by Anna del Mar
“Ms. Collins?”
Her green eyes settled on me. “Do I know you?”
“No, you don’t.” I took out a thumb drive from my pocket and pressed it against her palm. “But I do know a lot about you. This here is a minute sample of what I’ve got on you, which will never be a problem, unless you or your friends so much as mention Clara Luz’s name with a negative connotation.”
She blanched. “Who the hell are you?”
“You’ll figure it out soon enough,” I said, “but it won’t make any difference. Behave and be safe. Misbehave and those files will be automatically and strategically deployed to ensure the end of your profitable career and your associate’s dreams of ever having a political future.” I gave her a curt nod. “Enjoy your evening.”
I knew Clara didn’t want me to fight her battles, but, given the circumstances, the odds of her finding out about my intervention were low. Besides, I wasn’t leaving Clara alone at the mercy of someone as ferociously vengeful as Annette Collins, especially not when I had all the right skills to contain the damage.
I returned to my surveillance station in time to watch Ed Durant lead Clara outside. I trailed them as they moved deeper into the gardens, which were closed for the evening. Not surprisingly, the security guard unlocked the gate for Durant, who led Clara down the path, before the guard closed the door behind them.
I could smell a trap a million miles away. What was Durant up to? I wondered how long I could afford to wait, before it was too late. Then I wondered if I could afford to wait at all. I’d lost Clara once. I didn’t intend to lose her again, at least not without a fight, a fight that had to be won tonight.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Clara
I followed Durant to the gardens, through a winding path fragrant with the scents of fall and across a garden of herbs, lavender and heather. He’d said he wanted to talk to me in private. I didn’t like the idea, but at the same time, privacy could add impact to my plan and I had to do what I needed to do.
The music from the ballroom receded into the night. The trickle of water flowing from a nearby fountain filled the air. The evening was mild and the full moon illuminated our path with a silvery light. We strolled past the rose gardens, through another set of gates and into an enclosed terrace, encased by a brick colonnade, a lush space arranged around a reflecting pool that flowed from the trickling fountain.
“What do you think?” Durant lifted up his arms and gestured all around. “You like?”
Under the moonlight, the place was stunning. Shame I had to share it with him. “Why did you bring me here?”
“Impatient.” Durant’s knowing smirk was hard to take. “Clara is always ahead of the others, thinking, planning, organizing. Wouldn’t you like to let go? Wouldn’t you like for a little moment in time to just...be yourself?”
Yes, I did need to let go every once in a while, and I was learning to do that in my very own, private way, but I knew better than to do so when Durant was around. I eyed him with suspicion. Coming from him, the words were unsettling.
“So,” I said. “Did you bribe the guard to let us come back here?”
“Bribe is such a strong word,” he said. “It’s more like supporting the informal economy. Besides, I wanted to show you something that I think you’re really going to like.”
“My answer continues to be the same,” I said. “I won’t change my mind.”
“I think you will.”
“What could possibly give you that very wrong impression?”
“You’re here, aren’t you?”
For my purposes, not his.
Durant pursed his lips in what he no doubt meant as a seductive smile. It succeeded only in raising my hackles.
“I’ve prepared something special for us tonight,” he said. “It’s different from the last time, I promise. I won’t be as quick or as careless.”
The glee in his smirk alarmed me. I pinched my lips together and swallowed the nasty retort that came to mind, because quick had been the only advantage to the last time. A memory of that day had me bristling inside. Durant had called me to his office only three hours before the foundation’s annual board meeting. He’d known that several programs were about to get cut. He’d also known that it was my first year running the foundation, and the board, not to mention my mother, were putting an incredible amount of pressure on me to meet fund-raising goals, and that I’d fallen short of those goals by a lot.
I hadn’t had the resources, emotionally or otherwise, to cope with the pressure, which explained why I ultimately agreed to his proposal. The moment I did, I felt as if I’d tipped a bucket of filth all over myself. I ended up bent over his desk, with my skirt hiked up to my waist and my panties wadded around my heels. I didn’t feel much of anything as I held on to Durant’s hefty check, eyes fastened on the exorbitant amount he’d paid for my dignity, while he poked his tiny dick in my pussy for a total of four times, before he pulled off the condom and spilled his come all over my ass.
I didn’t feel much after that either, when I tried to get myself off and discovered I’d lost my ability to orgasm, or later, when Matthew Morris arrived to bang me on cue every Wednesday night for a few months. He thought I was frigid. So what? Like Durant, Matthew got off not on making love with me, but on banging a senator’s daughter. He was perfectly content with me texting, playing solitaire or watching Netflix as long as I stayed still for the three minutes that it took him to come.
I didn’t need Dr. Dodd to explain how my sense of morality had clashed with my sense of duty to bury my desire beneath a stinking pile of regret. I didn’t need all of those psychology classes to explain why I’d been so eager to jump into the RelevantSex.com challenge, or why I was so grateful to have my orgasms back, or why I was so thrilled by the grit, depth and scope of my relationship with Noah. The difference was Noah, the care he put into my needs, the affection he poured into my soul. The difference was also me, the way I felt about him. And now that Noah was back in my life, I refused to compromise my feelings for him or my self-respect.
