Fatal Obsession (Black Widow Book 2) (19 page)

Damien drew her into a hug. She was stiff against him for a moment before she relaxed enough to hug him back, “DJ and I will tell her about you—both of you. We’ll be waiting… we’ll have a family barbecue to celebrate. By the way, how does DJ know all that stuff about Ellsa and everyone else? He keeps saying his momma told him but, he must have been two when it all happened.”

Elaine patted his back then drew away from him, “Ellsa’s diary. She started it when she found out she was pregnant. It’s actually a very long letter to DJ. She wrote down everything he needed to know about everyone who would be and were, in his life. She even documented how she played cupid between Ellie and Dale.”

Dale shook his head, “She denied that.”

Elaine snorted, “Yeah, she admits to that, she’ll have to admit to how she found out you were going to that bar lounge that night.”

“Why did she pick me, not that I’m complaining?”

“Wow, was that actually a compliment to my psycho sister?” Ellie chuckled, wiping her cheeks dry with the heel of her hands.

“Don’t push it,” he growled then planted a loud kiss on Ellie’s lips.

“She picked you because of Damien. She trusted you were like Damien since you were raised together and came from the same gene pool—on your mother's side anyway.”

Dale snorted, “Gee, thanks.”

Damien gave him a wide grin, “You should be thanking me too, seeing as how your worth was measured against me.” Dale flipped him off in response.

“Why didn’t she pick Derrick?”

With a side smile and a raised brow Elaine said, “I think we know why.”

Damien and Dale exchanged a look that spoke more than actual words would.

“Time to go,” Mike’s voice thundered in the room and without another word, he stomped to the front door.

“And they said I don’t have a personality,” Elaine muttered. She turned to Ellie, “Take care of our sister.” Ellie just nodded with a slight grimace and Elaine chuckled, turning to Damien. “Take care of them and don’t worry about Tom. I have a feeling Mike will be making a stop-over tonight.” With that she turned around and walked away, the sound of the door closing following soon after.

Those left behind stared at each other, probably boggled by the story about Ellsa. Damien was still a little paralyzed over it all, but he couldn’t help feeling jittery. He was never going to feel relaxed until Vladimir was in the ground and Tom completely out of their lives. He didn’t lie to himself about what Mike and Elaine meant by finally taking care of it. After Elaine killed that man in a room full of witnesses like it was just another day at the office, there was no misinterpretation
taking care of it
.

“Please tell me no one believed that bullshit! If I really think about it, I’ll be able to tell you the movie that story was poached from.” Kris rolled her eyes, her hands pressed to her hips, “Do they take us for children?”

Damien closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. Ellie really fucked up inviting her best friends for the big reveal. He was too exhausted and running low on patience to argue with them and since VS couldn’t be arrested, he really didn’t care what they did. Which reminded him—Vladimir’s men. Would Elaine and Mike get to Vladimir before they got here? He didn’t want Dale and Ellie hurt over a psychopath’s obsession with VS.

“Whether or not you choose to believe it; I really don’t give a fuck if you do. But I doubt Elaine would lie about that after she snapped a man’s neck in front of a room full of FBI agents, then sit in the living room of one of those agents to spin a tale.”

Kris snorted, of course still a nonbeliever.

Damien turned to his cousin, “I need to borrow a handgun. We should probably talk about tonight and prepare, just in case…”

“Don’t worry about that. I don’t think I’ll be sleeping tonight and Ellie and I have a few things to discuss. I’ll take first watch, why don’t you go rest. You look dead on your feet.”

Damien was stunned by the offer, “You sure?”

“Positive. See you in the morning.”

“Thanks, man,” Damien walked away and once he was out of the room Kris began to rant loudly. Damien kept walking. He hoped to heaven that she wouldn’t be there in the morning when Tasha—Ellsa… it was less confusing if he kept referring to her as VS. He didn’t want her around when VS finally woke up.

He stepped into the room and paused at the door for a moment, staring at the bed. DJ was on his back, VS was on her side, DJ tucked into her, one arm under his head as a pillow and the other lay across his belly. Even in her sleep she was a mother. And even if she woke up without her memory, he trusted she would never forget that feeling even if she didn’t remember their son. He got into bed with them, curling his body around hers. He shifted her so that his arm cushioned her head and intertwined their fingers together so that both their arms lay over their son. He closed his eyes and prayed the morning would bring hope and freedom.

