by Maggie Thom
Shaking, she scrabbled deep to pull out the shield.
“Don’t.”
And with that one simple word she found she didn’t have the strength or the will to resist. Vulnerability flooded through her, something she hadn’t felt in years, ever since she vowed never to cry after disappointing her father again. Silent tremors shook her core.
“I’m going to go. I’m not sure what’s going on here but I don’t think either of us is in a place to deal with it tonight. Get some sleep. You’ll be safe. Someone will be watching all night. I have work to do.”
“I—”
“You’re not alone.”
He pressed his index finger against her lips. And then he replaced it with his lips. The kiss was so soft, so quick but the effect lasted long after he’d left. If he hadn’t closed the door behind him, she wasn’t sure whether that would have happened. How long she stood there after he was gone, she also didn’t know.
Graham’s words echoed in her mind long after but their meaning failed to penetrate her defenses. She’d always been alone. Even Bobbie had only been with her a short period of time. Somehow she’d always known something would separate them. Everything and everyone always left her.
It was the shifting of shadows that finally pulled her back to the present. In truth, she really couldn’t say where she’d gone. No real thoughts coursed through her mind, only emotions that confused her, opening her to a longing she thought she’d shut off long ago. Shivering though the basement was warm, she grabbed her purse. The cell phone she’d thought many times of throwing away was right where it always was. Now she grasped it with trembling fingers. The acid in her stomach kicked into overdrive, eating away at her insides with such intensity it almost doubled her over.
Am I making a mistake? A colossal one?
Everything to do with her father was a gargantuan blunder, one constant line of them. She stared at the device in her hand. One simple press of a button and he would come running. He’d be there. All the mess she found herself in would be taken care of. But there would be a price to pay.
You always run to daddy when things get tough. She was sixteen when she’d had that realization. She’d let him fix a perceived wrong she’d never committed. But he’d made it go away, and in return she’d given up her soul and become his dutiful daughter. She’d finished school at home with a tutor. Whatever she had wanted was one click away, from shopping to movies to gourmet meals. He’d built an in-home theatre but she’d never had any company to watch with her. Never needing anything, if she wanted to shop, the store was brought to the house. If she wanted to watch a new movie, it was brought to the house because he’d built her a room with a full size screen, with ten overstuffed recliners to watch it from. Not that she ever had any company to fill any of the others. And her dad was always too busy to sit and watch a ‘stupid’ movie. If she wanted a gourmet meal from a certain restaurant, the chef was brought to the house. If she wanted friends over, well she really didn’t Bobbie wasn’t allowed to visit her anymore. She hadn’t been allowed any contact with her.
He’d kept her busy with schoolwork, learning the hotel business, being the submissive daughter. She was his hostess at parties held at their mansion and his assistant at meetings conducted in the stately home’s conference room. Their conversations were always the same.
No, you’re not a prisoner, Tarin. I’m trying to teach you how to do well in life.
You know I’m not guilty, right, father?
Doesn’t matter. You won’t ever be put in that position again. You should never get caught, Tarin.
But father I didn’t—
He’d already left. The thought of her being falsely accused of something that could have sent her to jail had she been charged hadn’t been the issue. All that mattered was she’d been caught. Innocence wasn’t the problem. Being blamed was.
Her spirit had withered up and died that day. The girl who had so desperately wanted a father’s love had finally realized he didn’t have it to give. All she would ever get from him was the impression she wasn’t good enough to hug his ankles; only his rare pursed smile and the slightest of nods could ever be her reward.
Then there was the day she tried to tell him what had happened when she’d lost a week of her life. When he ordered her to apologize to her boss for failing to give notice that she was going to be absent, she knew it had been a waste of time. He hadn’t heard a word and hadn’t cared to. If she lost her job that was her problem, he’d done everything he could to make sure she was good at it.
Her boss, Ed, had always enjoyed screwing with her. He’d hated supervising the owner’s daughter. Time and again she’d been accused of mishandled reservations or last-minute cancellations; anything that went wrong had been blamed on her, despite the fact that none of it fit into her job description. So when she’d disappeared for a week, Ed hadn’t fired her because he had been intimidated by her father. But in his formal report, he accused her of nearly losing a significant contract with the annual Southern Giftware Exposition, an event that sold hundreds of rooms and meals as well as their entire conference center. Of course he’d managed to save it, so suspending her was perfectly okay with her father.
She should have been running the place, but in the end it hadn’t mattered that she’d worked sixteen hour days to prove her loyalty and dedication—or that she’d brought in million-dollar contracts. It didn’t matter in the good old boys’ club if her boss frequented strip joints and loved lap dances on his two to three-hour lunch breaks. She had shamed her father.
She had walked away. At the time, she had thought she’d been in hell, but now she realized she’d only been dancing at its edges.
