If she was completely innocent in all of this, I swear to God I was going to kill her so-called father. I'd snap his neck in two and never feel a moment of remorse. How in hell could he do that to his daughter? She might only be a stepdaughter, but he'd brought her up and cared for her, surely? What was happening here? What was I missing… something crucial, obviously. The parts did not add up, and no matter how hard I tried none of them would slot together in any form that mattered. Putting my head in my hands I rubbed my tired eyes and tried to make sense of things. Jumbled nonsense flew around in my head for several minutes, and eventually I gave up on it. Resting my head back on the wall I let my eyes close, just for a few seconds as I tried to unwind. I was so damn tired I could barely keep my eyes open.
Chapter Twenty-One - Leyland
'I don't know his name, and I haven't seen him in person. We've only spoken on the phone. I could describe his voice to you, and there are a few bits he's told me that might be useful. Or you could see my phone statement. Could you trace the number that way?' Marianna was babbling, as well she might after what I'd threatened her with. It had taken over five minutes for the hysterical sobbing to subside, and now that it had I wasn't getting much more sense out of her.
'Take a breath.' My caring face was back and to encourage her to do as I asked I took a deep breath in, held it for two, and then exhaled. She did the same. Atta girl. She repeated the step two or three times, and then I thought we'd try again. 'Okay. What did he sound like? Let's start with that.' It didn't look like I was going to get too much out of her, but I was now convinced she was telling the truth, and I didn't have the stomach for using her body as an experimental pincushion. I'd just have to work with what she gave me. Matthews could laugh all he liked later because I didn't much care.
'Very posh. It wasn't a manufactured accent like mine, either. The man comes from money.'
'That was probably something I could have figured out all by myself considering he offered…' I paused and then frowned. I'd forgotten that he hadn't paid up.
'He promised me two million pounds, and I needed it desperately.' She frowned. The action annoyed me. The woman had stabbed her boss in the back and then was surprised when the conman who'd hired her didn't pay up. All things considered I thought she hadn't done too badly. In fact, if she hadn't crossed Matthews, of all people, she may well have gotten away with it.
'That's a lot of money, even if you didn't receive it,' I remarked. 'Why was he so desperate to have Mark drugged?' I already knew the answer to that question, but I wanted to hear it from the horse's mouth, so to speak. It might be possible that she was kept in the dark about the whole ordeal. Two million pounds was a lot of money. Most people wouldn't have asked too many questions.
'He said Mark was blackmailing him, threatening to shut down all of his companies and bankrupt him. He told me he just wanted to have a chat and promised me no harm would come to him. I wouldn't have done it if I'd thought anyone would get hurt, and I know Mark is okay because I saw the photos of his wedding to Jennifer Redcliff splashed in all the papers.' Marianna's voice was so quick I had trouble distinguishing one word from the next, but I managed to get the gist of what she was on about.
'So he forgot to tell you he was going to sexually torture Mark and nearly kill the bastard. How remiss of him.' I raised my eyebrows sardonically. 'Do you feel in the least bit guilty?'
'Well, now that you're sexually torturing me, just before you stab scalpels all over my body until I resemble something close to volcanic rock, I confess I don't feel all that guilty about it, no. I might have felt a bit more remorse before today had I known that, though.'
At least the woman was honest.
'So, what can you tell me that might help me ferret the two million pound guy out? Or should we call him the wanker? You choose.' I began tormenting her left nipple to get her thinking. Scrap that, I began tormenting her because she looked so damn sexy when she was aroused.
'Don't,' she whispered. 'Not after what you threatened me with last time.' Giving me an angry look she rattled her fists around in her chains, but she forgot the fact that I didn't possess much of a conscience. Giving each nipple clamp another fierce turn I brought tears to her eyes very quickly.
'I give the orders around here, not you. Start talking or I'll go back to my earlier threat.'
'But I don't know much more,' she wailed pathetically.
I picked up the scalpel again and began twiddling it around in my fingers. I was asking for trouble. One of these days I would end up cutting all my fingers off.
