When the elevator stopped and we got off, my nurse pushed the bed along the wide hallway and into a large room already filled with flowers and get-well balloons. Tears stung my eyes as I knew Lucas had all of this done.
I mouthed a thank you to him and he smiled at me as the nurse placed my bed right in the middle and put a television remote next to my left hand. That’s when I realized my right arm was immobilized. “Hey,” I croaked. “What happened?”
The nurse sat on the left side of my bed and popped a thermometer in my mouth then set about to check my blood pressure. “Oh, honey! Let me tell you how lucky you are to be alive. That bullet was lodged in one of your very important arteries. When the doc took it out blood went everywhere. You had to have a few pints of blood transfused to keep you with us. Your hubby, here, gave the okay for the transfusion, otherwise, the doc couldn’t have given it to you and the outcome could’ve been terrible.”
He took the thermometer out of my mouth and I said, “Oh my!”
“Oh my, indeed!” the nurse said as he raised his eyebrows and took the blood pressure cuff off. “Your pressure is still on the low side but that’s normal after surgery. I’m sure it’ll come around in a few hours. Anyway, if there had been no one around to sign the papers, the doc would’ve had to do the surgery then bring you out of anesthesia to get your permission for the transfusion and then give it to you, if you agreed. It would’ve been very hard on your body.”
All I could do was look at Lucas and mouth another, thank you. He was truly my hero.
Chapter 6
Lucas
When the nurse finally left the room, I sat on the bed next to Sloan and ran my hand over her cheek. She looked so weak and helpless lying on that hospital bed. It was my lust for the poor thing that had her there and I knew that without a doubt.
“What do you want, baby?” I asked her. “Anything at all and I will get it for you.”
She smiled, weakly and whispered, “Just you.”
Just me is all she wanted and I was thinking very hard about giving her that. She’d wanted romance and I’d given her very little of that. The room was filled with flowers I had brought in and balloons and I had one more thing I wanted her to have but I was waiting for her to get more lucid before that happened.
The door opened and the detective came in. “I stopped by your office. Your head of security was in the secretary’s office. Neither acted the least bit guilty when I talked to them about what happened last night. I told them Sloan had been incoherent when I got to her and couldn’t tell me a thing. I also told them that she still hadn’t woken up from the surgery to be able to point me in the direction of who it was who’d chased her and shot her. But when I asked Torrance if he could come to the station so we could talk more formally, he said he was unavailable anytime soon as he had a lot to do with a business risk you were having.”
I looked down at Sloan as she spoke with broken words as some just weren’t making it out of her mouth, “It was Cecelia who was shooting.”
“Seriously?” I asked with surprise. I never saw that coming!
She nodded and I got her giant cup of water and held it to her lips. She took a drink then she said, “And the name of the woman behind it all is-”
The door opened again and there stood Drew Torrence. I wanted to fly off that bed and tear him limb from limb but the detective shot me a look that told me to stay calm. I knew we had to get more than just Sloan’s testimony as to what she’d overheard to bring them all down.
Sloan gripped my hand and I felt her stop breathing. She was terrified and who could blame her. So I stroked her hair and whispered close to her ear, “You’re fine. I’m here. Act like you don’t remember a thing about the incident at all.”
Her grip loosened a little as the detective asked Torrence, “What are you doing here? I thought you were way too busy to go anywhere.”
“I need to talk to my employer.” His dark eyes darted to mine. “Alone, it’s about our leak.”
“I’ll come see you when I get time. Sloan is all I care about right now.” I was not going to go somewhere alone with the man I knew tried to kill the woman in my life. The woman I had grown to love.
He shifted his weight and crossed his arms. “I really need to know what you want me to do, Lucas.”
I wanted him to go jump off of a cliff but I didn’t say that. “I tell you what, Drew, I give you permission to speak freely in front of these people. I know Sloan has nothing to do with this since she was nearly killed. And the detective is here to help. So go ahead and say what you have to say to me.”
“Lucas, this room might be bugged,” he said, still trying to get me to go somewhere with him. “Do you have any idea who was chasing you, Miss Whitlock?”
She shook her head and I answered for her, “She can’t remember a thing about last night at all. I’m afraid the alcohol and the shock along with the anesthesia wiped her memory clean.” He looked relieved with my lie and that’s exactly how I wanted him to feel.
It was doubtful he’d do anything to harm me with the detective knowing I’d left the room with him, but I didn’t trust myself not to harm him.
The detective took the reins and said, “There’s no possible way this room is bugged. Only hospital workers have been in here.”
“You never know,” he said. “This information is too big to be found out. Or our guy might hear about how we’re on to him and leave the country. Then we’ll lose the chance to get him and stop this from happening again.” He looked at me. “You do want this to end and never have any more threats, don’t you?”
“Of course,” I said. “But you seem to think you get to decided things and I told you to speak freely and you’ve argued with me which is an ignorant thing to do. So tell me what you have and the detective will make notes. Won’t you, Detective Allen?”
