Alveus (ABC's Inc. Romance #1)

by Lara Earlman

  “Son of a …” before she could continue the sentence out loud, Lexi channeled her mother’s stern chastisement about her language. Besides, it didn’t sit right to tarnish her deceased grandmother’s character for the actions of her corrupt son. Instead, Lexi turned her brain onto a more productive track. The security desk should have flashlights – that is if her uncle hadn’t found a buyer for them, she thought wryly.

  With flashlight in hand, and a spare strapped to her belt loop, Lexi started the long eerie climb to the top floor. Each footstep seemed to be further magnified as it echoed throughout the silent stairwell, and with each one her anger toward Richard intensified. Determination drove her to collect as much information as she could from her father’s office safe and then return home and begin plans to reopen the plant. Even though she was curious about the warehouse and the manufacturing floor, she knew it would have to wait until she could restore power to the complex.

  Alex Alberton’s office was dark, with only a few brave slits of light sneaking in through the closed blinds. Lexi stumbled over unfamiliar objects of furniture, before arriving at the corner containing the rod to open the floor to ceiling venetian blinds. The light revealed that the room had been ransacked, thus the misplaced tables and cabinets; all having been shoved aside in order to remove her father’s imported hand-carved oak desk. Oh, Dad… tears welled in her eyes with the memories of the big man sitting behind that beautiful piece of furniture. It was just more fuel added to her already simmering anger! Pulling her eyes from the empty spot, Lexi turned her attention to the shelving that hid the safe.

  Her eyes met splintered wood where the bookshelf had been. Lexi couldn’t believe the audacity – a child could have found the latch which released the shelving from the wall! Instead, it appeared a hatchet had been taken to the unit. Books and picture frames were scattered haphazardly on the floor where they had been carelessly swept from the shelf. The safe was revealed, vulnerable to all who entered the room – and it was obvious that it had resisted a significant amount of torture in an attempt to protect its secrets. Stepping up to the plate, Lexi dialed in the combination, praying that the damage would not hinder the vault from opening.

  She didn’t have to guess the combination or read it from a scrap of paper. No, Lexi knew the code by heart, for it was the date her parents first found out they were expecting her. They had tried for years to start a family, and it was late in life when the miracle finally happened. The story had been told to her a thousand times. They named her Alexiah, not just after her father, but because in Latin it means angel from the heavens above.

  The lock released, opening a panel with a retinal eye scanner. Apparently it was equipped with a backup battery because when Lexi leaned in for the scan she heard the electronic approval to continue. Taking a step back, she turned the latch and pulled the door open. The vault resembled a large pantry, with shelves on three sides. There was room to take a small step inside, but not far enough that the door could close and lock her in.

  Lexi took a quick sweep with the flashlight and released the breath she hadn’t been aware of holding – it appeared the vault had not been breached. She knew exactly what to look for, her father had shown her where he placed the most valuable information should anything catastrophic happen to the business. Pointing the light to her right, the beam disclosed the leather pouch to be exactly where it was supposed to be. She unzipped the wallet to confirm that the flash drives were still intact, before closing it again and securing it in her pocket. A large envelope fell from its precarious spot behind the hole the pouch had made when it was removed. Lexi reached down to pick it up from the floor and found her name written on it in her father’s handwriting. She was about to open it when she heard the loud echo of a door slamming shut! Lexi froze on the spot – listening.

  Perhaps it was just one of the stairwell doors she’d opened that hadn’t closed all the way. Whatever the answer, the building was creeping her out and she decided now would be a perfect time to leave. She had what she came for. Tucking the envelope in her jacket, Lexi quietly closed and secured the safe. That’s when she heard a thump, followed by what sounded like a muffled curse. Crap! She was going to have to take a different route out of there! Luckily, there was another set of stairs which led to the warehouse and of course from there, several exits to choose from. She just had to get to it without being detected.

