Heart Matters

by tani shane

  “In the bedroom, where else?” the other woman mocked painfully, “Door’s on your left.”

  A wave of nausea washed over Jessica but she struggled hard to control herself. She wasn’t about to show her weakness to Steven or Ida for them to gloat on. She opened the bedroom door and stepped in.

  He was lying naked on his stomach in the middle of the bed. A sheet was drawn over his waist and his even breathing clearly told her he was sleeping peacefully. A sob rose in her throat. She stepped back, unchecked tears flowing down her cheeks. She closed her eyes praying desperately. Oh, Lord, let this be a nightmare! Let this not be true! She opened her eyes but she found herself facing a triumphant Ida. So, it was finally over.

  She turned without a word and stumbled out. She had to leave the island now! She had to get as far away as she could from Steven. His betrayal had torn her life apart. She had nothing to say to him now.

  Hard green eyes watched her leave with pure hatred and triumph. As far as Ida was concerned, the matter was far from over. A woman defeated in love could easily fling herself off a mountain. A very high mountain. She stepped aside, giggling abruptly like a small child. “Be gentle with her Jake. I want to make sure Steve darling recognizes all her precious bones.”

  She watched him leave slowly with unhurried steps. Finally, it was going to be all over. If Steven didn’t want her, he wouldn’t have the woman he loved either. He would pay dearly, as they said.

  It was nearing eight, she realized. Senator Devon hadn’t turned up last night. He was sure to be in soon. It was his turn to be shocked. She would of course return to him. But she would make sure he used all his personal connections to ruin Steven Hart and his grand empire.

  ***

  Haleakala or House of the Sun loomed high above dwarfing the people who scrambled about its treacherous sides. The route that led to the summit was full of twists and turns with breathtaking sights of deep gorges. The sunlight hit the crater with full intensity as the clear atmosphere held no disturbances. At full length, Haleakala soared to a height of ten thousand feet, posing an imposing challenge for those who tried to scale it.

  Jessica craned her neck to look up at whatever part of Haleakala that she could, breathing deeply. She had no idea why she was trekking around a very popular tourist destination when she should actually be on her way to the airport. Maybe it had something to do with Jake prodding her back with a gun. She glanced around nervously and noted the tourist buses, private cars and cyclists that passed by at regular intervals. Most were probably descending from their view of a spectacular sunrise.

  She glanced at her watch surreptitiously and noted nearly three hours had passed by from the time she had gained consciousness in a car with Jake who had kidnapped her from outside Ida’s hotel. She remembered heading for her bicycle before an arm came around and held a napkin over her mouth before she could scream. Then everything went blank.

  That Jake was her assailant somehow didn’t surprise her. He had made her get out of the car at what seemed like the park headquarters and then they started hiking. From what she could gauge they seemed to be going downhill via various twists and turns. At one point she pretended to stumble and he pulled her up roughly. A passing group of cyclists saw them and paused briefly.

  “You guys ok?” A young man in his twenties queried.

  “Yea, we’re cool,” Jake answered gruffly; pressing his gun in Jessica’s back causing her to shudder. “Aren’t we darlin’?”

  The young man watched Jessica questioningly and she regarded him with a silent plea in her tumultuous eyes. She knew she had to escape but she also knew Jake wouldn’t think twice in using his weapon either on her or the innocent people who had paused out of concern. “I’m fine.” She managed to breathe with a smile and waved them on half heartedly. Her heart sank as she watched them disappear.

  A less trodden road turned to their left and Jake forced her on it. Jessica felt close to panic and knew she had to act now or she would never make it out alive.

  ***

  “Just what the hell is going on here?” Senator David Devon demanded, his sophisticated face dark as thunder. He watched his wife sit up groggily in bed before gasping with fright.

  Ida drew a sheet hastily over her naked breasts. “Davie! What are you doing here?”

  David scowled furiously, his eyes shifting to the man who lay sleeping next to her. “Didn’t he tell you I was coming to get you?”

  Slow tears filled her eyes as she shook her head. “I...had no idea…” She sniffed pitifully raising her large eyes to him. “You…you came for me?”

