Footsteps (19 page)

“No, Bina. You’re not. And here’s the thing.
You’re not going to leave, because you’re not going to go. When
we’re done here, you’ll remember your place.”

He patted her leg and then stood. His hands
went to his waist and she expected him to go for his belt. She
turned, intending to roll to the other side of the bed and get up
and away. But he’d really hurt her, and she froze, her hands going
between her legs as if that would stop the pain.

It wasn’t his belt he was going for. It was
his phone. With his clean hand, he reached into his pants pocket
and brought it out. He moved his thumb over the touchscreen briefly
and put the phone to his ear. “Come in.”

He put his phone away.

James had never invited anyone into their
bedroom before. He was far too jealous and possessive to include
anyone else in his ‘play.’ Sabina pushed her pain away and tried to
understand what those two words meant, but before she could think
even one thought through, the bedroom door opened, and a man walked
in. The man from the Escalade. He was huge, with shoulders as wide
as a refrigerator, a shaved head, and square blocks for hands. He
wore a light grey suit, the weave of which was being thoroughly
tested by his girth.

“This, darling, is Eddie. He is an associate
of mine. He’s been on a job for me lately, and he’s been quite
helpful. I’m feeling generous today. And also, frankly, not
remotely attracted to you. I am not interested in another man’s
leavings. Eddie, though, you’re interested, aren’t you?”

Eddie looked worried and confused more than
anything else. “Boss?”

“You do what I say with her for a while. But
then I’ll give you an hour to do what you want.”

As understanding dawned, Sabina’s world
closed to a pinpoint. Again she turned to get off the bed at the
side farthest from these men. This time, she willed herself to
ignore the pain.

James sighed. “Stop her.”

Eddie did, reaching out and grabbing her arm
around the bicep. “Boss, what are you talkin’ about?”

“I know you’re not stupid, Eddie. I don’t
contract with stupid people, and I don’t pay stupid people. Neither
are you deaf. I spoke plainly. Are you continuing in my employ, or
are you not?”

“You want me to fuck your wife?”

“Among other things, yes. She apparently has
a desire for something new.”

His hand still around her arm, Eddie turned
to her. “Are you into this, doll?”

She shook her head. “No. Please.”

James’s voice was steady and calm. “Eddie.
Make your choice. I can offer you a $20,000 bonus if you make the
right one.”

At least Eddie took a second before
deciding. “Sorry, doll.” Then his expression went hard, like a mask
dropping over his face, and he pulled her back to the edge of the
bed. “What do you want me to do?”

“For the moment, just keep her where she is
while I set up.” James went to the bathroom and washed his hands.
Then he left the room.

She had a chance now, if only Eddie’s moment
of hesitation could be exploited. “Please, Eddie. Let me go. He
wants you to hurt me.”

Eddie ignored her.

“Eddie. Eddie, please.”

His hand tightened around her arm, and he
yanked her up and bent down so that they were face to face. “Shut
up, bitch.”

He had made his choice. And Sabina was back
to hoping for death. She’d had a few scant days to enjoy the dream,
the illusion, of freedom. She wilted.

James came back into the room with a large,
lacquered black chest. His ‘toy’ chest. “Strip her. I’ll give you
something to bind her, and we’ll get started.” He took out his keys
and unlocked the chest.

~oOo~

James pressed his mouth to her ear. “So,
darling, was I right? Are you staying?”

Eddie had never touched her face or her
head. James never marked her face. Nothing she couldn’t easily
cover. So she could see clearly, and she could think clearly.
Except for the way her pain kept demanding all of her attention.
She had been clear through all of it. All of it. Until today,
despite fifteen years of living with his twisted needs, Sabina had
not understood the true depths of his depravity. And after a first
few, unsteady minutes, Eddie had been a perfect henchman.

And he had taken his hour.

“Darling? Answer my question. Are you
staying?”

She nodded.

“Say it, Bina.”

“I stay.” Her voice was rough.

