Freeing Alex (21 page)

“That’s probably the best idea.” Roberto offers his advice.
In truth, I really don’t know what to do, most of the other businesses that
Maggie was involved in were property investment-based, so it makes sense to
just hold on and retain the income from them. There’s also a stack of cash in
the bank, so no need to release any capital just yet, the house in Chelsea is
paid for, it would be foolish of me to do anything drastic.

“So where are you from, Alex?” Roberto asks.

“From Staffordshire, lived there all of my life.” Although I
now know that isn’t quite true.

“So a big move for you, and then you found this rogue.” He
looks at James and smiles.

“Well, I don’t know about ‘rogue’. He’s done a sterling job
of keeping Reid’s going, I won’t be letting him go any time soon, that’s for
sure. I honestly couldn’t have done anything without him.” I speak from the
heart because that’s the truth. “James has been so accommodating, so open and
honest, and I think the fact that we get along so well helps.”

“It’s been a very, very difficult time, Roberto,” James
adds. “Alex’s been through the mill, really and truly.”

“I’m really sorry to hear that,” Roberto says quietly. “But
you two look quite cosy here, is there anything I should know? You’re acting
like a couple!”

I flush and look at James and nod. Hell, I don’t care if
Roberto knows we’re
together
.

“Well, I suppose we are,” James says. “Have been for… what
is it, Alex? Four or five weeks? I’m sort of staying at Alex’s house when I’m
not at the hotel.”

“Oh,” the older man says, I think a little surprised. “Well,
I wish you both well. It’s about time James had a good woman to keep him in
order.”

“I don’t know about
a good woman,
” I laugh, “and James
is doing all the looking after at the moment, he’s been brilliant, absolutely
brilliant. I think I would have… Well, he’s saved me several times.”

Roberto puts his wine down and moves his hand on top of
mine, giving it a little squeeze. He smiles at me. “It’ll all sort itself out,”
he reassures me.

James gives me a possessive look and looks down at my hand.
It’s clear he doesn’t like the fact that I’m touching another man. I smile
sweetly at James and then at Roberto, such a lovely man, the looks from James
continue, I defiantly smile at him again.
I like have all of this positive
attention!

“Well, it is my belief, and call me old fashioned if you
want, but I believe that a man should be there to look after his lady, to
protect her and to honour her. You know, the old vows… well, I believe they
should be stuck to. But don’t tell Gia I said so, she never obeys me anyway!”
he all but preaches. 

We all laugh. The wine is flowing freely, the company is
good and for a little while I feel alive, truly alive.

“Where is Gia?” James asks.

“She’s at home, night off. We’re getting on a bit now so we
try to take a few nights off each week. We’d both much rather work in the day
and stay at home in the evenings. We gave David— you remember David?” James
nods. “Well, we gave him the position of Manager, he runs the place for us.”

“That’s good, Roberto, I’m pleased you still have the
bistro. Dad… Dad would be pleased too, I’m sure.” James looks so sad again as
he recalls his father.

Roberto puts a hand on James’s shoulder. “I know he would
be, son, and very proud of you too, as we are.” The conversation stops. The
laughter stops on that sombre note and we sit, drinking our Chianti, all
reflecting, I think, on our own personal worries and triumphs. The quiet’s
disturbed by my mobile, which has again found its way to my apparently
bottomless handbag. I rummage around and retrieve it just as it rings off.
Checking the screen, I see that it was Anna trying to call.

“Anna.” I wave my phone at James. “I’ll call her back,” I
tell the gents as I wander towards the back of the bistro.

The call connects after a couple of rings. “Hi Anna, sorry,
phone was at the bottom of my bag.”

She’s crying and muttering something incomprehensible.
“Anna, calm down and say again?” She repeats the jumble of words but I can’t make
head nor tail of what she is saying. I wave to James and mouth “
something’s
wrong”.
He excuses himself from Roberto and takes the phone from me; he
speaks with Anna.

“Anna, it’s James, what’s wrong? Calm down, Anna, and say it
again. I can’t hear you properly, speak slowly, Anna… Okay, we’re on our way.”

He clears the call and gives my phone back to me. “We need
to go, Alex, she’s had a text from Lewis, pretty nasty, I think. Roberto, I
can’t drive, too much to drink. We need to go back to Reid’s quickly, is there
anyone here that can drive us?”

