A Somers Dream (12 page)

CHAPTER 19

During the flight, Penny got to know Gabriel and realized just how much he
and Shane were alike. They both had a witty sense of humour and loved to laugh. They had a passion for the same things in life, which was quite unusual. There were subtle differences though, Penny noticed. Like, for instance, Gabriel’s hair was a darker blonde than Shane’s and his eyes were a darker shade of green. They both had the same physique and height but where Shane had those boyish good looks about him, Gabriel’s was more rugged. They were both extremely good looking men, no questions about that. Penny could see the love Gabriel had for his brother for whenever he spoke of him, his eyes would light up. “You both are very close, aren’t you” she said, although she knew the answer already. Gabriel smiled at her “Yes, we are. Always have been” and he began to tell her the story of when his mother first brought him home from the hospital when he was eight years old to the scrapes they got into in their adolescent years. Penny enjoyed hearing the stories of Shane’s childhood, it made her feel closer to him. “Shane had always been the brave one of the both of us. The things he would do and get into would make our mother faint. I remember once, he was eight and believed he could fly. Don’t ask me how he got it into his head that he could, he just did. He decided to climb up onto the roof of the house and was standing just above the edge when a bird came out of nowhere and startled him. He ended up losing his balance and fell into the hedges below right outside the window where our mother would sit and read. You can imagine her shock when one minute she’s into a good book and the next she’s see her son whisk by into the hedge. Mother was in a frantic, screaming and yelling and Dad was trying to calm her down when he looked out the window and saw a foot. The household was up in a roar, mother was calling the local doctor and dad was trying to get Shane out of the hedge. Through it all, Shane came out smiling” Penny had laughed so hard she almost peed herself. She could imagine Shane as a child doing something like that. He was so easy going and laid back, he had no fear of anything. “Needless to say, the older he got, the more harrowing his escapades became” Gabriel smiled at that. The things Shane would do just to prove he could do it. “And you never got into any ‘escapades’?” Gabriel looked at her with a surprised look on his face “Never” he said “I was the good one” and he winked at her. Penny had a feeling there were more to these stories than he had let on. The captain’s voice came over the intercom to let them know they were approaching their destination and that all passengers were to prepare for descent. Penny and Gabriel fastened their seatbelts and waited for the plane to touch ground. For some reason, Penny began to feel nervous about her reunion with Shane and she began to fidget. Gabriel, sensing her unease, placed his hand over hers and gave her a smile. Whether he knew what she was uneasy about, Penny didn’t know. But the kindness was, nonetheless, appreciated.

CHAPTER 20

“This is
not
happening!” Lynesse walked into her apartment and threw her purse across the room. It was a small place compared to her rooms at the Somers’ Mansion but she found it suited her needs when she was entertaining her friends and some of the social elite. It also gave her the means to keep out of Holten’s prying eyes. “So I’ve made a few mistakes along the way, everyone does” she mumbled to herself as she sat on the couch and removed her shoes. She had been going over and over in her head while driving back from Shane’s where she went wrong. She just couldn’t pin it and it was beginning to become frustrating. Lynesse always got what she wanted without any difficulties but this was becoming more difficult than she could imagine. She couldn’t understand why Shane was being so difficult. He can’t possibly love that woman when he knew he had her, he just can’t! He loved her! She knew he did. He just needed to see it and forget the past. She needed to find a way to just make him realize it and, once again, her mind began to think of ways. She rejected several ideas except for one. It was drastic and arrangements would need to be made, but it would make him understand just what she meant to him. Lynesse grabbed the phone and began dialing. She knew the perfect person for the task and she wasn’t going to waste one more minute. Marcus was the solution who would make everything right. “It’s me. I need you here now” she said as a deep voice answered. Once she hung up, she began to feel better. “It’s extreme but it will work”, she said to herself and she got up and walked to the bathroom. A nice hot shower to wash off the day’s disaster was what she needed and to put the final touches to her plan. She wanted to be prepared for when Marcus showed up and having a clear mind while explaining what she wanted done. It had been years since she used his services but what she needed done, only he could provide. Shane will be hers again, come hell or high water.

