Modern Wicked Fairy Tales: Complete Collection (40 page)

“Goodness, I think I’m getting a cramp!” The
old woman shook her writing hand, smiling up at him. “So much
paperwork.”

“They like to make it complicated, don’t
they?” Lionel slid all of the documentation into a large envelope.
“But now you can walk away free and clear.”

And so can I,
he thought.

“Mae will be so happy.” She gave a little
sigh, picking up the tea he’d made for her. The servants had the
day off, at Lionel’s suggestion. The woman liked him and didn’t
question his requests. “She hates the city.”

And that was the wrench in the works, wasn’t
it? He knew he should just take the money and run, but Mae had
caught his attention from the beginning, back when he’d been
selling insurance in Nebraska. It was mostly on the up-and-up,
although he occasionally ran a profitable scam or two. He hadn’t
been planning to scam the Verges, but the more he found out about
the family—and especially after he’d discovered Mae’s father’s
connections to old New York money—the more difficult it became for
him to resist.

How was he supposed to know that the old
woman had disowned her only son and had written him out of her
will? Even he had to admit that his blackmail scheme had backfired
disastrously—but lucky for him, his backup plan had still been in
play. Mae’s parents had purchased a great deal of life insurance
from him. All he’d had to do was marry the girl after their
untimely death—brake lines failed all the time in these new
autos—and he was golden.

“So Mae will be moving in with you?” Lionel
asked.

Mae’s grandmother laughed brightly, giving
him a sly wink. “Well, unless I can find her a husband before we
move out.”

He smiled and winked back at her, but
Lionel’s chest burned at her words. If the old woman hadn’t swooped
in and hurried her granddaughter off to New York City in the first
place, he would have married Mae and inherited her father’s money,
all according to plan. Damned old bat had put the kibosh on that so
fast Lionel hadn’t even seen Mae to say goodbye before she was
gone.

Of course, now the stakes were even higher,
he reasoned, looking around the penthouse apartment at the high-end
furniture, the priceless works of art the old woman had hanging on
her walls. Not only did he stand to gain Mae’s father’s money when
he married her—but her grandmother’s as well.

He wanted what he was entitled to—everything
he’d worked for. That only seemed fair. He put the envelope down on
the table, dropping the medication into her tea while she was
looking the other way. He slipped into the chair opposite her,
picking up his own cup and sipping it.

She did the same, smiling at him over the
rim. He watched and waited, listening to her chatter on about her
granddaughter and the estate they’d be moving to in Nantucket. When
she glanced up at him, eyes widening a little, he knew the
medication was starting to take effect.

Her mouth drew into a comic little “o”
before she collapsed in her chair, slipping to the floor with a fat
thud. He sighed, hefting her back into place, using the rope he had
packed into his briefcase to secure her to the chair. He had more
rope in his case, along with various other tools and implements he
might need later, if he had to resort to such measures to persuade
his bride-to-be that he really was her intended. He just hoped it
didn’t have to come to that. He hated doing things the hard
way.

He checked the old woman’s pulse—faint but
there. Good. He added a thick piece of rope as a gag, just in case.
The penthouse was isolated and all the servants were gone, but you
could never be too careful. Now it was time to go collect the rest
of his debt. He really was going to try it the easy way. If that
failed, well…then, and only then, he would resort to doing it the
hard way—if he had to.

* * * *

“I’m sorry, Griff.” She didn’t find it hard
to say at all.

He didn’t apologize, but he pulled her
behind his apple cart and put his arms around her right there on
the street, wrapping her up in safety and warmth, and she melted
against him in spite of the public nature of their embrace.

“I just don’t want to lose you.” His hoarse,
whispered words brought tears to her eyes. The truth was she didn’t
want to go. She loved her grandmother, and she missed living in the
country, but this man had somehow become the most important thing
on earth to her and if that meant staying in New York City, she was
prepared to stand up and say so.

“You’re not losing me.” She nestled her head
under his chin, breathing in the scent of him, always mixed with
the sweet smell of apples. “I’m going to be wherever you are.”

“Do you mean that?” He lifted her face to
search her eyes and saw the tears glistening there. He kissed her
then, his mouth hot and insistent, branding her, claiming her,
right there on the street.