Roberto looks at us both, concerned. “Big problem?” he asks.

“Potentially, we need to get back sharpish.”

“I’ll call Benito for you, he’s only a few streets away.”
Roberto moves towards a telephone at the rear of the bistro.

Benito? James spoke to someone called Benito a few days ago.
“Who’s Benito?” I ask James.

“Benito’s a relative of Roberto, distant. His dad was a very
good friend of my father too.”

That doesn’t tell me a lot at all.

“What does he do?” I push for information.

“He’s involved in security.”

“Oh.” I’m really still none the wiser!

By the time we’ve got ourselves organised, Benito has
arrived and has walked into the bistro. He’s huge. I thought James had a fine
physique but this guy, he’s massive. He has dark hair, piercing dark grey eyes
and slightly tanned skin. He’s wearing a fine pale grey suit and a plain white
shirt, open at the neck, no tie. Menacingly, he’s also wearing black leather
gloves, the only thing missing to make him look truly threatening is the
sunglasses.

“James, good to see you mate.” He de-gloves one hand and
shakes James’s firmly. There’s mutual back slapping, I guess they haven’t seen
each other in a while. “You must be Alexandra?” Benito takes my hand and raises
it to his lips, gently kissing the back of my knuckles. This rewards him with a
stare from James. “Sorry, mate,” Benito says humbly

I look at the huge Italian guy and give him my little smile,
then I look at James, “We need to get back to the girls.”

“We do, we need to go!” James announces firmly, guiding me
towards the door.

“You want me to tag along?” Roberto asks.

“No, you stay here. No need, I’ll call if I need any help,”
James says. “I’ll call you tomorrow to settle the bill.”

“You do, son, and I’ll be deeply offended,” Roberto says as
we leave. “You’ll come back to get
that
later?” He points towards the
Audi. James answers with a thumbs up.

Benito opens the door to his Mercedes and I climb in the
back. James sits in the front and we’re soon heading off to Reid’s.

After a very fast drive through London we pull up outside
the hotel. The doorman greets us. “Mrs Drake, James.” He tips his hat as we
enter the hotel. Sam is working, he waves and smiles.

“Hi Sam, where’s Anna?” James ask.

“Haven’t seen the girls at all. Must be in their room.” The
Concierge tips his hat as I pass.

“No worries. Come on, Alex, Benito.” We walk quickly across
the foyer, which is busy with people. There’s a private party in one of the
function rooms and pounding music is filtering throughout the ground floor of
the hotel. The lifts are clear and we’re soon on our way to the first floor. We
walk three abreast along the corridor, James and Benito either side of me, and
stop at Anna and Katie’s room. James knocks. We hear soft footsteps the other
side of the door and from the fumbling it’s clear that either Anna or Katie is
looking through the spy hole. The door opens and Anna lets us in.

I can see from her face that she’s been crying; mascara is
running down her cheeks and her eyes are puffy. “I… I’ve had a text, a text
from Dad,” she sobs.

“I will not have him, the bloody bastard upsetting my
daughter, I will not have it!” I curse as I march towards Anna, James right
behind me. “Why can’t the police just haul him back in again, I won’t have it
James.” I snap as I sit besid Anna, my arm around her shoulder. I pull her
towards me, “Oh Anna. We’ll sort it my darling, we will.” She turns her head to
my shoulder, I feel her crying quietly, little hunches of her shoulders

James looks at me and then Anna, “Where’s your phone, Anna?”
.

“It’s here,” Katie says. She’s sat on her bed, the TV is on.
“I’ve tried to calm her down, tell her that nobody can hurt us, or you, but she
won’t have it. I’m so sorry.”

“Katie, it’s not your fault,” I say as I leave Anna for a
moment and walk over to her, giving her a reassuring hug. “You couldn’t have
done anything.”

“Fuck!” I hear James say. “Benito, mate, have a look at
this.” James shows Benito the phone.

“The bastard. The fucking bastard needs horse-whipping! No,
scrub that, he needs—” He’s interrupted by James, who’s tapped his arm and
signalled to Anna and Katie.

“What does it say?” I ask.

“No need for you to know, Alexandra,” Benito mumbles. “I’ll
deal with this. Anna, love, can I keep your phone? I’m sure your mum will get
you another.”

