Fatal Obsession (Black Widow Book 2) (16 page)

“You want to explain that?” Dale demanded harshly.

Elaine crouched down and searched the assistant’s pockets, “Not particularly, no. Either way it doesn’t concern you.”

“What do you mean it doesn’t concern us?” Richard asked more calmly.

Elaine stood, holding a phone and another device in her hand. “Mike.”

“Got it.” Mike took the device, leaned down, grabbed the body and threw it over his shoulder and walked out of the room like there was nothing strange about what he was doing.

Elaine dropped the phone to the floor and crushed it under her booted foot, “I go away one month and you manage to turn everything upside down.”

Damien ignored that. “He does know there are hundreds of agents out there, right?”

“And yet no one will see him leave.” She crossed her arms over her chest, “Care to explain how you were caught?”

Damien shifted Tasha to lie across his lap, her head under his chin, “Actually, she was caught.”

“I know, I was there, but you were spotted way before that. How would Dale here know to arrest her when you weren’t there?”

Damien stared at his cousin who stared back with no remorse. “I knew you wouldn’t let her go.”

Damien bit down hard on his jaw. “So how did you find me?”

“Security cameras.”

“Really?” The skepticism echoed in Elaine’s voice. “Homeland security knew you
borrowed
their satellite?” She leaned to the side and smiled, “Audrey, it’s nice to meet you. Face to face I mean.”

Audrey paled and Dale shifted to block Elaine’s view of her, raising his gun higher. “You don’t look at her. You don’t even speak to her!”

Elaine shrugged and then turned to Damien, “Come on, we’re leaving. Where’s brainiac?”

“You are not going anywhere. You just killed someone in front of us.”

The look Elaine gave Dale chilled Damien to the bone. They needed to leave before his cousin’s neck got snapped like a twig too. “Elaine, let’s just go.”

“What about DJ? Are you going to leave him behind?” Dale taunted, “Doesn’t matter. Social Services must have him by now.”

Damien stood, Tasha in his arms, “Dale, that’s not funny.”

“Who said I’m joking? She’s going to jail and you will be too as an accessory. DJ will stay with social services until we find his real parents.”

Damien clenched his jaw and prayed for patience, “We’ll see what Ellie has to say to that. In fact, I should call her right now and ask her.”

Dale’s eyes narrowed dangerously, “Don’t involve her in this!”

“Why? She has a right to know her husband is about to put her nephew in a group home.”

“Well, she’ll find out soon enough,” Elaine offered, “I called her on my way here. It didn’t seem fair to leave her out of the reunion and I had a feeling you would be difficult.”

“Don’t you…”

“What kill her?” Elaine cut him off. “Protecting your wife is what got us all in this mess in the first place. If Ellsa had done what she was told and cut off all ties with her, none of what happened would have happened. So damn stubborn!”

Damien had to smile at that last part. Some part of Ellsa he remembered had been emerging this last month. She was stubborn when she wanted something. That stubbornness led to one hot weekend and DJ.

Tasha stirred in his arms and he looked down at her, catching her as she opened her eyes. She stared at him, almost like through him before she blinked, once, twice then she fully came awake. Damien held his breath and waited.

“Damien, what’s going on?”

He let out the breath, “You passed out from the pain.”

“I did?” Tasha looked around, “Where’s the doctor?”

“He needed to leave,” Elaine answered quickly, “want to explain what you’re doing here?”

Tasha sighed, “It’s not as if I had much of a choice. This cop dragged me out of the cabin as if I’d killed his grandmother. Oh and would you please tell him we don’t have another sister, much less a twin to me.”

“What else has he been telling you?” Elaine asked calmly. Too calmly.

“Not much else. He was about to list out my crimes but now that he has a gun pointed in my direction, I’m not sure I should ask.”

Richard moved forward, his gun already holstered like everyone else, except Dale. He placed his hand on Dale’s shoulder and his gun followed suit. “Tasha, why don’t you and Damien go to the visitors’ room and Elaine stays and explains a few things to us about the past you don’t remember.”

Tasha turned to Elaine, who gave her a nod and a smile. “Okay, but don’t hurt her or I’ll really sue you guys.”

Richard nodded, “Deal.”

