Love You Always (20 page)

And when we both reach that height of pure ecstasy, he falls to my side, cuddling me in his loving arms as we recover from the tremors of our sexual high.

I feel so safe with him, so cared for, so wanted, respected—and loved. I want this man in my life; I want him with all my being.

I want Jade to find this kind of love too. I hope she will, I know she will, and she deserves it, even though she thinks she doesn’t. But that’s not her fault; she’s been through so much at such a young age that she’s never known what love is except from Spence and me.

Jade will find love, from the right man, a man like Marcus—I know she will.

I close my eyes and drift off to sleep.

~* Marcus *~

I’ve just arrived at the park to meet with my dad’s secretary Vivian. She called earlier this morning saying she needed to tell me something but she didn’t want to discuss it over the phone. She sure has me curious as to what it’s about.

Ah, there she is, she’s arrived before me. I walk towards the fountain where she sits on one of the five benches that surround it. She smiles and waves as I approach.

“Hi, Vivian,” I say as she stands up to greet me. “It’s good to see you.”

“Good to see you too, Marcus.” She gives me a hug.

We sit and her friendly mood turns to concern as she looks at me. Although in her mid-forties, Vivian looks ten years younger, and her vibrant, shoulder-length red hair makes her look like a femme fatale. I used to have a crush on her when I was in my teens. Of course I’ve outgrown that crush, but I always enjoy being around her—similar to a favorite aunt.

“I heard about Angela. The FBI came to the office yesterday asking questions.”

I nod my head. “Angela’s been through a terrible ordeal,” I tell her.

“I can imagine.” Her eyes empathize with sincerity. “Is she all right?”

“She’s at a retreat for her therapy, and I sense she’s going to come out of this stronger. She saved herself, you know. She killed one of the kidnappers.”

“Oh my God, I didn’t know that. The FBI didn’t tell us any of that. They basically asked a lot of questions, as though they think someone in the company might know something.”

“Yes, they think that this incident could be connected to the boating accident. They’re not convinced it was an accident.”

Vivian touches my hand. Her eyes gaze at me solemnly.

“Oh Marcus, that’s terrible.”

I put my other hand on hers.

“I didn’t tell the FBI what I’m about to tell you because I don’t know if it has any bearing or not, but after they left, I started thinking about all of it and it’s been bothering me,” she says.

I furrow my eyebrows. “What is it?” I ask.

“A few months before your father died, he and George had been having disagreements about one of our subsidiary companies. I don’t know exactly what the disputes were about because I was never privy to the conversations, but your father would ask me to bring him files on it right after, so I’m figuring it had to do with that.

“Now, I don’t want to be thinking George had anything to do with what happened to Angela or the boating accident, because I’ve been at that company for fifteen years, and although I’ve never cared for George, I can’t imagine him doing anything to hurt your father or your family.”

I’m surprised to hear this. “Is there any reason you didn’t like George?” I ask her.

She looks at me as though she’s not sure if she should tell me.

“He hit on me a few times before I got transferred to your dad’s department and became his private secretary.”

I’m shocked to hear this. George has always put up a family man front whenever I’ve been around him. But Vivian would have no cause to lie, so I believe her.

“Christ. I’m sorry to hear that. Did you ever tell my dad?”

“No, I didn’t. Your father and George were close and I guess I was afraid it would’ve been George’s word against mine and they’d fire me. I really needed the job at the time since I was a single parent providing for my two children.”

Would my father have sided with George? They were close but I can’t imagine my dad would think Vivian was lying, although at that time, she was fairly new to the company and she hadn’t yet developed the kind of relationship she had with him later on. It infuriates me to think she had to put up with that shit and not tell anyone for fear of losing her job. She should’ve had George up on sexual harassment.

Funny how my respect for George can be diminished so fast, but because I know how loyal, devoted, and trustworthy Vivian had been to my dad, I trust her, she wouldn’t lie to me, and especially about something like that.

“I’m glad you told me all this, Vivian.”

“God, Marcus, I hate to think it, but what if George had a hand in killing your family and kidnapping Angela?”