What price would I have to pay this time?
Who would have wanted to abduct Chance? His father? Or hers? Had someone tried to kill her to take her son? Her knees buckled and she dropped like she’d been knocked out. Barely having the reflexes to stop her face from smacking the hardwood floor, she was able to turn at the last minute and take the brunt of it with her shoulder. Her cell phone popped out of her hand, shooting across the floor.
Everything that had happened came crashing back to her; everything since she’d discovered she was pregnant with Chance and since she’d left Stephen slammed into her with the force of a dam bursting. The weight of the world wrapped its mass around her, crushing her. She curled into a tight ball as the tears coursed down her face but no sound escaped her lips.
Chapter Forty-Four
Slowly opening the door, Tarin peeked around it. When she saw the inner office was closed she quickly entered, gently and quietly closing the door behind her before making her way to her desk. She hoped Bill had been truthful when he told her Graham wouldn’t be in until later.
Graham had insisted she come into the office. He thought it was safer for her than to remain at the house. Reluctantly she’d agreed, partly because she wasn’t the type to sit around all day watching television. Besides, waiting to see what was going to happen next wasn’t her style.
“Mommy. Pee.”
She smiled at her son and quickly led him to the bathroom. She was quite sure she wouldn’t get much done with him accompanying her, but there was no way she was going to be separated from him. When she first arrived in town, the urgency to get answers had been like a new puppy nipping at her heels. Now with everything that had happened, it felt as though she was risking attack by a fearsome animal that was not only going to bite her but rip her world apart.
After getting Chance settled with his toy cars and racetrack, she sat at her computer. She took a slow steady breath. She could do this. Graham hadn’t given her a choice. His message early this morning was that she show up for work voluntarily or the man he had watching her would bring her in. Whoever had been there all night must have been very good at hiding as she never spotted him.
Graham had said when he arrived later, they were going to talk... about everything. The mere thought of his questions left a gaping hole in
her chest. She was feeling beyond sick at the prospect of how he would react when he learned all about her and her predicament. Like everyone else in her life, she was certain he’d run far and fast.
Pushing away her thoughts, she quickly got to work. Her intent had been to log into Stephen’s emails but instead she went into her website. She scanned through several emails, not having the energy to deal with someone who might have gone through what she did.
The woman who’d met with her at the park responded to her email.
‘Sorry. Had to run. My life is in danger. Whoever shot the arrow meant business. I think it was meant for me.’
Tarin immediately replied, ‘But why? What do you know that someone else wants?’
What could the woman possibly know that would make someone want to kill her? Had it been her ex? Or was it because she was meeting with her? Tarin pressed her hand to her head as a headache threatened. Frustrated there were no answers, she logged out and hacked into Stephen’s account. More than sure that he was behind the attempted abduction, she forwarded quite a number of his emails to herself. Just to make sure he got it and knew she meant business, she set up a private webpage and posted all his pornographic pictures and then sent him the link. Wanting to ensure he’d read her note sooner than later, she pulled out her old cell and sent him a text.
‘You threaten me or Chance again, you touch him again and I’ll send your pretty little porn pictures to your boss, your father and all of the staff. If you doubt me, check your emails, I have a copy of them. Here’s a link where you can check them out on the internet.’
Anger and fear pushed and shoved as they warred within her like a volcano swelling and rumbling before it erupts.
To distract herself, she logged into her company email to find that Graham had sent her over two hundred more emails to check through. She wondered if Graham had forwarded them before the meeting the day before, and if so, she was quite sure he didn’t want her snooping through them anymore. The list was long and she felt exhausted just looking at it. Something was way off. Why was someone doing this? What could they hope to achieve? Could she find her answers there?
Doubting it, she did something she was certain she’d regret. She pulled out the thumb drive with the information she’d stolen. She started with the Knights Associates files. She quickly scanned through several folders only to realize there was no rhyme or reason to what and how Graham had labelled or stored files. She opened the first three files and found a jumble of special events they’d held, an employee list and some background information, types of wines, articles and more that she didn’t have time to read. Glancing at the clock and then the door, she realized if she was going to get any answers, she had to do some speed reading. She opened another two when it dawned on her the one labelled CWA might be Caspian Winery account.
After opening it, she scanned through it. Invoices to the company had begun about three years before, causing her to wonder why they’d needed private investigators.
After meeting Dorothea, it didn’t surprise her that she would do anything to help her family succeed. Had Dorothea invented a reason to hire Knights Associates? Opening one from almost three years ago, she frowned as she read it.
Search for Cassidy LeFevre.
It made her wonder who that was. Closing that out, she opened a few more. At some point she realized she had stopped looking for answers and was simply snooping. After opening and closing a dozen bills, she realized what puzzled her about the receipts. For each paid invoice, a receipt upon payment had then been sent. It was the code that was included in the statement that caught her attention.
