Fatal Obsession (Black Widow Book 2) (22 page)

“Please, don’t,” she softly begged, tears in her eyes, then she turned to Daniel, “Tell me what I did.”

Kris snorted from where she sat, “You know, Ellsa, you should have been an actress. You always could give an Oscar Award winning performance.”

“Kris!” Ellie rebuked and Kris just rolled her eyes in response.

Ellsa nodded, rolling both her lips into her mouth, “I take it you don’t like me very much. At least could I have a name to go with the hate?”

When Kris just glared at her in response Ellie answered, “Her name is Kris. We went to high school and college with her and for some reason I can’t remember at the moment, she’s still my best friend.”

That drew Kris’ attention. She stared at Ellie wide-eyed before they reduced to slits, “I stayed your best friend because your sister was always a world class bitch to you.”

“That is not true! Ellsa was always sophisticated, determined, domineering and overprotective and sometimes even jealous of me, but she always put me first. All we have left in this world is each other and she always looked after me.” Ellie snorted. “How is it she’s always a bitch except when she’s spending money on you?”

“Ellie!” Ellsa yelled out at her, “fighting with your friend isn’t going to help in any way. She’s been your friend for this long for a reason and you don’t want to say anything that might ruin that now.”

Kris snorted again and Ellie was two seconds away from jumping over the coffee table and punching her pinched pink lips.

“And ah… sorry, I swear I’m not acting, but would you tell me your name?”

“It’s Daniel.”

The color drained from Ellsa’s face as the name registered. Damien quickly went to her and this time she didn’t refuse his support. She fell against him, her eyes riveted on Daniel’s face. Then they slowly lowered to his chest and Ellie felt her panic growing.

“Dan—Daniel Baker?” Ellsa croaked.

Daniel’s eyes grew narrow with suspicion, “You remember me?”

She gave him a jerky shake of her head, no, “The ah… the photos and the… someone sent me… can I see?”

“Babe,” Damien’s whisper was tortured, as tortured as Ellie felt.

“I know—I know I have no right to ask after I… none of it seems real to me and I just need… please,” she ended with a pleading note, tears running unchecked down her cheeks. God why did this have to happen now?

Daniel stood up from the couch and approached Ellsa as he slowly unbuttoned his dress shirt. When he reached her, he’d gotten enough buttons undone to pull his shirt away from his chest. The scares, though barely visible, were still evident and Ellie thanked God for Daniel’s remarkable surgeon. But staring at Ellsa’s face at the moment, it was like Daniel had an open gushing wound and she could see his heart bleeding.

“That’s enough,” Damien ordered gruffly, pushing Daniel back with one hand while the other held onto Ellsa, “Babe, please don’t do this!”

Do what?
Ellie moved a little closer and that’s when she noticed Ellsa’s face had turned ghostly pale, her forehead was wet with perspiration and she shook like she was standing outside naked in the middle of a winter storm. Her eyes were glazed over like she was no longer present. But that quickly changed when her face scrunched up and she let out a desperate wail. Her pain stabbed Ellie right through the heart followed by panic when Ellsa passed out in Damien’s arms. He swung her up and held her against his chest, his face pressed into her neck, his eyes squeezed tightly shut. Ellie buried her hands in her hair and watched as all her hopes and dreams crumbled to dust at her feet.

She felt Dale at her back and she turned into his protective embrace. “Why can’t things workout for us, just once?” she cried.

Dale wrapped his arms tighter around her, “I know I shouldn’t say this, but I’m glad she passed out.”

She pulled away and looked up at him, “What?”

“She’ll have no memory of tonight, of those pictures. Clean slate and this time we’ll make sure she never gets her hands on that file again.”

“Why?”

He cupped her face in his large hands, stared right into Ellie’s eyes and said, “Because I love you. I would do anything to make you happy. I never got to meet your sister before the chips were implanted so I can’t truly judge her knowing there was a lunatic in her head the entire time we knew each other. And if it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have you.”

Her breath hitched as she cried and she held on tighter to Dale, “Thank you.”

“What the hell is happening!” Damien’s desperate scream drew them apart and Ellie turned to see him struggling to hold Ellsa’s convulsing body down on the couch.

