Black Opal (17 page)

Her phone immediately began to ring. She looked at it and felt a dull ache in her heart. “I love you, Hank,” she whispered. The ringing stopped. Clutching the phone to her breast, she walked into the living room and sank into the deep soft leather of the burgundy couch.

Gods, I’m tired. I need to get up and check on Maureen and Sabina. And I will in just a moment.
Shadows fell across the deck and darkened the living room. Bella began to nod.
I’ll just close my eyes for a moment.

She woke in sweat-slicked terror her heart thumping hard against her breastbone, the room in total darkness.

Footsteps in the kitchen alerted her. Bella clutched the phone she still held pressed to her breast.

“You find that blonde bitch and bring her to me. I know she’s here. Her fancy car is parked in the garage.”

Pushing herself off the couch, she locked her knees so they wouldn’t knock. Raising her chin, she sauntered into the kitchen. “Hello, Johnny,” she said coolly.

* * * * *

Her eyes closed, Victoria spread her arms and threw back her head in triumph. She could feel the amulet’s power coursing through her like thunder.

Chapter Eleven

The kitchen light came on, blinding her. Johnny stood with his hand on the switch as two muscle-bound suits grabbed her. She winced as ham-like hands wrapped around her arms.

“Do you want us to mess her up a bit, boss?” the man holding her right arm asked. He had dark curly hair, smelled of cloying aftershave and looked like he could easily take on professional football players.

“Your boys do seem to enjoy their work, Johnny.” She arched an eyebrow, fixing what she hoped was a look of derisive amusement on her face.
They can’t do anything to me, Maureen can’t fix. It will only hurt for a little while.

“She’s messed up enough already. Let her go. What the hell happened to you, Bella?”

Bella felt a rush of blood pour into her face. How embarrassing. Under no circumstances did she ever look a mess.

“Besides, you hurt her, her husband will come looking for you and he’s one mean son of a bitch.”

The thug stuck out his chest. “I can take care of him, Mr. Morelly.”

“Don’t count on it,” Johnny Morelly said shortly.

Her arms freed Bella gave herself a quick glamour swipe.

Dressed in his usual navy-blue pin-striped suit, the large diamond on his little finger flashing, Johnny stared appreciatively. “You may be a mess but you’re a beautiful one.”

He snapped his fingers. “Find the other two women and bring them here. If Bella Tremaine is here the others are as well.” He turned to Bella. “Now where’s my nephew?”

“I’ll tell you everything I know but call those men back. The other two aren’t in any shape to even get out of bed right now. Flu,” she improvised. “Highly contagious.”

“Mick. Joe, hold on.”

He glanced at his Rolex. “You got a minute, doll, start talking.”

“I think he’s been kidnapped.”

His eyes narrowed to black chips of ice. “Who would be stupid enough to kidnap Johnny Morelly’s nephew?”

She held his gaze. “Victoria Price.”

“What?” He frowned, puzzled. “Why?”

“I think she wants him for her love slave,” she said dryly.

The younger of the two men standing in the doorway began to cough, his shoulders shaking. He got himself quickly under control when Johnny threw him an “I am not amused”
look.

“Of course I could be mistaken. Maybe he went willingly.”

“Get the two women.”

Bella fluffed her tousled hair. “You do whatever you think is best, sugar but like I said they aren’t feeling well at all and I do believe there’s a real possibility one of them will be your future niece-in-law. So I would recommend handling her with care.”

“Wait.” He threw up his hand in an imperative gesture. The men stopped. “Mick get us some wine. Joe, you keep an eye on the outside of the house.”

He turned to Bella. “You have my complete and undivided attention. Shall we talk in my study?” He motioned with his arm toward the den.

* * * * *

Sabina fought through the dense layers of fog enveloping her. Why wasn’t she dead? Maybe she was.

She could hear someone’s even breathing beside her and her body hurt like hell. Surely, if she were dead she wouldn’t be hearing breathing and wouldn’t be in pain. Waiting for her eyes to adjust to the dark, she turned her head on the pillow and saw Maureen lying beside her, her auburn hair over her face.
Ah, that explains it.

She reached a hand to push Maureen’s hair back from her forehead and winced as her entire body throbbed. Memory flooded her.
Gods, I nearly died in a rockslide. But I saved Adam. Didn’t I? Where is he?

