In Love and Rescue: When love is the perfect rescue... (26 page)

“But I wanted to also thank you, Larke,” he spoke up. “You’ve helped me face more than I’ve been willing to face in over fifteen years. No matter what I told you and no matter how I saw myself, you were always able to find good in me. I’m sorry that I didn’t have the good sense to try telling you those things before.”

Her eyes widened. “I was the woman that you were talking about at the villa. The long story.”

“You are.”

“So, was I different before?
Before this whole memory loss thing. Would I have turned you away if you told me about your past?”

Unable to stand the distance between them any longer, he pulled her closer to him. “No, you weren’t different. I was different. I did one of the worst things that I could do as a husband, and that’s to not have faith in my wife. Not take our vows seriously.”

He ran a finger across her cheek and she closed her eyes in response.

“My family was telling me how much I loved you,” she revealed.

“Did they tell you anything else?”

“Is there anything else?”

He shook his head. “Nothing that matters.”

She stepped into his body and wrapped her arms around his middle. “Did you love me?”

“
Do
I love you,” he corrected. “And yes, I do love you.”

“So, all this time we were together—”

“I’ve been in love with you,” he finished.

More goose bumps scattered across her skin. No wonder she’d felt so comfortable with him. Even now, with her arms wrapped around his body, she still felt like where she stood was the safest place on Earth.

“Des, in the beginning, I just knew I was going to die,” she began, her eyes misting over. “There was nothing that could convince me that we were going to make it off the island. But, when you revealed a little part of who you were at Ivor and Eva’s, that made me trust you. From there on out, I knew that if I just followed you, everything would be alright. And now, we’re here. You made all of that possible. What words are there for that? ‘Thank you’ is not enough for the person who saved your life. The person who gave your life so much purpose that it makes you wonder what you’d been living for before. There are no words for that.”

She reached up to wipe her eyes, but he grabbed her hands. “I told you to never be ashamed to cry,” he reminded. “And those words, those were enough.”

Larke shook her head. “No, they’re not. I just—Des, you don’t understand. You gave me my family back. You gave me my world back.”

He released her hands and
pulled her arms back around his body. “I got my world back too, Larke.”

She
touched a hand to the side of his face and reflexively, his eyes closed and he slightly leaned into her palm. All of a sudden, she wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. Laugh because she couldn’t help the incredible feeling that flowed through her at his reaction, and cry at the fact that someone who’d lived such a stolid life had just gifted her a moment of absolute tenderness.

“Even if I never remember the past, Des, can we go from here? Is that something you might be okay with? Us, in a sense, starting over?”

He
opened his eyes and his gaze drifted to her lips before settling back on her eyes. She received her response when he bent and pressed their lips together, and Larke knew that this was one of those moments she wished she could crystallize and suspend in time. With everything that they’d been through, every danger that they’d faced, he’d jumped in without question to save her life. Never once did he complain, even when she felt as though she couldn’t go any further. All he’d done was send her words of encouragement. Believed in her. Believed in them.

They pulled apart
, but Desmond continued to press his lips against her forehead, temple, and over her damp eyelids. Her eyes opened and more tears flooded her cheeks, but he flicked them away with his fingertips and placed kisses along the trail of moisture.

“
Yes,” he finally replied, his voice raspy. Larke burst out laughing, her eyes bright, swirling pools of honey. She reached in for another kiss and melted when he hungrily accepted her.

“Ahem,” a voice interrupted behind them. Slowly registering the voice, Desmond and Larke lazily pulled away, stealing quick pecks for a few
more seconds before acknowledging the third person in the room.

“Doug,” Larke realized, rushing over to give him a hug. “It’s so nice to see you again.”

“Same here, Larke,” he said, returning the hug. “Do you mind if we have a moment?”

He
pointed between him and Desmond and Larke walked back over to Desmond to place a final kiss against his lips before regretfully retreating up the stairs. When she was completely out of sight, Desmond turned his attention to Doug who was sporting a gigantic smile.

“So, what was that about?”
Doug asked, pointing towards the stairs. “You two were able to figure everything out?”

Desmond moved back to the bar to finish his watered down ginger ale. “
Her memory hasn’t returned, but the heavens are granting me another chance. I’ve got my wife back.”

Doug’s smile widened and
Desmond downed the rest of his drink before taking a seat in the sofa.

“But we can talk about that later. What’d you need to see me about?”

Doug stuffed his hands in his pockets and switched back into business mode. “We have a problem. The woman whose name Larke gave us? Joni Westinghouse? Well, she’s dead.”

*****

Robert Dillinger listened intently while Joni whispered to someone on the phone in the bathroom. When she’d picked up, he’d heard a man’s voice on the line but refused to believe that she could be seeing someone other than him. She was hopelessly smitten and had revealed to him that there was no one else on Earth she could see herself being with. Yes, there were about three decades between their ages, but that didn’t mean that they didn’t have a lot in common. Joni was everything that his wife wasn’t and never could be. That was all that he needed. As for her, he had power, status, and money. That was all that she needed.

He pulled himself out of bed and stood next to the door to hear the conversation better.

“Um…yeah, I can do that,” he heard her say. “Well, my schedule is pretty...I understand. Yes, I understand how important it is. Yes, I will come down right away. No, no. I promise. Okay.”

As she ended the call, he quickly moved to the other side of the room and randomly flipped through a book that was laying by the bedside. When she exited the bathroom, guilt was evident all over her flushed and fear-stricken face.

