The Devil's Masquerade: The Poison (7 page)

“I love you too, very much. What’s wrong, Princess? I haven’t seen that look in your eyes since … since you were a kid, waking up with nightmares. I don’t like to see you like this. Tell me what I can do to fix it?”

“Promise me. Promise me you will always love me and never stop fighting for us? Promise me that, and I promise you I will feel better and not need to know anything else.”

“Kayla, don’t you understand that my love for you is so embedded in my heart that it doesn’t beat without you?” I smile wide, wrapping my arms around him. “You went through a very traumatizing experience, Princess. You were comatose for two days, and I don’t understand why you insist on acting like you’re able to handle everything that you usually do so soon. You’re still weak and tired. You will feel better in a few more days,” Nick sighs again, cradling my face in his hands, “Rest, and we will talk more later.” A sweet kiss, a tender grasp of my thigh, and he smiles. “Get all the rest you can because I am anxious to prove my love for you,
in my special way
, later tonight.” I take hold of him and don’t want to let go.
Why wait until tonight?

“Nick?” I stop kissing and fondling my husband to see Franky peeking through our bedroom door. “Oh, there you are? I managed to find that information on your mother for you. Do you still want to see it?” Franky says with a sweetly innocent smile.

“Yes. Thank you, Franky. Get some rest Princess. I have the boys playing in the office with me, so don’t worry about them.” Nick kisses me on the head, a g-rated kind of affection that I am not accustom to.

“Are you not feeling well, Kayla?” Franky asks with a concerning tilt of her head.

“I’m fine. Just a little tired is all,” I say imagining myself choking her sweet little head off her body, but with a smile, of course.

“Are you sure? If you need me to, I would be happy to look you over and write a prescription if necessary?” she says.

“No thanks. I’m good.” I smile back at her as Nick looks back at me with a grin.

“Thank you, Franky. That is very nice of you.” Nick says. “I think she just needs a little more rest.”
Uh-huh rest … and my gun.

“Oh, it is absolutely no problem. Happy to help,” she says, holding her hand over her heart. “If you change your mind, I will be downstairs with Nick for another hour, I would think? Wouldn’t you Nick?” Nick nods, taking my hand as if he knows I am ready to jump across the bed at her. He excuses them both before I can respond, which is probably best for everyone.

I don’t know why that woman bothers me so much, but there is something about her I just don’t like. I lie back in bed and actually begin to fall asleep until I feel the bed move. I feel someone slyly climbing into the bed near me. “Don’t get excited Kayla. I am not Nick, so you can keep your panties on,” Exie, says as she suddenly plops down right against me.

“What are you doing here?”

“I called earlier, and Nick said you were having nightmares all night.”

“And you came by to check on me? That is so sweet.”

“Hell no! I thought you would be out of it enough so I could steal those shoes I have been asking to borrow for months now,” she says, causing me to laugh.

“I should have known,” I say as she finally breaks a smile. “So did you see her?”

“Who? Oh, Franky?” I nod impatiently. “Yeah, Nick introduced her to me when I came in. She seems nice.” I sit up and glare at her. “I mean… nice for an obviously evil, cum-guzzling, cheap, back- alley slut, and all other horrible things in the world that I am too much of a lady to mention.” She looks sideways at me until I back off my sinister glare. “Gees. She dated Nick in high school, so what? He married you.”

“He asked her to marry him first.”

“No! You don’t say. Well, it’s settled then. We must kill her,” she says sarcastically. “And… Nick is insanely in love with you, and I don’t think an old girlfriend is going to change that any,”

“I know, but I get a bad feeling about her. Of all the things Nick told me about her, it seems like she fits them, but she fits them almost too well.” Exie rolls her eyes. “Don’t roll your eyes at me. The woman acts as if she is reading a script about a woman she has never known. I don’t trust her,” I snap.

“Then pull out your Kayla investigation glasses and look into what she is telling your clearly vulnerable husband,” she huffs with a laugh. But she gives me an idea. I turn towards her and smile wide. “Oh no. No! No! Whatever it is, I am not helping you. I am busy that day and the next. No. No, Kayla!”

Chapter 8

Kayla

Exie’s arms are still crossed, but I ignore her disapproval and continue to wait for the right moment to sneak into the medical facility where Nick’s mom stays. It may seem stupid and paranoid, but there is something about Franky I don’t trust. Exie begins shaking her head as soon as she realizes my determination to go through with this. “Stop shaking your head. You agreed to help me, and besides … you look absolutely amazing in that outfit. I bet Bo would be on his hands and knees drooling if he saw you right now,” I say with a smile.

“Really, you think so?” Exie says, proudly looking down at herself. “Hey, don’t change the subject Kayla! I am not at all happy about being tricked into this. You said we were going to do something that was not going to cause us to get arrested. Breaking and entering is against the law I believe.”

“We aren’t breaking anything. We are walking in and exploring. There is no law against exploring. Besides, Nick pays a lot of money for this place. We should be able to do whatever we want to, when we want to do it. Now, unfold your arms, and let’s go.” I don’t bother to continue trying to convince her, I just go, knowing Exie will never let me go alone. I wait to sneak in through one of the side doors, and just as expected, one of the orderlies steps out for a smoke break which isn’t allowed on the premises. He is so determined to hide his habit that he doesn’t notice us going into the door he conveniently left propped open.

Once we are in, I take a moment to look around and verify where any possible staff members might be, but the place is nearly empty at this late hour. I can find only one orderly who is too busy playing a game on his iPad to notice us. No matter the skeleton crew, I am still cautious about rounding corners and leading Exie down long halls.