He released her bonds and sat back. “I
thought so. Good. Clean yourself up. We have a guest for dinner.”
He slapped her ass, and she cried out before she could stop
herself. He grinned down at her and hit her again, harder. She’d
known to expect that one, so she was able to stay silent. “One to
grow on,” he sneered. And then he left the room. He closed the
door.

She was alone in the room.

She lay there for a moment, trying to
understand how much of her body would work for her. And then she
decided it didn’t matter. She had this slender chance and would
probably never again in her few remaining days have another. So she
got herself onto her feet and went to the sliding door that led
onto the veranda. She would not take even so much time as she’d
need to dress or find shoes. She grabbed the bloody top sheet off
the bed, tore open the door, and ran.

She just ran. Toward Quiet Cove, over dunes
and shifting sand, wrapping the sheet around her as she went, she
ran.

Carlo ran onto the beach and around the
corner of Carmen’s house. As he flew toward her porch and front
door, John cut him off. “Wait up, Carlo. Wait.”

“Get off me!” He shoved his brother’s hands
away and tried to veer around him, but John cut him off again. “Get
off!”

“You can’t go in there like that. She needs
you to be calm. So sit, and I’ll get Carmen.”

He didn’t need to; Carmen came out the door
at that moment. “I called Uncle Ben. He’s bringing Dr. Kerr. She
won’t go to a hospital.”

“No. He’d just get her again. Has he tried
to get her here?”

“No, he hasn’t come here, not yet. John and
I are both carrying. Joey is coming with Uncle Ben. We’re okay.”
She took his arm. “Come sit with me a second. We’ll talk. I’ll tell
you what I know. Okay? It’s not much. She’s not talking much.”

“Who’s with her? Is she alone in there?”

“Rosa’s with her. Carlo, you need to sit and
listen. Do you want John to call Luca, have him bring Trey to
you?”

He let his sister lead him to the fire pit
and sit him down in a chair. “No. He should keep Trey away. Until
we know…” Know what? Whether James Auberon planned to attack his
child for the encore of his magnum opus?

Carmen sat next to him. “Okay. Just listen.
It was really quiet on the beach today. The sun went in around
noon, and nobody was around. I was out on my board, just getting
wet, and I saw her running down the beach. I couldn’t figure out
what I was seeing at first, because she was wrapped in a sheet and
was running strangely. I didn’t even realize she was a person at
first. But then I saw that somebody else was running after her. I
paddled back as fast as I could, and by the time I hit the shore, I
knew it was Sabina. She was…she looked bad. She wasn’t crying or
yelling or anything. She just looked…determined. When I caught her,
the guy chasing her stopped and turned back the other way. I didn’t
think to pay him any more attention, because she was falling down,
breathing weird. I got her into the house. She’s really hurt,
Carlo.”

“Tell me.”

“I don’t know it all. I didn’t get that
personal, and she hasn’t let anyone touch her except to get her to
bed. Not even to clean her wounds. But the sheet she was wrapped in
was just about soaked in blood. She’s bruised pretty much all over.
There’s—there’s a lot of blood on her legs. And her feet are
shredded, but that’s from the beach, I’m sure.” Carmen made a
strangled little laugh. “Except her face. Her face is beautiful as
ever. That’s almost worse somehow. Like it was so controlled, what
he did.”

Carlo moved to rise, and Carmen dropped a
restraining hand on his leg. “I know you, Carlo, and what I’m about
to say is gonna piss you off, but I need to say it. I understand. I
like her. And I’m so sorry for her. I can’t even make sense of what
she’s going through. But you met her four days ago. Four days. I
see that she needs your help.
Our
help, and I think we
should help her. But you, big brother, have a hero complex. Don’t
mistake rescue for love. Don’t get tangled up in that again.”

She’d been right; he was pissed off.
“Again?”

“You rescued Jenny, too.” When he opened his
mouth to protest, she raised her voice and kept going. “And you
know that’s true. When she didn’t need you anymore, she left. I
don’t want you to go through that again.”