“Come this way.” Durant sauntered across the terrace and stood before the ornate doors of the exquisite eighteenth-century glass greenhouse. “I’ve learned a few interesting things about you lately, that you’re different, that you have unique tastes.”
A cold knot settled under my ribs. “What the hell are you talking about?”
He opened the doors and, with a grand sweep of his arm, gestured inside. “I thought you’d have a real appreciation for this authentic Victorian work of art.”
My stomach dropped. My face ignited. For a moment, I almost lost it. An elaborate wrought-iron cage stood in the middle of the greenhouse. It was similar in appearance to the one at my grandfather’s house on Avalon, with scrolled bars and a domed ceiling, but it was bigger, at least triple the size.
The sight of the cage left me reeling. The black-and-white marble tiles wavered beneath my heels. My brain grappled with the implications. It couldn’t be a coincidence. Durant knew. He knew about my little misadventure with Mark Walker. But how? And perhaps most importantly...why?
“You should know better than to cross Annette Collins,” Durant said, as if reading my mind. “We share a few common passions. We’ve been talking about you quite often lately. You and I, we’re going to have a good time.”
The greenhouse spun around me. Steady. I braced a hand on the wall and fought to regain my balance. Annette Collins. Noah had warned me. But I’d thought she was my friend and mentor. Another myth disproven. So much for friendship, mentoring and confidentiality agreements. In hindsight, I had to wonder if Annette’s intentions had always been to snare me in her net.
Of course, entrapment had to be the reason for her actions. Befriend the senator’s daughter, gain her trust, compromise her and get leverage for life. I had to give it
to her. Her ploy had been years in the making. She had almost succeeded. Had I delivered on that article, she would’ve had me completely at her mercy for the rest of my professional life. Noah’s instincts, the ones I’d labeled as paranoid, had been spot-on.
Durant’s fingers wrapped around my arm. With a stern grip, he steered me over to the cage. I stumbled along, trying to cling to my courage, trying to remain calm, but emotionally terrified.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Durant halted and stared at the aviary. “True craftsmanship. Don’t you think?”
“Let go.” I wrenched my arm from his hold and steadied myself on the scrolled bars.
“I suppose you’re going to need some enticing.” He chuckled at my scowl. “You should know that Annette introduced me to a very nice gentleman. He says he’s met you before. What was his name?” He made a show of thinking, knuckling his pointy chin. “Mark, Mark Walker, I think. He said something about putting you in a cage. And I thought, ‘Clara? In a cage?’” His lips transformed from a scandalous “oh” to a smirk. “What a fantastic idea.”
I bit the inside of my cheek and silently screamed.
“You planned this,” I said. “You, Annette and Mark are in this together.”
The fire. It hadn’t been an accident. It had been deliberately set, not to kill me, murder was never part of the plan, but in a first attempt to break open the scandal. I could see Mark calling the firemen and their shock finding me in kink garb in the cage. The press would love to follow up on that one. But Noah had showed up in time to prevent the fire, thus derailing the plan. So I knew the how. Now as to motive...
“You tried to use Mark Walker in a bid to compromise me,” I said. “Why?”
“That’s not really important right now,” Durant said.
To get to my mother. The answer was clear. I didn’t know the specifics of their plan or the full motivation behind it, but I understood the basics. If they trapped the daughter, then they’d caught the mother. And they’d almost succeeded. Almost.
“I think we should focus on the things we have in common,” Durant said.
“You and I have nothing in common.”
“Wrong again.” Durant pulled out a set of cuffs from his back pocket and dangled them in the air. “I hear we share an interest in experimentation. You may not be practiced at it yet, but I’m willing to teach you.”
I had no words. Had I been a volcano, the magma would’ve been roaring up my tubes. To think I’d thought Durant was a lowlife before. Now I thought of him as a bottom-feeder SOB from hell. He was a manipulative power hog who confused what Noah and I did, what we had, with harassment and abuse.
I took in a calming breath. “There’s no force on earth that will make me climb in that cage with you.”
“We could leave your mother out of this,” Durant said. “If you endeavor to please me.”
Right. I might be dense but I wasn’t stupid. He must think I was really slow-witted if he thought I was going to go through with this under the expectation that, if I played along, my mother would be left alone. I knew better.
It was the Luz curse, reaching out to snare me, requiring the sacrifice of the one for the sake of the whole. My future was no big deal to anyone other than me. My mother’s future? It was an entirely different deal.
“Don’t you worry,” Durant said with mock kindness. “So you want to explore kink? As long as you do what I say, your secret is safe with me.”
Sure, safe like a rat in a cage, right before she’s fed to the snakes.
I looked around. There’d be cameras around. Yep, two surveillance cameras, perfectly aimed at the cage. He’d want to have me on tape.
“Don’t look so shocked, Clara.” Durant tossed me the cuffs. “Catch.”
It was a reflex. I reached out. The cuffs clinked between my fingers. The metal was warm from Durant’s body. I almost dropped the damn things.