Damien took that as his cue and walked out of the room, Tasha still cradled in his arms. He entered a smaller room with three black leather couches lining the walls of the room except for the one with the windows. There was a short coffee table in the middle of the room filled with magazines. A coffee station sat under the shattered windows. He placed her down on one of the couches and headed straight for it. He would have preferred something stronger, but black coffee would have to do. He felt so wound up being in that building. He wouldn’t be able to breathe until they were out. And then what? Would he always be on alert of all the strangers they ran into? Was this the life Elaine has been leading—well had been, considering his carelessness got Tasha found. But the FBI had been on her tail long before he came into the picture.

He couldn’t believe Vladimir sent one of his goons to the FBI just to eliminate Tasha. What was it that he didn’t know, that Elaine and Mike were keeping secret? And what did Elaine mean by Ellsa’s refusal to go completely dark led to all this? Does this mean Ellsa was like her? A person who could kill without batting an eyelash, with a total lack of remorse?

He sighed heavily. It was funny how he’d reverted to calling her Ellsa. That must mean something.

“Damien, what is it? What’s wrong?”

He turned to face her, “Nothing is wrong.”

She shook her head, “Don’t lie to me. You have that pensive look on your face. What’s got you so worried?”

Damien’s brow went up, “And how would you know that? My back was to you.”

She smiled indulgently, “Your reflection in the window. Now spill.”

He sighed, scratching his head and missing his hair. He’d grown accustomed to pulling it when he was frustrated. “I just wish we were still in the cabin, far away from the real world.”

Tasha stood and went to him. Gingerly she wrapped her arms around his waist, “Well, you did say we’ll have to face things sooner or later. It just came sooner than we hoped.”

Damien placed his coffee cup down and hugged her back, “And I’m sorry for that—for this.”

“Hey, it wasn’t your fault and once Elaine clears everything up we’ll be on our way back to our little cabin. Though I think maybe I should start the divorce proceedings while we’re here. Just get it out of the way with everything else and properly begin the rest of our lives.”

He pressed his lips against hers then whispered, “That would be great, though not as easy as you make it sound.”

She groaned, her head dropping to his chest, “Don’t burst my bubble okay. I would like to keep thinking of this mountain as an ant hill.”

Damien chuckled and then turned to the knock on the door. The laugh died in his throat, choking him. Tasha was not prepared for this. He tried to hold her head against his chest, but she’d already turned and his hand landed on her cheek. She went stiff in his arms and he watched her, watching Ellie, who stood frozen at the door, confused at what to do. But the tears in her eyes were unmistakable.

“D-Damien,” Tasha stuttered, her voice breathy and inaudible. “Please tell me I’m seeing my own things? That your crazy cousin wasn’t right?”

Damien tried to turn her head to face him but she wouldn’t budge so he settled for speaking calmly into her ear. “Tasha, I want you to take deep breaths for me.” He rubbed her back when she didn’t respond. “Come on honey, we don’t want you passing out.”

“Won’t—won’t work.”

Her cheek felt warm and wet. This was not good. “What will work then, tell me,” he demanded desperately.

“Nothi—” she didn’t finish before her body sagged against his and her arms dropped from around him. He caught her, lifting her up in his arms the same moment Ellie reached their side.

“What happened?” she cried.

“Why did you just come in here like that? Why didn’t you call me or send someone to fetch me? She can’t have triggers from her past just popping up; she needs to be prepared for them.”

“Stop screaming at me! I feel bad enough! Dale told me she was here so I came. I assumed she knew everything already.”

Damien walked to the nearest couch and gently placed Tasha down. “Now she won’t know anything.” Oh hell, DJ was going to be crushed. “Stay here with her while I get Elaine.”

“Why? I’m her real sister!” Ellie argued angrily; and a little jealous he was sure.

Gently as he could Damien said, “Not for the past year. And if—when she wakes up, call her Tasha, not Ellsa. Ellie, this isn’t your sister, not anymore. She’s not the same person you knew. Sure, you’ll recognize a few things about her but she’s not Ellsa. Do you understand?”

Ellie forcefully wiped her cheeks dry and sank to her knees at Tasha’s head, “Just get help.”

