Schwartz
He stepped out of his car and smiled at the tall, slim woman with the midnight black hair who was standing in a deep blue suit before his gate. Her large cruiser was parked neatly at the side. The guards had not let her in.
Simple.
They would not do so until he was back and told them it was safe to allow anyone in, even a former lover.
He grinned easily as he closed the distance between them and took her in his arms, inhaling the familiar woodsy smell of her hair. She smiled up at him, the wide mouth, those high cheekbones, he remembered so well… They kissed, a long kiss, a kiss between people who were not just friends but also lovers, who cared for each other. He was still smiling as they stepped apart.
She smiled, a thin smile, for Aiyana Laughing Water was not a person given to effervescent smiles. ‘I missed you.’ She said and those words, that short phrase conveyed so much. He grinned back, favouring her with his rakish smile and nodded.
‘Let’s get you inside.’ He said and they walked up to the door. His men had already opened the door and he walked in with the woman who had been with him, had shared his bed for months.
Had he missed her? He asked himself as he watched her head to the washroom, brisk and efficient as always. The image of Maja and her red , unruly curls, the eyes wet and soft with weeping, came to him and he frowned as he stepped over to the bar and prepared himself a drink.
The thought of how Proserpina would gaze at him, reproachfully, if she could see him drinking so early in the morning made him pause midway. Then he smiled and shook his head. That was one woman he would carry around in his mind, in his heart, forever.
He would always be in love with Proserpina Delano, he thought sadly. But these were two women who somehow, had managed to enter his life and he did not know whether he wanted to make one of them a permanent in his life.
*
Cole
He chuckled to himself as he sat in the aircraft and looked down at the fast diminishing image of the city below him. He was leaving Australia. He ws putting behind the period of his captivity here, as he saw it. Flying back home to the US, where he belonged.
It had no been easy to get himself safely hidden in the large aircraft that was carrying supplies to the US, back to his ‘Father’. But he had known that he was not going to spend his life in the back of beyond, working in the Land of Oz.
Nope, that was not what he wanted for himself. He wanted to live. To have a life of money and luxury.
He wanted to live the Delano lifestyle and he was determined to see that he did so, Even if it meant becoming a fugitive for a while.
He shrugged now as he dismissed Lucien Delano’s magnanimity in offering him a chance in the rural outback. Some life, he thought in disgust. Work, work and more work and then some. Nah. If he was the son of Shark, he would see that he got a fair share of the profits of the Club. He would demand that Lucien Delano and James Schwartz make him a partner in their business. After all, it had been his father who had handled the who*es. He could do the same. Expand too, maybe. He gleefully rubbed his hands. He was going to confront the lion in his den.
Besides, his trump card was the power he had over the little girl, Tara Delano. He had written to her, sad e-mails which he felt she had never seen. So, he had asked the Monk for help.
The man had sent him the details of a youth, Magnus Nord, whose sister was Tara’s BFF by all accounts. And through the youth, he was going to connect to gullible, silly Tara and make her an instrument in pushing his agenda forward.
He smiled again and shut his eyes for a power nap. Soon, he would be home, back in the USA.
*
Lucien
Tara’s words fell like chips of glass, resounding in the ears of the family seated for breakfast.
The waffle-eaters paused midway. Lucien’s plate, with the sausages and the bacon, lay idle as he raised his head and said in a silky voice,
‘What was that, poppet?’
The children looked from one to the other. Ria’s hand was at her throat as she swore at her sister fiercely under her breath, trying to look at her plate of fresh fruit. The maids scampered away and Beatrice’s grim visage appeared in the doorway before she ducked her head and disappeared when Lucien’s cold eyes rested on her.
When would stupid Tara learn to keep her mouth shut?, thought Ria, glaring at her sister who sat, mouth hanging open as she realised that she had said something she had not been supposed to say. Put her foot in her mouth, as Lou would say, mockingly. Claude’s expression was one that would have scared anyone; as for Tara’s triplet siblings, Dom was staring at her, anger staining his cheeks while Lou rolled his eyes in a droll fashion as he mouthed, DUMB.
Proserpina
I felt the heat rush up my face. Never for a minute had I imagined that my scatter-brained Tara would speak in such an idiotic manner. I made to move away, to rise, but immediately, Lucien’s large hand snaked out, clamping down on my wrist violently, painfully hard as he tightened his hold. I sat, staring ahead, trying not to cry out as he tightened his grip till I thought he meant to crush my bones. But for the sake of my mortified, frightened-looking children, I kept a carefully blank expression on my face as I avoided meeting my lover’s cold, angry eyes.
“What did you just say, pumpkin?’ he said again softly, and anyone but my children would have been forgiven if they had mistaken it as the tone in which a kind, courteous question had been put, polite and innocent. But I knew that he was furious and so did they.
“Did your Mumma say that I was old? Too old to fight?’
Tara glanced about the table, looking at her siblings for support but they looked ready to pounce on her . Helplessly, she looked my way but I stared at the plate in front of me unseeingly.
I did not want to make a scene in the dining hall. All my children knew their father’s violent temper and were aware that he was touchy about the huge age gap between us.
Tara open and shut her mouth like a throttled goldfish and I felt sorry for her.
Turning to my husband, who held my wrist so tightly, I thought the blood flow to my hand would stop, I said in a soft tone, pleading,
“Lucien, I…’
He cut me off, harshly, jerking my wrist so suddenly that I yelped. His cold eyes fixed on my daughter as he said.
” Shut your f*cking trap, Woman. Let the child speak for f*ck’s sake.’
Tears began to flow down Tara’s cheeks as he bent her head, shaking it and murmuring, ‘No…I did not…’
And then she blabbered, ‘I just… Mumma told Claude and …Ria…’ Here she hiccupped loudly and broke down crying in earnest.
Ria began to talk, trying to turn her father’s attention to herself, as she began,
‘Pappa…please…’
But Lucien Delano was not to be diverted. He raised his other hand imperiously and commanded,
‘Be quiet, girl.’
And then, he rose, pulling me with him, so suddenly, I almost fell , upsetting the glass of water onto his plate.
“I need to speak to your mother,’ he growled and dragged me out of the room so vehemently, I gasped as my hip hit the side of the table.