He pulled out his phone and pressed a recording app. “I will. Start whenever you want to, Mr. Drew Torrence, I’ll record it all.”
Suddenly Drew was backtracking and seemed not to want to talk at all. Finally, he said, “I don’t want this recorded. The man I’m about to indicate in this is very powerful. If he found out it was me who ratted him out, then I’d be dealt with. If you know what I mean?”
The detective reminded him of something. “If this goes to court, which it will, then you’ll have to testify anyway. So go ahead and tell Mr. Montgomery what you have to say.”
“Do as he says, Torrence. It’ll save me the trouble of telling him myself. I will have to handle this legally after all. So, please let us all in on who is behind this. Because now we have espionage, attempted kidnapping, and kidnapping charges, plus two counts of attempted murder to add to the ever-growing list of crimes this person and all who have helped this person will be charged with.” I sat and stared at him as he fidgeted and squirmed under the pressure of all three of us scrutinizing him.
“You don’t seem to understand. He will kill me.” He paled a bit, getting into his act.
Sloan spoke quietly with a scratchy voice as she said one word, “Why?”
He narrowed his eyes at her then quickly stopped. “You wouldn’t understand. You’re young and naïve about the way the world works. I’m also checking in to find out who did this to you, Miss Whitlock.”
She was quick to tell him, “Don’t. The police are handling my attempted murder case. I’m not authorizing you to do a thing, Mr. Torrence. Stay out of my business.”
He looked at me and asked, “Is that how you want it, Lucas?”
I nodded. “She’s a grown woman and the decision is hers to make.”
“I see,” he said then began to back out of the room. “With the consequences that most likely will occur with my information, I don’t want to reveal anything at this time.”
The detective smiled. “That’s your prerogative at this time. If I need that information, I will have you picked up and brought in for questioning. You can bring a lawyer if you’d like.”
To
rrence nodded then looked at me. “Are you positive you don’t want to let me tell you this in private? If you give the police the man’s name, then I’m left out of it.”
My eyebrows raised as I said, “Not very protective of you, is it?”
“Well, if I was going to handle this situation no police were going to be involved. I think you knew that, Lucas,” he said.
“Well, they’re involved now, aren’t they,” Sloan said. “And they’re going to stay involved from now on.”
“In all of it?” he asked me.
I gave him a nod and he looked afraid. It was the first time I saw fear in the man’s expression. But I knew it wouldn’t be the last.
He left the room and the detective put his finger to his lips and walked over to where Torrence had been standing. He pointed to the door handle and I went to look at what he was pointing at.
On the very back of the handle where no one would see, Torrence had placed a tiny bug. The detective took a picture of it but left it in place.
He gestured for me to follow him back to Sloan’s bedside where he picked up the television remote and turned the T.V. on. I got the idea and said, “How about a little television, baby?”
She looked at me as I turned the sound way up. Then I leaned in and whispered, “He’s placed a bug on the door handle. This is actually a good thing. We can lead him in the wrong direction and make a surprise attack.”
She nodded and whispered back, “Give me a pen and paper and I’ll write down everything.”
I decided to make small talk while the detective thought about what we should say to throw them all off. “Too bad about your memory, Sloan. But I have to tell you that I’m not all that upset about it. You and I had a little fight and that’s a good thing you don’t recall any of that.”
“Why’d we fight?” she asked and winked at me.
“Never mind,” I said as I found a small pad of paper and a pencil. I pulled up the tray-like table they had in the room that went over her bed and placed the pencil in her left hand and the paper on the tabletop. “I want you to think about nothing. It’s more important to me that you get well.”
The detective came up with some information that was true and made it seem as if we’d never find the culprit who shot Sloan. “I pulled up some traffic cameras and we got the plates of a small blue car that was following you through several stop lights. But the plates didn’t belong to that car. They belonged to one the perpetrators got off a car in a junkyard.”
“Were you able to see how many people were in the car or if they were men or women,” I asked.
“It was too dark to make anything inside the car out. The streetlights glared off the windshield, making it impossible to make out anyone,” the detective said as Sloan was having a bit of trouble writing with her left hand.
Then she stopped and looked at me with concern. “Lucas, I have to get my thesis done. How can I do it if I have no use of my right hand? I’ll never get to graduate this year. I’ll have to go longer.”
I wrapped my right hand around her left one to steady it as I said, “I’ll get you some help. I’m sure, given the circumstances, your professor will allow you to have someone to type as you dictate.”
“I hope you’re right,” she said as she formed the first letter. It was an, ‘L’ and then she managed to get out an, ‘I’ and before I knew it, the name, ‘Lila’ was on the little notepad.
I had no clue who that was. So I helped her with the last name and when I saw that it was Sheffield, it finally dawned on me who the woman was.
A one - night stand and a difficult woman to take. Lila was the cousin of Iris and I had no idea why she’d want to take me down so bad, she’d kill people to do it.
I wrote down the town she lived in upstate New York and the detective gave me a nod and said, “Well, I’ll leave you two alone. If I get any information, I’ll let you know, Mr. Montgomery.”
