Authors: Yvonne Harriott
“Shall we go for strike three? Wait, I’m—”
He rolled her beneath him and she screamed with laughter. Pinning her to the mattress, his mouth covered hers in a kiss of pure dominance. He was in charge now and wanted her to know it. She pulled her lips away.
“What happened to ‘a piece of cake’?”
“I’m eating it,” he said with a wicked smile that told her he was nowhere near being submissive tonight.
“You’re supposed to…” and that was the last coherent thought she remembered before he took her breathe away. She was lost in him and when they came together it was fireworks and symphony all rolled into one.
“What other games can you play?” He asked when their breathing returned to normal. He held her while he stroked her back.
“Why?” She lifted her head up off his chest and his eyes were playful, teasing. “You want another shot at redeeming yourself.”
“Do I need to redeem myself?”
“Not in my book.” She rested her head on his chest feeling the cool breeze from the ceiling fan against her damp skin.
He brushed her hair from her face then ran his finger along her cheek. “I love you.”
P
hoenix slipped out of the bed when Malcolm rolled off her onto the bed towards the window thankful to get his dead weight off her body. He always fall asleep right after sex. The first time they had sex she thought she’d killed him, but she’d just worn him out.
Earlier she had pulled out all the toys and props she had because he loved them, not because she did. She didn’t like sex. You used sex to get what you want. She learned that early from a great teacher.
She watched him from the foot of the bed, the moonlight shining through the sheer curtain across his face. She felt something for him, but it wasn’t love. Love didn’t exist in her world. It didn’t take long before the snoring that could wake the dead started and she left the room. He would be out for the rest of the night and she could attend to business.
Phoenix turned on the computer. The blue glow from the laptop screen lit up the small den just off the bedroom she used as an office. She glanced towards the bedroom when she didn’t hear his snoring then back at the computer screen when the foghorn sound started up again.
She hadn’t expected Malcolm to come by her apartment tonight. He’d called and wanted to spend the night because her place was in town. He lived in Mansfield, Massachusetts in the south-southwest suburbs of Boston.
She took to the idea wanting to know more about what was going on at Beck Security Systems and more about Jamie Wright. Malcolm was in a talkative mood when he arrived a little after midnight, but wasn’t saying anything she wanted to hear. What was even more infuriating was he didn’t want to talk about his work at all.
Love and marriage were the only two things on his mind. What made her want to gag was when he said he could see them married. Phoenix had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. She’d played her role to such perfection that she deserved the
Oscar
for Best Actress and laughed at the thought.
Phoenix had gotten cocky earlier and was almost caught. She’d lost sight of the end goal and became over-confident. Hacking into Beck Security Systems was easy and she’d done it because she was bored. Not because it was a part of her plan.
Oh, she knew Jamie was tracking her movement and should have gotten out of Beck’s network before he locked onto her. But no, she wanted to see how good her opponent was. She had to admit he was better than she expected. She had never met anyone that had come so close to catching her. Too close for comfort.
Malcolm had mentioned that they’d hired Brooks Investigations and the Mohawk man was leading the project. He didn’t tell her anything else. After a quick search, she’d found the ex-cop a worthy adversary, but she was better than Jamie…smarter than him. She was smarter than all of them at Beck Security Systems and when she delivered her final blow she would have her revenge.
Phoenix heard the toilet flush and then the tap running. When she looked over her shoulder a few minutes later, Malcolm was at the door of her office dressed in slacks with his belt unbuckled and shirt in hand.
The plan was to get back to bed before he’d gotten up. She hadn’t expected him to be up so soon.
“What are you doing up?” Malcolm asked looking at her through sleepy eyes. A wide grin splashed across his face as he shrugged into his shirt. She had made him happy earlier. The way he was looking at her suggested he wanted a repeat performance with the honey and whipped cream.
“I couldn’t sleep.” Phoenix switched to another document that was open on the screen and got up to meet him at the door. She pushed him towards the bedroom. “Go back to bed. I thought I would get some work done while you were asleep. You don’t have to leave. Go back to bed and I’ll be in to join you in a minute. You can arrest me again,” she grinned.
