Chapter 1
Trish awakened in an unfamiliar place. She looked around dazed, drowsy and feeling very dizzy. She wanted to get up and run but found herself to be just too tired to even lift a finger. Although she tried to fight the urges, for her safety, soon she was back to sleep.
About an hour later Trish opened her eyes again to see a face hovering above hers. It was a face she definitely did not recognize. Even though she had no idea who this man was, she could see the concern in his eyes. She decided not to scream as not to startle him.
“Where am I?” she asked weakly lifting herself up onto her arms. Her voice was dry and groggy.
“You don’t remember?” the man asked with the worry showing through his eyes.
“No I don’t. What… happened …to me?” her words were stumbled and slurred.
“Well yesterday night around 8:00, you knocked on my door. When I opened it, you looked at me and fainted into my arms. Do you remember what could have happened before that?” he was more than a little anxious to find out all about her, as he should have been.
“Not really. Everything about the last few days is kind of blurry.” She said rubbing her eyes.
“Well you need to get your rest.” He looked at her in awe. He couldn’t believe how beautiful she was even at this horrible state. “Here is another blanket just in case you get cold.” He got up to leave.
“Wait! I have a few questions myself.” She paused. “Where am I? ...Who are you? ... Where are my clothes? ... I mean why did you just take me in? Why should I believe anything you are telling me?” these few questions seemed to us up all of her strength.
He thought about her questions realizing that she was not completely out of her mind. “Well, you are in Ripley, Tennessee in my home on the country side. I am Martell Johnston. And the reason I didn’t turn you away was because your clothes were torn, you were soaked from head to toe from the rain, and how could I turn you away after you fainted into my arms?” he smirked. His deep southern accent hinted at a down home boy but somehow echoed with sophistication.
“But weren’t you wife and family upset about you taking me in?”
“Well I don’t really have a wife or family. I’m all alone here.” He turned away as if holding in pain. “Now you get your rest okay.”
He turned to her and pulled the cover back over her. Before he could turn away he felt a strange feeling inside him that he had only felt once before in his life. He sat there for about a minute and then got up and proceeded towards the door.
“Thank you.” She had softly. She gave a weak smile and rolled over and went to sleep.
When Trish woke up again she actually felt well rested. She cautiously got out of bed and grabbed the robe that was lying on the chair next to her.
As she walked into the hallway her legs felt weak, as if they would fall off with her next step. The hallway led to a grand staircase that spiraled down to the first floor. As she walked down the steps she noticed the beautiful Chinese decorated floor that it led to. She stood there as if in a daze staring at the detailing. Her trance was broken by the sound of footsteps approaching behind her. She quickly turned around to see Martell Johnston standing there. He seemed to be stunned for some reason.
“Are you alright?” he asked her still showing the same concern for her she had seen once before.
“Yes, how long have I been here?” she held on to the stair case for support. She was eager to figure out what happened and why she had ended up there.
“You’ve been here for about four days now. You were basically asleep for three days straight not including the few times you lifted your head peaked around and then dropped off to sleep again. I was about to call a doctor. I didn’t know if you were dying or seriously ill.”
“I’m okay I think; I guess it could be an affect of whatever it was that happened to me and brought me here. Although I don’t actually remember what that was.”
“About that…so you still haven’t remembered anything yet?”
“Well… I kind of remember running down a long road. I can see a huge house with a red car but that’s about all I can remember right now.” She looked at him in hope that this would help the problem at hand.
“Okay, the red car would be mine, so that doesn’t exactly help us out.” he saw the worry wiped across her face. “But don’t worry, take all the time you need.” He just had to make her feel safe again.
She appreciated his efforts but the truth was that Trish felt extremely worried. She hated that she couldn’t remember anything. It ate her up inside that she was no longer in control of her life. She felt so vulnerable, she had worked hard to get where she was and she wasn’t ready to give that up now. Now someone else had total control over her life and she didn’t even know who that was. She started to wonder how she could possibly move on from this.
“I think we should try to get to learn more about each other, especially if you’re going to be staying here for a while.”
“What makes you think that I would be staying here for a while?”