  His head hung in shame. “Ida, we have a lot of differences but I love you. You know that!”

  She began weeping openly. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Davie. I was feeling neglected. I thought you didn’t care for me anymore.” She hid her face in her palms and shook with loud sobs.

  David’s heart went out to her pathetic state. He loved Ida to the point of madness but never realized the increasing distance between them over the years. That’s what he had explained to her old boyfriend when he had found out she had come out here for him.

  Steven Hart had assured him over the phone that he had no feelings for Ida and that he was a happily married man. When David had pleaded with him to humor Ida till he got there to personally take her back, Steven had assured him to set his anxiety aside. David was delayed in his arrival because of some urgent matter but he had not expected Steven to break his trust. Yet here he was, in bed with his wife.

  “Come here sweetheart,” David opened his arms for Ida. She rose readily pulling the sheet along with her and went into his arms. She sobbed against his shoulder while he stroked her hair gently.

  “He tricked me into sleeping with him Davie,” Ida wept pathetically. “He wanted to ruin our marriage.”

  “I’ll destroy him so fast, he won’t know what hit him!” David swore viciously, his eyes once again resting on Steven’s inert form. They saw his clothing dumped carelessly on the floor with the shoes next to them. His watch lay on side table next to the phone. David looked away in disgust before his eyes once again rested on the side table. He frowned noticing a small, labeled bottle and a neatly folded handkerchief next to it. Before he could figure out the contents of the bottle, he saw Steven stir abruptly. He scowled. So, the bastard was getting up? Good! They could have a confrontation right away!

  ***

  Jake gave her a rough push and Jessica went sprawling on the dusty surface of the mountain. She screamed and turned around to see him point the gun at her.

  ***

  He could hear voices in his sleep. Someone was crying softly. Elsewhere, a few birds screeched restlessly. Jessica was crying, tears streaming down her satin cheeks. She was in trouble and needed him. He began running desperately. I’m coming, my love, I’m coming!

  “Uhh!” he grunted in pain as he turned onto his back. Bright light hit his eyes and he winced. He tried to sit up but his head swam alarmingly making him fall back. He cursed loudly, his hand reaching out to knead his throbbing head.

  Ida spun around in panic. Steven was regaining consciousness! Hadn’t she administered enough chloroform? David’s comforting arm came about her cold shoulders. “Don’t worry darling, I’m here.” He moved her aside and went to stand at the foot of the bed.

  Behind his closed eyes, Steven once again saw Jessica. She seemed to be floating in mid-air, her arms reaching out to him. Help me! Please help me! she beseeched before fading away abruptly.

  “Jessica!” He sat up with a jolt, his eyes flying wide open. He couldn’t immediately focus his eyes but slowly the foggy shapes turned into wholesome people. His eyes narrowed over Ida’s near naked form before settling on the middle aged man.

  Gray haired with a clean, shaven square chin and immaculately dressed, he knew this was Senator Devon. Memory of the attack on him came back clear as the day. He realized he was naked and shook his head in disgust. So, this is what they were up to. Blackmai
l. But what did they expect to gain from it? He stared directly at the senator. “Well, Senator, I wish I could say I’m pleased to finally meet you but,” he looked past him at Ida, “I want to know what game you two are up to?”

  David’s light, gray eyes widened in surprise. “You, my friend, are hardly in a position to ask that question.”

  “Just what the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  “Why don’t you explain what you’re doing in my wife’s bed?”

  A perplexed frown played between Steven’s brows. What was the man playing at? “I…,” he began and stopped as an ominous click sounded loudly. Both men looked at the direction of the sound to find Ida holding a gun in her outstretched arms. A neat silencer was attached at the end to obviously curb the sound. She had drawn on a nightgown and her eyes seemed hollow in her pale face.

  David stared at her in shock taking a step towards her. The gun was a professional weapon. How had she possibly come across it? “Ida? What are you doing?”

  The wild, green eyes didn’t leave Steven’s furious face. “He..he tried to separate us. He tricked me!”

