lay down.”

  Her mother humphed, but didn't have anything else to say.

  They dropped Katrina off at her hotel and Sebastian took Mariss back to his apartment. They rode the short drive in tense silence. She knew he wanted to say something, but he never spoke and Mariss didn't press him.

  Sebastian let her in the front door, his keys jangling as he juggled them.

  “I'm going to lay down,” she said quickly before he said anything.

  Mariss removed her shoes and carried them into Sebastian's room. As she flipped on the light, she jumped and covered her mouth to stifle a scream. There was someone in the bed, laying on their back with their hands folded over their stomach. By the burgundy corset and leather pants, she knew it had to be Hellena.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Mariss growled. She didn't think Sebastian had gone so far as to get a restraining order, but she was pretty sure Hellena was breaking some serious rules by being here.

  But something wasn't quite right. Hellena didn't move or make any attempt to acknowledge Mariss' presence.

  “Hellena, did you hear me?”

  Mariss took a couple tentative steps toward the bed. Her chest wasn't moving. She wasn't breathing. Mariss finally did scream.

  “Sebastian!”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  KISSING A BLOWFISH

  Sebastian tore into the room, slamming the door back against the wall. His eyes were wild as he looked around the room, assessing the threat. He stopped short, just past Mariss, his eyes trained on the bed.

  “Oh, bloody hell,” he whispered.

  Mariss had never seen him speechless, or voiceless, but this… This was not normal.

  “Bloody fucking hell.” Emotion clogged his throat and made his voice raspy. Mariss reached out to him, but he moved away, oblivious to her.

  Sebastian approached the bed. Mariss watched as he gingerly brushed Hellena's hair away from her face and took her hand in his.

  “Should I call Herbert?” she asked. The reality of the moment had yet to sink in. Hellena was dead in Sebastian's bed. Had she committed suicide? Had she really been that unstable that she'd taken her own life because Sebastian wanted to be with Mariss instead?

  The answer to that was a resounding yes, but Mariss still struggled with the truth of it.

  “Should I call Herbert?” she asked again, when Sebastian didn't answer.

  Sebastian nodded. What must he be feeling right now? As far as Mariss knew, the last time he'd spoken to Hellena was when he'd sent her away after finding out that she'd tried to have Mariss killed.

  Mariss' fingers shook as they tried to find Herbert's number. She kept bumping the wrong thing on her touch screen and it took twice as long as it should have. When she finally pulled the number up, she pressed send and waited.

  “Mariss? What's going on?” Herbert asked when he answered the phone.

  “You need to get over here.” Her voice shook as badly has her hands. “Hellena… She's dead.”

  There was silence on the other end of the phone for two long heartbeats. Then, Herbert asked, “Where are you?” His voice was thick and gruff.

  “Sebastian's,” she answered.

  “I'll be right there.”

  Mariss hung up and turned back to the bed. Sebastian hadn't moved but to pull Hellena's lifeless body into his lap. He stroked her face and her hair. His lips moved as he soundlessly whispered to his only friend in the world. He'd sent her away for Mariss' sake, and she now wondered if maybe he'd made a mistake.

  “What do you want me to do?” she asked helplessly. “How can I help?”

  Sebastian looked up at her, his eyes sad and remorseful. He didn't say anything, but lay Hellena back against the bed and stood, his eyes never
leaving Mariss.

  “Do you want a drink?” she tried, too shocked to make sense. Her nerves were numb. Something empty stirred inside her as she struggled to stay surfaced. She needed to feel, but she didn't know what to feel anymore. There was too much happening at once to make sense of what was going on inside her.

  He frowned and set his jaw like he was having trouble understanding her words. Finally, he nodded and started to unbutton his shirt.

  Before she could find herself mesmerized by the lythe way his fingers moved, Mariss turned and left the room. She found his bar in the office and poured herself a glass of brandy. Mariss tossed it back and poured herself another. Her hands shook, not from fear or disgust, but from shame. Hellena had never been screwed on straight. Her past was riddled with bad decisions and horrible misfortunes that had led them here. She should have known that what the woman needed wasn't disapproval, but help. Mariss was to blame for this, as well as her husband's death, because she couldn't keep her hands to herself.

