Insufferable Proximity 2 (40 page)

***

Gavin smiled as he sat down in front of Heaven. “I have some very good news, my sweetness. At last, Julian King is finally dead.”

“Bullshit.” Heaven shook her head.

“A little cyanide in his steak and eggs did the trick. His corpse is rotting in a basement as we speak.” He smiled with glee.

“Julian is too smart; he would never let you get that close to him.”

“You’re right; he wouldn’t. However, he is a highly-sexed beast, and he would definitely let Lila get close to him. Especially if she’s in a skimpy negligee.”

“Liar!” Heaven hissed, her amber eyes sparking with the fires of hell.

“Don’t be upset, sweetie, you know how Julian is. He only thinks with his dick, and I used that to my advantage.”

“He’s not dead,” she shook her head, refusing to listen.

“But I assure you that he is. Would you like proof? I could have Lila bring me his hand or something.”

Heaven’s inner rage forced her body to shake and pump up her adrenaline. Tears fell from her eyes at the thought of Julian’s death. She wanted to fight; she wanted to scream, but most of all she wanted to tear Gavin apart with her bare hands. She stared at him, her dark eyes now void of emotion despite the tears running from them. Her top lip twitched, and she felt a grumble begin deep in her chest.

“Don’t cry; you still have me, Princess.” He slid his hand down her cheek.

Julian called her that, and she would not allow Gavin to taint it. It was all Heaven could take. She used the only weapon she had available to hurt him; she turned her head and sank her teeth deeply into Gavin’s arm.

“You fucking bitch!”

“Don’t you ever call me that again!” she roared, jumping forward to grab him, mindless to the thick metal cuff choking her.

“You will learn to respect me!” he yelled and then swung his arm, his open hand connecting with her cheek, and making a sickening thud.

She slumped over with the force of the blow, but she refused to take her eyes off him.

“You can hit me as many times as you want, but I will never respect you.
Never
!” she refused to back down.

“No? My mother taught me all about submission. I know exactly how many beatings it takes to break a man. I don’t think it will take anywhere near that long for you. I don’t think you could even last as long as I did.”

“You’ll beat me to death before I ever submit to you,” she said in a calm tone, spitting blood from her mouth. She still refused to take her eyes off him.

“Well, I wouldn’t want that,” Gavin said as he let her go. “I don’t want to kill you, but you’re such a bitch, I might lose my temper and do just that. I think it’s best if I leave you to your pain—for now.” He stood up and walked towards the stairs. “I’ll let you stew on the news of your dead boyfriend; see you soon.”

Heaven held her composure until she heard the door shut, and then she dropped to the cold concrete; overcome with emotion. She curled into a ball, holding her knees to her chest as she cried.

“He’s not dead, he’s not dead,” she whispered, over and over, shaking her head. Her tears formed a tiny puddle below her. “He can’t be dead. It’s a lie. He’s not dead. Please don’t let him be dead. Please, please don’t let him be dead!” she quietly sobbed, trying to catch her breath.

***

Julian sat in his living room with his father and Sybille. He had not slept or eaten, and they were worried about him.

“You’ll be no use to her if you’re dead, Julian. You need to eat something and get some rest,” his father warned him.

“I’ll rest when I find her.”

“Heaven would want you to eat and rest. She wouldn’t want anything to happen to you while she was gone,” Sybille reminded him.

“No, Heaven wants me to find her, and I’m going to,” he informed them.

Sybille felt relief for a split second. If anyone could save Heaven, it would be Julian. At this point, his body was functioning on his drive, and his need to find Heaven. His rage fueled him, and his fear kept him going.

“I have to find her,” Julian said.

“I believe that you will…I have faith in you,” Sybille cried as the tears rolled down her cheeks.

Suspicious staff

Adele could not shake the feeling that something was wrong. Lila had been acting very strange for the past few days. She was receiving odd phone calls and forbidding Adele, her only secretary, from entering her office. Something wasn’t right, and Adele wanted to find out what it was.

It had all started the day of Julian King’s wedding. She had assumed Lila was upset because the man she was in love with was marrying her nemesis. But, it quickly became obvious that it was much more than that. On the day of the wedding, Lila had left work early and hadn’t returned until the next day.

Since then, she had been acting so abnormally that Adele knew that she must be up to something. She just didn’t know what. If Lila were trying to hide something, then she had failed miserably. If anything, she was making it more obvious.

“Lila is getting under my skin. She keeps sending me out on stupid errands, for nothing. She sent me for coffee three times today,” Adele complained.

“Maybe she needs the caffeine,” Gloria said.

Adele frowned. “She brought a cup with her that was still full when she sent me to the cafe for coffee the first time. There are still four, full cups of cold coffee sitting on her table; she didn’t even take a sip. She’s acting weird.”

“She
is
weird,” Reese added.

“No, weirder than usual. This is the same woman who brags about her super-expensive cell phones. Seriously, since I started working for her, it’s been one crystal-encrusted, high-tech, piece-of-overpriced-shit phone after another.”

“So?” Reese shrugged her shoulders as she applied another layer of lip gloss.

Adele raised her brows as she asked dramatically. “So why does she have a plastic, five-dollar, piece-of-shit phone now?”

Reese shook her head. “I think you’re reading too much into it. You’re naturally suspicious; you always have been.”

“There is too much for it all to be coincidence.”

“Maybe she’s having an affair and uses an untraceable, cheap phone so that her husband doesn’t find out what a slut she really is,” Gloria suggested the alternative.

“No, she’s up to something; I can feel it.”

“Let me guess, you have ESP now?” Gloria asked, and Reese snickered.