Chapter Nine

“I’m the one you are mad at. I’m the one you hate, so kill me and end it all, because there is no way in hell you are getting anywhere near my son!”

“If I kill you, you do understand I can still take him?”

“You kill me and Carson kills you. You lose and I still win.”

“He won’t kill me.”

“Why? Because he is secretly in love with you?” Ellie taunted, “He loathes you. The sight of you makes his stomach turn in disgust.”

“Stop it!”

“Why? I’m just telling you the truth. Just like George and Taylor, they never wanted you, it’s me they loved. Not forgetting, what’s his name....? Ned... your recent ex-boyfriend?”

“I had sex with them and they loved it!” She struck, hoping to cause as much damage as Ellie’s words caused her. “Your husband begged me for more and more! I pleasured him more than you ever could.”

Ellie’s lips rose in a mocking smile, “And I’m sure the entire time they were thinking about me. Did Dale whisper ‘Ellie, I love you’ in your ear when he brought you to orgasm, because he loves to do that?”

Ellsa lifted the gun and pointed it at her, “You bitch! I hate you!”

“So shoot me! Shoot me and leave my son alone!”

“As you wish...” pulling back the trigger.

Her eyes shot open and she gasped awake, heaving for breath. Dear God, why couldn’t she breathe?

“Ellsa…”

She scrambled to a sitting position, looking around. Where was she? Where was that mad woman?

“I told you not to call her that!”

She jumped, spooked and turned to the man sitting before her. The angry look on his face vanished with the angry words as he faced her. He smiled at her, a look of calmness on his face that desperately drew her to him. She needed that calmness; her heart was beating two miles a minute.

“Honey, just take slow deep breathes. Breath with me, come on, you can do it.”

Honey?
She watched as he spoke and his chest moved up and down, his hands with it as he coached her, urging her to mimic him. She tried, but she just choked and now she felt like she was slowly suffocating to death. His hands extended to her and she jumped back, crying out, startled and in pain. She lifted her hands to find them bandaged, one heavier than the other.

What the hell had happened to her? Was she in an accident? Where the hell was she anyway?

She looked around and all she could see were strange faces, grey walls and black couches. Why were there so many people in the room? And why couldn’t she catch her breath?

“Ah hell, it’s happened again. Mike, keep DJ away from here,” the woman then approached her, a warm smile on her face. The man moved back giving her room to sit, “Hey little sis, you passed out on us again.”

She watched her carefully as she spoke.
Little sis? Does this mean she’s my sister?

She pointed at the woman and then at herself, “Sisters?”

The woman nodded, “That’s right. You know who this guy behind me is?”

She looked at him. There was something in his eyes that struck a chord in her chest. He looked hurt, almost helpless and he was staring at her like it was killing him to sit so far away.
He called me honey, why? Is he my husband, or boyfriend?

The pounding in her head grew, making her ears vibrate. She rubbed her temple, “Ahh, he’s a boyfriend… or—or husband? I—I don’t know, my head hurts so bad! Why can’t I remember?”

The woman shushed her, “It’s okay. Why don’t you lie down?”

She nodded, sliding down the leather couch, breathing easier. The man didn’t move, just made sure her legs had space to stretch where he sat. She watched him. Out of all the people in the room she just watched him. Why?

“You have a nightmare this time?”

She turned to her sister. She could feel her heart beat faster again, “The baby I need—he’s not safe! That woman—I need—”

The woman stroked her hair soothingly, “Calm down, you’re okay. Everything is okay. It was just a nightmare, none of it was real.”

“Not real,” she echoed. That helped her relax and her head went back onto the cushion, her eyes on the man. But why couldn’t she remember anything? And why were all these people watching her?

“I need—I need to ask something.”

“What is it, honey?”

She took a look around the room and whispered, “Who are all these people?”

She chuckled, “How amiss of me, I should introduce you. They are the FBI team that found you…”

“Found me where?” she cut in.

With an indulgent smile she said, “Don’t worry about that. The one in a suit is Richard, the older looking gentleman is Doran and the one scowling is Dale. He’s Damien’s cousin.”

Yeah, she’d noticed the big black guy had been scowling at her and the look in his eye was intimidating.