Graham, Jan - Finding Angel [Wylde Shore] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) (51 page)

Steve decided he needed to move on. What other contact had happened over the last few weeks? Christian had left messages on his phone that was safely locked in Trevor’s office. Trevor had said there wasn’t anything unusual in the messages, just that Christian was asking him to call.

Trevor had confronted Christian over accessing Samuel Barnard’s file. Was that a coincidence and was the unrelated matter the fact he had started screwing Samuel’s ex and he needed to find out about her life before she hooked up with them?

Fuck
…
Fuck
…
Fuck.
Steve could feel the pulse throb in side of his neck as his heart started to pound heavily. He didn’t like all the coincidences. He packed up the book and pens and headed outside for some air. As Steve paced around the car having a cigarette and lolling the information around in his brain, he came to only one conclusion. It was possible. He knew there was only one way to be sure. He decided to drive the Shore brothers’ home. He hopped into the car and slammed the door behind him. He took the bus route out and looked at it once more. Yep, the street their house was in was on the bus route Angel had taken yesterday.

How long do you think it will take you to get to the boys’ house, Steve?
He turned the key in the ignition bringing the car to life.

“Oh, let’s see shall we?” Steve answered himself as he exited the car park and accelerated down the main road.

“Probably thirty fucking minutes!” he yelled.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Angel waited for Daniel and Christian to go to work before starting some housework. As she started picking up the breakfast dishes, she smiled, thinking how nice it had been to be able to tell them “I love you” as she kissed them good-bye. It would take a while to get used to saying it, but the feelings it raised within her were all positive.

Once the kitchen was clean and dishes were done, she moved to the bedrooms. Angel changed the sheets on the beds, put out fresh towels in the bathrooms, and headed to the laundry to start the washing.

She felt nervous. Angel knew she needed to ring Adrian but decided she needed to think about what she would say first. The housework usually took her a couple of hours if she mopped and did the washing. That should give her plenty of time to decide the best way to approach the call. Not that any amount of planning would help her if Adrian was angry. Like any man with a temper, Adrian could be unpredictable. He usually kept himself in check. At least from her experience with him he did. Then again, she hadn’t had that many dealings with him. The fact that he had initially been soliciting her in the hope of having sex again worked in her favour, or at least she hoped it would.

Angel finished the housework by midmorning. She sat on the sofa and looked at her mobile.

I can do this.
Angel took a few deep breaths.

Breathe…in through the nose and out through the mouth. The technique always worked to calm her before a confrontation and sometimes during one. She reminded herself to continue to breathe as she pressed call.

“Don’t hang up. I need a minute,” Adrian snapped the order at her through the phone.

Angel could hear him saying good-bye to someone and then heard him tell his secretary to hold all calls and don’t bother him until he told her he was free again. Angel continued to breathe. If she felt panicked after only one brisk statement from Adrian, the rest of the conversation wasn’t going to be easy. Angel heard a door close, and then Adrian was back and talking again.

“I see no one will be bringing me your severed head to claim the bounty today. Well, not this morning at least.” Angel let out an audible gasp in response to Adrian’s words.

“Oh, Angel, don’t be so shocked. What did you expect from me?” His voice sounded cold, and she shivered when a chill ripped up her spine at the sound of it.

“I…I thought I had two weeks to get the ledger to you. I went away for a bit of a break. I forgot my phone charger, and I didn’t get the messages until yesterday when I bought a charger to have with me here.” Angel blurted the words out quickly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you mad.”

“Tell me where you and your precious new phone charger are, and I’ll come and get you.” He still sounded cold.

“No,” Angel said with less force than she had expected.

“No.” Adrian imitated her weak response before yelling, “Why the fuck not?”

“I don’t want you to kill me.” Angel’s voice wavered as she fought back tears. She waited through a long silence.

“It might not be me that does it.” She could still hear the anger in his voice. “I might enjoy watching. Samuel knew other people liked to watch things. That’s obviously why he filmed you being fucked. Maybe I could get someone to tape the murder and stream it back to me.”

“Please, Adrian, don’t be cruel.” Angel couldn’t believe the one nice thing he had done, purchasing the tapes Samuel had made of her being beaten and raped, had just been savagely thrown in her face.

Angel heard Adrian clear his throat.

“So tell me, why you have called?” Adrian’s tone had lost its cold edge. He spoke less forcefully.

“I’ve called to talk about giving you the ledger. I’m sorry I didn’t call before, but I only got the messages yesterday. I’m trying to rectify what I did to make you mad. I know that if you still decide that you have to kill me, then there is nothing I can do to change that. But I need to at least talk to you and try to make amends.”

“Why didn’t you call as soon as you read the messages?” Adrian sounded like he was getting his calm back. At least Angel hoped he was.

“I didn’t call yesterday or last night because I was scared.” Angel stood up from the sofa and started to pace. She was suddenly filled with a nervous energy, like her adrenaline was kicking in after the fact.

“And you’re not scared today?”