A sick feeling crawls within my stomach.

“I’m going to tell the FBI about what you just told me.”

“Please leave my name out of it for now if you can,” she says with worry on her face. “If they find something on him, I’ll testify and do whatever they need, but if they don’t, I’d prefer not to have George know I made him a suspect.”

“Yes, of course,” I assure her. I smile at her appreciatively. “Thank you for coming forward.”

“I would never be able to forgive myself if I didn’t and something more happened to you or Angela. I just hope they catch whoever is behind it all.”

“Me too.” I kiss her on the cheek and we give each other another hug before we depart.

As I walk to my car, I dial Agent Crowley.

“Agent Crowley,” his familiar voice answers.

“Sir, this is Marcus King. I’ve got some info to share with you. Are you free? Can I come in?”

“Sure thing, son.”

“Okay, great. See you in a bit.”

A part of me hopes this lead turns up something, but another part of me dreads finding out if George was involved, or even worse, was behind it. He and my dad have been partners and friends for a long time, and to do something so horrendous as to have my family killed, and then Angela kidnapped is unconscionable. I can’t even imagine he’d have it in him. He was like an uncle to my siblings and I.

But hearing about his sexual harassment towards Vivian brought me to see a different side of him, so who knows what he’s capable of. After selling Angela and my shares, he does now hold the controlling shares in the company where previously we had equal control.

God, could he have done all this for that? It’s obvious I don’t know the man I thought I did. If Vivian hadn’t told me about what he did to her, I probably would’ve gone to talk to him first, not to tell him what Vivian said or to make him think I suspect anything, but mainly to observe how he acts, if he squirms while we talk. I wouldn’t want to accuse him or make him a suspect before sensing these suspicions myself; not after all the years we’ve known him and what he’s been to our family.

But the sexual harassment throws a dark shadow to his character, and that makes him worthy of the gauntlet in my eyes.

I hope Agent Crowley will be able to uncover the culprit and end this nightmare soon.

My thoughts go to my parents and David now. After my meeting with Agent Crowley, I’ll go to the cemetery. With everything that was happening with Angela’s kidnap, I hadn’t visited their graves for a while. It’s time to do so again

Hopefully, Angela will be able to heal and come with me on these visits too. I won’t stop praying for her to get better.

~* Laura *~

Jade and I are in the living room, talking about what we’re going to do next about Dad when Marcus walks in. He gives me a peck on the lips and sits down on the sofa next to me. Jade is on the loveseat.

“Are you ladies talking about something private and you prefer me to leave?” he asks.

“On the contrary, you might help us figure out what to do,” I tell him.

“What’s up?” he asks.

“I called the police to inquire about how they’d handle a child molestation case if the child was deceased and there was only one person who could testify against the molester, but that person didn’t witness it firsthand and only heard it from the victim,” I tell Marcus.

He gives me his full attention.

“The officer said it would be hard to prove, and it would be their word against the hearsay. The hearsay won’t hold up. Another victim would need to come forward to make a case against him.”

I glance at Jade. It frustrates both of us that Spence can’t be avenged.

“You’ll have to get your father to confess out of guilt, especially if you tell him that you know about it.”

“Dad won’t confess. He’d throw us to the dogs to save his own skin,” Jade says with contempt.

“Yeah, I don’t know if he’d give himself up out of guilt. He’s not that kind of person,” I say, siding with Jade.

“Laura, you and Jade can stay here with me and Angela permanently. I’m not letting either of you go back there to live with your father.”

“Thanks, Marcus. I won’t turn down that invitation because after finding out what he did to Spence, I don’t want to be around him. And I don’t want Jade around him anymore either.”

“In fact, I’ll buy you and Jade a whole new wardrobe, so you won’t have to set foot in that house again.”

I can’t let him do that.

“That is so amazing of you, but we can’t accept that. That’s too much. Besides, I have things that have precious sentimental value to me, that can’t ever be replaced,” I tell him.

“I understand. Of course. I didn’t consider that. So much for my sentimentality,” he says with a sheepish smile.