  Taking off her shoes, Lexi quietly made her way through an adjoining door to the assistant’s office, softly closing it behind her. She had to turn on the flashlight in order to make her way through the smaller office to the outer exit. Switching it off, she opened the door a crack and peered into the dark hall. The back stairwell was connected to a tiny kitchenette across the hall. Well, here goes nothing! Lexi drew in a deep breath and slipped out the door, remembering to turn the knob to assure it closed quietly. It seemed to take a lifetime and she couldn’t help feeling exposed, even in the pitch black hallway. Finally, making it safely into the stairwell, Lexi paused to listen, before beginning her descend to the warehouse. The only sound she could hear was her own rapid heartbeat.

  Outside, as her eyes adjusted to the sunlight, Lexi felt foolish. From her vantage point, the only car in front of the building was hers and there was no sign of a break in. The sounds she heard were probably from a rodent’s movements, perhaps knocking over a mop or a broom in the housekeeper’s closet. Her fear was just residual from her previous abduction and the ghostly atmosphere of an empty building. She told herself to get a grip, as she slid behind the wheel and started the ignition. There was no way she was going to live the rest of her life afraid of every shadow!

  Lexi rounded the parking lot, again noticing that there were no other vehicles, and stopped in front of the gate. As she patiently waited for it to open, she felt the hair on the back of her neck tingle. Lexi’s eyes slid to the side mirror which just happened to reflect back a perfectly framed view of her father’s office. She’d neglected to close the blinds before leaving. A chill climbed up her spine as her eyes captured a movement in the window and then focused on the silhouette of a man gazing out at her!

  With the gate now open, Lexi pressed her foot on the gas and turned onto the pike leading to the police station.

  “Ms. Alberton, we can file a report on the stolen property and on your suspicion of embezzlement, but without proof we can’t put a warrant out for your uncle,” the officer told her. “Quite frankly, you’d be better off speaking with the FBI about your… eh, alleged kidnapping.” Lexi tried to hold her temper. Deciding that the FBI would be the wiser option for complaints about Richard, she slammed a folder down on the counter.

  “Here’s a list of the stolen items and as many pictures as I could find of the pieces,” she said. “Perhaps that will facilitate your report!” Her tone was harsh. The man had a preconceived prejudice against her; acting like she was some kind of a pampered princess. And now that the word was out that Alberton Technologies was closed down, they figured she had no clout. Guess money does talk, she determined, but she still needed to file an official complaint on the stolen items from her house. “Maybe you would prefer to assign someone else to fill out the report. That would be fine with me, but I’d like it filed today!” She crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared at him.

  “Have a seat,” he said, begrudgingly. Reaching for the folder, he cued up the computer.

  “Okay, I’ve waited long enough,” Fani announced, plopping her miniature Chihuahua onto Lexi’s lap. The precocious dog immediately attempted to climb onto the computer keyboard Lexi was typing on. Rescuing her hard work from the effectuations of a misplaced paw, she quickly pulled him back into her lap and swiveled the chair to face her friend – away from canine temptation.

  “I’m sorry, did we make plans I seem to be unaware of?” Lexi asked, unconsciously stroking a silky ear, to the groaning satisfaction of her little lap warmer.

  “No,” Fani reluctantly confessed. She slumped into the leat
her sofa and crossed her long legs in front of her, Indian style. “It’s just that I’ve been here almost three weeks and you still haven’t spoken about what happened to you. You’ve been secluded in this office with your nose stuck in the computer. I think you’re avoiding the issue.”

  Lexi smiled. “There is no more issue,” she stated. “I’m home, now, and need to focus on more important things.”

  “Well, I think you need a girl’s night out,” her friend suggested. “Why don’t we hit the streets of Georgetown and do some bar hopping?” When Lexi hesitated, readying to decline, Fani hurriedly continued. “Remember how we always talked about checking out the local artists playing there? Come on – you’ve got to start living again, Lex.”

  The last line cinched the deal. Lexi hadn’t really lived since her mother’s diagnosis – she’d merely existed, and sitting before her was the perfect person to show her how. She swiveled her chair back to face the computer and began closing it down.

  “One night shouldn’t hurt,” Lexi relented. Fani jumped up from the seat and began an impromptu dance.

