PunishingPhoebe (9 page)

“She checked out of the clinic about four
days ago.”

Her stomach clenched. “What?” She must have
misheard him.

Dr. Sarat sighed heavily in her ear. “After
testing and several treatments, there was no improvement. We determined your
sister wasn’t a good candidate for the clinical trial and she chose to leave
early.”

She shook her head. “No, I don’t believe
it. She met all the criteria.”

“That is true, but she didn’t respond to
treatment. It was pointless to continue disrupting her life with treatments
that weren’t going to work.”

“I see.” Feeling numb, she ended the phone
call abruptly, dropping the phone back into the receiver. Unable to believe
what he’d told her, she opened the bottom drawer of her desk to retrieve her
cell phone. She must have missed a call from her sister.

The call log showed no calls from Anya, so
she dialed her cell number. Anya’s cheery greeting came on without a ring,
indicating the phone was turned off. “Call me as soon as you get this, kiddo.”

After hanging up, Phoebe sat back, staring
hard at her phone, as if willing it to ring. Why hadn’t Anya called? Why wasn’t
she picking up her cell phone? Fear filled her and she gathered up her things.
Something must be wrong. She had to find her sister.

The office phone rang as she was getting
up. She snatched it up, rattling off the firm’s name. Her heart sank when it
wasn’t Anya.

“May I speak with
Signor
Androtti,
please?” asked a melodic feminine voice.

Torn between her job and her fear for Anya,
Phoebe finally said, “He’s unavailable right now.” She didn’t offer to take a
message.

That didn’t deter the caller. “Very well.
Please tell the
signor
that the engagement ring he ordered has been
resized and is ready for pickup at Laurant’s.”

“I’ll tell him.” On autopilot, she hung up
the phone and reached for the message pad. Her hands shook when she wrote down
the information, and she practically sprinted from the office. Phoebe didn’t
stop running until she was in the elevator, where she leaned against the wall
of the cab and took several deep breaths to keep from crying.

He had lied to her. Luca had passed off the
marriage with Caprice as nothing more than a silly idea of their parents. All
along, he’d known he was going to marry her. Her stomach clenched and she bent
forward, ignoring the concerned inquiry of her health from one of her fellow
passengers.

At the lobby, she rushed from the elevator
and outside the building. It was quick work to hail a taxi, to her relief. She
directed the driver to the airport and leaned back against the seat. With
unseeing eyes, she stared at the skyline, trying to control her emotions. Where
was Anya? When she found her sister, what was she going to do next? One thing
was clear. She could never return to Luca. It left a bitter taste in her mouth
to imagine being anyone’s mistress, even the man she loved.

She closed her eyes, unable to hide the
truth from herself any longer. At some point, she had fallen hopelessly in love
with her boss. It must have been shortly after she went to work for him. Living
with him had deepened her emotions and she had inevitably gotten too involved.
She should have known she couldn’t have a physical relationship without an
emotional one. Phoebe wasn’t wired that way. Her previous lovers, all three of
them, had been men she cared about. At the time, she’d thought she loved them,
but now recognized the emotion had been a pale imitation of how love really
felt.

As they neared the exit for the airport,
she opened her eyes and forced her thoughts to focus on the task at hand. She
had to find Anya, and Boston seemed like the most logical place to look. Since
she lacked a better plan, it would have to do. She couldn’t just sit around,
helpless and moping, when her sister might be in danger.

* * * * *

Luca shook Capro’s hand once more as he
escorted him from his office. Their respective legal counsel had left several
minutes ago, while the men finished talking. The merger was complete. He was in
a fantastic mood and ready to celebrate. Planning to have Phoebe cancel the
afternoon appointments, so he could take her to lunch—and then maybe just take
her—he froze in mid-step upon realizing she wasn’t at her desk. The logical
explanation was a trip to the ladies’ room, or she had stepped out to get
lunch, but his gut still tightened with dread, remembering the last time he’d found
the office empty when he’d been expecting her. Had she gone to her other lover
in Boston?

He walked Capro to the elevator, his
thoughts on Phoebe as he mechanically performed the niceties of parting with
him. Luca returned to his office, his heart racing. There was no proof to
suggest she’d gone anywhere. He’d just have to wait a few minutes.

On a hunch, he sat down at her desk and
opened the drawer where she kept her purse. A hollow feeling filled his chest
when he saw it was gone. Luca searched on the desk, hoping for a note. His
stomach churned when he found a brief message on the notepad.

Caprice’s ring
is ready at Laurant’s.

His eyes widened and he cursed. Having
given specific instructions not to leave any messages pertaining to the ring
with his assistant, it angered him the jeweler had disregarded his wishes. Now
Phoebe knew about the engagement ring, which was the last thing he’d wanted.

The phone rang, interrupting his thoughts.
He answered it before the first ring had finished. “Phoebe?”

“No,” said a voice remarkably similar to
Phoebe’s. “I’m trying to reach her though.”

“Who is this?” asked Luca.

“I’m Anya.” At his pause, she added, “Her
sister.”

He hadn’t even known there was a sister.
“Of course. She isn’t here right now.”

“I guessed,” she said with a hint of sass.
“She’s been trying to get hold of me. I had my phone off, ’cause I was with
someone.” She sounded embarrassed at the admission. “Do you know where she is?”

“No. I haven’t seen her since earlier in
the morning.” Had it really only been a couple of hours ago that she had
ushered Capro and his team into the conference room adjacent to his office? She
had flashed that lascivious little smile in his direction, the one that always
made him want to tear her clothes off and make love to her, regardless of the
circumstances. He suspected she knew that and had been torturing him, knowing
he couldn’t act on the impulse.

Anya groaned. “Oh no. I’ll bet she’s gone
to Boston to find me.”

