Opposing Forces (35 page)

“I like the one of Chief Grundberg and Maisie. They make a magnificent couple.”

Anton rolled his eyes.  “If either of you read any of the articles, you’ll find that they are surprising accurate.”
 

“Most editors usually are when it comes to printing anything about the Grundbergs,” Philippe responded. 

“We have an account of yesterday’s event, a mention that Officer Thevenez was injured in the line of duty and escorted to hospital by his pregnant girlfriend, Sabina Grundberg.  Very clever, as they never actually state you are the father.  We even have a brief mention, my dear.”

“We do?” Estelle looked enthralled.

“Yes.  Just listed as Philippe’s parents.”

Sabina bounced into the room.  “I see you’re catching up on current affairs.” She kissed Philippe gently.  “Don’t worry, in a day or so it would have blown over.  Maisie will either do something outrageous or my father would have got slapped with another paternity suit.”

“I had a text from Florian asking if you would be willing to dump me and move in with him.  He doesn’t even mind that much if you’re carrying my child.”

“Florian is rather cute,” Sabina grinned, moving out of range of Philippe.  “Any other offers?”

Philippe had had a barrage of text from his friends on the Force, most of them saying he had more balls than brains for not only dating the Chief’s sister, but then getting her pregnant.  “Nothing I want to repeat,” he grinned, swinging his legs out of bed.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Sabina fixed him with a hard stare.

“I’m being discharged today, remember?  I really don’t want to walk out of here in a hospital gown.”

“When the doctor has discharged you, then you can get out of bed.”

Philippe thought about arguing for a split second then decided against it.  Pregnant women were known for their mood swings and Sabina could be seriously scary when she lost her temper.

Hubert hung up the phone in such a rage.  His family were going to be the death of him.  His oldest friend, Franz Von Gruber, had just given him a tirade on how disappointed he was to learn from the papers that Sabina was attached elsewhere.  Who was this police officer Sabina was living with? How pregnant was she? And why the hell hadn’t he or Charles been told about this?

Then there was his paternity suit.  Jacqueline was not going to go quietly, she wanted maximum payment.  He refused to give her a cent until his paternity was confirmed.  Until then she made money to cover the expensive medical bills by selling sordid details of their relationship to the press. In fairness, only the tabloids were brave enough to print such rubbish.  But it had damaged his reputation.

To make matters worse, a few of his former lovers had also crawled out the woodwork and sold their story to the press.  He could have weathered one affair, but several was just too much.  His career was taking an absolute hammering, so much so that he had lost over half his staff. 

One of his former mentors had taken him out to dinner and suggested that perhaps he should think about retiring from political life as his reputation had been damaged beyond repair.

He was still convinced he could recover his standing, he was a damn good senator.  It might take a year or two to regain his level of power, but he was sure he could.  He was certainly not going to be remembered as the disgraced senator; when he quit it would not be under a cloud. What bothered him most was the fact that his supply of willing young partners had completely disappeared.  Suddenly bedding Hubert Grundberg was not what it used to be.

Knowing Bettina would be unlikely to take his call, he phoned Steffen instead.

“Father,” Steffen answered, “To what do I owe the pleasure of a phone call?”

“When the hell was someone going to tell me about Sabina’s pregnancy?” he shouted down the phone.

“Sabina is a grown woman, I have no control over her life,” Steffen responded coldly. “Besides, I thought perhaps Mother might have done that.”

“She hadn’t.  I had to read about it in the papers.  Can you imagine how that makes me feel?”

“Perhaps you should be having this conversation with Sabina.”

“She hasn’t talked to me for a while.”

“Since she found out how many times you cheated on her mother?  Girls can be funny about that sort of thing.” Steffen could not keep the hostility out of his voice.

“Don’t attempt to lecture me, Son,” Hubert spat.  “And who is this policed officer she is with?  No doubt after her money.”

“Thevenez is a good officer, well-respected on the Force.  I believe he should make Inspector.”

