Heart Matters (30 page)

The older man frowned suspiciously before
stretching out his hand. “All right, let me see.”

“No! Don’t Davie, it’s a trick!” Ida cried
out, desperately holding him back.

Her husband’s eyes turned on her in
surprise. “What do you mean ‘it’s a trick’?”

Steven’s blue irises gave her an innocent
look. “Yes, Ida, what
do
you mean?”

Ida had the look of a trapped animal as she
looked from one man to the other. She stepped back from both of
them, her body beginning to tremble. “I..I..don’t know…what you’re
talking about.”

“Then why don’t you tell me what’s on the
cloth?” Steven persisted, stepping ahead.

Haunted, green eyes stared back at him from
a colorless face. She knew the game was over. She looked at David
for help but he stood unmoving, the look on his face clearly
supporting Steven’s question. If he came to know the truth, she
would be in deep trouble. In a last attempt to save herself, she
abruptly dove past David to retrieve the gun that had fallen on the
floor.

Both men lunged at her in vain. The gun was
in her shaking hands and before they could stop her, she fired it.
The bullet missed them both. Steven charged at Ida, wrestling her
to the floor in an attempt to get the gun from her. He gave a harsh
slap that loosened her grip and grabbed the gun. She struggled
against him like a wild cat. He gave her another slap that drew
blood from the corner of her mouth. Ida calmed down, dissolving
into a fit of tears.

Steven kept the gun in his hand and turned
his attention to David. The Senator had lost color from his face
and was staring at his wife in complete shock. “What is
wrong
with her?”

Steven shook his head regretfully as he
looked at the miserable woman. “Like I said earlier, she’s crazy.
And she wants to be a winner. She wanted me to take her back, when
I refused, she staged all this just to get even with me.”

David stared at him in complete
astonishment. “You mean you didn’t sleep with her last night?”

“Hell, no!” Steven exclaimed, rubbing his
day old stubble with an exasperated hand. “When I told her last
night that you were coming in for her, she pretended to accept the
inevitable. She asked me to join her for a nightcap and when I
walked in here, I was hit from behind. I fell unconscious and the
next thing I know is you’re standing at my feet, looking positively
murderous.”

The Senator frowned, touching his tense
brow. “Didn’t you hear her come up behind you when she hit
you?”

“No. She didn’t hit me.” The words that left
Steven’s mouth hit him with a horrifying realization. “Good Lord!
If she didn’t hit me then that means there was someone else here.”
A multitude of images from the past few days flashed before his
eyes in rapid succession.
Jessica moaning in pain after she was
attacked. Her trembling body when she had seen her assailant. The
footprints in the sand at the bottom of the balcony.

Ida! She was behind it. She had hired
someone to kill Jessica! And that same person had attacked him last
night!

He strode to where Ida sat crouched in a
corner. He dragged her viciously to her feet. “You sent someone to
kill Jessica, didn’t you? Didn’t you?” he bellowed, shaking her
hard.

“Yes! Yes! I want her dead! I want her out
of your life! She took you from me, but I won’t let her win! She
can’t win!” Ida began laughing hysterically, tears streaming down
her face. “I’ve won! I’ve won! You don’t want me do you, Steve,
well, you won’t have her either! She’s gone, darling; she’s
probably on her heavenly journey by now.”

Cold terror gripped Steven. “No!” he shouted
so loud she winced. “Where is she? Tell me or I’ll break your
neck!” His hands circled her delicate neck, squeezing it
menacingly.

“I don’t know!” she cried out in terror,
“She was here in the morning. She saw you on the bed and walked
off. She didn’t tell me where she was going.”

“What about the man who attacked me? Did he
go after her?”

She gulped nervously. “Yes.”

“Damn you!” he roared with white fury and
pushed her away ruthlessly. He looked at David, his face a picture
of desperation. “I
have
to find her!”

The senator placed a hand on his shoulder to
halt him. “Wait, you can’t do this alone. You need my help.” He
didn’t wait for Steven’s reply and flicked open his phone. He
punched a number and spoke rapidly. “Get in here, Sebastian.”