  “Darling, put down the gun. There’s no need to get hysterical,” David spoke softly, holding out his palm. “Come on, give the gun to me.”

  “No!” she screamed, stepping back from him. “Get aside, Davie!”

  David saw her finger squeeze the trigger and lunged for her. The gun went off with a muted sound and he fell on the floor with Ida, knocking the weapon from her hand. She struggled violently against him, clawing and kicking frantically. He landed a sound slap on her face and she suddenly stilled. When David was sure the hysteria had passed over her, he turned in panic to see if Steven was all right.

  The bullet had clearly missed Steven for he sat up in bed looking a bit dazed. He stared at David’s pale face in astonishment. “She’s crazy!”

  David stood up helping Ida to her feet. She was whimpering pitifully as he drew her in his arms. “You drove her to it!”

  “Me?” The deep blue eyes dilated in disbelief. “You two clumped me last night and I’m the one who drove her to it?”

  “Don’t listen to him, Davie!” Ida cried out but David was frowning thickly.

  “Hart if you think you’re going to make this look any better by giving pathetic excuses…”

  Steven abruptly rose out of bed, unabashed of his nudity. He drew on his clothes then glanced around. He saw his watch on the side table and reached for it. When he slid it on, his eyes fell on the bottle that rested next the phone. He sucked in his breath when he read the label. Chloroform! Jesus Christ! What else had they laid on him? He glanced at David then his eyes shifted to Ida’s pale face. Was it possible that the Senator was not a part of this little game? He calmly dabbed some of the contents of the on the handkerchief next to it and slowly rose to his feet.

  “Ida, you wouldn’t happen to know what’s on this piece of cloth, would you?” he queried politely, moving towards her with slow, determined steps.

  “N..no,” she mumbled, moving behind David for protection. “Davie please, please make him stay away from me!”

  David held out a warning hand to Steven. “You better not come any further, Hart.”

  “I won’t, Senator.” Steven stopped, smiling easily. “But I’d like you to take a whiff from this piece of cloth.”

  The older man frowned suspiciously before stretching out his hand. “All right, let me see.”

  “No! Don’t Davie, it’s a trick!” Ida cried out, desperately holding him back.

  Her husband’s eyes turned on her in surprise. “What do you mean ‘it’s a trick’?”

  Steven’s blue irises gave her an innocent look. “Yes, Ida, what do you mean?”

  Ida had the look of a trapped animal as she looked from one man to the other. She stepped back from both of them, her body beginning to tremble. “I..I..don’t know…what you’re talking about.”

  “Then why don’t you tell me what’s on the cloth?” Steven persisted, stepping ahead.

  Haunted, green eyes stared back at him from a colorless face. She knew the game was over. She looked at David for help but he stood unmoving, the look on his face clearly supporting Steven’s question. If he came to know the truth, she would be in deep trouble. In a last attempt to save herself, she abruptly dove past David to retrieve the gun that had fallen on the floor.

  Both men lunged at her in vain. The gun was in her shaking hands and before they could stop her, she fired it. The bullet missed them both. Steven charged at Ida, wrestling her to the floor in an attempt to get the gun from her. He gave a harsh slap that loosened her grip and grabbed the gun. She struggled against him like a wild cat. He gave her another slap that drew blood from the corner of her mouth. Ida calmed down, dissolving into a fit of tears.

  Steven kept the gun in his hand and turned his attention to David. The Senator had lost color from his face and was staring at his wife in complete shock. “What is wrong with her?”

  Steven shook his head regretfully as he looked at the miserable woman. “Like I said earlier, she’s crazy. And she wants to be a winner. She wanted me to take her back, when I refused, she staged all this just to get even with me.”

  David stared at him in complete astonishment. “You mean you didn’t sleep with her last night?”

  “Hell, no!” Steven exclaimed, rubbing his day old stubble with an exasperated hand. “When I told her last night that you were coming in for her, she pretended to accept the inevitable. She asked me to join her for a nightcap and when I walked in here, I was hit from behind. I fell unconscious and the next thing I know is you’re standing at my feet, looking positively murderous.”

