Invidious Betrayal (30 page)

“You like it when I talk while making love to you, Aria?” She nodded over and over again. “Use your words.” Her face looked panicked for several beats. “Or I won’t use mine,” he added.

“I… I like when you talk to me when you’re”—she got a wicked gleam in her eyes—“oh God…fucking me.” She attempted to grin, but her mouth opened and she began to pant as an orgasm exploded through her.

An arrogant grin covered Ian’s face, but it was hard for him to pull off because her inner walls were squeezing him so tightly that it was driving him mad. “I haven’t fucked you yet.” He kissed her hard.

She bit his lip, scraping against the skin he’d opened earlier. Then she wiped her tongue over the blood she drew. He shuddered with need as he saw his blood on her lips. “Fuck me then,” she whined.

Ian dropped her to her feet, spun her around so her face pressed against the wall, lifted her hips, and impaled her pussy from behind. He fisted her hair, pulling her head back, so he could see her eyes. He slammed his long thickness inside her with such force that they both were grunting.

“God, you feel so damn good.” he told her. She cried out again, urging him on. “Tell me you like it.”

“I like it,” she groaned.

“Do you love me?”

She shook her head as she made helpless noises of delight. He realized that she was probably tiring. He pumped faster and squeezed one supple breast, as he licked and nibbled on her neck. She tensed as another orgasm washed over her.

“Do you love me?” he asked again. Their eyes met and the look she gave him was guarded; she was protecting herself.

He felt his quickening, but did nothing to stop it. Holding her tight, he threw his head back and growled as his hot seed filled her again. When he was finished, he rested his forehead on the wall beside hers for a brief moment, but she wouldn’t look at him.
She can’t be still embarrassed after what we’ve just done; after what we’ve been through
.

Pulling his softening cock out of her, he turned on the shower, then turned back to the wall that was holding
his
exhausted woman up. Ian bent and lifted her up in his arms as if she weighed nothing. Aria wrapped her arms around his neck as he carried her to the shower. She moaned when the warm water touched her skin. Once inside, he set her on her feet, using his body to support her, then he slowly began to suds her up as water fell over them both.

“Why are you so nice to me? Why are you helping me at all?” Aria sounded exhausted.

Ian smiled before giving her a soft kiss. He sucked her bottom lip in his mouth before releasing it. Then he cupped her face and simply said, “I don’t have the answers to why this is happening to us or what tomorrow will have in store. What I do know for certain is what I want. I want you, Aria Cole.”

Off-Site University Laboratory

Early fall of 1991

V
INCENT HOWL PUNCHED IN THE
security code on the number panel that opened the door to his private lab. The sound of his footsteps along with the custom pewter cane he used carried through the empty room as he entered. His thoughts echoed his fears, just as loud inside his head. Yet Vincent ignored the warnings that prickled at his conscience. It was only a prickle now, an irritating itch. A few months ago, the warning had been a sharp, constant stab, but he’d ignored that, too. He believed in what he had created and he believed in himself, even if his mentor and coworker didn’t.

Vincent made his way to a set of desks that faced one another. His—one of the two—was pristine with little clutter and with everything in its place. He stood over his computer, pressing the power button. When he heard the door open and Marroe walk in, Vincent didn’t turn around.

“You mustn’t do this, Vincent. Let it die. We have no way of knowing what it will become if it grows to full gestation,” Marroe said from behind him.

Vincent said nothing as he moved away from his desk to wash and dry his hands at the sink. He pulled on a pair of gloves and went to the refrigerated safe that sat large and imposing against the back wall. He could save face now, decide to let fate take over and allow the chips to fall where they may.

Only, Vincent didn’t believe in fate. He typed in another code on the refrigerator panel and the sealed door opened. He bypassed several vials until he found the one that read Syn-Beta. Grabbing two, he pushed the door closed until he heard the lock
click
.

“I have no choice, Professor,” Vincent finally said. He put the two vials inside a small leather case designed to carry the glass safely, then slipped that case in his inside jacket pocket.

“You have a choice, Vincent. You had a choice from the very beginning, but you chose wrong. What will you say to them when the child is born deformed?”

“I’ll tell them the same thing any other doctor would say to a couple who has such a child. What I can’t explain to my brother is how I let his wife and child die without doing everything I can to save them.” Vincent pushed pass his coworker and former professor.

Marroe grabbed his arm and swung him around, so that they were eye to eye. Vincent almost dropped his cane, but kept it in his grasp. “Don’t give me that spiel. You aren’t doing this for them.”

Vincent yanked his arm free. “You know nothing of my intentions,” he yelled. His strong voice boomed through the lab. “When I was laid up in that hospital seven months ago not knowing if I would ever walk again because some jackass thought he could make it home after chugging a keg of beer, I had no one. And you know why no one came to visit me. No one came because no one knew. And even if they had known, I can’t say they would have shown up. I was the one who thought I could live without my family. I was the one who alienated everyone who cared what happened to me. I lay there in that cold room in that cold bed in my own private hell. I won’t be alone again. And I won’t let my brother’s wife die, or that child if I can help it.”