  Mariss downed the second glass and poured a third and one for Sebastian. She drank hers and left the glass. As she turned, movement in the doorway caught her eye and she froze. Sebastian stood there looking suddenly haggard and completely naked.

  “Sebastian?” she squeaked. “Are…are you okay?” She wondered if he'd completely lost his mind, but he wasn't a stranger to death.

  “Come with me.” His voice was low and gruff and brokered no argument. He reached out to her and Mariss offered her hand. Instead of giving him his drink, she drank it instead. She watched his face. The dull expression turned to hard resolve and he turned away from her. Mariss followed him reluctantly into his bedroom.

  Sebastian had covered Hellena's body with a sheet, for which Mariss was thankful. She didn't think she could handle looking into the woman's dead eyes, knowing this was partially her fault. But being in the room made her skin crawl.

  “What are we doing in here?” Mariss asked.

  “I want to take a shower.” His tone was no less cogent, but his voice was empty and numb.

  Mariss looked up at him and knew the look she gave him was one of confused horror.

  “Sebastian, why don't we go into the other bathroom.”

  He didn't seem to hear her. Sebastian disappeared into the bathroom and Mariss followed him, though with much trepidation. She closed the door behind her, closing them off from the other room, and leaned against it.

  “Will you shower with me?” he asked. “I won't touch you.”

  It was as close to begging as Sebastian got. In that moment, Mariss would have done anything for him. Stress lines crinkled the corners of his eyes and mouth. Those usually bright, taunting eyes were dull and lifeless. Mariss stripped out of her clothes and got into the already running shower behind him.

  Sebastian stood under the spray, his eyes closed and his back to her. She watched him run his hands through his hair over and over as if he was trying to rinse the bad memories from it.

  “I don't remember ever crying,” Sebastian said. Water ran over his moving lips and down his chin, onto his bare chest. “Even now I can't manage the tears. But the day that you left me, the day I sent Hellena away for what she'd done to you…”

  Sebastian turned to her, his body hunched against the pain he felt. He looked so vulnerable, so defeated. Mariss wished she knew what was going through his mind. Sebastian was such a strong man. Nothing really got to him, but today, he was so broken and that was enough to break her.

  “I cried that day.” The admission seemed to confuse him, but he continued. “I needed you like I've never needed anything in my life.” His brow furrowed gently as he looked over her naked form, but it wasn't like he was seeing her naked. Today, he was searching for something else. “What is it about you?” he practically begged. “Why do I…”

  The words cut off mid-sentence and Sebastian's face closed off as it so often did when he was feeling something he didn't want to share.

  “I'd make a witty remark,” Mariss said, “but this is hardly the time for it.” She reached up to caress his face.

  A small smile lifted the corner of his mouth and it was enough to make Mariss' heart stumble over itself.

  “I'd prefer it.”

  Sebastian reached for her and Mariss went to him. She understood the indescribable need to hold someone in your arms, the desire to be close enough to them that the pain faded when they were close. She needed him in her loss as badly as he needed her. Though, maybe not in the bathroom in the room where his oldest friend had killed herself.

  Mariss' wet body slid across the hard, contoured plains of his. Though there was arousal on both ends, it was not their primary focus. Sebastian held her against him under the fall of water and Mariss clung to him. Tears spilled over her eyelids and she let them fall. She shed them for both Holden and Hellena. For her pain and Sebastian's.

  “Thank you for saving me today,” she said when she could manage to speak without sobbing. “I don't remember the last time I got up in front of people and was at a loss for words.”

  “You're allowed it,” Sebastian professed.

  “I know. But I imagine it's a bit like when you want to tell me something like you did a moment ago. When you have too many words to say. It's the same when I don't have any at all.”

  “I can understand that.”

  They stayed there until a knock on the door had Sebastian turning the water off. He handed her a long, thick towel to dry off with and a smaller one for her hair.

  “We'll just be a moment,” Sebastian called.

