Onyx and Philippe only stared at each other.
“And do you really think your lust now is to blame for what you’ve done to her?”
Philippe knew Onyx just wanted him to speak the truth. “Yes. I would have never pulled Maxine into that organization, but it was a chance to be with her. A chance to get to know her.”
“And you knew the full truth of what your father had done before I pointed it out, didn’t you? You knew Maxine had had a rough life and it was all your fault, didn’t you?”
It hurt to admit the truth, but he still let the words come out of his mouth. “Yes, Onyx. I did know I was the one for Maxine’s lifetime of pain because of my lust for her.” He took a deep resolving breath. When I saw her back for the first time, I knew… I knew her life had been hard and I demanded answers from Ewan, but they weren’t forthcoming.”
“Until I made you see the truth, right?” Onyx asked.
Philippe reluctantly nodded.
“Does she know you know everything, Philippe?” Sheriff questioned.
“I never told her I realized the truth,” Philippe answered. “I should have, but I thought if I made her happy and I loved her completely as I do, she’d forget the past and never ask.”
Onyx took a deep breath. Her anger seemed to dissipate instantly as she turned to the phone and pushed the speaker button off.
Without another word, she walked out of the room and Philippe had a bad feeling exactly who had been listening on the other end of the phone.
Fuck!
Maxine now knew the truth.
Sheriff handed the affidavit back to Armando. “I expect to see your client soon at the grand jury hearing no later than seventy-two hours.”
Armando only nodded, but Philippe didn’t care anymore.
Philippe just wanted to see Maxine; now more than ever so he could tell her he loved her. He worshipped her and he wanted to spend the rest of his life making her happy.
Chapter 40
Maxine was dressing in the hospital garb when the police officer’s phone beeped. The cop had received a text which made her walk over to the phone and press some buttons.
A deep timbre, yet tired voice came over the speaker. “…if your Mr. Darkore promises to stay away from Ms. Waters during that time.”
The nurse left the room, while Maxine just stood there listening to the conversation like a fly on the wall.
Pieces of her memories started to overwhelm her as she realized exactly why Philippe had meant so much to her… why she was affected by him before she had even met him… why her heart yearned for him all the time…
This had been her savior!
Who had turned to her master!
Greed?!
Lust?!
No!
She sobbed hearing Onyx’s vicious words berate Philippe into admitting the truth.
One moment she didn’t want to hear anymore, the next she couldn’t help listening to every word.
Until the end! When he spoke the truth.
Philippe had been the cause of the misery in her life.
Maxine sat on the bed in defeat. Damn Onyx for being right!
The she-devil burst into Maxine’s hospital room looking triumphant. She turned off the phone and looked over at the cop.
The police officer needed no words to know Onyx wanted to be alone with Maxine.
“You’re an awful person,” Maxine said sorrowfully.
“I find the truth,” Onyx said proudly.
“The truth that makes everyone miserable.”
“You’d have walked out of here with him never knowing what he did to you, Maxine.”
Maxine laid down on the bed wanting to die all over again. “And now what?” she questioned turning her back to Onyx. “Now I’ll walk out of here, away from everything with nothing; with absolutely nothing. Thank you, Onyx.” The pain and hurt filled her voice making it hard to speak.
Yet, she had nothing more to say as she cried into the pillow.
After a few moments, Onyx slammed out of the room, but Maxine didn’t care.
Maxine just wanted to be left alone… forever.
***
Armando Bellini was handsome and whoever was paying him, he was doing his job very well.
He didn’t describe himself as a full bloodied Italian. His bloodline reached back to almost royalty in Italy, but illicit affairs, Spanish trysts and his father marrying an American woman who later died in an accident, made him the over six foot powerfully built man he was today. His sense of humor was dry and his efforts to make her feel comfortable where stiff.
She noticed a ring on his finger meaning he was married, but that meant nothing now days. If he really knew how to treat a woman or care for a woman was really pointless in this situation.
Instead of going home, Maxine had been confined to a hotel room at the St. Royal Hotel for safety. Armando let her know it was his personal out of town suite for his guest and sometimes for his wife who loved getaways. Maxine noticed the secret smile on his lips at the thought of his wife.
The man was in love because only love could bring a glow to someone’s eyes like it did to his.
Maxine was given room service, private protection and hands on care twenty four hours a day for the full seventy-two hours.
The lawyer pampered her to the fullest with massages and spa treatments, the best in food and all the movies she could watch.
The vacation away from the world was really what Maxine needed and she forced herself not to think of anything. Not thinking about Philippe was the hardest, but Armando taught her a trick.
The first night he dropped her at the hotel room, Armando put a rubber band around her wrist.
“What’s that for?”
“My dad taught me this when you want to stop thinking or doing something. Every time you think about him, pop the rubber band against your inner wrist until your brain starts to focus on the pain and not them. Sooner or later, you’ll stop thinking about them because you know it’ll be too painful.”
