His Bahamas Affair (The Albury Affairs) (30 page)

Lori shook her head.
This couldn’t be happening!
No!
She
was finally happy and now this?
No!

“Reno, please don’t!
I’ll just call Jeb and—”

Reno shook his head,
his jaw tightly clenched. “No. Having bodyguards at your beck and call is no
longer part of your life. You and Tyler are my family and I’m going to protect
you from now on, understand?”

She shook her head as
the tears in her eyes blurred Reno’s face. “I can’t lose you Reno…I just can’t.
I won’t survive it. I’m not as strong as Riana…”

Reno hushed pressing a
gentle kiss on her lips. “You won’t lose me and I won’t lose you, I promise.”
He pulled away from her and yanked on his pants as he stood up. He reached for
the house phone on his side of the bed and pressed it into her hands. “Don’t
forget what I told you. Three minutes, Lori, and you call my brother.”

She hugged the phone to
her chest, “I love you, please don’t let this be the last time I say that.”

He kissed her again
long and hard, and that only increased her desperation. She pressed her fist
against her mouth to keep from crying out for him to stop when he quietly
slipped out the door, pulling it closed behind him with an even more silent
click.

She quickly got off the
bed and got dressed in his wedding shirt and boxers. She knew she should go
into the bathroom like he told her but she just couldn’t. She needed to be with
him, to make sure he was okay and if not to help him. She opened the door and
stepped into the hallway. She stood there battling indecision until she heard
Reno’s shout then the heavy thud of a fall.

She whimpered her hands
shaking as she tried to dial Ruiz’s number. After numerous tries she finally
dialed. She held the phone to her ear but there was nothing. No dial tone or
ringing, nothing. The phone was dead; it could only mean the lines had been
cut!

“Oh God no! No, no,
no!” she cried.

“Mommy!”

Tyler’s scream made her
jump, the phone slipping out of her hands, breaking apart as it hit the phone.

“Tyler!”

Without a second
thought Loraine ran down the stairs and into the open space of the living room.
She stopped dead when she saw Tyler openly crying as he struggled to get out of
a large man’s hold. She looked up at the assailant, her hands fisted tightly to
stop the shaking. He had a large grin on his face as he stared at her, his eyes
traveling her body before it settled on her face again.

“What do you want?” she
demanded her eyes shifting between his creepy smile and Tyler’s tear stained
face.

“You, of course.” he
said it as if he was shocked she didn’t know already.

“Fine you can have me.
Just let my son go and my…” she swallowed the lump in her throat. “My husband,
where is he?”

His face creased with
rage, his lips twisting in a sneer. “Your husband? You are my woman
mon
coeur
not
that…
voleur
—thief’s!”

Did
he just say…and that voice, the accent… No it couldn’t be!
“Thief? Why…why did you call him that?”

“He stole you from me,
he married you!” His face softened as he stepped forward dragging Tyler with
him. “I’ve waited eight years to marry you, to make you my wife. Eight years to
have a son of our own, a part of you and a part of me. I even had a name picked
out, Jon
Louis
.
If it wasn’t for Jeb we would have been husband and wife with children of our
own,” and just as quickly his face twisted in anger. “Instead, you give him a
child and let him make you his. You are mine, only mine!”

His crazy yelling
stiffened her with fear as Tyler’s whimpering grew to loud cries. She’d spent
years forgetting his face being haunted by just his grey eyes but that was over
now. He was here, all that she had cursed out of her mind stood before her,
threatening not just her life but of those she loved most in the world as well.

“Pierre,” she choked on
his name. It tasted like bile on her tongue but she had to keep speaking, to
try and talk him into letting Tyler and Reno go. Even if it meant… Oh God the
thought of it made her stomach turn. “Pierre, let them go then you and I can
speak reasonably about this.”