Lynesse
felt refreshed, more composed and focused after her shower. After getting dressed and presentable, she was making her way to the living room when she heard the knock at the door. Checking herself one last time in the mirror hanging in the hallway, she opened the door to let Marcus in. As always, she was taken aback at the very large body standing in her doorway. He was handsome in a rugged sort of way but he was no Shane. “Come in before someone sees you”, she said while grabbing his arm and pulling him into her apartment while closing the door quickly. Marcus hurried inside and jerked his arm away. He didn’t like to be touched. Lynesse turned to face him and gave him her best smile, “Thanks for getting here quickly”, she said and made her way to the living room indicating for Marcus to follow her. He noticed she had redecorated since the last time he was there and stopped to look closer at a painting that wasn’t there before. It was a bunch of flowers and, as far as he was concerned, it was damn ugly. “It’s a Van Gogh, painted in 1887. It’s called Four Withered Sunflowers. Beautiful, isn’t it?” she said as she walked up and stood next to him admiring the painting. It took her awhile to find it for this kind of work is rarely up for auction but when her advisor had called to tell her it was to be sold, she jumped at it. Marcus turned to look at her, “It’s ugly” he said to her and moved on towards the couch. He didn’t care much for art and he wasn’t about to start appreciating it now. Sitting down, he looked at Lynesse and was wondering when she was gonna get down to business. He didn’t like dealing with her but she paid well and his interests have become expensive lately. “What did you call me here for?” he asked with an impatient tone. “Always straight to business. Would you like a coffee or something?” She was about to make her way to the kitchen when he declined and turned to sit across from him. “I need you to take care of someone for me”, she said and began to explain what she needed. Marcus was somewhat surprised by her demand. For as long as he knew Lynesse, this was something she had never requested and he knew she was swimming in unfamiliar waters. After receiving her instructions, he sat and thought about it. This was a monumental task she was asking and he wasn’t sure if he wanted the heat if anything went wrong. “I’ll pay you extremely well and you know it. Half now and half when I get what I want” she said as she got up to get her purse and dug into it for her check book. “For this, I’ll only accept cash. I don’t want a paper trail in case anything goes wrong.” “Nothing will go wrong if you follow my instructions to the letter” she said sounding exasperated. “But if cash is what you want then fine. Be back here in two hours”. As Marcus stood to leave, Lynesse grabbed his arm and stared straight into his eyes “This has to go off without a hitch. Do what you are told and if everything goes as plans, there will be a bonus in it for you”. Marcus stared straight back at her and grinned, “Nothing will go wrong on my end. Just keep to your part and everyone will be happy”.  Lynesse smiled, released his arm and watched him make his way to the front door and walk out. She waited for a half hour after Marcus left to go to the bank and withdraw the amount they had agreed on.  Lynesse couldn’t stop smiling, the thought of Shane being hers once again was an aphrodisiac she was reveling in. She was in such a good mood, she stopped to do some shopping for her soon to be guest. Whether her guest appreciated it or not, Lynesse didn’t care. She was all about comfort and even for this, Lynesse wasn’t about to let her social etiquette falter. After picking up a few items, she made her way to her cabin that she kept in a secluded area for her secret trysts and began to make preparations for when Marcus returned.

CHAPTER 21

Once their plane touched down, Penny and Gabe disembarked and headed to retrieve their luggage. Penny was feeling somewhat apprehensive on facing Shane once again but Gabe had put her fears to rest. She had no reason to feel the way she was, he mentioned, and that everything will work out. She just had to have a little faith. Crossing through the airport, Gabe lead her towards the parking area where he had left his car before taking the flight to New York. After seeing the line up at the car rental kiosk, Penny was relieved they didn’t have to wait. Once Gabe remembered where he had parked, they made their way over to a black BMW and he took out his keys and pressed the button to open the trunk. “At least it will be a comfortable drive” she said as she picked up her bag to place it in the trunk.
“Nothing but the best. Gets a little hard on the ass on such a long drive” Gabe responded with a grin and a chuckle. He leaned down to pick up his bag when he felt something hard hit him on the back of the head. The last thing he heard was a scream before everything went dark.

