“It’s only a matter time Davis. They are as good as caught. I know you’ve added extra security but we’ve also put a few men on your detail as well. Oh…before I forget, There’s no there with who’s been threatening Anne Mathews. Not only is it not connected to your situation I hate to tell you this but it seems to be a hoax.”
Davis was incredulous “Are you sure?”
“Positive. I’ve attached our complete investigation summary in the e-mail as well.”
“Thanks…I owe you.”
Davis disconnected the call. Anne lied to him about something this serious and Nicole wouldn’t even look at him. Damn.
“Nicole I would feel better if you came back to the house until this is all resolved.”
“There is no need for that. You have a security detail watching over and following me everywhere I go. My apartment is a secured building. And, I promise to pay attention to everything around me. The FBI agent even said you guys were close to getting these guys.”
Davis wanted to argue with her but he could see she was determined. He couldn’t change her mind when she was this way.
Nicole needed to leave. Just hearing Anne’s name was too painful. If Davis wasn’t still in love with her she never would have been able to manipulate him so easily.
Resignedly, Davis helped Nicole get up from her seat and walked her towards the garage.
Davis had no less than six cars for her to choose from. “My guys came by this morning to service my Mercedes S63. Take that one.”
Nicole took the keys from the wall and got in the car “Thank you.”
Davis stood there with both hands in his front pockets feeling helpless. He’d messed up. “Will you call me later to let me know you’re okay?”
“Davis, I need you to give me some time and some space for the sake of my sanity. Can you do that?
He wanted to scream at her ‘hell no’. But, he’d hurt her. Somehow, Davis had to try and make it up to her. He couldn’t make the promise that he’d give her time and space.
“I can promise you that I won’t call you tonight.”
“Thank you, that’s a start. And, I promise if something out of the ordinary happens that I will call you.”
Nicole closed her door, started the car and Davis watched her pull out of the garage. He watched her until the car was no longer in view.
It was time to go have a chat with Anne Mathews.
Chapter 24
Anne was sitting in her study going over the seating chart for her annual winter gala when her housekeeper Lola informed her that Davis was downstairs and wanted to see her.
It had taken him long enough. They’d talked over the phone a couple of times but he hadn’t come to see her. She had heard Nicole had left him over six weeks ago. Anne knew this was the moment he’d tell her that he was ready to try again. She checked herself in the mirror to make sure her hair and makeup was together and did a quick once over to make sure her violet dress was in place.
Anne came down the stairs in dramatic fashion. “Davis, what a pleasant surprise. What are you doing here?”
“I came to see how you’re doing and if there have been anymore threats?”
“No, not since the last one that I told you about. Are you any closer to finding out who is responsible for this madness?”
“No, not yet but my contact at the FBI did give me some other interesting information.” Davis handed her the information about the investigation into her part of case.
Anne turned beet red. “This is nonsense Davis! Why would I make up lies in a matter so serious?”
“I don’t know maybe because you have a hard time letting go of things you think belong to you? Maybe it was because Greg’s political career didn’t take off the way you wanted it, or maybe it was because appearances mean everything to you and you didn’t know how to save face after you told everyone we were reconciling and then I married Nicole.”
“You are really full of yourself Davis Chatham. I left you remember. I divorced you! You were the one pining after me. I obviously got caught up in the emotion of what we shared when I thought you’d died in the plane crash. Had I known you were sleeping with trash, I wouldn’t have tried to rekindle what we once shared.”
Davis’s eyes flashed with anger “What we once shared? What was that exactly? What we had was superficial lust disguised as love. When I couldn’t give you what you wanted you decided it was okay to have an affair. For years I was angry at myself because I thought it was my fault. I was bitter and I was hurt. It was Nicole who taught me about real and unconditional love. Don’t ever let me hear you say anything about my wife EVER again. It wouldn’t be good for you. I came here today to tell you this little dance we’ve been playing for years…is officially over. I’m done. I sincerely hope you find the kind of love that I’ve found with Nicole.” Davis turned on his heel and walked out.
Anne screamed at his back as he walked away from her “You bastard! Get out of here! I hate you Davis Chatham!”