“Well I’m not going to let you go anywhere until we know what happened to you. I think it’s only right. Besides what if the person that is after you decided that they want to hurt you again and you can’t get away? Don’t you think it’s safer this way?”
“What makes you think someone is after me? Why would you say that?” she looked at him suspiciously. She began to feel afraid.
“I don’t know it just came out that way. I didn’t mean anything by it. Just come with me into the living room.” He gestured with his hand for her to sit on the black suede sofa positioned next to the coffee table in the center of the room.
“So, what is your name?” he asked breaking the silence as they sat down.
“My name is Trish Holmes.” She said proudly, but not so proud that she forgot about her suspicion of Martell.
“What do you do?” Martell said shooting out the next question as soon as she ended her last word.
“I’m a lawyer at Barkers Attorneys in Dallas, Texas.”
“I’ve heard of that firm. Your reputation precedes you. Are the rumors about your firm true? Are you really up there with the best of them?”
“I guess we are. So far I’ve only lost bout five percent of my cases.”
“That’s very impressive. I’ll be sure to keep that in mind just in case I ever run into some legal trouble.”
Suddenly there was a long silence. Before she knew it, the butler came in with coffee and orange juice. He walked over to her and handed her the orange juice, she took it and thanked him for it. He nodded, then walked over to Martell, handed him the coffee and silently left the room as quickly as he had entered it. They continued to sit there in silence, sipping there drinks, thinking, worrying and wondering how the situation would play out.
Chapter 2
After drinking their beverages, Martell walked Trish up the stairs and gave her some clothes out of the closet in the room she had been sleeping in. He handed her a peach floral dress.
“I thought you said you didn’t have a wife. How did you get all these women’s clothing?”
“I don’t have a wife…” he paused, “anymore.” He turned to hide his face from her.
Sensing his pain, she stopped reluctantly but then walked over to him. Softly she laid her hand on his shoulder.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked softly.
He jerked away from her and hastily walked to the side of the bed. He laid the clothing on the end of the bed and without saying a word left the room attempting to hide the tears forming on the edges of his eyes. But unknowingly, he had failed.
As the light from the candles danced on his skin outlining her jawbone, her skin started to warm, and it wasn’t caused by the fire. Her eyes wondered along his chest and down his stomach, taking in every inch of his body. She admired his physique and the muscles hidden but elaborated by the tight black shirt he wore, her eyes returned to his face as she noticed he seemed a little distracted.
Martell gasped softly as he saw her walk into the room. Remembering how his wife Gloria looked in the same outfit. She looked almost identical to her. Right from the tip of her toe in the cream open sandals she wore to her pent up hair with the single strand curling around her face.
He quickly wiped away tear that was forming in the corner of his eye.
She walked over to him and set on the same sofa she had been sitting on before. Silence once again filled the air. She began to get uncomfortable and got up to leave the room.
“Wait!” he said abruptly. “Where are you going?” he was upset because he loved the sight of her sitting there, he took in her beauty, the golden flecks of light from the fire did a dance across her skin and excited him deep within. He thought she looked like an angel.
“I thought that maybe you would want to be alone for a while. I noticed how broken up you were earlier.”
“Forget about that, um… we need to figure out what happened to you, and how exactly it was that you ended up here. Did you remember anything yet else?” he tried to changed the subject feeling embarrassed that she had noticed even though he had tried his best to hide it.
“Not really, except I remember a long dark road with a lot of car lights passing by and I remember walking for a short while, but it’s all very blurry.”
“About how long do you remember walking?”
“I don’t know, maybe 15 minutes. Why?”
“Well there aren’t many roads around here that come up to this point and there is only one main road that leads to my house. And in that time, I think it’s the only one you could walk here from. It’s too late now but maybe we can check it out tomorrow. Maybe being there will help you remember something.”
“Maybe it will. Do you have a phone? I really should call home and let my sister know that everything is okay.”
“Yeah it’s over there on the table, do you need some privacy?”
“No I don’t really think that is necessary.”
She walked over to the phone and dialed on the other line was her sister’s partner in life, Charity. She was crying hysterically.
“Hello!” she said with her voice shaking.
