Phantom (Phoebe Reede: The Untold Story #5)

by Michelle Irwin

  His friend nodded and thanked us again for the invite to our wedding.

  “Angel, are you coming?” I asked.

  With a grin, she leapt to her feet instantly to come with us.

  “Both of them are going home with you?” the guy asked Beau, his eyes widening as his gaze drank Angel and me in.

  The look in his eyes was too predatory, too similar to another, I shrank away from it and twisted to hold onto Beau. Angel’s hand reached for me, and I took it readily.

  “Let’s go,” Beau said, wrapping an arm around me. “Catch ya ’round, Zach.”

  “When did you get to be so lucky?” Zach called from behind us as we left.

  “You know there’s going to be a scandal now, don’t you,” Angel said, clearly trying to stifle her laugh.

  “We know why you’re coming with us,” I said. “If they want to think it’s something kinky, that’s on them.”

  “Just so you know, I’d be down for kinky,” Angel teased before bursting into laughter as Beau made his now familiar choking sound at the suggestion.

  Before any of us could say anything more, we all spotted the gift on the doorstep. A decaying rose and two Polaroids, both from that night. It was a reminder that Jase was still a threat, still hanging around the place—somewhere.

  Beau repeated his promise to keep me safe, but I felt more unease than ever before.

  I WAS sandwiched between Beau and Angel when I woke in the middle of the night. I needed to head to the toilet, but I didn’t want to wake either of them up. Eventually, I worked out a way to crawl down to the end of the bed and escape out of the middle that way. Finding my way through the darkness, I headed to the bathroom.

  Once I was finished, I was heading back to bed when something outside caught my attention. The moon was high and brightened the night a little, but what really struck me was the sensor light over the front door that had flicked on. Beneath the beam of light, there was a woman standing not too far away from the house.

  Her head was bowed as if she was reading something, but then she looked around her. Even though her behaviour was a little strange, I was more concerned that she might be in trouble or find herself there. It wasn’t safe for her to be out there alone at night at the moment, but it really wasn’t safe for me to go outside to tell her that.

  While I watched, she looked to the left and right again before heading towards the doorstep of the house. She bent and dropped an all-too-familiar looking box onto the small porch. My heart froze, and before common sense could override anything else, I charged to the door and threw it open.

  “What the hell are you doing?” I demanded.

  Her eyes widened as she looked up at me. “W-what?”

  “What the fuck are you doing?” I asked again. “Who are you?”

  She backed away.

  “Stop!” I demanded, taking a step out into the dark before thinking better of it. If she was working with Jase, he could be hiding anywhere. I stepped back inside and held onto the side of the door, ready to slam it shut if I needed to. “Why are you doing this to me?”

  “Doing what?” She glanced around nervously, and it added to my fear that Jase might be just outside the edges of the light.

  “Why are you putting that on my doorstep?” I nodded towards the box.

  She took another step away. I wanted to follow her, but I didn’t want to go out into the night.

  “Beau!” I screamed, hoping to get his attention and pull him from sleep. Maybe if the two of us could talk to her, we could find out why she was leaving that gift. Had she been the person to leave them all? Was she working with Jase or was there something else going on here?

  The instant I called for Beau though, she dropped the chocolate box and turned on her heel. I was left with the choice of chasing her or just letting her go. Even if my call had woken Beau, by the time he got to me, she’d be long gone. I could have gone after her and hoped for the best, but my legs wouldn’t carry me beyond the safety of the house.

  “What’s the matter, darlin’?” Beau’s voice was near-silent as he padded from the bedroom. “What—” he cut off when he saw the box through the open door. “Jase was here?”

  I shook my head, still peering off into the darkness trying to find the woman. “Some woman was. I don’t know her, but she seemed almost afraid of me.”

  “A woman?”

  “Do you think she might have been working with Jase?”

  “But why?”

  “I don’t know. To please him? But why would she be afraid of me?”

