Pieces of Lies (30 page)

I looked at Clint's face.  His face was full of love, devotion, courage and determination. Then, I looked to his eyes, the eyes that started it all, and suddenly my past didn't matter to me. The only thing that mattered was my heart and how much it needed Clint. “No Clint, there is nothing wrong with New York. I love you, and would love to come live with you.”

He leapt at me, holding me tightly. “You have made me so happy Norah.” I felt a twinge of guilt as he continued to hold me, squeezing me harder in an overwhelming display of emotion. 

I loved Clint, but I knew I had just given him a tiny piece of a lie when I said there was nothing wrong with New York. It was the place I had grown up under my father’s obsessively watchful eye and I had seen and heard things that I still had trouble piecing together, and now, I would be back under his microscope surrounded by the depravity of his world. I internally shuddered. At least I knew Josh was there. If I got into trouble, I could go to him and he would help me through my episodes. 

Thank god I have Josh
.

Clint handed me a fresh glass of champagne and clinked his glass with mine as we celebrated our next move together.

“I’m still going to go by the name, Norah Ross, OK.”

Clint  nodded, “I understand, especially since I’m now tied to the New York chapter of the Lappell. We don’t want a repeat of all this.” Clint continued, “And you don’t have a problem with me still being part of the Lappell do you? I really don’t want it to come between us.”

I lay back further on my arms, taking small sips, thinking of the Lappell. “I don’t have a problem with the Lappell Clint; it was Arthur Wickburn I had issues with. I still don’t understand why he threatened me the way he did. Surely he must have known that at some point my father would have intervened.”

Clint leaned back so he could lay next to me. “I guess he hoped with some convincing, you would say yes.” His eyes flickered away and then back to mine. He took my hand. “You know Norah, seeing how far you would go to control the situation yourself, well, it gave me the strength I needed to tell my parents how I feel. Thank you so much for that. I just wish I had told them sooner what I wanted. I guess after Delia and Leo turned them down, I felt obligated to be the one to step up.”

I moved closer to Clint so I could lean on his shoulder. “Guilt can be an amazing driving force.”

Clint leaned into me so his head rested on mine. “Yes, but so is love Norah.”

I turned and smiled longingly at him. It was amazing how far he had come with his emotions. I really had the perfect guy.

Clint held my hand against his chest. “You know Norah, you could be, Norah Weston, if you are thinking about changing names permanently.”  His thumb fingered my ring finger in small round movements, “It has a nice sound to it, don’t you think?” Clint watched me intently for a reaction. He was sussing me out.

My heart rate increased rapidly as the pain from the loss of my engagement sprang to my mind.  Marriage
.
 Clint had mentioned it the night I drunkenly accepted him into my bed, but I thought it was the booze manipulating my thoughts. I didn't think it was real. The term had not even entered my mind since Samuel, and I almost felt guilty for thinking about it with someone else, like it would tarnish the memory of my first proposal. Clearly, I was not ready to visit such a step again.

I moved forward and kissed Clint lightly on his mouth, “One step at a time OK. You might find out that living with me is a real nightmare.”

Clint frowned, “I doubt that, but we will wait until we are settled in New York before we talk some more about this, alright?”

Not wanting to deflate Clint anymore, I gave him another soft kiss. “Alright Clint.”

I could tell he was brooding from my answer, with the way he tensed his hands and by how his eyes stared out across the dark lake, so I decided on a new approach. “You know Clint, there was a rumor going around that we went skinny dipping together that morning when I met your mum.”

Clint’s head perked up and he turned to me, “Oh really?”

I put my finger to my mouth like I was thinking. “Actually I think the term used was ‘naked water sex-capade’.” I leaned back on the mooring, allowing the strap from my top to fall off my right shoulder. Clint’s eyes shifted to how the top was hanging loosely around my breasts that would easily become exposed if I moved the other way.

“Well,” Clint grinned, “I suppose we’ll just have to make sure it’s fact rather than fiction. We don’t want any more lies floating around now do we?”