Marcus had been waiting for an hour until the plane landed. He had a few weeks to track down
his target and with a little help from a few of his associates, it wasn’t hard to find out where she was. Marcus never really cared much for this type of work, especially when it concerned women. But his finances were a bit strained lately and turning down this job would’ve been stupid. Besides, he wasn’t doing anything extreme, just picking up and dropping off. When his contact in New York told him his target would be accompanied by a man, he decided he would need extra help. Not that he couldn’t take care of it himself but it was wiser with another set of hands. He picked up Jeremy at a seedy bar in the lowest part of town and with the incentive of a few bills, he was more than willing to help. Once he spotted his target, he directed Jeremy to the woman while he would take care of the man she was with. Jeremy had the chloroform ready and Marcus had his trusty club at hand and within minutes, part one of the job was completed. Marcus left the man where he fell and helped Jeremy carry the woman to the van they had stolen and left the scene. Once he dropped off this particular little package, Marcus decided he was going to take a nice long vacation somewhere far away. He did his part, now all he needed to do was finish it and drop her off and get his money. The farther away he was from Lynesse when this was done the better. He didn’t trust her to keep his part in this quiet if anything went wrong. The last thing he wanted was to end up in jail because she couldn’t keep her mouth shut. 

Lynesse
was full of nerves and jumped at every noise she heard. It wasn’t time for Marcus to drop off Shane’s little tramp but it didn’t matter. She was excited and scared at what she had done but she knew it was something that needed to be taken care of. She needed to remove what he believed was someone he wanted so that he could realize it was her, Lynesse, that he truly wanted to be with and loved. Lynesse played the scenario in her mind countless times with Shane always at her feet begging her forgiveness for being blind to his feelings for her. As Lynesse sat and daydreamed, she didn’t hear the door open with Marcus entering while carrying a limp figure over his shoulder. She contained a giggle of excitement, “Put her in the room, last door on the left”. She followed Marcus to the room and watched as he laid the woman on the bed. Lynesse went forward and began to shackle her arms and legs to the bed. The last thing she wanted was this person to find a way out and ruin everything she had worked hard planning. “She should be out for a couple hours, at least” Marcus said as he left the room with Lynesse behind him. He wanted to leave as quickly as possible and get as many miles between them as possible. Once back in the living room, Marcus turned to Lynesse and inwardly cringed at the look on her face. She looked like the cat that just swallowed the canary. “I want the rest of my payment now” he said, itching to get out. “As agreed, once the job was completed you will get the rest of your money” she said as she walked towards the couch. Lynesse laid down feeling satisfied that everything went smoothly. All she needed to do was keep that woman closeted away for a couple of days until Shane came to his senses. She needed to be very careful now. “My job is done. I picked her up and brought her here. That was the agreement” Marcus stood above her looking down at the woman who laid on the couch looking smug. Lynesse looked up at him and smiled, “No. It’s not done. Someone needs to be here when she wakes up. She can’t know that I’m involved in any way. Once Shane is mine then you can let her go. Drug her and drop her off somewhere. No one can know that I had a hand in this”. She stretched, stood up and walked towards the table where her purse sat. Picking it up, she turned and looked at Marcus. He didn’t look too happy but if he wanted the rest of his money he will do as he’s told. “That wasn’t part of the plan and you know it. We had an agreement” Marcus said with a lethal tone in his voice. “Plans change” she said and walked out the door. Marcus stared after her. How the hell did this happen? Marcus was about to walk out the door and chase her down but then thought twice about it. He knew she could make things real bad for him, being a wealthy bitch, she would walk away while he would be rotting in a cell and there was nothing he could do about it. Or could he? Marcus sat down on the couch and started to find ways to cover his ass. If things went wrong and he ended up going down for a scheme she concocted, then he was going to make sure she went down with him. Feeling a little less agitated, he picked up the remote control and turned on the tv. Things were going to get interesting and, for once, he was at the front of the line. He didn’t like being double played by anyone and Lynesse was going to find that out soon enough.