The Mark of Cain (41 page)

She looked between the two men who were busy having
a conversation with their eyes.

“That’s right,” the doctor said as he nodded. “You
two just look so much alike.”

“Nearly identical,” Inac replied with a grin she
didn’t understand. But the doctor seemed to.

The doctor then turned to her. “And who is this
beautiful treasure?”

“My fiancée, Hara.”

“Fiancée? Wow.” The doctor turned to her, lifting
one of her hands like a knight in a medieval story. “You’re certainly bound to
make even Inac here look ugly next to you.”

When she felt herself blush, Inac laughed. Clapping
the older man on the back of his white lab coat opened to show his nice blue
shirt and navy striped tie underneath, he said, “Sorry, Hank. I think she’s a
little too young for you.”

“Too young for
me
? And what about you?” he
replied with a large, lopsided grin that made him instantaneously endearing.
She wasn’t sure what about this doctor had her instantly trusting him….

“Well, she’s too young for me, too,” Inac said with
a nearly identical lopsided grin of his own.

“At least you admit it.”

It was nice to see Inac getting along with someone
so well. It was obvious that he held a lot of affection for the older man.

“So how do you two know each other?” she asked
during a lull in the men’s banter.

The doctor looked seriously at Inac, obviously
waiting for him to answer.

“Well,” Inac said. “When I was in college, Hank here
took a course for fun. We were in the same class. When Hank saw me, he had to
come and talk to me because I looked exactly like his deceased father.”

“Did you end up being related?” she asked.

Inac looked sideways at Hank and said, “Yeah. He’s
my grandfather’s son. My grandfather had a new life after he’d supposedly died
in the war.”

“So you’re really Inac’s uncle then?”

“I guess so,” the doctor said with a smile for Inac.
He looked at Inac like he was his hero, which was odd seeing as how Inac was at
least twenty-five years younger than him.

“Is that difficult knowing that your dad left you to
start another family?” she asked, looking between the two men. Now that she
knew they were related, it wasn’t difficult to see.

Hank and Inac shared the same cleft-laden chin,
chiseled jaw, exquisite yet manly cheekbones, and sensual lips. However, Hank wasn’t
near as tall or muscular as Inac, though he was still tall and fit. They also
shared that odd mix of features that had you questioning their nationality.
They were two very handsome men. It also showed her that Inac would still be
handsome when he was a grandfather. Their similarities were probably why she
inherently trusted the doctor.

Hank looked to Inac with such gravity, as though he
was about to say something that he needed to say to him. “Not anymore. I
understand it all now. My dad really had no choice. He couldn’t stay with us or
all his secrets would have come out.”

Was it just her or did Inac look like that meant a
lot to him to hear? It was like some understanding had just occurred between
the two men. Or maybe something like forgiveness…. Whatever it was, it didn’t
make any sense to her between an uncle and his nephew.

“Secrets? Like that he belonged to the Mokolios?
Why’s that such a big secret? It’s not
that
big a deal,” she said.

The doctor turned to her, every part of his face
registering shock. “She knows about that?” he finally spluttered, looking back
at Inac.

Inac shrugged. “A little.”

She suddenly felt worried. What was the punishment
for telling someone about the sect?

“I hope me knowing isn’t going to get him into
trouble…?”

“Like Inac’s going to punish himself—” But the
doctor was cut off with one glance from Inac. If she had understood that right,
then Inac wasn’t just
part
of the Mokolios. He was
in charge
of
them
. But he’d told her that he was only twenty-nine…. How could someone so
young be in charge of such a powerful group? Was it because he was, in his
words, an Adamson?

“So Hank, what did the MRI show?”

Inac was too obvious about changing the subject,
affirming the new knowledge to be accurate.

“Oh, right. Well,” he said, opening a manila folder.
“Everything appears to be well. There isn’t anything showing any reason for the
headaches and memory loss. That leaves me to believe that it’s a mental thing.
Were you under any added stress before the incidents occurred?” he asked her,
no longer looking at the test results but at her, his eyes kind.

“Um…yeah. I guess so. The first time I was almost
attacked right before it and this time I’ve been fighting with my best friend
on top of spending over a week worrying about him and Inac.”

“I’m going to say that this is stress-related then.
I can prescribe you an anxiety medication…?”

“She doesn’t need that,” Inac answered. “If the
incidents become more frequent, then we’ll talk about it. Does that sound okay,
love?”

She nodded at Inac, who was lightly rubbing her
shoulder. She didn’t think she needed medication either.

“Okay,” Hank said before talking to her about
various relaxation techniques. Once done, he walked them out slowly, seeming
like he wanted to spend more time with Inac. It was like he wasn’t ready to say
goodbye yet.

“Baby, why don’t you have a seat while I ask Hank
something?” Inac said once they were at the door that led to the waiting room
painted in deep, rich colors.

She nodded and walked through the door, sitting down
in a brown leather chair and grabbing a magazine. But she didn’t read it.
Instead, she listened in on the men’s hushed conversation taking place on the
other side of the slightly ajar door.

“So how is your mother?” Inac asked.

The doctor said something about her missing someone.
Probably her husband.

“And the kids?” Inac asked.

She couldn’t hear the answer, but she did hear the
doctor say something like, “It’s good to see you, Dad.”

Which was ridiculous. He must’ve said something
different and she had
completely
misunderstood. Could stress do that too?
Make her hearing all wonky?