Biting back a groan, she pushed herself upright and forced her legs over the side of the bed. She placed both hands on the mattress to support herself. Taking a moment to catch her breath, she glanced around. Moonlight poured in through the window lighting the face of the clock on the bedside table. Midnight.

She took a closer look at Maureen and her breath caught in her throat. Even in the poor light Maureen’s skin looked translucent, stretched tightly over her bones, her eyes sunken like empty lakes. Gods, she’d done this to her friend. “Somehow, someday, I’ll make it up to you, sister,” she vowed in a whisper.

She reached for her amulet and encountered bare dirty skin. A keening sound rose in her throat. Wrapping her arms around herself, she began to rock back and forth. Oh gods. Oh gods. What happened to it? Surely, Adam hadn’t taken it.

Maybe he was downstairs. For the first time she looked around at her surroundings. Was she back in Johnny Morelly’s cabin? The room wasn’t the same but the design and structure seemed to be. She glanced at the open door a few feet from the bed then looked closer. An elevator.

By force of will, she put her legs one in front of the other, jerky and stiff as a robot. She’d get downstairs and find Adam. Then everything would be all right.

She pushed the button and laid her aching head against the cool gleaming interior staring at her shadowy reflection.
What if Adam isn’t here? What if he stole her amulet? If he did, nothing will ever be right again.

A pounding behind her eyes gained in intensity.

The door opened. Her jaw dropped. If the evening weren’t bizarre enough she heard Johnny Morelly say, “Now would you care to explain why you think Miss Sabina Comti will be my niece-in-law? I can only assume that’s who you are referring to since your other friend is already married and practically a newlywed. Not that Adam’s incapable of breaking up a marriage but it’s just not his style.”

Bella saw Sabina first. She rose to her feet. Her movements deceptively languid, Bella walked to Sabina’s side. “Sugar, what are you doing up?”

Sabina grasped Bella’s arm, trying without success to beat back her agitation. “Where’s my amulet? Where’s Adam?”

Bella pressed her arm in a warning gesture. “Sugar, have you had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Johnny Morelly, Adam’s uncle?”

Johnny rose to his feet. He was nearly as handsome as his nephew, only more bulky. Where Adam looked panther lean and radiated animal magnetism this man seemed a bit on the flashy, superficial side.

“Johnny, this is Sabina Comti.”

Sabina looked at him, beating back the hysterics welling up inside her, not caring what she said or what people thought. “Where’s Adam?”

His sharp glance traveled over her. No doubt taking in the torn clothes, her disheveled appearance and the way she leaned on Bella. They came to rest on her eyes. She knew he saw the panic in them because he gentled his voice. “My dear, we were hoping you could tell us. Why don’t you sit down?” He stepped forward and took her other arm.

Grateful for the support, Sabina let Johnny and Bella lead her to the dark green overstuffed couch and sank onto it. For a moment, she rested her pounding head against the back of it, then pulled herself together and asked again, “Where’s Adam?”

Johnny strolled to the study door and stuck his head out. “Mick another glass of wine. Hell, bring the bottle.”

Mick appeared a moment later with a full glass of red. He set the bottle and the stemmed glass on the coffee table and left the room.

Sabina looked at the glass wanting it badly but afraid her hand would tremble too hard for her to be able to drink it without spilling it.

As if divining her thoughts, Bella picked it up and held it to Sabina’s lips. “Here you go, shug. I’m sure you’re still shaky.”

As Sabina sipped, the trembling eased. She leaned her head back against the couch and Bella sat the glass down.

“Ms. Comti, when was the last time you saw my nephew?” Johnny seated himself on the couch beside her. He leaned forward, his eyes compelling. His voice held both anxiety and urgency.

“Early afternoon. We were caught in a rockslide.”

Johnny’s hand around the stem of the glass tightened, snapping it like a twig. The wine ran over his hand like blood.

If Sabina had ever questioned the closeness of the relationship, she didn’t any longer.

He whipped out a snowy white handkerchief and began to dab. “Mick,” he bellowed.

“Yeah, boss?” The bulky body guard stuck his head in the door.

“Bring me a towel.”

Mick disappeared then reappeared in short order with a white towel. He mopped up the mess as efficiently as a bartender while Johnny dabbed at his hand and white shirt cuff.

“Are you all right?” Sabina inquired.