“Mae!” The sound of her name brought her out
of her daze and she broke the kiss to see Lionel pulled up at the
curb, shoving the passenger door of his car open. “I’ve been
looking for you everywhere! Your grandmother needs you!”

“I have to go.” She looked guiltily up at
Griff, seeing the growing anger on his face as he caught a glimpse
of Lionel leaning across the front seat of the car.

She didn’t want a huge confrontation in the
middle of the street. The police had been cracking down on apple
vendors lately and she didn’t want Griff calling attention to
himself or, god forbid, doing something stupid enough to get
arrested for. She knew, after what she’d just said, that leaving
this way didn’t exactly look as if she was choosing Griff over her
grandmother—but what if she was ill? If her grandmother had been
looking for her, had even sent Lionel searching, there had to be a
good reason.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be back. Please, just
trust me.”

“Mae!” Griff called after her but she was
already sliding in beside Lionel, shutting the door behind her.
“Mae, get out of the car!”

“He’s got moxie, doesn’t he?” Lionel
remarked, staring as Griff pounded on the window, screaming at her
to get out

“Go!” Mae insisted, sinking lower in her
seat, seeing the anger rising on Griff’s face. “Please, just
go!”

Lionel floored it but Griff chased them,
pounding on the trunk, until Lionel swerved around a pedestrian and
turned the corner. Mae twisted in her seat but she couldn’t see
Griff in the crowd on the street.

“Guess he likes you, huh?” Lionel shifted,
giving the car even more gas, putting more distance between them
and Griff.

Mae blushed, turning back to face him, but
ignored his question. She knew he’d seen them kissing, but she
decided she’d deal with that later. “How’s my grandmother?”

Lionel was quiet, taking another fast
corner, and Mae grabbed the edge of the seat to keep from sliding.
She frowned, looking over at him, seeing his jaw working.

“Lionel?”

He gave her a long, veiled look and it made
her stomach clench. “Are you playing with me, Mae?”

“I don’t know…”

He turned another sharp corner. “I think
I’ve make my affections and intentions clear to you.”

“Oh…” She saw the Century building on the
right, glad they were almost there. Maybe she could avoid letting
him down too hard—again. “Lionel, I’m sorry. I told you before, I’m
not…we can’t…”

He braked hard, the tires actually squealing
to a stop in front of her grandmother’s building. “Well I guess I
know now just why you’ve been turning me down.”

“You’re a nice man, Lionel,” she said,
reaching out to touch his forearm. He looked down at her hand and
then met her eyes. The look in them scared her a little in its
intensity. “But I just…I don’t feel that way about you.”

“Well someone’s feeling something.” He
sneered. “No wonder you’ve been drawing your shades.”

Mae stared at him, confused. “My…what?”

“Your grandmother’s waiting.” He got out of
the car and Mae followed, trying to make sense of what he’d
said.

“You and I were meant to be together, Mae.”
Lionel was addressing her as they rode up in the elevator, but it
was also, strangely, almost as if she wasn’t even there. “I knew it
from the first moment I saw you. God, what a hot little dish you
were. And you didn’t even know it.”

“Lionel, I don’t think you understand…” Mae
struggled with her words as they approached the door to her
grandmother’s apartment.

“Don’t worry, I got the message.” He opened
the door and Mae frowned as it swung open—unlocked. That was odd…
“Now it’s your turn to listen to me.”

The door shut behind them and Mae froze,
seeing her grandmother slumped in a chair. She heard the lock turn,
the newest and latest in security, a thick deadbolt, but she was
already rushing to her grandmother’s aid, sure she was ill. It
wasn’t until she reached the chair that she saw the ropes she was
tied with.

“Grandmother!” Mae shook the old woman
gently, but she didn’t give any sign she heard. She pulled the rope
out of her grandmother’s mouth. “Lionel, what is this? What’s
happened to her? Why—?”

The blow came from behind, knocking her
three feet from her grandmother’s chair onto the hardwood floor.
Mae sprawled, her ears ringing, the hip she’d fallen on aching, her
basket spilling open, tumbling the remains of her lunch onto the
floor. It wasn’t until that moment she realized just how much
trouble she was really in.