“I would love to,” he said with regret in his voice. “But I can’t stay. I have to go back to the office. When I come back later you and I need to have a serious talk.”
She didn’t care about his serious talk. Beck Security Systems was the only thing she wanted to talk about. What was Jamie up to? She needed inside information and Malcolm was the only one that could supply that. His answers would determine how quickly her plan would unfold.
“It’s after four in the morning. What’s so important that you can’t take a break and let your favorite lady take you on one more ride?”
Malcolm shook his head. “As tempting as that sounds, I can’t stay, babe.”
Babe. Phoenix hated it when he called her that. That wasn’t important now. What she needed was information.
“What’s going on at Beck Security Systems?” She asked hoping he would be more forthcoming than earlier. “You’ve been so tight-lipped since Jamie what’s his name was hired. You always said that I don’t care about your work. Well, I do sweetheart,” she cooed.
“I can’t discuss it. Any way, I missed an urgent call from the office.”
“Come on tell me.” Phoenix ran her long red fingernail up his chest and down stopping at the belt buckle. She was begging. It made her sick, but she had to know about the phone call. It was probably from Jamie. It could have been because she’d logged into the system using Malcolm’s ID not ten minutes ago.
The plan was to log in a few more times as Malcolm and eventually throw suspicion onto him. They would waste valuable time pointing a finger at Malcolm.
It didn’t take long to figure out his password. Malcolm was a creature of habit. He ate at the same restaurant, took the same route home to and from work everyday and he liked sex. Strike that, loved sex.
When they first met, he loved talking about his work. Now he had decided to change his habits. Something she hadn’t counted on.
“I can’t talk about what’s going at work.”
“Tell me, please.”
“You know I can’t. We had this discussion already several times tonight,” he said sounding almost irritated. Why are you bringing it up again?”
“You can’t or you won’t,” she said frustrated, pushing him away hard when he tried to touch her. “You used to tell me everything. It’s as if you don’t trust me any more.”
“It has nothing to do with you.”
“Then tell me.”
“We’ll talk later. I have to go,” he said turning away from the door.
“It’s as if you think that I’m the one that uploaded the virus. You won’t even be able to find the damn thing anyway.”
He turned around slowly. “Why did you say that?”
Malcolm stared at Phoenix as if he was seeing her for the first time, eyes widened, lips pursed. His gaze fell on the computer. She knew she’d said too much. He flipped on the light and grabbed her arm dragging her into the room towards the desk. Hitting the enter key on the computer had brought up a blank word document. He closed the document and the secure page of Beck Security Systems filled the screen. Disappointment replaced rage.
He cursed under his breath. “Tell me you’re not responsible for what’s going on at Beck Security Systems.” He shook her. “Tell me.”
• • •
Phoenix didn’t respond. She stood there looking at him waiting. His fingers bit painfully in the flesh of her forearms where he grabbed her. The shaking stopped but he didn’t let her go. She waited for the blow to come and braced herself in silence. It never came, only anger.
“My God,” Malcolm said staring at the computer as if something occurred to him. He opened his mouth then closed it again. He turned his face away for a moment. “That day when you backed your car into mine, it wasn’t an accident. You planned it. You planned all of this.”
She could lie to him denying the truth, but he’d already seen through her. He wanted answers she wasn’t ready to give him, answers she didn’t want to give. He was a means to an end. That was his role. He wasn’t important anymore. The wounded puppy dog look on his face almost made her want to apologize.
“I guess this is you.” He showed her a picture he pulled from the pocket of his slacks.
“I thought you said you couldn’t see the woman’s face.” She stared at the picture, but didn’t take it from him as he pushed it towards her.
“Our tech guy removed the shadow.”
“It’s amazing what we can do with technology.” She took the photograph when he pressed it into her hand, studying it. Then a smile spread across her lips. “It’s not one of my better pictures, is it? I think it’s the blonde wig. It makes me look too old. That’s why I got the blonde extension. It looks more natural. Don’t you think?”
