Love me if you dare (15 page)

Her eyes searched his, begging him to
understand and he sighed again.  He stroked her hair and let the soft strands
fall through his fingers.

“The worst of it is that it was not
you they had the vendetta against, it was against your father … and … me!”  She
noticed the regret and fury return to his eyes and she hugged him close.

“No, you are not to blame!  I will not
allow you to take the blame!  They were the sick ones!  They did it to me … NOT
you … never you!”

She kissed him passionately until his
arms wrapped around her and he relaxed.  When  he drew back from her, his eyes
were serious and anxious.

“Honey, please, I don’t want you to
live through it again.  Let me handle it, let me get to the truth and make them
pay.  You have been hurt enough, I don’t  …”  Her fingers against his lips
silenced him.

“I am stronger than I look, my love
and besides two heads are better than one.  As far as Jason Wieldman is
concerned, I don’t believe violence will be the answer.  We need to hurt him
where it will cause the most damage; his business.”

He frowned down at her, the viscous
anger in his eyes told her that would not be enough for him.

“Nicolas, I don’t know what I will do
if something had to happened to you!  If I had to choose between revenge
against Wieldman, his cahoots and you, you would win hands down. We do this
without any further violence!”

“I can’t promise you that.  I agree,
we will hit him where it will hurt the most, but if ever I meet him face to
face again, I don’t know what I will do.”

She nodded, “I guess that’ll do for
now.  So, who did you caress with your fists, if not Wieldman?”

He smile wryly at her attempt at humor
and sighed heavily again.

“Are you sure you want to know?”

A fist clamped around her heart. 
“Yes.”

“Desmond Harris.”

Her mouth gaped open in denial, her
heart thumped against her chest. 

“Desmond?  Oh God why?  We broke up
months before that and he assured me he was fine with it!  Why would he do
something like that to me?  What did he do to me?”

Her eyes bored into his and the
sadness there ripped at her heartstrings.

“It was not because you broke up with
him. It was because we fired him from the Internship at Global.  He lied on his
application and when we received his graduate results we confronted him with
it.  He was so desperate to work at Global, he thought we would keep him if he
did a good job by the time we received them.  But integrity and honesty is what
has always driven the success at Global and we were not prepared to accept it.”

“But … but what did Wieldman have to
do with him?”

“Harris approached him and when he
heard he worked at the R & D department he immediately appointed him,
thinking he could use him as an Industrial spy and he did, but we only realized
that years later when some of our projects were boycotted by him.”

“But Wieldman was Dad’s friend at that
time?”

“He pretended to be his friend.  He
wanted everything your father had.  You do not know this, but your Dad and he
were both in love with your Mother at varsity.  She chose your Dad and he has
never forgiven him for that.  He took great pleasure in hurling in our faces,
Alexander and mine, when we arrived at the apartment how wild you were.  How he
treasured your virginity … especially as it was Alexander’s daughters’.  I
wanted to kill him then with my bare hands.  I wish to God I did!”

Samantha was pale and trembled, never
realizing how much damage Wieldman’s actions had caused. 

“Your father was devastated.  He felt
betrayed, he never realized Wieldman carried such a grudge and to use you, his
favorite daughter as a pawn … he could never get over the fact that Wieldman
claimed you offered yourself to him; that you wanted him to be the one to take
your virginity. That is what broke him and that made him say the things he did
…”

Tears were now trickling down her cheeks
at the memory of all the insults and the pain of realizing her father had
denounced her based on what Wieldman made him believe.

“Funny thing is …” he paused as he
filtered through his memory, “Wieldman truly believed he had taken your
virginity, according to how he acted … and why was he passed out on the couch
when we got there and not with you … there’s more here than what we realized.” 
He pushed her off his lap and started towards the house.

“Nicolas wait!  Where are you going?” 
She ran after him and caught him at the bottom of the stairs.

“My fists have some more caressing to
do with Harris it seems.  Clearly he left out some details.”  She ran after him
up the stairs and into her room, dressing quickly.  If he thought he was
leaving her behind, he had another thing coming.

“You are not coming with me and that
is final, Samantha!”  She swung around and grabbed her car keys off the side
table in the foyer.

“Fine, then I’ll take my own car!”  He
clutched her elbow as she swung by him, his eyes burning into hers.

“I don’t want you there!  I don’t want
you to see me that angry!”

