Shadows of Doubt (44 page)

She felt the pressure syringe at her neck and tried to stay calm. If he saw her heartbeat quicken by the movement of her carotid artery in her neck, she was blown. The sting was nominal, she managed not to flinch and a few moments later she heard him walk away again. Now what the hell did she need to expect from that shot? Not like she was in short supply of adrenaline or anything. Maybe she would scare him to death with her heart leaping out of her chest at him. Christ, she thought, if anyone is coming for me, you better make it real quick.

Several minutes later, she began expecting his return. Maybe it was the drug he had given her, maybe it was her own stubborn stupidity, but in the split second that it took Albert to turn the doorknob, Lou had come to a decision. The fact that it may have been the last decision she would ever make might have had something to do with it but she decided in no uncertain terms that she was not going to go quietly or be another one of his victims if she had one ounce of fight left in her. She opened her eyes and glared at the door as it opened. Every ounce of rage and hate that she had within her radiated in her eyes and it was clearly not what he was expecting to find when he came into that room. At that moment, Lou would have tried to bite through that damn ball-gag if it weren’t for remembering her loose tooth. By the expression on his face she had no doubt that he knew if looks could kill, he would have been a dead man. The funny thing was the calm that came with her rage. It was rather liberating and peaceful all at once. He approached her with obvious caution and the irony of the situation hammered Lou in that instant. She started to laugh, even with the gag in her mouth. Albert had completely proven Max’s point. The whole thing that had gotten Lou to go into that restroom in the first place. The instant that Albert opened the door she felt the very same rage envelope her to the core of her being. The same rage that Robert Sawyer had met up close and personal. The thought of what Max would do to Albert once he got his hands on him, well Lou only knew what she would do so guesstimating was what had her laughing. No matter what Albert did to her, how slow or fast he killed her, she had the last laugh knowing Max would find him and pay him back a thousand times.

“Are you laughing?” Albert was truly perplexed and this only made Lou laugh more, which caused her to snort because she couldn’t draw in a proper breath and the vicious cycle of the laugh fit ensued. “You are laughing!” Good God she could barely stand it and tears started streaming down her face from her hysteria. Albert was seriously annoyed as he stomped in wearing some ridiculous shiny black robe. Lou suddenly pictured him with Corinne in that robe and nearly wet her pants laughing, except she wasn’t wearing any pants.

When he reached her he studied her for a moment to truly see that she was laughing and by all accounts she was laughing at him. This was utterly unacceptable! He would demand to know what she found so damn amusing! He reached behind her head and unfastened the ball-gag and Lou sucked in air with a gasp. But to his extreme horror she immediately resumed bellowing with laughter. It was by no means fake laughter, she wasn’t forcing anything. Something had truly struck her as hilarious and given he was the only thing that was in the room it must have something to do with him.

“What in the hell is so damn amusing?!” He demanded, his eyes filled with annoyance and at the same time, uncertainty.

Lou gasped for more air as she continued to wail with laughter but caught her breath long enough to manage a few words. “Hold my side, it hurts!” She resumed laughing but he did not find anything funny so he backhanded her across the face, drawing blood from her lip. Her laughter dimmed to a chuckle when she tasted the blood, then all that anger and rage flooded back and shone once again in her eyes as she licked her lip and grinned. “Oh Albert, we were just starting to have fun and then you have to go and spoil it.” She specifically took the same tone he had used when he thought she was still unconscious.

The clarity her rage gave her was calming and another piece of the puzzle clicked as she observed his posture. Little man envies big man. Classic old story. The dig that Albert had made to Max earlier in the evening, the entire Byzantine exhibit. He hated Max and it had started long before the whole passing over as Dom thing. So what else was it, she had to remember, put things in sequence, use it to hurt this man the only way she could before it was over. She needed to see him suffer before he killed her. That would make it okay. If she could just die knowing she had gotten a few good shots in for herself and the other women he had broken.

“You think you’re such a clever girl, but by virtue of you being here we can clearly see that is not the case.”

He started feeling smug again, Lou could see it. “Eh, everyone’s entitled to an off day.” She snickered and kept her eyes on his. Letting every ounce of fury radiate in her gaze.

No matter how he tried to hide it from her, she was unsettling him by not being afraid. “You are not exactly in a position to be so saucy, my dear.”

“Another thing we will have to disagree on, Al.” She purposely shortened his name and said it with a tacky exaggeration that she knew he would hate. “I find there is no position that couldn’t use a little sauce.”

“My name is Albert. You would be wise to remember that.” He turned his back on her for the first time, letting her know for sure that she was getting to him.

