Heller's Revenge (24 page)

Chapter 16

It was evening by the time my
paperwork was sorted and I was allowed to leave.

“There’s not enough concealing
makeup in the world to cover these bruises,” I complained as Heller
drove me home. He smiled at me.

“We’ll have to hide you in the
attic for a while.”

I giggled. “When did they say
Niq could come home?”

“One more week. It’s remarkable.
It’s almost as though he was waiting for you to come to him before
he could recover. As if he couldn’t get better until he knew you
knew you were all right.”

“Heller, that’s a bit mystical
for a hard, commonsense man such as yourself,” I teased.

“I don’t know, Matilda. He’s in
a coma for weeks, but you cry all over him and he starts to recover
the same day. It’s a bit . . . I don’t know, spiritual or
something.”

“I love that boy so much and if
that creates some kind of creepy psychic thing between us, then I
really don’t care and I don’t think he does either.”

“Still, you have to admit it’s
strange.”

We drove in silence for a while.
I blurted out my awful news. I’d been brooding about it since I’d
been told. “The doctor said I’ll never conceive now because of the
accident. It affected my ovaries. Crushed them or something. I
won’t ever have the chance to be a mother.”

He didn’t even blink. “I never
wanted children anyway.”

Despite myself, I giggled again.
“You never give up, do you?”

“Never.” He turned to smile at
me, and grasped my hand, squeezing it briefly.

“Not even with crippled,
bruised, barren women?”

“They’re my favourites. They
can’t run very fast.”

I giggled yet again. “God, I
love you, Heller. You’ve made me laugh for the first time in
months.”

“Say that first part again,” he
demanded.

“God?”

“No.”

“I love you, Heller?”

“That’s it. Say it again.”

“I love you, Heller.”

“And again.”

I smiled. “I love you,
Heller.”

“Do you mean it?”

“Sometimes.”

“That’s a start anyway.”

“I’m going to be very nervous
about driving for a while, I think,” I said as we pulled into the
Warehouse and drove down into the garage.

“I’m sorting it out, Matilda.
You will soon be safe.”

“You sound confident.”

“I am.”

I wasn’t sure I could make the
stairs, but I needn’t have worried because Heller picked me up in
his arms and carried me, not to my flat, but to his.

“Heller?”

“You’re staying with me until
you’re recovered. As will Niq. I need to keep an eye on you
both.”

“Where am I going to stay? You
only have two bedrooms.”

He stared at me as if I was an
imbecile. “In my room, where else?”

“Heller.”

“I believe in sexual
healing.”

I laughed. “You’re so corny. I
don’t know how you ever manage to pick up any women with those
terrible lines.”

He smiled and gently placed me
on his bed. “Seriously. I need both of you very close at the
moment. Don’t fight me about this. I want to know you’re safe.”

“I’m too tired to argue.”

“Good.”

“I don’t have any clothes.”

“You don’t need any.”

“Stop it!”

“I brought some of your stuff
up. I even put it in my walk-in robe. We can pretend we’re
married.”

“Okay, I’ll nag all day while
you sit around drinking beer. The average marriage.”

“Sounds awful. I want a divorce
already.”

I limped into his bathroom and
found my things nestled neatly amongst his. Not placed separately.
He had actually mingled everything – my deodorant next to his, my
toothbrush next to his, my grooming products mixed with his. It was
so sweet that I felt like crying again, but I thought it was
probably physically impossible for me to squeeze one more drop of
water from my body without crisping up and floating away like a
dead leaf.

I took a very slow shower and
brushed my teeth, thinking how nice it was to be out of the
hospital. I changed into my pyjamas and climbed carefully into his
gigantic bed. Everything took twice as long to do because there
were still so many painful parts on my body. He used the bathroom
after me, then climbed into bed next to me and turned off the
light. We faced each other, and looked into each other’s eyes in
the moonlight streaming in from the window. He reached out to
stroke my hair gently. He moved over and wrapped his arms around
me. I rested my cheek on his bare chest.

“What happened after we
crashed?” I asked softly.