“Which is exactly why I need to go
with!  I need you by my side, not stuck in a jail because you beat someone to a
pulp!”  Her chin rose stubbornly and he realized this was a battle he could not
win and he sighed.

“Very well, but only if you promise to
stay out of the way when I beat him! And, no … that is when and not if AND it
is not negotiable!”

All the way to Desmond’s place,
Nicolas seethed, hardly listening to Samantha listing the reasons why he should
keep his anger controlled and even more importantly his fists by his sides.

Desmond immediately tried to slam the
door shut when he recognized Nicolas, but the fury inside him propelled him
back to stumble over a chair when he flung the door open.

Before he even hit the floor, Nicolas
yanked him up with his hand fisted around his shirt. Desmond struggled but
realized it was futile; the strength of the man in front of him was expounded
by the rage that radiated from him.  He had to strain to hear the words that he
flung at him between clenched teeth.

“Who else?”

“Who else what?”  He reared back when
Nicolas’s fist exploded against his mouth, but he yanked him back immediately.

“Nicolas … please, you have to calm
down!”

Desmond glanced towards the voice and
all color left his face.  “God no!  Samantha, please go.  You can’t be here!”

“Now that is the first honest thing
you’ve said yet!  Are you going to listen to him, honey?”

She sighed and stroked softly down his
back, pressing against him and answered him in a whisper, “No, and I really
need you to calm down, please Nico, for me?”

He dropped his head on his chest, took
deep gulping breaths and shoved Desmond back so hard that he fell on the couch,
causing it to crash against the window, cracking it in two.

“”You broke your promise, woman!”  He
swung around and his arms were immediately filled with her soft body as she
pressed herself tight against him, her arms wrapping around his back.  He
folded his arms around her and hugged her even tighter.  A calmness filtered
from her into him and he sighed heavily.  This is not how he needed to deal
with this.  He had to get the anger out of his system ... the guilt out of his
system!

She lifted her head and kissed him
softly on his lips, her eyes searching his and finding what she was looking for
and smiled blindingly at him.  He groaned and hugged her tighter.

“You will be the death of me yet!”

He released her and turned to Desmond,
pressing her against his side. “I am waiting, Harris.”

Desmond looked from Samantha to
Nicolas, confusion in his eyes.

“You two … are you?”  Nicolas growled
and he swallowed painfully.  He already had two broken ribs from their first
altercation and he did not need his face further pummeled than it already was. 
His one eye were still swollen shut, his jaw had to be reattached after Nicolas
dislocated it with one of his fists.

Samantha gasped when she noticed how
beat up he was and she glared at Nicolas.  “You did that to him?  You could
have killed him!”

“He damn well nearly did!”

Nicolas glared at her in disgust. 
“You are too much of a tender heart!  Or did you forget what he did to you?” 
He swung back to the injured man and growled out, “I am not going to ask you
again!”

Desmond looked at Samantha with regret
in his eyes.  “I am so sorry, Sammy.  I had no idea what they planned!  All I
had to do was tell Nicolas and your Dad where you were.”

“Exactly how did I get there,
Desmond?”  He flushed.

“You … passed out … they drugged the
last glass of champagne you had.  I carried you to his car and then went back
to wait an hour before I told Nicolas.”

“That’s why I was so groggy and passed
out when he … “

She noticed the fury shimmering and
rising in Nicolas’s eyes and she stopped.  She put her arm around his back and
bundled his shirt in her hand.  Nicolas smiled, wondering if she really thought
she would be able to hold him back.

He looked back at Desmond.  You still
haven’t answered my question.”   He closed his eyes and when he opened them
again there was hatred shining in them.

“When I found out what they did, I
hated them!  I left the company and moved to Australia.  I could not deal with
my part in what they did.  I loved you, Sammy!  I would never have … if only I
had known!”  He had tears in his eyes and Samantha moved towards him, but
Nicolas hauled her back.

“NO!”

“Nic …”

“She has to go.  I will tell you, but
not with her here.”  Nicolas turned on him, anger flashing at him.

“You have no right to demand
anything!”

“Then you can beat me to a pulp, but I
will not tell you, unless she leaves!”  Nicolas glared at him, but noticed the
rigid determination in his gaze and knew he meant every word he said.

He turned to Samantha.  “You heard the
man.  Go and wait in the car … please?  This is the only way we will get to the
truth.”

“Promise you won’t hit him again?”

