A Forever Masterpiece (The Masterpiece Trilogy Book 3) (20 page)

"I know you're angry, but to go and send cryptic messages to me? That's beneath you, Rebecca." Monday morning at work, Becca finished up with a project when Vince's cold, accusing voice pulled her from her own little world.

"Come again?" She whirled around. He stood like a warden at the doorway, deep crease lines formed across his forehead.

"My only question is, why send a message? Why not just ask me about it." Vince approached her tentatively. "How did you find out?"

"I'm not following. What are you talking about?"

"The whole reason I'm here today in the first place! My niece! I didn't know you knew. It was an accident, Rebecca. I didn't mean to make her lose control!" Vince's voice raised in a fearful panic.

"Vince! What damn texts, and what accident?" Her own tone matched his. He continued to be vague, and his level of agitation only added double to hers.

"You're serious. You don't know what I'm talking about." Vince paled. He took a step back, mouth slightly ajar. "Oh my. I have some explaining to do now." He steadied himself by grabbing a chair and folded his large frame to sit. "I never wanted you to know-"

"What. Are. You. Talking. About?" Becca said through clenched teeth. He never wanted her to know? First off, what was there to know? Second, if he had intentions of marrying her, why did he plan to keep so many secrets?

"You sure you want to talk about this here at work?" Vince glanced back at the door.

"Consider this my break." Becca shot up, headed to the door and closed it. Then she stormed back and sat in the chair across from Vince.

Vince blew out a deep breath. "Your aunt called me one day, angry. She said she found out about something I was involved with when you were sixteen, and she planned to look into it. My niece was with me that day. We drove over to your aunt's place, and I kind of forced my way into her car. Geri got in the backseat. We were on the road when your aunt and I argued. I-" He closed his eyes.

"You what?" Becca didn't like where this was going.

"I jerked the wheel in anger, causing us to veer in the other lane."

"You killed her." Becca's voice came out ice cold. He did not just tell her this, he didn't! Tentacles of anger wrapped around her heart. No. She had to be dreaming.

"I didn't kill her!" Vince protested. He widened his eyes at her.

Becca shot to her feet in a rage. "You may not have held a gun to her head, or executed her death in an actual harmful manner, but to take the wheel when she was in control! Yes you did, Vince! You're a killer! You killed the only person I had to trust in Vermont! And I know what situation you're talking about! It had to do with my old art teacher. You killed him too, but on purpose!" She lunged at him, fury consuming her. "You're a terrible person!" Her grandparents wanted her to marry him? Did they know about any of this?

"Rebecca, stop! The first time was to protect you! Stop!" Vince caught her hands as she struggled against him.

"Let me
go
! You didn't protect me! You protected your secret!" Pain exploded in her head as she lost it with this man. She'd had enough. Someome had to- this had to stop!

The door opened. Liane rushed in, along with a couple other people. "Becca!"

"He's a killer! Get him away!" She still struggled against Vince's hold. "Make him go!
Make him go!
"

"Let her go, Vince. You need to get out of this room." Liane's tone hardened, still confused.

He did as suggested. "We're going to discuss this later," Vince snapped at Becca before stomping out of the room.

Becca huddled against the wall before falling to the floor. She'd just tried to go after Vince at her own place of work. The urge to follow him and make him pay screamed loudly in every pore of her body. Instead, she stayed in place on the floor, unsure what to make of things any more. "I'm so-sorry. He ... he k-killed my aunt. He just told me- H-he..." Words died in her throat.

"Close the door. Someone go keep an eye on Vince, I'm going to calm Becca down," Liane barked at someone, then sat beside her. "Hey, you're okay. I need to know what happened, word for word, okay? Did he hurt you?"

That afternoon, Hunter's cell rang. He wondered what happened when Liane Velez' personal cell showed up on his caller ID. She never called him while working, especially from her phone. "Liane? What's up?"

"You need to come here and get Becca. There was a major incident today ... She's not able to talk. I can't get much out of her right now."

"
What?
What caused it?" Hunter stopped in the middle of the hallway, fear taking over.

"Vince-"

"What did that ba ... man do?" he roared.

