Eye of the Storm (The Storm Series) (10 page)

~*~

Anthony hated leaving her alone even for a minute, but he wanted a quick private word with Gene. “Is she going to be fine with this?”

“As fine as anyone can be. We never stop hurting or remembering. It’s just the times in between, when the pain is unbearable, stretches a bit as the years go by. But they aren’t as frequent.”

“I can’t believe everything that has happened. I’ve always felt bad for what happened to Natalie, but now, I feel it’s all my fault she was killed.”

“Son, you can’t think like that. It’s not your fault. This individual is sick and twisted; he was bound to focus on someone. Bad luck it was you.”

“I’ve got to catch him Gene, this can’t go on.”

“No, it can’t. Now let’s go in before that young lady wonders what happened to you.”

~*~

Evie spun in circles looking around the huge room. It was filled floor to ceiling, two levels, with books. She felt like a kid in a candy store. Rushing to one of the shelves she didn’t notice Anthony and Gene walk into the room. Carefully taking a book out, she laid her hand over the cover and closed her eyes. Opening the book, she moved it up to her face and breathed in deeply. She jumped when Gene started talking.

“There’s nothing like the smell of a book is there?”

“No, not at all. Look at all of this!” She spread her arms wide. “I could live in this room for years and never come out.”

When Evie’s sparkling eyes met Anthony’s, it seemed like everything else faded into the background and it was just the two of them. Unspoken desire flowed between them. She took an involuntary step toward him, but the spell was broken when Lou touched her on the arm.

“Come on, dear, I’ll show you your room and then we can sit down to eat. Anthony, I’ve put you in the old room you used to stay in.”

“Thank you. If you don’t mind I’d like to make sure Evie is close by me. You completely understand why, of course.”

“We understand more than you think.” Lou said with a soft smile. “I’ve already put her in the room next to yours.”

“Wonderful, we’ll get changed for dinner and be down,” Anthony said.

Walking into her huge room Evie was once again awed. She was scared to touch anything, but she couldn’t resist running her hand over the old wood. There was such history all around her. As soon as she was alone, she started opening doors to see what was behind them. She stood for a few minutes staring at the unbelievably luxurious bathroom before moving onto the last door.

Opening the door she gasped. Standing there was a naked Anthony.

“Oops.” Quickly she closed the door and leaned back on it. “Oh holy hell am I in trouble.” Hearing his laugh from the other room, she kicked the door in frustration. Immediately she dropped to the floor and checked to make sure she didn’t damage anything. Seeing everything was fine, she sat down and stared, knowing he was naked behind the door, wanting to open it and get lost in him.

~*~

Jeremy smiled as he got in the car and sped away from Anthony’s home in London. Sometimes it was just too easy.

~*~

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Evie asked as they entered the attic.

“No, I really don’t. But if we learn something new, then it will all be worth it.”

Stopping she looked around. “There is so much up here. It’s huge!”

“Yes, hundreds of years’ worth of history up here. Lucky they are organized. The deeper you go, the further you go back in time.”

“OK, where do we start?”

“Just right here. They said they boxed up all of Natalie’s stuff and it should be here.”

“What’s first?”

“With the first box we can get to. Here you go.” He hands her a box and she sits down on the floor.

They started going through them. Most were clothes and books and they were easy to sort. By the time that was done, they ended up with a couple dozen boxes to go through.

“Is there any electricity up here?”

“Of course.”

“Okay, is there a plug around here? I’ve got an old computer that might have some information on it. It’s a long shot after all of this time, but there might be something.”

“Yeah, hold on, there should be one around here somewhere.” He started moving boxes to look at the wall. “You know you could just take it downstairs.”

Batting her eyes at him she said, “Yes, but then I wouldn’t be able to spend time with you.”

Giving her a look of disbelief, she just giggled at him. “Fine, you know we can finish looking through these boxes and take the computer down later.”

“Great idea.”

“Tsk, tsk… sarcasm Anthony? I never would have expected that from you.”