He looked at her, feeling his heart
contract.  How empty his life has been without her in it!  He nodded, kissed
her softly and turned her towards the door.  He watched until he saw her
climbing in his car before he turned back to Desmond, pushing his fists in his
pockets.  His eyes were hard as spiked granite.

“I’m
waiting.”

The
name churned in his head, over and over and he still could not believe it.  His
face was expressionless and his jaw rigid.  Samantha glanced at him worriedly.

He had not said a word since he got in
the car and drove away.  The expression in his eyes ripped her heart into
pieces; hurt, regret, wariness, uncertainty, disbelief and then fury washed it
away.

She placed her hand on his thigh and
stroked his leg, watching him.  He dropped his hand to hers and gripped it so
tightly she winced, but he did not even realize the strength with which he
grasped her hand, and she knew he needed to hold on to her.  She knew he was
trying to sort through the scramble of emotions in his mind and she grew more
and more terrified.

What did Desmond tell him?  What was
so terrible that it turned this man into stone, shutting her out completely?

When he switched the car off, he
turned to her and looked at her with haunted eyes. How could anyone be so cruel
towards another human being? Someone so beautiful, so innocent and so naïve,
even at twenty one.  Her eyes pierced his questioningly, but her lip was caught
between her teeth.  He realized he was scaring her and he sighed, forcing a
small smile on his lips.

He got out of the car, walked around
to open the door for her and pulled her into a tight embrace.  So tight, she
battled to breathe; he rested his face in her neck and lifted her feet off the
ground to hold her even tighter against him.  It was a natural movement to wrap
her legs around him and gather him even closer against her heart and he moaned
in her neck.  She felt the moisture on his cheek pressed in her neck and she
drew a tortured breath.  What in God’s name spooked him so much?  His voice
cracked and he hugged her tighter.

“I am so sorry!”

“Samantha,
honey please.  I already told you, I will resolve this soon, and until I find a
way to get the guilty party’s full admission to the part they played, I am not
going to discuss this with you.”

“It’s
not fair that you are carrying the burden on my behalf!  Whoever it is and
whatever Desmond told you, is haunting you and I have the right to know! I am
the one that suffered!”

“Yes,
you are and because of that I will not allow you to suffer any further.” 
Nicolas pulled her on his lap and hugged her close.  “Please be patient a
little while longer.  I need to think this through and make sure there will be
no further attempts to discredit or hurt you.”   He kissed her softly on her
temple, then pushed her off his lap and gave a soft slap on her buttocks.

“I
have a meeting at Excellence in fifteen minutes, and if I don’t leave now I
will be late.”

Samantha
turned to him, still very worried and now, scared.

“Are
you saying I am in danger?  Whoever this person is, is out to hurt me
further?”  Nicolas stood up and walked around his desk to pull her in his arms,
his eyes serious.

“I
am not prepared to take any chances and maybe I am being over protective and
cautious, but I was not there for you six years ago and …”

“You
were not responsible for me then!”

“But
I wanted to be!  I wanted to be from the day I met you.  I wanted you, even
when you were seventeen years old!  But I bided my time, and decided the moment
you returned my kiss, on your twenty first birthday that I had waited long
enough.  I was livid to find you in his bed, livid that I misjudged you and
that you were as wild and as promiscuous as everyone claimed.”  He pulled his hands
through his hair and sighed.

“I
kept looking at you, wanting you to deny everything you father called you,
needed you to!  But all I saw in my mind’s eye was how sexually satisfied you
looked when we found you, you looked … satiated … so damned sexy … and when you
didn’t deny anything, I believed it too.  The things that didn’t make sense at
the time forgotten, because by your actions, I agreed that you went looking for
it!”

Her
face was as pale as the white wall behind her and she swallowed painfully.

“Do
you … do you still believe that?”

He
looked at her for so long, her heart started cracking, then his hands folded
around her face and his eyes were clear for the first time, his voice warm and
soft.

“Thinking
back, I don’t think I even believed it then.  I knew why you flirted with him
and in a way it warmed my heart.  I went looking for you to put a stop to it,
but by that time … No, honey, I knew you didn’t, it was just my ego that were
bruised that you chose someone other than me.”

“That
is just it!  I chose you, the day I met you!  But I knew you were too old for
me then and that Daddy would never allow a relationship between us.  I was in
the clouds when you kissed me, but then you flirted with all the other girls
and ignored me.  As you said, I was naïve and I should have seen it for what it
was and not retaliated by flirting with him.  To this day I still don’t know
why I chose him! There were so many other young guys there!”