  He grabbed the door and pushed it closed before double checking the locks. “It’s a problem for the mornin’. It’s too dangerous to be runnin’ ’round after ghosts in the middle of the night.”

  “I know. I just want to know why.” I buried my head against his bare chest before letting him guide me back to bed. “And why now?”

  WITH MORNING came a phone call from an exhausted-sounding Darnell Banks. Knowing the time sensitivity of the matter, he’d worked long into the night but had found some information about a couple of women associated with both Bee and Jase. One of them had a car that matched a licence plate that had come past the cameras at the Lake Retreat.

  One Raquel Mosely.

  Beau’s words about the woman in the honeymoon suite haunted me as soon as Darnell had said the name.

  Darnell went on further to explain that Jase had significant debts he’d racked up while working at Richards Racing and now couldn’t pay back with his meagre earnings from the jobs he’d been able to pick up. It explained the blackmail, even if we didn’t know how he’d learned of the wedding. It had hardly been a secret though, half of the people Beau used to work with would have known about it for months.

  “We have to go talk to Raquel,” I said after we’d finished the call. “If she’s protecting Jase, and scared of me, maybe there’s something we can do to get her to go to the police and help us.”

  Beau’s mouth screwed up for a while. “Are ya sure you’re up for it?”

  “If you come with me.”

  “What about Angel? We can’t leave her up here by herself.”

  “Maybe she can spend some time with my family. Or she seemed to be hitting it off with Zach last night, maybe she can spend some time with him. Anywhere but on her own.”

  “Okay, darlin’, you go get ready, and I’ll chat with Angel.”

  Although I wanted to talk to her myself, I was certain Beau would be able to spin the need for her to be protected easier than I could. As much as it pained me, she was more likely to listen to him.

  Within fifteen minutes, we were on our way down to the honeymoon suite. It probably would have pissed off Joe and Mitch if they knew what we were doing, but I didn’t care. I needed answers. If the police weren’t even going to believe that Jase was there and a threat to me, I didn’t have many other choices.

  We knocked on the door and then waited.

  When no one came, we knocked again.

  Beau and I glanced at each other. Surely they wouldn’t have just left? It couldn’t be over that easily.

  I knocked again. “Raquel, I know you’re in there,” I bluffed. “I just want to talk.”

  An instant later, the door swung open, but it wasn’t Raquel who stood in the frame. It was Jase.

  I recoiled a step even as Beau moved to stand in front of me.

  “Ya got a lot a nerve showin’ up here,” Beau growled at Jase. “And threatening my fiancée.”

  “I never threatened anyone.” When Jase turned his full attention to Beau, it was almost easy to see how Dale had believed the lies he spun. There was something almost childish buried beneath his arrogant pig-face. A boyish look that brushed along some inherent paternal sympathy. “I think you’ve just fallen for a young girl prone to fantasy and delusions of grandeur.” His gaze turned to me, pinning me in place, “Not everything has to be about you, dear.”

  I bristled. “Then why are you here?”

  “I fe
lt like a bit of Georgian sun. Is that so terrible?”

  “Git off the property.” Beau’s demand was gravelled and issued with such a protective edge, it spoke to the dark places within me with promises of better times ahead.

  “You can’t deny me the right to stay here.”

  “I can. It’s my property.”

  “Oh, but it’s not anymore, is it? I’ve seen the sales documents, I know you’re getting out. Getting quite the penny for it too.”

  While he argued with Beau, I glanced into the room beyond and saw Raquel bound on the bed. Her hands were tied with rope behind her back, a series of knots running the length of her arms. The ropes seemed to continue down to join with the ones that wrapped her legs up behind her. Her jaw surrounded a ball-gag that filled her whole mouth. Despite the blockage, small sounds issued from her but rather than whimpers of fear they seemed to be tiny moans that hinted at pleasure and need.