“We turned up about five minutes
too late. The sedan that had been following you was long gone. I
can’t even begin to tell you how I felt when I set eyes on the
wreckage of your car. It was . . .” He took a deep breath and
expelled it noisily. “It didn’t look as though anyone could have
survived the impact. Niq was unconscious. You were flickering in
and out.” He shifted in the bed to grasp me even tighter.

“You were both so badly injured.
There was blood everywhere, a terrible sight. People had stopped to
help before we turned up and they had already called an ambulance.
Clive and I ran over to the car and tried to open the doors without
any luck. Then we got some of our tools and we managed to open
Niq’s door with a crowbar, so the ambulance was able to take him to
hospital much more quickly than you.”

He kissed me on the forehead and
continued. “I tried as hard as I could, but I couldn’t get you out
of the car. You were trapped in there for so long, I was afraid you
were going to bleed to death. It took the fire brigade with the
Jaws of Life to cut you out. Niq was comatose, but they had to
operate on him to pin his leg and patch up his bullet wound
regardless, which is always dangerous. Then they discovered you
were bleeding internally and rushed you in for emergency surgery.
There were a very dark couple of days when I thought I was going to
lose the both of you.” He stared at the ceiling for a long time,
his profile carved into the moonlight. “I don’t know what I would
have done if that had happened. It wouldn’t have been civilised, I
can tell you. Especially now I know who’s to blame.”

“Do you think they followed us
from here? How else would they know that we’re part of your
team?”

“They might have, my sweet. But
remember the licence plate on your car tells the world that you
belong to me.”

“That the
car
belongs to
you,” I corrected gently, thinking of the vanity plate on the
little hatchback that simply read, HELLERS.

“It was a mistake for me to buy
that plate. It made you a target.” He rubbed his eyes. “The last
few months have been a nightmare. An absolute nightmare.”

“You haven’t had much
sleep?”

“Not for a while.”

“Sleep tonight. I’m okay now and
Niq’s home soon.”

“I will now that you’re back
with me.”

I kissed him softly on the lips.
He kissed me in return, but it grew urgent very quickly, his hands
insistent. I had to pull away.

“I can’t do that right now,
Heller. I still hurt everywhere.”

“I’m sorry, my sweet, I know
that. My feelings got the better of me. I promise I’ll behave
myself.” And he did. I fell asleep listening to his heartbeat,
snuggled safely in his arms.

We both slept very late the next
morning. He made me breakfast, a boiled egg with toast, a small
fruit platter and coffee and juice. I enjoyed every bite of
non-hospital food. He was confident and competent in the kitchen –
a man able to look after himself.

“I’ve never had breakfast with
you before. Will makes such a big deal about it. Made me feel
guilty because we hadn’t shared breakfast. You never make a big
deal about anything like that, do you?”

He smiled sexily. “I’m just
grateful for any time you deign to give me, Matilda. Breakfast,
lunch or dinner, doesn’t bother me.”

I rolled my eyes. “I should go
back to the gym today, but I’m afraid to bring on any more
pain.”

“I think you could handle a
gentle walk on the treadmill, but nothing harder. You really need
to get moving again, even though it’s painful. And don’t forget to
do the exercises the physiotherapist gave you.”

“I won’t. And you’re right about
needing to start exercising again.”

“I have some things to do this
morning, so I’ll see you later. Don’t overdo it, though.” He kissed
me on the forehead and left.

I cleared up our breakfast
dishes and went to change into my workout gear, tutting with
irritation when I realised that Heller had brought up my second
best pair of runners, not my best. I decided to pop into my flat on
the way to the gym to retrieve my best runners because they were
much more comfortable than the others. And comfort was absolutely
paramount to me at the moment.

I used my swipe card to open the
door to my flat. To my surprise, there were two
Heller’s
men
sitting in my lounge room. They were startled by my entrance and
jumped to their feet, discomforted. I advanced further into the
room.

“What are you doing in my flat?”
I asked, confused.

Then I noticed the third person
in the room.

