Temptations - The Complete Series Read online

  Dalilah smiled. She looked amazing, although she looked like she was about ready to burst. “Dalilah, you look like you’re going to have that kid at any moment. You’re lucky you’re already in a hospital.”

  She laughed. “Egads, I never thought that I could feel so shitty and so amazing, all at the same time. Luke and I can’t wait to meet this little girl.”

  “Me too,” I said. “Ah, well, it’s great to see you guys, but I have no idea why I’m here. All that I know is that I started to feel really awful, and shaky, and then, the next thing you know – boom. Down for the count.”

  Luke and Dalilah didn’t exactly look worried, so I felt that there probably wasn’t some terrible disease that I was suffering from. “The doctor is around,” Luke said. “Let me try to find him for you.”

  Dalilah took my hand. “We were so worried,” she said. “We miss you so much.”

  “I miss you guys too, but you can’t beat the weather out here. I know, it’s pretty hot right now, but in December, when I’m on the beach and you guys are buried under 8 feet of snow, I’ll be pretty happy that I’m here. Although, I would love for you guys to be out here with me.”

  She smiled. “It would be great to live out here, but Luke is doing so well in New York, you just won’t believe it. He has so many wealthy benefactors lining up for him; he can’t keep them all straight. He might do half a million in commissions this year, and more lined up next year. I couldn’t be prouder of him.”

  “Well, after what you guys went through, you deserve all the success and happiness in the world.”

  “And so do you. So, tell me, any man on the scene?”

  I felt myself blushing. For some reason, I didn’t want to tell Dalilah about Slade just yet. For one, we were perpetually on shaky ground. And, for another, it was difficult to explain that Slade was my client, or my team’s client, and that we were kinda, sorta together. So I shrugged. “A man here and there. I’ve tried Internet dating and a matchmaker, but nothing has really stuck.”

  Dalilah looked at me sympathetically. “You’ll get there. Look at Luke and me. He saw me naked when we first met.” Then she giggled and I felt charmed by her lilting and melodious laugh.

  I wanted to tell her that the man that I was falling for was somebody that I saw naked right away as well, but I couldn’t bring myself to. I just wasn’t ready to talk about Slade to anyone just yet. I mean, I told Malcolm, but that was because I had to. But I didn’t have to spill the beans to Dalilah, so I didn’t.

  At that, the doctor came in to see me. “Hello, Ms. Roberts,” he said to me. “I need to talk to you about some things. Do you want to speak to me alone or do you want your brother and sister-in-law here?”

  “I want them here, of course,” I said, taking their hands. They were on either side of me, standing by the bed.

  The doctor nodded. “Well, we’re not immediately able to tell exactly why you lost consciousness. There’s nothing regarding your vital signs that is immediately jumping out at me. We could certainly do more tests if you like, but it seems that you are perfectly healthy.”

  I nodded. “Okay then. I guess I can just be released?”

  “I don’t see why not, although I would like for you to follow up with your primary care physician. It’s not common for a perfectly healthy 28-year-old to lose consciousness without there being some kind of underlying health issue.”

  I knew, deep down, what the problem was. It had to do with the dream that I had, and the fact that I thought that I knew who was erasing the video in the control room. But I couldn’t be sure. It was just a feeling that I had, and the spirit was giving me the signals.

  I wondered if Malcolm owned a hoodie.

  Luke drove me home. “Dalilah and I are totally excited to get to the beach,” he said. “I’ve been working so hard, that we’re going to treat this as a little vacation. I mean, if there was a serious health issue with you, we wouldn’t be, but, since you seem to be fine, we’re going to take advantage of being out here in the sun.”

  I looked over at Dalilah in the backseat. “Dalilah, you look like you’re going to be going home with a new person. When are you due?”

  “Any day. I’m actually overdue, so I was afraid to fly, but I called my doctor before I left to come here, and he said that I would be fine.”