“Hi, it’s me, Trish, is everything alright?” she asked beginning to become worried.
“Trish?” she softly repeated her name.
“Yeah?” she was anxious to know what happened but she could tell that something was wrong and she didn’t want to rush her.
“Oh my god!" I am so sorry.” She continued to cry.
“Sorry about what? What’s wrong?” she got a quick chill that shot through her body.
Trish dropped the phone and slid down the wall and curled up into a ball in the corner. Tears ran down her face. Her body was shivering but was calmed by the strong hands of Martell on her shoulders.
“Is everything okay?” he asked concerned.
“No!” she said trembling trying not to burst out in tears.
“What happened?” He wanted to pull her close and make all her problems disappear but he could tell that it wouldn’t be that easy.
“My sister was murdered last night.”
The words rang through the room, seemingly feeling it with a dark heaviness. Trish’s body continued to tremor. Martell continued to attempt to comfort her. He expressed his concern and emotion for her through his hands. His gentle touch told her that he was there and would be for as long as she needed him to be. He took his index finger and lifted her chin up towards him and gently kissed her lips in a way that seemed to make all her pain go away if only for that one moment and everything seemed as a dream.
Once again Trish woke up feeling weak. She rolled over hoping to be in her bed and to discover that it was all a dream. But as her vision cleared up and she saw the breakfast table and the single rose by the bed, all the pain and reality of the past week seemed to come back to her. Tears ran down her cheek from her already swollen eyes as she remembered the news that had been given to her the night before.
A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. She quickly sat up wiping her tears away. She faced the door and through her blurry vision she saw Martell. He walked over to her and sat on the edge of the bed. Admiring her beauty, he pondered about what to say to her.
“Do you feel up to going out today, or would you like a little more time to rest?” He wanted to say morn but he found that to be a little harsh.
Trish looked at his freshly shaven face and the outline of his hard toned chest underneath the back t-shirt he wore. The muscle in his arms glistened with the sweat from his recent work out.
“Are you okay?” he asked reacting to the long silence pause.
“Oh… yeah,” She said in a low husky voice. Realizing what she had just implied she cleared her voice and replied, “Yeah, um I just think I need a little more time to rest.”
She noticed his attention was drawn away. He then turned his back and she then realized why. She looked down and saw that her breasts were showing. Even the nipple was partially exposed. She covered herself and let out an outrageous giggle that made the situation even more embarrassing.
“I’m so sorry. That is so embarrassing.” She tried to laugh it off knowing she wanted to scream.
“No, it’s okay. I should have given you more time to rest. I’ll be outside by the pool if you need anything.”
“Thanks.” She smiled, the embarrassment still plastered across her face.
He started to walk to the door but then turned and said, “Oh and please except my apology for what happened yesterday. I shouldn’t have done that. I felt like I took advantage of your state and I feel terrible about it. For some reason I just couldn’t resist. Believe me it won’t happen again.” And before she could reply he turned and left the room.
As soon as he left, all of the pain rushed back into her head, now more elaborated by what he had just said. She wanted it to happen again. It was the one good thing she had happen to her. She liked the feeling that came with it. Feeling like there was no one else in the world. She was sure that if she had been standing her leg would have popped like in the old movies she used to watch. But now she would never now if that was true.
She then realized that she did not want to be alone at this time. So she got up out of the bed and walked over to the bathroom to clean up and get dressed, not that she had anything to wear. Entering the bathroom she saw a crème bathing suit hanging on the door. Attached to it was a not that read:
“Would you care to join me?”
Trish sighed softly and began to get prepared. Even though she so much to be sad and upset about she couldn’t help but smile.
Chapter 3
Trish found her way out to the pool. Before going out onto the deck, she stopped and admired the view. She paused as she saw a lean body under the water. She watched as two strong arms moved pushing the water pass the hard chest, sexy abs and muscular legs. She snapped out of her trance as he came up from underneath the water. She stopped for another second on the deck, as his eyes met hers. She could feel his eyes roaming all over her body and it began to make her anxious.