“Sabina should not be involved with a common police officer,” Hubert growled.  “He is so far beneath her standing.  Gone is any chance now of her marrying Charles Von Gruber. He certainly won’t have her after she’s had another man’s bastard.”

“Careful, Father,” Steffen warned.  “You can’t be throwing slurs like that from your very weak position.  Besides, Sabina is in a stable relationship with Thevenez.  Charles was and always will be a womanising toad, so there was absolutely no chance Sabina would have got hitched to him.”

“As her brother, you should have been looking out for her, making sure she behaved with some decorum. But I guess you were too preoccupied with that Carrington woman.”

Steffen laughed at the audacity of his father.  “I think it highly amusing that you are talking of behaving correctly when you have systematically screwed your way through your entire staff.  Sabina is happily settled with a man who actually cares for her and will hopefully have a very happy life.  A far cry from the one she was born in to.  And if you make one more slur against her, her partner or mine, you will have one less family member to vent your anger to.”  With that Steffen hung up.

The nerve of the boy.  Sabina was almost as good as her mother at winding people around her little finger.  Still, he did not want to alienate the one member of his family who was still taking his calls. He just hoped Steffen would get over his infatuation with the Carrington woman soon, she was clearly not suitable for him or his position.

He was sure Bettina was to blame for all his troubles. Had she not divorced him, Jacqueline would have been a much shorter relationship and she would not have got pregnant, Sabina would still be living at home under his jurisdiction and life would be simple.  He would be the head of a well-respected family, instead of the laughing stock he was now. He had had a very good life until that bitch had ripped it from him. And now she had turned into a highly desirable woman and was getting screwed regularly.  Unlike him.

He ran his hand over his mobile, perhaps he should give Bettina a call. He could use the pretext of wanting to discuss Sabina.  And maybe this time she might be a bit more receptive to his advances.  Was it wrong to want your ex-wife so badly?

“Hubert, it appears you’re still alive,” Bettina sounded anything but pleased to talk to him.

“So it would seem, my dear.” He ignored her brusque greeting.

“And what have I done to deserve a call from you?”

“I wanted to discuss our daughter.”

“What about her?”

“It might have come to your attention that she is having a child out of wedlock.”

“Really?  I’m stunned.  But what has it to do with you?  She is over the age of majority.”

“She’s a Grundberg. This is unacceptable behaviour,” he growled, pissed off that Bettina was not taking him seriously.

Bettina laughed.  “What you’ve done, Senator, is unacceptable.  Sabina is just expecting a child a little earlier than planned, there is nothing shocking in that.  And I’m sure wedding bells will be on the horizon.”

“I bet that bloody gold-digger will be keen to get his hands on her finances too.”

“If you hadn’t alienated your daughter, you would have met Philippe and realised what a lovely young man he is.  And trust me, he has no designs on her trust fund. Quite the opposite.  Tell me, how’s Angelique doing with the paternity case?”

“It’s Jacqueline, and I’m not about to discuss it with you.”

“You’re lucky it’s just the one.  From what I’ve been reading, you certainly got about more than I realised.”

“Shut up, you old witch,” he spat and hung up with Bettina’s laughter in his ears.

He poured himself a large brandy and downed it in one.  That was not how he wanted the conversation to go.  It seemed his family had all but shut him out.  If that was the way they wanted to behave then fine.  He would not let them back in when he was on top again.

It was late March and Maisie was starting to get majorly frustrated.  The police had hit a dead end on her would-be assassin and Steffen was refusing to drop her security detail.  She loved living with him, but she did want her freedom back. She missed going out with her friends, skiing and generally socialising.  They had had a huge argument the night before, which resulted in Maisie sleeping in her room.  She wanted her life to return to normal, not that it could ever be normal again having lived with Steffen.

She had made up her mind that she would move back to her apartment the next day.  She could not continue working from his house, or with limited access to the office; part of her job involved travelling, going on-site inspections and meeting clients.