“I don’t need ESP to see how sneaky she’s being,” Adele retorted.

“But you’re talking about Lila Strain; she is the definition of sneaky,” Gloria reminded her.

“This is extreme even for her. She locks her office, even if she’s only gone for a second. She refuses to let me in her office under any circumstances. Not to mention all the secret phone calls that she’s taking. Every time she enters or exits her office, she looks around her. It’s not normal.”

“Secret phone calls?” Gloria raised her brows.

“On her cheap phone. They must be pretty important because she sends me on stupid errands every time she gets one.”

“That is weird,” Gloria said; her interest piqued.

“Glad we’re finally on the same page.”

“She must be having another affair.”

“No, I’ve been her secretary for years. I know how she acts when she’s having an affair. She’s obvious, and she doesn’t care if anyone sees her. Hell, I’ve seen her boyfriends more than I’ve seen her husband. Besides, she’s always in an amazing mood when she’s having an affair.”

“Then what could it be?”

“I don’t know, but I would like to find out. Would you like to help?”

Gloria grinned. “I’m down for anything that might ruin Lila, no matter how slight the chance.”

“I don’t know what we’re looking for, but I’ll help too,” Reese added.

“We’re looking for anything suspicious. Keep your eyes open right now, and pay attention to your surroundings.”

“You’re so dramatic.” Reese rolled her eyes. “Let’s go get some coffee.”

“I’m discussing a possible snake in the midst, and you’re worried about coffee?”

“Yes, I’m having coffee with the biggest snake of them all. Well, that is if you decide to join me for coffee, Adele.” Reese grinned smugly.

“Brainless bitch,” Adele scoffed.

“Suspicious slut,” Reese smirked.

“You’ll see; I’m right about this. I’ll prove it to you,” Adele snapped before she turned around and left.

***

Julian, his father, and his cousin Royce, retraced the detectives’ steps and talked to every possible witness. They also talked to Julian’s neighbors to find out if they had seen anything on the day of the wedding. Unfortunately, there were so many people in and out that it was hard to remember anything. However, none of them remembered seeing Heaven.

Julian and his family got into their cars and drove around the city looking for any trace of her. They went to Gavin’s mother’s old house and searched that neighborhood. It was the first time that Julian realized how endless the city really was. He would never find her at this rate. He’d never felt so useless.

***

“Have you done it yet?” Lila asked Gavin, using the cell phone that couldn’t be traced to her.

“Not yet,” Gavin answered.

“What’s the fucking holdup?” she hissed into the phone.

“Relax, you should be happy; it gives you more time to spend with Julian.”

“It doesn’t work like that. She needs to be dead so that I can console him. He is convinced that she’s still alive, and he’s consumed with finding her. I haven’t even seen him since it happened; he’s too busy searching to answer his phone. He doesn’t even come into the office. He’s obsessed…it’s intense. You need to get rid of her quickly, and you need to leave proof so that he knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that bitch is really dead.”

“Fine.”

“I mean it, Gavin, hurry up! I want him
now
; I can’t wait another minute!” Lila cried desperately.

***

Julian drove aimlessly down the city streets. He’d been driving for hours but couldn’t stop. He had a large cup of extra-strength coffee in the cup holder. There were five empty cups in the trash bag in the back. Royce was asleep in the passenger seat and Julius was stretched out in the back.

Julian answered his cell phone, “Yeah.”

“I’m re-searching the area by work; I want to check the nooks and crannies,” Ian told his brother.

“You should probably sleep; we’ve been at this all night. Don’t you work in the morning?” Julian asked. He looked at his watch, to see that it was three a.m. He appreciated all of his brother’s help; it meant a lot to him.

“I can’t go home; my soon-to-be-ex wife has moved her boyfriend in. Besides, I feel better searching for Sevigne. I can’t sit in some hotel room when I could be out searching.”

“I agree.” Julian felt the same. He couldn’t sit in some room doing nothing when he could be out searching.

“I’ll check in with you soon,” Ian said before he hung up.

***

“It’s taken care of,” Gavin told Lila.

“She’s dead?” Lila gasped.

“Yes.”

“Really?” Lila squealed with joy.

“Yes.”

“Finally! The wicked bitch at last is dead!” she sang.

“I’ve never heard you so excited,” Gavin chuckled smugly.

“How did you do it? Did she suffer?”

“A little.”

“Only a little? That bitch deserved worse,” Lila spat. “Did you plant the evidence to prove that’s she’s dead and gone?”

“Not yet.”

“You should hurry. So when are you planning to take care of my husband?” Lila asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean when are you going to kill him?”

“I thought you were going to take care of that yourself?”

“Are you serious? You know what the agreement was! You are supposed to kill my husband after you kill Heaven!” Lila snapped at him.

“I never agreed to that, I agreed to give you a month with Julian. If you want your husband dead, then
you’re going to have to do it yourself.”

“I can’t! I need him dead so I can be with Julian.”

“Then get a divorce. Besides, Julian will be dead before you know it; you might need your husband’s support.”

“You’re traitorous, back-stabbing bastard! You better leave Julian alone, or I swear I’ll—”

“You’ll what?” Gavin stopped her from finishing her threat. “If you try anything or if I feel the least bit threatened, I will frame you as my accomplice. I will call the police and tell them where to find the evidence. But first, I will call your husband and let him know about your little plan to kill him.”

“He’ll never believe you. No one will; you’re a desperate murderer,” Lila said arrogantly.

“Listen,” Gavin said before he pressed play on the mini tape recorder.

Lila listened as he played back the tape of their last conversation.