Heat Vol. 4 (Heat: Master Chefs #4) Page 6
Truth was, despite my engagement to Rial, I still had feelings for Bobby.
Chapter 8
“Look,” Errol said as he got to his feet. “Before this turns too emotional, why don’t we all take a breather, get some air, and head down to my restaurant. We can discuss this all further over a sumptuous meal, a few good bottles of wine and I think I’ll even crack open a special bottle of cognac I’ve been keeping for a special occasion.”
“I am kind of hungry,” I said as I got up, though my stomach was in knots.
“Yeah, I guess I could use a good bottle of wine,” Rial added.
“And I would be delighted to taste some of your excellent cuisine, Errol,” Eugene said.
Bobby, his eyes still sad and his jaw tight, remained silent and seated.
“You coming, Bobby?” I called as I followed Errol to the door.
“No. This is your family reunion. I have no place there.”
“Don’t be silly,” I said. “You're responsible for bringing us all together. You have to come.”
“Besides,” Errol said. “I’m going to go get Taryn, so it’ll be your family reunion as well.”
He stood, his hard, but loving eyes on me as he approached. In silence, we all walked out and headed to the parking lot.
“I’ll make a quick trip to my place to pick up Taryn,” Errol said as he headed to his Mercedes parked in a spot reserved for him. “Not only will she be thrilled to see Bobby, but I’m sure she’d like to be a part of this special night.”
As Errol drove off, I got into the front seat of Rial’s car with Bobby and my father in the back. There was something strange and surreal about the men who sat around me; the two men I loved, and the father I’d long thought dead.
The tension mounted as Rial drove through the streets of Paris without a word from anyone. It was only once we were within a few blocks that I finally found something to say.
“Errol and Taryn are right behind us,” I said as I glanced in the mirror to look behind us once more. Though the evening light was growing dim, I’d noticed the familiar headlights following us for a few blocks.
Rial pulled up in front of Errol’s restaurant and tossed the keys to the valet as he got out.
“Snazzy place,” Eugene said.
I led the way to the door of the elegantly lit restaurant. Quiet conversation murmured here and there as patrons dined on lobster, quail and other delicacies. Some were already gobbling down their rich and sweet dessert while others were just getting their first taste of the perfect appetizer.
“Errol always has his personal guests sit at that table back there,” I said, guiding the small group to a large round table for eight tucked in a semi closed off corner. I took a seat with my father to my left, Rial to my right and Bobby beside my father, knowing that Errol would want the seat that faced the kitchen. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll take a moment at the ladies’ room and be right back.”
The men nodded as I stood. In the ladies’ room, I took a moment to breathe and collect myself. It was all so much to take in. I looked at my reflection; a little pale. After applying a dab of lipstick I returned to the table.
“I don’t get it,” I said as I sat down and looked back at the entrance. “Errol and Taryn should be here by now. They were right behind us.”
“Errol probably got stopped by an admirer,” Bobby said.
I frowned and was about to comment when Errol finally emerged from the kitchen with Taryn at his side. They quickly made their way to our table.
“Eugene,” Errol said. “I’d like you to meet my wife, Taryn.”
“A pleasure,” Eugene said as he got up and kissed Taryn’s hand.
“I’m happy to finally meet you, and I appreciate you letting me be a part of this evening.” Taryn walked around the table and sat beside Bobby, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek and an affectionate pat on the head.
“And now, if you’ll excuse me,” Errol said. “I’ve taken the liberty of calling ahead to have a special feast prepared for tonight. I do hope you're all hungry.”
Heads nodded and bobbed all around the table.
“It certainly smells divine,” Eugene said.
Taryn reached across to pat his hand. She seemed clearly fascinated by the old man who was my father. “I’m sure you’ll enjoy it immensely.”
His smile was warm and genuine, but quickly turned sour as he looked past me at the restaurant entrance, his eyes wide with surprise.
“What is it?” I said
Before he could answer, a shot rang out, and everything went black. Breathing became difficult and I realized a bag had been thrown over my head. With strong and uncompromising hands, I was yanked from my chair and pulled to my feet.
“What the hell are you…?” Rial said.
“Back in your seat, lover boy.”
“Gentlemen, don’t you think this is a little…?”
“Shut up, Cooke.”
In the darkness of the cloth bag, I felt the vice grip tighten around my arms as I was pulled away, barely able to touch my feet to the floor.
“Thought we’d forget about the money you owe us, old man?” one of them said. “Well, think again. You’ve got twenty-four hours to make good on that loan, plus interest, or you can say goodbye to your long lost daughter.”
Gasps of horror filled the air as I was dragged to the door and the last thing I heard was my father’s voice pleading for my release.
Chapter 9
Sandwiched between two of the men in the back seat of a car, I tried to remain calm, but fear slowly took over, breeding panic and the inability to breathe. The car smelled new and expensive, as did a particular cologne that wafted in the air. Under different circumstances, I might have been soothed by the familiar scents, but I knew from that moment that I would forever be repulsed by that new car smell.
“How much does the old man owe, Constantine?” the gruff voice to my right said. He made no motion to leave me any breathing space, but sat back, his shoulders broad as he made himself comfortable, his legs rubbing against mine.
“How many times do I have to fucking tell you, Horace? A few million, and I want every cent of that money.”
The voices of the men were hard and angry, with a decidedly European accent I couldn’t quite pinpoint, but it seemed I’d heard them before.
“Gentlemen,” an older, calmer voice said from across from me. “Let’s stay calm.”