Madame Bodart was not in the kitchen so Maisie grabbed a coffee and retreated to the study.  An hour or so later, she heard some activity in the hall and presumed it was the staff.  A few minutes later, an officer appeared in the study, his gun was drawn. He looked vaguely familiar to Maisie. She stood up and walked around the front of the desk.

“Is there a problem, Officer?” As she stared at him, it dawned on her who it was.  Officer Dumont.  Or rather ex-Office Dumont. “You?  I thought you had been dismissed.”

“All thanks to you, bitch.” He advanced on her and raised his gun.

“What the fuck do you want?”

“You. Dead.”

“We know it’s been you trying to kill me. But why?” Maisie backed up instinctively.

“You destroyed my career,” he spat.

“No. You did that all by yourself.” She could see the hatred in his eyes and it scared her.

“You ruined the Chief.  He was a disciplined, cold leader until you got your claws into him.  Now he’s a laughing stock.  Pictured kissing his whore all over the national press.”

“Is that not a matter between him and myself?  Why concern yourself with his affairs?”

“Once you’re out of the way, he will return to his usual icy demeanour and see he was wrong to dismiss me.” He lowered the gun for a moment.

“You think by shooting me, you’ll get your former job back? You were dismissed by a Tribunal. Not even he can overturn their decision, you moron.” Despite her fear, she really did find this odious man quite pathetic.

“Perhaps I will, perhaps I won’t. But at least I will have returned the Chief to his former self.” He raised the gun again.

“You know they have CCTV everywhere in this house.  The guards are probably already on their way.” Maisie was trying to buy time, for what she was not altogether sure.

“Luckily for me the guards on duty did not recognise me and have been dispatched back to headquarters.  It will be a good half hour before anyone raises the alarm.”

“You’re forgetting the housekeeper.”

“I put that old crone out of her misery.  Now all I need to do is to finish you off.  This time I won’t miss.”

She got the faint waft of Steffen’s aftershave.  She knew he had entered the room by the door from the boardroom.

“Lower your weapon, Dumont,” Steffen’s voice rang out. “There are two officers with their rifles trained on you, so you won’t even get a shot off.”

For some reason, Maisie felt even more scared now Steffen was there.  She was so sure she was facing death, she had almost accepted it as there was no way out.  Now, she had possible options.

“Sorry, Chief Grundberg,” Dumont sighed. “But this bitch has to die.”

“Last chance, Dumont. Lower your weapon,” Steffen barked.

Dumont started to lower his handgun then suddenly raised it and fired. Everything happened so quickly. The gunshot, Steffen throwing himself at her, many more gunshots.  It all rang in her head as Steffen flattened her to the ground.  She was dazed, her head was spinning. When she focused, Steffen was lying motionless beside her on the floor. 

“Steffen,” she screamed taking his face in her hands.  “Steffen, wake up, look at me.” She kissed his face. She knew he had taken the bullet.  “Don’t you dare die on me,” she howled.  The room had descended into chaos around her but she only had eyes for one man.

“Maisie,” his voice was barely above a whisper.  “You’re OK?” He opened his eyes.

“I’m fine, but what on earth possessed you to throw yourself in front of a bullet?”

“I love you. I said I would protect you,” he gave half a smile. 

Maisie had palpitations.  “You love me?  That’s an emotion you don’t do.”

“Didn’t do.  You’ve totally corrupted me.”

“You idiot,” she dropped several kissed on his face.  “Now lie still.”

“In my jacket pocket. Can you…?”

Maisie felt in his pocket for whatever it was he was after.  Her hand closed around a small box. She took it out and opened it.  Her heart missed several beats. It was the most beautiful solitaire diamond ring. He looked up at her.  “Marry me, Maisie.”

She felt the tears run down her face.  “You can’t ask me to marry you and then die on me,” she kissed his face, soaking him with her tears.  “That’s just not fair.”

“Who said anything about me dying?” he groaned.

“You’ve been shot.”