"Hunter, listen to me. Vince said something to Becca, and she went after him. According to him, he got a text which he thought was from Becca. Something about how his niece ended up in the accident. He won't give too many details, but he claims Becca attacked him."

"She wouldn't do that!" Hunter protested.

"Not without major reason, no. But she's very shaken up. I've got her in a room, lying down because she's so upset. She stares off as if she's not here. I don't know exactly what happened, but it's not good."

"I'm on my way." Hunter swore, wishing there wasn't thirty minutes between them. He hung up and went to find Todd, filling him in. He agreed, as Hunter figured he would, and he was on his way. He sped the whole way there. Luckily, no cops were around and he didn't get pulled over. Hunter parked and ran inside. Liane waited in the lobby and gestured when he came in. "Where is she?"

Liane led him to a room. The lights were off. "Go on in. I'm glad none of this was out in the open. There would have been so much explaining to do. Let me know if you get anything out of her, okay? She's ... I don't know how to describe it."

"I've seen Becca in so many state of minds."

"She always responds best to you."

Hunter nodded, twisting the doorknob, afraid of what he'd encounter. "Bec? It's me. I'm here, and I'm coming in to talk to you." He approached with ease, leaving the lights off for the moment. Liane closed the door behind him. "I'm going to turn on the light so I can see you, okay?" He flicked on the lights.

Becca's eyes were haunted. She huddled on a bed, her knees drawn up and her arms crossed.

"What did he do, angel? I need you to tell me, okay? Liane was so worried that she called me on her cell to come see you." Hunter crossed the room and gently eased her knees down, then pulled her in his arms. It wouldn't help if she needed to use her hands to communicate, but right now he wanted her in his arms.

Becca pulled away moments later, her lips trembling. She raised her hands to sign.
"Vince got a text. He accused me of sending it, so I forced him to admit something he was never going to tell me."

"What did it say?" Hunter asked. "Maybe he's playing us. He could have sent the text to himself."

Becca shook her head.
"No, not with what it had to do with. He's just as much a victim as we are."

"What happened?"

Becca exhaled slowly before beginning.
"He was the reason my aunt died in the car accident."
Her cheeks reddened again and she narrowed her eyes.
"She planned to check into something she found out about him. His niece was with him. They got in the car and in a moment of anger, he jerked the wheel, leading them to oncoming traffic."

"The bastard. I'm going to-" So he didn't kill her on purpose, or at least by the sound of the version Becca was told, but damn it! Vince kept coming out with more reasons to dislike and not trust him!

Becca grabbed his arm.
"Don't go."

"Liane said she thinks he tried to hurt you? She walked in with Vince holding you back."

"No, I ... I went after him. I was distraught. He held me back from hurting him."
Becca looked away.

"While this whole thing is bad and I want to punch the man's lights out, we seem to have a bigger problem here. Joe, Vince, you, and I have a common enemy, and I'm not sure what they're trying to accomplish with these texts and secrets. Where the hell is Sylvia hiding? This has to be her doing. She's had years to stew and uncover secrets. She has a reason to be mad at Joe and Vince, not to mention us." But where did Jesse fit in the picture? Working for Sylvia? Keeping an eye on them and learning their darkest moments to report back to her? The more these incidences occurred, the more Hunter realized Sylvia had to be alive. Who else would even want to uncover secrets from their past and play these sickening games? "I should take you home. What do you think?"

Becca nodded. Color returned to her face.
"I'm sorry."

"Sorry? Don't be. You handled it better than me. I don't think I have to say what would have happened if he'd said that to me."

"I acted horribly at work! I went after him with the intent to- I don't even know. I was just stunned and furious."
Becca flicked her terrified gaze to the door.
"They're going to let me go, aren't they?"

"I don't think so, Bec. Vince provoked you. He shouldn't bombard you at work about some text. He should have waited. Come on, let's go talk to Liane and go home, okay?" Hunter stood, holding a hand out. After helping Becca to her feet, he enveloped her in his arms again. Someone knocked on the door, then it opened, and Liane poked her head in.

"Can I come in?" she asked quietly.

Becca and Hunter pulled apart.