Turning towards her, he leaned up against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. “Do you really want to go there?”

Stalking towards him she stopped, almost touching him. “You know I want to go there.” She watched his pupils dilate.

“Come here.” He growled.

With one quick movement, he had her wrapped in his arms. He brought his lips to hers, crushing them with his passion. Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck, her hands weaving through his hair, holding him to her.

As their tongues battled, he grabbed her ass and pulled her in closer. Moaning, she could feel his hardness pressed up against her. She slid her hands down until she found the bottom of his shirt. Lifting it upwards, she felt him shiver as her hand skimmed up his chest.

Pulling his lips from her, he nipped and kissed his way down her neck.

“I’ve never wanted someone as much as I’ve wanted you,” he whispered. “What kind of spell have you put on me? You’re in my thoughts all the time. I can taste you in my sleep.”

His lips captured hers again. Shivering at his words, she was completely lost in the moment until she heard someone clear their throat.

“Sorry to interrupt, but lunch is ready.” Louise said with a laugh in her voice.

Evie buried her face, which was beet red, in Anthony’s chest. His arms came around her to hold her tight.

“Thanks, Lou. We’ll be down in a moment.”

“Should I time you?”

“Louise…”

Lou laughed as she walked out of the attic.

“Come on, la mia belezza, let’s go eat.”

“I can’t face her.” She mumbled into his chest feeling the rumble of his laugh.

“Come on, she hasn’t gotten to her age without seeing people kiss before.”

“You come on. The rate we were going, we’d have been naked in five minutes.”

“Don’t remind me. Let’s grab something to eat and get this over with.”

“I assume you are talking about going through everything and not jumping each other.”

“Yes, Evie.”

“Damn, I was afraid of that.” She wanted him so badly she could barely see straight. One of these days they weren’t going to be interrupted.

~*~

After spending all day going through the boxes and looking through Natalie’s computer, they were unable to find anything new. Anthony was frustrated. After finding little things, at least, he was hoping to find something bigger here. It seemed like it was a wasted trip.

Not completely wasted though, he was able to spend some time with people he felt were an extension of his family. They were getting older and Anthony made a note to make sure he came back more often to visit them.

When they were saying good-bye for the trip back to London the next morning, he held onto Lou for a while. She was like another mom to him.

“She’s pretty special, Anthony,” Lou whispered.

“I know. I think Natalie would have liked her.”

“Oh, she would have loved her. It does my heart good to see you with someone after all this time.”

“We really aren’t ‘together.’”

“Could have fooled me. Remember, I’m the one who found you two in the attic.” She pulled back and framed his face with her hands. “Don’t waste this chance on fears of the past or what may come. Grab it, grab
her,
with both hands and never let go. Do you hear me? Never. Let. Go. Life is too short.”

Pulling her back into a hug he rested his head on top of hers. “I know Lou, I know.”

“Now, off you go. Have fun, go a little crazy.”

Making sure Evie was settled into the car, he walked around to the driver’s side where Gene waited for him.

After a brief man-hug, Gene said to him. “Find that bastard. Find him and make sure he pays for what he did to my little girl and all the other women and everything he’s taken from you.”

“That’s the plan, sir.”

“Make sure you keep that girl of yours safe.”

Anthony turned around to see her talking quietly to Lou through the open window. The thought of Jeremy ever laying a hand on Evie made his heart contract in his chest. “That is my top priority.”

“Good boy, now drive safe.”

~*~

The ride back to London was uneventful and they sat in a combatable silence. Anthony enjoyed seeing the excitement Evie had for history. He took the long way around London so she had a chance to see more of it. Feeling bad this was such a short trip and she wasn’t able to visit any historic sights, he vowed he would bring her back sometime when they could spend time wandering around.

They had just walked in when the butler came up to them. “Mr. Maldono, I wasn’t expecting you until later today. I hope the files you came back for were of use.”

Anthony and Evie looked at each other before he said. “What files? What are you talking about?” His stomach dropped.