Coming up from under the water, Martell noticed Trish standing on the deck, her body partially covered by the shade from the house. Though he tried to resist, he couldn’t help but notice her many features. He admired her long legs that had her standing nearly 6 feet tall, her slim waist and tight abs. he looked at her supple breast now hidden by the bathing suit he had purchased for her, and imagined what he had seen earlier that morning then up her long neck to her beautiful smile. She looked like one of the top super models and he thought that she would be untouchable to him.
She began to walk towards him trying to look as sexy as she possible could. She needed to take her mind off what was currently going on in her life. She felt guilty for it, but didn’t know what else she could possibly do. She figured that if she could look really sexy, she could change his mind about what he said. He walked up the stairs and out of the pool. This action totally destroyed her plan. As she saw the water glistening on his chest and down his strong legs she felt her knees getting weak.
“I hope it fits right.” He said.
“Oh, it’s perfect.” She said with a smile trying to regain the strength in her legs.
All of a sudden she started to feel a little lightheaded and began to stumble.
“Are you okay?” he asked her.
“Yeah I’m okay.” She replied slowly.
But she wasn’t okay and then all of a sudden she into his arms. She could barely see him. He sat her in the chair and looked at her.
“You seem to be falling into my arms a lot lately.” He smiled at her.
“Well they are very nice arms to fall into.” She smiled back.
“Hmm, well I think that you just might be doing it on purpose.”
“I bet you’d like that, but I really don’t enjoy falling on my butt.” She said as she sat up straight in the chair.
“Do you need anything?”
“I think I’m just a little fatigue. Maybe I just need a little food. All I’ve had in the last few days is a cup of orange juice.”
“Well let’s just go into the kitchen and I’ll fix you a little something to eat.”
“You can cook?” she said in shock.
“Why wouldn’t I be able to cook?” he gave her a funny look.
“Well with all the help you have around here I just kind of figured you had them doing everything for you.”
“I didn’t always have this help. I had to earn everything I have. I wasn’t born rich. I grew up in a shabby little two-bedroom apartment with my two brothers, two sisters, and my mom. I am the oldest so I had to cook a lot when my mom would work double shifts at work. And plus they’re only here on Sundays and when I have the occasional gathering. The rest of the time I’m on my own.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.”
“It’s not a big deal. Let’s go.” He said with a chuckle.
“You know for a southerner, you don’t have much of an accent.” She said as they walked into the kitchen.
“Well, I don’t spend much time in the south anymore; I guess the accent sort of wore off.”
Sitting at the dining room table, Trish slid down in her chair and let out a long sigh of satisfaction. She smiled and looked at Martell who was doing the same thing. She nodded at him as a sign of thanks, and to show him how good she thought it was. He smiled in thanks and got up to clear the table.
Quickly she hopped up and started to help him. They took all the dishes in the kitchen and began to wash them and put them away.
While she watched him, Trish started to remember her troubles. As the thoughts of her sister bean to fill her mind, she began to cry. He turned and saw the tears running down her face. Slowly he dried his hands and walked over to her. She let him guide her to the couch. They sat down together and he held her in his arms.
She loved being in his arms, but his presence no longer sent away all her pain. She figured she should call home. And when she did, she found that they had buried her sister and gave away all of her stuff.
Trish couldn’t believe her ears. She went up the stairs and curled up in the bed. Her world was falling apart. Her sister was dead, and she was homeless now because they had already sold the apartment that she shared with her sister, which technically they had the right to do since her name wasn’t on the lease and she was no where to be found. She had nothing and there was still the possibility that someone was looking for her and trying to kill her.
Martell peeked around the corner with apprehension. Not knowing what had just happened, he walked over to her and tried to hold her, but she jerked away. He tried once again and again she jerked away.
“Let me protect you.” He softly whispered. In the short time they spent together, he had grown very fond of her. And no matter how many times he told himself not to, he had gotten emotionally involved. He started to slip into the idea that they were together and she was his and that he had to protect her.
“No, I want to be alone.” Trish knew how Martell felt now about her. He had become her guardian. She felt it was strange, but at this point she really couldn’t care. “Besides, why do you want to protect me, you barely even know me.”
