Of All the Luck! (15 page)

“He sold us out,” Victoria said quietly.  When Griff looked at her with pain-filled eyes, she said softly, “I’m sorry, Griff.  I’m not trying to hurt you, but Xavier sold us out once before, remember?  He said it was to save other lives, but this time his life was on the line.  Investigate.  You’ll learn that General Weatherby’s money disappeared, and Xavier isn’t going to surface here.  He’s gone.”

Griffin wanted to argue with Victoria, but he had to admit she had a point.  General Weatherby wasn’t known for hiding bodies.  He killed them and left them for others to find.  He wanted to be feared, and he didn’t fear going back to prison; he was dying.  “Let’s leave here and give Cal and Liz some privacy,” he suggested, wanting to go home to familiar surroundings.

Ian nodded, shaken.  Something wasn’t right.  Xavier’s body should have been found in that warehouse and it wasn’t.  He was going to ask for some time off to investigate thoroughly.  If Xavier betrayed them, then he needed to be brought down.  It wouldn’t be safe to leave him on the loose when he knew the personal details of their lives.  Someone else could take him prisoner and torture the truth out of him about all of them.  It simply wouldn’t do.

“You can drop me off in town and I’ll make my way home,” Victoria told Jacobson as soon as they’d left Cal and Liz behind.

“No, Victoria,” Ian refused.  “I can’t permit you to go home by yourself.  Your cover has been blown.”

“It isn’t up to you to decide whether or not I go home, Jacobson.  I do not work for the Agency.  I am a private citizen.”

“You are my wife, and it would please me very much if you would come with me, Victoria,” Griff said, turning to look at her.

“Griffin, we are divorced; I do not wish to go anywhere with you.  All we do is go from one argument to another and I want my quiet life back.”

“I don’t want to argue with you, honey, and I’m not ready to let you go, either.  Please come with me.”

“Griff, it won’t work as long as you plan to keep working for the Agency.”  She was serious.

“Then I will quit, as of right now… I am done.”

“Just like that?” she questioned him, her eyes wide.

“Victoria, I took one last mission, then came home and found you gone… I thought without leaving me a note.  I lost my head; you left me.  If there is one thing I have learned from all of my mistakes, it’s that I can live without the job; I can’t live without you, honey.  Please come with me…?” he asked once more, not a bit ashamed that he was begging her in front of another man.

Victoria was sure she should say ‘no’, but she found herself nodding her head ‘yes’ and agreeing.  She loved Griffin Conway.  All of a sudden she remembered that Jacobson was in the driver’s seat and had heard every word.  She looked at him in the rear view mirror and he smiled at her, and the smile was genuine, and not at her expense.

“Why don’t you two call me Ian; it’s my real name,” he told them.  “Don’t be embarrassed, Victoria.  If I had a choice of this damned job or even five precious seconds with my wife, I would take those five seconds in a heartbeat.  You two love each other and this job isn’t worth losing that.”

Ian drove them without incident to the airport, and once he said goodbye and wished them well, he left, determined to find out what happened with Xavier.

* * *

“I know it isn’t much, honey,” Griffin said once he let them in his apartment.  “After you left I simply couldn’t stand being in our apartment together; too many memories.  I’ll never know in hell you disappeared so completely…!  I went everywhere I could think of; I called anyone that we both knew, and some people I thought might know you.  Your agent and editor wouldn’t give me the time of day, even when I begged and told them I was desperate.”

“I told them I didn’t want you to know where I was.  I was hurting, Griff.  You called me a liar, and you punished me for lying.  I would never lie to you.” Her eyes were full of pain at the memory, and when she looked at him, she realized that he felt even worse than she did!

“I am so sorry and I beg forgiveness, Victoria.  I promise it will never happen again.”

“Oh, I know that,” she said, smiling.  She knew one way to ease his pain.

“What are you thinking right now?” he asked, moving closer and taking her in his arms.

“I’m thinking that there are infinite possibilities for this room alone,” she whispered, kissing him then nibbling his lips in a manner that left no doubt as to what she was thinking.  “I can see that this room is in definite need of beautifying.”