“Terrified, but I knew I couldn’t put off talking to you.” Angel wondered if Adrian would mind if she took a break from the conversation so she could throw up.

Angel flicked on the jug and started to make a peppermint tea.

“What’s that noise?” Adrian sounded suspicious.

“I just turned on the kettle to make a peppermint tea. I am actually so scared I feel like being sick. Peppermint tea calms the stomach.” Angel didn’t know what to think when she heard Adrian laugh.

“You are going to be my downfall. You know that, don’t you?” He continued laughing, which Angel found odd.

“I don’t understand.”

“Okay, you tell me what’s got you confused, and then I’ll tell you why I got so angry that I put a bounty on your pretty head.” Adrian sounded almost jovial as he spoke.

“All right then.” Angel spoke cautiously. She had no idea what had caused the change in Adrian, and it scared her more than the mention of a bounty on her head.

“I don’t know why you would think that making a peppermint tea is funny. I mean, this is serious. I’m trying to plead for my life here. Secondly, I thought you would be more cautious about admitting to wanting to kill me over a telephone. And third, I’m concerned that you’re just trying to keep me talking on the phone so you can trace the call and send someone to come and kill me. And lastly, I have no intention of being your downfall. I have the ledger, and I want you to have it.” Angel waited for Adrian’s reply.

“Firstly, I’m not tracing the call. It’s beyond my humble means.” Adrian paused. “Well, actually that’s a lie. I can do it, have done it, but I’m not doing it with you. I will leave it up to you to decide if you believe me or not.

“Secondly, no one has this phone number but you. I bought it specifically to communicate with you. And unless you have given the number to the police, then it’s just our secret. I can tell you anything, and it isn’t going to be traced. I did have to be a bit more cryptic with the text messages because you can store those and you could use them as evidence against me.

As for the peppermint tea, God, Angel, no one would ever tell me something like that. My whole life people have always been so scared to even blink around me. Anyone else would be huddled in a corner crying and begging for forgiveness at the thought of me killing them. But not you, I know you must be terrified, I mean you told me that. You’re scared and upset in the stomach, so you make a peppermint tea. There is no one in the world that treats me like you. And that’s why you will be my downfall, not because of anything you do or don’t do in relation to the ledger, but because you weaken my defences.”

Angel didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t figure Adrian out. He terrified her and, then when she was least expecting it, said things like “you weaken my defences” with such kindness in his voice it unnerved her.

“Do you understand now?” Adrian asked quietly.

“I think so. You’re the grumpy, violent lion, and I’m the mouse that pulls the thorn out of your paw.”

“Exactly,” Adrian replied before roaring with laughter.

“You still scare me though,” Angel stated emphatically. “And you still haven’t said you’re not going to kill me.”

“Yes, about that, let me explain why I got so mad.” Adrian’s voice took on a more professional tone.

“I was told that you were working with the police. I also found out you allowed the police to bug your house, and unfortunately I believe they now have a recording of us discussing Samuel’s unfortunate death. I was also told you gave the police a bag of very incriminating evidence. And then you ran away and didn’t return my calls. I assumed, given the lack of evidence to the contrary, that you had given the police the ledger and that you had been taken into police protection. So in my anger, I put a bounty on your head. What else can I say, I may have reacted impulsively.”

Adrian drew in a deep breath and then continued.

“So would you please tell me your point of view on the aforementioned?”

“Well, can I say to start that whoever you get your information from is only telling you half truths?” Angel heard Adrian chuckle.

“I was hoping you would say it was all lies, but go on.” Angel thought he sounded amused.

“Yes, the police had the house bugged. They had been listening to Samuel before he died. Apparently the surveillance had been in place for at least six months from what I can gather. I only found out that the police had been listening the day after you and I, you know, discussed Samuel being dead.

“Steve asked me about the ledger. They knew it existed before you asked for it. I don’t know how they knew, but they did. I told them what I told you, that I didn’t know anything about it. And at the time I didn’t know where it was.

“As for the bag of evidence, I gave Steve a bag of weapons Samuel had that I didn’t want to keep in the house. They are evidence against a dead man’s crimes, not against you.”

Before Angel could continue, Adrian interrupted her.

“You sound way too friendly with Detective Jax. What else is going on there? Are you sleeping with him?” Adrian virtually spat the question at her.

“No, don’t be disgusting. That would just be wrong,” Angel replied indignantly.

“Then why didn’t you give the weapons to me? I had been there only a few hours before Steve Jax came knocking on your door.”

“Like you need more weapons,” Angel scoffed. “Besides, don’t you think there are families of people who are dead because of Samuel that might like to at least know the guy who did it has been punished with death?”

Adrian didn’t comment. He simply instructed Angel to “go on.”

“I’m not working with the police. I’m not in protective custody. Steve visited again and tried to pressure me about the ledger. I told him to go away. The police can’t protect anyone.” Angel felt tears form in her eyes as she spoke. “They listened to Samuel hurt me every day. They had their bugs in the house. They listen, Adrian. They don’t protect.”