Within seconds Mark Sebastian, his security
in charge, appeared at the cottage. When Mark saw Steven, he
stopped short his eyes flickering with the briefest of recognition.
The red flare across Steven’s face told him that he had likewise
recognized him.

David briefed him on the situation and Mark
listened curtly. He kept his emotions well in control even as his
heart started beating at an alarming rate. Jessica was in trouble!
He threw a glance at Ida’s cowering figure with a worried frown.
“Senator, if this gets out we’ll have a full-fledged scandal on our
hands.”

“I don’t care, just find Mrs. Hart,” David
ordered impatiently. He looked at Steven’s disturbed face with
sympathy before his gray eyes rested firmly on Mark. “Trust me on
this one, Sebastian, I’d feel the same. We can always sweep the
dirt under the carpet.”

Mark glared at Steven almost raging to take
a go at him right there. How the hell had he allowed Jessica to
land up in such trouble? He turned his attention to Ida. He had to
get to Jessica as fast as possible. He knelt before her on one knee
and spoke quietly but with a dangerous tone in his voice. “Well,
Mrs. Devon, are you going to tell about this man or should I make
you?”

Ida raised her glittering eyes to stare at
him. When she smiled, Mark felt his heart go cold already aware
somehow he wasn’t going to like what he would hear next. “She’s
where she belongs,
Ty!
” Ida chuckled hearing him suck his
breath in surprise. She reached out to caress his face but he
jerked back, catching her hand in a vicious grip. She laughed like
a maniac in his face. “Did you think you could keep her safe
forever? Did you really think I would let her get Steven?”

Mark glanced at Steven then twisted her arm
behind her back. She winced and David almost protested. “Where
is
she Ida?”

“With Jake!” she screamed at him, “He told
me all the sordid details, Mark Sebastian! How he fucked her good…”
Mark almost lost control and twisted her arm more sharply but she
only laughed back, her eyes turning to Steven. “Is that the kind of
woman you want Steven? A bitch who’s been fucked thoroughly by two
men? I have pictures to prove what a whore she really is!”

“Shut the hell up, Ida!” Steven warned her
through clenched teeth. His heart was hammering in his chest
worried over Jessica’s safety. Every minute Ida stalled them meant
a minute less for Jessica. “Just tell us where she is!”

David knelt before his wife, his desperate
eyes pleading with her. “Ida, sweetheart, you need to tell them
where Mrs.Hart is now. If something happens to her, you will go to
jail, my love. Do you understand that? Jail. And there’s nothing I
can do about it. You will never get your life back. You will die
there, Ida, please just tell them!”

His words seemed to make an impact because
she suddenly lost all her bravado and burst into pathetic tears.
“She’s with Jake. He’s going to kill her.” She told them where they
were likely to be found and Mark and Steven all but raced from the
hotel.

“We’ll take my car,” Steven announced and
both men jumped in. The four wheel drive squealed burning the tar
as he drove recklessly out of the parking lot.

They drove in silence praying they could
reach the only woman they loved on time.

***

Left alone with Ida after Mark and Steven
left, David stood watching her with mixed emotions. He condemned
her desperate actions but he couldn’t stop loving her. And that was
all that mattered. He’d get her to see a therapist and she would
regain her mental balance with time. As far as this mess was
concerned, he hoped with persuasion Steven would not file a case
against her. But that would only happen if Jessica Hart were found
alive.

There is no escape
, Jessica told
herself, breaking into cold sweat under the scorching heat.
You’re going to die now and Steven will never know you loved
him.
Her desperation disgusted her. After his treachery, did
she really believe it would make a difference to him? He would be
free of her more permanently than he expected. With her gone, he
would quickly remarry the woman he truly loved.

Tears born more out of self-pity than fear
fell from her smoky eyes. What a waste her life had been! She had
recently found love and lost it almost immediately. She had finally
rediscovered a family in Jeff, Cheryl and the kids but she hadn’t
been able to enjoy good times with them. She had salvaged her
beloved company but now it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except
the man who was standing before her.

Jessica slowly stood up and took a step
back, her feet stumbling on the loose rocks at the edge of a gorge.
She glanced over her shoulder, gulping nervously as she saw the
merciless fall. She looked back at Jake as he advanced towards her.
He used both his hands to steady the gun and take aim. Her head
shook in horror and she cried out in desperation, “No, Jake! Please
don’t!”

