Joseph Fallen (The Estate Series) (8 page)

The skin of her palm slid against the rough skin of his
cheek, and almost instantly on that contact, his grey eyes shot open, veins of
black formed from emotions so disturbing, she could barely stand to keep her
eyes open long before letting her lids fall tight to her face.

Her lips falling apart, she pled, “Please, Joseph.
 
Let me leave.”

Consumed in silence that threatened to suffocate her,
silence that began to push and pull at every nerve within her body, she waited
to find out what Joseph would do next.
 
But then, just barely, she heard the click of metal against metal, the
soft push of a door moving against air.

The low baritone of an unsure voice sounded next.
 
“I apologize for interrupting, but I’ve
been informed that Emory has returned.
 
Joseph, you may want to speak with him immediately.
 
The information he’s discovered…”
 
Connor paused, seemingly unsure how much
he could reveal with Arianna in the room.
 
“…it’s information you’ll want to know right away.”

Allowing her eyes to open again, she was stunned to discover
that Joseph’s eyes were still locked tight on her face.
 
A mask of indifference now covered his
features, the angry black veins in his eyes muted by Connor’s interruption; but
he never looked away from her when he answered his guard.

“I’ll be there in a moment.
 
Leave us.”

Drowning in a torrential flood of pain and doubt, Arianna
stood waiting for what Joseph would say or do next.
 
Realization crept across her thoughts,
the loss of hope and the knowledge that everything she thought she’d known,
everything she thought they’d been, had been a lie.
 
As if she’d been a dreamer finally
waking from a long sleep, she allowed her mind to quickly travel through the
past, to recognize the signs she’d ignored over the years they’d been
married.
 
Blaming herself,
 
she thought about how she’d accepted
that it had been his long hours that had been the blame for his restlessness,
but the truth now slapping her in the face, she realized her husband had fallen
and she’d been too ignorant to pull him back.

He stood motionless around her, the heat of his body, his
scent, bathing her as she waited – the broken promise and the reminder of
who her husband had been was dangled before her in that moment, a dream she
would never capture again.
 
He
looked like Joseph, smelled like him, carried the same unspoken power and
assurance – but he was no longer the man she’d believe him to be.

His jaw ticked, and when his sculpted lips finally opened, his
voice brushed against her, seductive as silk, while, at the same time, sharp as
the most lethal of blades.

The words spoken were so slow, so frightfully controlled,
that there was no doubt they were the undeniable truth.
 
“When I married you, and on our wedding
night, I promised you two things, Arianna – that you were mine and that I
would do whatever was necessary to give you everything you could ever
want.”
 
His eyes closed as he
winced, his face appearing to battle against pain of the thoughts pounding
against his skull.
 
“I have not
broken those promises, so do not break yours. Do not threaten to leave me
again.
 
There is no where on this
Earth that you could run, that I would not hunt you down, find you, and drag
you back here,
chained
if need be, to
where you belong.”

His eyes opened.

“You are mine and I will not allow you to leave.
 
While I’m gone, I will leave Connor to
watch over you.
 
He is loyal to me
and will prevent any escape you attempt if you are foolish enough to try.
 
There is no escape from me, Arianna. You
WILL accept what I have done.”

Pushing himself away from her, he looked her over for only a
moment longer, before soundlessly turning away, disappearing out the door into
the hall.
 
Sliding to the ground,
Arianna huddled over herself and grabbed her knees, rocking back and forth like
a mother would do to soothe a frightened child.

His tan face was shadowed by black stubble, short and thick,
creating canyons out of the cheeks of his face.
 
An odd look to his eyes, Joseph swore he
saw calculated insanity behind the gaze of the man who’d just revealed to him
that a unit within his own network had been responsible for the attack on his
wife.
 

“Do they believe they can best me so easily, that I would
not have eventually discovered their plans?
 
How many within the group took part and
do we know for a fact that Arianna had been their intended target?”

Emory settled into the wing-backed chair that had been
earlier occupied by Connor.
 
“It is
a simple battle for control, Joseph.
 
These men will employ the same techniques you used to gain your seat in
this network, unless of course you are quick to show them to what lengths you
will go to protect it.”
 
A deeper
meaning and ill intent hung on his words.
 
“Their intended target is not of concern; only that it was an attack on
your
house.
 
As far as I could discover, there are
eleven men total who had taken part and those men have been apprehended and
held until you can decide what is to be done about them.”

“And what do you suggest I do about these men?
 
Wouldn’t it be simple enough to kill
them and return their bodies back to those who may have supported them?”

“You could do that – or…”

Joseph’s craned his neck sideways, attempting to work out
the knot that had formed in the muscle.
 
“Or, what?

“You could make an example out of them.
 