“Oh, yes, it’s wine not blood.” He continued to dab then looked straight at Sabina. “So my nephew may be buried under a rockslide?”

“Your nephew was alive and well the last time I saw him.”
Alive and well and he left me.
“He was clear of the slide
.”

They were all three sitting on the oversized couch, Sabina in the middle. He leaned forward and twisted at the waist to see Bella. “You think this Victoria Price kidnapped my nephew?”

Sabina jerked upright. Kidnapped? She felt a chill. Which would be worse? That he left of his own free will with Victoria or had been kidnapped by her? Neither alternative was acceptable. She looked at Bella. “You think Adam was kidnapped? Why?”

“Love slave is I believe the term you used,” Johnny put in helpfully. For a moment, pride crept into his voice. “He’s a true Morelly.”

“Excuse me. Maybe I didn’t hear right.” Sabina made circling motions between her eyebrows with her index finger, trying to push back the pressure building behind her eyes.

Bella took a sip of her wine then with a graceful gesture sat it down on the table.

The woman moves like a queen.

“It’s just a theory but Victoria plays by her own rules. What she wants, she takes. And if she was the woman he was in the restaurant with the other night, she most definitely wants him. If that was Victoria.” Bella shrugged. “Then again maybe she wants to use him as a bargaining chip.”

“For what?” Johnny asked.

Bella shrugged. “Who knows? But I think we’ll be finding out.”

“What if he went of his own free will?” The words erupted from Sabina’s heart and forced themselves out of her throat where they’d temporarily lodged, choking her.

“Sabina, the man is in love with you. He wouldn’t willingly have left you in trouble.”

Sabina went hot then cold then hot again. She’d thought so in that last instant, when he called her name before the rockslide buried her. If it were true, she wanted to jump up and sing an aria or possibly climb Mt Everest. Common sense reached out its bony arm and gripped her. “How can you say that? You can’t possibly know that.”

“Yes,
belissima
, how do you know my nephew is in love with this lovely young lady? Not that I can blame him,” he added gallantly.

“I know how Hank looks at me, sugar. He doesn’t look at anyone else like that, not even Maureen who he loves like a daughter. And I’ve surprised that look on Adam when he looks at you and thinks you don’t see him. Trust me, shug, if there’s two things I know about it’s love and men.”

“If what you say is true, he has chosen wisely,” Johnny said. He toyed with his ring then turned to Sabina, his eyes narrowed, his gaze penetrating. “Ms. Comti when you first walked into this room you asked about my nephew and your amulet.”

Sabina felt the muscles in her shoulders tighten.

“What amulet and why is it so important to you?”

Merda.
Her hysterical, ill-timed remark had been like throwing a live grenade into the room while they all sat and waited for it to go off.

Bella laid her hand on Sabina’s. Creativity and beauty flowed through her. Sabina turned her head to Johnny.

His eyes filled with admiration.

“The amulet is an old family heirloom that has been in my family for generations. Both my mother and grandmother are dead. It’s all I have left of them. You understand.”

He nodded.

Bella kept her hand on Sabina’s and the glam-over continued to notch up. She could feel it. “And though it’s important to me for sentimental reasons I really think we should concentrate on finding Adam right now, don’t you, Mr. Morelly?”

Once again, Johnny nodded wordlessly. He looked bedazzled. He broke eye contact then shook his head, like a dog coming out of water. He sat his empty wineglass on the coffee table, making a light clinking sound as he did so and stood up. “You are welcome to stay as long as you like. Consider yourself family.”

Bella removed her hand but Sabina still felt the light charge traveling up and down her body just under the skin. She pushed to her feet. “Mr. Morelly, I’m afraid you are laboring under a misapprehension that there is something between Adam and me.”

“Are you saying there isn’t?” he asked, his eyes gleaming as he eyed her up and down.

“Yes. That’s what I’m saying.”

“You don’t find him attractive?”

“I said there was nothing between us. I didn’t say I was dead,” Sabina snapped.

Bella touched her arm but Sabina shook her off.

Johnny’s eyes had a decided tendency to cross. Once again he looked her up and down. “In this instance, I heartily concur with Bella. You have a magnificent body and the voice of a siren. How could my nephew possibly resist? He has managed to evade any serious involvement with the fair sex but I believe you are the woman who can bring my nephew to his knees.”