Mastered by His Touch-Complete Box Set (12 page)

We both just stared at each other. I felt it again. The connection. The belonging.

It had nothing to do with his money, his looks, or all the traditional attractive traits. It was a bond that felt like it was forged long ago.

The boy without a face held my hand as we were led to the squat square building with the brown steel door.

"Are my Mom and Dad here?" I said, looking up at him, my other hand holding the teddy bear given to me by the nice lady with red hair.

"No, Kiri," said the boy sullenly. "They're not here."

"But I want my Mom and Dad! Why can't I see them?"

I started to cry again.

"Oh Kiri, not now," he said. "Please don't cry now. Just stay quiet while I talk to these people. Please!"

We had reached the brown steel door. Two guards with guns stood on either side of the door. The woman we had been following opened the door for us. The boy crouched down so he was face-to-face with me.

"Now just be quiet and don't say anything, okay?" he said. "We're going to be all right. You and me. I'm going to take care of you, I promise."

"But what about my Mom and Dad?" I said.

The boy looked around, biting his lower lip. He touched my cheek.

"We'll find them. Together. You and me. Okay? It's going to be all right."

The boy patted my head and kissed my forehead. I wrapped my arms around him and he hugged me.

"Hey!" said the woman. "Let's go!"

The boy stood up and we entered the squat square building with the brown steel door. The door slammed shut behind us.

Inside was a man at a desk. A fan hummed beside him. The window behind him had bars but no glass. It was very hot everywhere.

"Passport, please," said the man.

The boy handed him something.

"Where were you born?" said the man.

"The United States," said the boy.

I felt the tears welling up again. The boy reached out and patted my head. I clutched my teddy bear.

"Where in the United States?"

"Fort Knox, Kentucky."

"How did you get here?"

"Kiri and I came into port with Mr. and Mrs. Decoud. They're friends of mine."

"Who is the girl?" said the man in the uniform.

"My sister," said the boy without a face.

"She is not your sister. You are an American. She is from here."

"She is adopted by my parents."

"Then I will call your parents right now."

The boy fidgeted in his chair.

"You can't."

"Why can't I?" said the man behind the desk.

"Because... well... they're dead."

The man stared at the faceless boy for what felt like forever.

"You are lying," he said. "Guard!"

Two armed guards in tan uniforms entered the room to take away the boy. I ran and grabbed him, crying. I held onto his leg.

I screamed as they tore me away from him.

"Kiri!" he shouted. "Everything is going to be okay! I'm not going forever! I promise! Trust me!"

One of the guards picked me up in his arms. I kicked and screamed, reaching out to the boy who had saved me from the sinking boat.

Then he was gone.

But as they took him away and I screamed for him...

I saw his face.

I screamed.

Caden jumped forward. I backed up into the wall.

He tried holding me but I ran from him, still screaming.

"Kiri!" he said. "It's okay. What's wrong?"

I fell to my hands and knees, crying. The tears just erupted from me. I couldn't stop.

Caden kneeled in front of me and tried touching me but I slapped him away.

"No!" I said between cries and tears. "No! They're going to take you away again!"

"No, Kiri, it's all right. I'm right here. Nobody is going to take me away. There's nobody here."

I just couldn't stop. I kept on crying like I hadn't cried in years. Caden kept trying to get hold of my arms, just kneeling there, but I wouldn't let him.

"They're going to take you away again!" I said.

"Who?" said Caden. "Who, Kiri? Who is going to take me away?"

"The guards with the guns!" I said and screamed again.

His jaw fell open and he just stared at me.

"So you do remember?" he said.

"No," I said, "I don't! I just remembered that. Just now. I'm so fucking confused. I don't know what's going on. I think I'm losing my mind. I'm remembering things that don't make sense. I was adopted as a baby and grew up in Queens. How could I be having these memories?"

Caden focused on something behind me. There was severe pain in his expression.

"So your mother told you that you were adopted as a baby," he said. "That explains what you said the day we met."

"What did I say the day we met?"

"That you were adopted as a baby. When I know for a fact that you were adopted when you were five years old."

"I always wondered why I have no memories before five. Everyone else seems to have some memory before five... at least one! But my earliest memory is kindergarten class in Queens."

"Your subconscious likely repressed it to protect you."

"Because it's bad, isn't it?"

