Survivor (The Soul Mates Series Book 1) (17 page)

I felt it whilst I was just coming out of my nap, the lightest touch from a finger pad swirling around my breast, getting closer and closer to my nipple.  It was the best sleep I’d had in ages and I knew it was because I felt satisfied, content and safe.

I had Ross back, close to me.  He was like a security blanket enabling me to breathe.

“Baby,” he whispered.

“Mmm.”

I could feel him chuckle, “We’ve been asleep for five hours, people are gonna think we’ve got lost.”

“Oryou’vekidnappedme,” I forced through my sleepy lips in one go.  I felt his frame go rock solid, it scared me enough that I opened my eyes to look at him.  “What’s wrong?”

“Hate that we have to talk about this, but let’s get it out of the way and at least this way, with you naked underneath me I can… manage your reaction.”

“That sounds really bad,” I tried to sit up, but he wasn’t keen on that so I stayed put and braced.

“There was never a Neely and me.  Just a nearly Neely and me.  Our timin’ was never right, we had two dates and neither were particularly successful.”

“You told me that you didn’t have time for ‘stuff’ whilst you were on the job.”

“I didn’t really, things were more complicated and the time factor was also one of the reasons why it was unsuccessful.”

I didn’t get it and the confusion must have shown on my face, “But she’s with that cowboy now, married.”

“Another reason.  She’d been into him for a while.  I always sensed it, but ignored my instinct.  However, that’s not the reason Chris and I came to blows.  He was involved in the case I was on whilst I was here.  I involved Neely and it was not well received.”

I figured we were coming to the point of it, the bit I wouldn’t like, “How?”

“I kidnapped her and handed her over to the other side.”

No.

He did not just tell me that.

My legs reacted before my brain and I couldn’t control the wrestling and grappling that my body started.  I wanted out of that bed, out from under him.

“Stop.  Calm down.  Cara Stop!  Let me finish.”

“If… If you do that to me, I’m dead.”

“I’m not gonna to do that to you,” he replied immediately.

“It all makes sense now, Chris’s reaction, well, the whole town’s reaction when you appeared at the coffee shop.  They know you’re trouble.”

“I am, or I was.  Long and short of it, if I didn’t take her on my terms, where I could control the outcome, someone else would have.  I needed to be involved to keep her safe.  I’d like to say she was not in any danger but there was always the chance.  The end result was a win for the good guys, but Chris did not see it that way.  I didn’t have time to apologize or make amends, I was still on the job and had to split, wrap it all up officially.”

I wanted to say it didn’t sound that bad, but Chris’s reaction didn’t lie and for God’s sake the women had to call in reinforcements to contain the potential fallout.  “The invitation thing?”

Ross started to chuckle, “Neely is a hot headed little ball of fire, the role she played in my case meant it was over quicker.  She understood that because she got to have her happily ever after.  I got a weddin’ invite with similar words via Jonas, Chris was unhappy about it and a couple of days later I received a firm disinvitation.”

“Oh.”

“Now come here, there’s more and I definitely want you where I can keep hold of you.”  I got myself rewrapped in the sheet I’d managed to shed in our tussle and waited for him to continue.  “Don’t let me hear you put yourself down again.”

“What?”

“Last night, the ‘she’s beautiful and I’m me’ bull shit.  That’s done.  I get you’re new at this, maybe insecure, but trust me, I’m where I want to be.  Certain parts of my body do not lie.”

He waited whilst I caught on, “Oh.”

“Oh indeed.  If this is going to work we need to trust each other.  You have to trust that I am where I want to be and I need to trust that you’ll stay put.  The thought that I’m gonna turn around and you’ve split is makin’ me jumpy.  Jumpy means I might miss somethin’, make a mistake and mistakes lead to very bad outcomes.  Do you get me?”

I nodded.  I did understand, I needed to give him something back for all he was doing for me and if all he wanted was some assurance and a piece of mind, then sure, I could give him that. “I get you.”

“Next,” he barked, “there’s more.  We’re here because I ran into Guiseppe.” Once again I tried to leap out of the bed, but this time Ross was prepared.  “Stop.  Listen to me.  Fuck, it seems like we need to add controllin’ your predictable reactions to your trainin’.”

The reminder that I was acting predictable was enough to halt my panic and stop me in my tracks.

“I staked out some businesses, does Sunset Strip ring any bells?”

“Yes.  It was the first business my father gave to Guiseppe when he graduated from college.  I did the accounts, nothing special springs to mind for the legit business side.”

“Exactly, it’s not legit.  It may look like that on the outside but it’s as shady as fuck.”

“It’s Guiseppe’s main office base outside of the family home.”

“You ever heard of a honey trap baby?”

“Yes.  Something sweet to lure you in and then exploit it,” I confirmed.  I may have been turning a blind eye to a lot of things but that didn’t mean I didn’t have the grass roots understanding of the underworld.

“Exactly.  Sunset strip has a honey trap by the name of Raven.  She’s performin’ private dances on guys and she’s underage.  The hints she was droppin’ durin’ my time with her lead me to believe it’s being recorded and later used to recruit officials, cops and business men to your families payroll.”