His brow furrowed as he
blinked at her. “Speak reasonably, about what? I believe it’s all quite clear.
You are my woman and they…” he yelled, shaking Tyler and making him cry harder.
Loraine held herself back from going to him, from crying. This was all her
fault, her fault. “…stole you from me!”

“Okay,” she cried
desperately. “Then take me. Let Tyler go and take me.”

His eyes widened, his
lips spreading in a toothy grin. “You mean it?”

She looked at her son
and the fear in his face was all the motivation she needed. She looked up at
Pierre and nodded. “I mean it. Let him go and take me. Just like you’ve always
wanted. Jeb won’t stop you this time.”

He let out a hoot of
elation and released Tyler. She fell to her knees as Tyler ran to her, into her
arms and held onto her with all his strength, his little body shaking against
hers.

“Mommy!”

Loraine felt her heart
break as she held him tighter, willing for him to stop being afraid. But how
could she give him that when she was just as scared if not more?

“
Ssh
honey, everything will be alright.” She tried to pull him away but he held on
tighter with a whimper. “Tyler, please.” She whispered pulling on his arms
until he finally let go. She wiped his face dry and smiled at him. A difficult
task with her lips wobbling. “Go up to mommy and daddy’s room and stay there.
Make sure to lock the door and don’t come out no matter what you hear.”

“Are you coming too?”
he sniffed, his little body jarring with each hiccup.

Loraine shook her head
knowing this may be the last time she saw her beautiful son. She wanted to hold
him one last time, to tell him how much she loved him, how much she’ll miss
him. To promise she’d fight tooth and nail to get back to him before Pierre
could kill her if it was only to hold him one last time but she couldn’t. She
couldn’t lie to him like that, doom him to wasting his young life waiting for
her to come back and telling him goodbye now would be incredibly cruel.

God she hoped the stories
she heard about a person being able to watch over their loved ones after death
was true. She didn’t want to miss one minute of his life, even if she was a
ghost.

She caressed his cheek
and kissed his forehead one last time, battling the anguished cry to stay
trapped in her chest.
I’ll miss you my
sweet beautiful baby boy. Take care of your daddy for me.
“No, but I
promise I’ll come up as soon as I can.”

Tyler stared at her
like he was trying to catch the lie in her words. She hoped he couldn’t see it
in her face. She didn’t want Pierre hurting him just to get to her.

Unable to take the
perusing stare anymore, she stood up and pushed him toward the staircase, “Go
and don’t forget to lock the door.” Tyler didn’t move, he just kept staring at
her, with tears running down his cheeks. Loraine couldn’t stand watching him in
pain much longer. It was going to cripple her. So in the sternest voice she
could master she yelled, “Tyler Albury, upstairs, now!”

He jumped a step back,
his eyes round with shock. She’d scared him, that’s not what she wanted. He was
scared enough already.

“Baby, please!” she
begged in a gentle voice.

“I love you mommy,” he
whispered giving Pierre a glance before he dashed for the stairs.

Loraine stood there,
listening to his little feet against the hardwood floors until she heard the
loud bang of the door being slammed shut and the click of the lock. And with
that click, her legs gave way under her and she fell to the floor, her body
wracking with gut wrenching sobs. She’d seen her son for the last time and she
couldn’t take it, she just couldn’t handle it. And Reno…she cried harder,
knowing that he might already be dead. But her heart wouldn’t accept that. She
could still feel him. He might be hurt, gravely, but he wasn’t dead. For Tyler’s
sake she had to believe that.

Her entire body went
stiff, her sobs affixed in her throat when she felt his hand stroking her hair.

“Don’t cry,
mon
amour,
we’ll have children of our own.
They will fill you with so much happiness, you won’t even remember this one.”

She wanted to rip away
from his touch, to tell him she’d die before she procreated with him and that
any child would be cursed to have him as a father but she didn’t. She couldn’t
risk Reno or Tyler’s life like that.

“Where is Reno?” she
asked, holding herself perfectly still as his hands began to roam her back and
arms.