He just looked at me and nodded.

I screamed again.

We just stayed like that on the floor, about a foot apart, for what felt like an eternity, me crying and screaming. He didn't try to touch me again. He just kneeled there.

Eventually, I couldn't keep going. I needed to pass out somewhere.

Sensing that the time was right, Caden stood up and put his hand out.

I looked up at him.

No wonder I couldn't see his face in the visions. The last time I saw him I was the same height I was now on my knees.

"Take my hand, Kiri," he said.

I reached across the open space and the boy took my hand. He grabbed me and pulled me onto the dinghy.

I heard a final creak and rumble as the big yacht went under the water.

"It's okay, Kiri," the boy said as he hugged me. "It's going to be all right. You're safe now. I won't let anything happen to you, I promise."

I reached up and took Caden's hand. I rose to my feet and the adult me looked him in the eyes.

I moved into him and he held me.

"I promised I would always take care of you, Kiri," he said. "It's a promise I've wanted to keep for years. And now you're here. And you're safe. And I'm going to fulfill that promise."

As I held onto him, he picked me up and sat me on the bed. Lovingly and gently, he removed my shoes and my dress. Then he pulled one corner of the bedspread down and eased me backward so I was lying down.

He pulled up the bedspread and kissed me on the forehead.

"I have a million questions," I said. "I need answers."

"I'll tell you everything," he said. "All your questions will be answered. And I promise you that all of it will be okay."

You said that before, a long time ago.

And it wasn't.

"Get some sleep," he said and kissed my forehead again.

"Don't leave me," I said.

"I'm not leaving. I'll be in the bedroom downstairs."

"No. Stay here."

I reached out and grabbed his arm.

"Kiri, no," he said. "I really shouldn't. What we did today was wrong. I let my attraction for you as a fully-grown woman take over. I never should have let that happen."

"Stay," I said with every fiber of my being. "It's not wrong," I said. "We're both adults. Whatever happened in the past had nothing to do with what happened today."

"I know that, Kiri. But I can't help seeing you the way you were in my memory."

"Well, I'm not whatever you remember anymore. I'm a grown woman and I need a man to stay and hold me!"

"No, Kiri, it's wrong."

"No, it isn't. Stay!"

He must have figured out that I wasn't going to let go of his arm because he relented and got under the covers with me.

I buried myself in his chest. His arms formed a protective shield around me. He kissed the top of my head.

"They can't take me away from you again, Kiri," he said. "Nobody will ever take me away from you ever again, I promise."

A terrible feeling of dread passed through me at his words. I held him tighter.

Eventually I fell asleep to the soft sound of Caden Storm's heartbeat in my ear.

Chapter 7

The sunlight streamed in through the iconic Plaza Hotel windows. A pool of light hit the hardwood floor.

I shot up in the giant bed. Caden was gone.

Shit, where is he?

Holy fuck, what time is it?

I looked at the alarm clock. 8:17.

Oh my God, I'm supposed to be in work! In Boston!

"Caden!" I shouted.

No answer.

I leaped out of the bed, still wearing nothing but my bra and panties.

I ran down the stairs barefoot to find Caden accepting a room service cart from a butler. He gave the man a tip. The man caught sight of me on the stairs and did an involuntary double-take. Then the door shut.

Caden turned to me and smiled.

"I don't blame him for doing a double-take," he said. "I'm not sure if I can stop staring at you myself."

He lifted the lid of the silver service tray that sat on a white linen tablecloth with all kinds of silverware. Underneath was a steaming pile of bacon, eggs, hash browns, toast, sausage, and pancakes.

"Caden, I'm supposed to be in work!" I said.

He laughed.

"Then call in sick," he said. "You don't need that job anymore anyway. Not to mention you're way too smart for it."

I felt a little bile rise in my stomach.

"You can't just come in and take over my life completely!" I said. "Those people are counting on me. They're good people. I don't want to let them down. And I'm not going to be some kind of old-fashioned kept woman!"

"Wow!" said Caden, stealing my word. "I'm impressed! You go girl."

I wanted to throw something at him, but thought better of it. I saw my purse on the coffee table and ran to it to get my phone. I grabbed it and ran upstairs again.

"When you're done calling in sick, breakfast awaits!" he shouted as I got back to the bedroom.