“That poor girl.  Was she… Did they…” I couldn’t get the awful words out, nothing surprised me with Guiseppe but I needed to know if the girl was OK.

“I stayed longer to make sure she was in one piece, my private dance was productive for them, that’s how Valentino ended up in Rockton.  He was lookin’ for me as a mark, to add me to the corrupted list workin’ with your family.”

“No! You can’t get involved.  Please don’t go undercover with them.” It was an effort to wrangle the words out because I was starting to hyper ventilate.

“Sssh, breathe baby.” I could hear him soothe me and it felt like he was at the opposite end of a tunnel, but then I felt him stroking my hair to calm me down.  “I wouldn’t do that to you and I can’t do that to myself, it’s not safe.  It means that they have people on the inside at the ATF workin’ with them already.”

“I don’t understand,” and I really didn’t.

“They found me.  Ross Wilkes.  Not some alias or cover I use and they found me at my dad’s.  They got hold of my proper, real personnel information from a file that is supposed to be so deep it should be impossible to access it.”

Well that really wasn’t good. I knew it meant I couldn’t go back until this was over, it was just too risky.  “What now?”

“We talk to Jonas and we replan.”

My instinct was screaming anything but, my internal negativity was pressing my flight reaction, my family were just too formidable.  I couldn’t suggest that though because I’d just promised him I would trust him, trust us and not run.  I couldn’t forget the girl at the strip club though, “We need to get the girl out of there.”

“I know.  I’ve got Jonas looking into her.”

“Thank you,” I said, breathing a sigh of relief and sloping towards him.  I kissed him, conveying I was with him and it didn’t take long before it grew intense. 

“Baby, get rid of that sheet.  It looks like we’ve just found somethin’ else to add to your trainin’ schedule,” he chuckled and swooped on top of me.

It was another hour and nearly time for dinner by the time we made it over to the main ranch house.  We trolled across the back deck where Dolly and Jonas’s twins were playing with the house door open.  Jonas was in ear shot of them, ready to pounce if they were in danger of being harmed.

“Hi,” I said to the room, Dolly was fixing a meal in the open plan kitchen.

“You OK Chickie Pie?” she asked and I returned confirmation with a head nod in reply.

“Son, we got us a mystery.  Chuck has just been to check the junkyard and there was an envelope in the mailbox.  No name on it so I got him to open it,” Sam said.

“And?”

“Hand me that paper boy,” he indicated to Jonas.  Again I wanted to laugh out loud at his boy reference but it didn’t feel right.  “It says,
‘today you are you, that is truer than true.  There is no one alive who is you-er than you.’
”

“I’ve heard that before,” Dolly shouted, she was currently crouched down pulling something amazing out of the oven.

I’d heard it too.  Fear was sweeping over me.

“Cara, what is it?” Jonas asked me, this guy was pin sharp, he knew it was a message.

“It’s Dr.Seuss, written in 1959 from the book Happy Birthday to you!”

“What’s it mean baby?”  Ross picked up that this was important.

“In Katroo the birthday bird threw someone a special party every day.”

“And?” I could see he wasn’t following and getting impatient.

“My Mom used to say it to me when I was scared by the things I could do.  She’d always tell me, I was ‘you-er than you.’  She used to tell me not to be afraid even though sometimes she was.”

“A message, a personal one,” Jonas confirmed.

“It’s a message, someone in my family knows I’m alive and they know where I’ve been.  They’ve found me,” I whispered, my fear now evident.

“They’ve made their play,” Ross mumbled, “Now we need to figure out just what kind of play it is.”

All hell broke loose.

Ross was all but bouncing off the walls, the thought that the message was for me, a personal message was apparently unthinkable. 

Sam did his best to calm him down, but ended up making things worse, especially when he announced he was going home sooner rather than later.

Dolly was confused, hardly surprising really, she was slap bang in the middle of something she didn’t understand.

Jonas, he was silently observing the personalities before he put his foot in any camp.

Me, I was freaked out on the inside, but relieved that my family had made the first move.  Playing games meant we were firmly on the road to completion, I only hoped that completion had a good outcome.

“So you’re on the run?” Dolly asked me astutely.

“Yes, my family are not good people.”

“Who are they?”

“Babe,” warned Jonas, “Need to know.”

My rational thinking finally snapped, “I’m done with need to know.  Hiding who I am hasn’t helped me, they’ve still found me.  I’ve tried to avoid trouble and it seems like I just keep bringing more.  I hate that I’m doing that because I know you’re all trying to help me.”

“Cara,” I heard Ross grumble, it was his turn to offer a warning.

“It’s my decision who I tell, not yours.  Dolly, my family is an ugly mob with a big hand in crime and violence.  My real name is…,” I breathed deeply because I didn’t say it often, “My name is Antonia Acerbi.  Please for your own safety keep that to yourself, for all intents and purposes, I’m Cara Daniels.  Knowing about me at all is very dangerous.”