'I hope for your sake that you do,' I said with a nasty smile. If I was going for asshole of the year award I was fairly confident I'd make top ten after this evening's performance. Sure enough Marianna swallowed tightly, and I could almost hear the cogs of her brain turning in desperate circles as she tried to figure something out.
'I think he was a Londoner, judging by his accent, but a posh one, like I mentioned. He definitely had an upper-class tone and he was quite charming.' Oh, I just bet he was, sweetheart. 'Most of what we talked about were the details of how I would obtain the syringe and where I would hide it. He knew he would have to wait until an opportunity presented itself, and he said to make sure the circumstances were right before I used it. He didn't want the job rushed and botched. His words, not mine.'
I sighed. 'Is that it? Is that all you have for me?'
'Well, there is one more thing.' She blinked a couple of times and I found myself glued to those pretty emerald eyes. They really were quite something.
'Out with it,' I said. Throwing the scalpel up into the air, amazingly I managed to catch the thing without cutting myself open. I could do the same trick holding the neck of beer bottles, but the kick was far more impressive using scalpels. Maybe I'd have to resort to knives in future. It was either that or marriage. If Mark's was anything to go by, as far as adrenaline was concerned, I was missing out big style. 'I'm still waiting,' I reminded her tersely when several seconds had gone by.
Marianna's eyes flickered up from the scalpel, which she had been watching intently, and rose up to my face. She swallowed nervously. I guessed she was worried that whatever she was about to say wasn't going to be enough to keep me happy. In fact, she was probably imagining me carving up her body in short order and in all honesty, she was doing fairly well keeping it together thus far. There was another swallow, but finally she spoke.
'When we were talking about the money, after he said how much he was willing to pay, there was a loud gasp. A female gasp, if I'm not mistaken. There was then some muffled conversion about who was going to pay the two million pounds. It went something like, "I hope we're not footing the bill for this". The guy must have covered up the receiver at that point because it was really hard to hear anything, but I'm sure he said something about needing Mark in order to deal with his ex.'
'Thrilling, I'm sure.' I had no idea what use that little snippet was to me, but I really hoped she had more than that.
'The woman wanted to know who the hell he was married to before, and he just said one word.'
My finger pinched the bridge of my nose and I held up my hand to indicate she should wait for a minute. The suspense was killing me and I wanted to drag it out for all it was worth. When I was finally ready to hear this one amazing word I motioned for her to continue.
'Mafia.'
I sucked in a slow breath and narrowed my eyes. 'If you're pulling my leg, woman, I swear to God I am going to dissect every last organ…'
'I'm not lying. It was muffled, but I heard it.'
I watched the pulse beat frantically in her neck. Was she lying? It was possible, but I didn't think so. One tended to blink a lot when lying and fidget a little, unless they'd had a lot of practice, and I suspected she hadn't. It appeared her ordeal was over and I hadn't had half as much fun as I'd anticipated.
'Fine. I believe you.' Mark was probably going to love this. Not a lot, perhaps, but he might get some mileage out of the fact t
hat his new wife had a Mum with connections. One's that even he couldn't break, and that was saying something.
'So now what? Can you kill me quickly? I've told you all I know, I swear to God. Just get it over with fast.' She hiccupped and then burst into several coughing sobs.
The tears were back again in earnest and I found, oddly, that I wanted to stop them. I say oddly, because I usually enjoy tears. I think this might have been a first for me.
'I'm not going to kill you.' When she didn't hear me through all the snivelling and snuffling I put both my hands on her shoulders and shook her. 'I'm not going to kill you,' I repeated, several times, until she finally got the message.
'What are you going to do with me?' Her eyes bulged out of their sockets until the whites appeared almost luminescent. If I'd been Jack the Ripper I might have found the look appealing, but although I was into dark things, I wasn't quite that dark.
'I'm going to return you to whence you came. Wherever that might be. But before I do I have one question that needs answering.' I couldn't help myself. The question had been eating away at me and I wouldn't rest until I knew the answer.