  “Oh, yeah… oh, yeah… we’re gonna knock Georgetown’s socks off!” she sang, and then promptly tripped over the small table beside the couch. “I’m okay,” she announced, not to be deterred from her jubilation. Her canine friend jumped from Lexi’s lap and ran over to his mistress to join in the fun. “Cut it out, Louis,” she laughed, as he licked her face and snatched at her ponytail.

  “I haven’t the slightest idea what to wear,” Lexi admitted, as she reached down to help her nutty friend up off the floor. “I’m in dire need of your expertise.”

  “The pleasure is mine, my lady,” Fani said in a hoity-toity voice. She gave a low playful bow and scooped Louis into her arms on her way back up.

  Emerging from the bathroom after a quick shower, Lexi found her friend digging through her clothes.

  “You still do it,” Fani called out from deep within the walk-in closet. “Remember how we used to go shopping with our mothers? We wanted to start our own fashion trends and we’d look for stuff from new designers, rebuffing the sought after labels.”

  “What did two pubescent girls know about fashion?” Lexi scoffed. “Besides, that doesn’t mean I know what’s appropriate to wear for bar hopping – if that’s what they still call it. Thank God my mom had Aunt Dru to dress her for business functions, her scientific mind could never wrap around the idea of dressing to make an impression. If she’d had her way, she would have worn jeans and a lab coat to formal social gatherings. Heck, Dad was lucky to drag her out at all – of course that was before…” There was a companionable silence as the two reacquainted friends connected in the memories of their absent mothers.

  “We must have lost them around the same time,” Fani said quietly. “I mean, mine through death and yours through Alzheimer’s.”

  “Yes,” Lexi agreed after another short pause, “well, it’s easy to see where you acquired your love of fashion from.”

  “And look at these,” her friend announced, holding up hands laden with hangers. “You’ve developed a good eye for great fashion from unknown designers.”

  “Most of that’s old, and actually I had no choice – had to buy locally. I couldn’t very well bring anyone in, nor could I be away from the house for long, what with my mother’s episodes… Quite frankly, I don’t know if the Lexi you knew still exists,” she sighed. Her eyes slanted toward an old picture from their childhood, prominently displayed on the bureau.

  Fani threw the clothes on the bed, startling Louis from his slumber, and picked up the framed photo to examine it closer. A smile spread across her face even as her eyes faded into fond memories.

  The picture must have been taken about twenty years ago. Greig smiled broadly into the camera, his arms wrapped companionably over the shoulders of Dane and Stefan, each on either side of him. Gretchen was glaring over her shoulder at Stefan who had two fingers positioned behind her head “devil-horns” style. Fani sweetly posed for the camera, holding Lexi’s hand possessively and oblivious to her sibling’s antics, while Lexi shared a sideways glance with Dane, wearing a matching smile, as if enjoying a secret joke.

  “You two were close, back then,” Fani observed, “you and Daney.”

  “And, you and I were always best friends,” Lexi responded, hoping to steer the conversation away from the track it was heading.

  “Yes, we were inseparable,” Fani agreed fondly. “But, now that I think about it, the two of you had kind of an invisible connection…” She floated off into her thoughts. “Isn’t it interesting how fate brought you back together?”

  “Fate?” Lexi sneered, “You mean the Fates; those three evil witches in mythology who take great pleasure in screwing around in human’s lives, simply to torture them for their own amusement?”

  “Um, oh… kay…,” Fani replied cautiously. “I was just trying to say that after all these years, it seems like it was fa…, I mean, destiny that you two should get back together, again.”

  “Only there’s a flaw in your reasoning, Fan, we’re not back together,” Lexi said. “Nor do I see together anytime in our future. Actually, I’d be surprised if our paths ever crossed again. Now, are we going out tonight, or what?”

  »ɞ»ɞ«ɞ«

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Ain’t no love and it sho’ah is a pi―ty!”

  “What the hell is that?” Dane asked into the phone.

  “That would be a very drunk, very effusive, Lexi,” Stephan said. “It seems she took a liking to the Bobby Bland song sung at a bar she and my sister hung out in tonight. I’m thinking there ain’t no love within hearing distance of her singing. Good God, she can murder a song.”