“Do you know where you’re going?” Exie whispers to me.
She has no faith in me, as if I would come here without knowing exactly where I am going.
Eddie was able to provide me with everything I need and was happy to do it for me, although I had to swear that I would never tell Nick. I find the door I am looking for and smile wide to the immediate roll of her eyes. “Just hurry up,” she barks.

I go through the keys I had one of our men steal for me earlier in the day until one finally works. We hurry in, and I instantly begin searching through the computer to try and find the information I am looking for. Unfortunately, the woman we stole the keys from was smart enough to put a lock on her computer. I quickly take out my phone and dial, “Hi Eddie. Yeah I’m here, but she put a lock on it.” Eddie, gave me a gadget to attach via the USB, and once I do, he immediately takes over and breaks in within seconds. I watch proudly as Eddie downloads all the information about this facility for me.

“Kayla, hurry up! I think someone is coming.” Exie says in a loud whisper as she peeks through a window in the door.

“Okay Kayla. I got it all. Shut it down and get out of there.”

“Thanks Eddie, see you soon. We got what we need Exie let’s get out of here,” I say, making sure to put everything back the way I found it.

“I think we are too late,” Exie replies, and I glance out to see several orderlies gathering around. A quick look around and I decide our best bet is to use the skills we both know well. I mess up our clothes and dishevel our hair before we both nod towards each other, understanding exactly what we are going to do. We sneak out the door and lock it back before I toss the keys into a nearby laundry chute. We walk towards the men, giggling and holding onto each other in a drunken performance.

“Hey! What are you girls doing out of your room?” One yells at us as we just giggle and smile, allowing them near before we rub against them and sigh an erotic need. They don’t complain and, as expected, they immediately forget about their jobs. We have two apiece to deal with, but we both manage to hypnotize them with a sway of our hips, a lick of our lips, and an alluring hum that draws them even closer to our admiring hands. We tempt them this way and that, watching as the four men begin to laugh nervously.

“Can I have some water? I am so very hot,” I say as Exie twists her fingers into the cleavage of her shirt. They quickly show us to the employee lounge and rush to get us whatever we want while we sneak their keys from their pockets and lock them into the lounge. We wave goodbye, make a quick stop to delete the camera footage at the reception desk, and walk out, tossing their keys near the back door where their chain-smoking friend can eventually find them. We leave out the front door, jump in my car, and are gone within a breath, although our adrenaline high remains long after we escape.

“Damn Kayla. I swear, a few more years of being your friend and I am surely going to have a heart attack,” Exie says harshly but eventually smiling when I laugh. “Alright, alright. I will admit, you keep my life interesting, and at times, it’s worth being your friend.” She smiles, and I know she feels good about her skills for the night.

By the time we get to Eddie, he is already going through the files with Terrence. “Have you found anything?” I ask them.

“Yes and no.” Terrence says. “There is actually nothing at all on a Francesca or Franky with any last name anywhere in the files. No work information, no education file, no medical. Nothing. However, they have records of every other worker and patient in the place. Every doctor that works there has a complete career chart, where they worked previously, every school they attended, and all their medical certification numbers. Yet, there isn’t one thing about this woman. There doesn’t even seem to be anyone that would resemble her under another name. It’s strange, Kayla. When we look up Nick’s mom’s file, it says her doctor is Francesca Conti. She’s the only one in the facility with that doctor.”

I look over Eddie’s shoulder to view the documents he has pulled up and stare at the words “private physician.” “She only sees one patient? That can be right. She has a permanent office for one patient?”

“Does Nick pay for that?” Exie asks.

“I don’t think they would offer anything like that, even if Nick required it. Nick would surely say something to me about that. I think I need to talk to him about this?” I say, not considering why I would ask such a question.

“He is not going to like how you got this information, or that you are having Franky followed,” Exie says to me.

“Well, I don’t have to tell him everything. Just that I was worried about his Mother?” Exie shakes her head. “Okay, I will confess that I wanted to know more about Franky, and I didn’t want him to know that I am … intimidated by her?”

“You’re intimidated by her?” Exie doubles over in laughter. “Okay, good luck with that. I have to get back to the club and close up.” Exie waves goodbye while I try to figure out how to talk to Nick about this.

No matter what I come up with, I can’t imagine it is going to help me avoid an argument.
Nick, I was worried about your mother and … no that’s not ever going to work. Damn it Nick, I have a right to know everything about her! Oh no I am in real trouble.
It would be best to just say it and reflect the issues back on Franky before he has a chance to get angry with me. Although, it can’t hurt to tell him in his favorite lingerie. The moment Nick walks in, he looks me over with suspicion.
Damn the underwear was too much.

“What did you do?” he sighs, expecting trouble already. He knows me too well.

“What? Why are you immediately assuming I did something wrong?” I ask him with attitude, but when he cocks his head and huffs, I know I am not going to convince him of anything other than the trouble I have caused. “Fine, I dug up some information on Franky. Do you know there is no record of her anywhere at that hospital and that the only patient that even has her listed as their doctor is your mother? Why is that, Nick? How can she get away that? She is stalking your mother to get to you.” I hold out documents to him that I had printed and look up at him with innocent smiling eyes.

He looks down at my hand, but the moment his eyes start to swirl, I know I am in trouble. “Kayla, what the fuck did you do? Did you break into the hospital and steal her information? What is wrong with you lately? Do you not trust me? I have never in my life known you to be jealous or insecure around anyone. Why are you worried all of a sudden?”

“I’m not. I just don’t trust her! There is something about her that isn’t right, Nick.”

“There is nothing about her, except that she cares for my mother and I used to fuck her! And you hate that I ever had feelings for anyone other than you. Yes, I cared for her deeply, I still care for her, our relationship meant something to me …
at the time
. Fuck Kayla, that was a long time ago, and those feelings are not even close to the same feelings I have for you.”