Fresh Ice (31 page)

Reflexively, Serena touched her cheek. “Oh. That.”

Her calm demeanor enraged him. “Why? Why would you attack a random woman in some crappy skating rink?”

Her eyes glittered coldly. “If she’s random, why are you so upset?”

“She’s the woman I met at the Make-a-Wish event. I told you about her when you were here, and you saw her skates. Nothing more than that.”

“So you’re in the habit of arranging secret skating sessions out of town with a woman who means nothing to you?”

Quinn shrugged, attempting to look casual. “Who said I arranged anything? It’s not my rink. It’s not any rink I even know. I was in Toronto, Serena. You know that. Why would you think she has any connection to me? I haven’t had anything other than a business relationship with any woman since…” he couldn’t say the name.

“Since Sally.” Serena voice remained calm, but there was a tension in her body that had
n’t been there a moment earlier. “That might have been true, before. But since Isabella Landry showed up, I’m sure all that’s changed.”

“What are you talking about?” Quinn swallowed hard, a weak attempt to fight the fear that was roiling up inside him. “You’re being ridiculous.”

“Don’t treat me like I’m an idiot!” Serena slammed the juice glass on the table, shattering the glass. “Damn it! Look what you’ve made me do.” She glared at him as she wiped the mess up with a napkin.

“I’m not treating you like you’re an idiot,” Quinn blinked, unable to keep his heart rate steady.

Serena stood inches from him. “I saw the security tape of the two of you leaving the Bridgestone Center.”

Quinn didn’t move, and dared not breathe.

“
You saw her at Jason’s funeral, didn’t you? Is that when you fell in love with her, or was it after you brought her here?”

“I went to that funeral for you, to make sure it was your Jason. I only went for you.” To his own ears, Quinn’s righteous indignation sounded sincere.

The tension in Serena’s face eased and she stepped away. “He was my Jason, you know. He was mine. Then
he threw me over
for that-that child. They were the perfect couple, and they had the perfect baby, and the perfect little life. Meanwhile, I had to scratch and claw and fight for everything.”

You slept with the boss, and got everything handed to you on satin sheets. Your life story really yanks the heartstrings.

“I gave Jason everything!” The tension returned and Serena clutched her hands in fists. She started pacing. “I gave him everything he asked for. I never denied him. I gave him the abortion he wanted. He still left me for a younger model, someone who got to keep his baby.” She paused, as if waiting for a reaction from Quinn.

He didn’t dare breathe.

Her demeanor changed. “If only he hadn’t run away from me.” Her voice was soft, almost childlike. “I was on my way back from the Olympics, and I just wanted…” she wiped a tear from her eye. “I just wanted to talk to a friend, a sympathetic ear. But he was so cold. He offered me money, as if that was all I wanted from him.” She bit her lip. “I didn’t want to argue with him, I didn’t. But he was so…it was like we’d never meant anything to each other. I got angry. I said things, horrible things. And then I felt horrible, so when I got home, I got on the first plane to Nashville and I came here to find him. I had to make things right.”

Quinn watched her expression, her whole being, change as she told the story. It was if he was watching her entire life pass over her in a faint shadow.

“But he was gone.
They were gone.
He left me a letter, though, with his mother.” Serena’s face melted into a mask of remembered hope. “I held it for the longest time, it was my link to him. But then I opened it…”

“What was in the letter, Serena?” Too invested in the story, Quinn couldn’t help himself.

She glared at him, her tears glittering ice. “Money. A cashier’s check from Isabella’s parents, made out to him, signed to me. No word, no clue where they’d gone, just the check. A pay off. Hush money. After everything we’d gone through together, as if everything I gave him had a price, and he could pay it with one check.”

Her face settled into the hard, familiar mask. “I never cashed that check. I thought I’d save it for the day he came to his senses and came back to me. I still have it.” She left her chair and walked into the bedroom. Returning a moment later, she handed him a slip of paper. “He never came back. She stole him from me.”