  “No love in the heart of the ci―ty!” Dane couldn’t keep from laughing at the sound of Lexi’s off-key rendition filtering through the line.

  “It sounds loud enough to be heard in the heart of the city, too,” he said between chuckles.

  “Tell me about it,” grumbled Stephan.

  “I thought you guys were watching out for her. How in God’s name did she wind up drunk in a bar?” Dane asked.

  “I can say with some certainty that it was my sister’s idea, but the reason she got drunk was probably from the altercation she took part in outside the bar with a pretty nasty piece of work. At least that’s what Dice got from his conversation with the guy who interceded for her.”

  “Was the guy’s name, Jack Ferguson?” Dane heard Stefan repeat the question, before relaying an affirmative answer. “Good, I’ll get hold of him for the details. It was most likely one of her uncle’s cronies looking for the bastard. I don’t think I like the idea them getting that close to her. Was she hurt?”

  “Bruising on her neck,” Stefan admitted. “And you’re probably right, but before you go off on Ferguson, he said she was doing a good job of holding her own with the guy; said she was in his face reading him the riot act. He heard her say something about her uncle could burn in hell with the rest of them. Guess that’s about when Ferguson stepped in, after the guy grabbed her neck and pushed her against the wall.”

  “Cause you ain’t around in the ci―ty!”

  “Fani, could you please shut her up so I can hear what English is trying to say?”

  “I don’t like your peeing accents; Daney has an accent! Your peeing accents remind me of Daney – I told those guys.” Again it was Lexi’s boisterous voice heard over the hum of a vehicle’s motor.

  “What is she saying about an accent?”

  “I don’t know – something about peeing – she’s not making much sense, dude.”

  “Eur-o-pe-an accents!” Fani shouted to her brother. “The very cute guys we had drinks with had very sophisticated, extremely sexy European accents, but Pip refuses to be around anything that reminds her of her precious Daney. That’s why she went outside for some fresh air.”

  “I do not!” Lexi screamed.

  “Look, English, I’ve gotta get off. I just wanted y
ou to know that the girls are okay.”

  “Not English! Daney is Brit―tish, Brit―tish!”

  “A buddy of mine recognized Fani and called to give me a heads up about the guys they were with,” Stefan continued through the interruptions, “said they’d seen them hanging around with some tough looking characters. Dice was with me at the gym, so he and I dropped by the bar and escorted the girls out of there. We’re pulling up into the Alberton’s driveway, now. We’ll talk later.”

  Dane hung up and called Ferguson.

  “I just got off the phone with Stefan Carsten. He told me that there was an incident outside of a bar this evening,” Dane skipped pleasantries, coming straight to the point.

  “Yeah, I was getting a few details together before I called in,” Jack Ferguson replied. “Your girl’s okay, isn’t she? Sorry I had to break my anonymity, but the guy was starting to get rough. I called one of my associates in to take over the surveillance.”

  “Not a problem, if she didn’t suspect anything. Who the hell was he?”

  “Billy Chen, himself,” Ferguson spat out, as if the name put a bad taste in his mouth. “Usually he doesn’t dirty himself with the small details, such as family members of those who cross him. And, it sure as hell sounds like he has a vendetta against Richard Alberton – piece of crap,” he mumbled under his breath. “Your girl is a real spitfire, though. She actually laughed at his threats, got right in his face and started poking him in the chest with her finger.” He chuckled. “Told him her uncle and he could burn in hell together. The guy was as astonished as I was, until she started calling him scum. Guess he doesn’t mind being grouped with the devil, but thinks he’s better than everyone else on this planet. He grabbed her by the neck and held her against the building. I stepped in real casual like, and asked him for a light – pretended it was nothing unusual for a guy to straighten out his woman. He took his hand away from her to light my cigarette and she scurried back into the bar. I took a puff and asked him if he was Billy Chen and then let him know that I recognized the Alberton girl. He got the message, slithered back to a car parked a few feet away, and it took off down the road. I put the cigarette out and followed her into the bar. She probably just thought I was having a smoke before coming in for a drink.”