Stanton Bliss: Stanton (6 page)

I inhale deeply. This conversation is going to go one of two ways. He will either lose his shit or he will be with me one hundred percent.

I hesitate.

“Spit it out,” he sighs, annoyed at my procrastination.

“Are you still enjoying the special forces?” I lean back and swivel my chair as I hold my pen in my hand.

He shrugs. “Its what I do.”

“And the constant deployments?”

“They get to you after a while. It fucks up my personal life pretty bad.” He shrugs again. “But I’m used to it.”

“I have a business proposal.”

He shakes his head and holds up his hands. “No, thanks. I am not working for you.”

I run my tongue over my top teeth. Brock still has the ability to piss me off easily. No doubt he always will.

“I don’t want you to work for me,” I respond.

His eyes hold mine.

“How would you like to own your own private investigation company?”

He looks at me, his face serious. “I’m listening.”

“One that worked for people like me to…” I hesitate, how do I word this? “… seek out the scum.”

I stand and walk over to the window.

Brock screws up his face. “Oh, fuck off. You have been watching too much damn television. Private investigation company? What is this, CSI? Give me a break.”

I turn to face him. “These businesses are flourishing, Brock. It’s where I got Ben in the first place. An agency just like this.”

He folds his arms in front of him and, despite his protests, I know I have piqued his interest.

“So, it works like this: you have security personal working for you. Ex special forces… Ex-police, Marines, Army, Navy – Men and women who know what they are doing. Clients can hire bodyguards from you or you can take personal jobs on for a fee. I will fully bankroll the business and it will be yours to do with as you please.”

He sits back in his chair. “Not interested,” he replies flatly.

“You will hear me out, at least,” I snap.

He rolls his eyes and blows out a deep breath. “Whatever. Go on.”

“I
will
bankroll it.”

“How much is bankroll?”

“All expenses, plus your current salary… quadrupled.”

“Oh, please. You would really do all of this to keep your wife’s brother in the states? This is ludicrous.”

I lift my chin in annoyance. Are we going to fight about this? “It’s not in the states. I want it run out of Australia.”

He narrows his eyes. “Why Australia?”

“I have your first job all lined up. I will be your first client.”

He sits back in his chair. “What is it?”

“Track and find Coby Allender’s accomplice and hand him into the police.”

He stares at me.

“Natasha is not setting one foot on Australian soil with those sick fucks interested in her, and I know it’s only going to be a matter of time before she wants to go home to see her mother.”

“How would I find him?”

I shrug. “You’re the special forces, you tell me. If you can’t, hire someone who can.”

He shakes his head.

“They are murdering innocent women for fun. I can’t live with myself knowing I could have done something to stop it or helped in some way.”

“Why don’t you find them yourself?” He sneers.

I screw up my face. “I’m not taking Natasha to Australia to be the bait, and I know computers, not how to track criminals. I know nothing about this twisted shit.”

He narrows his eyes, obviously deep in thought.

I hold up my hands. “Don’t give me an answer now. Think about if for a few days. I have spoken to Ben and he is prepared to help you get started. He knows what he is doing, this is his field.”

“Will Ben work for me?” he asks, for the first time I see a genuine spark of interest from him.

“Not if I can help it,” I reply honestly. “I want Ben with me.”

“I think Ben wants out of here.”

My eyes hold his. The thought had crossed my mind. He mentioned going back to South Africa yesterday. “He is just adjusting to things. He will get over it.”

He raises his eyebrows in a we-will-see gesture.

“How many staff would I hire?”

I shrug. “Probably start with five men. I have contacts and can get you bodyguard gigs straight away, but I’m sure once word gets out, private jobs will start rolling in.”

“And it would be completely my business?”

I nod. “I want nothing to do with it. Adrian will deal with the finance and that is as far as I want to know. You can sell it down the track if you want and go back to your present job. I don’t give a shit. I want Allender found now. That is my priority.”

He raises a brow and stands to shake my hand. “I will have a think and let you know.”

Natasha

“Table for four,” Joshua asks the waiter at the restaurant.

The kind looking man gestures to a table in the corner. “This way, please.”

