Fatal Obsession (Black Widow Book 2) (7 page)

They still glared at each other, standing rigid with their fists clenched at their sides. After a few more seconds of the standoff, Ellie pushed against both of them again, but this time hard enough to send Dale a few steps back. He stared down at her in exasperation before he backed away completely, falling into the love seat. With him taken care of, she turned her attention to Damien, who was looking down at her with a weird look on his face.

Please let it be something other than him claiming I’m his Victoria Secret again.

“You two don’t look that much alike.”

“What?”

His lips twitched in a smile. “Your face is round and hers is long.”

Ellie could hear her heart beat in her ears. He couldn’t mean what she thought he did, could he? She didn’t want to hope; too much had gone wrong already.

“You—you saw her?” her voice barely above a whisper.

Without answering her question he went on, “I read somewhere that twins sometimes think the same, but I wasn’t so sure until today.” He raised his hand to her hair, combing his fingers through it. “Both your hair is cut in exactly the same length and styled the same way.”

Ellie grabbed the wrist of the hand in her hair and demanded impatiently, “So you saw her?”

Damien grinned, “I would have thought it was you if not for the obvious reasons.”

She clapped her free hand over her mouth to keep the grunted mix of laughing and crying from escaping. With blurred eyes she demanded, “How is she? Did you arrest her? Can I see her? Dale—” she sobbed her husband’s name as she turned to him.

Dale watched her, his expression shadowed from her except for his intense eyes. Then with a sigh he said, “Romeo there helped her escape, so no, she wasn’t arrested.”

She ignored the venom in his words and turned to Damien, “You did that?”

She was happy and yet sad about it. The last thing she wanted was her twin being locked up for the rest of her life, but she still needed help if she was to gain her sanity. She didn’t care what anyone else said, Ellsa could be cured because she wasn’t born insane. Nothing in her DNA or whatnots made her a sociopath or a psycho. Otherwise, she’d be just as insane.

Damien clenched his jaw, turning his hand in hers so that they were clasped palm to palm. “She wasn’t well; I needed to get her to a hospital.”

She felt the panic settle in, “What do you mean? What was wrong with her?”

“She fainted when she saw me. Then she got feverish and all sweaty.”

“Why didn’t you start with that? I need to go to her.” Ellie turned to rush out of the room, but Damien’s grip on her hand drew her back.

“No need for that. We didn’t get to the hospital,” then he looked behind her at Dale, who in turn returned the solemn gaze. Ellie felt the dread settle in. Was this nightmare never going to be over?

“What? What is it?”

Dale stood, pulling her against him, back to chest, his arms winding around her waist. “A man and a woman, both armed, forced Damien out of the car and drove away with her.”

She slumped against him, “What?”

“We don’t know what they wanted with her or the boy—”

“I do.”

****

What am I doing?
Damien hadn’t meant to say that, but the misery on Ellie’s face… VS would have wanted him to do this. Ease her sister’s suffering.

“What do you mean?” Dale demanded through narrowed eyes, his voice just as accusing.

Suddenly he wished he was making this confession to Ellie alone. Could he trust his cousin? In the past, he wouldn’t have thought twice about that but now, they were on opposite sides. Dale was determined to put her away permanently while Damien was looking to save her from that fate. God, he was never one to question facts backed by proof—Ellsa was a murderer and a dangerous one at that, but… the woman he knew all those years ago and the one he met today, she didn’t look capable of hurting a fly.

“Damien!”

Hoping against hope that this wouldn’t bite him in the ass, he said, “I think Ellsa is under protective custody.” When that revelation was met with silence, he went on. “I spoke to the woman. She knew who I was and how long I’d been searching for VS. She said I was making their job hard with my persistence.”

“What job?” Dale hissed.

“Protecting her from Vladimir—at least I think it’s him. He was the guy she was running from the first time we met.”

“In Miami?” Ellie squeaked. “Why would she need protection for all these years and why didn’t she tell me?”

Damien shook his head, “She must have had her reasons. These people meant business, Ellie. There was nothing law enforcement about them. They looked more like hired mercenaries.”

She clutched her hair in tight fists, her eyes wide with fear. “And you let them go off with my sister!”