  “Well, then, it’s probably better that you actually do have the baby here. Luke needs to find you an ob-gyn stat.” I shook my head. “I’m really happy that you guys came, but you both took a huge risk in coming out here. And Dalilah, you’re not going to have your doctor available when you deliver.”

  Dalilah put her hand on my shoulder. “It’s okay. Luke was very concerned, as was I. We’re happy that you’re fine, though.”

  I wasn’t fine, although physically, I was. I suddenly knew that Malcolm was behind all of this. At least, he seemed to be behind the erasure of the video. Why he was, I didn’t yet know. The spirit didn’t implicate him in the murder, although that was increasingly a possibility.

  Looking back, I was surprised that Malcolm had been so accommodating to me. Allowing me to get the clothes from Jane was something that I was surprised that he would do. But, then again, he probably didn’t necessarily think that I would actually be able to get anything off of those clothes. Malcolm pretended that he believed in me, but something told me that he really didn’t.

  But his encouragement of my relationship with Slade suddenly made perfect sense. He wanted to throw me under the bus when Slade was inevitably convicted. That was when I knew that Malcolm was going to try to throw the case. That would be a perfect alibi for him – he wouldn’t look incompetent when Slade went down for murder. He could merely say that it was my fault – I was sleeping with our client, and therefore, my judgment was clouded and I did an incompetent job.

  He was a slick one; that was for sure.

  How was I going to approach this, though? I had no clue why Malcolm would be involved in Jordan’s murder, or even if he was. He most certainly, however, was involved in the cover-up. It certainly looked like he might have been involved in Jordan’s murder. He might have done it.

  I suddenly knew that I needed to talk to Slade. I never found out exactly why Slade hired our firm for his case. He had his pick of lawyers from around the country; lawyers who were extremely high-profile and were used to taking on cases such as this one. Our firm was relatively unknown, although we did defend a number of locally high-profile cases. We never, however, had defended something quite like this.

  Why would he hire our firm? Did he know Malcolm? Was Malcolm a friend, or an acquaintance of Jordan’s? What was the association there? After all, Malcolm would have to have had the code to get into that lab; otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to do what he did. He wouldn’t have been able to get into the lab to erase that video.

  There was another missing puzzle piece, and quite frankly, it was driving me nuts.

  Dalilah was looking at me, a concerned look on her face. “What is it, Serena? We lost you there.”

  I shook my head. “Oh, nothing, nothing. I was just thinking about a case that I have.”

  “Well, you need to relax right now. This job seems to be taking a lot out of you.”

  I smiled and reached behind me to pat her hand. “I love you, you know that? Luke did well. Who would have thought?”

  Luke smiled. “Oh, I know, I’m a lucky, lucky guy. Can’t wait to walk down that aisle. Kiss the girl. Can’t wait.”

  I knew that Luke and Dalilah had earned this happiness, but I couldn’t help but feel a pang. I had such a complicated relationship with Slade, one that was constantly on the rocks. I knew that Slade’s murder case was most of the reason why there was so much tension, and I was looking forward to the time when that wasn’t being held over our heads.

  But there were still so many secrets that were being withheld, and Slade wasn’t an open book, by any means. It seemed like every time I turned around, there was something new coming out, and a
ll of these new revelations made me feel that I couldn’t trust Slade at all.

  We got to my house and Luke and Dalilah put their bags down. “What a cute place,” Dalilah said. “And so close to the beach.”

  “Yes. Well, let me show you to the spare bedroom.”

  I took them into the spare bedroom and they both sat down on the bed. Luke’s arm was around Dalilah’s shoulder protectively and Dalilah’s hand was covering her bulging belly. She rubbed it thoughtfully. “Do you know of any doctors around here? As you said, I have a feeling this baby is going to be born while we’re out here visiting you.”

  “Let me go into the living room. I have a business card for my doctor and I’ll call him and see if I can get you a referral.” I shook my head. “I love you for coming here, but you shouldn’t have taken that risk.”

  I went into the living room, and I gasped.

