by Sue Brown
“No, I don’t. I went through hell with the press after Jenny and Michael. They all but implied I killed them and used the storm as an excuse.”
Sam looked up and saw the pain and anger in Gabriel’s eyes. “I will protect you. I don’t know how, but I will.”
Gabriel gave a wry smile. “Thank you. I don’t think Toby could hold Damien back again. He nearly threw a BBC reporter off the cliff after he implied I’d killed them.”
“Damien is fierce when it comes to protecting his family.”
“We all are. We’ve been family for a long time. Even Jenny’s death didn’t break that.”
Sam saw the gleam in Gabriel’s eyes and drew his head down onto his shoulder. Gabriel stayed there for a while, but he raised his head and looked at Sam, his eyes dry now.
“I should be taking care of you, not throwing around false accusations and crying on your shoulder.”
Sam cupped his hand around the back of Gabriel’s neck. “It’s been a hell of a morning.”
“You’re going to go home,” Gabriel said, his expression clearly showing that was the last thing he wanted.
“I have to,” Sam whispered.
“I know.”
Gabriel bent his head, and Sam waited eagerly for his kiss.
Suddenly there was a flash of light from one of the windows and a pounding on the front door. Sam was so caught up in waiting for the kiss, for a moment, he thought it was thunder and lightning. Then he heard yelling.
“Storm Maitland? Storm, are you in there? It’s the Courier. Will you give us an exclusive interview? Have you got a man in there? Who’s the man? Are you in hiding? Did you run away?”
Sam was convinced the door was going to give way from the pounding it received. More flashes, and he realised someone was trying to take photos of them. He saw the anger building in Gabriel’s eyes. “Call Toby and Damien. I’ll handle them.”
“We could just refuse to answer the door.”
“They know we’re here. I don’t think they’re going to go away,” Sam said. “You stay here. I’ll talk to them. Hopefully they’ll fuck off when they have a soundbite.”
He pushed Gabriel out of sight of the door and opened it, slipping out to be faced by a barrage of flashing lights. Instinctively he put a hand up to shield his eyes.
“Hey!” he protested. “Cut it out.”
The flashes stopped, and he was faced by a strawberry blond-haired young man who barely looked as though he were old enough to shave and a middle-aged man with a camera.
“Storm?” the reporter asked tentatively.
“You tell me,” Sam drawled.
The reporter blinked. “You really have got amnesia?”
“I don’t remember a thing. How did you know I was here?”
“We got a tip off from a kid. I’m Will Peterson from the Courier, and this is Doug.” Will pointed a thumb over his shoulder to the guy with the camera.
Doug mumbled a hello at him.
“Yeah, hi. Boy or girl?”
Will looked confused. “Boy.”
Sam sighed. Fucking Alfie. “Yeah, we met him an hour ago.”
“He said something about a reward?”
“My record company put up a reward for any information leading to my whereabouts. Alfie is determined to claim it.”
Will smirked at him. “He said you were kissing a guy.”
“I was.”
Sam decided there was no point trying to deny it, as he was damn sure Doug had got photos of he and Gabriel almost kissing a few minutes before.
“So you weren’t really lost.”
“I didn’t know who I was until Alfie’s sister told me. She’s the one you should be talking to.”
Will frowned. “What’s her name?”
“Lisa.”
“How did you get amnesia? Isn’t this Gabriel Pennant’s house? Didn’t he lose his wife and son last year? Were you kissing him?”
Sam ran his fingers through his hair. “Look, you can have an interview with me, but you leave him alone, do you understand, or I say nothing to you.”
He caught Will’s speculative look. Then the reporter nodded. “Just you, if it’s an exclusive.”
Sam shrugged. “Suits me. I don’t want to do this again and again.”
“Where do you want to do this?” Will asked.
He thought for a moment and then led the way to the rock. He wanted to get them away from Gabriel’s place. Of course, the rock was still Gabriel’s, but he hoped Gabriel wouldn’t mind him using it if it got the journalist and cameraman away from his cottage. Sam sat down cross-legged on the sun-warmed rock, and Will perched awkwardly on the edge.
