"Oh, my god."
Ronny looked like he was having a heart attack.
"Mindy, why didn't you tell me?"
Sebastian's blood ran cold. If Hellena was behind this, what else was she behind?
"I'm sorry, Mr. Boa," Mindy sobbed. "Please. I didn't want to. After what we talked about, after you were okay with my…thing, I didn't want to do it, but my brother, the guy on the tape, he needed the money. He's in trouble. This was the only chance he had to take care of the problem. I…" She was crying so hard she couldn't finish what she was saying.
"Mindy, please calm down so we can talk rationally. Ronny, you'll want to take this down in whatever way you feel is best."
Ronny nodded. From his pocket he took a recording device and started it.
"You swear this is true?" Sebastian asked after he had Mindy repeat what she'd said.
"Yes, Mr. Boa."
"Alright.
This is what I'm going to do. Please listen closely. I want you to understand what I'm telling you. I will give you a job of your choosing. As it is, I'm looking for a new assistant and I will soon have some space open at the club, if you so choose. But," and he paused there to make sure she was listening. "If I find that anything you've said to me today is untrue, or I find you trying to screw me over again, I will ruin you."
Sebastian searched her eyes. "Do you understand what that means, Mindy? I will take your job and your home. Your car and all of your assets will belong to me. Your brother will suffer whatever fate comes to him because you will be too busy trying to find a place in this world where I can't find you and take everything away. You won't find it. Are we clear?"
Mindy nodded. Strangely, at his declaration of possible war, her eyes flooded with hope and thankfulness.
"Yes, Mr. Boa. Thank you. Thank you so much. I am so sorry. I'll prove to you how sorry I am."
"I'm sure you will. I will deal with Hellena. She's been causing a lot of trouble lately. If I find you talking to her, Mindy," he made sure she was looking at him. "If I find you talking to her I will assume you are still working against me. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir.
I won't let you down."
Sebastian held up a hand. "You've already let me down, Mindy. There's no need to make promises we may or may not be able to keep. Ronny, if you're satisfied?"
"The charges will be dropped this afternoon. Do you want a press conference?"
Sebastian sighed. "No. I will be in touch. I need to make a few calls and we'll get this handled."
"Thank you, Mr. Boa."
Mindy was on the verge of tears again. Sebastian handed her the handkerchief from his pocket.
"Try to calm down. We'll meet soon to set up your new position. In the meantime, if your brother needs confirmation, you can have him call this number." He handed her a business card. "That is my personal mobile number, so do
not
lose it."
Mindy shoved the card in her bra and winked. "I won't. Thank you."
Sebastian couldn't help but chuckle. "That's enough. You're welcome."
He watched them leave and took a bite of his now soggy pie before he took out his mobile. He dialed and waited. "Hello, Herbert. It seems our business may not be finished after all."
Alone
Sebastian sat at his piano. The song that had become his with Mariss soared through the flat, but it was missing something that only she could provide. Without her, the tone was melancholy and pitchless. Whatever she'd done to his heart was going to be hard to fix. When the doorbell rang, he didn't answer right away. He kept playing for a moment, unwilling for the memory of them playing at his mother's to leave too quickly.
When he finally got up, the last strains of the song sighed through the room as it faded and disappeared. With an aching heart, he opened the door. Disgust rolled through his stomach when he hugged Hellena and kissed her gently on the mouth.
"Hello, Bash."
"Hellena.
Are you hungry?"
She smiled. "Did you cook for me?"
"I did. We can eat in the kitchen. Have you been to the club today?"
"Not yet. Last night was kind of crazy."
Sebastian uncovered two dishes and stood on one side of the counter while she sat on the stool across from him. Her navy blue corset was impressively unembellished. Hellena tucked her matching blue and black skirts as she sat and pulled her hair over one shoulder.
"Oh?
How so?"
He forked some mashed potatoes into his mouth.
"Alesa invited some men who thought they could be belligerent and do whatever and whoever they wanted. I had to call the police and have them escorted out. I don't understand why people have to think they know everything, despite the fact that they've never tried to understand something new in their lives. They set their minds to something and refuse to see it any other way."
Sebastian shook his head, pretending to empathize. Did she not hear what she was saying? Did she not see that she was the same?
"Did anything happen after that?"
"The twins got into a fist fight. They both have black eyes and I had to send them home. They'll be out for a while. And the aerial acrobats have decided to go on strike."
Again he shook his head, but not to empathize. He didn't trust a word that came out of her mouth anymore.