“Maybe there is some small part of you that sees this situation like you’ve just explained, but I know you, Vincent.” Marroe narrowed his eyes. “I know you better than your own parents ever knew you. Everything you’ve done concerning that…that child has been purely for the sake of science. You may love your twin brother. You may even fancy his beautiful wife, but this is wrong. What you’ve done, what you’re doing is wrong. If anyone ever finds out—”

Before Marroe could finish his comment, Vincent had him by the throat, his feet dangling several inches off the floor. Marroe tried desperately to suck in the air that Vincent’s grip prevented him from inhaling.

“Who’s going to find out, Professor?” Vincent demanded. “Because I can guarantee you that if anyone does, I will not fall alone. And unlike you, my funds are virtually limitless. I have a brother who holds a seat in the Senate who will be very thankful that his pretty little wife and child live because of me. I have scores of attorneys that will work hard for their handsome fees. And if there is even a small chance that none of the things I’ve listed can keep me out of doing time in prison for the illegal research and testing that
we’ve
been involved in, I have the means to disappear without a trace. So I ask you, Professor, who is going to find out, and more importantly, who is going to tell them?”

It took no time for him to get to University General Hospital. Vincent got out of his car and shut the door, taking several steps away from his vehicle. He inwardly cursed as he turned around and went back. He pulled the car door open and took out his forgotten cane. As he walked away from his car this time, he did so with the practiced limp he’d been using for months.

He tried to calm himself as he took one hurried step at a time. It was becoming more difficult to use the cane. He hadn’t needed it for over three months, but he had to keep up appearances. It was Marroe who had suggested he continue to use it.

Professor Marroe
.

Vincent sighed. Marroe was once his biggest supporter when he first began his research. If there was anyone he could depend on, it was his old professor. It was Marroe’s research that had inspired him. Marroe pushed them both toward ultimate success, even though they both knew the risks if they were ever discovered. They had celebrated their discovery and hard work when the Syn-Beta serum was perfected. It was Marroe who had come to him when he was lying broken in that hospital bed. Marroe who he’d convinced to inject him with the formula they’d created. His friend had risked everything to help him then.

Together they’d balanced on the very edge of nature’s laws. Now…now Marroe wanted to grow a conscience. It had always been them against the closed-minded world with all their morals and judgment.
Those same people will be lining up to save themselves with our science.
It is funny how people can condemn the kind of research that could save countless lives because of what had to be done to create such medical miracles.

Vincent entered through the garage entrance of the hospital. Holding up his badge, he paused so the guard could look over it. With a nod, Vincent was again on his way to the south side of the hospital where he could get an elevator to the fourth floor. Once there, he flashed his badge again. This time to a female guard stationed outside the wing that housed the private rooms.

There were only four wings with four rooms on the exclusive floor. On the other floors above and below there were four wings, but each held fifteen rooms. Only VIPs could afford the kind of care his sister-in-law was currently receiving.

Vincent limped his way to room 403, which was in the rear, facing a beautiful view of the park and a large pond. Once inside, he saw that Noemi was alone and asleep. He locked the door, then moved around the room faster than anyone could have tracked. He quickly washed his hands. Gloving up, he then pulled out an unused syringe and punctured the Syn-Beta vial. It wasn’t until he had to inject it in Noemi’s vein that he slowed and took his time.

Then...it was done.

Vincent looked up when he heard a knock on the door. He quickly capped the empty syringe and put it in his pocket. He moved to the door using his speed again. When he unlocked and opened it, a young nurse was looking back at him.

“I am so sorry, Senator Howl. I wasn’t aware you were back,” she said. “Do you or your wife need anything?”

Vincent pulled his badge out of his pocket and clipped it on the outside of his suit jacket pocket for her to see.

“Oh,” she said quickly. “Forgive me, Dr. Howl. It’s just that you look so much like… Well, of course you do. You’re identical twins.”

“It’s all right.” Vincent waved his hand dismissively.

She began to walk away, but stopped. “Dr. Howl, the blood draw you ordered for this morning, will you be drawing it yourself or would you like me to do it?”

“I’ll be taking care of all Mrs. Howl’s blood draws from now on.” He looked over his shoulder. “She’s very important to my brother, so I’m giving her my full attention.”

The nurse smiled big. “I understand. I wish I had my own personal doctor in my family.”

Vincent looked her over. She was small, but shapely. Her lips were thinner than he usually liked, but her size intrigued him. Her blonde hair was natural and he wondered how long it was if she let it out of that tight bun. He loved long hair and small, natural breasts. He tilted his head and smiled at her. He detested the whole mating dance, but if he wanted companionship he didn’t want to pay for once in a while, he would have to put up with it. Plus those breasts of hers looked all natural and just enough to fit in his hand. Sex shouldn’t be on his mind right now, but there was nothing left to do but wait on the results of the injection he’d just given.