He
drew her close and hugged her tight.  “Shh … it’s okay, you don’t have to
explain.”

“I
need to.  I stopped defending myself, not because of what Daddy was saying, but
because of … how you looked at me.  It broke my heart.  The one person I needed
to believe me thought I was a … slut.  I loved you even then, and nothing else
mattered after I saw that look in your eyes.”

His
eyes turned nearly silver and were filled with regret.

“I
never thought that of you!  You made a mistake yes, but I never thought of you
as a slut!”

He
shook her slightly to reiterate his point.  “And don’t you ever think that
again!”  His head lowered and he kissed her so deeply and passionately she
completely relaxed against him.

He
groaned.  “I am late for my meeting, honey, I really have to go.  Shall we go
out to dinner tonight?”

She
smiled and nodded; her emotions still in turbulence and uncertainty milled
through her mind.  She had told him numerous times she loved him, yet the only
thing he admitted to, was that he wanted her.  Was that all he felt for her? 
Desire and guilt for what happened to her?

Samantha
groaned when she walked into the house and found her mother on the patio
waiting for her.  She avoided her since she came back and with her emotions in
such turmoil she really did not have the energy for a confrontation.

To
further delay the impending confrontation she went upstairs to dress in a cool
sundress, hoping Nicolas would arrive in the meantime. No such luck however,
and she took a deep breath before she walked out to the patio.

“Mother,”
she nodded in greeting.  Shona looked at her sadly.  She had missed her so much
and was ecstatic when she accepted all the conditions in the testament and
moved back.  She cried in her heart.  She has hardly seen her however and
needed to clear the air between them.

“Samantha,
you look lovely!  I hope you don’t mind me just dropping by?”

“Of
course not.  This place is part of the family legacy, so to speak.” 

Her
voice turned bitter.  The more she thought about it, the more she saw the
bequeathals from her father as pay off.  Pay-off to appease his guilt for
chasing her away.

Shona
winced.  “How … how have you been?  We’ve not really had an opportunity to
talk.”

“What
do you want, Mother?”

“Have
you read your father’s letter?

“No.”

“Why
not?  Sammy, I need to …”

“Because
nothing he would say now would matter.  In line with the excessive inheritance
he gave me, let’s take a guess.  My dear Samantha, I am so sorry for chasing
you away.  Eventhough you were a slut, I should  not have …”

“Samantha! 
What did I tell you this morning?”  She stiffened when Nicolas thundered behind
her, but her eyes remained trained on her mother, who had gone as pale as a
sheet.  Nicolas placed his hands on her shoulders and greeted Shona over her
head.

“Shona,
it’s good to see you.  What brought you out this way?”

“I
… thought,” she sighed, “Sammy, please can we not try and talk about it?  I
missed you so much!”

“Talk
about what, Mother?  About how you threw my clothes at my face, screaming at me
to get my cheap, little whore’s body out of your house?”

She
smirked at the stricken look on her mother’s face and ignored Nicolas’s hands
that tightened like clamps on her shoulders, his indrawn breath loud in the
sudden quiet.

“I
never … I can’t remember … oh God, no Sammy!  Please, I never would have said
something like that to you!  Never! I was disappointed and angry yes, but I
never …”

“Oh,
but you did! You know what they say.  In anger does the truth come out.  Let’s
see, how about how you knew I would be a disappointment to Daddy the day I was
born? Or about how you denounced me as your daughter?”  Her voice rose higher,
was shrill and hoarse at the end.

“No,
no, no!  I would never have done that!  You were my first born!  I loved you!”

“Yes,
so much so that I overheard you tell Uncle Jamie how you regretted having me. 
How I should rather not have been born at all!”  Her voice had lost all
feeling.

“You
… that … how can you remember … I … no!”  Shona was devastated.  She remembered
the incident well, and has regretted ever uttering those words. 

“Why
not?  Because I was only twelve years old? Why do you think I acted and
rebelled so much?  If you said that, it must mean that Daddy felt the same.  So
I set out to do just what you wanted … first I was a tomboy and when you all
accepted that as a normal phase, I became what I was … at least that got some
reaction from you and him!  At least then you paid attention to me!  No, mother
dear, if there is one thing you will never convince me off, it is that you love
me!” 