Martell realized the truth in her words, what he was doing was completely wrong. He got up to leave; he now realized what he needed to do. He had to isolate himself from her. He needed time to think. Grabbing his drink he headed for his room once there he downed a half bottle of vodka and fell asleep across his bed.
About two hours later Trish slowly entered his bedroom. She saw him laid out across the center of the bed. He seemed to be very cold. All he had on was his swim trunks which we still slightly damp. She grabbed the blanket off the chair and attempted to lay it over him. As she did, he jumped up and grabbed her arm. She gasped in surprise.
“No!” she shouted. His eyes were still closed and he had beads of sweat running down his face. “Please! Don’t go. Stay with me Gloria!”
Startled, Trish tired not to wake him, but failed miserably. Trying to slip away, she tripped on the blanket that had been tossed onto the floor.
“Own!” Trish screamed as she felt her ankle twist.
Martell jumped up and looked at her as she lay on the floor whimpering softly and rubbing her ankle. She looked up at him as he stared wondering what she was doing there.
“What happened? ...What are you doing here?” he asked rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
“Well, you were lying on the bed in your trunks and I thought you might have been a little cold, so I decided to cover you. But then you went crazy and started shouting and grabbing my arm and I tried to get out without waking you but I tripped and twisted my ankle.” She stopped and looked at him, after hearing him yelling in his sleep she was suddenly aware that he was a total stranger and could be dangerous.
“Oh I’m sorry. I hadn’t realized I still had those dreams.” He sighed and helped her on to the bed.
“What dreams? If you don’t mind me asking, I don’t mean to pry” She looked him in the eyes.
Silence filled the air. Trish was getting used to this settling since it happened so often. He sat there and though about whether or not he should tell her his problems.
Chapter 4
Martell let out a sigh. The noise from the rain was starting to give him a headache. What sounded like soft taps to her, seemed like rock drums to him.
“Are you going to tell me or just shut me out again?” the disappointment was written all over her face. “You know what? …Just forget it, I’ll be in my room.”
As Trish attempted to get up and walk away, the pain from her previously twisted ankle shot up her led and she fell right back onto her bed. She tried not to cry and show pain but the tears flowed anyway.
“I didn’t mean to shut you out. It is just really hard for me to talk about.” He looked to her for sympathy.
“Well maybe talking will actually help.” She pushed the topic.
“If you must know, I’ll tell you.” He stopped and sighed clearing his voice. “I used to be married, to a wonderful woman, her name was Gloria. She was my best friend, my confidante, my lover, and mother to my son. We were happy. Like the TV families I grew up watching. I loved my family so much and I would have given the world to them.” He stopped holding back the tears in his eyes.
Trish looked at him feeling her heart beating beneath her chest. It felt as if it would come bursting out covering them from the pain she knew he was about to reveal. She hoped his story ended in divorce, but something inside her told her not to be so naïve.
After the short pause, he went on. “About two years ago, there was a hit and miss tornado that just suddenly came tearing through the town. It was a Saturday, sunny and skies clear. I mean, not one indication that anything could possibly go wrong. Usually we would all drive up to Gloria’s mother’s home for a big dinner, a tradition in her family since she was a child, but this time I wasn’t able to make it there. I had a business meeting and I just could not miss it. At that time it seemed so important but not now. But they went anyway. Gloria just couldn’t fathom missing it. She was so into family. And that’s exactly why I loved her so much.” He stopped and smiled the first one since their encounter earlier that night. But that was quickly wiped off his face as cold, dark memories flooded back to him. He paused, dropped his head and started again, holding back a knot in his throat. “Any way, while they were on their way there; driving the usual way we always take so that George, our 4 year old son, could see the animals up at the ranch, that damned tornado dropped right behind them. A tourist caught the entire thing on camera. To see it, I mean it was like it wanted them and only them. It just swallowed them up and was gone. Hearing it was hard enough, but to actually see it was like standing there watching my own death. I never felt so empty in my life than at that moment. It was like I was the one being swallowed up.” He paused and turned to her, looking hear dead in the eye. He felt he had to connect with her if he was to continue. “They were my world Trish, my whole life was swept away with that car. You know when I heard about the tape, I just had to see it, I don’t exactly know why but I had to. And I saw her face, she was smiling, looking down at George, I guess knowing that she was oblivious to it should make me feel better, that in her last moments she had a smile on her face. But it doesn’t. It really doesn’t change a thing.” He let out a small laugh. “And for some reason I couldn’t help thinking how I told her never to let him sit in the front seat because he was too small. I always knew that she let him, because he would always tell me. He would come running up to me laughing out loud, put his little hand up to my ear and whisper, ‘mommy let me sit in front like a big boy’ and she would see him and know exactly what he was saying and cover her face to hide. We could laugh so hard about that. I just wish I could hear them laugh once more. I just wish I had the power to make them come back.”
