Joseph Fallen (The Estate Series) (7 page)

The clear blue of her eyes peeked open and fell on the
shadowed blur of two men fighting just before she noticed the quickened burst
of sunlight bouncing off a large metal blade.
 
The larger of the two men swiftly
overtook the smaller, the blade in his hand sinking into the skin of the
other’s neck, moving sideways with such force, his head slid effortlessly from
his shoulders and to the unforgiving ground below.

The larger man stood straight again, his fist relaxing and
releasing the body of the smaller man so that it fell to the ground, almost
soundlessly.
 
Arianna trembled, but
was frozen in her fear, unable to move away from him as he approached.
 
Kneeling down, the man rested his hand
against her back.

“Are you hurt badly?
 
Can you move?”
 
His voice was
a low baritone, the quality of it soft, yet apprehensive.
 
“Mrs. Carmichael, can you speak?”

Confusion flooded her mind at his knowledge of her
name.
 
Adrenaline coursing a furious
torrent through her veins, a tunnel threatened her vision from the assault of
the chemical within her body.
 
She
attempted to shake her head, to move away from the unfamiliar man that spoke to
her.
 
Recognizing her fear towards
him, the man removed his hand and put distance between them so as not to cause
her more alarm.

Looking away from her, he called out to someone in the
distance, instructing the unseen man to find Joseph.

Pain slowing her movement, Arianna cautiously pushed herself
up from the ground, her eyes remaining focused on the man kneeling down beside
her.
  
She pulled up her pants
immediately, ashamed to have been seen practically naked by a stranger.
 
Unable to stand fully, she backed
herself against a tree, her head lulling to the side in opposition to her
attempts to remain conscious.
 
She
wanted to run, wanted to escape the unknown person who, just seconds before,
she’d watched take another life brutally and without hesitation or shame.

Her eyelids felt heavy and her head throbbed painfully from
the rush of blood through her body.
 
Each beat of her heart echoed inside her skull as the flesh on her cheek
burned under what felt like fire held to her skin.
 
Her head weakly lulled sideways,
allowing her eyes to meet with the larger stretch of sunlit ground that illuminated
the entryway onto the forested path on which she sat.
 
The man beside her remained quiet but
she noticed out of her periphery vision how he stood immediately when the
sunlit path that she watched became shadowed by the body of her husband and the
two men who ran behind him.

Joseph ran to her quickly, his hands immediately examining
her body in search of injuries.
 
When his eyes fell on the scraped side of her face, a dark sheen of
anger flooded his steel grey eyes.
 

“Arianna…”
 
His
voice was controlled, a lethal edge to the one word he was able to
vocalize.
 
Picking her up, he
cradled her to his chest and spun quickly to exit the forest.
 
The black tunnel continued to threaten
her mind and the last thing she saw as Joseph carried her out from beneath the
canopy of the trees was three men who silently walked in a triangular formation
behind Joseph as he approached the mansion.

“She’ll come around, Joseph.
 
I’m sure your wife loves you enough to
understand the decisions you’ve made for her.
 
She’s living a lifestyle unknown by the
majority of the ladies in her society.
 
She is the envy of every woman who knows her.”

Joseph sat back in his leather chair, his eyes locked to
those of his most trusted man across the expanse of the large wooden desk
between them.
 
His voice was
regretful when he responded, “But am I responsible for what happened yesterday
in the woods?
 
If she’d known, if
she
stayed
where she was supposed to
stay, she wouldn’t have been attacked.
 
There’s nothing I can do now but be honest with her.
 
She’ll want to leave, she’ll never
understand that my choice was made for her, to give her everything she could
ever want.”

Connor nodded his head in understanding.
 
“Have you had the opportunity to
explain?
 
Have you ensured her that
she will be protected heavily from this point forward?
 
It will not happen again, I won’t allow
it.”

Steel grey met emerald green when Joseph looked straight
into the loyal eyes of his guard.
 
A
shrewd intelligence filled the grey, his knowledge that Connor would not falter
or fail apparent in his gaze.
 
“You
are to remain at her side at all times.
 
I trust you to oversee her daily activities, to make sure that no other
man amongst your team comes in contact with her.”
 
Sitting back, he folded one hand over
the other, resting his chin on the tops of his enjoined hands while considering
what he would divulge to his wife.
 
“I haven’t spoken to her yet, she slept most of the night, only waking
occasionally to some bastard nightmare from which I could not protect her.
 
I had a nurse come to the mansion this
morning to tend to her wounds.
 
I
wanted to give her some time before I explained.”

Nodding again, Connor relaxed into his chair.
 