Quinn couldn’t keep the nagging question from his lips. “So, Serena, all that money you sent me for. That was about getting even?”

Serena laughed, a high pitched, unsteady sound. “I spent years trying to find him, you know. He hid himself pretty well, but I found him. By that time I wanted to hurt him, like he’d hurt me. And, since money was what he cared about, I knew I had to take his money. I told him if he didn’t give you the money I would tell everyone I left him because he was on steroids. It’s been very chic, you know, getting Olympic level athletes to confess to steroid use. The public eats that sort of story up. Better yet, the skating community would review his wins, his medals. There would be hearings; there would be very, very public hearings. But mostly, Quinn darling, I simply told Jason if he didn’t give you the money, I’d have him killed. It was a promise I’d made to him when he left me to skate with that little bitch. He knew if I could find him, I could kill him.”

He felt uneasy. “You didn’t need the money. When you married Burkes, you got everything you could ever dream of. Burkes loved you. Burkes gave you everything. You’ve reinvented yourself. You’re the most powerful woman in Nashville.”

“Burkes couldn’t give me a gold medal.” Serena hissed. The venom dripped off her words. “Burkes couldn’t stop people from using my name as punch line when the topic of comical Olympic mishaps came up. Marrying Burkes couldn’t give me the revenge I wanted. It only gave me the tools.”

Her smile was more frightening than her words.

“So why send me to get the money? Jason could have wired it.”

Serena continued to smile. The longer she did so, the more unsteady Quinn’s stomach felt. “You know, Burkes taught me something very important.”

“What was that?” Quinn’s mouth was dry, as if he were sucking on cotton.

“He taught me never to do anything that didn’t have a reason. ‘In business Darlin’, he’d say, ‘in business, if you don’t have a purpose for someone, cut ‘em loose.’ He must’ve said that a hundred times. ‘With you by my side Darlin’ I’m the most attractive man in Nashville.’ I served his purpose. In return, he gave me everything. So he served my purposes, too.” Serena sat down and poured herself another glass of orange juice. “You don’t look so good, Quinn. Are you sick?”

“No, not really.” His voice sounded strained.

“Well I’m sure you haven’t had breakfast yet. Please, sit down and have something.”

“I’m not hungry, Serena. So what kind of purpose did I serve for you?”

Serena sipped the juice and again the eerie smile crossed her face. “I had my reasons.”

“Other than keeping me as a sex slave, what purpose could you possibly have?”

A shadow darkened her expression. “Don’t be unpleasant Quinn.”

“What was my purpose, Serena?”

“You served so much more than just my physical needs.” She took a sip of juice, as if trying to rinse the sickly sweet tone from her voice. “They ruled Jason’s death a suicide. His widow insists it was an accident, right?” The eerie smiled returned.

“I don’t see how…” and like lightning, a thought left him breathless.

“Do you know who the last person was to see Jason Marks alive? Well, the last person anyone witnessed seeing him?” She licked a drop of orange juice from her lips. “I imagine it was someone very striking looking. Someone tall, handsome, perhaps. Someone who visightd Jason at his place of business a couple times a year, but someone no one else knew. Someone Jason never talked about. A man of mystery.”

She’s trying to pin Jason’s death on me?

“Someone stupid enough to show up at Jason’s funeral. ‘Who’s that man?’ the wives whisper to their husbands. ‘Don’t know, but he looks familiar,’ the husbands whisper back. Then maybe there’s a connection. Maybe one of the Admirals players has a quiet chat with one of the employees. The employee says, ‘who was that guy, the tall one?’ And, completely innocently, your name comes up. Later, the employee says, ‘Wait, that’s the guy that came to Jason’s office. They met behind closed doors. And when he left, Jason didn’t say a word. The night before he died, you talked to him, didn’t you, Quinn? Probably waited for the shop to close, but someone was there. Someone saw you.” She licked her lips. “And when he came to work the next morning…well, we know what happened then, don’t we? Sure, you and I know Jason’s death was simply the most exquisightly timed accident ever. But, to others, it might look different.”