“Is it okay if Doug takes pictures while we talk?” Will pointed to Doug, who was taking pictures of the bay.
“Sure.”
Will nodded at Doug, who seemed more interested in the view than in Sam. Reluctantly, he dragged his gaze away and smiled briefly at Sam.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Sam said softly.
“It is,” Doug agreed. “I’ve been here before.”
Sam looked at him warily. “Yeah?”
“When his wife and kid were swept away.” Doug looked out at the silver-crested waves breaking on the shore. “I remember him. He was a wreck.”
Sam nodded, but he didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to say anything they could use against Gabriel.
“They never found the bodies, did they?” Will asked.
Sam gave them a tight smile. “No.”
Will pulled out his phone. “Can I record this?”
“Yep.”
Sam hoped there was less chance of Will misquoting him if it was on tape.
Will fiddled with his phone and then smiled at Sam. “How did you meet?”
“Gabriel rescued me from a sinking boat in a storm.”
Will’s eyes widened with excitement. “He saved you?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. I was unconscious when he found me.”
“Why were you out in a boat?”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t know or won’t say?”
Was Will leering at him?
Sam scowled. “Amnesia, remember? I woke up in Gabriel’s cottage and couldn’t remember anything, including my name.”
“Convenient.”
Sam’s scowl deepened. He was starting to reconsider his offer of an exclusive to Will. Doug obviously caught his expression, because he nudged Will, who looked up and saw Sam’s glower.
“Oh yeah, I didn’t mean…. I just meant… tragic widower saves rock star from watery grave. It’s a journalist’s dream headline.”
Jesus, the kid was young. He swore Doug groaned. Sam let him babble on for a moment. “Look, aside from the fact I like tea, not coffee, I don’t know anything, not even my music.”
Oh shit, from Will’s excited expression, he shouldn’t have said that.
“You don’t remember your own music?”
“Not a thing. But that’s what lyrics and sheet music are for, isn’t it,” he said, echoing Gabriel earlier that afternoon.
Doug whistled. “Damn, you must feel like you’re in another world.”
“Sam… er… Storm, your manager’s here.”
Relieved to have a distraction, Sam turned to see Gabriel and a man striding towards him. This must be his brother, Colin. He must have finished his meetings, because he was earlier than Sam expected. He didn’t look much like Sam. Older than him, with thinning dark hair, stockier in body, and with permanent frown lines between thick, dark brows, he was shorter than Gabriel, but he seemed to have a long stride.
“Who are you?” he snapped, scowling at Will.
Sam expected Will to cower under the furious gaze, but the young reporter straightened his shoulders.
“I’m Will Peterson from the—”
“You shouldn’t be talking to my client without me present.”
“He agreed to give me an exclu
sive interview.”
“I agreed,” Sam said at the same time.
Colin turned on Sam. “This is not your decision.”
“It’s not?”
Colin blinked, as though he weren’t used to Sam questioning his decisions. “I handle all your publicity. All interviews go through me.”
Sam forced a smile. This wasn’t how he expected his reunion with his brother to go. Colin was his manager, yes, but he was also his brother, and Sam had been missing for five days. Wouldn’t that take precedence over business?
“You can work out the details with Mr Peterson, but he has the exclusive interview as agreed.”
He caught the relief in Will’s face.
“I think we’re done now,” Colin snapped.
Will looked mutinous, but for once he read the room and got to his feet. “I’ll email you later,” he said to Colin, who ignored him.
“We need to discuss how we’re going to manage your return, Storm.”
His return? How about “Thank God you’re alive, brother,” or some such shit?
Gabriel’s cough broke the tension. “I’ll show the guys from the Courier out and make coffee.”
Sam smiled gratefully at him. “Thanks.”
“Storm takes tea,” Colin barked.
“We’ve worked that out,” Gabriel said icily.
From Will’s avid expression, Sam just knew this would also end up in the interview. Hopefully Colin would calm the hell down once the media left.