“I’ll go with you when you explain.
  
It might make her more receptive
to my presence.”

Joseph chuckled darkly, knowing full well that his modest
wife, a soul who would never cause or allow harm to another, could never
understand the shady dealings he’d undertaken over the years.
 
“She’ll resist.
 
She may seem weak, but there is more to
her than can easily be seen.
 
However, she is also smart enough to know she has no choice but to
remain where she can be kept safe.
 
Every demon out there now knows my name, knows that if there is any
weakness in me at all that can be attacked or exploited, it’s her.”

Pushing himself up from his chair, Connor paced the ground
in Joseph’s office.
 
“I won’t be
able to manage the network while protecting her.
 
Who will you choose to take over my
responsibilities…to protect you in my absence?”

Joseph sighed loudly in response to Connor’s question.
 
“I thought about that long and hard last
night while I watched over Arianna as she slept.
 
I believe Emory can take over for the
time being.
 
It won’t be often that
he’ll have control over the network…only at night and other times when I’m with
her.”

Connor stopped suddenly, and with his hands folded behind
his back, he looked up at Joseph.
 
“Are you sure?
 
Emory seems
like a loose cannon.
 
He’s good at
his job, yes, but I’m not sure he can be trusted.
 
There is something – off –
about him.”

Shrugging off Connor’s concern, Joseph pushed himself up
from his chair before saying, “I understand what you’re saying, and that is the
exact reason Emory has not been chosen to protect my wife.
 
However, I believe that he can be easily
handled in other matters.
 
I’ve already
set him on the task of determining the identity of the man who attacked
Arianna.
 
Once we discover his
identity, I’ve instructed Emory to form a team to track down and kill whatever
group it was that sent him.
 
If he’s
successful in his task, I’ll have no concerns as to his loyalty to The Estate
and his ability to manage the men.”
 
Walking briskly towards the door, Joseph motioned for Connor to
follow.
 
“I guess it’s time to talk
to Arianna.”

. . .

“I can’t believe you’ve kept this hidden from me all these
years, Joseph.
 
I…why…how dare
you?!”
 
Her sobs accented her words,
her voice strong, but broken by the information her husband had just revealed.
  
“It’s like I’ve never known you at
all.
 
This isn’t you; you’re a
businessman, not a criminal.
 
How
does something like this happen?”
 
Arianna turned away from her piano, spinning on the bench so that she
could look her husband directly in his eyes.
 

Joseph stepped towards her, his hands reaching as if to touch
her, but fisting instead when he pulled them back to his side.
 
“Don’t question my decisions,
Arianna.
 
You’ve lived a life of
luxury unlike anything you’ve ever known before because of MY decisions…”

 
“Yes, Joseph, I
am living a life I’ve never known before – you are at least correct on
that!
 
All I’ve ever known is love,
companionship, a family who I spent time with; but now, and over the many years
you’ve kept me
trapped
here, all I’ve
known is solitude, sadness, a great and heartfelt longing for the husband I
married years before.
 
And now?
 
Now, I can’t even walk the grounds of
the home you’ve given me without fear of being assaulted by the trash you’ve
attracted into our lives.
 
Years ago
you told me you’d reconsidered their offer, you’ve LIED to me all this time,
leaving me in the pitch black of shadow – easy prey to the lifestyle
you’ve
led.”

Her voice dropped low, quiet and troubled as she made her
next statement.
 
“I was almost
raped, Joseph…raped!
 
Do you
understand what you’ve done?
 
What you’ve
become?!”

Joseph remained still as Arianna approached him.
 
With their eyes locked, he kept his
expression blank, attempting to hide the seething rage her words had created
within him.

“I want to leave, Joseph.
 
I want to leave this place and these people,
and that man who stands behind you.”
 
Her hand raised, she pointed over Joseph’s shoulder towards Connor where
he leaned against the wall of the music room.
 
“Did you see what he did in those
woods?
 
How he killed that man
without thought?”

His voice dripping with barely controlled wrath, Joseph
said, “He was protecting YOU.
 
That
man he killed was trying to rape you, to harm you on the grounds of OUR
home!
 
You can’t leave,
Arianna.
 
I love you too much to
allow that.”

She stilled, her sullen eyes dropping to the floor before
lifting once again to look fearlessly into the molten and angry steel color of
her husband’s.
 
“The way you treat
me, leaving me alone most of the time, only to show up when you want sex, you
call that love?
 
That’s not love, Joseph.
 
It stopped being love years ago.
 
What will you do if I leave?
 
If you love me so much, will you let me
go?”