“Yes,” Griffin readily agreed, positive that things would be all right.  ‘Beautifying’ was Victoria’s euphemism for making love in each and every spot in a room to make it perfect.  “This entire place needs beautifying and starting with this sofa seems like a good idea.  I love you,” he whispered as she slowly undid the buttons on his shirt and eased it off his broad shoulders.

“I love you, too, Griffin Conroy.”  And she did her very best to prove it.

* * *

Two days later there was a knock on the door and Griffin went to answer it.  Victoria was in the kitchen fixing them dinner, and Griff was famished.  She was wearing him out, but he wasn’t complaining.  His wife was back in his life once again, and she was even agreeing to a second wedding ceremony to make their union legal.  “Ian, come inside,” he greeted the younger man after he used the peephole to make sure it was someone he wanted to give entry.  Ian looked haggard and for the first time he appeared close to his real age.  “Victoria is preparing dinner and you look like you could use a good meal.”

“I feel sick, man.  I need to talk to you and Victoria. I’m thankful she’s still here.”

“What’s wrong, Ian?” Victoria came around the island to ask in genuine concern.  Griffin was right; Ian looked terrible.  “Come and sit down.  Can I get you something to drink?”

“No.  I might as well just get it off my chest, and then fill in the details.  Xavier sold us out to Weatherby.  Weatherby offered him millions for an address; and Xavier took it.”

“What?” Griffin felt sick to his stomach.  How could Xavier betray him like that…?  After all they’d been through?  He knew that Victoria pegged him guilty from the start, but deep inside, Griff didn’t believe that Xavier would do such a thing.

“Tell us what you know, Ian,” Victoria ordered.  She wasn’t nearly as shocked as Griffin was.

“We rounded up several of the General’s men.  They couldn’t wait to make deals and talk.  General Weatherby got tired of waiting on someone to bring you to him, Victoria, and he set out to find you himself.  He knocked over one of our drivers and took his place…  When Xavier came out of the building, and got into his car, he found General Weatherby behind the wheel.  The General offered Xavier ten million dollars in a Cayman account for an address leading to you.  He hooked Xavier up to a lie detector test, and Xavier gave your home address to General Weatherby.”  Ian looked at Griffin and said, “Xavier knew all along where Victoria was, Griff.  He could have told you, but he didn’t want to lose you as an agent, so he let you go through hell and kept you and Victoria apart.”  He took a deep breath, then continued, “Somehow, Xavier passed the damn lie detector test.  He tricked Weatherby into believing him, but instead of sending in the troops to arrest the son of a bitch, he took the money and fled the country.”  Ian’s face reflected his anger.

“I can’t believe Xavier would do that, not after everything we’ve been through!”  Griffin was furious and felt like punching something or someone, namely Xavier!  “What if I’d let Victoria go back there, thinking they wouldn’t have looked for her there?”  He grew angrier the more he thought about it, and the fact that Victoria could sit there so calmly, swinging her foot back and forth, her shoe hanging from her toe, made him even more upset.  She’d never liked Xavier… never… And when he thought of all the times he defended the man, it made him sick.  “Aren’t you going to say, ‘I told you so?’  It’s what I deserve to hear!  When I think of all the fucking times I defended that son of a bitch!”

“Griff, please calm down,” she spoke softly.  “Xavier just isn’t worth all this upset.  He used you; he used Ian, and he finally caved when a big enough temptation was offered.  Let’s eat, and we’ll come up with a plan to go after him.”

“You aren’t getting involved in this, Victoria.”  Griffin didn’t want her anywhere close when he caught up to Xavier.

“Oh, but I am already involved, Griffin.  I am the one he offered up on a platter to that evil monster.  He didn’t care where I was, or if you and Ian were safe.  No, he sold us out, as Ian put it.  I’m going to enjoy tracking him down and doing for him.”  Her flashing eyes told her husband that she was deadly serious.

Ian could see that the couple was going to have a major argument, so when they offered him a room for the night, he politely declined.  “I’ve already dropped my things off at a hotel, but thanks for the offer.”

“Don’t leave without me, Ian.  Xavier is a force to be reckoned with, and it will take both of us to outsmart and outclass him.  I don’t want anything getting back to him while we’re hunting him down.”