"I'm so sorry about what I did,"
Becca signed.

"I know, Becca. I only know a little about your history with that man, but it's obvious he's got some issues. Whether or not his niece is here, it doesn't give Vince the right to bother any of my employees. At least this happened in the privacy of a room to avoid a huge fuss. We're going to step up the ante and keep that man away from you, okay?"

"I'm not fired?"

"Hell no! I'm not letting you get away that easily. It wasn't like you went after him out of the blue," Liane reassured her.

"I'm going to take her home, if that's okay," Hunter said quietly, keeping his hand on Becca's shoulder.

"Not a bad idea. You gave me a scare earlier when you didn't respond at all." Liane looked from Hunter to Becca.

"I do that sometimes when I'm very upset about something. I don't always understand it,"
Becca explained.
"It's a scary experience, because I can see and hear everything around me, but it's like I'm far away."

Liane nodded. "I know. It was just strange to see it happen with you. Even knowing what we know about your TBI experience, it was odd actually seeing it. You're ... Oh wow, I was going to say normal otherwise, but you know what I mean."

"She can't be that normal. She's engaged to me." Hunter squeezed Becca's shoulder affectionately. Yeah, he should have shut up, but hoped to lighten the mood just a little. "No, really though, when Becca gets like that, it scares me too, but I've been around enough to know how to get her out of it. The first time..." He thought about when Becca first did this, on the island when they were stranded. It scared him so bad.

"The island."
Becca finished when Hunter couldn't.

"Just don't tell her I'm going to talk to Vince," Hunter said to Shara quietly that evening. "Not yet."

"I know. And don't tell her you want me to watch over her, because she hates that. I get it. Just go, say what you need to him, and get back. We'll be fine," Shara promised. "I'll make it look like I'm updating your schedule or something and then keep her company."

"I think that breaking point is coming. It'll be good for her to do it and have it over and done with, but I never realized how much it scares me," Hunter admitted. "I'd hoped the worst was over. Looking for her family is hard enough, but all of this coming back again?"

"You need to be careful, too. You aren't out of the woods with your PTSD, either. Don't think I haven't noticed you space out some. Now that I know what to look for, I recognize it." Shara touched his elbow. "Both of you are under a lot of stress."

"I'm trying. This time is different. I'm aware of the problem and know how to at least keep it at bay," Hunter said. "I know I'm not out of the woods yet."

Shara pointed. "Go, so you can get back. I don't want to have to worry. If you aren't home within two hours, I'm calling a search party. I don't trust that man at all."

"Neither do I, but he's being pulled into someone's game, and I want to figure out how we all fit in." Hunter said goodbye, then headed to the hotel he knew Vince stayed in when he came to visit his niece.

Fifteen minutes later, he stood in front of Vince's room and knocked. He made a vow to himself not to raise his voice or to punch the man's lights out, no matter how much he'd rather do so. Get in, find out what he needed to know, and get out.

The door flew open. The whoosh of air startled Hunter. Vince's surprised gaze landed on him. "What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk." Hunter shot a foot forward, making sure Vince didn't have any plans to slam the door in his face.

"If this is about Rebecca and earlier, you and I don't have anything to say. The conversation and incident don't involve you."

"Actually, we do. I'm not gonna lie. I want to hurt you repeatedly for what you admitted, but here's the thing. Whatever text you were sent has happened to Becca and I. It's also happened to Joe." Hunter watched Vince's expression very carefully, looking for any clues to whether he was behind them or not.

The startled expression across the man's face proved Becca's earlier thoughts. Vince was just as much a victim in this sense. He pulled the door open wider and gestured. "Come in."

Hunter hesitated for a split second, then entered the room. Vince's suitcase leaned against the chair, and on the table were a pile of scattered papers. The lamp on the dresser didn't provide a lot of light.

"So tell me more about these texts." Vince folded his long legs and lowered himself to sit in the chair. Hunter pulled the one across from him.

"Someone's watching us. That's all I'm going to say. They seem to know things we've talked about recently. If not that, then they're pulling up past hidden secrets. Kind of like yours." Hunter hoped he wouldn't ask about Joe's text. "What did your text say, and have you received any others?"