Only Love (The Atonement Series) (29 page)

His brother picked up on the second ring. “What’s up?”

“You have to call the police and send them out to Deirdre and Caitlyn’s mother’s home. Mikayla called some people and they are on their way over there now to kill her. After you have done that, you have to come here. Alone.”

Liam said something to Caitlyn in the background and Colin could hear her taking care of the first piece of news.

“What’s going on, Colin?”

“I covered your ass the first time around and now I need you to cover mine because Mikayla is dead in my home and she can’t be found ever…or the Shevchenko family will slaughter us all.”

“Dear God what have you done?”

“Don’t pull out the deity card right now, Liam—it’s unbecoming, especially coming from you. Just get your ass here to my house as soon as possible so we can clean this shit up.”

Colin ended the call and his breath continued to be deep and raspy as if he’d ran a marathon. It appeared he was his brother’s keeper after all. This time he’d murdered in cold blood and though he stared at the dead body on his hardwood floor, he couldn’t summon an ounce of sympathy for her. She would have murdered the love of his life and everyone else Deirdre loved just to prove a point. As far as he was concerned, him killing her was just desserts.

Liam kept his promise and showed up at Colin’s home alone. He was also prepared for the job at hand. There were industrial strength garbage bags from the local hospital that were used for biohazard waste, and various other tools for a job of this sort. Not that they had ever done something like this before but they had watched enough Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorcese films to know how it was done.

Colin and Liam went through the motions and when they were finished, they drove over to Seattle General Medical Center where an old college buddy of Liam’s happened to be practicing surgeon. The doctor walked them through empty hallways to a large industrial sized room in the bowels of the hospital; “Biohazard Waste Incinerator” was written on the double doors.

After the industrial strength garbage bags were deposited into the incinerator, the doctor made small talk with his brother while Colin seemed numb beyond belief. Somehow that night didn’t feel real to him and he began to convince himself this was a terrible nightmare he would awake from any moment.

The dream state ended as they drove back to their condominium building on Fifteen Twenty-One and Second Avenue in silence.

Colin said, “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it, bro. You watched my ass when that accident happened and now I am simply watching yours. As far as you know, she left in hurry after you two had an argument about where your relationship was going and you haven’t seen her since. Scrub the floors with a combination of ammonia and Clorox mixture but wear an industrial strength mask because it’s toxic but it’s the only thing that destroys blood evidence. After that, air out your apartment, leave a few windows open and stay in a hotel for the next couple of days—”

“Nah, fuck that. I’m going back to La Jolla. Cassie is there and she’ll take me back in a heartbeat. I’ve had it with this place and there’s no reason for me to stay,” Colin interrupted in a quiet voice.

“Well, it’s a damn good cover and you’re safer there anyway. You don’t look guilty. If we are in any luck, those goons she calls family will be looking for her before the Police will and by that time, your regular cleaning lady will have been to your condo several times. There will be no trace evidence left,” Liam replied in a no-nonsense voice.

“What about their mother, Jeanette? Did the police get there in time?”

“Yep. They arrested a couple of suspicious individuals but with this in motion, I am going to spring for some security and so should you. We all should. Something tells me we’ve stepped in the shit and it would be prudent if we were all careful from now on out. You did the right thing. She wouldn’t have stopped…the woman was crazy. It was a situation where either you watched people you loved die or she had to go. I wish you hadn’t gotten involved with her in the first place but that is neither here nor there. Shit happens. Now we just have to move on with our lives.”

Colin stared at his brother as he drove and agreed with him. It was a life or death situation; he’d done the right thing.

Too bad Deirdre would never know what he had done to keep her safe and if she did, would she still hate him? These were questions that he would forever have to ponder because what happened that night, he swore to himself and God—if there was one—he would take this particular incident to the grave with him.

Chapter Twenty-One

After several days in Seattle, Drake and I left and went back to La Jolla. We’d decided that we would talk it over and decide within the next couple of months whether we really wanted to move to Seattle. I didn’t miss the miserable weather once we got back to La Jolla and the sunshine was quite pleasant after putting up with overcast skies that constantly looked like they were about to threaten rain.