  Jase caught the direction of my stare and smirked. “Do you miss it, sweetheart? That feeling of helplessness. Of weakness. You just have to admit to yourself that you liked it. When Bee used your chains to hold you in place as he—”

  His voice cut off as Beau’s hand closed around his throat, squeezing so tightly Jase’s narrow eyes widened and his eyeballs seemed to pop from their sockets.

  I could barely focus on anything as I rubbed my wrists over and over to prove that there weren’t any chains on them. My body shook as flashes of the past ran through me.

  “I ain’t gonna tell ya again,” Beau whispered near Jase’s ear. “Get the fuck off my property. Ya got ten minutes.” He pushed Jase back away from him.

  For a moment, genuine fear flashed across Jase’s features, but he hid it just as quickly. “And what are you going to do if I refuse? Beat me?”

  “We’ll get the police involved,” Beau said.

  Jase laughed. “Because that worked out so well for you yesterday. It was almost funny to watch. Or would have been if it wasn’t so pathetic.” His gaze turned to me. “Don’t think this idiot boyfriend of yours or the police can protect you. I’ve played nice so far, but who knows what will come next.”

  Although I knew he just wanted a reaction, and the last thing I wanted to do was give him one, I whimpered and backed away. I closed my eyes for a moment, and when I opened them, all I could focus on were the eyes of the woman tied up on the bed. She seemed to be assessing me carefully.

  Finding strength I hadn’t known I still possessed, I met her eyes. I had no idea if the woman tied up on the bed was as heartless as some of the ones Bee had played with, but I wanted her to stop helping Jase.

  “I don’t know what he’s told you about me, or why you were scared last night,” I started, “but I want you to know I don’t hold any ill will towards you. I just want my life back. I just want him to stop stalking me.”

  It was surreal, addressing someone who was tied up and not begging to be freed, but I wasn’t going to judge her for the choice of activities if it was consensual. I just hoped it was.

  “You have no right to address her!” Jase lifted his hand to backhand me, but Beau’s fingers closed around his wrist before the strike could fall.

  Beau went to retaliate, drawing his hand back but I stopped him just in time.

  “Leave it, Beau. It won’t help.” Jase would probably just end up getting Beau arrested for assault. We were wasting our time, and at least now I had a witness that Jase was indeed around. Whether the police would help this time or not was anyone’s guess. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.”

  I pulled Beau away as Jase sneered and insulted us both, no doubt trying to goad a reaction from Beau. If he could play the victim card, I had no doubt he would.

  As soon as we were far enough away, Beau pulled out the phone and called the police. He explained what was happening, and requested a squad car come around to ensure Jase left the premises.

  On the way back to the house, it all crashed over me. It should’ve been the happiest week of my life, culminating in marrying the man I loved, but it had turned into a shit fight. When I couldn’t find the strength to walk any further, Beau’s arms surrounded me, and he carried me inside.

  “Why is he doing this?” I sobbed.

  Beau sat at my side as I tried to gather myself back under control. While I did, he whispered words of strength that only made me feel weaker. It wasn’t his fault, but when he told me I was capable, and all I could see was the failings I’d done—failed at driving the car, at becoming a mother, even at keeping myself healthy—it just drove me deeper into depression.

  “It’s almost time for the bike tour ya got Max to organise,” Beau whispered to me when my pity party had gone on for too long. “Are ya up for it?”

  I nodded. “I can’t keep letting everyone down after all.”

  “Ya ain’t lettin’—”

  I cut him off. “I can’t keep making excuses or letting other people make them for me. Besides there is safety in numbers, isn’t there?”

  Knowing what I needed to do, I headed to the door ready to go. Only, lingering on my doorstep, as though trying to decide whether to enter or not, was Raquel.

  “Oh, hi.” She issued the words as she startled at my appearance.

  “Can I help you?” I asked, trying to keep it as pleasant as possible despite the situation and who she had aligned herself with.

  She turned to look down the path, as if ready to make a run for it at any moment. “I, uh—” She cut off and stared at her feet.