“She’s having a seizure!” Daniel responded, kneeling by her head. He pulled the throw from the back of the couch and stuffed a corner of it into Ellsa’s mouth, then held her head steady, “Call nine-one-one!”

Ellie wasn’t sure if anyone moved but after a minute, Ellsa went still with an exhausted sigh.

Damien switched hands with Daniel around her head, “Babe, can you hear me? Come on honey, wake up, please!”

This was all too much. Ellie felt her legs giveaway under her but Dale caught her from behind. “I’ve got you,” he whispered in her ear and she turned her head into his chest.

Ellsa groaned, her limbs moving slowly as if she was about to wake up.

“That’s it babe, come back to me.” The hope in Damien’s voice was unmistakable.

Her eyes fluttered open and she stared at Damien for a few seconds before her eyes widened and her hands shot up to cover her ears. Her mouth fell open in a scream though nothing but choking sounds came out. Then she screamed, the sound muffled because of the throw still in her mouth but it was loud enough to make Ellie cold right to the core. Ellsa’s back came off the couch and she remained in that curved position, her body completely rigid right to her curled toes. It felt like forever before she collapsed on the couch, passed out.

“What… the fuck… was that?” Kris breathed.

Moments later, the door crashed open and a body sailed in. Dale shifted in front of Ellie his gun drawnand even though Damien didn’t move away from Ellsa on the couch, his gun was aimed at the entryway as they all waited quietly for a pin to drop. Ellie sank to her knees in relief when Elaine stepped into the living room holding something up in her hand. She saw Mike step into the house too, but he followed the body that had slid down the hallway.

“Tell me we got him before he used this?” Elaine asked holding a small black device in her hand.

Damien placed his gun on the floor and leaned over Ellsa on the couch. Gingerly he cradled her head in his hands and whispered, “Her ears are bleeding so I’ll have to say no.”

Ellie crawled to the couch and that’s when she noticed Ellsa’s bloody ears and equally bloody hands. What did this mean? A burst eardrum or was her brain bleeding? Could a brain bleed that much and a person still survive it? Was she even alive?

Large arms wrapped around Ellie and rocked her side to side, “Shh, calm down baby. She still has a pulse so that a good thing.”

There was a commotion then Mike dragged someone in by the back collar of his shirt. Despite the bloody cuts and swelling on his face, she recognized him. Tom was the doctor she’d spoken to at the asylum they’d left Ellsa at over a year and a half ago and the same guy who accosted them in the museum. He’d promised he’d do everything he could to help her and here he was the cause of her harm.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Ellie screamed at him.

“Unrequited love,” Elaine responded with an air of boredom. “If he can’t have her then no one will; yadi yadi ya and all that shit. We’ve already gone through that and I can’t stomach a repeat.”

“Fuck you… Elaine,” Tom gasped and then he turned to Ellsa, who lay still on the couch and smiled, “Now we can finally be together in the afterlife. I knew I would beat you, Damien Chan.”

“She’s not yet dead you fucking psycho!” Damien hissed through clenched teeth.

The doctor chuckled, “She will be. There is no surviving that. Her brain fried thanks to that remaining chip. I picked it up from Vladimir. You all wanted to keep us apart, but now we'll be together in the afterlife.”

“Fine by me,” Mike responded, lowering to grab hold of Tom’s chin. Ellie looked away knowing what would come next.

“Not in my house!” Dale shouted.

“Then move,” and soon after a sickening cracking sound followed.

“What the fuck!” Kris screamed.

“No time for hysterics. Loverboy, pick her up and let’s go. Mike, you know what to do.” Elaine turned around and left without a word.

Damien gathered Ellsa up in his arms so gently, like she was a prized possession and pushed up on his feet.

“Wait,” Mike stepped forward and even though Damien glared daggers at him, he lowered his head and pressed his lips against Ellsa’s head, “Goodbye, White Widow,” then he stepped aside and let Damien through.

Ellie scrambled to her feet and rushed behind them, “I’m coming with you.”

Dale grabbed her arm and stopped her, “Babe…”

“Please, Dale. I can’t risk Elaine disappearing with her again. She needs me and I’m going with her. Are you coming?”

He sighed and she was sure he was going to say no until Daniel spoke up, “Go, I’ll stay and... do what needs to be done here. Ellie needs you, so go.”