I leant the other way, allowing the other left strap fall off my shoulders, exposing my bare chest.  Clint rested his champagne glass and took in the sight of my breasts. "Perfect Norah, every part of you is perfect," and then Clint passionately attacked my body, not holding any emotion back.

After my naked water sex-capade with Clint, I returned to my apartment. There was so much I had to organize before moving. It was a fresh new step in my life and even though I had many reservations about going back to New York, I knew I couldn’t let it hold me back from moving forward with my life.

When I arrived at my apartment, I saw my front door was ajar.
Great.
I’ve been broken in to. This was the last thing I needed right now. I rolled my eyes thinking about the phone call I would have to make to the cops, knowing I would have to give them my real personal details for the police report, and then would come the questions. Police always recognized my name and always felt the need to press me for information about my family, and I was in no mood for that headache this evening.

I didn’t think it was the smartest or even the safest idea, but I decided to go in. If I could clean up and replace whatever was taken, it was a better option than getting the police involved.

I poked my head around the front door. My eyes scanned the room for any movement of an intruder or anything that looked out of place. Surprisingly, everything looked in order. Nothing looked like it had been taken. Surely the TV and computer equipment would be the first to go, but they were in their place across in the lounge room and by the sofa. Everything looked as it should be. 

Did I forget to close the door?
 

Then I saw it on the kitchen bench, my iPod and its station.

How bizarre
. 

As I took a step forward, walking over to get a better look, it started to play automatically.
Open Your Eyes
by
Snow Patrol
brought me to a standstill as the song filled the room. 

What was going on?
I spun around again to see if anything was out of place. Nothing. Just the sound of the music taking over my ears, so all I could do was listen. When it ended, my apartment seemed eerily quiet. 

Was the song some sort of message?
 

I studied the rest of the rooms for any signs of a clue. When I finally reached my bedroom, I groaned. My safe was sitting on my bed wide open.  
Fuck me!
 The song was probably a distraction so whoever was in here, could make off with the contents of my safe.
Damn I was stupid
. 

I ran to the open safe, terrified that everything was gone, but upon close examination, it didn’t look like anything was gone. In fact, the safe didn’t look like it had even been tampered with. Someone who must have known the combination had opened it. 

Who would know that the combination was my mother’s birthday?
 

I looked to see if everything was accounted for. My Glock was still there, a large satchel of money I kept as an emergency stash, important identification documents, financial statements, my passport. Everything was still there except…

I heard my front door slam. I jumped in alarm and ran back to the kitchen, hoping to see who it was. A song I loved started to play,
Miss You Love
by
Silverchair
. I love that Aussie band; they were such a weakness of mine. I stilled for a minute as I listened to the beautiful vocal style of Daniel Johns. I adored his singing and songwriting. It felt like there was always an edge of darkness to his words. They dripped emotional pain and I was completely drawn to them.

Then I saw it. The box. The one thing that was removed from my safe and now here it was, next to my iPod, on the top of what looked like a note. I picked up the box and closed my eyes, trying to piece together exactly what was happening. The music; knowing the combination to my safe; this box laid out for me to see, to remind me.

The memories of Samuel started to flood into my heart all over again.

Why won’t he just let this go?

I opened my eyes and looked at the box in my hands. I had held it many times before. It was the one reminder I kept of him and I cherished it. I clicked open the box yet again, for the millionth time, and stared. The diamond glared back at me brilliantly. My engagement ring. It was so very beautiful. I held it to my heart.
Oh Samuel
. First my showing, then the flowers, the ball and now this. Samuel was fighting for me. He really thought he had found a way for us to be together in the confines of the Lappell. I stared at the diamond, remembering his love; his intense, genuine, unwavering kind of love. We had demons that we could only truly understand because we both had the same kind of upbringing. The way he knew me, was fighting for me, perhaps I should really think about this for a moment.

NO!
 

I slammed the box shut. I was moving away with Clint. This was no time for doubt. I love Clint; I want to be with Clint.