“A couple of hours after you and Miss Taylor left you came back saying you forgot something and had to get it. You went up to your room and came back down a few minutes later with the files.”

“Shit.” Anthony ran upstairs to his room with Evie on his heels. “Stay back.” He yelled over his shoulder at her.

“Like hell.”

Skidding to a stop in front of his room he took a deep breath. Unsure of what would be behind the door. He felt Evie’s hand on his back and knew he had to open the door.

Opening the door slowly he let his breath out. There was nothing out of the ordinary. They both walked in and looked around. Anthony walked over to his desk. His file on Jeremy was gone, including all of his thoughts and notes on the case. Sitting down in the chair feeling defeated, he was pissed off at having to recreate everything.

“Anthony.”

Hearing the waiver in her voice he jumped out of the chair and went to her. She pointed to an envelope on the bed with his name on it. He reached over and opened it.

Dearest Anthony,

I hope this letter finds you well. It has been so much fun tracking you. I’m surprised at how predicable you’ve become. Really you need to step up your game if you want to catch me.

I noticed you found my gift. It was so much fun leaving her for you. I knew at some point you’d find that property and go there. Did it excite you? Seeing what I left for you? It excited me. I came all over her dead and rotting body. Something new for me, but I quite liked it.

You’ve got a lovely home here. Did you know over ten years ago I fucked one of your parent’s maids? She thought she was fucking you, but hey, you can’t win them all. It was my first time in your home. Sadly, she had to go missing.

Before I left I was able to go through the house and found many interesting things. Including the vehicles. Did you know one of my many odd jobs before I found my calling was at a mechanics shop? No? Well, it was. You learn a lot of fun things you can do to a vehicle and no one will know you tampered with it, if the damage is great enough.

Yes, I knew you might have decided to go with your parents that day, but I took a chance and it paid off. It was just them, a busy street and a horrific crash. My only regret was that I wasn’t there to see it. At least, there were enough pictures.

Take care, Anthony. I’m closer than you think.

Jeremy

Anthony sat down hard on the bed. Jeremy had killed his parents. All this time they thought it was an accident. Looking up at Evie, he saw the tears streaming down her face. He didn’t know what to do or think. The anger built inside of him. He quickly stood up and strode out of the room and down the stairs. Finding the butler, he started asking question after question about the person he let in. Jeremy must have been watching because he’d appeared in the same clothes as Anthony, which was why they let him in. He looked and was dressed the same.

They needed to call the constable, but he was sickened by everything. He went into the study and opened the liquor cabinet. Belting back the first one, he let the warmth seep through him. Now there were three more murders to add to the list.

~*~

Jeremy was out of the country before Anthony discovered the letter. He couldn’t believe how well things were working out. He wished he could’ve seen Anthony’s face when he realized that his parents were murdered. At the time, he didn’t think Lexi surviving and telling everyone about him was a good thing, but now that he didn’t have to hide he could torment Anthony more. The game had taken a turn and he was enjoying it.

Evie stood at the door to the study and watched Anthony staring down at the fire. The pain she felt for his loss was almost unbearable. If something like that had happened to her she knew how it would affect her. It had been a few, long hours while the police talked to everyone about Jeremy being there and the letter he’d left.

“Don’t just stand there, come on in.” He didn’t turn to look away from the fire when she entered the room.

“I wasn’t sure if you wanted to be alone.”

“I’ve been alone for so long it seems. Would you like a drink?”

“Sure.” Maybe getting drunk would be a good idea. Maybe they could forget about everything for a little bit.

Watching him walk to the bar to pour her a drink, she could tell by the tension in his body he was wound tight and seriously pissed off. He poured them both a drink, tipped his glass to her and they knocked it back. Slamming the glass back onto the bar, Evie enjoyed the warmth seeping through her from the inside out.

“Come, let’s sit by the fire.” He grabbed the bottle and their glasses. He was quiet for a while as they stared into the flames.