Show any would-be traitors
exactly
how far you are willing to go to
protect everything you’ve worked so tirelessly to build.
 
These were criminals before you took
them and shaped them into the wealthiest men in this State.
 
But now, it seems, some believe they no
longer need you.
 
I suggest you show
them how wrong they were in their belief.”

Joseph considered Emory’s words and agreed that swift force
would be required in this situation.
 
It was a line he’d not crossed before, but what did he have to
lose?
 
The only thing he cared about
was his wife and she’d already betrayed him by allowing herself to even
consider leaving his side.
 

“Have they confessed?”

“Does it matter?”

Each man looked at the other, a weighted question unanswered
out loud, but decided, nonetheless.
 

Joseph sighed.
 
“Then I will end this quickly.”

Emory smiled.

Standing from his chair, Joseph paced the floors of his
office.
 
His white shirt pulled
tight across his shoulders, the material abrasive against skin heated in rage.

“Call a meeting in the ballroom for this evening.
 
I want the top men in each of the units
in attendance.
 
After tonight, there
will be no doubt what will occur to any man who dares attack The Estate –
from outside or from within.”

“Is Connor to attend?”

“Yes.”

“And who will guard your wife?”

Joseph thought silently for a moment before finally turning
to Emory.
 
A wicked smile stretching
lazily across his face, he answered, “Have Connor bring her as well.”

. . .

Muscles stretched taut across her back and neck, Arianna
stopped rocking when her body finally quivered in revolt against the continued
movement.
 
Her tears had long ago
dried up, her burning eyes only daring to peek up at the man standing across
the room every once in a while.
  
Hours had passed, but she hadn’t moved, hadn’t spoken, hadn’t wanted to
accept the company of a man she knew killed easily and without hesitation or
regret.
 
Noticing that he never
looked at her directly, she eventually found herself watching him, losing her
fight against her curiosity of the identity of the man and how he’d come to
work for her husband.
 
It was a
small, and most likely, unimportant question, that danced amongst the countless
others she
 
had regarding Joseph.

Standing sentinel, Connor was motionless in front of
Arianna, absolutely silent in his observation, while he leaned against a wall
near the door to the music room.
 
He
was dressed in head to toe black, his shoulders and chest straining against the
stretched material of his shirt, his pants hanging off slender hips before
bulging out from the muscles in his thighs.
 
He wore his hair short, but even still
glints of light appeared to be swallowed by the ebony black strands that
covered his head.
  
He appeared
younger than Joseph, but only by a few years.
 
His face was chiseled, his strong jaw
twitching every once in a while, giving away the fact that he was not, in fact,
the unmoving statue that he appeared to be.

She didn’t want to move, didn’t know what to think of the
unknown man who’d watched over her since her husband had left her crumpled on
the music room floor.
 
But she knew
she could not remain there waiting for Joseph’s return; knew that it would not
be until the late evening hours that he’d travel back to her wing – to
her.

Uncurling from her balled position on the floor, she
stretched her legs out in front of her and allowed her head to fall heavily
against the wall at her back.
  
After gaining an upright position, she watched him for a few more
minutes, impressed in his ability to remain as still, as terrifyingly silent as
he was.

Suddenly annoyed, she cautiously pushed herself up into a
standing position, not sure if she was allowed to leave the room, or if she was
trapped there until Joseph decided to return. Hesitantly, she took several
steps towards the door, noticing how the man her husband had left behind
finally turned when she’d approached.
 
His eyes met hers; she stopped moving and was thoroughly entranced by
the deep, multi-hued green.
 
Perfectly contrasted by the deep tan of his skin and the silk black of
his hair, the man’s eyes glittered like priceless jewels, the color beaming
outwards, making them appear alien and unreal.
 
How someone of such beauty could also be
a stone-cold killer was beyond her, but she knew she stared into the face of a
demon,
 
one who lurked beneath the
cloak of an angel.

Stepping into the hall, she walked toward her suite,
distinctly aware of the soft thud of boots behind her.
 
For each step she took, one was matched,
and she stopped suddenly to discover that those quiet thuds stopped as
well.
 
Taking another step, she
heard one that followed, and she stopped again.
 
Turning slightly, she peeked out from
behind a golden curtain of hair to see that the man stood
 
silently in wait of her next move.

“Oh!
 
This is
just ridiculous.”
 
Throwing up her
hands, she marched again in the direction of her suite and she couldn’t be
sure, but she thought she heard a soft chuckle behind her.

Throwing open the doors, she quickly strode into the living
room of her suite, flinging the doors closed behind her.
 
Not hearing the familiar click of metal
against metal, the pound of the wooden doors reverberating through the walls,
she turned to find the man standing in the doorway, one door held open in each
hand, and no expression in the emerald green eyes that shown brilliantly
against his tanned skin.

