The Bounty Hunters: The Marino Bros.: Box Set (116 page)

For Cat, those words were just as good as any others.

*     *     *

When Andreas came
back from his morning run, Cat was already doing her stretches on the balcony above. He smiled up at her and she gave him a broad, brilliant smile. He stooped to pick up the paper thrown by the delivery boy. The headlines stunned him, but made him glad he hadn’t turned on the news last night. Romeo had struck again. “Two Dead at Trump Towers” was the headline. Below it were the words, “Tampa Madame Instigates Killing Spree.”

He looked up at her, and she waved to him again, but stopped when she saw the grim expression on his face. Her eyebrows shot up. Her hand went to her mouth. She sensed something. This wasn’t going to be easy, telling her about her neighbors. But he knew this man had to be stopped. Soon. Before anyone else was killed. This evil had to end.

Q & A’s

“W
hat is the
matter?” she asked the moment he stepped into the room.

“Please sit, Cat.” He indicated the bed.

Too scared to move, she spoke carefully. “What is it?” she repeated.

Taking her hand in his, “It’s about Romeo.”

She pulled her hand from his and backed up towards the bed. She stopped when the back of her legs hit the mattress. He struck again. She was sure of it.

“What happened?” Her voice came out in a terrified whisper.
Who had he killed?

Andreas saw her mind working it out. “He killed two people.”

Her hands began to tug at her clothes. “Two? When? Last night? Who?”

“Days ago actually. But they were just discovered yesterday.”

Her eyes closed tightly for a moment. “My girls?” she asked, her lower lip beginning to tremble.

He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Cat. But it was your neighbors. The Burbank’s.”

Immediately Cat’s small fist went up to her mouth to suppress her gasp. The tears came, too, but no sound. They were such wonderful people, loving parents and grandparents.
They were expecting their children for Thanksgiving! No!
She screamed inside when realization struck.
The children had probably discovered them
.

Andreas went to stand beside her and take her into his arms. “They were discovered yesterday afternoon. By their children. Apparently they were not at the airport to pick them up in the morning. When the family made arrangements to go to their home, and security let them in, they were found. I guess the investigators must have worked the crime scene all day yesterday, and it made the evening news pretty late. I checked my phone on the way up. Detective Ortiz left a message. He has questions. The police are on their way.”

“Oh my God. They are dead? He killed them. Why?” she crushed her face into his chest. She needed the solidness of him to anchor her. This was horrendous. She felt her life crumbling around her.

“I don’t know, Cat.” He continued to hold her, to stroke her back as the shock turned to tears.

“Andreas, you have to stop him. I don’t want any more people to die.”

The guilt consumed him. Neither do I, he thought. Neither do I.

*     *     *

After the police
left, Andreas and his brothers sat with Cat in the study. Thankfully, the only good news they had was that the police were now ruling her out as a suspect. Romeo’s prints and the killing of her neighbors when she was out to dinner with him gave her a clear alibi, but the police had something that sent flags up. The investigators kept implying she was the key to it all. That the killer was someone from her past. And even though he had no reason to think that, he was beginning to believe it too. A hunch. He expressed it to the group gathered in the study.

Cat shook her head in the negative. “I don’t know. How? I still think I am just a random target. You know my past. I have not been in a place long enough, or had close relationships for some madman to develop this kind of obsession.”

Andreas wanted to argue, but he didn’t want to push her too hard.

Nikko cleared his throat and all eyes went to him. “Cat, I’ve been thinking about this. Sal killed my parents because Andreas was on to him. But,” he paused giving Andreas a sympathetic glance, “He has killed three of your girls. The note on your door. The message in your bathroom. Your neighbors. It is really looking like you are at the center of his infatuation. Can you understand why people, the police, the analysts are now thinking you are at the heart of it?” Cat was still shaking her head, but she didn’t look so sure anymore. She was still absorbing his words.

Andreas thought he was on to something. So he let him keep talking while he sat beside her to give her support. “Listen, Cat. I have studied this, gone over this a thousand times in my head. I know we all have, but after studying this killer’s timeline, it fits. This man’s rage didn’t start in New York ten years ago. It had to have started earlier. You came to the country twelve years ago. The first of Romeo’s crimes were committed ten years ago. For arguments sake, he meets you somehow, but when you went into protective custody and disappeared for a while you got a new name. Perhaps, just perhaps, you met this man and he became fixated on you then, and when you were liberated and no longer available, his anger festered and grew until he killed. I,” he shook his head sadly. He hated voicing his opinion out loud, especially about something like this, but all eyes were on him, and Ronnie was encouraging him to continue. “I really think this guy knew you when you were a . . . a,” he paused looking for the right word.

It was Cat who had provided it. “A sex slave.” But she nodded at him to continue.

He cleared his throat before speaking. “When you disappeared from sight and he no longer had access to you, then he began to kill.”

Gio stood up and spoke next. “Shit! That makes a lot of sense to me.”

Andreas agreed and gave them all in imperceptible nod. It made a hell of a lot of sense, but he kept quiet. He wanted to support her, but was damn proud of Nikko for coming up with that idea. It was a place to start. They needed to know more about the people around her then. He hated having to ask her about that time in her life. Didn’t want her to have to relive it, but if it could help them to catch this guy . . .