Durant unlatched the door to the cage. “In you go.”
The blood boiled in my veins. I hesitated, torn between rage and disbelief. Did the jackass really expect me to climb in that cage and spread my legs for him?
“Clara?” The voice that came from the greenhouse’s door startled both me and Durant. “You don’t have to do anything he says.”
I turned around to find Noah stepping out of the shadows. The air flowed out of my lungs and wouldn’t return. The shock of seeing him rolled over me like a thunderstorm on the bay. Noah. Here. Noah, dressed in a tux that fit him to perfection and enhanced his graceful body’s proportions. Noah, capturing all my senses with the look in his eyes, rallying my emotions around his flag. Noah, my purest love, my darkest passion, in the same room with that filthy worm, Ed Durant.
I had to force the word out of my parched throat. “H-how...?”
“We’ll talk about it later.” Noah’s hard glare shifted to Durant.
“Who the hell is he?” Durant said. “How did you get past security?”
“Same way you did,” Noah said. “A man who takes a bribe from you will also take it from me.”
Durant waved him off. “I don’t know who you are, but you’re not welcome here. Get out. This is a private conversation. Clara, tell your friend to leave.”
I looked to Noah. “You know I got this, right?”
“I thought you may.” His eyes smiled. “But I’ve got your back and I’d really like to stay and watch if you’ll let me.”
His faith in me revived my belief in humankind.
“Sure,” I said. “You can stay.”
Durant bit out the words. “I said I wanted him gone.”
“But I want him here,” I said. “And this is the part you’ve overlooked: what I think and how I feel counts.”
Durant’s face darkened. His lips flapped and puddles of saliva pooled at the corners of his mouth. He was clearly not used to people refusing his commands. “Didn’t you understand a word I said to you?”
“I understood completely.” I perched my fists on my hips, braced my feet apart and faced the poor excuse of a man like a genuine gunslinger. “The thing is, I’m not going to do anything you say, ever, which is why you’re going to leave this place quietly, obediently. You’re going to make sure that Annette and Mark keep their mouths shut, and you’re never going to bother me, or my mother, again.”
If his face got any redder, his top was going to blow. “You don’t know who you’re messing with.”
“Oh, I think I do.” I put on my best smile. “Those mega millions make you a formidable foe.”
“Don’t forget about his ambitions,” Noah put in. “They’re pretty impressive, especially the political ones.”
With one sentence, Noah had filled my blanks.
I beamed a grateful smile in Noah’s direction, then returned my glare to Durant and regaled him with my best soul-freezing smirk. “It’ll be hard to get elected when I’ve got so many pages of testimony of women who feel you’ve manhandled them into having sex with you, especially when fifty-two percent of the votes come from a female electorate.”
Durant let out a shrill cackle. “You’re a brainless fool if you think I’m afraid of a bunch of blabbermouths. Money buys votes and I like women. So what? Nobody has ever gone to jail for liking women. It was all consensual, as you well know. They were fair exchanges. Cunt for money, the oldest trade in the book.”
Noah’s body coiled in the launching stage of a primal pounce.
“Don’t.” I stopped Noah with a glare. “You’re here to watch.”
He jammed his hands in his pockets and glowered at Durant. “If I were you, I’d be careful with my choice of language.”
“I’m not afraid of you.” Durant poked a finger in the air. “I’m not afraid of her either.”
“Then you’re a fucking fool,” Noah muttered.
&nb
sp; “If you two gents are done pissing testosterone,” I said, “I’d like to finish making my point.” I fixed my eyes on Durant. “I didn’t collect the stories about you and all those women to go to the police. I collected the stories so that I could send them to your wife with my compliments. I hear you didn’t sign a prenup. Rumor is that’s the only reason you’ve stayed married this long.”
The flush drained from Durant’s face. He blanched like a man in mortal fear. My guess had been right. Dividing his fortune in a messy divorce was not something Durant looked forward to.
“You wouldn’t dare,” he spat, along with a bunch of spittle.
“It turns out you’ve spent a great deal of money keeping your family ignorant of your affairs and ensuring people’s silence,” I said. “I don’t know whether any of those women could make claims against you in a court of law. But the court of public opinion is a different matter altogether, and your wife—not to mention your seven children—they’re not going to be happy when they grasp the sheer numbers involved.”
Durant’s mouth trembled before he managed a coherent sound. It would be dumb luck if his top didn’t blow tonight. His fury whitened his lips and shook his body to the edge of an apoplexy attack. His rage beamed on me.
“Do you think you’ve got me beat?” He gnashed his teeth. “You’re so very mistaken. You’re simply not worth the trouble right now. The foundation is getting nothing from me.”
“Wrap it up,” Noah warned in a low growl. “I think it’s time for you to leave.”
“Shut up.” Durant flipped him the bird.
I blinked and Noah had Durant in an armlock. Durant should have known better. You do not flip a bird at a Navy SEAL. With great skill but also visible restraint, Noah dragged the squirming, whining pervert to the door and shoved him out of the greenhouse.