“I’m wearing a vest.  But it still hurts like fuck.”

It took a few seconds for his words to sink in.  “You’re not going to die on me?” she cried.

“No, my darling,” he winced, trying to sit up.  “But I’d still like your answer.”

“Yes, you crazy fool,” she kissed him hard on the mouth.  “Yes.”  She held on to him as though her life depended on it.  “But don’t you ever frighten me again like that.”

He took the ring and slipped it on her finger.  Maisie kissed him softly this time, she could see he was in pain.

She looked up and for the first time registered the activity in the room.  Dumont was dead.  Several officers were in the room.  Paramedics were waiting patiently.  “Miss Carrington, we need to treat the Chief.”

Maisie stood aside reluctantly as the paramedics helped him up.  His jacket and vest came off, then his shirt.  There was some nasty bruising on his back where the vest had taken the impact of the bullet.

“Looks like a couple of cracked ribs, Sir,” the paramedic said apologetically. 

“Just tape me up, I’ll be fine,” Steffen grunted.

“I would like an x-ray done, Sir. Just to make sure there is no other damage.”

“It’s really not necessary.”

“Yes it is,” Maisie snapped.  “You’re bloody going to hospital.”

“I’m fine,” he sighed.

“The hospital will decide that.” She looked at the paramedics. “He’s going.” She kissed him on the cheek.

“You’re coming with me then, Maisie. I’m not letting you out my sight."

“Okay,” she followed him out to the ambulance.

The ride to the hospital was quick and being the Chief of Police, he was seen to immediately.  Whilst he was in x-ray, Maisie phoned Sabina.  She didn’t want her to see something on the news or hear via Philippe about her brother being shot and panic. She took the news well and promised to get hold of Bettina and update her.

Steffen walked back into the private room a short while later.  “Aside from a couple of cracked ribs, as predicted, I have been given a clean bill of health, and some rather good pain killers.” He slipped his arms around her waist.  “I now want to go home and celebrate my engagement, if I am allowed.”

“There’s nothing I would like more,” she kissed him gently.

He phoned Sam.  “He’s outside, but apparently there are quite a few press,” Steffen groaned.

“Press?”

“Hey, it’s not every day the Chief of Police gets shot,” he smiled. “Are you ready for this?”

“Definitely not.”

As they walked through the main doors, Maisie was met with a bank of flashing white lights.  Steffen instinctively tightened his hold on her.  Two officers escorted them to his waiting car.

“How are you feeling, Chief Grundberg?” one of the reporters called out.

“I’ve felt better,” he smiled and helped Maisie into the car.

It was strange arriving back at his house.  There was still so much to talk about and sort out.  He took her into the small sitting room and poured a couple of drinks.

“Sorry, the house will be a little crazy for a day or so. It’s a crime scene.”

“I thought I was going to die this afternoon,” she said quietly.  “You saved my life today. What alerted you?”

He put his arm around her.  “The argument last night made me realise I wanted you permanently in my life.  I was on my way to ask you to marry me.  The lack of guards at the gatehouse alerted me and I called in backup. I heard Dumont in the study, grabbed my vest, and came in through the boardroom; the rest you know.”  He fell silent for a moment.  “I have never felt fear as I did this afternoon.  I was terrified you would die without ever knowing how I truly felt.  The ring was burning a hole in my pocket and this madman was stopping from me proposing.”

Maisie looked at the sparkling diamond.  “Well you certainly picked your moment to propose,” she sighed.  “I thought you were dying.”

“It made you say yes,” he gave a painful smile.

“I would have done anyway without the dramatics.” She straddled him and kissed him with passion.  “And now I know want to show you how much I love you.”

“Maisie,” he groaned a short while later. “As much as I want to continue this, the house is crawling with officers who could come in here at any moment.”

She let out an exasperated sigh.  “You have precisely five minutes to clear all police from the upper floor.  Whereupon I will take you to bed and show you just how much you mean to me.”