Chapter Eleven

“Who are you?”

Ellie jumped, dropping the egg she was about to break on the floor, her hands springing to her chest to keep her heart from escaping. She’d been on edge since she’d woken up and her busy mind hadn’t let her sleep much. Dale had convinced her to go to sleep while he kept watch and then early in the morning when she woke, he’d gone to bed. He’d gotten Richard and Doran to watch the house for the day, one less thing to worry about while they sit on their thumbs as they waited for the news that Vladimir was dead. She wasn’t the bloodthirsty sort but that man had turned her twin sister’s life upside down, turned her into an assassin, then worse, played with her mind until she cracked and became their worst nightmare, so yeah, she wanted blood.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. Ah, thanks for the clothes.”

Ellie looked at her sister, the shy smile on her face and how she stood halfway inside the room, leaning on the entryway wall like she wasn’t sure she was welcome into the kitchen. She looked… sane. The last time they were face to face, her eyes danced around and her lips moved in whispers as she muttered to herself. It was the day they’d sent her away and Ellie had refused to let her sister walk into that asylum alone. They’d been surrounded by police and staff that were dressed in white. One threatening with cuffs and the other with a straight jacket if Ellsa so much as made a wrong move. But she didn’t. She’d let Ellie walk her into her padded room and hugged her goodbye. Ellsa asked her to tell their parents to come see her soon and she’d nodded, afraid she’d cry if she spoke. But once the door had been closed and locked, she’d let all her pent up emotions go and Dale had to support her out of there as she cried hysterically. Seeing Ellsa completely insane had worsened Ellie’s depression.

“Are you okay?” Ellsa took a hesitant step into the room, “You look like you are about to cry.”

Her blurred vision backed that statement up. Ellie took a deep breath and then let it loose with a chuckle, “Sorry. It’s just seeing you after such a long time, healthy and okay, it’s making me emotional.”

Ellsa nodded and then shook her head with a chuckle, “Sorry, I was going to pretend that I understood what you meant, but ah, yeah, that would only confuse me more.”

Ellie wanted to go to her and hug her but she was afraid she would cause another episode so she grabbed a rag, crouched down and cleaned up the egg mess.

“Want some help making breakfast?”

Ellie stood, tossing the towel in the sink. Ellsa was standing by the kitchen island, her lips rolled into her mouth. Something she did when she was nervous, thinking, or unsure of herself. The unsure part was something she never saw much of after their parents died. Her confidence had grown and so had her overprotective nature.

“Ah, yeah, sure. I was just cracking some eggs for omelets. You could make pancakes? Everything is already laid out.”

Ellsa smiled brightly, rounding the island to come stand next to Ellie. “Sure thing. For how many?”

“Ahm, five,” Ellie wasn’t sure exactly how much she should reveal. Ellsa didn’t look lost or scared like she had when she woke up from that last episode. This time she’d been asleep for over twelve hours and Elaine did say something like, the longer she was out, the longer the memories took to come back.

Ellsa nodded, arranging the pancake stuff on her side, “So, my family, you and Robocop.”

Ellie chuckled, “He’s not all that bad, I swear.”

Ellsa held up the arm with a black brace around the wrist, “Really?”

They’d passed by the hospital to see if it was fractured. She hadn’t woken the entire time it had taken to x-ray, re-bandage and brace her wrist with a hairline fracture and re-bandage her other wrist. Just some ointment and antibiotics for that one. Ellie hadn’t spoken to Dale let alone permit him to touch her the entire time. She’d been fuming! She just stood aside while Elaine took care of it.

“He’s an ass,” she said and they both laughed.

Ellsa sighed deeply, “Maybe, maybe not. It all depends on what exactly I did to him.”

Ellie watched the freshly broken egg slide out of its shell to join several more in the bowland blurted out, “You remember?”

Ellsa paused whisking, her entire body going still for a moment, “I take it this isn’t the first time I woke up?”

Elaine was going to murder her if she said more than she should. She shook her head. Technically she hadn’t said a word.

