Fatal Obsession (Black Widow Book 2) (5 page)

Though he’d had a fitful night, it was the most rest he’d had in the longest time. It was a comfortable bed, not like the seedy ones he’d slept on chasing false leads on VS around the country. He ran his hand tiredly over his face, pausing to stroke the light fuzz on his chin and around his mouth. He’d shaved some; all that was left was cutting his head of long curls. But for now—he combed his hair back and held it at the base of his head with a rubber band. Holding the towel around his waist, he moved to the closet to grab his bag. Hopefully, he’d have something clean to wear and then he would ask Dale about a washer and a dryer. He was sure Dale was still home. He didn’t trust Damien around his wife and sadly, neither did Damien. Every time he looked at her he saw…

The door opened and he turned to it. There standing with a pile of his clothes—clean and folded—was the object of his torment.

“Ah, hi. I didn’t think you had anything clean—I asked Dale to—I hope you don’t mind that I—” she held the pile out and he had to control himself from laughing at how she stammered through that. “Here, all clean. Including underwear.”

He watched as her throat moved in a hard swallow, her forced smile fighting to stay straight on her lips. She was nervous. It made him grin.

Slowly, smoothly he walked to her, watching as her eyes looked over his naked torso, reaching his waist, then she quickly looked away. Why was she acting all shy around him?
Maybe…

He’d loved the taste of her when he’d kissed her. He’d been disappointed when she didn’t kiss him back and instead forcefully pushed him away before Dale stepped in between them, shoving Damien back. She looked up, catching him staring at her lips and her eyes immediately widened. He finally saw and understood the whole deer in headlights thing on a person’s face.

Maybe…

“Stop where you are,” Dale growled, stepping into the doorway behind Ellie. He turned to his side, stepping into the room. Still glaring at Damien he grabbed the pile of clothes and pushed them into his chest. “Get dressed. She’s been spotted again.”

Damien went rigid, hugging his clothes to his chest, “Where?”

“At a prep school in the next district. Let’s go.”

Dale grabbed Ellie’s hand and dragged her out, banging the door closed in their wake. Wasting no time Damien pulled on a t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, then quickly slid his feet into his worn but reliable Timberland boots. He grabbed his phone and wallet and rushed out the door. He’d gotten to the entryway of the living room when he heard the quiet sniffling of someone crying. Dale was wrapped around Ellie as they stood in the middle of the room and she was barely visible under all that mass of muscle; he could only see her from the waist down. She was crying and Dale had his head lowered, his lips to her ear whispering softly. When he finally spotted Damien he said something short and followed it with an ‘I love you’ and a kiss to her forehead before he unwrapped himself and walked towards Damien.

“Let’s go. Grab a jacket from the hallway closet.” Dale commanded gruffly as he walked past him.

Damien just nodded, still staring at Ellie’s back and her bouncing shoulders. It was clear that she loved her sister despite all the hurt and harm Ellsa had caused in her life. Ellie still loved her.

Wanting to comfort her in some way Damien took three large steps towards her, but didn’t dare take the last one that would have her in his arms in a second. “I’ll make sure she’s alright, treated fairly that is. She won’t come to any harm with me there, especially if she’s—” he pressed his lips shut before he said something he wished wasn’t true.

Just because he was smart didn’t mean he didn’t indulge in some superstition.

She turned around. With a sad smile and swollen red-rimmed eyes, her arms crossed over her chest “Especially if she’s Victoria Secret? Yeah, Dale explained the confusion. Damien, I’m not her, but she could be Ellsa.”

Ah hell, she said it
. He clenched his jaw to keep from muttering Indian rebukes to her words.

She took the remaining step and closed the distance, placing her small hand on his large arm. His muscles flexed at her touch, but he kept himself immobile. “Please, that woman you spent that weekend with, the one you fell in love with, that’s my sister. She’s the one I grew up with, the one I know, not—please if there is a chance of getting her back, for both our sakes, help me!” A tear trickled down her cheek. “Please, don’t let them—she needs to be alive for us to help her.”

Damien stiffened. Dear God he hadn’t thought of that. She was a dangerous escapee from a psycho jail and Dale—he would do anything to protect his family, even kill his sister-in-law.