By the time she tuned back in, she could hear the
men hugging, clapping each other on the back. She wasn’t going to learn
anything from them about Inac’s secrets.

“You ready?” Inac asked a few moments later as he
came through the door. He seemed refreshed after his short visit with his
uncle. It had cheered him up immensely and he was more like the man who had
flipped off the yacht than he’d been in weeks. He’d been so
serious
lately….

She set down the magazine that she’d pretended to
flip through, nervous when she saw that it had been one all about cars. Would
Inac notice and know that she’d really been listening in on his private
conversation?

Trying to act totally normal, she said as
nonchalantly as possible, “Yup.”

“Thanks Hank,” Inac said with a broad smile that had
her grinning even though it wasn’t directed at her.

“Anytime,” he said, shaking Inac’s hand. “You take
care of this gem.”

“Don’t worry. I will.”

Once they were in the car, Hara said, “You told me
you didn’t have any family?”

That seriousness took over his features for a moment
again as he said, “Well it’s not like I can really go to his family outings,
now can I? His mom doesn’t know. It would kill her to know that she was
abandoned versus widowed.”

“So she thinks her husband died?”

“Yeah,” he answered as he rounded the parking garage
aisles toward the exit at the bottom. “He left her plenty of money, though.”

“That doesn’t make it better. I’m sure she’d rather
be poor and still have her husband.”

“I’m sure she would, too.” He was clenching his jaw
tight. That meant that he was feeling something strong that he wasn’t about to
let show. Why did he always have to hold back his emotions? It was so annoying!
Annoying and
aggravating
. It made her suddenly angry for some reason.

“Was your dad the same as his father? Are
you
the same? Is that the real reason why you’ve had so many wives? Are you going
to leave me, too? But it will be okay because you’ll leave me plenty of money?”
She didn’t know why, but she was getting hysterical. He was just so blasé about
his grandfather leaving his family. How could he not think it was okay, too,
with an attitude like that?

“Hara,” he said carefully, “things are different
with us because I love you.”

“So you won’t be leaving me in order to keep your
secrets?”

“No. Remember? You’ll know all of my secrets before
the wedding. Besides, I knew my father until adulthood when I was kicked out of
the family. And he really loved my mother a lot. You could sort of say that
they were made for each other,” he said, smiling at what seemed to be his own
private joke.

But it did make her feel better. If his father
showed his love for Inac’s mother, then maybe Inac
wouldn’t
leave her.
It seemed that, a lot of times, people loved the way they saw others love, as
well as how they loved themselves.

“Speaking of the wedding,” he said, bringing her out
of her thoughts as he maneuvered the car into the sunshine. “I was thinking
that we could at least start planning it. At least the aspects that we don’t
need a specific date set to do.”

“Well, I know
where
I want to get married.”

“And where is that, love?” he asked as he moved his
hand off the stick shift to grasp hers before he pulled it up and kissed the
knuckle on her thumb.

“The church where I grew up.”

“You could get married anywhere in the world and you
pick a church at an orphanage?” he asked, dismayed.

“Yeah. It’s sentimental. I have so many wonderful
memories there. I was planning on going back after finishing school.”

“What for? To live?”

“Yeah. I was going to join the nunnery and then be
their history teacher.”

He gave her a sideways glance with a smile she knew
was teasing. “You? A nun?”

She couldn’t help but laugh. “I know. But I thought
I could help all those kids since I understand where they’re coming from.”

He nodded. “Just don’t tell them your fiancé’s name
when you call to book it.”

“And why not?”

“A lot of Catholic priests know my family’s name. I
don’t want them judging me before they even meet me.”

“Fair enough. You are quite the infamous one, aren’t
you?” she teased.

He laughed harder than she thought was warranted
before saying, “Hara, you really have no idea.”

***

Tracker’s headache had finally subsided enough for
him to get out of bed. It had been so brutal that he hadn’t even been able to
roll out of it to get medicine from the kitchen portion of his miniscule studio
apartment. He tried to think back to last night to see if maybe there was a
cause for it, but most of yesterday was blank. He would still think it
was
yesterday if his laptop and cell phone didn’t both say otherwise.

He looked around his apartment, trying to find
evidence as to what had occurred to make him forget, as well as maybe some
evidence to tell him why his reflection had shown him with one bruised cheek.
Finally, he noticed a piece of paper secured under one of the dozens of magnets
advertising various pizza joints on his refrigerator. It had his name on it in
his own writing. Weird. He didn’t remember writing it….

Tracker,
it read,
I
know you’re probably wondering what’s going on. You went to Inac and asked for
that drug that erases people’s memories so you could forget last night. I won’t
tell you why, but I will tell you what’s important to know. Yesterday Sampson
called you to head over to Hara’s. Inac was on his way back from Israel and he
wanted you to get back on her good side before he could get home. You went and
apologized, but then you totally freaked and said some nasty things. She slapped
you pretty hard, which is where you got that majorly huge handprint on your
cheek.

You were so pissed that you ran. But you
couldn’t have her remembering ’cause that would’ve been majorly bad, so you
went to Inac’s and he said that he’d give Hara the medicine so she’d totally
blank it all out. But you know what else? He noticed how sad you were and
offered some to you
,
too.

I think he really is changing. I mean,
he seems to actually care about you and Hara. Maybe Sampson’s right about him
loving her. He even called you ‘Little Buddy.’ I don’t think he wants to hurt
her. And, no matter how many threats he makes, I don’t think he’ll carry them
out. He seems to always find a loophole out of it every time.