Sweet Seduction Shield (9 page)

"Oh," I said,
unable to form another word in my mind.

Then I lost
the ability to think completely, when she added, "I'm so sorry, but
I was there that night. I saw what he did to Rick."

The world
turned dim, as I heard someone screaming and felt Pierce's arms
tighten around me.

And as Daisy
cried out a tortured, "Mummy!"

"Well, that
didn't quite go as you'd planned," a deep, gruff voice said through
the haze of my scrambled mind.

"No," a
familiar male voice replied. The sound of it somehow settling my
rapid heartbeat a little. "Not in the slightest."

"Didn't think to make the announcement away from the
kid,
e hoa?
" the first voice
asked.

"She'd already
cottoned on to a connection between them," Pierce pointed out. "I
don't think either of us realised the reaction she'd have at the
time."

A grunt of
disapproval sounded out from across the room. I kept my lids closed
and waited for Ben's reply.

"Look, Pierce.
I'm all for disclosure and all, but sometimes it's just better to
keep a lid on things."

"Like you kept
a lid on Abi?" Pierce shot back. "You did a fucking good job of it
too, my man."

"Yeah well,
Abi was a redhead at the time, she was livin' up to the name."

Pierce
chuckled. A long pause ensued.

Then, "Marie's
stronger than she gives herself credit for. And Daisy's resilient,"
Pierce announced. "I've never seen a kid her age get herself under
control like that before. She wasn't hysterical, she listened and
accepted that we'd take care of her mother. Marie's done a good job
of raising her all by herself."

The grunt this
time was in agreement. But mention of Daisy meant cutting my
eavesdropping moment short.

"Is she OK?" I
asked, blinking my eyes open, trying to lift my head and finding it
resting in Pierce's lap.

I scrambled
upright on that realisation, the room spinning with the sudden
change of position and black spots appearing before my eyes. I
groaned. Pierce swore softly to the side and tried to encourage me
to lie back down, and Ben said something about letting Abi and 'the
kid' know I was awake.

I found myself
lying flat out on a bed, Pierce had made the wise move of shifting
away from where he'd previously been, and keeping himself in my
line of sight.

"What
happened?" I asked, noticing my throat felt raw when I talked.

"You had a
little freak out," Pierce announced, as though screaming myself
hoarse until I fainted was just a small thing, that's all.

"Oh," I said,
a brilliantly intelligent reply, for sure.

"How're you
feeling?"

"Throat
hurts," I whispered.

Pierce walked
over to the side of the bed and picked up a glass of water, then
without hesitation he slipped a hand behind my neck and helped me
sit up to take a sip. The water soothed the ache immediately. He
lay me back down gently, brushed a few strands of hair off my face
and cheek absently, then replaced the glass and stepped back to
where he had formerly been.

It all
happened within seconds, but felt like it deserved a much longer
time in my mind.

I stared at
him staring at me and had no idea what to say next. Pierce knew
more about me than I'd realised, because he knew a person who'd
been there that night.

Abi.

Where had she
been? I hadn't seen her. It was all men surrounding McLaren from
what I remember of that night. But I was extremely stressed at the
time, as it was clear McLaren meant us harm; dragging us out to the
back field of his compound, guns in their waistbands, feral gleams
in their eyes. But where had the woman been if not with the
lynching mob?

If she'd been
there could she be trusted at all? Oh Dear God. Daisy.

I struggled
upright again, but Pierce was before me as soon as I managed a half
sitting position.

"Easy, Tiger,"
he murmured. "You're still as white as a sheet."

"Daisy," I
insisted, offering up a fairly feeble fight in my efforts to get
past him.

"She's fine,
she's with Abi."

"Exactly," I
spat, giving one final shove that made Pierce move.

"Whoa, what
does that mean?" he asked, stepping in front of me when my body
swayed ominously to the side. "Abi will take good care of your
daughter, trust me."

"I did trust
you!" I shouted suddenly, flinging a hand up to my head when it
threatened to split in two. "And you brought us here!" I still
hurled the words at him, but at a lower volume.