“Whatever,” she sobs. “Just… I don’t want any more of
those.” She flaps her hand towards the phone as she sits on the bed sobbing.

“I’ll get on it now. James, are you staying here tonight?”
Benito looks menacing, I really wouldn’t like to be on the wrong side of him. I
can’t help but wonder what sort of
security
he’s involved in and I
question myself – what have
I
got involved with?

“I don’t know. I’ll check if there’s anything available.
Give me a second.” James picks up the telephone by the side of Anna’s bed. He
calls reception. Whilst he checks room availability, I comfort Anna. I have no
idea what her dad has texted her but whatever it was, it was clearly enough to
really frighten her.

“The room you had is free,” James says to me. He looks at
Benito. “Next door but one to here. Can you stay here with them while I go and
get the key?” He leaves us with Benito whilst he goes to reception.

I stay with Katie and Anna for a couple of hours, until
they’re both ready for bed, leaving them with the reassurance that I’m just
down the corridor, with James, telling them that they must come and get us, or
telephone us if they feel insecure in any way.

Once everyone is settled and I’ve made my way back to our
room, I slip off my dress, shower quickly and slip on the hotel robe. I check
my face in the mirror. Now that my makeup is off I check the bruise on my
cheek; it’s still evident but only slightly, I’m healing quickly, coupled with
Lewis losing his touch.

 James is watching TV as I walk back into the bedroom. “What
did the text say?”

He looks at me. “Do you really want to know?” He follows me
as I flop down on the bed.

“Yes, it’s important,” I snap. “I need to know. Tell me!”

He draws breath, “It said that he knew Anna was here, on her
own, and that she should be prepared to live with him again as he was coming to
get you, that you wouldn’t be around much longer and that it was all a big
mistake, all Maggie’s possessions were his really.” James recounts the text on
Anna’s phone.

I throw my hands over my face. It’s not real, Lewis is
totally deranged, he’s lost the plot completely. “What can I do? I suppose
telling the police isn’t an option?”

“You need to take out a restraining order that applies to
you and Anna. Call your solicitor tomorrow and get it arranged. Benito may be
able to help, he’s pretty good.”

“What sort of security is he involved in?” I ask.

“Top end,” he answers shortly.

I frown. “What does that mean? Is he MI5 or something?”

“Or something – and don’t ask any more questions about
Benito. Please,” he says very firmly, looking so serious.

“He won’t do anything stupid, will he?” I’m worried, very
worried.

“No, nothing stupid. Benito doesn’t do stupid!” His tone is
short, brittle.

“So what exactly does he do, James? I want to know!”

“He will take care of it, don’t worry, and don’t ask any
more questions about Benito, all right?” he snaps. “It’ll be sorted!”

I just hope that this Benito knows what he’s doing. I don’t
want any repercussions, I just want to get the divorce finalised and move on
properly, that’s all. Why is Lewis being so bloody awkward? I think back to
what I’ve been through over the years, the hurt both physical and mental and
the heartache, losing my parents, especially my dad when I was young, and now
Lewis doesn’t appear to want to let me go. No, it’s the cash he wants, not me, I’m
just the route to the cash. My insides twist again, feeling so nervous and
unsettled.

I sit on the bed in my hotel robe. Look at me! Even though
I’m not actually with Lewis he’s still running my life, making it so that I
can’t move on, and now it’s impacting on Anna. I really don’t know how much
more of this I can take, it’s worse than the weekend beatings.

I stare at the TV, stare into nothing. I’m deep within my
own thoughts when I feel my eyes pool, a tear gently finds its way down my
cheek just as James turns.

“Sorry I was short.” He looks at me. “Oh no, Alex, please,
please don’t cry. I’m sorry.”  He moves onto the giant bed and slides over
towards me.

“It’s not you,” I blubber. “It’s him, why can’t he just
leave me alone? All I want to do is move on. He’s getting a huge amount of cash
out of me but still isn’t satisfied. What’s wrong with him, James, what have I
done?” I sob. I really don’t know what else to do. What else can I do?

“You’ve done nothing, nothing at all.” He pulls me close,
kissing the top of my head. “Nothing at all, Alex.”

I rest my head on his shoulder for I don’t know how long, he
just holds me close, whispering little reassurances.