“This is for going with me on the hunt,” he said and handed her a bouquet of pink roses.
She looked at the flowers and refused to accept them. “I don’t want anything from you. We’re done.”
“Why?” he demanded. Then, without waiting for her to answer, he shook her. “I get it. It’s that doctor from your Mexico thing, isn’t it? Did he contact you?” He let go of her, slammed the door closed behind him with his free hand, and walked past her. “I should never have let you go. I should’ve stood guard, protected my property.”
“It has nothing to do with David,” she said.
“David,” he said and glared at her. “I knew it was another man!”
Cognizant of Terrie’s cautionary words, Alex softly protested, “I haven’t even spoken to him since the trip to Mexico. The woman who does the scheduling called and asked me to go, but I refused.”
“The minute I saw the look in your eyes when you opened the door, I knew.” He clutched the flowers, choking the stems. “I can stand up to any man.”
“There’s no other man,” she said, determined to stay strong. She had to end the relationship, now.
He hurled the bouquet onto the floor. “You’re lying.”
Alex folded her hands across her chest, straightened her back defiantly, and said, “I don’t lie.”
He laughed, an ugly laugh that echoed in the vestibule. “In my next life, I’m going to be a rich white man. Maybe even a doctor.”
“This has nothing to do with how you earn a living,” Alex insisted.
“It has everything to do with who I am!” he shouted. “Alex, I had hoped you were different, but I always suspected you’d betray me.”
“Stop yelling! You’re the one who is guilty of betrayal, not me.” She strode into the family room, scooped up the property deed, and then returned to the vestibule. “Here.” She slapped the stapled pages into his hand. “It has to do with this.”
He took the document, glanced down, and then tossed it onto the vestibule table. “My ex-wife co-signed on the house for me. What’s the issue?”
“Look at the date. It says, ‘a married man and a married woman.’ I will not date a married man. And if Gabe’s attorney finds out, it’ll discredit me.”
“Gabe, Gabe, Gabe. Do I care?” He reached out, grabbed her, and pulled her to him.
“I do.” She freed herself and rushed to the door. She reached for the doorknob and flung open the front door. “Leave, and don’t come back.”
“Alex, you’re making a mistake.” He put his hands on her shoulders and tightened his grip.
With his fingers digging into her and his tone threatening, she was terrified. She steadied herself. “You lied about everything. Gabe’s attorney could twist this too.”
“Gabe wouldn’t care,” he said.
“Right.” She looked at him. “How could you possibly know what Gabe would do?” She almost laughed at the absurdity of Luke giving her advice about Gabe. They were worlds apart.
He pushed her chin up and looked into her eyes. “Why are you fixated on that piece of paper? I’m telling you the truth.”
She backed away and grabbed the property deed. “This is the truth: print on a page, the truth in black and white.”
He glared at her. “Where’d you get it?” he demanded.
“Meredith.”
“Bitch,” he hissed.
She felt his anger blossom into a living, breathing thing. She stood her ground. “Please leave.”
“I don’t intend on losing you,” he said, his words those of a man capable of doing great harm to an adversary. Then he smiled, and the light played on his face.
Repulsed, she stared at his bright, too-pink bridge that clashed with the purple-pink of his gums as though seeing it for the first time. “Luke, you’ve already lost me.”
“You’re all the same. My hunting friends weren’t high-class enough for you. And your friends think they’re so high and mighty just because they have money. Your friend Meredith is whacked-out. With her shopping crap and her Siamese, she’s one strange lady. Her boyfriend—Warren, or whatever his name is—he’s in for it. I couldn’t believe the way he looked at her at the wedding, like she’s something special.”
“Men love Meredith,” she said, reflexively defending her friend.
“Not this one. And the other one—what was her name? Liz, yeah. She was studying me. Don’t cross her. I’ll tell you that.”
“Liz is my best friend.”
“Alex, you’re just like your friends, with the exception of Terrie and her husband—they’re good people. I could tell that. And Judi. Oh, she smiles and couldn’t be more polite, but I’m sure she had a lot to say about me.”
“This has nothing to do with my friends,” she said, staying focused, holding her ground.
“It has everything to do with what your precious friends said about me. I could just hear them say, ‘Poor Alex couldn’t get a date, so she had to take that Luke guy.’”
“No, they didn’t say anything about you,” she lied.
As though not hearing her, he continued. “My friends are solid men.”
“Luke, you’ve been lying to me. You don’t even own the company.”
“Why did you check on my company? Tell me right now.”
“Meredith found that information. You lied about that too. I’m done.”
“This isn’t over,” he said, his face contorting into the same expression she’d seen when he’d gutted the deer—that glint in his eyes. He strode past her and out the front door.
Alex had been certain he’d look at the mortgage papers, ask her not to say anything at the club, and then just leave. But Terrie was right: a hunter wouldn’t leave his prey until the kill. She clutched the doorframe, feeling almost paralyzed. Then she locked the door, went to the family room, and slumped down onto the couch.