“Oh what’s the sense in being so uptight, Al? I mean this is supposed to be your fun time! Lighten up a little.” She grinned at him in a viscious way when he turned around to glare at her for calling him Al again.

“Do you have any concept of what I am about to do to you? The pain I plan to inflict? If you thought about it for one second instead of playing your little game, you might reconsider what flies out of your mouth!” He reached and grabbed whatever knife was at the ready and stormed toward her, shoving it into her face.

She didn’t flinch. She kept the same grin and let it spread to her eyes. “Oh I am completely aware of what you plan to do. I’ve seen your handiwork, remember?”

He straightened quickly and regained his composure somewhat. Remembering she did in fact know what he was capable of doing. “Then you are either incredibly brave or ridiculously stupid.” He turned again, fidgeting with the blade.

“Doesn’t really matter because it’s not what I do or say that I find so funny.” She watched him carefully and tried hard not to blink.

“Then what, pray tell, is it that you find so amusing?” He walked to the edge of the room and leaned against the wall.

“Well for someone who fancies themselves as so superior, that should be easy for you to figure out.” She tried to move her head to see him but the strap prevented it. “You may as well loosen the strap on my head. You’re not going to get a scream out of me and I am well aware I am not getting out of here alive. Unless you are over there to avoid eye contact because you’re the coward I know you are.”

He had moved across the room and had her face in his hand faster than she could blink. “I am anything but a coward!”

She had obviously struck a nerve when she noticed he had let his fangs fly. “Geez you guys are fast. Hey, mind the makeup.” She matched his glare. “Spent a whole day getting all dolled up, you could show some respect here.”

He scowled at her and let her face go. Reaching behind her head he unfastened the strap and threw it across the room.

“Oh hey! Thanks!” She turned her head, loosening her neck muscles, and smiled. “Much better. Now, where were we?” He only snarled at her and began pacing the room. “Oh yeah! You being a coward! Well of course you are Al! Going around slicing and dicing women because you can’t get over a girl wanting someone other than you?”

This time the backhand came so fast she didn’t have time to really brace herself. Of course she expected it, but it may have hurt less if he had done it to the unbruised side of her face like he had before. She held her head in place for a minute as she swallowed the pain, then turned to face him again. It had been a calculated guess but a correct one. Albert had definitely had a thing for Max’s fiancee and she clearly ignored every advance Albert had made. Now if she could just remember what the hell her name had been. The drugs he had given her must have been messing with her memory.

“Long time to carry a torch, Al. Especially for a woman you snuffed out yourself.” Another calculated guess that had paid off. She could see he was shocked she had figured it out. “Kinda pathetic that you haven’t moved on after what? Five hundred years or something?” She snorted and laughed.

He raised the hand that had the knife this time but caught himself and lowered it slowly as he glared at her. “I should just cut your tongue out and be done with your drivel.”

“You could.” She nodded in a sing-songy manner. “But you would be pissed you never found out what was so funny before you did.”

“Fine!” He whirled around and resumed pacing the room. “Illuminate me on what you found so comical.”

She chuckled as she thought about it all again. “You totally screwed yourself Al.” The hilarity of it started to well up in her again.

“I have done no such thing. You haven’t the slightest clue what you are talking about!” He waved the knife at her as he spoke as if to intimidate her somehow and she only found it made him look more ridiculous.

“See, that’s the problem right there, Al! You are so self involved and wrapped up in your own ass that you can’t see where you have made your greatest blunder! You know...” She started to lose control of her laughter again. “...my only regret is that I’m not going to be around to see how it plays out.”

He stalked toward her, clearly annoyed to almost a breaking point. “What the hell are you blathering about?! Spit it out already! I’m growing weary of your fooling around!”

She caught her breath and looked at him again. “Okay, let me ask you something first?”

“Whatever, just be done with it already.” He was fidgeting with the knife again.

She made a decision to try a bluff. It wasn’t as if she had anything to lose. “Was it when Max went to deal with Sawyer that you were tipped off about us?” Albert’s eyes went wide at her use of the word ‘us’ and she felt less silly about her little lie.

“You know you were far better at keeping your relationship a secret than he was.” His smug grin returned and he seemed almost delighted at her false confirmation of their having a relationship. “His having you watched, building so close to you, then not being able to stand that Sawyer character living any longer. So pathetic. But you! You kept things so professional right down the line.” He sliced the air with his knife to accentuate his point. “I almost doubted you had feelings for him at all until I saw you two together at the gala. Then when he introduced you to Corinne as his companion! Ah! Pure vindication!” He skipped a few steps then whirred back towards her. “It was almost impossible to contain my excitement and wait along with the plan. But, here we are!”