Blaze spoke next. “Cat, I can understand if you don’t want to talk about it, but maybe, just maybe with Andreas” he suggested, “you could tell him about those years. The people you knew other than those who are still behind bars.”

She was shaking her head. “No. I have told him some, but stay. All of you.” She gave each of the brothers a measured gaze. She had gotten to know them better, and knew they were fiercely loyal to one another. She looked at Andreas last. “They can stay.”

“Cat, if this is something you don’t want to do right now, I’ll understand.” She saw nothing but concern for her in his eyes and it touched her.

“No. I still don’t know if this will help, but if you all believe this can in some way help you to stop him, I will tell you all I know. Anything you want.”

Andreas was proud of this woman. She was so strong in the face of a nightmare most women would never be able to handle. He picked up her hand and squeezed it, hoping she could feel the strength behind it.

She returned it with pressure of her own and then licked her lips and swallowed. “Okay, well I told you about my younger years.”

He nodded, encouraging her to tell her story in her own way.

She let out a long breath of air before she started. Her hand went up to her forehead. “Let’s see. I was kidnapped in Amsterdam when I was 12. I was walking to a dress maker’s shop to pick up some items for one of the women who employed me. I was grabbed from behind. When I awoke, I found myself on a boat, tied up, in a cabin alone. It was a nice boat. A yacht. I was terrified even though I had not been harmed. I was brought food and drink. The boat went to Turkey, I learned later, and eventually I was transported to Iran. There I was told of my fate. I was to be a concubine. They had a doctor come and examine me. They determined I was a virgin.” Again, she let out a shaky breath.

Andreas winced at what that must have been like. Just twelve years old. He knew these things happened. Even here in the United States. But knowing someone, caring for someone it had happened to, he ached for her.

She must have noticed the change in him, and stopped for a moment. “Please, Andreas. Don’t pity me. I can’t see that in your eyes. I am not broken. I survived it. But if I see pity, I won’t be able to finish. I have never told this to anyone. I tell you because I trust you,” and then her gaze swept the others. “All of you.”

“You are a very strong woman,” Nikko stated, perched at the end of his seat. He admired the woman Andreas was coming to care for, or even possibly love. He glanced his brother’s way. The steel was returning to his eyes.

“Go on, Cat. I don’t pity you. I am sick knowing these crimes happen. But, I only think of you as a survivor. Someone I don’t want to see get hurt.”

She squeezed his hand, and closed her eyes briefly, soaking it in. His words gave her the strength to continue. “Since I was a virgin, I was to be a gift to a young sheik. I was kept in a harem and trained to be his lover. Two years. The sheik was to have me when I was fourteen.” Cat closed her eyes; he could see her swallow. “He did. He kept me for six months. Then I was given to someone else. This man was not kind.” Andreas saw her shiver, and wanted to murder the man. Both of the men who were her first experiences. “He was killed in Afghanistan, thankfully. I was with him one year. It was hell, but not the worst kind of hell.”

Andreas felt cold. He steeled his heart for what she would tell him next. He knew it would chill his blood. Her own reaction to her story terrified him.

“As he was dead, many of his men who desired me, took their turns with me until his son came to take over his estate. That took about two months. They ill-used me and starved me, beat me. I thought I would die. The son sold me once more. I was seventeen at this time. The man who bought me was Greek, and he did not keep me long. Just a month. Until I was recovered from my ordeal and fattened up as he called it. Then I was sold to an American Greek and transported to Maryland. I was seventeen and lived and worked under his employ for two years. The man’s name was Demetrius Makas.” Andreas remembered the articles. The man was still in prison. He would never get out. “He had four homes that I knew of for I was moved to those homes in those years. I believe he rented a house for a period of time, and conducted his business there, and then would move us girls and women to a new location periodically. Andreas,” she cleared her throat, “We were kept very busy. There was work to be done every day. We were to keep the home neat, and welcoming. We were assigned chores, made our own clothes. At night we were sent to our rooms; we each had a room, and then the men would come in and tell us what we were to do, or just lie still. If we did not do as we were told, we were beaten, and our rations cut. The men who visited in the evening, we rarely saw twice. A raid freed us. We testified against Demetrius and his employees and then most of the girls were sent home to their families. I had no family and was just shy of turning 19 so I was given asylum, counseling, and allowed to stay due to the circumstances of my birth as I told you about.”

Andreas could not think straight. The life she was forced to lead had been horrific.

“Andreas, this was my life. It is all I knew for a long time.”

He had to say the right thing. When he looked into her grey eyes he wanted her to know he was not ashamed of her, but proud of all she had come through. Pulling her closer, and tucking her under his arm, he simply stated, “You. Are. Remarkable.” Then he pressed a kiss to her lips and hoped that his act would show her what he couldn’t formulate with words.

She wrapped her arms tight around him and with a shudder, rested her head on his chest. Andreas looked to his brothers, and he could see they were all stunned by her revelations. Gio sat ramrod straight, but when he caught Andreas’ look, he gave him his nod of approval. Turning to Blaze and Nikko they each also gave their sanction to the woman he was falling in love with. It was Nikko who broke the silence first.