“Fuck that. I want my money.”
“Your temper is getting the better of you once again, Constantine.”
“Well, isn’t it any wonder, Godfrey. You let the fucker slip through ours hands all those years ago knowing he owed us so much.”
A sardonic chuckle came from Godfrey. “He’ll bring us the money. I guarantee it.”
Something cool and hard nudged my knee, elevating the pounding of my heart. No doubt it was a gun, but I couldn’t bear the thought.
“If he wants to see his little girl again, he’ll bring us the money,” Godfrey went on. “But I want more than just the financial reward of finally trapping Mr. Cooke. It’s about time the Cooke bloodline was brought to an end… a blunt and bloody end.”
I gagged beneath the cloth bag as tears filled my eyes. No matter what my father did, these men were going to kill me.
Godfrey spewed his disgust with a dramatic mock spit. “How dare a filthy American marry into the Dumont house. It was a noble and aristocratic bloodline, pure to the highest degree until he swept in and muddled it up with his damned American blood.”
Again, the cool and hard object tapped my knee.
“And the result was this half breed brat. Noble blood might run through her veins, but it is tainted with the worthless blood of her American father.” He spat. “And from New York, no less.”
His voice, too, sounded vaguely familiar and I racked my brain trying to find where I’d heard it before.
“Pretty legs, though, don’t you think?” Constantine said.
&nbs
p; The cool, hard object rode up my leg, pulling the skirt of my dress up.
“Yes, Madeline had beautiful and elegant features,” Godfrey said. “It’s obvious she passed that on to you, Lilly. Too bad it’s all for naught. Had your mother married into the Casavant house like she should have, your blood would be as noble and pure as the queen herself. You would have inherited the great Dumont fortune, like your mother before you was to inherit… that is before she got involved with that scoundrel father of yours. She was lucky she managed to get her hands on that chateau, however, something that never should have happened. Just look what your father did to it… practically leaving it in ruins. Tsk, tsk. Such a waste.” He let out a long, exasperated breath. “All, such a horrible waste.”
“I don’t care fuck about all that,” Constantine said, trailing the blunt object up over my belly and tracing a line over my breast. “I want my money.”
“Your idiot father thought he could bring Madeline the fortune she so deserved,” Godfrey said, ignoring Constantine. “He thought he had enough entrepreneurial blood in him to make a success of his silly, little endeavor.” He let out a loud laugh. “I wouldn’t trust him to manage a hen house.”
A hard, calloused hand ran up my thigh.
“Stop that, Constantine. This isn’t the time for fun and games,” the ever familiar voice of Godfrey said.
“But she’s all grown up now, not like when…”
“Constantine!”
He pulled his hand away. “What the hell is the harm? She’s done for anyway.”
I gagged and my mouth filled with the last bites of the dinner I’d been enjoying with my father and the people I loved the most.
“Yeah, this chick is done for, because we’re not doing it like last time.” Constantine said. “You made the mistake of releasing her after Cooke had made a paltry payment on his loan. That’s what got us into this shit in the first place. If we’d held onto her back then, we’d have gotten our money a long time ago.”
“Don’t worry. I have no intention of repeating that mistake. The girl will pay for her father’s sins.”
Warm liquid trickled between my thighs and soon I was sitting in a heated puddle.
“Ah, shit,” Horace said as he pulled away from me. “You fuckers scared the shit out of the girl and now she’s peed herself. And this is a fucking new car.”
The last time… The words rang in my ears, as did Godfrey’s familiar voice, as did his hateful laugh, as did the increasingly familiar sense of panic and fear. We’d been through all this before. I’d been through it all before. Slowly, the fractured segments of memory seeped in and they were more horrifying than I could have imagined.
Through the darkness of the cloth bag, I saw the dark and filthy room where they’d kept me for months on end, feeding me inedible scraps of food and giving me dirty water to drink. I’d been cold and afraid, and they’d been hard and heartless. I’d been only a child, but that hadn’t mattered. They’d remained callous throughout the ordeal, never offering a shred of warmth or reassurance.
“Too bad, Lilly,” Constantine whispered in my ear, his hot, pungent breath piercing through the cloth. “I would have given you one last great thrill.”
His voice, perverted and murderous, brought another flood of memories I wanted to immediately erase; the dark, the cold, the hunger and fear. I remembered the shouting as my father brought them that first payment, the warning shots from a pistol telling him he’d better make good on the remainder of the loan.
“Where’s my girl?” my father had cried out.
“Be on the Tourel side road east of Paris at eight tonight and you’ll see your darling daughter.”
That night, the heartless men who’d held me captive had thrown me out of the car, barely slowly down before opening the door and letting me fall to the ice and snow that had covered the streets. The pain suddenly stung my hands as I remembered crashing to the ground, the ice so cold, it burned. Dropping me off well over an hour before the rendezvous time they’d set with my father, they’d ensured I suffered all the more. By the time my father arrived, it was already too late.
Catatonic; it was the word I’d heard the doctor use in a rare moment of lucidity. I’d had no idea what it meant, but knowing the meaning wouldn’t have changed anything. I was gone.
It was the last clear memory I had before arriving at the convent.
Rial had been wrong all this time. It hadn’t been our break up, or my father’s insistence I remain in my room that had traumatized me to the point of losing all memory of my childhood.
It was the time I’d spent with those men… the very men who now threatened to kill me, no matter what my father did.
This is the End of Part 4
HEAT Vol. 4.
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