“Yep! Here we are indeed, and you just happen to be there, a dead man walking.” She grinned at him with that death look she felt she was getting really good at.

“What the hell are you talking about?” His annoyance at her interrupting his happy moment was clear.

“You cannot possibly be that stupid, can you?” She started laughing again. He charged at her, fangs flying once more as he leaned in low and pressed the blade to her skin. She never flinched and simply stared into his eyes matching glare for glare. She kept her voice calm and low, with just the right edge of smugness to it. “By now, Max has told the Senatus all about you and word has been passed to every Sanguinostri on the face of the earth that you are the rogue murdering scumbag they have been hunting. You think they are going to take kindly to you spitting in their faces while you’ve been fulfilling your own sick twist version of love unrequited?” She laughed in his face, loud and hard. “You pathetic moron. You have lost everything you have worked so hard to shove under his nose! You can never go back to anything you own, or think you own! If you make it out of the city alive, and that’s a huge if, you will have everyone clamoring for your head!” She could see that it was starting to sink in that he hadn’t calculated so brilliantly after all. “You think Max was pissed at Sawyer? Oh, Al! What the hell do you think his state of mind is now that he knows that you took his Nila and me!” She tossed her head back as far as she could to laugh, pretty sure that it would be the last thing she ever did, when she saw him stalking towards her with the knife raised.

“You bitch!” He bellowed as he stormed toward her, but she still didn’t flinch. She stared him right in the eye as he steadied himself to slice her throat wide open and be done with her.

Lou refused to close her eyes. Refused to meet death trembling in fear. She smiled wide and focused in on him as he raised the knife and even tried to puff her chest out to meet his blow. As his arm came down she saw a glint that didn’t seem to be his blade but she didn’t want to take her eyes off his as he ripped through her. She refused to go screaming as the others had. He would get no satisfaction from her as she felt the knife slice across her shoulder and her chest rather than her neck. She was a little confused because she was certain he had been aiming for her neck, but then more confusion flooded her as she saw Albert’s arm, complete with knife in hand, fall at her feet. She looked back up at him and saw the look of shock on his face as he looked at her, and the black blood spurting out of his shoulder that no longer had an arm attached to it. She blinked once then saw Max knock Albert sideways, out of his way so he could get to her. It was then that Lou felt the searing pain in her chest and could feel blood coming up in her throat. She looked down at herself and saw the blood pouring out of her chest. It was all slow motion now as she saw the horror on Max’s face as he clasped his hands over her wound. She could feel his strong hands pressing into her skin as she looked up into his beautiful face and smiled at him before it all was gone.

Everything was extraordinarily bright and she couldn’t focus on any
thing because of the glare. The first time she tried to sit up, the pain had knocked the wind out of her and that was the clincher that she wasn’t in Heaven. There wasn’t supposed to be any pain in Heaven, right? She blinked to try and get the brightness to settle so she could see where she was as she felt around to get an idea. She could feel the IV in her arm, the soft sheets and blanket over her and she felt the fluffy pillows under her head and shoulders. Her eyes finally started adjusting and she recognized the foot-board as her own bed’s, and the large glass doors off to the right that looked out over the hillside were her own balcony doors. She was home? That couldn’t be possible. She knew she took one hell of a hacking and could never have survived that.

She tried to sit up again to see beyond her feet and it looked like her entire room had been rearranged. It was then she noticed the sofa at the end of her bed that was facing her, and the sleeping bodies parked in it. To her utter amusement there was Max. Although completely gorgeous as usual, he looked like he had seen better days. And there, curled up under his arm all cozy was her mother, complete with his head resting atop hers. There was something profoundly moving to Lou at the sight of the two sleeping there. The giant and the fairy queen watching over her. More then that, it was the most important person in the world to Lou who had been so all her life, and the new one in her life, whether she liked it or not. She could have watched them sleeping like that forever, so peaceful, but the pain that radiated in her chest caught her hard and she winced aloud, stirring the two instantly.

“You’re awake!” Lou’s mother jumped up immediately and rushed to her side, pressing some sort of garage door opener looking device that was on her bedside table as soon as she got there. “Oh sweetheart, are you okay? How are you feeling?” Shevaun smoothed her daughter’s hair back, then kissed her forehead.

Max was a bit standoffish as he stood up and looked at Lou from the foot of the bed. His eyes were filled with worry and fatigue as he gripped the foot-board and just stared at her. Lou tried to speak but only a croak came out and she suddenly realized she would kill for a cup of coffee.

“Don’t talk yet! I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be making you talk.” Her mother fussed with the sheets, straightening them as Lou saw a man in a white coat walking in followed by Caroline.