At
this point she was sobbing and tears streamed down her cheeks, but she did not
even notice. She swung around and only then realized Nicolas was standing
behind her, as still as a statue, an expression of loathing on his face as he
looked at Shona.  His voice quivered in his anger.

“I
think you better leave.”

 “Please
listen to me.  I didn’t mean those words!  You must have only heard part of the
discussion!  No!  Listen Samantha!  Go and talk to Jamie!  Please, please go
and talk to him.  He will tell you!”

She
realized that nothing she said at that point would matter.  Both of them were
too upset.  She jumped up and ran to her car, sobbing earnestly.

Nicolas
has never felt so deflated.  How much more were there Samantha had to work
through on her own?  Samantha stood gazing towards the hills, her shoulders
shaking.  He pulled her back against him, his arms folding around her.  She
folded her hands around his arms and held on tight.  They stood like that for a
long time, neither one saying a word, the only sounds the small forlorn sobs
from Samantha every now and then.

He
kissed her softly on her ear, whispering passionately.  “One day … one day
soon, there will be no more tears.  I promise you that!”

That
night Nicolas made love to her so sweetly and tenderly the tears flowed again,
and every time he kissed them away.  He spend most of the night consoling and
loving her, drawing all her hurt and pain into himself, giving her only joy and
pleasure, saturating her mind with new memories.

Nicolas
looked at the woman sitting on the other side of the desk, his face expressionless. 
He could not understand how they could be sisters.  Elaine had a cruelty and an
emptiness that were more and more pronounced the older she became. She was
bemoaning the fact again that she needed more money and he sighed.  Why the
devil Alexander ever put him in charge of her money he would never know.

His eyes sharpened as a thought
flashed through his mind and he smiled sardonically at her.  “Here is a
thought.  Why don’t you come back to work?  It was never Alexander’s intention
that you become a spoilt heiress.”

“I told you I do … on the other hand …
maybe you are right.  It is a brilliant idea, it serves me no purpose to have
all that money and I can’t spend it.  Sitting around without money is no fun. 
So, where will I fall in?  Back in Sales?”

He appeared thoughtful.  This was the
ideal opportunity to get to Jason Wieldman.  However, he needed to be sure his
suspicion was correct.  She accepted his suggestion too eagerly and quickly. 
Clearly she was up to something.

“No, I think your project management
skills are ideal to run our latest R & D project.  You do understand how
highly confidential this is and you are at least trustworthy not to leak
information.”

“Of course!  You know you can trust
me!  So, I’ll fall in on Monday?”  At his nod, she jumped up, barely able to
contain her excitement.  “Now, you’ll have to excuse me, I have a lunch
appointment.”

He nodded and turned to his laptop
before she even finished talking, taking notice of her gleeful smile as she
walked out his office.  He watched her until she disappeared into the elevator;
he jumped up and ran to his private elevator, praying to beat her to the ground
floor.  The anger that had been shimmering inside him since Harris told him
everything, he knew was close to erupting, and he had to force himself to
remain seated when she walked into his office.

He was already sitting in his car when
she got into hers, talking on her cell phone. He started his car and followed
her and was not surprised that she drove straight to Wieldman Enterprises. He
was surprised however to see Wieldman himself waiting for her at the curb and
getting into the car.  His jaw ached he ground on his teeth so hard.  The fury
in him escalated with each passing kilometer that he trembled by the time they
parked next to a restaurant in Rosebank.

It took all his self-control not to
jump out of his car and pound the life out of the man he has come to hate with
a deep putrid fury.  He cursed violently and with disgust when Elaine pressed
herself against him and Wieldman grabbed her chin in his hand; pressed his
fingers on either side of her mouth to open it wide, then kissed her ramming
his tongue down her throat.

Now
there was one woman who deserved to be called a slut and a whore!  His mouth
was pressed tightly in a straight line when he pulled away from the curb, his
mind swirling with the all the details of what needed to be done to set his
plan in motion.

Samantha
was grumbling with every piece of clothing she folded and packed in her weekend
bag. Insisting on going away now!  They should be working on a strategy to
break Wieldman’s business.  Not go gallivanting to who knows where for five
days!  She walked back into her closet and stared at her evening wear. She
tsk’ed and stalked over to Nicolas’s room.

“How am I supposed to know what to
pack if I do not know where we are going?  Do I need to pack anything for the
evening?  Cocktail dresses?  Jerseys?”