“What’s going on here?” I
demanded, looking in horror at a man – no, not a man, a boy, a
teenager. He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt and was barefoot, tied
up tightly to one of my dining chairs, a gag jammed into his mouth.
There was panic in his dark brown eyes and blood trickling down his
face from a split eyebrow. A camera was set up in front of him. My
eyes flicked questioningly between the two men. They were both ill
at ease and stared at each other, before one of them answered.

“You better ask the Boss, Miss.
We can’t talk to you about it.”

I marched over to the second
phone in my bedroom, shut the door and dialled Heller’s mobile.

“Yes? Is everything all right?”
he answered cautiously, obviously recognising the number of my
flat.

“Heller, it’s me.”

“Oh.”

“Yes, it’s me, not your men.
What’s going on? Who is this poor boy you have tied up here? The
men won’t tell me anything.”

He sighed. “Matilda, why didn’t
you just go down to the gym like you promised?”

“I’m not going anywhere until I
get some answers. Who is this boy?”

Another sigh. “That boy is the
only child of the owner of Select Security. I’m using him to
persuade his father to end his vendetta against me.”

“Heller!” I could barely speak
with shock. “You
kidnapped
him?”

“Yes.”

“But he’s just a child!”

“So is Niq!” he snapped angrily.
I couldn’t argue with that.

“You know for sure that this man
is responsible for our accident?”

“Yes, we traced the number plate
of the vehicle that followed you. It belongs to his fleet. SS
equals Select Security. Car number six.”

“I can’t believe you’ve done
this. It’s so wrong.”

“They started it and I’m going
to finish it. One way or another.” His voice was so icy that I
shivered involuntarily.

“How long has he been here?”

“A week.”

“
A week?
His parents must
be going insane with worry!”

“Not enough to agree to my terms
yet. I may have to do some more convincing.”

“What do you mean?”

“This doesn’t involve you,
Matilda.”

“I
am
involved now. Are
you hurting him?”

“Not yet.”

“He’s bleeding.”

“It’s nothing. He didn’t follow
instructions as he was very strongly advised to do at all times.
Anyway, makes it look better when I livestream him to his
parents.”

“He’s scared.”

“He should be.”

“I can’t believe you would do
this!”

“Matilda, this is
nothing
compared to what they did to you and Niq.
Nothing!
You could
have both been killed! This boy is not going to die.” He was
shouting at me angrily, his accent very pronounced, as it always
was when he lost his temper.

“Promise?” I asked softly, not
wanting to provoke any more anger. I couldn’t handle it at the
moment.

“I promise,” he said more gently
and hung up.

I walked back out to the living
area. The teenager sent me a pleading message with his eyes. He was
terrified. Mine was probably the kindest face he’d seen for a
while. I patted him gently on the shoulder and took a deep breath,
remembering Niq’s small, pale face in the hospital bed.

“It’ll be okay, but promise me
that you’ll do what you’re told from now on, all right?”

He nodded, staring up at me with
frightened tears in his eyes. I felt ill, tears pooling in my own
eyes. An eye for an eye didn’t seem such a great philosophy to me
right then. It only meant more innocents were hurt along the way. I
fetched a wet facecloth from the bathroom and wiped away the blood
from his face.

“Hopefully your parents will
come to their senses soon and stop all of this rubbish.”

His dark brown eyes didn’t waver
from mine.

“Your father almost killed me
and my little friend. He’s still in hospital. I’ve only just been
released. Have you heard about that?”

He nodded again.

“It’s not your fault your father
is such a heartless bastard, but he chose to play dirty. So he has
no one to blame but himself if we have to play dirty as well. Would
you like me to come back later and check on you?”

Another nod.

“Okay, I will. But you have to
do everything these men tell you to do. Understand? These people
aren’t going to harm you.” And I hoped that was true.

Another nod.

“Are you giving him water and
food?” The men assured me they were. I turned to leave. The men
regarded me solemnly.

“It’s good to have you back
again, Miss,” one said. The other nodded in agreement.