“I didn’t have much of a choice! They asked me nicely to step out of the car and when I say nicely, I mean with a gun in my face.”

Ellie turned, burying her face in Dale’s chest. He held her to him, remorse in his eyes. “If I was there with you we might have—”

Damien shook his head, “No, I think she’s safe with them.” When Dale went to protest, he held his hand up. “You don’t go against the Russians unless you can play on an equal playing field. We can’t, but they can. They seem to care about VS and that’s enough for me—for the moment.”

“If Ellsa knew this man was a threat, why didn’t she do anything to protect Ellie?”

“She has been safe.”

“Except from Ellsa herself,” Dale gnashed out.

There was so much of this that Damien didn’t understand—a state he despised being in—and he needed to figure it all out before the walls came closing around Ellsa. He looked at his wrist watch. It was a few minutes to midnight. Why hadn’t DJ called him yet?

Sniffling, Ellie brought her face out of hiding from Dale’s chest, “You mentioned a boy. Did she kidnap another child?”

“No,” “Yes,” He and Dale answered simultaneously.

At the tortured look on Ellie’s face, Damien quickly said, “The boy is hers.”

Dale snorted, “How would you know?”

With a silent prayer that he wasn’t making a mistake by confessing this Damien said, “Because he’s mine too.”

He’d expected a lot of things, shock being at the forefront, but he never expected laughter. Dale doubled over laughing and he and Ellie were left staring at him, a little stunned.

“Middle D, you can’t be that gullible. Hell, I need a drink.” He sauntered off to the kitchen, still laughing.

Ellie took Damien’s hand and squeezed it, “Don’t mind him. He cares nothing for Ellsa, but you and I do. Tell me about him?”

Damien shook his head. “Maybe another time, Ellie. Good night.” He kissed her cheek and walked to his room, locking the door once inside.

He paced the carpeted floor, his mind jumbled with thoughts. Dale’s laughter had set warnings off in his head. He couldn’t sit down and discuss his son when all he could think about was those walls now closing in faster after his stupid mistake. He should never have said anything. He yanked his shirt off and dropped onto the bed, his head in his hands, his elbows on his knees. What was he going to do when DJ called and Dale answered? Now he wished Elaine would find his phone in DJ’s backpack. He needed to come up with a plan tonight and then tomorrow he was going by his son’s school with a new phone. One just like his—couldn’t be tapped, traced, hacked or cloned. Searching for Victoria Secret all those years had made him paranoid, but not paranoid enough if Elaine could pick up his trail behind them.

It was time to put his big brain to better use.

****

“Tasha.”

She lifted her head and met her sister’s concerned gaze. With a weak smile she said, “Hi Elaine. I didn’t hear you come in.”

“How could you? You were a million miles away. Something you’d like to talk about?”

Talk, talk about what? She barely had memories and her thoughts were all jumbled up in her head. And if her stupid brain kept on crashing she wasn’t going to be left with much of anything. She was on her way to being a drooling cabbage always seated in front of the window watching life pass by her while she wondered about nothing!

She wiped the kitchen counter with more vigor, what she had been doing before the reality of how fast her mind was slipping froze her in the little thoughts she had left.

Elaine’s hand clamped down on hers, stopping its movements. “I’m all for cleaning counters, but that isn’t going to shine more than it already is.”

Tasha huffed, pulling her hand away and throwing the rag in the sink. She leaned against it, fighting the tears burning her throat as she remembered DJ’s dejected face last night. She should never have left the room. She should have stayed there until everything began making sense again.

“Tasha, turn around. Talk to me.”

“Why?” she croaked.

“Why what?”

She turned then, still leaning against the sink, her head bowed, “Why did that happen? Why did I wake up with no memories, again?”

“Tasha, come here. Take a seat.” Tasha pushed away from the sink, moving to the island and taking a seat opposite Elaine. “I’m sorry that happened and I’m sorry you feel guilty for hurting DJ like that again. If we weren’t fighting and looking after you. Instead, I would never have let you leave that room without jogging your memory first.”

Tasha looked up at her sister, quickly wiping a tear that was dislodged by the movement, “Why did it happen, Elaine?”