  “What is it?” I took a step closer, and she took one back.

  “I, uh, I wanted to talk to you.”

  “Okay. Talk.”

  She frowned and glanced at the ground again. “Why did you say you wanted Jase to stop stalking you?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” I asked. How could she wonder that? Did she think I liked him tormenting me and trying to blackmail me?

  Her gaze darted around again. “But you’re the one stalking him. Why don’t you just leave?”

  A bark of laughter left me before I could stop it. “I’m stalking him?”

  “We were here for a few days before you followed us.”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose. “You honestly think I’m here because of Jase? I didn’t even know he was going to be here until he attacked me a few nights ago.”

  “Jase wouldn’t attack anyone. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

  I raised my brow and my gaze trailed to her arms. Hadn’t I seen her tied up on the bed not that long ago? Was she going to deny that?

  She blushed scarlet. “I mean, outside of the bedroom.”

  “I don’t know what to say to you, but I’m here for one reason only, and that’s to marry Beau. This is where we fell in love, properly in love, this is where his sister lived and died, and this place has so much history for the two of us that it made sense to get married here.”

  She frowned as if I’d just told her the sky was green and the grass was blue.

  “Why did Jase tell you he was coming here?”

  “It’s a place he likes to vacation at all the time. He wanted to bring me here because he was ready to share his life with me. I’ve been waiting for him to propose since the day we got here.”

  “Jase ain’t never been here before in his life,” Beau said, coming from behind me. He must have finished getting ready. “He’s been lying to ya if he told ya anythin’ else.”

  “How would you know?”

  “This is my property; it’s my business to know these things. Besides, I used to work with Jase, and he never wanted to come to Georgia for his vacations.”

  “Then why’d he come here now?”

  “Because he thinks I’ll pay him hush money because he knows I’ve been scarred for life by his friend, as well as the things Jase did to me and threatened to do to me.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like what you let him do to you, but without my permission. I-I was . . .” I trailed off and rubbed my wrists again at the reminder o
f the things Bee had done, and that Jase was going to be part of before long if there was truth in his words. If Xavier hadn’t found out what Bee had done and gone after him—if he’d left my life in Bee’s hands even longer—what else might have happened to me?

  “Darlin’, why don’t you go inside? I’ll talk to Raquel for a li’l bit.”

  Even though I was certain my testimony would be more convincing than Beau’s I couldn’t issue it. I couldn’t find the words that would make Raquel see I hadn’t wanted any of the stuff that happened to me.

  “Okay, but take it easy on her. I think she’s been lied to more than we can imagine.”

  She bristled at the words, but she had to see the truth in them—unless she didn’t believe us. If that was the case though, I had plenty of evidence I could show her to prove how screwed up my life had become after my last visit to the States and why I would have been more than happy to never run into Jase again in my life.

  Nearly ten minutes had passed before Beau came back in to let me know the police had arrived. Because Raquel was still at Beau’s side, I hoped that meant he’d made some headway on convincing her that Jase’s words about me being the stalker were a lie.

  As soon as the police were inside, I gave them a fresh statement about Jase, the “presents” he’d left for me, and the threats he’d made. I didn’t mention seeing Raquel bound in ropes, even as I wondered whether I should and hoped it was as consensual as it appeared to be.

  After taking my statement, the officers spoke to Beau for a little while. He was the witness to the latest events, but I worried they wouldn’t take him seriously because of our relationship. Would they think he was lying to them? It was what Angel had offered to do after all, and Beau would no doubt have been willing to as well if I’d pushed for it.

  To my surprise as soon as they were finished with Beau, Raquel asked to speak to the officers, stating she was another witness to what had gone down. If she was happy to work with us, we might have a way of getting rid of Jase. He couldn’t play the innocent act if his own girlfriend was willing to turn on him.

  As she left with the police, Raquel gave me a little nod that spoke volumes.