CW 08 14 2012
Jesus... that code. It’s what he said to me. Someone at Caspian Winery is behind it. But who? And why dammit? Why?
~~~~
“I quit Dorothea. I’ve had it!” Oliver rushed through the door and stopped on the other side of her desk, startling her.
Before she could respond, Tom sailed in. “I don’t know what he’s told you but it isn’t me. I don’t even know what he’s talking about. I quit. I’ve had it with his backstabbing games.”
“Me? What the hell—?”
“Yeah, you’ve done noth—”
Dorothea brought her cane down hard on her desk. Both men’s heads jerked around to look at her. Each man was breathing so hard they reminded her of bulls snorting before a fight.
“It’s—”
“I didn’t—”
She raised her hands, palms forward. “Stop. Both of you take a deep breath. I won’t accept either resignation. Oliver was here first, so tell me what’s going on.”
At one point, she wanted to place her hands over her ears and bury her head. What they were telling her was unbelievable, yet she should have known something like this would be next. Each man said they’d been contacted by the media to ask what their part was in the wine hijacking, and of course, the reporter had indicated that the other one was the source. Someone was out to ruin her business and would use any dirty trick in the book, and she knew who was very good at that. It was time to have Graham and Guy get to the bottom of this... and then it was time to retire.
Chapter Forty-Five
“Where is she?”
“Who’s this?”
“I think you know.”
Bobbie swallowed. She knew someday this call would come. “She’s not here.”
“Your mother said you needed to tell me something, Bobbie.”
Damn her. “I can’t imagine why she told you that.”
“Because she wants more money as always. Need I remind you that you have one or two secrets you don’t want getting out? One dates all the way back to when you were sixteen.”
She inhaled slow and steady. Tears pricked her eyes as she fought to hold back the anger. She knew one day she’d have to deal with that lie, but she wasn’t ready yet. “No.”
“I don’t like being lied to. You told me you haven’t been in touch with her since you were sixteen.”
“I hadn’t. I swear to you. She just contacted me recently. I’ve been trying to get close so I could find out what’s going on.”
“I want to know what’s happened to her over the last three years. You better have answers. And soon. Keep her close. Do not let her out of your sight.”
Bobbie clutched the phone long after the conversation had ended. What mess had her mother created now and more than likely because she wanted something else she couldn’t afford? Finally, she hit the speed dial on her phone and waited.
“Get over here now. What have you done?”
~~~~
Tarin grabbed Chance and raced out of the building.
“Where are you going?”
“Bill.” She took a deep breath and tried to still her thumping heart. She had no idea where she was going; she only knew she needed to do something. “I’ve got to get Chance home. He’s tired. Time for his nap. Bye.”
He nodded so she took that as his consent. She was never sure what to expect with him. After strapping Chance into his car seat, she climbed into the driver’s seat. Before starting the car, she had a strong urge to call Bobbie. She’d been very concerned by her odd behavior and taking Chance that morning was like waving a red flag in her face.
“Tarin, where are you?”
“Bobbie, you sound upset. What’s going on?”
There was a muffled sound as though she was trying to cover the mouthpiece while she talked with someone.
“Bobbie?”
“Yeah. Here. Sorry, just picking up some papers I dropped. Where are you?”
“Just taking Chance to the park or the zoo. Can’t decide which.”
“The park. It’s supposed to rain.”
Tarin looked out her window at the sunny, cloudless sky. What’s going on? “Yeah. Or maybe we’ll just go for an ice cream.”
“Why don’t I come with you?”
It was the desperation in her voice that grabbed Tarin’s attention. Bobbie had always been the tough o
ne at school, the one who wanted to be adventurous, to break the rules. Tarin had always been too timid. The only time she’d heard her voice so strained was when Tarin had been accused of something she hadn’t committed.
“Why don’t I come and get you?”
“That sounds great. You know you never did tell me where your office is?”
The hair on the back of her neck stood up. “No. I guess I never did. Hmm, I’m almost fifty minutes away, what with rush hour, maybe longer.”
“Great, we’ll see you in an hour.”
She sat there for a long time, only becoming aware of the sweltering heat when Chance started whimpering and she saw how red his face was. The air conditioner wasn’t great but in ten minutes the car was cooled off to a manageable temperature, yet she still hadn’t moved. Where could she go? She could go back to Bobbie’s but who had she been referring to as we? Intuition told her she wasn’t referring to Kim. Bobbie had been hiding something. It left a cold, unsettled feeling like an icicle’s constant, incessant drip.
Someone knocked on her window. She jumped in surprise, jamming her knee on the steering wheel as her foot kicked the gas pedal, revving the car. She hurled around, her heart thumping and her breathing rapid. Then with relief, she opened the door.