The first two days, Maxine had pulled on the rubber band so much, there was a serious a bruise on her wrist.
The night before she was to go to the police station, Armando stayed late going over what she would say. He clearly let her know the organization interests were his only interests, but he also stated there would be a criminal attorney also present in case the D.A. decided not to go with her charge of self-defense.
“Sometimes people use the law for their personal vendettas and there are a lot of people in the organization that the D.A. would love to embarrass. The organization wants this whole matter to go away soon as possible. Getting you off, would hurry the process,” Armando explained.
She understood and was glad Armando insisted she only speak the truth. Devon was a mad man, she was in fear for her life, he made threats, he controlled the atmosphere… She did what she had to do in the end and so had Philippe.
“He asked about you,” Armando said skeptically. “He asks about you all the time, but I don’t tell him anything.”
Maxine turned away from Armando to hide her turmoil.
It was too soon to see him. These pasts few days she had been piecing together a lot of things that had happened in the past in her mind and knowing that Philippe in the end had been instrumental in setting up the trust for her last foster parents to survive and give Maxine the money she needed to go to college. Armando had told her that because Philippe had given him the permission to reveal the name of the trusts name.
“I didn’t tell you that to upset you,” Armando said. “And if it did, I’m sorry.”
“Why DID you tell me that?”
“His son wants to speak to you.”
Panicked filled her. “His son?”
“Pierre. I believe you’ve met him.”
She looked at Armando. “I don’t want to speak to him.”
“It’s not about his father. He promised. It’s about the organization. He needed to ask you some things, but unfortunately, I ca
n’t be here when you speak.”
“Why? I can’t be here by myself with him. Who’s to say he hasn’t come for his father? Or even revenge from some of the other members?”
“He promised,” was all Armando answered with. “You have my number in my cell. I’ll be down the hall in my sister’s suite waiting. All you have to do is call if he does and you don’t wish to speak to him.”
He handed her a cheap cell phone; most likely a burner.
It was the first time some kind of communication device was handed to her. The regular hotel phone had been removed from the room and only movie channels played on her television.
Armando had deliberately kept the outside world away from her.
When she took the burner, he dialed a number on his phone. “Yes, could you please send the young man up that’s waiting for me in the lobby.”
“What do I say to him?” Maxine asked nervously.
“There’s nothing to say. Just answer his questions.”
“But I’m not really supposed to speak about the organization to anyone.”
“It’s my understanding he’s coming here to help the organization. I was told to allow him to ask you anything and it would be really up to you to answer the questions.”
“He’s working for the organization now?”
“They didn’t answer that question when I asked.”
“Does Philippe know this? That his son is working for the organization?” she asked incredulously.
Armando’s stance became tight. “They wouldn’t answer that question either.”
There was a knock on the door and her chest seemed to tighten. It wasn’t Philippe, but it was someone close to him.
“I changed my mind. I don’t want to speak to him. I don’t ever want to talk about the organization again,” Maxine said in a panic.
“Maxine, when did not talking about something that hurt you ever help you?” Armando asked obviously. “When my mother died, I thought I shouldn’t talk about it. I kept it to myself, but I learned… thankfully before I lost my own sanity, keeping it to myself only hurts me and no one else. You’re given a chance to talk about it when everyone else is telling you not to speak about it. Use this opportunity.”
He was right.
Or was he just being a lawyer working in the interest of the organization?
Damn, Maxine was too flustered to even think straight.
She calmed herself down by taking long deep breaths.
Armando didn’t rush her. Patiently, he waited for her to slow her breathing and give him the nod to open the door.
Pierre smiled comfortingly, dressed in just a silk shirt and khaki pants, holding a leather binder and an electronic tablet. He walked in the room confidently, looking exactly like a younger version of his father and Maxine wanted to swoon at the thought of someone remotely like Philippe coming near her.
She slightly remembered Pierre at the presentation but initially she had been so nervous, she hadn’t seen anyone and at the end, her eyes had been consumed with Philippe, so she hadn’t paid attention to detail.
Being a younger version of Philippe had her senses in a tizzy since she hadn’t seen Philippe in so long. She missed him. To the very core of her soul, she missed the man and it was harder and harder to be mad at him as each passing day she found her thoughts just focusing on the goodness and sexiness about him.
His son had differences from his father. Most importantly, Pierre had his hard hair cut short and he didn’t wear the five o’clock shadow like Philippe. He was clean cut, yet still handsome.
Turning away to take control of her emotions, she heard Armando say, “I will leave you two alone, but I’ll be down the hall if anyone needs me.”
“Thank you,” Pierre said politely.
The door closed and Maxine knew she was alone with Philippe’s son.
What the hell did he want?
Chapter 41
“I’m not here for my father,” Pierre said strongly, when she didn’t turn around right away.
“You better not be,” she said facing him. “Can you answer my questions?”