“Am I not allowed to be in my own apartment by myself?!”

She found the man’s ability to appear motionless
disturbing.
 
Her heart raced with
anger and resentment, and her eyes remained locked to his face, searching for
any outward sign that would betray his thoughts.
  

When he didn’t speak, didn’t move, didn’t so much as flinch
a muscle in response to her question, she backed into the kitchen and reached
behind her to find and move a chair out from the table so that she could sit
down.
 
She kept her eyes trained on
the man.
 
A few minutes passed,
crystal blue staring into emerald green, the man finally stepped forward,
softly clicking the doors shut behind him, before leaning back against the
wood.

The silence between them was thick, aggravating in its
duration, but when his lips moved and his voice softly brushed across her
senses, she flinched, not expecting the sudden sound.

“Are you afraid of me?”

An odd question.
 
Of course she was afraid of him.
 
Not even twenty-four hours before, she’d watched him come into the woods
dressed in shadow, had seen how easily he removed a man’s head without so much
as a struggle.

It was only because she forced strength into her voice that
she was able to speak.
 
“Yes.
 
I’d prefer that you leave.”

Almost apologetically, he responded, “I can’t leave.
 
I’ve been ordered to watch over you.”

“Why?”

Silence again.
 
His eyes closing slowly, the black night of his lashes barely covering
the light of his forest green eyes before opening again as he answered, “I’ve
been asked by your husband to protect you.
 
To ensure that no person can attempt to harm you again.
 
He is … concerned … for your welfare.”

Laughter shook her shoulders, the hysterical type that had
no footing in actual humor, but sprang forth from anger, resentment and
fear.
 
“Is he really concerned for
my welfare?
 
Or is he concerned that
I’ll leave him, seek shelter in a home not overrun by criminals?”
 
She grew quiet for a moment, her head
falling into her hands but then lifted again to look indignantly into the face
of the man.
 
“Are you a criminal as
well?
 
One of the men that corrupted
a good man, convinced him to lie to his wife?”

“I was hired by Joseph after The Estate had already
become…what it is.
 
My specialty is
in security and defense.”

“Death – that’s what you mean, that is your
specialty
.
  
I saw what you did, how
easily…”
 
Her sobs choked out her
words, the honey blonde of her hair falling forward as she hid her face in her
hands.

Finally when she’d pushed past the threatened tears in her
eyes, she looked up again.
 
The
cobalt blue twinkling from a mixture of the lights in the room reflecting
across the unshed tears.
 
Slowly,
methodically, she spoke.
 
“He told
me you would watch me to make sure I cannot leave.
 
If I were to try, would you…”

“I’d prevent you from leaving.
 
It wouldn’t be safe, but for more
reasons than you assume.
 
Your
husband loves you.”

“My HUSBAND does not LOVE me!
 
If he loved me, he’d be here by my
side.
 
There wouldn’t be any need
for your protection and for his continued absence.
 
We were fine before we came to this
place – HAPPY.
 
But now… now
he’s lost to something that I cannot even fully comprehend.
 
What is he supporting?
 
Drugs?
 
Murder?
 
What?!”

He didn’t answer; the tick of his jaw, the only sign that
he’d heard her question at all.

She blinked up at him, not surprised by his lack of
response.
 
“Of course, you won’t
answer me.
 
Why am I not surprised
that a criminal won’t admit to his acts?
 
I must assume you are all the same.”

On shaky legs, she stood up from the chair.
 
“Am I allowed to dress by myself or do I
have to sacrifice my dignity as well?
 
Has my husband fallen so far that he’d allow another man to look over me
while I’m naked?”

The corner of his lip twitched, allowing the faint outline
of a dimple to grace the rough skin of his cheek.

“I will only remain in the apartment when you are here.
 
I will not follow you when you need
privacy.
 
Joseph wouldn’t appreciate
or request such diligence on my part.
 
You remain his wife, one who is protected above all else.”

“Good, then I intend to spend a lot of time in my room, away
from you.”

He pulled his expression back to one of disinterest,
effectively concealing his thoughts.
 
“That is your choice.”

She took a step towards her bedroom and when he did not move
to follow, she quickened her pace.
 
Just as she was about to enter the corridor that led to her bedroom, he
spoke again.

“I must warn you, however, attempting escape through a
window would not be wise.
 
I have
men stationed heavily outside this apartment.
 
You will not make it far before you are
apprehended and returned.”

Her steps faltered, her head dropped, and the realization
that she’d become a prisoner in her own home finally struck
 
profoundly against her thoughts.

“I don’t want to be here any longer.
 
I don’t want to stay with my husband and
his … whatever the hell this is.”