“I agree, Griff.  Victoria, thank you for dinner.  If you ever decide to open a restaurant, I would be one of your best customers,” Ian told her, smiling as much as he could under the circumstances.  He was full of hurt and outrage at what he considered the ultimate betrayal.

“I don’t have a desire to open a restaurant, Ian, but you are welcome at our table whenever you wish.  Consider it an open invitation.”

“I like you, Victoria.  If you weren’t taken, I’d do my darndest to make you fall in love with me.”  Ian couldn’t believe he’d said those words, and he was even more shocked to realize he meant them.  Maybe he was finally starting to move on…?  He made his goodbyes and then left the couple to their argument.  Griff was going to bluster and order and demand and Victoria was going to go toe to toe with him.  He would probably spank her butt, but in the end, Ian’s money was on Victoria.  When it came down to it, Griffin wouldn’t dare leave her behind because she would go off on her own and get into trouble she couldn’t handle if she did.  No, Griff would bring her with him, and Ian was pretty darn sure that Victoria would come in handy as they searched for the man who was now their enemy.

Once Ian left the apartment that Griffin called ‘home’ for the last year or so, Victoria looked at the man she loved with all her heart and opened her arms to him.  He needed comforting, not a bunch of “I-told-you-so’s”.  “I’m so sorry you are feeling hurt and betrayed, Griffin.  You are a good, honest man, and once you give your friendship and loyalty, it is your bond.”

“I still don’t want to believe that Xavier would do this to us, Victoria.”  His voice was raw with hurt, and Victoria knew he felt like crying.  “He kept us apart when he knew I would have cut off my arm to get to you, to beg your forgiveness.  He took time from us, Victoria.  He served his own purposes without a thought to what I wanted most in the world.  But, even worse, he risked your life.  I cannot and will not forgive him for that.”  Griffin’s voice was cold and deadly now, and any tender feelings of loyalty or friendship he might have felt for Xavier were a thing of the past.

“I am coming with you, darling,” Victoria insisted.

“No.  I won’t permit you to go near that evil bastard.”

“Fine.  Once you leave, I’ll launch my own investigation.”  As soon as she saw the look in his eyes, Victoria knew she was in trouble.  Griffin’s mood was too raw to be reasonable when facing what he considered to be a form of blackmail from his wife!  Without one single word, he picked her up and carried her to the sofa.  He took a seat and put her struggling form over his knee, and his hand connected with her rounded bottom in the next second, and this time he wasn’t trying to temper his strength!  Victoria yelped, and then yelped again and again as he spanked her damn hard.  “Griff, stop!  You’re killing me!”

“You are not going to put your life in danger, woman!  Do you hear me?” he roared.

“The entire building hears you!  Please!  STOP!  You’re taking your anger with Xavier out on my poor butt!  Enough, darling!” She cried out in pure misery, sobbing.

Griffin finally heard her words through his red haze of hurt and anger, and he stopped.  “Oh my God, honey!  I’m so sorry!  I didn’t mean to harm you!”  He gently unfastened her jeans and slid them, along with her panties, down over her rounded cheeks and shapely thighs.  Victoria’s normally creamy white skin was a deep dark angry red, and he could see traces of bruising forming already.  “I’m sorry, honey.”

“It’s alright, Griffin.  I understand,” she assured him, scrambling to get off his lap.  She put her arms around his neck to hug him, and found herself swept off her feet and carried into the bedroom, where he did his very best to soothe her bottom and prove to her how much she was loved.

When Ian came to the door the next morning to strategize, he wasn’t a bit surprised to learn that Victoria was coming with him and Griffin.  She wasn’t sitting well, and that was no surprise to him, either.  Over coffee and some coffee cake that was to die for, they talked quietly and planned the best way to take Xavier down.  Victoria took notes as they compared facts about the man, and it didn’t take them long to get a good profile started from which to start looking for the missing man.  Between all of them they had a good idea of the foods Xavier couldn’t live without, the brandy he preferred, the fact that he hated the cold, and that he preferred to live around a lot of shops and cafés.  They knew the languages he spoke, those he didn’t, and the papers he read religiously.  He also ordered chocolates twice a year from a small chocolatier in Belgium.  It might take them some time, but they would find the man who had betrayed them and make sure he couldn’t do it again.