Joshua puts his hand in mine and we walk to our seats in the cosy corner. We are meeting his parents for lunch, and quite frankly, I would rather have a tooth pulled out.

“Would you like any drinks?” The waiter asks as he pulls out my chair.

Joshua gestures to me and I narrow my eyes as I think. “Can I have a bottle of Sav Blanc, please?”

Joshua raises a brow. “Ok then,” he mutters under his breath. The waiter turns his attention to Joshua.

“I will have an iced water with lemon.”

Hmm. I look at him, my face deadpan. Why is he so damn healthy all the time?

I see Robert first, and then Margaret. They smile as they enter and Margaret falls into the seat in front of me, placing her wallet and phone on the table. “Hello.” She smiles.

“Hi,” I force out.

Joshua smiles and turns his attention to ordering some drinks for his parents. I turn my attention onto Mrs. Shifty sitting opposite me. What the fuck are you up to, bitch?

“Have you had a good day?” she asks.

“I have. How was shopping?”

“Oh, I didn’t really find anything. It was more your mother who wanted to go.”

I fake a smile. Is she insinuating that my mother needs to shop because she has nothing?
Stop it. You are being a drama queen. T
hat’s not what she meant and you know it.

“What time is your flight?” Joshua asks Robert.

“We have to be at the airport at 5.30 p.m.”

“We have had a wonderful time, darling,” Margaret gushes as she grabs Joshua’s hand over the table.

I watch her intently. Fuck, she is pissing me off just by breathing.

“We are so happy that things turned out the way they did.” Robert smiles and I smile my first, genuine smile since they arrived.

“How long are you kids staying?” Margaret asks.

“About another ten days or so,” Joshua replies as he puts his hand on my leg.

“Are you going back to your house in L.A.?” he asks.

“Umm, not sure yet.” Joshua’s eyes flicker to mine. “We haven’t really decided where we want to live yet, have we?”

“No, not yet.” My anxiety rises. I don’t know where I want to live, but I definitely know it’s not in Joshua’s beloved house. I have watched it through those evil cameras of Amelie’s too many times and it freaks me the hell out.

Margaret’s phone dances silently across the table and the name Deidre comes up on the screen. My fury ignites.

She holds up a pointer finger to signify she will just be a minute. “Hello, Deidre,” she answers.

I start to hear my angry heart beat in my ears.

Go time.

She holds her hand over the phone and whispers. “I won’t be a minute. I will just go outside to take this call.”

“Of course,” Joshua replies, preoccupied with his father.

She stands, walks to the front of the restaurant, then out of the front door.

What do I do? What do I do? My legs bounce as I think. What the hell is she saying to him?

That’s it.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” I mouth to Joshua, and he nods as he talks.

I walk over to the bathroom and Max frowns at me as he follows me. My eyes dart around to Joshua to check I’m not discovered before I take off out of the front door.

“What are you doing?” Max growls quietly at me.

“I’m just seeing Margaret. I won’t be a minute. Wait inside, please.”

“No.” He follows me out.

I look around frantically, spotting Margaret standing behind a pillar around the corner of the driveway. I walk over next to her to listen without being seen.

I do a shoo symbol with my hand at Max. He narrows his eyes and stands to the side.

“Yes, darling, I know,” she says gently.

She listens.

“I will be home tonight.”

She listens.

“Tomorrow.”

I frown. What the hell? She is meeting him
tomorrow
?

“I will ring you in the morning for the address.”

She listens.

“I can’t wait to see you, too.”

What?

“Terribly,” she replies.

Oh my God, he just asked her if she missed him. What the hell?

“I love you, too.”

My mouth drops open in shock. I don’t fucking believe it.

She walks around the corner and runs straight into me. Her face falls. “Natasha, darling. What are you doing out here?”

I glare at her.

“I was just talking to my friend, Deidre,” she mutters nervously.

I continue to glare at her. I’m too angry to even speak. I fold my arms in front of me and narrow my eyes.

“You can cut the shit now, Margaret.”

Her face drops. “What do you mean?”

