Deceived - The Complete Series (32 page)

“Yes I am. We need to talk.” Ana was abrupt and she could tell Kim didn’t like it. She didn’t give a shit. Kim looked reluctant, but she finally turned and unlocked her office door. Ana followed her in, right on her heels. She didn’t wait for an invitation to sit down. She perched on the edge of one of the chairs. Kim sat her things down on her desk and turned to face her.

“What is this about, Ana? Is there a problem with the layout Angela is doing for you?”

“Not at all. Angela is brilliant. As a matter of fact, she’s so brilliant I’m thinking of starting my own advertising business and stealing her away from you.”

Kim raised an eyebrow and sat down. “I’m a little confused Ana. What exactly did you want to talk to me about?” Ana produced a photo that Angela would probably be pissed to know that she had. Joanne had scanned and emailed a copy to her the night before. Angela would get over it once she realized they only wanted to help. Kim was gaping at the photo like it was as much a surprise to her as it was to everyone else “What...Where?”

“Who? When? Knock it the fuck off Kimberly. Explain this, now.”

Kim’s face went from confused to angry and ready to fight in an instant. “Obviously, it needs no explanation. Why don’t you ask your brother to explain it?”

“Because my brother likely has no memory of it. You drugged him, didn’t you?”

“What?” Kim said, incredulous. “Have you lost your mind? Look at me, Ana! Do I look like I have to drug a man to get him in bed with me?”

“It’s not about how you look Kim it’s your toxic personality. This is your one chance to tell me what you did. I’m meeting with Carlo as soon as I leave here and if I don’t get what I’m looking for from him, I’ll keep looking. I will spare no expense to find a witness that will tell me you drugged my brother and then I will spare no expense bringing you and this shoddy little business of yours to its knees. My company brings millions into this company...we can easily take them elsewhere.” Ana didn’t raise her voice. She didn’t change the tone of her voice. But it was clear she was serious, deadly so.

Once again, Kim’s affect completely changed. She looked like she was on the verge of tears as she said, “Okay...Steve was drugged. But, I only did it because Thomas forced me too. I’m so afraid of him. I was so scared. He threatened me...”

“With what? What did he threaten to do?”

“He didn’t put it out there in so many words, but he told me if I didn’t, he would make me pay. He’s not right in the head. He’s obsessed with Angela and he wanted Steve out of the way...”

“This man works for you, doesn’t he?”

“Yes...”

“And you know there’s something wrong with him, yet he still works for you.”

“He’s sick, I’m afraid of him. I’m afraid to fire him...”

“What did you drug my brother with?”

“I didn’t want to...”

Ana lowered her voice and grit her teeth. “What the fuck did you drug my brother with?”

“Ecstasy,” she said. “But once it was out of his system, he was fine. I didn’t hurt him...”

“You raped him. Are you fucking kidding me? You raped him and you were stupid enough to take photos of the crime.”

“Crime?” Kim’s eyes were as huge as saucers. “I didn’t commit a crime. I’m not a criminal...”

“You drugged my brother and you had sex with him that he doesn’t even remember...” Ana shrugged and stood up. “I guess maybe the police might believe that he could easily forget you completely sober...But since I do have what you just said on tape, I doubt it.”

Kim looked desperate and Ana anticipated what was coming before Kim even flinched. Kim dove at Ana like a wildcat. Ana stepped to the side and let her fall to the floor. She started towards the door as Kim was pulling herself up and over her shoulder she said, “If you touch me, you’ll just be adding assault and battery to your charges.”

“You can’t do this! Ana please! I was afraid for my life!”

“You can tell that to the detectives when they show up,” Ana told her. “If I were you, I’d spend my time looking for a good lawyer at this point.”

Kim picked up a glass pitcher of water. Ana stepped out and closed the door just in time to hear the pitcher shatter against it. She smiled as she stepped onto the elevator. She had them both.

Chapter 8

“You need to get home,” Steve was in the middle of a meeting when his phone rang. When he saw it was Ana, he didn’t answer it. She could wait. He went on with his meeting. He was trying to secure a lucrative contract with a company that makes carburetors. They wanted the company to make a special carburetor for their cars and then they wanted a patent on the design so no other racing companies can have the same. Steve was making headway when the phone rang. Ana could wait.

“I apologize for that,” he told the two men he was talking to about the buzzing phone. As soon as he silenced it, it began to buzz again.
Shit! What the fuck is her problem?
He silenced it again. Not two minutes later, the secretary of the CEO he was meeting with stuck her head in the room and said,

“I’m so sorry to interrupt sir, but there’s a call for you Mr. McAllister. It’s your sister and she offers her apologies but she says it’s an emergency.”