He sneered sadistically. “Yes, baby. You’re
on your way to become a pile of juicy bones for the vultures. Tell
me what do you prefer? Should I shoot you first and then throw you
down or would you find it less painful to take the jump
yourself?”

She almost gave in before the will to live
surfaced. She knew she had to die one day but death was not going
to be so merciless. She did not want to be murdered nor did she
want the world to think she was a loser who had committed suicide.
Her deep eyes held his cold blue ones for a long time. He was not a
clever man, she figured out. Maybe, just maybe, she could bait
him.

“I can double the price you’re getting to
kill me,” she stated smoothly. He stiffened immediately, confusion
written clearly on his face. The nail had hit its mark and she
drove it in further. “Triple, but that’s my last offer.”

Jake’s grin was evil. “Well, well, well.
This might work out in my favor after all. I get money from you and
from that Devon bitch for not telling her secret liaison with me.”
He began laughing, holding his sides as he shook. “It’s gonna be
like lifelong alimony from two exes!”

Jessica’s sucked in deeply. So, she had been
right! Ida was behind this! Did that mean Steven knew about it too?
Were they in it together just to get rid of her? No! Her heart
refused to believe such a terrible possibility. Steven couldn’t
betray her, not like this. An image of her husband lying in Ida’s
bed flashed before her eyes causing tears to flow down her
cheeks.

Jake strode to her to place a rough hold on
her upper arm. “Come on, let’s go.” He shoved her ahead of him, his
gun aimed behind her. “Stay close to me. No tricks or I won’t spare
you. Let me tell you right now, I’m not afraid to die. And if I
die, you die with me.”

Jessica gulped nervously. He was serious,
she could tell. But she could think of something later. Right now,
she had to get down Haleakala. “Ok, but you have to put away the
gun. I swear I won’t run away.”

He regarded her quietly for a while then
broke into a menacing smile. “Oh, that you won’t my little ATM,” he
announced, putting away his gun to replace it with a knife with a
glinting edge.

***

When Steven saw Jessica walking casually
with a man who was probably Jake Wallace, he couldn’t believe his
eyes. He had hurried up a steep bend on the volcanic mountain when
he saw them not more than twenty odd feet away. The man had his
hand behind her back as though gently prodding her to move
ahead.

“What in the world is she doing?” he asked
more to himself than Mark.

“I don’t believe it,” Mark muttered under
his breath, looking thoroughly amazed, “She’s managed to bait him.”
He stopped at a junction where the pass was narrow. “He’s probably
armed, let’s take it easy.”

“How do we get her away from him?”

“He’ll try to get past us with her. He knows
there’s no point shoving her off. When he passes us I’ll take him
from there, you get her out of the way. Got it?”

“Got it.”

***

Jake pressed the knife he was carrying into
Jessica’s spine making her wince. He forced her to stop with him
and stared at Steven and Mark. “Well, what do you know, doll face?
Your husband
and
your lover boy came to look for you!” His
arm came around her neck from behind and he pulled her against him
as a cover. His other hand carrying the weapon was now pressing
deep against the skin of her throat.

Jessica’s eyes widened in surprise when she
saw the two most important men in her life together. That Ty had
found her did not come as a surprise but Steven’s presence threw
her off guard. This meant he wasn’t involved in Ida’s plans!

“Don’t hurt her,” Steven called out
cautiously.

Mark’s eyes sought Jessica’s sending relief
pouring through her. “Baby girl, you okay?”

Jake’s blade cut her skin, bright blood
trickling down from the wound. He grinned his challenge at Mark.
“She’s far from okay, lover boy! You thought you had me, didn’t
you? You thought you could bash me a couple of times and I was
gonna back off?” He laughed mockingly. “You can’t keep her safe,
you bastard! If she gets out of this alive, I’ll be there to haunt
her every waking moment!”

Mark regarded him, adrenaline racing through
his veins. “Then you better wish, she doesn’t Jake ‘cause either
way, I’m gonna kill you today!”