“Good, she’s conscious.” The man said as he pulled a stethoscope out of his pocket.

“Hey girlie!” Caroline’s eyes were full of tears as she hovered behind the man who was now listening to Lou’s heart. “This is Doctor Craig, he’s been taking care of you since we brought you home from the hospital.”

Brought her home? How long had she been out? She needed to ask so many questions but her mouth was so damn dry. She tried to make spit to get a word out and thankfully Max realized what was going on.

“She needs ice chips.” He said as he turned and raced out of the room so fast she could feel the breeze he created.

“Oh honey, he has been so worried, just beside himself as we all have but Max...” Her mother took her daughter’s hand and squeezed gently. “...he hasn’t left your side since he found you.”

Lou closed her eyes and tried to remember what had happened but most of it was a haze. She remembered seeing Max’s face and the horror in it when Albert had swung at her, but after that she could only remember the feel of Max’s hands on her chest then everything going black. How badly had she been cut? She wondered.

“Everything sounds good.” The doctor announced as he took her wrist to take her pulse.

Max came back in the room like a bolt of lightening with a cup and spoon in his hand of which he promptly handed to Shevaun.

“Thank you.” Her mother smiled at him softly as she took the cup of ice chips. “Here sweetheart, try this.” She fed Lou some of the chips that tasted like manna from Heaven. The cold crunches of ice melted on her tongue and soothed the dryness instantly. As she saw Joe, Abby and Frank enter her room, she opened her mouth for another spoonful because those chips were just so damn good.

“Well?” Max looked at the doctor with unveiled irritation.

“Everything seems good so far.” He placed Lou’s hand back on the bed and turned to the growing crowd. “We keep her on the intravenous fluids, antibiotics and pain medication for at least another two days. Keep her in bed, resting, no stress whatsoever, and she should be just fine by next week.”

“I’ll come back in the morning...” The doctor started to say.

“You will stay here until she is off the IV.” Max told him.

“Well, it’s not really...” When Max looked at the man, he shut up instantly. “Absolutely my Dominor, as you wish.” The doctor looked down at Lou and she rolled her eyes at him with a grin that made him laugh. “Alright, I’ll let you all visit with the patient but remember, not too long! She needs rest and calm.” His voice was stern as he looked at her visitors before he left the room.

All the faces were looking at her as if she was about to die and it was starting to freak her out.

“Stop looking at me like that!” She finally said. “He said I’m going to be fine so quit looking at me like I am going to knock off at any second.”

The faces instantly lightened, all but Max’s. He stood there watching her like she was a ticking bomb about to blow up in his face. She looked at him and cocked her head sideways, at least as best she could.

“What’s with you Mister Grump?” She raised an eyebrow when he didn’t respond. “Hey gang, can you give us a minute?” She looked at her mother first and she nodded and smiled knowingly, then got up.

“Come on boys and girls, lets go check with the doctor what we can feed our patient and whip something up for lunch.” Shevaun lead them all out of the room while Max simply stood there, continuing to stare at her with that pained expression on his face.

“Max, you are seriously freaking me out. What is wrong with you?” Lou demanded.

“Wrong with me?” His eyes went wide at her question. “Nothing is wrong with me! You, on the other hand!”

“What? What’s so wrong with me that you are looking at me like I’m going to implode?” She could see by the look in his eyes that he didn’t want to answer the question. “Get me a mirror.” She told him but he just continued to stand there. “Get me a mirror or I’m gonna get up and go look for myself!”

He grumbled but turned to do as she asked. After hearing him fumble around in her bathroom for a minute, he came back with a hand mirror and sat down on the side of the bed next to her.

“I am so sorry.” he said as he handed it to her.

Lou expected a horror the way he was being so dramatic so she took a deep breath as she looked. Oh yeah, her face was toast for sure. Her old black eye was entirely refreshed to a lovely raspberry black and the other side matched nicely, though the swelling explained why her vision was off. She had really expected that though, given how hard the bastard had whacked her. She also had expected a slash across her throat but there was no bandage there as she examined herself. Lou suddenly realized she had no idea what the hell she was wearing and thought that should have occurred to her before everyone and their cousin came sauntering into her room. But she figured her mother would have made sure she was properly covered given Max was there and all. So upon further inspection, it appeared she was wearing some sort of one-shouldered toga style nightdress that was fastened over her right shoulder. That made sense when she looked to see the heavy bandages that covered her left shoulder and continued down and across her chest in a diagonal direction. She looked at Max and scrunched her nose as she thought a moment.

“Turn around.” She said to him.