Steve suddenly felt like he couldn’t breathe. It had to be about Angela. She hadn’t been feeling well and he’d left her there with Thomas! He jumped up out of his chair and all but ran into the outer office. He picked up the blinking line and said, “Ana? What’s wrong? Is Angela okay?”

“You need to come home...now.”

“Do not make me fly for four hours without knowing what’s going on! What the hell is going on?”

Ana gave her brother an abbreviated version of the events of the past few days. With each word she spoke it got harder for Steve to breathe. Besides the panic he was feeling an overwhelming sense of rage like nothing he’d ever felt before. Thomas was going to wish he’d never met him...No; he was going to wish he’d never met Angela. “I’ll be there soon,” he told Ana. “Where is Angela?”

“As far as I know she should be coming into work any minute now. Joanne is shadowing her and keeping me updated. From what she says, the creep gave her a hard time last night, but they got out of there safely and she and Angela spent the night at Angela’s new place.”

“So, she’s safe. That’s for sure?”

“For now.”

“Make sure it stays that way. I’m going to see her “friend.”

“Steve, he’s a fucking psycho path. I’m going to call our security team and have them meet you...”

“No! That will just scare him off. I want to talk to this son of a bitch one on one.”

“What should I do with the evidence I have against Kim?”

“I can’t think about that right now. I have to deal with this bastard first. We’ll deal with that one later.” He hung up and without even telling the men he was meeting with that he was leaving, he headed for the airport. The four hour flight turned out to be the most agonizing four hours of his life. He tried to call Angela four times...she wouldn’t answer. He tried calling Joanne, she didn’t answer either. He called Ana back then and got Joanne’s number at work. He called her office and he suddenly felt like he needed to vomit. Her assistant told him that she was out for the day. She was tight-lipped with the details. Frustrated and ready to throttle someone he hung up and called his sister back. He was yelling at this point, telling her to find out where Joanne was...Twenty excruciating minutes later she called back...

“Steve, she’s in the hospital.”

“What? What’s wrong with her?”

“After she walked to work with Angela, she was apparently on her way to her own job when she was jumped and pulled into an alley and beaten. She’s bad off, he left her for dead.”

“Fuck! Does Angela know?”

“I don’t know. She’s not answering her phone. I’m on my way back to the agency now to make sure she’s still okay.”

“Call me as soon as you get there. Put security on her...now!”

“I will. Steve...please be careful.” He didn’t answer. He hung up and stumbled to the bathroom to relieve his stomach of what was left of his lunch. 

Ten minutes before the plane was scheduled to land he called the advertising agency and asked for Thomas. Thomas’s voice was friendly and professional as he said,

“Good morning, this is Thomas...”

“You son of a bitch!”

There was a hesitation and then in a very different voice, a deep and frightening one that said, “Steve, I’m so glad you called. You and I need to get together and talk.”

“You’re damned right we do. I’m landing in five minutes. Meet me at your loft fifteen minutes after that. Don’t make me come looking for you.”

Thomas laughed. He sounded like a lunatic. “Oh, I won’t. You have no idea how long I’ve anticipated this conversation.” Steve’s hands were shaking when he hung up. He’d never felt this kind of rage before and he didn’t know what to do with it. He was almost afraid of what he might do to Thomas when he saw him...almost.

*****

T
homas walked into Kimberly’s office in spite of the closed door. She was sitting at her desk, staring out the window. When she looked up at Thomas, there was pure hatred in her eyes. “You ruined me.”

He looked at her like she was crazy. “I don’t have time for your dramatics, Kim. I’m taking off for the rest of the day.”

“Don’t bother coming back,” she said, arrogantly. “Steve and Ana know everything. They’re going to pull their contracts and maybe even turn me into the police. If they do, I’m not going down alone. This was all your idea.”

Thomas smiled at her. As soon as he did, he saw the fear in her eyes. It was the first time she’d looked afraid of him...and he liked it. He leaned across the desk so his face was nearly touching hers and he said, “Don’t you dare threaten me, Kim. I promise you that you will regret it...every time. Now that we’ve cleared that up, I’m leaving for the day. If I want to come back tomorrow, I will. You may own this company, but guess what? I own you now. I can crush you...in more ways than one. If you get arrested, just remember this...My hands are clean of all of this. What you chose to do to Steve that night...that was all you. You can say we discussed it or that you got the drugs from me...but guess what, pretty Kim? I’ll deny everything and I’ll tell them how obsessed you were with poor Steve and I’ll give interviews to every paper and news outlet in this city about your...extra-curricular activities. You’re nothing but a cheap whore, like all the rest of them and I will use your indiscretions to ruin you...if you’re not already behind bars. You don’t want to fuck with me.”