'But I've just told you I don't know anything else,' she immediately sobbed and her face crumpled into abject misery once more. Goddamn, I felt like a toad.
'This isn't about Mark. This is about you.' Grabbing her left wrist I began to unfasten the shackles. I was already bracing myself for the backlash that was sure to come, but surprisingly, when I let her arm roam free she returned it slowly to her side. I was immediately suspicious.
'Don't you want to hit me?' Hell, I'd want to hit me after what she'd been through, so I really couldn't understand her reserve. Releasing her right arm I then went to work on her legs.
'Hitting you wouldn't achieve anything sensible. Besides, I deserved this. I guess I knew that Mark would end up in some serious shit, and sure enough, it appears he nearly drowned in the stuff.'
When I'd fully untied her I sat her down on one of the benches and began removing the rope that circled her breasts far too tightly. But although they were now a deep plum colour and there might be a little bruising, there would be no permanent damage. Believe it or not I was careful about such things.
'Seriously, if you want to take out some of your frustration on me, go right ahead. I'm a big boy, I can take it.' I was actively encouraging her to take a swing at me. It was probably because I would feel better about this whole ordeal if she gave me a wallop. Why I should feel guilty was anybody's guess. Marianna had stabbed her boss in the back and stood to make two million out of the delightful gesture, had Michael Redcliff felt the need to pay up. Clearly he hadn't. More fool Marianna. Always get the cash first. She probably deserved all I'd thrown at her and more.
'I don't hit people.' She spoke so quietly I had to strain to hear her.
Replying in an equally quiet voice I said, 'No, you just do the dirty on them. That's far more effective than a black eye, right?' By her flinch I knew she'd heard me.
'Shit. We need to get you some clothes.' I had a black T-shirt in my holdall that would just about be long enough to cover the important bits, and I guess I could bear to part with my jacket. It was either that or call a lady friend, and that could be awkward. If I called them they usually expected things. Social niceties were not my forte, either.
'Oh, and the clamps had better come off. Brace yourself, woman.' Looking at the evil steel clamps in front of me, and those beautifully elongated nipples, it was almost a crime to remove them, but they were one of my most favourite pieces of kit, so they were coming home with me. Now, should I pull them off both at once, or one at a time? Both at once would probably be kinder. The pain would be more intense but over in half the time. 'Here we go.'
I removed both simultaneously and I knew the moment she felt the bite. Her eyes screwed up and there was a little gasp as her voice got stuck in her throat. She did extremely well. I'd done this to a lot of women, and there was often screaming involved if they'd been left on for over twenty minutes. Other than the small gasp there was no other sound to be heard.
She took a minute or two to get a hold of herself, but then surprised me by saying, 'Don't worry about clothes. You can wrap me in a couple of bathroom towels. I'm sure the taxi driver will have seen worse.'
I think I blinked several times at that. Then I said, 'Firstly, lady, there is no taxi driver alive that I would trust with you and two small towels, and much as I dislike you, I don't hate you that much. Secondly, I have some clothes in my case that will just about suffice for the drive home, and as I'll be driving you won't have to worry about me peeking. I've seen it all before, sweetheart.'
She pressed her lips together and desperately blinked back tears. The woman looked like a whipped dog, and something didn't sit right with me. She didn't seem to fit in the right category for the money-grabbing female I suspected her to be. Sure, she wore the right clothes, although I suspected Mark had paid for those, but her manner wasn't what I expected. She was tough when it came to the sex, but on the inside she looked like she was ready to have a meltdown. I couldn't quite understand it.
Leaving her there on the bench I quickly retrieved the T-shirt and grabbed my jacket that I'd slung over one of the black leather chairs at the back. She eyed me warily, but eventually accepted my gift, pulling the thin shirt quickly over her head. It looked wholly indecent as she was wearing no bra and her nipples were standing to attention proudly. My cock nearly had a messy accident at the sight of her, and that was pretty fucking amazing in itself. I am Mr Cool, Calm and Casual. I never get revved up like this. What was it with this woman?