“No!” She cried out as Lionel grabbed the
back of her coat, yanking her to her feet. “Oh god, please,
no…”

She tried to scramble away but her heels
scraped helplessly along the hardwood as Lionel ripped off her coat
and slammed her down into a chair.

“Don’t fucking move!”

If his words didn’t make her freeze, the
knife he’d taken from his pocket and flicked open did the trick.
She stared at it, glancing behind him toward the door, wondering if
she could make it before he caught her. But even if she did…then
what? Her grandmother was tied to a chair, helpless. Was she even
alive?

“Help!” She screamed, but knew already it
was useless, and all it did was elicit another blow, this time
across the other side of her head, making her right ear sting.

“Shut up!” He went behind her, grabbing her
arms and twisting them so her hands met behind the chair. It was
unbelievably painful and she whimpered as he worked, tying her
hands together and then her feet to the legs of the chair. “That’s
better. A big improvement.”

She glanced over at her grandmother,
relieved to see her chest slowly rising and falling. At least she
was alive. Mae strained to listen, searching the apartment for any
other sounds. Where were the servants?

“You know, I wanted to do this the easy
way.” Lionel shook his head sadly, picking up the briefcase he’d
pulled the rope out of and putting it on the dining room table.
“All you had to do was say yes. Is that so hard?”

He turned his back to her and she wiggled
her hands in the rope, twisting and turning. It was tight, but
maybe if she worked it long enough, she could loosen it.

“It’s time for you to say yes.” Lionel began
pulling things out of the briefcase one by one.

“Please don’t do this,” she whispered,
hearing the sound of him putting things on the table, but she
didn’t know what—his body blocked her view.

“All you have to do is marry me, Mae.” He
turned to face her. “It’s very simple.”

She blinked at him, her chest filling with
rage. “I can’t marry you.”

“My knife begs to differ with you.” He
smiled, hefting it in his hand and putting it back on the table.
“And so do my pliers.” He lifted the largest, sharpest pair of
needle-nosed pliers she’d ever seen off the table and showed them
to her. “What’s the matter?” he inquired when her eyes went wide at
the sight of them.

“They’re so…big…” she whispered.

“The better to torture you with, my dear.”
He snapped them open and closed. “And then there’s my gun.” He set
the pliers down and picked up a pistol. “Also…big. Wouldn’t you
say?” He leaned forward, caressing her cheek with the barrel, and
Mae shivered.

“Please don’t do this,” she whispered.

Lionel put his mouth against her ear and
murmured, “And that’s not all that’s big, I promise you.”

“Please!”

He chuckled. “Begging already?”

“What do you want?” There had to be
something to dissuade him from this course, and there was only one
thing she could imagine he wanted. “Money? I can give you
money.”

“I want what belongs to me.” He put the gun
back down on the table, picking up a tool Mae didn’t recognize, but
it looked sharp and wicked. “I want everything I’ve worked for. I
just want what I’ve earned.”

“Worked for?” She gulped, blinded by the
silver implement in his hand.

“Do you have any idea what’s involved in
setting up a scheme like this?” He sighed, tilting up her chin. She
couldn’t take her eyes off the thing in his hand, staring at it in
dazed horror. “You really are that naïve, aren’t you?” His hand
moved down her throat, squeezing gently. “Do you really think your
parents buying an enormous life insurance policy from me and then
getting into a horrible car accident was just a coincidence?”

Mae gasped, the realization too much for her
to fully take in. “…no…”

Lionel sneered over at Mae’s grandmother,
her chin resting on her chest. “If this old bird hadn’t interfered,
you and me’d be married right now, living happily ever after with
all that lovely insurance money you’ve been living on.”

Mae found her voice, her whole body
trembling with rage. “How many times do I have to tell you no, you
bastard?”

“Bitch!” He hit her so hard the chair slid
sideways and almost tipped with the force of it. “You’re going to
start telling me yes!”

Mae’s face burned, and she closed her left
eye against the blood stinging it. He’d hit her with the hand
holding the tool and it had cut her, she was sure of it. The pain
was blinding, but she glared at him, seething, and screamed,
“No!”