“Thank you, detective,” I said as I walked him to the door. “And I’ll let you know if I find anything out as well.”
“Good deal. We need to bring these people to justice,” he said.
“That we do,” I agreed and we shook hands then he left.
I needed a place no one knew about to take Sloan when she was released. It needed to be big enough for me to keep Danny and his wife and kids there too. I had no other people in my life worth hurting.
But now that we had the name of who was masterminding everything, the time was getting much closer and I had to do some fast planning.
Chapter 7
Sloan
Two days passed and Danny and myself were being released from the hospital. Lucas was able to stay away from his office as he told the staff he wouldn’t be leaving my side until I was completely able to take care of myself again.
The trap had been baited, Lucas and the detective worked together and finally, they found some bank accounts for Torrence and Cecelia that weren’t on file with his office. With the cooperation of the bank president of the bank the accounts had been drawn on, they found twelve people who Lila Sheffield made deposits to.
It seemed she’d been the one to set all of the accounts up for the individuals using a computer at her company’s headquarters. Not in her office, of course. But only two doors down in another lowly employee’s office, she’d done her dirty work.
What’s worse is she used that poor woman’s work computer to make solicitations for people who wanted to do some undercover work for her. She was setting up that woman to take the heat of what she was behind. But thankfully, Lucas was much smarter than she was.
The day we left the hospital, we were taken to someone’s home the detective knew and the family was gone for the week. Lucas made sure Torrence was off on a wild goose chase so we wouldn’t be followed. He’d told Lucas we were all going to his estate until Danny and I were better.
Detective Allen met us at the modest home in a suburb no one would ever look for a billionaire in. We sat in the living room that evening as he filled us in. “The videos from the traffic cameras have been enhanced by our team of professionals and we can see the people in the front seat. All the way to the gun in Cecelia’s hands.”
“Are there any of her leaning out of the window to shoot me?” I asked as I sat next to Lucas and he held me close to him.
With a smile, the detective pulled a package of 8 by 10 photos out of his briefcase and handed Lucas the pictures. They were clear as day and there were three of Cecelia hanging out the window and fire coming out of the end of the pistol.
The next pictures were from the outside cameras at Club 9. The tramp, who I found out called herself Veronica was seen getting into the car with them. There were also pictures from inside the club and it showed her hitting Lucas both times and even the third time when she missed. It was all there in color photographs. The bank records indicated the rest. And it was all about to go down on them all.
The police were ready for the battle that would surely come along with the capture of Torrence. He had an arsenal and many men to protect him after all. So Lucas had made sure to separate him from them at the specific time the officers were going to make the arrests, simultaneously.
A little lie was what Lucas told Torrence. He asked him to go out to his estate so they could talk. Where he would not be, but the police would. He’d made sure the staff was out of there but that their cars were there so Torrence wouldn’t get suspicious and flee the set up.
Detective Allen stayed with us so we would know everything as it happened as he had the radio channel on all of the policemen had theirs on to coordinate the plan. I held Lucas’ hand and leaned my head on his shoulder as we waited for information to come in.
He kissed the side of my head and whispered, “I can’t wait for this to be over and things can get back to normal for us.”
We hadn’t talked at all about our arrangement or lack thereof. There was just no privacy and the fact was I felt too weak to get into any kind of drama. Any more than I was
already in.
The detective’s radio made a squealing noise then a man was talking, “The target is on the premises of the Montgomery estate, stay alert.”
My body went tense with his words and Lucas ran his hand up and down my arm. “its okay, sit back and relax.”
I tried to do what he said but I was on pins and needles. I had an idea that Torrence wasn’t going to be an easy capture. But Lucas assured me that the team inside of his home was a swat team. He would be taken in even if they had to kill him.
I really didn’t want any more bloodshed than had already occurred. I wasn’t an eye for an eye kind of person. I just wanted Lucas safe. I was falling in love with the man. He might never want me the same way, as he hadn’t tried to give me any kind of intimate kiss or touch. So I was unsure what he and I would have once it was all over.
We heard the sound of the doorbell ring at the estate and the officer who was officiating that arrest whispered, “Stacy get the door.”
The detective let us in on who Stacy was. “That’s a female officer. She’s wearing one of the maid’s uniforms to throw him off. Our men are stationed just inside the two rooms off of the hallway the door leads into.”
His radio went off again as another officer said, “We’re about to enter the front of Lila Sheffield’s residence. She is inside according to our intel.”
Another officer came over the radio. “We are just outside the office of Lucas Montgomery and we have a visual on our target.”
Lucas looked pissed and hissed, “I can’t believe her. Out of all of them, I can’t believe she’d do this.”
He was hurt by Cecelia more than anyone else. She was a magnificent actress, I had to give her that. But I felt so bad for those kids of hers. Lucas had promised me he’d take care of finding their father and making sure they were taken care of. Her three kids were at school that day. Their little worlds were about to be turned upside down and my heart hurt for them all.
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