Holding the jacket out so she could put her arms through the sleeves, it still took a good couple of seconds before my libido went back to normal. I suspected Marianna could wear a burlap sack and my body would still respond rather painfully.
'Before we go I still have my one question that needs answering. It has nothing to do with Mark, so take a deep breath and answer it as best you can. My only request is that you respond truthfully. If you can't answer it truthfully, then silence would be preferable.' I stared at her darkly to make sure she got the message.
Marianna's large emerald eyes looked up at me, swimming in unshed tears, and she simply nodded. Well, here goes nothing, I thought.
'Why? Of all the stupid, foolish things you could have done, doing the dirty on a man like Matthews, who has countless millions at his disposal, for revenge is beyond stupid. You're lucky he doesn't want you dead, because believe me, if he did you'd be dead by now. What possible thing possessed you to pull such an incredibly reckless stunt when you were already being paid a more than generous salary? So yes, I need to know, what was the money for?'
Her eyes immediately filled with tears again, and a few silent ones escaped down her cheek. Never had I wanted my camera more. She was a canvas I might never grow tired of. Too bad she didn't have a conscience though. I didn't need much of one in a partner, but there did need to be some kind of semblance of basic morals. Fuck. Why was this always my luck? Maybe I could make an exception in her case? My cock pulsed beneath my jeans as if encouraging my brain to play hooky.
She didn't answer me straightaway, and as the seconds ticked by I wondered if she would. Continuing to stare at her, and enjoying the view immensely, it was a bit of shock when she did begin to speak.
'The money isn't for what you think. It's not for clothes, shoes, or holidays.'
This was more smoke and mirrors. I wanted the truth.
'So what is it for? Please enlighten me.'
She laughed bitterly. 'I know what you think of me. Right now you probably suspect it's for an apartment in Monaco or a double-D boob job.'
I confess those things might have crossed my mind, but I wasn't about to admit it to her.
'Firstly, you'd be lucky to get an apartment in Monaco for two million quid and secondly, it would be a crime to put those tits under the knife. So, are you going to answer me truthfully or not?'
Marianna sighed long and hard, as if she was warring with herself whether to tell me or not. Sitting there, staring at her, I wondered what kind of secret could be so important that she needed to keep it so deeply buried. The silence dragged on and on and eventually I gave up hope of hearing a thing. Fishing in my pocket for my car keys I made to stand up, but a soft whisper stopped me.
'My little girl is sick.' That halted me in my tracks and I slowly sat down again. I had a bad feeling about this. Unless I was much mistaken I was shortly going to feel like the biggest shmuck alive. On the plus side, perhaps she was lying to me.
'I'm listening.' My voice was soft, encouraging her to continue. Now that I'd set myself up for this I might as well hear the lot.
'She's sick with leukaemia. It's a rare type and chronic. The doctors have given her less than five years to live.'
Fucking hell. The look on her face said it all. If this was true I was in trouble. How in hell had Mark not done his homework? His employees were normally required to be single and without children. How had she slipped through the net? Anger rose through my gut, swift, burning and monstrous. When I asked my next question I made sure that none of that anger could be found upon my face. If there was one thing I was particularly good at, it was schooling my emotions.
'What's her name?' This was partly so I could check out her story, but also because I wanted Marianna to open up to me. This was important for some reason.
'Leanne Knight. She still has my husband's surname, even though we've been separated for several years now. She's been living with my Mum up north.'
Well, didn't that explain a few things? 'So you lied on your application form, then?' My tone wasn't condescending. If I'd had a sick child I knew I'd have done anything for them, including being a doormat to Mark Matthews, heaven forbid.
'Everyone lies on their application form. The trick is to make sure you get away with it.' Marianna sniffed prettily. How on earth she could cry and still look beautiful was confounding, but she pulled it off admirably. Besides, the woman was right.
The Velvet Caress Page 17