  A strange man was standing there with a gun.

  Chapter 26

  I was shaking in my shoes when I saw this man standing there. He had dark hair, was over 6 ft tall, and was dressed well. Although I didn’t quite know why he was there, I had a good idea. Slade was right – you shouldn’t mess with these mafia types.

  He narrowed his eyes, and I drew a breath. “Who are you?” And then I immediately thought of Dalilah and Luke in the bedroom. I knew that I had to save them. My life might be in danger, but I had to save them at least. They were innocent. “Excuse me, I’ll be right back.”

  He shook his head. “No, you’re coming with me.”

  “Okay, but let’s go immediately.” I had to get out of there before this man, whoever he was, knew that I had two guests in the bedroom.

  I felt my phone, which was in my pocket, and I felt that I might have a chance to get out of this, if the phone wasn’t taken away from me. Slade would be able to find me wherever it was that I was taken.

  “As you wish,” he said, waving the gun. “My car is outside.”

  My heart pounding, I followed him into his car, which was a black Escalade. I knew that Dalilah and Luke were going to be alarmed, to say the least, but it couldn’t be helped. I was apparently going to parts unknown, and who knew if I would make it out alive?

  “Where are we going?” I asked him.

  He said nothing, of course.

  I wondered if this was Gianni Garancino. I never met the guy, but it very well could be. I didn’t know that he was already out on bail, though. At any rate, it was clear that this guy was at least associated with the mobster. I assumed.

  Finally, he spoke. “I’m taking you to the person who hired Gianni.”

  Gianni was a hired gun? Was this person, whoever he was, admitting that Gianni did it? Did Malcolm hire Gianni?

  I had no clue, none whatsoever, but I knew that I was soon going to find out. The whole mystery was soon going to be revealed. Whether or not I lived to tell the tale, though, remained to be seen.

  “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said. “But I don’t know if I can say the same for the boss of this operation.”

  I wanted to ask him thousands of questions, but I just didn’t know where to start. And I knew that he wasn’t going to answer them anyhow, so I just kept my mouth shut.

  We were soon on the Five going north. When we got out of the city limits, I knew that we were heading to LA. I closed my eyes and tried to get a read on this guy. I wanted to see if I could figure out what his intentions were with me. All that I sensed, however, was that he was calm. And why wouldn’t he be? This was a job for him, apparently one that he had done 100s of times before. His kidnapping me was the equivalent of my going into a deposition – just another work duty.

  I surreptitiously patted my phone, knowing that Slade might be able to find me in time. I was terrified, however, that this man would end up taking my phone if he knew that I had it. Frankly, I was surprised that he didn’t pat me down before taking me out of the house. He would have surely thrown away my phone if he knew that I had it on me.

  We sat in the SUV, both of us not saying a word. I was terrified to say anything and this man wasn’t up for chatting, either.

  After a couple of hours, we pulled up to an enormous mansion. This place was easily as big as Slade’s Malibu home, and, like Slade’s home, it was situated behind a large gate. The driveway was long, and the SUV finally pulled up to a circle drive that had a fountain in the middle.

  I watched the man as he got out of the SUV and came around and opened my door for me. “Get out.”

  I took a deep breath. I wished, at that moment, that I had studied Karate and had mastered that instead of my running. As it was, I had no means of self-defense, and I felt like I was completely at the mercy of this man.

  He led me, with the gun planted in the small of my back, into the home. “Wait right here,” he said, after he led me into an enormous den. “Don’t even think about running, either. There are cameras everywhere, and if you run, then I’ll immediately chase you down, and I will kill you.”

  I felt chilled when he said that last line, because I had zero doubt that he would kill me for any reason at all. So, I sat down on the couch and tried to tune into the vibrations around me. I couldn’t pick up anything though, which frustrated me. I also silently tried to summon Slade in my head. I knew that he didn’t believe in psychics, but perhaps, just perhaps, I could get on his wavelength to let him know that I was in serious, serious trouble.

