The Risqué Target (26 page)

“I know. I'm gonna see this through even if it kills me. What about Gabe Cafferty?”
This was time-stamped after breakfast.

“Check your phone, I sent it to you,”
the inbox responded.

“
Yeah, it's there, I got it
,
”
Tantum returned.

“You know who he was, right?”

“Yes, I know exactly who Gabe Cafferty was. I'll be in touch.”

Nala felt like she was falling, like in her dreams, fast and unstoppable, finding out the truth. Tantum remembered Gabe, and Tantum didn’t want her. She was an assignment to him, like his friend, like The Iris Flower, and now he wanted to be rid of her. He had lied to her. Tantum Maddox deserved a damn Oscar for his performance.

How could I have been such a fool?
She'd fallen for the seductive Dark Angel.
Was it really Marcus Richards all along? Is Tantum Maddox still a stranger, the faceless man who killed my partner?
Sweaty and nauseated, she almost keeled over and heaved from her stupidity. She’d surrendered to him, had sex with him, and foolishly fallen for him.

She stripped those feelings from her heart and minced the shit out of them, leaving them on his floor and scattered all over his damn sofa. No longer would they be in her heart.
Hoodwinked by the best,
you dim-witted, inexperienced girl
. She only had herself to blame. For one split moment, she had let her guard down, opened the doors to her soul, and it had gotten her to this lowly point. In bold-faced, twelve-point font, spelled out for her, “
I've gotta get rid of her… yes, I remember Gabe Cafferty.”

A tear started in her gut and swam through her distraught veins. It made its way up her throat, and she choked on it. Her lips quivered and her cheeks went hot as it passed by, but she absolutely refused to let it reach her eyes. She squeezed back the burn and fought the urge to wallow in the slaughter of her heart. She had coached herself to believe in the facts. With stringent strategy, he'd played her, and she'd lost.

The time for losing had come to an end. Tantum wasn't the only one who could detach himself from his assignment, and it was time to prove it.

It took three minutes to pack her bag. She descended the stairs reached for her phone to call a cab, but she had no phone. She glanced at the door and groaned. She didn’t have the code to unlock it. She'd break another window if she had to and jog to the closest phone, maybe a gas station. She needed to get out of here.

Nala figured she had about an hour and half before he got back… back to find her gone, she thought with a smile. She passed through the living room and heard the knob to the door jiggling and keys clinking. She froze, confused. He was back already?

The door opened, the alarm rang out, and an arm thrust out fingers to the keypad and punched at the numbers until the ringing sound was silenced. The arm didn’t belong to Tantum, but she saw that Tantum belonged to the man who came through the door. He had the same strong features and those freaking eyes. It was like looking at Tantum's face twenty years from now.

“Hi.” She came forward with her hand out. “I'm Nala Dekker, a friend of Tantum's.” The man with dark gray hair, a tailored coat and suit, stood and stared at her in silence.

Suddenly, a gleam of hope lit up in his eyes. “Tantum’s friend? Is he here?” He glanced around the room.

“No. He had to run out, but he should be back in about an hour.”

The gleam of hope faded, his shoulders slouched, and he became grim-lipped. “Oh.” He gave Nala a quick once-over. “And who are you again?” Caution lurked in his skeptical eyes.

“I'm Nala Dekker.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He waved his hand at her. “But how do you know my son? The last woman I found prowling around outside my house claiming to look for my son was that thief… what was her name? Wild rose? Lily? Something like that.”

“The Iris Flower?” She wondered why that woman would have been at Tantum's home.
Did he lie? Did he bring her here, too, because he cared for her?
Nala’s stomach did another flip-flop at the thought.

“That's it, Iris Flower. Are you a thief too, Mrs. Dekker?”

“Ms.,” she absentmindedly corrected out of habit, still thinking about why The Iris Flower had been there. “And no. I work with Tantum.”

He raised his brows, like father like son. He paused, probably afraid to blow his son’s cover. “You work at, uh—”

“NESA,” she finished for him.

“Oh, good.” He relaxed and walked into the living room. “I just wasn’t sure if he was undercover with you or something, but I sense you are more to him than a co-worker. You know his given name, and he's brought you here.” He tossed his keys on the table.

“No, just friends,” and even that wasn't entirely true after what she'd just learned. Tantum Maddox was dead to her.

Mr. Maddox sat down in the chair, crossed his long legs, rested his hand along his chin attentively, and studied her. “Friends? I don’t think he's had a friend in years. He had a terrible time as a kid, his mom fighting the cancer and then taken from him in a car accident.”

His mother's dead?
He hadn’t mentioned it. She started to feel sorry for him, but she tried to fend it off, reminding herself that he had lied to her, he wanted to be rid of her, and that she was only an assignment. Her curiosity wouldn’t let her, though. She needed to know more. “A car accident?” She lowered herself onto the sofa.

“Yeah. When he was sixteen, he and some of his buddies went over to their rival school, planning to do some prank the night before a game, but they got caught. The police called me to pick him up at the station, but I was held up at work and called my wife to get him. I ended up getting out earlier than planned, so I left her a message and went to pick him up. We were leaving the station, and I can still remember hearing the sirens as I was turning the corner to head home. She'd left with her friend from a benefit to pick him up. They got into an accident less than a mile from the station. I never told him where the accident happened. I couldn’t have him thinking it was his fault.”

Her mouth fell open, and sadness sank to her already sour stomach. “Oh my.”