I chuckle at his cuteness, the way his handsome face exudes such a boyish charm when he smiles that way—it’s as captivating as his sexiness.

“Let me know when you want to make the trip and I’ll take you,” he volunteers.

I won’t protest because I’d rather Marcus be with us if Dad’s home when we go over. I don’t trust what Dad’s capable of anymore. I see him as a stranger, someone I realize I never really knew who has horrible demons possessing him. I just hope he’s not doing his evil on any other child and that Spence was his only victim. It sickens me to think about Dad now—about what he is.

“The sooner the better,” I reply.

“You want to go now?”

I think for a moment. Actually, now might be a good time because Dad will still be at work.

I gaze at my sister. “Are you up to it, Jade?”

She nods. “Yeah, why not? We gotta do this at some point anyway.”

“Okay, then, let’s get this over with,” I say.

* * *

Good, Dad’s car isn’t here. He’s at work as usual. Jade and I start packing our stuff while Marcus hauls the boxes out to his SUV. I hope we can take everything in one trip, but it doesn’t look like that might be the case.

I start selecting only the things I absolutely need—the photos of our childhood with Jade and Spence is one of them. I also have some old diaries that I kept when I was in high school, so I want to take those with me. Damn, I think I remember Dad stored some of our junk in the basement and I’m sure those diaries are in one of those boxes.

God, I hate going down into that basement. It’s creepy. I’ve probably watched too many scary movies. Oh well. I’ll have Marcus go down there with me.

“Marcus, I need you,” I call out to him as I stand at the top of the stairs looking down into the empty foyer.

“Is it room service time again?” he teases as he appears into view.

“No! Sheesh, you perv!” I exclaim, but with a laugh as I descend the stairs. “I need you to escort me to the basement.”

“Hmm, you got something kinky in mind?” Again the wise cracks.

I slap him on the arm. “Yeah, I’ve got some whips and chains I’m gonna use on you if you don’t behave.”

“Shouldn’t you change into your tight leather pants and spiky heels?”

I slap him again.

“Ouch,” he says, laughing and rubbing his arm.

“Keep it up, buddy, and that whip will be even worse than my slap.”

“Nothing worse than a dominatrix who just can’t take a joke.”

I chuckle as we head down to the basement.

“Wow, this is eerie enough to film a horror flick down here,” my brave escort says once we turn on the light and stand at the bottom of the stairs.

“And I thought bringing you along was going to help my nerves.” I haven’t been down here since I was a kid. It always creeped me out.

“Hey, if anything comes jumping out of the dark, I’m holding you up as a shield.”

I put my hands to my hips and let out a sigh. “My brave hero.”

“When it comes to humans, I can protect you. Ghosts and ghouls, that’s a totally different story.” He laughs. “You didn’t happen to bring stakes and holy water did you?”

“Marcus!” I exclaim. “Stop. You’re freaking me out here.”

He grins and I sure want to smack him again. The jokester.

“Okay, what are we looking for?”

“I want to take a few things that were stored down here.”

“There are some boxes over there,” he says pointing to the stack in the corner next to the large horizontal storage freezer. It’s pretty dim in that corner.

We head over there and Marcus moves each box down to the floor as I rummage through them. I finally find my diaries amongst some other papers that I wrote in school—of course, they would be in the last box on the bottom of the stack.

As I put the other articles I had taken out back into the box, a few papers slide under the freezer.

“I’ll move the freezer so you can get at them,” Marcus tells me.

I get out of his way and he pulls the freezer away from the wall, enough so I can get back there to get at the papers. The freezer is on rollers so it wasn’t too difficult.

When I stand from my stooping position after retrieving the papers, I notice some tufts of hair caught in the hinge of the freezer’s cover.

What the hell would hair be doing there?

“What’s the matter?” Marcus asks me.

“There’s hair stuck in the hinge.”

Marcus furrows his brows. “Really? That’s pretty weird. Human hair?”

I gaze up at him with a smirk. “Well, it ain’t werewolf hair.”

I examine it further. Oh my God, whose hair is this? A chill runs through me. We need to open this freezer.