Chapter 25
Nicole had just gotten onto the highway from leaving Davis’s home. The car phone rang. She answered it through the voice response system. She didn’t recognize the name on the caller id
“This is Nicole Chatham.”
“Good afternoon Ms. Chatham this is Dr. Cooke’s office calling regarding your appointment next month. We double booked you and we were hoping we could change it from Tuesday to Friday.”
Nicole’s car was starting to pick up speed. She was doing 65 in a 55 mile zone. This car was very sensitive. She’d better watch it.
“Yes, that’ll be fine. I’ll change it on my calendar. We’ll be there. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
The call disconnected. Nicole was trying to slow the car down but it felt like it was starting to accelerate. She looked at the speedometer and the car was up to 70 miles an hour. She kept trying to press the break but the car wasn’t slowing down. Nicole was beginning to panic.
She tried to use the voice activation system to dial 911 but it wasn’t working either and the battery was dead on her cell phone. What the hell was going on?
Luckily, there wasn’t much traffic on the highway. She was going so fast that she missed her exit. “Oh my god. I can’t stop this car and I can’t make an outbound call.”
Nicole was pushing the break all the way down to the floor. Nothing was happening. She swerved over into the far right lane in order to avoid hitting a car in the middle lane. Then, she had to swerve again to avoid a slow moving van in front of her. Nicole’s hands were sweating. Her heart was beating so fast. She was terrified! She tried to swerve again to avoid hitting another car in front of her. This time she clipped the back of it and it threw her car out of control. The next thing Nicole remembered was that her car was airborne before everything faded to black.
Chapter 26
Davis was home in his study trying not to call Nicole. She had been gone several hours and he missed her. He promised he wouldn’t call her tonight but tomorrow was a new day. He was going to do whatever it took to win his wife back. Who the hell was ringing his doorbell like they were crazy? Davis went to the door to answer it. When he opened it there were two uniform officers on the other side.
“Can I help you officers?”
“Are you Mr. Davis Chatham?”
“Yes, I am. What can I do for you?”
“Sir, we hate to have to inform you but your wife was in a serious accident and she’s at Mercy Hospital.”
“Take me to her.”
The officers got Davis to the hospital in record time. Nicole was already settled into a private suite by the time he made it to the hospital. She was sleeping but the first thing he’d noticed was the bandage on her forehead and bandage wrapped around her arm.
A doctor walked into her room. “Mr. Chatham?”
“Yes, yes I’m Davis Chatham. How is she? And, the baby?”
“I’m Dr. Jones. Mrs. Chatham was very lucky today. It looks
a lot worse than it actually is. She has some contusions and a sprained wrist and she might be sore but otherwise she and the baby are fine.”
“Thank goodness. What happened?”
“I’m not quite sure. There are some guys in suits outside waiting to talk to you.” Davis kissed Nicole softly on her lips.
Davis walked out with the doctor.
“Mr. Chatham we’re special agents Brown and Johnson. We were assigned to your case by special agent Harlan Smith.
“What the hell happened?”
Just as the agents were about to explain what happened Davis saw Harlan getting off the elevator. He walked swiftly over to Davis.
“How is she?”
“Very lucky. What’s going on?”
“She was lucky because of the work of our agents. The brakes on your car were tampered with and as soon as the accident happened they were on the scene. When I got word of what happened I got right on it. I found out your car had been serviced just today. The guys that serviced it weren’t very professional just some low brow criminals. That’s why it didn’t take much to get them to talk once my agents started squeezing them.”
“Harlan are you any closer to finding out who is really behind all of this. They almost killed my wife today!”
“Yes we are. They were hired by your personal assistant.”
“What? My PA…Charlie? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“I’m sure you probably didn’t know this but his uncle is the leader of The Liberation of Shebet. The sect wanted your most recent discovery and knew you needed to be six feet under to get it. Your PA made the mistake of calling in the hit from your office. Rookie mistake. We were monitoring all of those phones. He’s being interrogated as we speak but last I heard he’s giving up names and locations. This madness is finally almost over. They are going to call me with confirmation when they’ve got the leader.”
“Harlan, I don’t know how to thank you.”
“You’ve saved my ass enough that no thanks is necessary. We’re going to keep a couple of pair of eyes on you guys until I get that confirmation but it’s only a matter of time. Go be with your wife.” They shook hands and Davis went to go be with Nicole.