After what seemed like hours, she got up and checked every door and window. She crawled into bed but was unable to sleep. There’d been something eerie in Luke’s expression when he’d left. As she watched the numbers change on the clock, she feared he might return.
At 3:00 a.m., the sound of the doorbell sliced through the silence of her bedroom.
She didn’t answer.
Her heart raced as the chiming continued.
Then the ringing abruptly stopped. She sank back against the pillows, her gaze sweeping over the closed blinds that covered the sliding glass doors to her balcony. She often left them open, but tonight, she’d closed them and secured the bolt into the slider.
A few minutes later, there was a clank outside on the balcony, then a thud, followed by a fist pounding on the glass door.
“Let me in,” Luke demanded, his voice a raspy whisper.
Alex slipped out of bed and went to the glass doors. “How’d you get up there?” she asked.
“My ladder’s always in my truck. Now, open up!” he shouted. “We need to talk.”
“It’s after three o’clock in the morning. Go away.” She panicked. If her backyard neighbors saw a man on her balcony trying to open the door, they’d summon the police. She couldn’t take a chance on a police report before the custody hearing.
“I’ll wait here until you open the door,” he said.
Heart thumping, she slid back the security bolt on the glass door, raised the blinds, and unlocked the slider, all the while praying she wasn’t making a fatal mistake.
He walked into her bedroom, turned, and locked the door behind him.
Smelling liquor on his breath, she backed away. She sat down on the edge of her bed and stared at the man who’d been her lover, unsure of the next step in their turbulent dance.
“Get me a drink,” he demanded, his presence overpowering her bedroom.
“You’ve had enough booze tonight.”
He surged forward and grabbed her, jerking her to her feet. “You’re the one I want.”
“No!” She tried to move away, but his grasp tightened.
“You don’t know what love is.” He pulled her to him.
“Yes, I do, and this isn’t it. We’re finished.”
“You’re wrong. It’s you who’ll be finished if …” He looked at her with raw anger and then grabbed her. She lost her balance. Wondering whether he’d pushed her or she’d fallen, she landed hard on her back. Reality, she knew, always twisted events like that. She got up.
As she scrambled away, Luke caught her. “You’re mine, so get used to it,” he shouted.
“Never!” She pulled away.
He jerked up her nightgown. “I want what’s mine.”
“I’m not yours.” She spat out the words as she fought his overpowering strength.
“I will have you.” He raised his hand to her and then stopped just short of delivering an open-handed blow to her face.
Alex waited, too terrified to move.
“I’m going to let you off this one time, but … I’m warning you.” He twisted her arm, then let go. “This time,” he said. Then he turned, walked out of her bedroom, and went back to the balcony.
Alex rushed to lock it.
“Alexandra, listen to me very carefully,” he yelled to her from outside the closed balcony door. “If I can’t have you, no one will.”
CHAPTER 40
At 4:00 a.m., Alex called Liz. Within fifteen minutes, Liz arrived at her house and insisted they go directly to the Brea Police Department. Alex refused, explaining she’d lose the custody battle if Gabe found out. She was certain he’d use the information as fodder and claim a woman who couldn’t take care of herself certainly couldn’t take care of her children.
“We’re talking about someone threatening your life,” Liz insisted.
“My children are more important. Without them, I have no life.”
“Alex, we’ll just go to the police and talk to them.”
They went to the Brea Police Department, a sterile public building. As Liz pressed the buzzer, Alex cringed. She was certain this was a mistake.
The officer on duty asked what they wanted. Liz looked directly into the screen and explained they had an incident to report. The police officer buzzed, and the door unlocked.
Alex and Liz walked into the station and up to the reception desk.
“How can I help you?” the officer asked.
Alex stared at his badge—Sergeant John Collins—and said, “I’m here to discuss an incident, but I don’t want to file a report. My boyfriend—I mean, former...” She sobbed.
Sergeant Collins looked at her and asked, “Was there a rape or any other act of physical violence?” Before she could answer, he asked, “And were you hurt?”
“He made horrible threats,” Alex said.
And within an instant, the sergeant’s expression changed from empathy to apathy. “Threats are just that,” he said and leaned down and produced a piece of paper. He handed the paper to Alex. “Take it home and fill it out, or fill it out now,” he said. “Then I’ll look at it and give it to the officer in charge.”
“Can’t we talk to the officer in charge?” Liz asked.
“First, you have to go over everything with me,” Sergeant Collins said. “And then I’ll talk to him.”
Upon Liz’s prompting, Alex explained how Luke had threatened her and told her, “If I can’t have you, no one will.”
“That’s from a movie, Enough.” Sergeant Collins rolled his eyes. “It was just on television.”
Annoyed at the sergeant’s dismissal, Alex was certain Luke’s threats were real. She’d seen the glint in his eyes. He wasn’t just mimicking a movie. “Aren’t you going to let us talk to the officer in charge?” she asked.
“I’ll go check.” Sergeant Collins got up and went to the back.