 
“No.”
 
His response was instantaneous and
assured; the deep growl of his voice a warning given to the woman he
loved.
 
“If you leave, I will drag
you right back.
 
Your family is
gone, lost a long time ago, you have nowhere to go.”
 

Something snapped within Joseph at that moment; the
knowledge that his wife wanted to leave him, that she dared question his love
for her, caused a violent change within his psyche.
 
He knew she’d never understand, but
never had he believed that she would choose to live without him.
 
She was his and had been since the
moment he’d laid eyes on her.
 
He’d
worked tirelessly to give her everything, but yet, she couldn’t appreciate the
long hours he’d worked, the tangled web of genius he’d employed to create the
sophisticated network that supported them.
 
He wouldn’t allow it – he’d make her love him again.

“Connor – leave us.”

Arianna’s eyes left Joseph to watch as the strange man
behind him pushed off the wall and strode heavily through the door of the music
room, closing it behind him as he entered the hall.

“Is that man my new babysitter?
 
Must I drag a killer around with me now
just to survive the situation you’ve created?”
 
She knew her words would anger him, she
could see the rage burning behind his eyes, but she held strong, her nerves
already shredded, her world already destroyed.
 
She didn’t fear what else she could lose
now that it felt like she’d already lost all that she’d ever had.

Joseph didn’t respond to her, the normally tan skin of his
face turning an angry shade of red.
 
Unbridled fury coursed violently through his face as he took determined
steps towards her.
 
She backed up,
each step in perfect timing with his.

Fear suddenly brushing across her mind, she attempted to
soothe the beast her husband had become.
 
“Joseph?
 
What are you
doing?
 
I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to
yell…”

“Don’t apologize, Arianna.”
 
His voice was eerily calm.
 
“You’re only telling me what you really
think.”
 
His head tilted to the
side, his keen eyes surveying the myriad of expressions that raced across the
beautiful face of his wife.
 
“I just
find it –
upsetting
–
that you choose to blame me alone.”

Her back against a wall, Arianna attempted in vain to keep
fear from saturating her voice when she responded.
 
“Who else do I have to blame? I didn’t
choose a life of crime.
 
I didn’t
have an obsessive need for more money, more power.
 
All I wanted was a loving husband, a
happy home – children…”

He smiled, menace shadowing and making the expression even
more cruel than Joseph had intended.
 
It was a look she’d not seen before, one that startled her into silence
as soon as it stretched across his face.
 
“Children.
 
Yes,
Arianna.
 
Point out the failure
you’ve accomplished in the years we’ve been together.
 
How fitting that you bring up the one
thing you refuse to give me while I work endlessly to give you everything
you’ve ever wanted.”

“I don’t want the things you give me!
 
I don’t care about the money, about the
parties, about the prestige or the envy!
 
All I ever wanted was you!
 
Why can you not see that?!”
 
She pleaded with him, her desperation dowsing her words as she
cried.
 
“I love you Joseph, but I
will not remain in the life you have chosen.
 
End this now, or let me go!”

His arms came up to cage her against the wall, the motion of
his body slow and controlled while his weight pressed against her.
 
She turned her head to the side, refused
to look up into the eyes of a man who was fast becoming another stranger in her
life.

His breath rolled down her cheek and the hair at the back of
her neck stood on end.
 
A feral
energy rolled off Joseph in waves, causing her skin to prickle and her chest to
expand from her quickened breath.
 
A
silence, pregnant with regret, shame, anger and loss, hung over them like a
thick winter blanket.
 
A man and his
wife, two people who’d lived and breathed for each other only a few years
before, now stood on a precipice carved out of lies and doubt, utter sadness and
sudden understanding of what had become of an envied couple, of two lovers who
at one time had needed each other to survive.

When Joseph’s eyes closed, when his breathing deepened and
Arianna looked up into the pained face of her husband, her heart melted.
 
Pain, unforgiving and true, touched his
features, caused his skin to grow pale over the sharp peaks of his
cheekbones.
 
He was tired, of that
he’d not lied – and he was fighting against something she could not
recognize.
 
However, even with
exhaustion weighing down his strong shoulders, she could tell that whatever he
fought against carried a deep-seated resentment towards her.
 
With tears falling from her wide-opened
eyes, she reached up, her love making it impossible for her to keep from
providing comfort to the man who at that moment had torn her heart, her entire
world, apart.
 
He was lost to
something she didn’t know, a poison that had somehow weaved itself around him,
forming a cage of conspiracy and deceit, enslaving him to a lifestyle that
would drive a brilliant mind mad.