After Liam and Caitlyn’s engagement party, we fell back into our usual pattern. Life passed us by too quickly, as did time itself, and before we knew it, Thanksgiving was a week away and Drake and I had been a couple since late-August officially. I’d left Seattle and Colin the third week of July and I was constantly amazed at how quickly everything had worked out, not only between Colin and I when we got together but also between my current boyfriend and me. It was odd both relationships had been back to back and moved along in a relatively expeditious manner.

Then again, we were both adults and neither one of us had time for the usual games people played in their teens. He was closer to thirty-two than thirty-one since his birthday was on the fifth of December. Although I had turned twenty-nine in June, it was the first time I officially felt like an adult now that I owned my own business, made money and was no longer a professional college student. I was a rare but unfortunate case of my generation; I didn’t really want to grow up and if I continued to study at university, it made me feel youthful and carefree until I woke up and realized I was almost thirty and nothing about my life had changed.

Colin and I had the whole arrested development issue in common though Drake and I did not; he’d been on his own since he’d fallen out with his parents at the age of nineteen. He’d also lost most of his inheritance except for a small amount of money they’d given him and he’d made it stretch for as long as he could before he resorted to his illegal activities with the Shevchenko family.

He continued to work at Rouge and we slipped back into our usual schedule of seeing each other in the evenings. Colin and I had finally worked out a shift where I would be responsible from seven in the morning to around one in the after noon and he would be around from two in the afternoon until the coffee shop closed in the evenings.

It worked for us though we each had two days off per week and the two most trusted and dependable employees were promoted to manager and co-manager so we at least had help and didn’t feel like we had to watch the business constantly.

“Have you found anything else about this supposed hit on you? Just because we are back doesn’t mean the whole situation is over,” I asked him several weeks after we returned.

“I spoke to Mr. Shevchenko and he didn’t know anything about any hit although a couple of his low-level hit men were arrested in Seattle snooping around your mother’s home. I honestly don’t know what Mikayla told Colin but right now, she’s gone off on another bender and no one has seen her, not even her ‘easy lover’,” Drake responded before he wrapped his arms around me.

I glanced away from
Sons of Anarchy
and stared at him. “So Colin isn’t dating Mikayla?”

“No. He is dating that young woman you fired from the coffee shop. She works up the street at Starbucks now. I’ve seen her there a couple of times and although it isn’t true love, he seems happy enough.”

“Her name is Cassie,” I said quietly.

Drake turned toward me. “Listen, I have a favor to ask you.”

I turned my own body towards him so I could look him in the eyes. They were pale aquamarine which meant he was excited yet nervous at the same time. “What is it?”

“I called my parents after we got back from Seattle. I don’t know why…probably just seeing you with your mother and how happy she looked to have you around again, even if it was only temporary. Anyway, we spoke about the past and they both feel it is time to move on and for me to see them again. They invited me to their home for Thanksgiving and I would really love it if you came with me,” he explained in a sincere yet gentle voice.

I bit my lower lip because it was a no-brainer really.

My mother was spending Thanksgiving with Liam, Caitlyn, Colin and Dr. van der Meer. Now that Colin was officially dating Cassie again, I wasn’t sure whether or not he planned to take her home with him but if he did, that certainly would be a huge step and it would emphasize how important their relationship had become.

Although my mother and Caitlyn were my family, I knew I would instinctively feel more comfortable around Drake and his family. It was usually a double celebration held with Drew’s family as well so I was familiar with Drake’s parents though I had no idea they had a son his age. Drake had never been mentioned because he’d never been talked about in my company. I’d spent most of my Thanksgivings with Drew’s family because usually I didn’t go home until Christmas when I attended Harvard.

“Sure, I mean, I would love to but why the huge step? We have only known each other for three months and…I’m practically a stranger…” I trailed off.

“You knew Colin for even less time but you were still ready and willing to marry the guy—”

“It was going to be a shotgun wedding,” I interrupted rudely. “Or did you forget I was preggers and not exactly hip enough to just live in the house with my baby daddy?”

He smiled and revealed his perfect white teeth. “You’re such a charmer. The truth of the matter is that I am willing to wait as long as it takes for you to trust me and for you not to consider me a stranger. If that means introducing you to my family then I will do that. I want us to have a future together and although I know we talked about this, words are easy but actions are hard. I am trying to prove how much you mean to me. Does that make sense?”

I glanced into his eyes for a long time before I nodded my head. “Of course and I do understand where you are coming from. I want to spend Thanksgiving with you and I would love to meet your family.”