“I’ll answer to the best of my ability, Maxine. Or would you rather me call you by your real name.” He smiled that comfortable smile and sat down in a dining area of the suite opening the binder.
With a nonchalant shrug, she said, “I’m fine with Maxine. Why are you really here?”
“To find out more information about the organization you experienced. I’ve been asked to re-organize it, but in order to do that, I need information about what was wrong with it and … what was right with it.”
“Right with it?” she asked incredulously. “There was nothing right with it?”
“You weren’t forced to do what you did,” he quickly countered. “You could have told Detective Heart whatever you wanted and let him do his best to protect you. There was something that kept you and I don’t think it was fear. So please, Maxine, let’s just be honest with each other and tell me everything. Plus, from your statement to the police originally, Detective Heart noted you spoke with other females in the compound. I know you spoke with the women, because one trusted you so much she gave you the key to evidence that helped reveal a lot of things Devon was doing behind the councils back.”
“Carla’s key?”
“The key led to a locker at a bookstore in Detroit. Carla had been secretly taping conversations and bribes that help us pinpoint a lot of the bad elements were are having removed from the compound.”
He took a pen out and prepared to write whatever she said. “Help me, help other women, Maxine. If you feel it’s in your best interest to shut it down, then say so. If you feel it could work but with massive changes say that, but tell me something to help me make a decision. I trust what you have to say.”
Taking a deep breath, she knew it was wrong to take her anger out on him that she had for Philippe.
Sitting across from him, she asked, “Why you?”
“Why was I asked? Or why do I want to?”
“Yes. I mean after this fiasco, I would think they would want to burn the building down.”
“They might. I mean Devon destroyed the beauty of the original vision. His family has been banned and anyone he referred, along with anyone who went along with that horrible night and lived to tell about it. After you left, the handlers went insane and started trying to destroy the evidence, including killing some people who they felt would be the weakest link or who couldn’t pay to stay alive.”
She gasped.
“We found there had been drug trafficking and illegal use of the girls. Devon had been renting them out. Carla unlocked a lot of secrets and we owe her a lot.”
Maxine remembered the key Carla had given her. “She risked a lot and she was a sweet girl”
“Yes, we realized it. Carla had been keeping a diary and proof. Somehow she had snuck a camera phone in and was documenting what Devon had been doing under the society’s nose. Needless to say once he died, everything else started to fall, including the hoards of members that became rich from the illegal activities Devon had sunken the society into.”
“And they still want to continue?”
“Start over. The vision is beautiful. It’s almost like having your own private geisha, except you don’t have to go to another country to experience. I believe it can be accomplished without the violence and degradation.”
“Does your father feel this way?”
“He doesn’t want anything to do with it and I haven’t told him anything. He doesn’t even want to speak about business. He’s been pretty much holed up in a dark hospital room since the events that got him there.” He looked a little saddened. “He’ll be released late tonight for a short time to make a statement to the police, but after that, I’m not sure what his plans are. He doesn’t want to speak about it.”
“Have you talked to anyone else? Like Anna or-“
“She tried to kill herself,” Pierre said. “By the time the police got in
and got order that night, she had drunk the rest of the poison given to my father. She’s at the hospital under surveillance. I haven’t checked on her since yesterday.”
“What about Nicole?”
Pierre answered. “Nicole was badly beaten by Devon for her disobedience. They found her barely alive in her chamber and she was rushed to the hospital.”
“So without Nicole how do you plan to organize the women?”
“There are others who will help. I’ve spoken to a lot of women and many of the higher sla…. Women,” he cleared his voice correcting himself. “They praised you. Talked very highly of you and I knew I had to meet you. I know you joined the organization with intentions of finding your friend, but when you ended up meeting my dad, I know that’s why you stayed. Am I right?”
“I thought Lisa’s killer was there too, but I was growing fond of your father.”
Pierre relaxed. “How did he treat you?”
Sitting back and getting comfortable, she began to relay Philippe’s treatment of her. Even as she told Pierre her experience in the chamber, she realized Philippe really had never been a bad person. His warnings and punishments had really been for her protection and safety.
She also spoke of how other women must have felt and if Pierre was going to pursue keeping the society what improvements for the women should be made.
Pierre took lots of notes and not once judged her or made her feel ashamed for enduring the experience.
When he was done, she realized they’d been talking for over three hours.
“If you don’t mind, I would like to stay in contact with you about other things and this.”
“This meaning the revamping or the organization?” she questioned.
“Yes,” Pierre answered.
“And what other things?”
“The project you did for our family’s company. I know it’s been turned over to the graphic department and I’m assured Mr. Bianchi will take good care of things, but I’d still love your input on the project as it progresses.”
Through all this, she had forgotten her job – literally. She knew Armando had briefly mentioned sending an email missive to Kenneth Bianchi, but her thoughts had seriously been consumed with what had happened over the weekend.
Dark Facade (Book Four) (Dark Facade Series) Page 10