He started to cry and Trish felt like wrapping her arms around him and never letting go. She hated that she had to know what happened, that she had dug so deep with him. She didn’t want to cause all those horrible memories to come rushing back like that.
“I’m sorry” She said, tears in her voice.
“I just wish it was me instead of them.”
“Why, so that it would be them sitting here morning and feeling such horrible pain? I know that this is hard for you, but it that what you would really want for them?” she leaned forward so to look him in the eye.
“No, but I just feel so alone. I need someone. I’m not used to being alone. Even two years later, it still feels so wrong.”
“Well, except for my sister, I’ve been alone since I was eight years old. I guess I just got used to it.”
They looked into each other’s eyes. Question of insecurity and instability filled each other’s minds. Trish wondered if he was the answer to all her prayers and he wondered if he was really worried about the death of his family or a deeper situation that could come up between him and Trish. He felt that in a way, he had betrayed his wife by feeling this way. And even though she was gone, he felt as if by persisting in something with Trish, he would somehow be cheating on Gloria.
Chapter 5
The car bumped as they drove down the rocky road with no real destination in mind. The point of this ride was only meant to attempt to jog Trish’s memory, to see if it would bring anything about what happened to her back into her mind.
“Wait!” she shouted, breaking the now comforting silence.
Martell pulled guided the car to the side of the road. “What?”
“This is where I was, I remember it because I fell up against this tree.” She got out of the car walking over to it. As she looked down she saw a piece of her shoe in the rubble by the tree. She picked it up and handed it to Martell. “That’s part of the tassel off of my shoe.”
They walked around the road scanning and hoping to find another glimmer of inspiration. It was a two-lane road, with one side heading north and the other heading south. No cars were passing, allowing them to walk freely.
Trish stopped and looked around. “I remember a gray truck pulling off and skidding down the road that way.” She pointed north. “I was pushed out onto the ground before it drove off. And I can hear a voice, but I can’t really make out what it was saying.”
Martell walked over to her and grabbed her arm edging her toward the car.
“You can think about it on your way home, we should really be going because there is a storm coming.”
“Okay.” She replied, now sensing the weird tension that was building up between them. She turned around and walked over to the car and got in the back seat.
“Now why would you do that?” he asked her with anger in his voice.
“I'm just trying to give you a little space. You seem really tense and it just seems like that is obviously what you need right now.” She started to put on her seat belt.
“Get in front!” he said with force. The gruffness in his voice sent chills through her, and not the good kind.
Trish was a little scared, not really knowing what he was capable of, and did what she was told. Slowly she slipped into the front sleep and huddled close to the door wanting to leave as much space between them as possible.
They drove off with an eerie silence filling the air. Like no other before it, this silence scared Trish. For the first time, she truly felt uncomfortable and out of place around Martell. As the car pulled off the rain started to pour. And tears began to role down her face drenching her jacket which she had pulled up around her face.
Martell heard the soft sobs that came from her. He started to feel bad about treating her that way. He had no idea where that burst of anger came from. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t bring himself to comfort her, to reassure her. He began to reach for her, but pulled back and drove the rest of the way back to the house in complete silence.
As they pulled up to the house, Trish jumped up and got out of the car she ran to the door of the house. Realizing that she couldn’t go in and would have to wait for him anyway, she started to feel a little foolish. She hated him and wished that she could run away from him, but not having anywhere else to go, she didn’t really have a choice.