With one worried glance over his shoulder, Gabriel herded Will and Doug away like an overly large sheepdog, leaving Sam tentatively smiling at his brother. He started to say how good it was to meet him when Colin snarled at him.
“What the hell, Storm?”
Storm? He couldn’t even call his brother Sam in private?
“What?” Sam asked, this whole confrontation making him confused and shaky. He hoped Gabriel made the drinks quickly, because he really wanted his steadying presence by his side.
“I get here and you’re already giving interviews to some two-bit local rag? We could have sold your story to the broadsheets.”
“Hello to you too,” Sam murmured.
“Don’t try and get cocky with me,” Colin snapped. “I’m your manager. I organise your publicity.”
“Did Graham Baines mention the amnesia to you?”
“He did. I thought it was a cover story.” Colin studied him for a moment and then narrowed his eyes. “So you’ve really got no clue what happened to you?”
Flashes of the nightmares invaded Sam’s mind, but he shook his head. “It’s all a blank. I didn’t know my own name until a few hours ago.”
He felt like he was having this conversation over and over.
“Why didn’t you call the police?” Colin asked.
It was Sam’s turn to shrug. “We did. They weren’t that interested, as I was an adult, unharmed, and with a bed for the night. They were overwhelmed with the aftermath of the storm and landslides here. Gabriel and I figured we’d wait a few days and then try again. I might have remembered something more by that time. Did you report me missing?”
“Of course I did. As soon as we realised you weren’t in your studio or your bedroom. Your name was all over the news. Didn’t you see it?”
“I slept most of the first couple of days, and the power was intermittent. We didn’t watch the TV.”
“I can’t believe you survived the storm,” Colin murmured. “Our boat wasn’t designed for a storm like that.”
Sam squinted at him. “The boat was ours?”
“Mine, technically. You didn’t show much interest in boats. I used it for schmoozing clients.”
“You knew it was missing?” Something niggled at the back of Sam’s mind.
“We thought it had slipped its moorings,” Colin corrected. “I fired Mitchell for incompetence.”
Sam felt the blood drain from his face. “Mitchell?” he asked faintly. He remembered the two men talking over him.
Colin didn’t seem to notice his distress. “Billy Mitchell. I’d asked him to take care of the boat.”
“He….” Sam swallowed. “He tried to kill me.”
“Yes,” Colin said, so calmly they could have been talking about the weather. “He had one job to do, and he couldn’t even manage that.”
Fear, anger, frustration—everything mixed together and boiled up out of Sam. “It was you. You’re the one who orchestrated this. You’re the one who tried to kill me.”
“Yes.”
Colin stared calmly back at Sam, unfazed by his accusations or his anger.
“Why?” Sam demanded.
“Does it matter?”
Sam’s jaw dropped. His own brother had tried to kill him, and he wasn’t supposed to ask why?
Colin tilted his head and regarded Sam. “Why the hell didn’t you die like you were supposed to?”
Frightened by the coldness in Colin’s eyes, Sam turned to run back to the cottage just as Colin lunged at him.
Sam stumbled, and Colin caught him. “Let go of me.”
“If you need a job done, do it yourself. That’s what Dad used to say.” Colin hauled him up and tightened his hands around Sam’s neck. “Oh no. You don’t remember that. Oh well.”
He was strong, much stronger than Sam, who couldn’t dig his heels into the ground as Colin pushed him inexorably to the edge of the cliff. Sam couldn’t speak, not even to beg for his life. He felt the ground soften underneath him and knew the edge was close. He was going to die without ever getting to tell Gabriel he loved him.
Chapter 17—Gabriel
AS GABRIEL rounded the corner, he saw Colin dragging Sam by his neck towards the edge of the cliff. Sam flailed his arms, lashing out, but he couldn’t get a grip on Colin or do anything to stop their inexorable progress.