“That was James on the phone. I’m not an idiot.”

She raises her eyebrows. “James? Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Shall we take your phone out and compare it to James’ number on Robert’s phone.”

Her face drops. “Why are you spying on me?” she snaps angrily.

“So, you did lie? The whole fucking thing was a lie?” I fume.

She shakes her head. “No. No. It was all true.”

“He blackmailed you.”

She stares at me hopelessly as she tries to think of an answer.

“He never even beat you did he?”

She doesn’t answer.

“
Did he?
” I yell.

“Natasha, please. It’s complicated. You wouldn’t understand.”

“You’re right. I wouldn’t.” I sneer. “You’re pathetic.”

“He doesn’t mean to hit me.”

I scrunch up my face in confusion. “So, he
does
hit you?”

“He just loses his temper.”

“Why?”

Fake tears well up in her eyes. “Because I won’t leave Robert for him.”

“What the hell?” I cry. “What are you fucking saying?”

“We have been…” she hesitates as if thinking of her wording, “involved for a long time. I could never leave Robert because I was scared Joshua would find out.”

“So, the rape story was a lie?” I yell. I can’t believe this bitch. Who makes up stories like that?

She shakes her head. “No, he has raped me in the past and he does hit me. But only because he loves me.”

“He hits you and rapes you because he loves you? Have you gone completely mad? Are you listening to what you are saying at all?”

“He so desperately loves me. So much so that he can’t stand the thought of me going home to Robert. He has even threatened to kill me, to kill himself if I don’t see him.”

I don’t believe this. She is defending his behaviour. She’s in a domestic violent relationship with him.

“I love him, Natasha.” Her eyes search mine.

I stand still on the spot as everything I thought I knew falls into place.

This was my gut feeling.

I shake my head in disgust.

“You are a lying, two faced bitch.”

Her face falls. “Natasha, please understand.”

“No!” I shout back. “I understood when you told me the lies. I understood when you kept Joshua and I apart, knowing all along that we were not cousins.”

“Natasha, please. My marriage to Robert is over. It doesn’t need to be bought up.”

I fake a smile. “Fuck you. My understanding is over. Get out of my life.”

I pace back and forth along the side of the pool at mine and Joshua’s house. I’m panicking. I don’t know if I am doing the right thing or not, but I am not covering for that bitch one minute longer. I’ve just sent Joshua and Cameron a text telling them that I need to see them both immediately. They were relaxing by the pool at Cameron’s house.

Sorry to be the party pooper, boys.

They come through the gate together, and I know instantly that Joshua knows something is wrong, I can read it on his face.

“What’s up?” Cameron asks.

I fake a smile and gesture to the seats by the pool, watching them as they both sit down.

I continue to pace back and forth as I try to regulate my heartbeat.

“What’s wrong, Natasha?” Joshua asks.

I turn to face them and swallow the bucket of sand in my throat.

“So…” I pause. God, I’m going to sound like a stalker. A creepy troublemaking stalker.

“So what?” Joshua asks with agitation, obviously annoyed at my procrastination.

“You know the other day when I was sitting by the pool with your mum and Nicholas?”

They both frown and shake their head. “No, but go on,” answers Cam.

“Your mum’s phone was on the table next to me.”

They both sit still.

“Anyway.” I keep pacing. I already hate this conversation. “She got a text and I went to hand it to her, but I saw it was from someone called Deidre.”

Joshua frowns.

“It said: I have told her everything.”

“Who’s Deidre?” Cameron frowns and Joshua shrugs.

Of course they don’t know who Deidre is because she doesn’t fucking exist.

I keep pacing as I try to get my wording right in my head. “Well, it played on my mind. I kept thinking, who has she told everything to? That statement… It just doesn’t make sense, you know?”

Joshua lays back on the chair as he listens patiently.

“And then, remember, we went to the restaurant, and I wanted to ring Mum, so I borrowed your mother’s phone.”

Cameron frowns.

This is the awkward stalker part of the story. “I was kind of worried about your mum.”

“Why?” Joshua frowns.

I shrug. “I don’t know. I can’t even put my finger on it. I just was.”