“Hmm? Oh that man. Do
not worry, he’s resting with his first wife,” he chuckled like he’d told some
joke only he could understand.

“What do mean? Georgia
is here?”
What is Georgia doing here?

“
Oui
, Georgia. She is very pretty
but she holds no candle to your beauty,
mon
amour.”
He
whispered in her ear, rubbing his cheek against hers, up her temple and into
her hair where he breathed her scent in then pressed his lips hard, she could feel
the wetness on her scalp. Loraine’s body shivered with disgust. His touch made
her stomach want to revolt.

“I’ve been watching
you. I saw what you did to yourself and it made me angry. Why did you hide your
beauty behind all that fake color?” He moved to sit in front of her. The look
on his face made her shudder. If he wasn’t crazy, she would have believed that
was a look of love. “But when you transformed yourself to my angel,
ma belle
ange
.
I knew you were calling me, telling me to come back into your life. So here I
am.”

The last thing Loraine
wanted to listen to was his delusions. “Why is Georgia here?”

“Is it necessary for
you to know?” When she didn’t answer he sighed dramatically. “
Okay
, I met her when your new—soon to be
old—husband had her thrown out of the hotel. Jeb was with her, talking to her.
I heard what he said.” He tapped the tip of her nose with his finger. “Not a
very trust worthy man that one. Always lying, asking for favors and reneging on
his part of the deal but that was not your query. I made her a better offer,
told her I would get the boy for her if she gave me a little money. She said
she was broke but she had something better.”

The lustful gleam in
his eyes made Loraine’s stomach turn. She was dangerously close to puking all
over him. “You slept with her as payment to kidnap Tyler.”

He chuckled. “
Mon amour
is jealous? That makes my
heart happy. But not to worry, she proved to me she is a whore. Only whores
would barter their bodies and she was too good at it but be anything less. She
pleased me, but I was thinking only of you. The anticipation of making love
with you made my blood hot. I needed release.” He caressed her cheek and
Loraine turned away. “Please understand; don’t be mad. We are even. I heard you
cry out while that man took pleasure from your body,” he hissed, fisting his
hand in her hair. “You have no idea how much I wanted to cut his throat for it!
But I remembered my own betrayal and I let you fuck him. There is nothing to be
angry about!”

Loraine bit her lower
lip to keep from crying out when he yanked at her hair. “I’m not angry. Just
tell me what happened to Georgia?”

He released her hair
and massaged where he’d been pulling at her hair. “She is dead, I did that for
you
mon
amour
. I slit her neck when she was
done giving me a blow job.” He chuckled. “I got tired of mounting her after so
many hours but thinking of you would make me horny all over again so I told her
to use her mouth to please me. After I sprayed all over her face, blinding her,
I grabbed her hair, pulled her head back and cut my blade over her neck.” He
rubbed his cheek against hers and she could hear his breath getting heavy as he
breathed on her neck. Loraine held herself from turning away from him when he
ran his finger in a slicing motion over her throat. It was too much!

“There was so much
blood, spraying all over my naked body. And the sounds that came from her open
throat,
mon
amour.
It was so arousing, too arousing
not to enjoy.”

“Oh God,” Loraine
gagged pulling away from him but he yanked her back, placing her on his lap.
She tried to fight out of his hold when she felt him grow under her. She didn’t
want him touching her. She didn’t want his hands, his lips not any part of him
touching her especially his dick inside her. She didn’t want to end up like
Georgia!

“It was the first time
I took a woman from behind. Loraine, tell me, has any man made love to your
ass?”

Unable to stand anymore
she pulled away then threw her head back. The curse and the crunch told her
she’d made contact with his nose. Good. She jumped out of his lap when he
released her and ran into the kitchen. She pulled the draws open, some falling
to the ground with a loud crash as all the contents spilled out, frantically
looking for something to defend herself with. Her search grew desperate when
she heard his heavy footsteps as he cursed and yelled in French, promising to
kill her after he’d punished her severely.