My phone had exploded with texts and messages. Troy, Dan, Nikki, Mom, Eric the dud, Karen... and both Barbara and Ken.

Uh-oh.

They must be mad.

Instead of listening to the messages, I decided to just call.

I hit "Work" on my contacts list and typed in Barbara's extension.

Shit, she's going to kill me.

"Barbara Hall," she said.
 

"Barbara, it's Kiri," I said. "I'm so sorry. I'm very sick. I should have called sooner but I was... up all night throwing up."

"Well Kiri," she said, "you'd better get dressed anyway because if you can't make it in, then the FBI agents are going to pay you a visit at your apartment to ask questions."

My heart sunk.

FBI agents? My apartment? Huh?

"Why would FBI agents want to come to my apartment, Barbara?" I said.

"Well, they want to question all of us individually as a matter of protocol," she said. "But I think they're going to want to talk to you most of all."

"Barbara, I'm confused. Why? What are you talking about?"

"Oh," she said with surprise in her voice. "You haven't heard the news this morning?"

"What news?"

"The bank was robbed last night."

My heart pounded and my breathing stopped.

"Robbed?"

"Yes, Kiri, robbed. We're closed for the day while the FBI takes prints and looks at the video, but they're definitely going to visit you if you don't come in."

"Okay. I can't believe we were robbed. Thanks."

"All right, bye," she said as the line clicked off.

The smell of bacon and sausage had reached me up in the bedroom. I fought the urge to go chow down. Something was off here. Way off.

I probably should have told Barbara I'm not at my apartment. Not sure why I didn't. The FBI will find out when they get there, won't they?

I scrolled through my text messages. Troy had repeatedly texted me with the message
Call me NOW!

I hit "Troy" on my Contacts List.

He picked up in two rings.

"Oh my God!" said Troy. "What the fuck are you up to, girl?"

"Troy, I'm in Manhattan," I said.

"Manhattan? What the fuck, girl? Do you have any idea what's going on here? The FBI is all over the place. They've already interrogated me. I feel so violated. And there's only one cute one here. I got the fat old guy. Yeah, no thanks."

"Troy, I have so much to tell you. I'm with Caden Storm."

"Who?"

"Oh, right... Horace Willoughby. But that's not his real name. He's really a billionaire named Caden Storm. Oh, and I come from anal now. You were right. It is so fucking amazing!"

"See, I told you so! Oh girl, you are in
soooo
much trouble. You may want to book a flight to Venezuela."

"Why? What are you talking about?"

Troy's voice turned into a whisper.

"I'm walking into the men's room because there's something I need to tell you and nobody else can hear it," said Troy. "One sec."

I bit my nail as I looked out the window at the building across 59th Street. I heard a door opening and closing on the other end of the line. Then the unique sound of a bathroom stall door.

"Okay," whispered Troy. "I'm in. Look, sis, I love you. But you're into something no good. I don't think I can talk to you anymore because I don't want to go to prison. Prison would be very bad for my skin."

"Troy, tell me what the fuck you're talking about!"

"Okay. There was only one thing stolen from the bank. The news got it wrong. They're reporting that it was a couple million but it was only one safe deposit box."

I held my breath. I knew what he was going to say.

"Box 1910," I said.

"Yes! Horace Willoughby's box. Whoever it was had the key and the code. They hacked into the system, knocked down security, opened the vault, went in, and just took the box. And only that box. What the fuck was in that box, Kiri?"

"Apparently something very valuable," I said to nobody in particular.

... one-eight-nine-zero.

Why did that suddenly come back to me?

Those were the numbers Caden Storm said into his phone last night at the art gallery.

Oh shit!

Oh my fucking God.

When I reached Caden talking on his cell phone in the corner of the gallery, all I caught was
one-eight-nine-zero.

But I think I missed the first digit. He likely had said
four-one-eight-nine-zero.

4-1-8-9-0.

4-18-90.

April 18, 1990.

My birthday.

The code to the safe deposit box.

Caden was telling the code to someone on the phone last night.

Shit, what time was that call last night? Maybe about quarter after eleven, I would guess.

"Troy, listen to me!" I said. "What time was the robbery last night?"

"They hacked into the system at 11:13pm."

I dropped the phone.

Oh my God.

Caden Storm
is
a bank robber.