Ellsa sighed deeply again, “When I woke up this morning, I found myself in bed sleeping between a little boy—who was half splayed over my body his head on my chest—and a man, his leg thrown over mine, his arm under my head as a pillow and his other arm over the boy as if he was holding him secure on top of me. The first thing that came to my head was why I didn’t find this boy heavy and actually enjoyed his weight, the second thing was the man next to me was hot.” They giggled like school girls over that one, then Ellsa became somber, “And the final was, who were they.”

Oh hell
, Ellie thought.

“Everything inside me screamed for me to get up and run, ask questions after I was out of the bed. I was so scared and so confused. Nothing around me looked familiar. Then the boy whined, turned his head side to side with a big frown on his face as if he felt my distress. I laid very still, convinced myself there was a reason I was sharing a bed with a little boy and a grown man. That if I gave it time, my memories would come back. I struggled to remember until my head started to pound and a buzzing filled my ears. I wanted to cry but I didn’t want to wake them. So I held the boy tight to my chest and pressed closer to the man. In his sleep he drew us to him and clutched us tight to him, then he pressed his lips to my forehead and murmured ‘VS’.”

“Victoria Secret,” Ellie supplied, “He likes to call you Victoria Secret—”

“Because I looked like I walked out of the lingerie catalog the first time we met,” she smiled shyly, “I remember. The erection pressed to my hip shifted my mind into gear.”

Ellie laughed, almost dropping the bowl of eggs she was beating.

“It all came flooding back and then it stopped with you standing at the door, holding the strap of your handbag with both hands as if you were afraid you would be mugged at any second, with tears in your eyes. Before the darkness descended on me a single thought that came to my mind was, I know that woman and I know why she has my face on hers.” She turned to Ellie fully, “We’re twins aren’t we?”

Ellie nodded.

“Why haven’t you been in my life this past year? Elaine, our big sister has, but you are my twin. Aren’t twins supposed to be attached at the hip or something?”

Ellie felt irritated when Ellsa mentioned Elaine. She didn’t like being replaced but after the big reveal last night, she needed to be patient and grateful to the woman.

“It wasn’t possible for me to be with you, just like it wasn’t possible for Damien to be with you,” she added for good measure. God she hoped Damien had spun a story as to why they were separated.

Ellsa shook her head, “No, I don’t think the reasons are the same.”

Ellie rolled her lower lip over her teeth, “Look, I don’t want to say anything that might send you into another mini coma. So how about we wait for Elaine?”

Ellsa groaned, “Fair enough… but sometimes it feels like she lies more than she tells the truth.”

“Definitely something to ask.” Rushing to change the subject Ellie said, “Meanwhile, I’ll catch you up on my life.”

A perfectly shaped brow went up, “Okay, I get it. I saw your family photo in the hallway. Robocop makes cute babies.”

Ellie chuckled, placing two pans side by side on the burner. She used one to make the eggs and Ellsa used the other to make the pancakes. “Yes, he did his share pretty well and he’s perfect in the making process.” She added with a blush.

“Oh, then they are definitely related because Damien is quite skilled in that field. So what are the kids’ names—God I feel weird asking that.” She slid the ready pancake off onto a plate and filled the empty pan with batter.

“Hey, don’t sweat it. Our daughter is Stacey-Ann after Dale and our mom and our son, the baby, is Dale James the third.”

Ellsa got a confused look on her face and Ellie wondered if she remembered something. “The third? Dale’s name is James too?”

“No. James is our dad’s name. Dale just decided since he’s named after his father and grandfather he should be the third.”

Her brows bunched together, “Okay. Plan on having more soon?”

Ellie’s heart felt heavy. That was a raw subject in the house. On her last check up after the incident, as she referred to it, the doctor told her she might not be able to conceive—too much scar tissue. The trauma sustained was substantial and she was lucky she didn’t have to have a hysterectomy. And just as she’d wondered and asked then, what was the use of having a womb if it didn’t work? It was like having a flat spare tire in the car.

“Should I not have asked that?”

Ellie shook her head and tried to laugh off her concern. Her laugh sounded like she was choking. “Third wasn’t an easy birth so there’s a possibility I may not be able to carry another baby.”