And she’d be successful.
Quinn’s stomach churned with the full realization of exactly how trapped he was.

“All you have to do is keep our arrangement as it is, and I’ll protect you, as I always have.”

Yeah, you’ve protected me from you.
“Why are you doing this?”

Serena dabbed a napkin delicately to her mouth and set it down. “I have always hated losing. I lost everything because of Isabella Landry. It’s her turn to lose.” The cold light in her eyes froze Quinn’s soul. “You want to save her life? You want to be her hero? Get her out of our lives.”

Everything was very, very clear. “You won’t get away with this.” He stood.

“Shhh, Quinn.” Serena stood and put a finger to his lips. “Of course I will. Of course, you’ll keep your all access pass to hockey, and your status as a sports icon in this town. Nothing will change.”

She can pin a murder on me. Not just an accident, a murder. All I have to do is cut Izzy completely out of my life, and I’ll be safe.
Quinn frowned.
Safe from what? From conviction in a murder I didn’t commit. From public ridicule? None of that matters to me anymore. Izzy’s all that matters.

“You can go to hell with your threats, Serena. I’m done.” Quinn took two quick steps to the door.

“That’s your choice, of course.” She paused. “Oh, one more thing, Quinn, dear.”

“Yes?”

“I didn’t kill her. Yet.”

He straightened and swallowed his fear. “No, and you won’t get the chance. That make up isn’t covering the bit of skin you managed to leave in the locker room.”

Serena laughed. “You think a little scratch is going to save your precious Izzy from me? Oh, Quinn, that’s rich. I bet you think you’re the only person I ever sent to harass Jason. I bet you think if you’re no longer doing my dirty work for me, then no one will.” She set her glass down and laughed again. “No, there’s only one way you’re going to be able to save Isabella Landry’s life.”

Her words and their sinister import hung between them like a storm cloud. Quinn swallowed back the fear that rose in him. He jerked open the door and fled the apartment.

Whatever it costs me, I will keep Izzy safe.

It will be the last act of a damned man.

He returned to his apartment and sat, unaware of the passage of time. So he was surprised when his elevator doors slid open and Izzy walked in.

“I thought you were coming right back? That was two days ago. What happened?”

Her tone was gentle. Her eyes were kind.

I don’t have the strength to do this.

“Quinn? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” He hated his gruff, angry tone.

“They let me leave without a sling.” She took a couple steps closer. “I thought…I thought…”

“You thought what?” Quinn clenched his jaw and glared at her, trying to maintain a furious visage. Trying, and failing.

“Why do you look like that?”

Quinn ran his hands through his hair.
I’m doing this to save her life.
“You need to stay away from me. I mean it. I’m no good for you or anyone else.”

She put a hand on his arm. He brushed it away. “What are you talking about? Of course you’re good for me. You’re good for a lot of people, so many people.” She put her hand on his arm again, her gentle, innocent touch burning his skin. Quinn brushed her hand away again, this time with far more anger than he’d ever touched any woman.

“I’m warning you, Izzy, stay away from me.” He didn’t recognize his own voice. He stepped into the kitchen, the island stood as a solid barrier between them. “It’s for your own good.” The anger waned, leaving nothing but the echo of loss in his tone. His rage at Serena faded, and ceased to support him. He leaned on the island.

“You’re being ridiculous.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Of course. You are a very good person.” She smiled. “Look how many kids, how many families you’ve touched in such a wonderful, positive way. Look at this event we’re working on.” She took a step closer.

I have to do this. Until I figure out a better way to keep Serena from killing her, I have to do this.
“You think I’m a good person.”

“Yes, Quinn, yes. What it wrong with you?”

Quinn glared at her, his rage at his own impotence giving him the will to break the bond between them. “How good could I possibly be? I’m the reason you were left penniless when Jason died.”