I picked up the note, read it and gasped, holding my hand over my mouth, dropping the box to the floor as I read the words.

‘Len, you are sleeping with the enemy.
There is more you need to know.
Open your eyes. Don’t trust him.
I will see you again very soon.
Miss you my love.’

EPILOGUE

Samuel

“Sammy, we can’t just sit here until she comes home. You know they’ll be following her. They follow her everywhere. And what if that Clint guy comes back with her, huh. What then?”

I stared at the entrance to her apartment building, listening to Mikey, who was trying to reason with me. We were both sitting in my ’64 Ford Mustang in the dead of night.

“Shut up Mike. I need to tell her what her boyfriend just did. That shit just doesn't fly.”

Mikey huffed in frustration, “Can’t you just call her?”

“No, I need to tell her face to face. She knows I don’t lie to her face. She will believe me.”

Mikey started to tap the dashboard with his fingers. “If you are seen by Rossi’s guys, you know what will happen. That’s heat we don’t need right now. We are not prepared here.”

I leaned back in my seat, stretching. “I know, I know. I still can’t believe she took him back after she found out he was lying to begin with.”

“Perhaps she really likes him Sammy.” Mikey said, stating the obvious.

My ears felt like they were burning being hit with that kind of realization, so I chose to ignore it and push it away rather than confront it.

“Don’t be a fucking idiot. She hates the rich and she hates liars even more. It will all be over after I tell her this, believe me. I would love to see the look on that guy’s face when she punches it.” I chuckled.

“You reckon she’ll hurt him?” 

I smiled because I knew it was a huge deal breaker for Len. You just don’t do this, especially to the people she cares about, and I knew that she still cared about me. There was no doubt in my head from the look she gave me at the ball. What we had was still shining in her eyes; I just had to get her mind and body to follow. I wanted nothing more than to come back at Clint for this, but it will be more than enough to know that Len would do it for me.

“Oh Mikey, I’d be surprised if she doesn’t try to kill him. He’s just lucky I don’t do it first. But the result is better if I don’t do anything about it except tell her. I don’t want her thinking I’m the bad guy and that’s what she’ll think if I act on it. Once she knows, they’ll be done. For good.”

Mikey croaked, “Ah Sammy, you forget we still have to deal with that situation he has created. Make it go away. That might be hard, given the money he’s fronted and his connections. You know his family is in deep and can do anything they want. There is a reason they wanted him to step up. This one knows how to pull a trigger.”

Pffft! The Westons.  I don't care how connected they are out here, once he is in New York he'll be in my territory, and then he'll know who calls the shots.

“Yeah well, so do I Mikey. So do I.”

If Clint wanted to play hard ball, then I was more than ready to step up to the plate, and if I play this right, I might even be able to win over her dad in the process. Although I had to admit, Clint had some massive balls to set this in motion. He must really think he can lose her, which told me that I was still very much in the game.

“We will still need a sit-down meeting with the heads to clear this mess up. We will probably have to call in a favor. This is going to be a shitstorm.” Mikey was rambling on.

I shrugged, “So we call in a favor. That doesn’t scare me.”

“You are oddly relaxed about all this Sam.”  Mikey seemed surprised I was being so cool.

I rubbed my hands together like I was an evil genius. “That’s because I’m one huge step closer to getting her back my friend.”

Mikey grunted.  “All this, over a broad. I don’t get it.”

“Yeah well, when you finally meet the one who is your game changer, you’ll understand. Not these sluts you screw from Mario’s bar.”

Mikey's arm elbowed me hard on the side of my stomach. He was obviously pissed that I had called his favorite bar chicks, sluts. “Do you want me to remind you how you met her in the first place Sammy?”

I shot Mikey a look that said, ‘be careful’. One day I would tell Len that our first encounter was not by accident; that running into her outside NYU was not fate. My friends had dared me to screw Big Joe’s daughter to ruffle some feathers, especially since we knew he guarded her so intently, and we had all heard she was a fine looking piece of ass. However, nothing prepared me for what happened when I saw her.