The second he opened the door; she rushed in and went straight to her room. She got into bed after taking off the wet clothing.
About an hour later, Martell walked up to her door. He gently pushed it open and saw her with her face slightly peaking up at him from beneath the covers while she slept. She seemed to him as a sleeping beauty. The thought that she could replace his wife scared him. He didn’t want to put his heart back on the line just to loose her too. But in a way he already put his heart on the line. He knew it from the first time she fainted in his arms. He was already emotionally involved and there was no turning back now.
Tears rolled down his face as he walked over to the bed. He sat down on the floor beside her bed making sure not to wake her. For the rest of the night he watched her. Amazed at the beauty she possessed. At that moment he decided that he would let himself be open to her and would love her the way he wanted to.
As her eyes opened Trish saw Martell sitting on the floor. She smiled feeling secure and safe with him. But once again reality struck. Oblivious to the silent oath that he took, she decided to take action.
Martell woke up alone and confused. He didn’t see Trish. He got up and looked around the room and saw note lying on the desk. It read:
I’m sorry for all the troubles I caused you. I never meant to inflict suck a bad thing on you. I feel that I have worn out my welcome. Now I am going to start my life over. Hopefully that’s still a possibility.
Goodbye,
Trish
P.S.
Thanks for all your help. I’ll send you a check for all the things I used. I’ll never forget you.
After reading the note he ran to the stair hoping that he would be able to catch her. But she was nowhere in sight. He called the butler and asked where she was.
“Sir she left a few hours ago. She had me to call a cab for her. I was under the impression that you knew.”
With these words Martell felt his heart break. His first thought was that the love he had started to feel for her was gone. It seemed that he would never have love in his life again. And this punishment of eternal loneliness was his penalty for betraying his wife. He felt ashamed. Slowly he walked up the stairs to his room to morn the loss of yet another love. Maybe this is what was mean for him, a life of sadness and pain.
Chapter 6
After a rough 2 months, Trish was back to her regular life. She was now staying with her friend Robin who worked with her. Staying at her house made her feel relaxed. It was something about the humble surroundings. It felt like home. Maybe that was because she had kept it just the way her grandmother gave it to her. It just helped her to take her mind off her problems.
She had already sent Martell the check but never heard from him afterwards. She had hoped that he would decide to contact her but unfortunately he didn’t.
“So are you sure you’re going to be okay?” Robin asked.
“Yeah it’s been a month. I think I’m fine.” She had told Robin everything and her friend had been there for her like she always had.
They left the house that morning feeling refreshed and relaxed. Trish walked into her office ready to work. She was getting back into her groove and was enjoying her work. She looked on her desk and there was an enveloped marked with her name on it. She opened it without hesitating. Inside was a letter that read:
“I didn’t finish the
Job before, but now
I know where you are.
I’ll be coming for you
Your days are limited”
Trish let out a shrill cry and fell back into her chair. Robin ran into the office.
“What happened? What’s wrong?” she asked with a look of worry on her face.
A crowd gathered around the outside of the office as Trish handed Robin the note. Tears ran down both or the girl’s faces as Robin read the note.
“What happened?” a familiar voice asked.
Trish looked up to see a face that comforted her. She ran to the tall man and wrapped her aroma around his waist and held on as tight as she possibly could.
“I’m so glad you are here!” she said excitedly, with her voice trembling trying to hide the fear and pain inflicted by the note she had just discovered.
She looked up at the face she had known almost all of her life. Jack was always there for her and her sister. He was like the father they never had. He made sure that they were always taken care of. He helped pay her way through college and get the job he now loved so much.
“What’s wrong with my little honey bee?” this was what he called her since she was a child. He had given this name to her because of the color of her natural hair which she had recently lightened to a sunny blonde.
Robin handed him the letter. After he read it he seemed to clench his jaw.
“Come on!” he said grabbing her. “Come with me. I’m going to make sure this nut case doesn’t get to you and that he gets what is coming to him”.
They left immediately and went to get her things. She packed and they left immediately to fly off to a secret place. On the way there she fell asleep but she felt safe. With her were the two people she cared about most, Robin and Jack.