“Fuck you, Carm.” As comebacks went, ‘fuck
you’ was not among the greats, but Carmen was digging in a sore
place. Jenny had been fragile, yes, and he knew his siblings
thought she was odd and too needy, but they’d been together for
more than five years, and he’d been happy. So had she, for part of
it, at least. They’d had a son together, and they’d had years Carlo
knew had been good. No matter its end, his marriage had been real.
More than merely rescue. Besides, Jenny had never needed rescue
from anyone but herself.

So he said again, “Fuck you.”

Carmen grinned wryly. “I knew it was going
to piss you off. Truth hurts, big fella. I’m just saying—keep your
brain engaged here. Your heart runs amok.” She squeezed his leg.
“Sabina needs calm. You ready to be calm?”

He felt the farthest thing from calm. His
day had been chaos and shit since lunch. His son had been
threatened, his home and work destroyed, his…Bina had been hurt,
and he had no idea how much of his life he would even have left
when he woke in the morning. But he needed to see her and know. He
would maintain. He nodded. “I’m calm. I’m going in.”

Carmen lifted her hand from his leg, and he
stood and walked to her house.

Rosa was in the kitchen, making herself a
cup of tea. She smiled, but she looked pale. “She’s sleeping—on the
daybed. Carmen called Uncle Ben.”

“I know. I’m…I’m going to sit with her.”

“Okay. Carlo, she’s—be ready.”

Bile boiling up in his gut, Carlo nodded and
went to Bina.

The room was dim, only a small table lamp
with a red scarf over it giving any light. Bina was curled on her
side, under an old patchwork quilt that Carmen had taken at some
point from the closet in the upstairs hall in the house on Caravel
Road. Her feet, stacked one on top of the other, peeked out from
the bottom. They were still caked with blood and sand.

Her eyes were closed, and she seemed to be
sleeping. Her breath, though, was heavy and labored. The red glow
of the lamp cast an eerie shadow over her face, making the skin
under her eyes appear bruised. But Carmen had said her face wasn’t
hurt.

Carlo knelt at the side of the daybed. A
lock of her dark hair curled over her cheek, moving slightly in
time with her exhales and inhales. Very gently, he reached out and
brushed it back from her face.

She woke with a violent start, her eyes
popping open, and took a breath that was almost a scream. She fixed
on him but didn’t seem to know him.

“Bina. Bina, it’s okay. You’re safe.”

Her eyes cleared and relaxed from their
wide-open fear. “Carlo. You are all right? Trey is?”

“Yes. We’re fine.” He put his hand on her
face. She flinched a little, but then closed her eyes at his
touch.

“I am away? From him?”

“You are. We’re going to keep him away. I
promise. We have a doctor coming to help you.”

“No—no…they’ll tell him.”

“Not this doctor. It’s okay, I promise.”

She nodded and slowly slid a hand out from
under the quilt, laying it over his on her face. That blasted ring
still glittered on her finger, lording over a forearm hatched with
cuts, dark bruises, and welts. Jesus, what had he done to her?

“What did he do, Bina?”

She shook her head slightly and winced. “No.
He… he paid someone. He watched. And…and…I don’t know the right
word…directed?”

Carlo wondered what it felt like to have a
stroke, because he thought there was a fair chance he was on his
way to one. He didn’t give a fuck that he’d only known this woman a
few days. He didn’t give a fuck whether he had a ‘hero complex’ or
not. Fury filled his head, and he wanted to kill for her. He wanted
James Auberon to die, bloody and in pieces.

There was a small commotion on the other
side of the door; Carlo listened for a second and determined that
Uncle Ben and Dr. Kerr had arrived. He intended to stand, but when
he tried to lift his hand from Bina’s face, she clutched it.

“Please, you stay.”

He didn’t know whether Carmen was right, but
he didn’t care. What he felt right now felt like love. And the pain
inside him was real. So was the rage. He tamped it down and stayed
calm for her.