“I didn’t want to believe it. On my way over here, I’d convinced myself the resemblance was a coincidence. I defended you.”
He shoved her away from him like she was garbage. The wounded puppy dog look was gone. He was angry, unpredictable now. She couldn’t control him with sex anymore and she scrambled trying to figure out what to do next.
It was too soon, she thought beating the heels of her palms against her forehead. She needed more time.
Think.
“You’re using me so you could destroy the company. I love you. How could you do this?”
“Don’t be so melodramatic darling. It’s not the worst thing that has ever happened to you. There will be enough money at the end of this and we’ll both be rich.”
“Rich? How do you propose to get money out of Beck? By holding his company hostage? I know Beck. He won’t give you a dime.”
“He destroyed my life.” She beat her fist against her chest. “He needs to pay and he will pay!”
“Who are you?”
Phoenix didn’t like the way he was looking at her as if there was something wrong with her. She had to make him understand. Then maybe he would change his mind and be on her side. She needed someone on her side. Someone to love her not hurt her. He didn’t hurt her when he could have.
“Don’t you want to be rich, Malcolm? You said you did. We can get married. Isn’t that what you want? I can make you happy. Didn’t I prove that tonight?”
Malcolm didn’t care about her any more. He looked at her as if she was nothing. He was like all the others. They said they loved her and then turned on her.
“You’re responsible for Sydney’s disappearance.” Malcolm said as if he had some divine revelation. “Where is she?”
“Sydney’s safe. She’s my get out of jail free card,” Phoenix grinned.
“The attempts on Markie’s life…you could’ve killed her.”
Phoenix shrugged. “There are casualties in war.”
Contempt seeped into his voice. It was directed at her. She’d show him. She’d show all of them. She wouldn’t allow anyone to push her around anymore.
“This isn’t a bloody war. You’re sick,” he spat, shoving her away when she tried to grab his hand. He reached for the phone on the desk. “I’m calling the police.”
Phoenix rubbed her hands together and began pacing the floor. Monika called her delusional. Her mother said she was crazy and her father called her mad. Now Malcolm was calling her sick after his confession of love.
There was nothing wrong with her. Why was everyone telling her there was something wrong? Because they wanted to put her back in that place with the white walls and force medication down her throat. She rubbed her knuckles against her temples trying to relieve the sudden pressure building up in her head.
No. She wasn’t going back to the hospital. Monika had tried to force her to go back and…well she was Monika now. Monika Beck was married to Dalton Beck and Malcolm was trying to ruin everything. He wanted her for himself and because she doesn’t want him he was trying to ruin her.
Picking up the heavy granite paperweight from the desk, she put all her weight behind the stone and brought it down on Malcolm’s head when he reached for the phone. When the stone connected to his head, it made a thud and he slumped over onto the desk with a loud groan. She watched the blood flow from the gash on the back of his head pooling onto the desk turning the papers crimson.
She pushed the chair under his legs and he fell back into it. His head hung over the headrest with his arms stretched out on the elbow rest.
“The
Oscar
for Best Actress in a leading role goes to Phoenix…no, Monika Beck for her role in Hide and Seek,” and she began to laugh and laugh because they would never find her. Then she had the perfect idea as she wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes. It was time she had a conversation with her husband.
She fished through Malcolm’s pocket for his cell phone and searched through the missed calls and found what she was looking for.
• • •
“What’s going on?” Beck asked when he opened the door of Jamie’s office. The office was quiet except for the humming of the computer equipment and Jamie’s fingers clicking on the keyboard.
The 911 4:30 a.m. call had jarred him from sleep and away from Marklynn’s warm body. Beck had broken all the speed limits to arrive at the office only to be greeted by Jamie’s deep dark scowl. He didn’t even get a chance to sit down let alone take off his jacket before Jamie jumped on him
“Where is Malcolm?” he growled.
Jamie had made the office his home away from home with a rolled up sleeping bag in the corner and food within reach. After sending the team home, it appeared as if he’d hunkered down for the night, but something had set him off. Had the network been accessed?