Elaine reached across and took Tasha’s hands in hers, “You remember what happened yesterday?”

Tasha nodded, “And every day before that for the past year—at least for the time being.”

Elaine pinched her finger, “Don’t be morbid. It doesn’t suit you. What do you remember about yesterday?”

Tasha had already gone through that day with DJ that morning before Mike drove him to school. Tom didn’t want her to leave just in case she had another episode. Yeah, he called her sudden loss of memory episodes. In fact, he looked annoyed that she had been able to remember everything after hours of DJ speaking nonstop about all they’d done together after her first memory loss.

“I woke up, broke up the normal morning fights, drove DJ to school, came back, cleaned the house, worked on a few things until it was time to pick up DJ.” Her heart beat picked up tempo, “got to the school a—and met…”
him
. DJ’s father—that is, according to her son.

“Who did you meet?” Elaine pressed gently.

Rolling her lips into her mouth, she said, “Him.”

Elaine chuckled, “Who’s him? You’re going to have to say it sooner or later.”

Tasha shot off the stool and made her escape to the living room, “I don’t know who he is! Remember, my memory has taken a hiatus!”

“Say it,” Elaine taunted, chasing after her. “You know you want to. I bet you had some serious wet dreams about him. I know I did.”

That pissed her off. Why, she had no idea and was better off thinking about it later when her brain was functioning right. Rounding on her sister, she said, “You are not permitted to have any sort of dream about the father of my son!” Tasha slammed her hand over her mouth.

Elaine smiled indulgently, “See? Now was that so hard to admit?”

Shaking her head she fell onto the couch. “I feel like a spectator, watching my life go by as my past crashes into my present. What is it about him I’m forgetting, besides everything?”

“Nothing that I can help you with and everything you need to find out on your own.”

“I’m going to have to meet up with him, aren’t I?”

Elaine shrugged, “Only if you want to.”

Tasha sighed, “It’s not really a choice. DJ wants to be with his father.”

She harrumphed, “He’s five. He doesn’t get a vote.”

“He gets a vote and veto power when his mother forgets him.” She held up two fingers. “Not once, but twice in his five years of life.”

God, Tasha had never felt so ashamed in her life—well she was sure no moment could compare to this, even those she couldn’t remember. She wasn’t just ashamed as a mother, but as a wife too. DJ wasn’t Tom’s son. And Tom… she didn’t understand what motivated him to do it, but it was selfless of him to claim a child that wasn’t his just to ease her confusion. Having amnesia sucked! But one question did boggle the few brain cells she still had.

“How did this happen, Elaine?”

Her brows wrinkled in confusion, “how did what happen?”

Tasha stood, pacing the carpeted floor. “How did… this man and I end up having a son?”

With a coy smile Elaine said, “I know you’ve forgotten pretty much everything, but surely… do I have to go over the birds and the bees with you? Do you even know what I mean by the birds and the bees?”

Tasha rolled her eyes and gave Elaine a withering glare. “This isn’t the time for your nonexistent humor.” Tasha stopped and faced her. “Tom and I were married right out of college—that’s a little over eight years ago. DJ just turned five.” Tasha could feel an ulcer in her stomach begin to form. “I had an affair? Is that it?”

Elaine stared at her, her expression blank. Tasha knew her sister wasn’t very affectionate and for some reason she understood that. But sometimes it amazed her how adept she was at hiding her emotions, barely showing any reaction to any news whether good or bad, but this was no time for her poker face.

“Did I cheat on my husband? Tell me!” she shrieked. Elaine seemed to wake up then, her face etched with concern and a little guilt.

“Stay calm, we don’t want you passing out and forgetting everything again. Come, sit.”

Tasha followed the directive, forcing calming breathes into her body. The last thing she wanted was another episode. That only seemed to happen when she felt like she was stressed and under a lot of pressure.

“Tasha, some things just happen.”

She shook her head. That wasn’t reason enough to cheat. “I may not remember who I am, but I refuse to believe I’m disloyal.” She grabbed Elaine’s hand and pleaded. “Please tell me he raped me!”

With a sad smile Elaine said, “I think you know deep down why I can’t say that.”