"What about you? What happened with Mariss Red last night? You two disappeared and we never saw you again."
"I spent the night trying to calm her down. Something really upset her, but she wouldn't tell me what it was. I spent the whole night trying to keep her from hitting me. Then there were the nightmares." He dropped his fork, disgusted with himself. "She tried to hurt you too. Are you alright?"
"I’m fine." Hellena waved a hand to dismiss his concern.
"Did you take that man to the hospital?"
"He wouldn't go. We doctored him up and he left." Hellena reached into her skirts somewhere and pulled out Mariss' silver butterfly knife. "I thought she might want this back."
"Thank you. I'll have it sent to her." Sebastian stuck it in his back pocket.
"Did you have a busy day?"
He nodded slowly. "Very. I had a lot of business to handle. Haven't eaten much today." All he'd eaten was the pie at the diner.
"You need to take better care of yourself, Bash. It's not healthy not to eat."
"Yes, I know." He picked at his meal, forcing the food down though it threatened to come back up. When they were finished, he washed their plates, dried them, and put them away.
"I'm going to feed Artemis real quick," he told her.
"I'll do it."
"No, that's alright. I want to do it. Why don't you get in the shower for
me.
"
"The shower?"
Hellena frowned.
"Yes, and wait for me." He hadn't seen her without her corset in a very long time.
"Alright," she replied. She
left,
her steps hesitant.
Sebastian slipped into the office to feed Artemis some live white mice. He dropped four in for her to hunt and made sure it was closed well. He didn't want the little guys getting out and mating. With a resigned sigh, he went to his room to find Hellena. Sebastian undressed, putting everything neatly where it went before he slipped into the shower with her. Regret for what had been and what had to be done made him ache with remorse.
Hellena's eyes were closed, so she didn't see him at first. Raised scars crisscrossed her lower abdomen and some across her ribs. He knew the scars inside her were worse. Her ex hadn't been kind. His every intention was to kill her, but she'd survived. Sebastian didn't know how. None of her doctors could explain it.
Hellena opened her eyes and gave him a wary look. Sebastian pulled her to him and kissed her. For a moment, all he thought about was how dear she'd been to him and he'd never known it until this moment. He had Mariss to thank for that and he would never be able to.
"Sebastian, what's wrong?" she asked. "You're acting strange."
He barely found his voice to say, "We need to talk, Hellena."
"Like this?" Her voice
rose
almost a whole octave.
"Yes."
"What is it, then?"
Sebastian turned her so
her
back was to him. He encircled her waist with his arms and his fingers stroked the smooth scars. She didn't like them to be touched, but she wasn't going to like much about tonight.
"Why did you invite the German to your birthday party?" he asked. He rested his chin on her shoulder and kept his tone soft and even.
"Because he's a friend of mine.
I don't meet many people I can talk to in my own language."
"It didn't have anything to do with the fact that Mariss would recognize the tattoo on his chest, then."
"No," she said indignantly.
"Or that he is part of a group of people who are going to want her dead now that they know where she is."
Hellena's already tense body went rigid. "How the hell was I supposed to know that?"
Sebastian closed his burning eyes, hating himself. "The same way I know you hired Ashley to kill Mariss. You have the same contacts I have, Hellena. Stop lying to me."
Hellena twisted out of his arms and turned to look at him. "What is this, Sebastian? Huh? What do you want?"
"I want you to tell me the truth. You hired someone to kill Mariss, you stole her phone at the awards ceremony so you could go through her contacts,
you've
hired Mindy to frame me for rape. What else have you done?"
Hellena gave him a hateful glare. She crossed her arms over her breasts and tried to push past him. Sebastian stopped her with his hand on the wall, blocking her escape with his body. The panic that set into her eyes made him want to lose the dinner he'd just eaten. His heart beat so fast in his chest it was like he was the one being accused.
"Please, Sebastian," she whispered. "Please, let me leave."
"I will," he said, breaking some, "but first I want to know what you've done."
"I haven't done…" She paused to catch her breath. "I haven't done anything," she panted.
Sebastian shook his head, half to clear it and half to show that he didn't believe her. "Hellena, I know that's not true."
"You don't trust me? You believe her over me?" Hellena pushed on his chest, but he didn't move. "Please, Sebastian. Don't do this. I don't want to be trapped in here."
"You aren't trapped. You know I won't harm you, but you are going to tell me what I need to know. She was like you, Hellena." Her eyes widened. "She fought her attacker and nearly killed him. The price she pays for that is these men seeking their revenge on her. Now, tell me what you've done."