  “Herbert has a key to your flat?” Mariss asked, a little in shock.

  “Yes,” Sebastian answered like this was the most natural thing. “He has one to yours too.” His eyebrow went up and she copied him.

  Sebastian chuckled and smoothed his thumb over her brow. “That's not as dramatic as you think it is.”

  Mariss smirked. “Maybe I'm not going for dramatic.” His ability to go from grieving to charming was both unnerving and worrisome. She pulled on her underwear and Sebastian fastened her bra for her.

  “I should hope not.”

  “Whatever.” Mariss put her dress back on and Sebastian opened the door. The cool air sent chills up her arms and she shivered.

  “You can get a shirt or something if you like,” Sebastian said, catching the chill. He rubbed at her arm and pointed to the closet. “Grab a jacket if you like.”

  Mariss did as he suggested, taking a long-sleeved shirt from the dresser and putting it on over her dress.

  Herbert was staring at Sebastian like he'd just stepped on his puppy.

  “You're fucking naked, Boa,” Herbert growled. His tone was like gravel rolling over itself.

  Sebastian nodded. “I'm astounded by your perceptability. I just got out of the shower.”

  “Really? You had sex in the shower in the same room where your dead best friend offed herself and you think being a prick is going to make things better?”

  Sebastian started moving before Herbert was done talking and was out the door so fast that Herbert felt he had to shout to be heard.

  “That's his way of dealing with things,” Mariss informed the other man. “And we weren't having sex. I was comforting him. He didn't want to be alone.”

  Herbert gave her a look like he didn't believe her. Mariss just shook her head.

  “He's human, despite what you think of him. He loved her, whether he said so or not.”

  “Then why did he send her away?” Herbert asked, his tone indignant. “She came to me that night, sobbing about the way he'd treated her, how badly he'd scared her. She wouldn't give me specifics, but… If he loved her so much, why did he send her away? Can you tell me that?”

  “Because she's the one who hired Ashley Banks to push me into traffic,” Mariss answered evenly. “She's the one who sought out the people who killed Holden, the people who are going to come after me now. She's the one who paid Mindy to file rape charges against Sebastian. He sent her
away because he didn't know what else to do. She was ruining his life and hers.”

  “He could have got her help.”

  “He could have tried,” Mariss agreed. “I could have tried. You could have. But the truth of the matter is that she didn't want help. She wanted Sebastian and she couldn't have him the way she wanted so she was content to ruin me and him, and she probably would have gone after you if you'd gotten in her way. You didn't try very hard to find my attempted killer,” Mariss accused, “or you would have known what she'd done.”

  Herbert said nothing. He cast his eyes to the carpet. Color pinked his cheeks.

  “You did know.” He didn't bother to look at her. “You knew she'd tried to have me killed and you did nothing about it. What did she have on you?” He'd joined the FBI for personal reasons, Mariss knew that, but she'd never imagined he was that selfish.

  Herbert shot her an angry look, but he didn't deny anything. His eyes held all of the guilt he felt, so she didn't press any further.

  “Right, well, I'm going.”

  Mariss marched out of the room to find Sebastian at the piano. He wasn't playing, only staring at the inner workings. She sat next to him and put her head on his shoulder.

  “I don't know what to do here,” she told him. “I don't know how to comfort you or if you would even accept it.” She slipped her hand into his, half expecting him to walk away from her. Instead, he gripped it tightly. It brought tears to her eyes again.

  “Should I call your mother?” she asked, only half joking. “I know she didn't like Hellena, but do you need her here?”

  Sebastian shook his head. “I'll call her later. Thank you for being here, Mariss. It means more to me than you realize.”

  The sound of a key scratching in the front door lock made Mariss freeze before she realized it was just Brenda coming back from wherever she'd been. A moment later, the door popped open and her stretched, cheerful face peered through, followed by her thin body. When Brenda saw Mariss and Sebastian sitting there together, the smile fell, but returned quickly as a poor, fake improvisation of the one before.

  “You haven't gone home yet?” she asked rudely. “I was sure you'd be gone by now.”