“Damien! Let’s go!” Dale barked behind him, making Ellie jump.

“I promise,” Damien whispered so that only she could hear, then he pulled away and followed Dale out, grabbing a brown leather jacket from the closet on his way out.

****

Tasha laughingly watched DJ high-five his fellow classmates then wave at his teacher before he turned to her. She had been standing there for five minutes already watching her son laugh and smile with the others. Tom never liked them to linger, but she couldn’t interrupt him. For the first time since—well the year she could remember, DJ wasn’t pouting, hunched over and rushing to the car. He was happy and he finally had friends! She couldn’t ruin that for him. He came running to her, arms wide open and the biggest smile on his face. She crouched down and he launched himself at her and she caught him, standing and spinning him around. She stopped and hugged him tight, peppering his face with kisses. Instead of grumbling and turning his face away, he was actually giggling and letting her kiss his little face to her heart's content.

She pulled away and smiled up at him. “So kiddo how was your day?” she could already guess but she still wanted to hear it all.

He grabbed her face and planted a wet, noisy kiss on her cheek. “It was great Momma! Miss Blakely listened to my suggestion and she even let me teach for a few minutes. I gave all those who got an answer right a piece of candy,” he announced proudly.

With a raised brow she said, “Did ya now. And where if I may ask, did you get all that candy?”

His cheeks turned a shade of pink as he looked down at his twisting fingers. She found that both peculiar and amusing. He was so cute when he felt guilty.

“I got them from the kitchen store,” he whispered, looking at her from under his thick and long eyelashes. “Am I in trouble?”

She held herself from chuckling, “No you’re not in trouble. You shared them as a reward to others. That makes me a proud and lucky mommy to have a son like you.”

His lips spread in a beaming smile that reached his wide brown eyes. And yet again she was hit with a sense of familiarity. DJ eyes suddenly grew saucer wide and his smile was face splitting.

“Daddy!” he yelled, making her ears ring for a second. He wiggled vigorously in her arms, effectively slipping out of her hold. She’d barely lowered him to the ground when he pulled away and took off running behind her.

“DJ!” she yelled, turning to chase after him. She froze.

Tasha watched as DJ launched himself at a man and the stranger quickly caught him, coming out of his own stupor. She watched them speak, DJ so animatedly and the stranger cautious, with a ghost of a smile on his lips, though his eyes still held surprise. His eyes roamed DJ’s face questioningly and then it was like a light bulb went on in his head and he quickly turned to look at her. His eyes, his gaze on her made her gasp and she took a step back. God, she only wished she knew why, or remembered why! Even more, she wished she knew the revelation he’d just come upon because she sure as hell wanted to know what was going on. Why did she feel so hot under his gaze? Why didn’t she feel even the slightest twinge of fear as the stranger carried her son? And why did her son call him daddy? The stranger looked just as surprised as she did by DJ’s claim.

What was Tom keeping from her?

The moment the man took his first step to her, she suddenly felt the fear that was absent flood into her. She took several steps back until her back slammed into her SUV. The stranger stopped right in front of her and if it wasn’t for DJ he would have pressed up against her, she was sure of it.

“How’ve you been, Victoria Secret?” he asked with a breathy whisper.

“What?” she whizzed out. Why the hell did he make her feel so breathless and light-headed?

“It’s Daddy, Momma. Don’t worry, I already told him you don’t remember anything. You didn’t remember me until I reminded you, right Momma?”

Not looking away from the stranger’s swirly brown eyes she muttered, “Right, DJ.”

The stranger turned his head slightly toward her son, but he too never broke eye contact. “DJ, what’s that stand for?”

Little hands slapped onto his shadowed cheeks then forcefully turned his head. Tasha looked at DJ too.

“How do you not know that?” DJ accused. “It’s a nickname for Damien Junior or Damien James.”

Something flickered in the stranger's eyes before he smiled broadly making Tasha’s heart stutter. That’s where she knew the smile came from. And those swirly browns… she’d been looking at him for five minutes and now was when it hit her. She looked between the two and her breath caught in her throat—dear God!

No, no! DJ truly wasn’t Tom’s son.

“Of course I didn’t forget—Damien James Chan.”