*****
It was several hours before she woke up and Davis was right there by her side. “Hey sleepy head.”
Her voice sounded so small “Davis?”
“I’m right here.”
It was as if Nicole just remembered the accident. She sit up too fast “The baby! How is she? Is she ok?”
Davis rushed to try and calm her so she didn’t hurt herself “She’s fine. You both are going to be just fine.” Nicole felt the baby move and that seemed to soothe her. She laid back down onto the bed.
Davis smoothed her hair away from her face and kissed her forehead. “I’m sorry Nicole.”
He was so close. Nicole closed her eyes, breathed him in, and savored his closeness. “It wasn’t your fault Davis.”
It was feathery light but he kissed her closed eyelids, her nose, and finally her lips. “So much was my fault.”
“I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost you. I love you.”
Nicole’s eyes flew open “What did you say?”
“I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost you. I love you very much.”
The tears started streaming down her face. “You don’t know what you’re saying. It’s been a crazy day. You love Anne. She’s the only woman you’ve ever loved.”
“For a long time I thought that was true until I met you. You made me feel things and face things that I’d never felt before. I knew I wanted you the moment I saw your beautiful face. I fought it because I understood once I’d made love to you that I wouldn’t be able to get you out of my system. I would never be able to recover from you. That’s exactly what happened.
“Davis, you and Anne would have gotten back together if I hadn’t been pregnant.”
“That’s not true. I’ll admit when we were rescued that I was confused. For so long Anne had been the standard of my ideal woman. When she came back into my life, it was a way for me to redeem myself from feeling like a failure. I felt like a failure when we divorced. I wanted something that never really existed between us. What Anne and I had wasn’t love. From the beginning, it was dysfunction disguised as love. I knew Anne and Davis part 2 wasn’t happening especially when I couldn’t get you out of my mind.”
Davis laughed “You really know how to cut someone off. You wouldn’t accept my calls, texts, or anything. That’s why I came to Fiji…I needed to see you.”
Nicole cradled his head in her hands. “I fell in love with you on the island. Why didn’t you just say that? I wasn’t expecting marriage. We’d only known each other for a short while. I would have been patient enough to give us a chance to get to know each other.”
“When you told me you were pregnant that was my excuse to bind you to me without having to be vulnerable. At that time I didn’t know what my feelings were for you. I just knew I burned for you.”
This time she kissed him thoroughly and deeply. “Me too.”
“Nicole, you are so fearless, loving, and strong. I hope you can forgive me for not realizing it sooner. I am so honored that you are my wife and mother of my child. Please come home to me. I love you.”
“Please say that again?”
“Nicole, you are so fearless….”
“Not that part…just skip to the ‘I love you’ part.”
“I love you. And I’ll spend the rest of my life telling you and showing you.”
EPILOGUE
“Davis when can I take this blind fold off?”
“We’ll be there soon so just be patient. As a matter of fact we should be landing in the next few minutes.”
The small plane landed onto an uneven surface. She’d been wearing a blind fold for almost forty-five minutes. She couldn’t image where Davis was taking her but she was still pretty excited. This was the first time they traveled without their daughter, Rayna Denise Chatham, since she had been born.
Davis hopped out of the plane before swooping Nicole up and out.
Nicole giggled “Can I take the blind fold off now?”
Davis removed the material from a shocked Nicole. Her mouth fell open.
“Oh my goodness, Davis. This is incredible.”
“You always said this would be a perfect vacation spot if we weren’t stranded. I agreed and bought this island. Happy two year anniversary, Mrs. Chatham. I hope you love it.”
Davis put Nicole down so that the she could feel the sand underneath her feet. She was completely stunned. Davis had built a beautiful home on the beach close to where ‘their tree’ was standing. There were servants standing outside to greet them. The butler was holding a tray with a bottle of chilled champagne with two flutes while the maid was holding a dozen of the longest stemmed red roses Nicole had ever seen.
Nicole was so overcome with emotion that she couldn’t help but cry “I can’t believe you did this.”
“I wanted to bring you back to the place where we fell in love, where we conceived our first child, and hopefully where we will conceive our second child.”
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