“Boston?” He frowned. “Were you in Boston
last month?”

“Yeah. That was why she took time off, to
get me settled at the clinic. She was supposed to stay with me in Boston, but
you needed her.” She sounded resentful.

He tugged at his collar, loosening the tie
impatiently. “What clinic?”

“You sure don’t know much about Phoebe, do
you, Mr. Androtti?” asked the girl sharply. “I’d think somewhere in the past
month, you’d have had time to ask a few personal questions between bedroom
sessions.”

Luca winced, acknowledging the girl’s
assessment was accurate. They had talked about many things the past month, but
her past hadn’t been one of them. He had put an edict on hearing it and she had
obeyed. The truth was, he hadn’t wanted to know about her sordid history. He
couldn’t stand to hear the details. In avoiding the subject, he hadn’t learned
much of anything about her. “I’m sorry,” he said, sounding lame even to
himself.

“Whatever. Phoebe had her heart set on
getting me into the clinical trial. She just can’t accept there is no cure for
my Retinitis Pigmentosa.” Her tone softened. “She’s overprotective, but I guess
she’s entitled. Our parents died when I was thirteen and she was nineteen. She
became more like my mother than my sister.”

It was odd to hear these details from the
sister, instead of his lover. He felt like he was spying on her while she was
naked and oblivious to his presence. “That must have been difficult.”

“It wasn’t easy for either of us. So she’s
taken it really hard that I couldn’t see, and she can’t fix it.” Anya sighed.
“Honestly, that’s why I’ve put off calling her, because I didn’t want her to
feel too badly. I messed up though. Now she’s probably out looking for me
without a clue where I am.”

“I’ll find her.” He sounded more confident
than he felt. “I’ll start in Boston.”

“I’m here in Boston, so you don’t need to
come all that way.”

“I’ll be there in a couple of hours.” Luca
had to find her. “Where are you?”

“It’s a bed and breakfast. The name is
Honeywell House. The address—”

Luca interrupted. “I’m familiar with it.”

“Hey, can I ask you something?” She sounded
hesitant.

“What?” Please no more guilt trips about
how he’d ignored Phoebe.

Static buzzed, preventing communication for
a moment. When the line cleared, she said, “My phone is dying, but I wanted to
know if you’re the one who gave Phoebe the money for the clinical trial?”

The implication hit Luca like a fist in the
gut. Of course insurance wouldn’t cover an experimental treatment. It must have
been a costly program and she would have had myriad expenses related to the
treatment. It must have been like a godsend when Salvatore made his offer. He
groaned.

“Mr. Androtti? Was it you? I’m afraid she
did something awful to get the money. If she went to a loan shark, she could be
in danger.”

She had gotten the money from a shark, all
right. “She’s fine. I gave her the money.”

Anya breathed a sigh of relief into the
phone. “That’s a relief. I just hope we can find her quickly.”

“We will.” Luca shared a goodbye with the
girl, but kept hold of the handset. He arranged for his jet with another call,
before returning the phone to the cradle. Within the hour, he’d be on his way
to Boston. There was only one more stop he had to make first.

Chapter Six

Luck must have favored her, because Phoebe
had been able to catch a flight to Boston within thirty minutes of her arrival
at the airport. The streak of luck held when the plane landed on time and she
had no trouble finding a taxi. She gave the driver the clinic as her
destination, having decided to start there. Once settled, she opened her purse
and removed the phone to turn it on. Relief swept through her when she saw
she’d missed a call from Anya.

Without bothering to listen to voice mail,
she dialed her sister’s number. Anya answered on the first ring. “What are you
doing? You scared me half to death.”

“Hello, Phoebe,” said Anya in a mild tone.
“I’m fine, thanks.”

She sighed. “Are you okay? The doctor told
me you weren’t a candidate. We’ll find another—”

“No.”

“What do you mean ‘no’?” She shook her
head. “There has to be a program or a cure somewhere.”

“No.” Anya sounded resolute. “I’m done
living for that. I’m just going to live. If a treatment ever becomes available,
I’ll take it. In the meantime, why spend half my life chasing after something
to fix me?”

“Because you can’t see.” Frustration made
her voice sharper than she’d intended. Softening, she said, “You can’t just
accept defeat.”

“I’m not. I’m being realistic and I need
you to support my choice.”

With a groan, she said, “Let’s talk about
this later. Tell me where you are.”

It was Anya’s turn to sound frustrated, apparently.
“Not until you agree to stop pursuing treatments for my RP.”

She closed her eyes, struggling to comply
with her sister’s wishes. It was against her nature to just accept her sister’s
blindness and not try to fix it. Did Anya have any idea how difficult it would
be for her to let go and step back while she walked away from trying to see
again? As perceptive as she was, her sister must know what she was asking would
be a challenge. Phoebe knew she was an adult, and it was time to let Anya make
her own choices. With a sigh, she said, “Okay. I promise to support your
decision.”

Anya sounded happier when she said, “Thank
you. I’m at Honeywell House.”

She sagged with relief. “Thank goodness
you’re in the city. Did you get the room with the double beds?” A short silence
greeted her. “Anya?”

“About that… No, I didn’t.”

Her lucky streak couldn’t hold all day. “I
hope Mrs. Honeywell has another room free, since that one is taken. You have a
room. Do you remember how many suites she has?”

“I think five.” Anya paused again before
saying, “Look, sis, I need to tell you something else.”

It took every ounce of willpower to stifle
her instinctive groan. How could there possibly be anything else to tell her
that made her sister sound so apprehensive? “What?” Her voice emerged calm and
in control, though she was on edge.

“I don’t know if the double room was
booked. I chose the Romance Suite.”

An inkling of what was to come had Phoebe
rubbing the bridge of her nose to ward off the forming headache. “Who is he?”