“After that, he seemed to always be getting in trouble. They found drugs in his locker at school. They kicked him off the football team. He loved playing the sport and was a great athlete, so competitive. Then there was the gun in his car and the DUI. He claimed innocence to all of the offensives, and you want to know something? I believed that boy. Sure, his mom's death messed him up a bit, but he was always a good kid with a big heart. Every year, he and his mom would go to the local hospitals and bring gifts to the kids, and she didn’t drag him there. He wanted to go.”

“Why did you think he was innocent? I mean, it’s a little biased, you being his father and all.” She wanted to know the truth about Tantum Maddox.
Is he really cruel and heartless? Does it stem from when he was a teen, or when his mother died? Or could he really be that messed-up kid with kindness left in his heart?

“As a parent, you know if your kids are doing drugs. And guns? He wouldn’t touch one.” His grunt somewhat resembled a chuckle. “But the last straw was the DUI. When we went before the judge, I couldn’t get him out of it. No amount of money would. He was given an ultimatum, jail or a military university.”

“And Marcus Richards? How did that come about?”

“He requested to have his name changed, and I didn’t think it was a bad idea. I always worried someone had it in for him and was setting him up to get in trouble. I even thought maybe it was that friend of his, Timmy. That boy was trouble. Anyway, I thought a fresh start would be good for him, and it has been. I hear he's a good agent.” He nodded his head proudly.

“He is, one of the best,” she said, knowing it wasn’t a lie. “But why are you telling me all this?”

“He's my son, and I love him. But he became a stubborn child, a recluse after his mother passed. I have a feeling my son is a lonely man, and I know what that feels like. I don’t want him to live the kind of life I have. I want him to be happy.” He arched his brow incredulously. “If you’re really his friend, he’s never going to tell you his life story, and you'll never really be able to understand him without it.”

“You're right, Mr. Maddox. You do have one stubborn son,” she agreed, thinking about what he'd said about Tantum being lonely.

Mr. Maddox's eyes shifted to her backpack. “Going somewhere?”

“Yes. I was going to run home for some things,” she lied.

“I didn’t see a car out there.”

“No. Mine’s at home. I came with Tantum, but I'm going to call a cab.” She wanted to ask if she could use his phone, but feared it might sound odd that she didn’t have her own. She didn’t want him to figure out that his son had held her captive.

“No need to call a cab.” He waved his hand. “I have my limousine out there. Take it.”

“I couldn’t impose,” she sweetly said with a smile, intent on taking him up on his offer.

“I insist. Besides, if Tantum sees it when he pulls up, he may not come inside.”

“He mentioned there's some, uh… tension between the two of you, but I'm sure you'll work it out.” She couldn’t fathom what a father could do to his child to make him hold a grudge for ten years.

“Ah.” He gestured with his hands. “He has good reason. I wasn’t there for him, and I wasn’t a very good husband, either. I tried to be around for him after his mother died, but he was becoming a man, set in his ways, and what I'd done to my family had already scarred him and ruined our relationship. But enough about all that.” His flat voice warmed with a smile. “You go on, Ms. Dekker, and take the limo. I'll tell Tantum you'll be back soon.”

Guilt dribbled from the gutter of her lie. Tantum was going to flip on his father for offering her his limo, but she couldn’t think about that. She had to get out of there before she lost her nerve, before she softened from the stories his father had told her about that sixteen-year-old boy, losing his mother and left with a father he didn’t think loved him. But obviously he did. It was laced in Mr. Maddox's voice when he spoke of him, and it lit up in his eyes. He loved his son.

“Thanks.” She picked up her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. “I really appreciate it.” She thrust out her hand to him. “And it’s really nice to have met you, Mr. Maddox,” she added with genuine gratitude. But she was ready to get out of there. She needed to get away from all that was Tantum Maddox.

He gently took her hand. “I will be seeing you soon,” he said.

Realizing that it did sound a little like she wasn't coming back, she fibbed. “Yes, soon.” And with that, she left it all behind—Tantum Maddox the killer, the lover, the thief who had stolen her heart. She left the dream, the nightmare, but she knew the memory of Tantum would be hanging around until the day she died.

****

Usually, the ride back from someplace seems to go faster, but not this time. It dragged on and on, the long hour alone in the car, alone after spending days with Nala by his side, but at least she wasn’t completely gone. He couldn't get her out of his head. He was anxious to get back to her and scared shitless he wouldn’t be able to let her go.

Still, he knew she'd have to leave eventually. They couldn’t stay locked up in his family home forever, even if he wished otherwise. He pulled into the drive, turned off the engine, and shook his head, trying to get rid of the crazy thinking that could get a guy in trouble.

When he went to put the key in the lock to the front door, it was already open. He pushed on it and stepped inside. Garret Maddox rose to his feet, and Tantum abruptly overcame the shock of seeing his father. He refused to give him the satisfaction. His father had aged in ten years, and he was not as fit, as strong-looking. His posture was slightly slumped. He had a full head of gray hair, but a loss of skin elasticity. Deep lines creased his frown, and his eyes looked tired, even though they mirrored Tantum’s own.

“Tantum,” Garret Maddox said with calm authority.

Tantum closed the door and. “What are you doing here?” he asked sternly.

“The alarm went off a few days ago. They called me when it happened, but said someone had already contacted them with the code. I assumed it was you, but thought I'd check it out.” He took one cautious step toward his son.

Tantum could have kicked himself for not realizing his father would find out about it. But there was nothing he could do about it now. “Oh,” he said, finding himself at a loss for words.

“But I'm glad I ran into you, son.”