  The Senator frowned, touching his tense brow. “Didn’t you hear her come up behind you when she hit you?”

  “No. She didn’t hit me.” The words that left Steven’s mouth hit him with a horrifying realization. “Good Lord! If she didn’t hit me then that means there was someone else here.” A multitude of images from the past few days flashed before his eyes in rapid succession. Jessica moaning in pain after she was attacked. Her trembling body when she had seen her assailant. The footprints in the sand at the bottom of the balcony.

  Ida! She was behind it. She had hired someone to kill Jessica! And that same person had attacked him last night!

  He strode to where Ida sat crouched in a corner. He dragged her viciously to her feet. “You sent someone to kill Jessica, didn’t you? Didn’t you?” he bellowed, shaking her hard.

  “Yes! Yes! I want her dead! I want her out of your life! She took you from me, but I won’t let her win! She can’t win!” Ida began laughing hysterically, tears streaming down her face. “I’ve won! I’ve won! You don’t want me do you, Steve, well, you won’t have her either! She’s gone, darling; she’s probably on her heavenly journey by now.”

  Cold terror gripped Steven. “No!” he shouted so loud she winced. “Where is she? Tell me or I’ll break your neck!” His hands circled her delicate neck, squeezing it menacingly.

  “I don’t know!” she cried out in terror, “She was here in the morning. She saw you on the bed and walked off. She didn’t tell me where she was going.”

  “What about the man who attacked me? Did he go after her?”

  She gulped nervously. “Yes.”

  “Damn you!” he roared with white fury and pushed her away ruthlessly. He looked at David, his face a picture of desperation. “I have to find her!”

  The senator placed a hand on his shoulder to halt him. “Wait, you can’t do this alone. You need my help.” He didn’t wait for Steven’s reply and flicked open his phone. He punched a number and spoke rapidly. “Get in here, Sebastian.”

  Within seconds Mark Sebastian, his security in charge, appeared at the cottage. When Mark saw Steven, he stopped short his eyes flickering with the briefest of recognition. The red flare across Steven’s face told him that he had likewise recognized him.

  David briefed him on the situation and Mark listened
curtly. He kept his emotions well in control even as his heart started beating at an alarming rate. Jessica was in trouble! He threw a glance at Ida’s cowering figure with a worried frown. “Senator, if this gets out we’ll have a full-fledged scandal on our hands.”

  “I don’t care, just find Mrs. Hart,” David ordered impatiently. He looked at Steven’s disturbed face with sympathy before his gray eyes rested firmly on Mark. “Trust me on this one, Sebastian, I’d feel the same. We can always sweep the dirt under the carpet.”

  Mark glared at Steven almost raging to take a go at him right there. How the hell had he allowed Jessica to land up in such trouble? He turned his attention to Ida. He had to get to Jessica as fast as possible. He knelt before her on one knee and spoke quietly but with a dangerous tone in his voice. “Well, Mrs. Devon, are you going to tell about this man or should I make you?”

  Ida raised her glittering eyes to stare at him. When she smiled, Mark felt his heart go cold already aware somehow he wasn’t going to like what he would hear next. “She’s where she belongs, Ty!” Ida chuckled hearing him suck his breath in surprise. She reached out to caress his face but he jerked back, catching her hand in a vicious grip. She laughed like a maniac in his face. “Did you think you could keep her safe forever? Did you really think I would let her get Steven?”

  Mark glanced at Steven then twisted her arm behind her back. She winced and David almost protested. “Where is she Ida?”

  “With Jake!” she screamed at him, “He told me all the sordid details, Mark Sebastian! How he fucked her good…” Mark almost lost control and twisted her arm more sharply but she only laughed back, her eyes turning to Steven. “Is that the kind of woman you want Steven? A bitch who’s been fucked thoroughly by two men? I have pictures to prove what a whore she really is!”

  “Shut the hell up, Ida!” Steven warned her through clenched teeth. His heart was hammering in his chest worried over Jessica’s safety. Every minute Ida stalled them meant a minute less for Jessica. “Just tell us where she is!”