"I didn't do anything. All I knew was that she feared them. I just invited one. Her mother said-"
"Her mother?
You spoke to her mother and she told you this?"
"She thought she was protecting Mariss. She thought I was…immigration."
"Bloody fucking hell, Hellena."
Hellena whimpered. "I didn't know. If I had-"
"What? You tried to kill her. You tried to frame me for rape!"
She cowered away from him when he raised his voice, huddling in the corner. "I just wanted you to leave her alone. I just wanted you back. I didn't mean it. I…"
He didn't know what to believe. The betrayal burned inside him like a fire, devouring parts of him that he didn't know he had. Sebastian never knew he could
feel
. Not like this.
"Hellena," he sighed. "This is what I need from you."
She nodded.
"Anything."
"I need your key, both to the flat and the club. You'll clean your things out of the club in the morning. I'll settle you in an apartment of my choosing. I'll pay for a year's rent and you'll have six month's severance pay. You'll stay away from me and from Mariss. If I see you again I'll report you to the police." He stood back out of the way. "You have ten minutes to get dressed and get out. Leave your keys on the bed." She stared at him long enough that he told her, "Get out." His voice cracked, his head ached, and his eyes burned with tears. He'd never even known he could cry.
Hellena ran from the shower, not bothering to dry off. Sebastian stayed there a very long time. When he finally dragged himself to bed, he wrapped himself in sheets that smelled like Mariss and let himself pretend she was still there, her body cradled against his. He needed her comfort tonight. Her friendship and her touch were what he needed most in this moment, but they were the one thing he couldn't have. Sebastian let his pain consume him until he broke. For the first time that he could remember, tears flowed and he cried himself to sleep.
***
Herbert sat in the corner in the leather chair he almost always occupied when he was in Sebastian's home office. Mindy and her brother Jason sat next to each other on the sofa against the wall. Jason was not happy, but his eyes kept darting to Artemis in her terrarium. Rachel stood next to Sebastian where he was perched on the edge of his desk. She looked confused, but no less clueless than usual.
"Thank you, Rachel. That will be all."
"Yes, sir, Mr. Boa."
He hadn't broken her from the habit of calling him by his name when she said 'yes sir', and it was getting on his last nerve.
Rachel left the room quickly, stumbling over heels that were far too high for her clumsiness.
"You're not going to get a payout," he said to Jason. The younger man shot his sister an angry look.
"What the fuck did you do, Mindy?"
"If you can't speak to her respectfully, then your questions will be directed to me. Are we clear? Mindy did the right thing. When the day is out she will be my new personal assistant. What she does with the money I pay her is up to her, but you won't be getting any free money. However, if you'd like a job, my driver could use a few days off a week. You would probably start off at three."
Jason frowned. "What's the catch?"
"I won't have you arrested for extortion. And I won't have your sister arrested for filing false charges against me."
"What about Hellena?" Mindy asked. "What are you going to do about her?"
"I've taken care of Hellena." The events of the previous week still made his chest ache and Sebastian was starting to understand the dangers of depression. The way she'd run from him still made him want to throw up. "She won't be a problem." He pushed himself away from the desk.
There was a commotion in the hall before the door burst open and Mariss stormed into the room looking righteously angry. Rachel was hard on her heels.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Boa. She's strong!"
In this case, he was more than positive that Rachel hadn't failed to do her job properly.
"How could you?" Mariss growled. Her voice was low and furious. She spat the words at him like they were made of acid and supposed to burn through his skin.
"What?" he asked.
"I thought we'd resolved everything. How dare you!" She flung a tabloid at him. Sebastian ground his teeth together as it smacked him in the chest and fell to the floor.
"I was aware that we had," he said through clenched teeth. He stooped to pick up the paper and scanned the front. There was a mug shot of her, though she was much younger. The headline read, "Mariss Red, Juvenile Delinquent."
"I had nothing to do with this, Mariss."
"You were the only one I told!" she shouted. "No one else knew!"
Sebastian flung the paper onto his desk and shoved his hands in his pockets so he wouldn't shake her. "Mariss, what good would
exposing
this do me?"
"I don't fucking know!"
"Alright."
He herded her out of the room and closed the door. "Mariss, I didn't-"
"Mr. Boa, did you need some help?" Rachel stuck her head out the door.
"A moment, Rachel," he said rudely.
"Yes, sir, Mr. Boa."
He took a moment to calm himself. "Mariss, I had nothing to do with this."
"No one else knew!"