“Thanks, Daniel,” Dale shook his hand. Ellie flung herself at Daniel and hugged him tight. “Thank you.”

She released him and ignoring Kris’ calls to wait she ran out of the house and ran for the open back door of the SUV. She jumped in and cradled Ellsa’s legs on her lap.

“You really thought I was going to leave you behind, baby sis?” Elaine taunted.

Ellie glanced at her before directing her attention to Ellsa cradled on Damien’s lap. He was so quiet as he held her tightly to his chest it was scary. The moment Dale got into the front passenger seat, Elaine shot out of there with break-necking speed.

Ellie then took Ellsa’s hands in hers and bowed over them to do something she’d become accustomed to since the day Ellsa had escaped the asylum. She prayed.

****

Damien paced the floor of the white room, wishing he still had his hair so that he could pull it out. The wait was killing him. It had been hours now and they weren’t done operating on Tasha yet. They were taking out the other chip. Thanks to Tom, if they didn’t remove it, it would definitely kill her, something he’d intended to do. If it worked the way it was supposed to, Tasha would be dead right now. That thought made his heart flip.

Damien wasn’t sure if he should be grateful or march into the operating room and choke the living shit out of the scientist-doctor for putting not one but two defective chips in her head even though he was currently working on fixing his mess.

“How much longer?” he groaned.

“Damien...”

He turned to Ellie just to catch her running for the door VS had disappeared through. The doctor and Elaine were coming out. It annoyed him that they’d let her through and not him. But when she asked if he was ready to hold a gun steady against one of their heads as incentive, he caved. The woman was nuts.

“How is she?” Damien demanded when he got to the duo.

“She made it through the operation. Now we wait.” The doctor answered, then he turned to Elaine and barked something in... Russian?

Elaine smiled and responded more calmly. But that smile... Damien was sure she’d threatened him. The doctor turned around and went through the doors he’d come from, leaving Elaine behind.

“You can go in and see her if you want.”

“Elaine, is this nightmare over?” Ellie asked the question he’d been too afraid to even ponder.

Elaine wrapped her arm around Ellie’s shoulder and led her through the doors, Damien followed behind, anxious to see VS but also needing to hear the answer. “I made sure of it. You and I may not get along Ellie, but Ellsa is as much of a sister to you as she is to me.”

“Why?”

Elaine was quiet for a moment before she responded, “She made me feel again.” She stopped in front of a sliding door. “There she is, but she’s not awake yet.”

“When will she wake up?” Damien asked, looking at the figure in the bed, Ellie already at her side. She had so many wires attached to her, a mask over her face and heavy duty bandages around her head. But she was alive and that’s all he cared about at the moment.

“Hopefully soon. There were no complications like last time.”

“Will she... will she remember?”

“That’s been taken care of.” She responded as if she knew exactly what he meant, “Her last memory will be of her last episode before today.”

When she saw Ellie at the FBI. “How...”

She smiled, “Don’t know, don’t care, just as long as it’s done.”

Dale patted him on the back, “Just say thank you and go in Middle D. Everything else comes after she’s awake and responsive.”

Damien went in and sat in the free chair on Tasha’s other side and took her hand in his. “Victoria Secret, you certainly know how to turn a man’s life upside down.”

Epilogue

Elaine watched Ellsa’s family keep vigil over her for the sixth night in a row. They’d turned the safe house into their second home, abandoning their children with their parents and taking over the warehouse and Ellsa’s care. She had to seclude their side and make use of half the warehouse for other questionable characters in need of medical attention that couldn’t go to normal hospitals. Sure, the facility was set up for Ellsa, with the staff comprising of all the people that still breathed because she didn’t carry out her orders and hid them instead. They all owed her their lives and Elaine had made sure to drive that point home in case they forgot. After she’d recovered from her first surgery and the facility wasn’t needed anymore, Mike thought to make money off it. And considering how well their pockets were lined now, it wasn’t such a bad idea.

“Katarina.”

Elaine stilled for just a second. With her hand inching to her side for the Glock strapped to her thigh, she turned around slowly. With a smile she’d been forced to learn, “Derek, long time- no see. Is this visit personal or business?”