“Who was that?” He nonchalantly asked. “I heard a man’s voice. Was it your father?”

Joni tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ears. “Bobby, you know that my father walked out on me and my Mom when I was five. God knows where that bastard is.”

He put down the book. “So, who was it then? Are you seeing somebody?”

“And if I was? Bobby, you have no right to stand there and accuse me of seeing another man when you’re married with children.”

Robert groaned. “Not this conversation again. Look, you knew what you were getting yourself into when we first started this, so don’t go acting as if my wife and kids are a problem now.”

“You’re never going to leave her, Bobby,” she accused, marching around the room
and picking up articles of her strewn clothing. “We’ve been doing this for over a year now. When we met, you said that you two were basically like roommates and hadn’t touched each other in months. You said that the love was gone from the relationship and it wasn’t until you met me that you understood what people meant when they said they felt a spark when they fell for someone.”

“But I never said I would leave her,” Robert argued back. “Look, these things are complicated and you know that. In the public eye, I’m a family man. What do you think will happen to my image if
I all of a sudden up and divorce my wife and start dating a woman thirty-five years my junior?”

Joni stuck a leg through a pair of panties. “Like you would be the only politician to ever leave his wife? You guys get a slap on the wrist for stuff like that. One week it’s heavy in the press and the next week, it’s whatever celebrity has just given birth.”

Robert pointed out the window. “But that’s them. This is me. They don’t carry the same image that I do. I’m a loyal, God-fearing, family man.”

Joni scoffed and slipped into a pair of jeans. Even though he was upset, Robert couldn’t help
but to be in awe of her svelte figure silhouetted in the denim.

“But you still haven’t answered my question,” he added. “Who was that on the phone?”

She sighed and folded her arms across her naked chest. “If you must know, it was the FBI.”

Just as Robert was about to respond, Eddie entered the room wearing a black shirt, black pair of slacks, loafers, and black gloves. Appalled, Joni grabbed her shirt from the bed and placed it across her chest, however Eddie didn’t acknowledge her nudity.

“Why is the FBI calling you?” He interrogated.

Robert’s eyes suddenly began to dart around the room. Jarvis had him on surveillance all this time.

When Joni didn’t answer, Eddie pulled a black semiautomatic pistol from behind his back and pointed it at her. “Answer my question. Why is the FBI calling you?”

Joni’s lips quivered. “I—I don’t know,” she replied. “All they said was that my name came up as part of an investigation and I had to immediately present myself for questioning.”

Eddie’s eyes flicked accusingly at Robert. “What did you tell her?”

Robert moved slowly across the room until he was standing between Eddie’s gun and Joni’s body. “I didn’t tell her anything.”

Eddie dropped the gun down to his side. “You must have told her something for her name to come up. None of you fools can do anything right. I knew that I should have just done all of this by myself.”

Robert held his hands up in front of him. “Look Eddie, I think we all need to calm down here. So what if they found Larke? It doesn’t mean that she can tie any of this to the rest of us.”

Eddie cackled a laugh. “I pity the American educational system if you are considered one of its elite.” He pointed the gun back towards Joni. “I know that you’re lying. You have five seconds.”

Joni’s heart beat rapidly in her chest, her face ashen with fear. “I don’t—”

Eddie fired a shot that grazed past her head by only a few inches. Joni yelped and burst into tears. He then retrained the gun on her.

“Fine,” she conceded. “I—I didn’t know what you guys were up to that day when you and your lawyer showed up, but I was with Bobby. He thought that it was his wife
coming home early and hid me in his closet.”

“So, you overheard our conversation,” Eddie accused, briefly making eye contact with Robert.

Joni’s head fell as she nodded. “Yes, and I heard you say what would happen to Larke if you were convicted.”

Eddie’s jaw clenched. “Was it you that
tipped off the FBI that she’d gone missing?”

Joni hesitated and he fired another shot that whizzed by her ear, this one closer than the one before.

“Yes,” she squeaked out. “I was thinking that even if nothing had happened yet, they could still help her. I’ve worked with Larke for years and I was worried about her safety. I didn’t know if you guys were serious about what you said that you were going to do to her.”

Eddie grimaced and gripped the gun tighter. “Are you aware of what you have done? The fact that
she is alive and with the same man we reported killed her means that someone is lying. They are going to say that it was a cover-up and because I wanted that woman brought directly to me, I made Delgano do the groundwork. Oversee the whole operation. So that means, she saw him. Which means, it will only take them three seconds to put him in charge of the cover-up and tie him back to me.”

Robert waved away his words. “That’s a bit elaborate, Eddie.”

Eddie closed his eyes and inhaled a deep breath of air. “It is still a risk, and if there are two things that I don’t like, they are risks and mistakes.”

He squeezed the trigger and Robert felt the bullet whiz by his ears before hitting into something be
hind him. He then heard Joni cry out, but he didn’t immediately turn around. If he turned around, he would have to acknowledge that she’d been hit and with her height compared to the bullet’s trajectory next to him, he knew that she’d received a fatal shot.

Reluctantly, he turned and cried out when he saw her on the floor, her golden hair spilled all around her. He fell to his knees beside her body, pulled her into his arms, and frantically kissed the top of her head.

“You bastard,” he accused Eddie. “She didn’t know anything. All I asked her to do was go to Larke’s to make sure that she was home, and keep her there. She didn’t even know why.”

Eddie lowered the gun and glared at Robert. “Let this be a
lesson to you,” he warned. With that, he fired another shot towards Robert’s head and left the room, slamming the door behind him.