  It was then that I regretted the fact that I didn’t tell Dalilah anything about Slade. If I were a normal girl, gushing about being in love, I would have told her everything about him. Then, when Luke and Dalilah discovered that I was missing, maybe Slade would have been the first person they would have called.

  As it was, I had to rely on the fact that Slade was tracking me like he did before. But what if he wasn’t? What if he had given up on me? The last time I saw him, he seemed upset that I continued to go against his wishes regarding Santino, and he seemed like he might have been completely through with me. What if he were completely through with me? I might be killed here and nobody would even know.

  I couldn’t help but think that I made this bed myself with my reluctance to get close to Slade, and my secretive nature. If only I would have said something to Dalilah. If only I would have listened to Slade about Santino. If only this, if only that. It didn’t really matter. I was in the situation that I was in, and nobody was going to come and save me.

  After what seemed like forever, the brute who kidnapped me summoned me to follow him. “And don’t get any ideas,” he said. “You need to speak with somebody.”

  I followed him through the maze of a house, feeling more and more apprehensive as I went. This house was as big as Slade’s mansion, and it seemed like forever before I was finally led into a room where

  I saw the last person I ever would have imagined.

  “Hello,” Charlotte Boswell said to me. “So glad that you could make it.”

  Chapter 27

  I shook my head rapidly, trying to get my bearings about this. “I’m so sorry; I don’t quite understand what is going on here?”

  She laughed. “I figured you wouldn’t. I’m here to tell you to back off the Garancinos. You need to stop going down that road yesterday.”

  “Why do you care?”

  She shrugged. “I just do.” Then she narrowed her eyes, and I suddenly knew exactly what was going on.

  “You hired Gianni.”

  “You can never prove it.”

  My heart started to race. Was this the real reason why Slade was so adamant about my not going after Michael and Gianni? Was he somehow in cahoots with Charlotte? He knew that if I started going down the road of getting Gianni and Michael, that it would all eventually lead to Charlotte? Was Charlotte the person he was protecting, not me?

  I started to feel sick. Was I being played all along?

  I felt like I had nothing to lose. “Don’t think that Gianni won’t give you up when push comes to shove. You’re sadly mistaken if you d
o. There is no way that he isn’t going to roll on you.”

  “He won’t. He’s a good soldier. He’ll take his prison term like a man. And I have the trump card, which you would have known if you would have done your homework.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “My father is the godfather of the Garancino family.”

  “Your last name is Boswell,” I said lamely, but I knew that she probably changed her name to make her sound less ethnic. That was a common thing with Hollywood starlets. Like Ann Bancroft’s birth name was Anna Maria Italiano.

  At that, she started to laugh. “You’re not that naïve, are you, Serena?”

  She was right. I didn’t do my homework on her. I didn’t feel the need to. She seemed so insignificant in the whole scheme of things. Still, it was unusual that the fact that she was an apparent mafia princess wasn’t in the news more often. Usually, when there’s a star as big as she was, that kind of thing became common knowledge. Not that I kept up with the supermarket tabloids.

  I made a mental note to keep on the gossip more in the future. If I only would have known that Charlotte was related to the Garancinos, I would have put two and two together a lot sooner, and maybe, just maybe, I wouldn’t have been in my present predicament.

  I shook my head. This was all so surreal.

  “Yes, so, I’m pretty well-insulated from this whole Jordan mess.”

  “Why would you do something like this?”

  “You’ll never know. But I’m going to let you go. Gianni is going to beat this, but I want you to do your part. You need to talk to the prosecutor about dropping the charges against him. I want you to go to your boss, Malcolm, and tell him that you’re not going to defend Slade by implicating Gianni. I want you to not bring Gianni into Slade’s case at all.”

  “I won’t do that. Slade’s life is on the line here. I’ve found a guy who’s good for the crime, so that’s where it’s going to lead. You can do what you want to with me, but I won’t back down when Slade is facing the death penalty.”