“Thank you for trusting me.  I’m sorry your life isn’t going to plan, but with these guys on board, it will all be over soon.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” I heard my guy mutter.

“Cara, your real name is beautiful and I hope one day you can use it again.”

She was right it was, beautiful and cruel.  “It’s a lovely name, steeped in history but unfortunately I don’t want to be that person.  My Italian heritage is important, stiflingly so.  Antonia means invaluable, crucial, key.  It means irreplaceable and priceless, well they’ve kind of got that bit right because they just won’t let me go.”

“Baby,” Ross moved to stand beside me, he knew I needed to own this and he wanted to support me through it.”

“Oh wait it gets better, Acerbi, my surname means harsh and heartless.  It literally describes my entire family.   I’m a priceless commodity, a princess from a heartless criminal family.”

“Why have you run away?” she asked.

I knew I’d gone too far at that point, I’d shared enough to get me installed in a seven by two foot rectangular wooden box as it was.  When I saw Jonas shaking his head, I followed his lead and clammed up tight. He then took over for me, “Sam, head home, if you don’t you’ll be confirming that you know where she is.  We’re going to need a middle man to negotiate through this anyway.  The possibility of an old retired Fed should be a lure they also won’t resist if they think there is a bribe possibility.

Ross was about to disagree, but Sam was already out the door before he could counter the instruction.  “Son, keep Mouse in one piece.  I want my girl home soon.”  His throwaway comment meant the absolutely world to me and I loved him for it.

Jonas continued, “I’ve got some base data on Raven.  She’s sixteen, her mother has a substance abuse background and her father is in for seventy five large with family.  I guess she’s his payback.”

Dolly dropped a dish she’d picked up to dry, “Oh no!”  She looked grey and pale.

“I know babe, I’m working on getting her someplace safe, but she’s a valuable commodity and as we’re already discovering, they don’t like letting the girls leave the family service easily.”

He got that right.

“What about the mole inside the agency?  Any leads?” Ross asked him. This was an important question, one that determined how safe we all were to proceed.

“Not so far and I’m still trying to figure out how to proceed, there is no safe way to discreetly enquire about that kind of shit without putting me and my girls on the line.”

“Maybe I could help?”  It was a long shot, but I wanted to help for a change and they’d over looked the information I may know.  “Give me some names and I’ll see who might be on the payroll.”

Jonas started laughing, “It ain’t the stupidest idea and I’m intrigued to see this in action.”

Dolly looked confused, she knew she was missing a piece of the puzzle.  “See what in action?”

“You sure?” Ross wasn’t convinced.

“Yes.  Let’s do this, if it plugs a hole and keeps you safe then absolutely.”

And so it began, Ross fired names at me and left me to search the corners of my brain for a minute to process it.  “Frank Gallard?”

“No.”

“Tomas Carlito?”

“No.”

“Harland Mosely?”

“No.”

This carried on for a while, Dolly and Jonas watched the exchange between Ross and I like a tennis match, neither of them understanding what my capability was until we finally struck gold.

“Terrence Lowe?”

“Yes,” I told him immediately.

“Motherfucker.  You sure?”

“He lives at 52
nd
West Avenue, has a wife, two sons and a daughter.”  I let my brain rotate and continue dredging up the stuff.  “I processed ten thousand dollars on February 17
th
2012, Fifteen thousand dollars on September 26
th
2012 and then regular amounts of between twelve and twenty five thousand dollars every six months until the last time I… saw his name, before I left.  His bank account is based in Barbados at the National Credit Union and is located on Royal Square.  His account number is…”

“OK baby, I think we understand.  We’ve got it, that’s our guy.”

“What in the hell on earth just fucking happened?” Asked Dolly, the look on her face was priceless and could only be described as utter bewilderment.

“Dalton, say nothing of this to anyone, but you’ve just seen the famous Double A in action,” Jonas answered for me.

“I have no idea what that means but can you teach me how to remember my grocery list, who the hell I’ve lent my Jimmy Choo’s to and the sexual positions in the Kama Sutra by name?  My man would be forever grateful.”

“Fuck me,” Jonas stuttered, shaking his head whilst Ross and I burst out laughing.

There wasn’t much else to do after I’d shared my skills so I decided to stay with Dolly.  This meant playtime with the twins and they were adorable, perfectly identical with polar opposite personalities.  They were definitely going to keep Dolly and Jonas on their toes.  One was quiet and innocent, so innocent you knew she’d be getting sucked into all kinds of drama through no fault of her own and the other was just pure drama.  Ball busting, hell on wheels drama.

I wanted this.

I wanted what they had.

I wanted a life

I wanted my future.

I was so wrapped up in dreaming about something I could never have that I didn’t realize Ross was standing behind me.  “One day, Cara,” he whispered in my ear and then he left me to go back to Jonas.

Those three simple words were enough of a promise to make me realize that I wanted that ‘one day’ with him more than anything in the world.

Ross Wilkes had crashed into my life when I was trying to hide from the world and made me dream, he’d made me hope and best of all he’d made me fall in love with him.