DJ’s proud grin matched the strangers, “Just like you.”

“Yeah, just like me, except for one thing. James is your grandpa’s name, your momma’s daddy.”

Those words rang in Tasha’s ears and she felt herself slide down the SUV, her vision filling with dark spots and finally, complete darkness.

****

Damien reached out with his free arm and grabbed Ellsa up before she completely hit the ground. He dragged her up against him, carrying her entire weight on his arm. Good thing he was in good shape, a weaker man would have been on the ground with Ellsa and DJ in tow. He jostled her until her head dropped onto his shoulder.

“Is Momma okay?”

Damien turned to the squeaky whisper of his son.
My son
. His heart skipped—in a good way. A fantastic way. There was no doubt in his mind that the little boy he held was his son. Though he wondered why Ellsa—yes, he’d come to terms with the fact that VS was the murderer, Ellsa, when he’d spotted her leaning against the SUV waiting for school to break. He wondered why Ellsa hadn’t told him about DJ’s existence. She’d had three years of sanity to do so.

He saw recognition in her eyes when she saw him. Like someone she’d occasionally see at the store but never spoke to except polite nods of the head, not the kind of recognition of someone she’d spent a steamy weekend with. Why was that? And why had she fainted?

“Don’t worry, buddy. The heat must have gotten to momma.”

DJ didn’t look convinced as he stared at his mom with fear in his eyes. Well, he would be more afraid if he knew the FBI was around the corner waiting on his cue to come arrest his mom. They needed to leave and fast, before anyone began to question Damien’s delay—before Dale started questioning his delay.

Damien jostled DJ in his arm, drawing his attention. “Hey, everything is going to be okay. Reach for the door and open it, would ya?”

He nodded solemnly, leaning over to grab the handle and pulling the passenger door open.

“Good job, buddy. Now get in and climb into the back. Can you do up your seat belt on your own?”

He nodded and Damien put him down on the passenger seat. He quickly scrambled to the back, into his seat and did up his belt all the while craning his neck to gaze at his mother’s unconscious form.

Damien felt the emotion gnaw at him. DJ was probably the only one who understood his own fear—though their fears had different causes. He swung Ellsa up in his arms, cradling her close to his chest. He stared down at her. Though her face was serene, little balls of perspiration had begun to form on her forehead and if he wasn’t mistaken, she was getting a temperature too. Maybe there was more than one cause to worry.

“I lost you once; I’m not going to lose you again. We’ll figure out what the hell happened to you VS, but very far from here.”

He’d decided. He was taking his family and running.

He carefully placed Ellsa in the passenger seat and did up her belt. He quickly closed the door and ran around to the driver’s side and got in. He cheered when he saw she’d left the key in the ignition—stupid, but presently, brilliant.

From the rearview mirror, he saw DJ struggle against his belt to lean forward and touch Ellsa.

“Sit back buddy. I’m going to drive really fast and I need you safe and secure in your seat.”

Without question, DJ sat back, holding Damien’s gaze in the rearview mirror. “Does she have a temperature? Is she sweating?”

Damien turned on the car and pulled out, looking around him for tail cars. They weren’t expecting Ellsa to drive out. Damien was supposed to have her in custody and quietly walk her to the corner where the FBI were waiting—opposite to where he was headed now. Dale was sure she was staking out a kid to kidnap. He was going to flip when he found out that the kid was his own nephew—double the relation.

“Yes, buddy. But don’t worry she’ll be fine.” He answered, driving away at a sedate pace so as not to draw out any attention. But the second he was on the main road, he was going to drive like a bat out of hell.

“It happens when she tries to remember. She needs her medicine.” He watched DJ’s brows furrow deeply in thought.

“What meds?”

“The one’s Mr. Turner gives her when she remembers. I don’t like them because they make her forget. I think he does that on purpose. She forgets even me and I have to start all over again to remind her.”

That raised his hackles, “Who is Mr. Turner and what do you mean by he makes her forget?”

“Momma’s new husband. I don’t like him. He told momma I was his son. I’m not. Before she forgot, momma told me that you’re my daddy.”

Damien’s grip tightened around the wheel, “Well, I don’t like him either. DJ, why doesn’t your mom remember?”