“Get away from him,” Gabriel shouted, but Colin didn’t stop. Gabriel dropped the mugs and heard them crack as they hit the ground and he bolted towards the two men. What the hell was happening? He’d left them talking about managing Storm’s return to his life.
Colin yelled something Gabriel couldn’t grasp, his face distorted with rage and spittle flying in Sam’s face. It was only as they got closer that Gabriel heard “You should have died then. Why didn’t you die then?”
“Let him go,” Gabriel bellowed.
He wasn’t going to make it in time. He was at least twenty feet from them, and they were three feet from the edge.
Colin looked over his shoulder, his eyes wild. “You shouldn’t have saved him. He’s not worth it. He’ll suck you dry just like he has me.”
The man had snapped. For whatever reason, he’d lost his mind. Gabriel slowed, trying not to freak out the crazy man, and spoke as calmly as he could.
“Let him go, Colin, and we can talk.”
Sam’s face was crimson, his eyes bulging. He was able to make weak choking noises as he flailed at Colin’s arm around his neck, but it was futile. Colin was a big, strong man, and Gabriel was petrified Colin would snap Sam’s neck or strangle him before he threw him off the cliff.
“Walk away, Pennant,” Colin snarled. “This is for the best. You’ll see. You don’t want to get involved with Storm. One minute he needs you, and the next you’re old news. Only useful for what you can do for him. Stay where you are. Don’t get any closer.”
Gabriel had been edging nearer, hoping Colin wouldn’t notice, but he was petrified Colin would carry out his threat, so he stopped. He tried to calm his pounding heart. “But why do you need to kill him? He’s just about to make you a lot of money.”
Colin gave a scornful laugh. “We’ve got enough songs for another five albums. I don’t need him anymore. We release the tracks, his grieving fans will lap them up. As the sole beneficiary of his estate, I’ll make millions. I’ll find new stars and guide them into making the music I want. Not this folk crap he dreams up. He dies in a tragic accident, and he won’t be a millstone around my neck. I’ll inherit everything.�
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It was clear to Gabriel the man was off his rocker if he thought he was going to inherit anything now with Gabriel as a witness. Even as Gabriel studied his wild expression, it was clear Colin had snapped.
Sam was limp, consciousness fading fast. He was dying, and Gabriel was just freaking standing there. He had to do something.
Colin took a step back. Sam gasped out a warning, but it came out as barely a croak.
“Maitland, be careful.” Gabriel barked, but Colin threw up his hand.
“Stay away, Pennant. This is between me and my brother.”
Gabriel stopped, his heart pounding at the precarious situation Sam was in. “You’re too close to the edge. You’ll both go over if you don’t move towards me.”
“He needs to die. I told you that,” Colin spat out. He seemed oblivious to the danger he was in.
Sam’s gaze was locked on Gabriel’s. Unlike his brother, he obviously didn’t think he’d come out of the encounter alive. Gabriel had a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach that he was right. Colin’s grip hadn’t lessened around Sam’s neck.
“And you?” Gabriel asked. “You want to die too? Because you take one more step back, and you’ll both tumble over. This isn’t worth dying for, Colin.”
He edged a little closer to them, hoping Maitland was too distracted to notice. He didn’t care what happened to Colin, but Sam wasn’t going to die at the hands of his brother. Gabriel focused his attention on Maitland when his heart was screaming to check on Sam.
Colin flung out a hand. “I said, don’t move!”
Gabriel shook his head and edged closer. “I’m not going to let you do this.”
Colin gave a scornful laugh. “You think you can stop me? Just because you saved him once? You’ve got a misplaced hero complex.”
“It’s not about being a hero. It’s about doing what’s right. Your brother doesn’t deserve to die.”
Colin’s eyes were wild, bulging in his fury, sweat beading his forehead. “You don’t know what he’s like. You think he’s Storm, rock god. I made Storm. He doesn’t exist outside my mind.” He tapped his head.
“He’s Sam,” Gabriel said. “He’s your brother. You need each other.”
Spittle flew as Colin shook his head. “I’ve done this once, I can do it again. I don’t need Storm.”