"Because it's
the safest place for you right now."

"How can it
be?" I hissed in demand. "With one of McLaren's people here
too!"

He took a step
backwards on those words, then immediately was up in my face. His
hands gripping my upper arms and his hot breath washing against my
lips, as he lowered his head down enough to look me in the eyes.
His were deadly serious.

"Listen up,"
he said quietly. "Abi escaped him. Then brought him down in the
end. Ben almost died at the time. Her father risked his life to get
evidence against the whole organisation. It was enough to arrest
the piece of shit and hopefully put him away for the rest of his
life. Abi is not McLaren's, nor has she ever been."

A soft
clearing of a throat sounded out behind us. Pierce didn't back up,
but turned us slightly so we could see Abi at the door, her hand on
Daisy's shoulder. Daisy's eyes were big and wide, but otherwise she
looked OK. Holding it together. Abi's were misted, as though she
was the one about to burst into tears.

I sucked in a
shaky breath and said, "I need to sit down."

"Maybe this
was a mistake," Abi said quietly, directing her words to
Pierce.

"I disagree,"
Pierce replied, as he helped me to the side of the bed. I
immediately reached out a hand for Daisy, when he stepped back
giving me space to move.

Daisy ran
across the small room and threw herself into my arms. I pulled her
close, buried my nose in her soft hair and inhaled deeply. Feeling
centred for the first time in days. My hand started smoothing down
her brunette pigtails, realising belatedly that she was still in
her paint splattered borrowed t-shirt and the paint had now
transferred to my blouse. I didn't release her.

"Marie,"
Pierce started, but I held up my free hand to stop him. I was done
discussing these things in front my child and she needed
reassurance now from me.

"Please just
give Daisy and I a few moments alone. Whatever you have to say can
wait." Confidence brimmed in each word. Confidence I didn't feel,
but welcomed.

"Fair enough,"
Pierce said softly and turned to walk out the door. He stopped on
the threshold. "But I'll be just down the hallway, I'm not going
anywhere."

There was
something about his tone that made me believe he wasn't saying that
as a cop. I didn't look at him as he left, choosing instead to keep
my eyes on Abi. She was shuffling her feet again, looking nervous.
I felt a little bad that she had to experience that emotion in her
own home.

"We'll need to
talk too," I announced, still calling on my customary confidence.
She nodded. "I don't suppose you have a change of clothes for me?"
I asked. "After I've settled Daisy, I wouldn't mind cleaning up.
I've been in this for two days and now I have penguin paint all
over me."

Daisy giggled,
the exact response I was going for, but the relief on Abi's face at
my teasing words was not expected.

"Sure," she
said and turned to leave the room.

Before she
made it to the door, I said softly, "Thanks, Abi."

She glanced
over her shoulder and smiled, it was a cautious smile, but better
than the threat of tears I'd seen earlier.

"No worries,"
she murmured and then I was alone with my girl.

I hugged her. Held her. Rocked her. And then started singing
her favourite lullaby:
Daisy Bell
.

"Daisy, Daisy.
Give me your answer, do. I'm half crazy all for the love of
you..."

She tightened
her grip around my body when the tune ended and we just sat there,
for a good long while, in silence.

Finally, I
murmured, "This has been one big adventure, huh Daisy-girl?"

She nodded,
but didn't say anything, which started to alarm me slightly. Daisy
was a very vocal five year old. I'd never had a conversation with
her where she'd had so little to say.

"How's your
painting going? Get a penguin finished yet?" I asked, trying to
engage her.

She shook her
head from side to side, but didn't utter a sound.

"Daisy," I
whispered, pulling back to get a look at her face. But she ducked
down and tried to keep her cheek plastered to my chest. I had to
use a thumb and forefinger on her chin to gently tip her head up.
"Sweetheart, what's wrong?"

"I want to go
home," she whispered, eyes big and wet, bottom lip trembling.

Oh, for the
love of all mothers everywhere. What was I doing to my girl? Tears,
too many to hide, fell over the side of my eyelashes and splashed
onto my cheeks. She sniffed. I sniffed. And then we started sobbing
silently as we clutched each other, clung to each other.