“What?” It wasn’t what he was expecting her to say, obviously.

“Yeah, I know you saw me buck naked but that was different, so turn around!” She made a turning gesture with her right hand and he did as she asked.

Lou resumed examining herself and pulled the nightdress away from her so she could see just how far the bandages went. Apparently Albert had cut her crossways from left shoulder, across her chest, breast and all, then down to the bottom of her right ribs. The bandaging was so heavy that she had no clue how deep or thick the slash was.

“How deep did he go?” She asked as she put the fabric back in place to cover everything. “You can turn around now.” Max didn’t turn around and didn’t answer. “Look at me!” She managed a semi-intimidating growl and he finally turned. She saw the tears in his eyes that he was fighting.

“I almost lost you.” Was all he could manage.

“Max...” Lou reached and took his hand. “... You didn’t. I am here and I am going to be fine. I just want to know and I need you to tell me.”

He laced his fingers with hers and stroked her hand gently with his other hand. “He nicked your heart and lung. I was able to put pressure long enough for the med-team to get you patched so we could air-lift you out.” He took in a deep breath before he continued. “You were in surgery for eleven hours.”

“Wow. What the hell day is it? How long have I been out? How did you get me home?” She started hurling the questions at him in her normal fashion and it eased his gut to hear her as her normal self.

“They had you in a drug induced coma because of the pain and you needed to stay still. That was for three days but then you wouldn’t wake up. After three more days, I talked with you’re mother and Joe and we felt that bringing you home might make you feel safer so you would want to wake up. That was two days ago”

“Holy crap! So I’ve been out for like nine days? What’s today?” She was utterly shocked.

“It’s Tuesday.” Max hated telling her how much time she had lost. “Vinny should be here any minute actually, it’s after five and he’s come every day after work.”

When Lou thought of the implications, she realized she must be catheterized and that just utterly embarrassed the hell out of her, with him sitting right next to her.

“Get the doctor and my mother, now!” She shouted at him and pulled her hand away.

“What?! Are you alright? What hurts?!” His face went white.

“Just go! Please!” She could see he was about to freak out and she swallowed her mortification so that he would calm down. “I have to pee if you must know! Now go!”

He was so relieved that she was alright and it was just her normal stubborn pride that he gladly went and fetched the doctor and Shevaun as she asked.

Fifteen minutes later, and much to the doctor’s dismay, the catheter was out and Lou was hobbling to the restroom with her mother under one arm taking the brunt of the weight and the rolling IV stand on the other for stability. When Lou was done, she had her mother stop in front of the wall mirror so she could get a good look at herself. Ironically, her bandage reminded her of those sashes that the beauty pageant contestants wear because that was the length and breadth of it. But her face was so black and blue, she was not anywhere near the realm of a beauty. Christ, she thought, it was over a week and she still looked this bad. It was probably a blessing in disguise that she didn’t see herself then, or remember anything of that last week. Her mother could sense Lou was getting upset and promptly ushered her back to bed.

“Can you get Max for me please, Momma? I need to know what happened.” Lou asked as she relaxed and let her body sink into the soft bed and tried to tune out the pain.

“You bet. Be right back.” Shevaun kissed her daughter’s forehead before heading out to get Max.

When he came back into the room Lou could tell he had washed his face and slicked his hair back with water. The rich brown was glossy with the dampness and she just wanted to run her fingers through it, but she kept a lid on that little impulse. He sat back down on the bed next to her and took her hand again. She really liked the way her hand felt in his and thought she could get used to it.

“Feel better?” He asked her with a half smile.

“Much, thanks. Now what happened? Is he dead?” She looked at him intently at tried to read the look on his face.

“We will get him. He won’t get far and everyone, every last Sanguinostri knows I want his head on a platter.”

“He got away?! You let him get away?!” She tried to sit up, but the pain speared at her and made her wince. She let herself sink back into the bed as he tried to soothe her.

“I couldn’t let you die! I wouldn’t! Given the same choice now, I won’t! So be mad at me all you want!” He tried to look smug but he was too worried about what she thought of him for all of it.

“So you whacked his arm instead of his head so he couldn’t slice my throat?” She was remembering as best as she could and he only nodded in reply. “Alright, I guess that’s okay. He said something about his boat sailing sooner rather than later. Hey! Have Finn read me! He can see things I may be missing!”

“Lou, we will get him, I promise you that.” He wanted to touch her cheek but he didn’t risk hurting her with her face as badly bruised as it was.

“I know why, I figured it out. He hates you because Nila loved you and not him.” She didn’t dare look him in the eye as she said it. She didn’t want to see that he still loved Nila and still mourned her after all these years.