He could tell by her face that she was scared to death now. He liked that...she looked almost as scared as that smug bitch Joanne had been when he’d pulled her into that alley. He felt a surge of anger when he thought about that. He hadn’t planned on leaving her alive. She was going to talk as soon as she woke up...if she could...and she was going to point the finger at him. They’d been interrupted by some fucking old man walking his dog. If Thomas would have had his gun, the old man would have been dead too. That was okay though. He’d go with plan B. He had plenty of money saved up to take Angela far away from this fucking rat hole of a city. It would just be him and her then...and she would finally understand and appreciate everything he’d gone through for her. At least, she better.

He left Kimberly at her desk, likely feeling like her life was over, and he went to meet Steve. He thought about stopping by Angela’s office...but he would catch up with her later. Right now, he needed to deal with her boyfriend...he had a tire iron with Steve’s name all over it.

Chapter 9

Angela looked at her phone. There were four missed calls from Steve and two from Ana. She wasn’t in the mood to talk to either of them. She was surprised that Joanne hadn’t called or shown up again. It was lunch time. She hadn’t missed a lunch time in almost two weeks. She tried calling her, but the phone went straight to voice mail. That didn’t worry her so much until it was twelve-fifteen and she still hadn’t heard from her.

She wandered out to Marg’s desk and said, “Hey Marg, you haven’t heard from Jo, have you?” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, the elevator dinged and Ana stepped off.

“No, I haven’t heard from her,” Marg said. Ana looked solemn as she said,

“Angela, can I talk to you in your office?”

With a heavy sigh, Angela agreed. As soon as they were in the office with the door closed Ana said, “Jo is in the hospital.”

“What? What happened?” Angela felt that crushing pain in her chest again. It was a pain that was becoming all too familiar.

“She was attacked and beaten on her way to work. She’s in pretty bad shape.”

“Oh God! Who...Thomas?”

Ana shrugged. “She hasn’t woken up yet, so we don’t know.”

Angela grabbed her purse and said, “I need to see her.”

“Wait!” Ana put her hand on Angela’s arm and said, “Steve knows everything. He’s on his way to meet with Thomas. He had me put a security detail on you.”

“What? I asked you not to tell him! You put him in danger!”

“Steve can handle himself...”

“You don’t understand. You haven’t seen the hate that’s in Thomas’s eyes every time Steve’s name is even mentioned. The security detail should be watching him, not me! Where is Joanne?”

“At Presbyterian, in ICU,” she said.

Angela pushed past Ana and Ana said,

“Where are you going?”

“To see my friend.”

She stormed out, not so much angry with Ana as she was at the inability lately to control her own life. She was sick of everyone else constantly telling her what was best for her. This was her life! Her fucked up life. She wanted it back...and she was going to get it back, today.

She saw the security detail as soon as she walked out onto the street. There was nothing the least bit subtle about them. She walked straight up to one of them and said, “I’m going to the hospital to see my friend. It’s just up the street. You’re welcome to follow me.”

She turned towards the hospital and began walking quickly. She couldn’t see or hear the men following her, but she felt them. When she got to the hospital, they got on the elevator with her. They rode it up to ICU with her, but they had the decency to hang back while she went up and talked to the nurse. Angela hated hospitals...this one in particular. Right after Blake was diagnosed, they’d been on vacation in L.A., visiting Thomas. Angela had wanted to cancel the whole thing, but Blake had insisted he wasn’t going to stop living his life. When they were there, he’d gotten sick...so sick he couldn’t eat and was having horrible pains in his stomach. She took him to the ER in this hospital. He’d spent three days in ICU. It was their last vacation and it was a horrible experience. But...in the three days she’d spent there she had learned a lot about the hospital. Most importantly that the ICU had a stairwell that led down the backside of the old hospital and opened into a patio where the families of the patients sat and took a breather or had their meals. She told the nurse at the counter that Joanne was her sister. The woman looked sympathetic and told her that Joanne had multiple broken bones and contusions. She had a concussion and they believed that was what the loss of consciousness was about. They had her heavily sedated and on pain medication as well. There was a very good chance she would recover, but at the moment, they had to just take a wait and see.