Seeing my baby
hurting, scared enough to crave our two bedroom flat over a house
with walls to paint, cut deeper than anything I'd ever witnessed
before in my life. Including that night.

I had thought
my life was over when I watched Rick die. I'd thought I was surely
next on the drug lord's hit-list. But that type of fear and pain
had nothing on what I felt in this instance. Uncertain of the
future. Petrified of the danger that existed for my child. Bereft
of confidence. Lost.

McLaren was
going to be put away for a very long time, but even behind bars he
was reaching out to throttle me. And he'd use Daisy. There wasn't a
doubt in my mind. What the hell did I do now? How did I stop this?
How did I fix this? How did I make the world safe again for my
daughter? For us?

That blasted
book. Why did I have to steal it? What possessed me to think it
could make a difference? That it could stop McLaren, destroy his
world, and free Rick? The names listed in that ledger, the business
transactions meticulously outlined by Rick on behalf of his 'boss'.
It was the stuff of thrillers. The sort of thing you'd see in
movies, and I'd naively thought that I could be the heroine and
sneak the information to the press.

It had been in
my possession just one day, a short twenty-four hours, before
McLaren knew it was missing and confronted Rick. My husband had no
idea where it was, but Rick wasn't stupid, completely enthralled in
McLaren's world, but not so dim he couldn't work out who had taken
the ledger and for what reason. Rick knew it had been me, but he
covered for me. He told McLaren a lie, fed him bullshit and made
him look elsewhere.

Then came
running home to me.

But Roan
McLaren wasn't unintelligent either, and he'd had Rick
followed.

I sucked in a
harsh burst of air and shakily let it out again. A hitched sound
caught in my chest, up in my throat. I closed my eyes, blinking
more tears free, and crushed Daisy to my chest. She'd stopped
crying, I think she'd fallen asleep from exhaustion, so thankfully
she wasn't witnessing my breakdown first hand.

How the fuck
did I solve this?

How?

I don't know
how long I sat there holding a sleeping Daisy in my arms, but the
ache started up across my shoulders and down my back well before I
made the move to slip her beneath the covers on the bed. I stood
over her for a long time, taking in every beautiful feature, every
similarity to Rick, every likeness of mine. Every part of her that
was her own. There's something truly miraculous about looking down
at your child when they sleep. Realising you brought this helpless,
precious being into the world. Knowing their safety and livelihood
was dependent on you.

I didn't have
any answers, but I did know alone we couldn't pull this off. We
needed to stay here, because here was safer than home. The only
thing I could pray for was a quick arrest of McLaren's man and a
quick resolution to his trial. Once all the players were securely
behind locked bars, then the threat would be gone.

Wouldn't
it?

I frowned,
rubbed my forehead and decided a shower was very much needed. Abi
had placed clean jeans and a t-shirt in the bathroom, not a
complete outfit, but at least a start. I stared at my pale face in
the mirror for a while, then decided I really didn't need to be
getting even more depressed over how washed out I looked. So,
ducked under the hot spray and gladly used some of Abi and Ben's
shampoo and conditioner.

Smelling a
million times better, I dressed in the outfit, minus underwear, as
I'd bundled all of my clothes up hoping Abi would allow me to
impose on her further, by using her washing machine. It was an
entirely unfamiliar and uncomfortable feeling to walk out to the
kitchen knowing people - strangers - were there and I was going
commando. I'm not one to forgo a bra, and the t-shirt Abi had given
me wasn't loose. The jeans were snug as well, but at least there
was no VPL.

An amused
breath of air escaped me as I entered the room, rumbling
conversation letting me know Ben and Pierce were there, the odd
lighter note announcing Abi's presence as well. I carried my rolled
up clothes in a bundle in front of my chest. A useless attempt to
cover up my lack of attire.

"Hey," Abi
said when she spotted me. "Everything fit OK?"

And that
brought both men's eyes to my top, followed swiftly by my jeans.
Ben smirked and returned his attention to his mug of coffee. Pierce
just stared and didn't look away.