Alex took a seat in the waiting room, which was just a row of chairs facing the reception desk. She started to fill out the paper. Liz put on her glasses, leaned over Alex’s shoulder, and read the form along with her.
Sergeant Collins returned. “You can fill out the paperwork. After the officer in charge reviews the report, he’ll dispatch an officer to the perpetrator’s house to talk to him.”
“If he talks to Luke, then he could hurt me. I’ll need a restraining order, but …”
“Why don’t you just take the form home and think about it. Bring it back when you’re ready,” Sergeant Collins said, his lack of interest apparent.
“No, you’re filling it out now,” Liz said.
“But if the police go to Luke’s house, he’ll definitely come after me.”
“Alex, you can stay with us. You can’t let him get away with this.”
The sergeant interceded. “It’s usually a good idea to have an initial complaint. That way, if he does anything else, we have the record. Also, when a police officer talks to the perpetrator, the guy often gets scared and stops. Unless …”
“Unless what?” Alex asked.
“You’ve got to protect yourself,” Liz said.
The police officer started to explain, “But sometimes—”
“Fill it out,” Liz repeated.
As soon as Alex completed the report and handed it to Sergeant Collins, she knew it would only be a matter of time before Luke would confront her; however, she had to make sure he faced the consequences of his threats.
◆◆◆
At ten o’clock the next night, her phone rang.
“What the hell did you do?” Luke yelled over the telephone. “An officer came to my house. I was embarrassed in front of my daughters and grandson.”
“Luke, you terrified me,” she said, trying to steady her voice.
“You will pay for this. Don’t you know police officers stick together? It’s like the Marines. I called my nephew who is a police officer.”
“If you were embarrassed in front of your daughters and grandson, why would you then call your nephew?”
“He’s a police officer in Compton, where, believe me, they have more to worry about than a little white lady who concocted a story about a black guy she dated a few times. She wanted to have sex with him, but he refused. And because he refused, she made up a story and reported him to the police.”
“That’s not what happened,” she said.
“You try explaining that while you’re involved in a custody case because you burned your son.”
“I didn’t burn my son—intentionally, I mean.” She couldn’t let this—or anything—destroy her credibility, make her look incapable of protecting her children.
“Well, now my nephew is going to help me. He’s already spoken to the officer in Brea, and believe me, the police won’t be bothering me anymore.” He slammed the phone down.
She tossed and turned the entire night, fearful of his anger. Anger, she knew, always had wings.
CHAPTER 41
Alex, what’s the matter with you?” Seth asked when he picked her up for Eric’s football game.
“Nothing,” she lied. She wasn’t ready to tell him about the other night—about how she’d seen the underbelly of love and lust and feared them both.
“Come on,” he prompted. “You can talk to me.”
“I will, but not right now.” She knew he’d want to protect her, but he was no match for a powerful hunter like Luke. She’d never do anything to harm Seth, and she couldn’t risk any interference with the practice—her only safe haven.
“Alex, remember you asked me if I knew about Silver Cloud? Well, there is such a place, and it’s in Whitefish Lake.”
“No.” Alex gasped. The probability that Gabe had gone there was spinning closer to reality. Had she been so in love with Gabe that she didn’t question anything he said or did?
> Seth touched her arm, gently, caringly. “It’s amazing how the files are organized by the date of the patients’ initial evaluations. When the patients arrive, they each select a pseudonym. No one uses his real name.”
“Seth, who cares about how they operate? You’re always into the details. I want to know whether Gabe went there.” That was the one thing about Seth that irked her: everything had to be in order. That was the way he insisted on running the practice, but it worked there.
“As I said, they use pseudonyms only, and the file numbers are the dates when the physicians enter the clinic. Very clever system.”
“What if more than one person enters on a given day?” Alex asked, trying to grasp onto the facts. Maybe if she found inconsistencies, impossibilities, then she wouldn’t have to accept the truth, and it was the truth she feared.
“They only accept one person a day, so we have to find out the exact date Gabe entered.”
“I might be able to go to the bank and get the cancelled checks,” Alex said.
“Cash.” Seth shook his head.
“How do you know?”
“My brother, the gastroenterologist, has been investigating this from the moment you asked whether I knew about Silver Cloud.”
Disappointed that Seth hadn’t found anything, she knew he always tried to help her. That’s why she couldn’t tell him about all the terrible things Luke had done. He would ferret out everything about Luke and then want to confront him. Seth wouldn’t understand how the policemen’s brotherhood took precedence over the truth. He always acted as though honesty and justice would prevail, but Alex knew it was money and power that prevailed.
“Honesty can be bought,” she said.
Seth didn’t agree. She knew his belief was from his life as a university professor before becoming a chiropractor. He’d refused to face the fact that, outside of the university environment, life was real, and people rarely played fair.
As they got out of his car, Alex thanked Seth for trying. They walked to the bleachers and took their seats.
“Alex, are you okay about the Silver Cloud thing?” he asked.
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