The Devil's Masquerade: The Poison (14 page)

“And if she is not you will kill a full grown woman who is no threat to you? Just let her be,” Galena says to me boldly. I grab her throat and squeeze until her tongue shows.

“I am getting so tired of your mouth! Speak to me that way again, and I will cut your tongue out. Now, go do as I ask.”

Everyone that I can’t account for is a threat to me. Anyone that wanders freely with my family blood becomes a target to be used against me, used to drain my energy, to drain my power, and I can’t have my weakest blood relatives easily available to my enemies. It is bad enough that they are watching Nicholas. I don’t need them seeking out any others. I need to advance my strategies and force Nicholas home now.

Chapter 16

Nick

I am sound asleep with Kayla in my arms when my mother calls me in the middle of the night, whispering. I can barely understand her, and I have to sit up and ask her again and again why she is calling me. She never calls me unless she is looking for my Dad; she still thinks he is always with me. I assume that is what she is doing now, but she never mentions my father’s name.

“Nicholas, there are some people here, and I don’t know them.”

“What? Where are you?” I ask still in a sleepy daze.

“I am at home, under my bed. These people came in and started going through all my things. They threw stuff everywhere. It will take me forever to clean this up. Tell your father to come home immediately before they mess up anything else. He is going to be so angry when he sees this.”

“Kayla, stay here and lock down the house. Don’t let anyone in until I get back.” I don’t even bother hanging up before jumping out of bed. I call in a team of my men to meet me at my mother’s care facility. No one is to make a move until I get there. When I pull up to the facility, I meet up with my men and quickly talk them through the plan I came up with on my way here. My mother is no longer answering her phone, and when I enter the facility, I find no one manning the receptionist area or any of the nurse’s stations. Further into the facility, I find some men dragging my mother out a back door. I have never seen these people before, and I don’t waste time getting to know them. I beat them down and retrieve my mother. Another group comes up from behind me, but my men have my back, and they have little trouble dealing with these people. We begin to get things back under control when I am distracted by an image out of the corner of my eye, “Kayla?” I stop in mid-fight and chase after my wife as she runs away. Only by the time I catch up to her, I discover that she is not my wife after all. “Who are you?” I grip the woman harder, but she does nothing but stare at me. “I said who are you?” She struggles to get away from me, so I take hold of her neck and ask again. “Who are you?” She grips my hand on her throat and fights for breath when she looks up at me with innocent eyes, and suddenly, I see Kayla. I gasp, releasing her instantly, and before I have a chance to make sense of it all, the woman is gone. My heart speeds, but my mother’s cries change my concentration. I rush back to her as men attack her, beating her with all they have. Rushing to get to her, I take hold of one after the other and rip them apart. My mother lies on the ground, bleeding and crying, with little ability to move at all. The scene breaks my heart, and I feel a horrible guilt weigh me down. “Mom, let me help you back to your room.” I pick her up, carry her to the nearest bed, and immediately seek out someone to take care of her. I find Franky passed out on the floor bleeding herself. “Franky? Are you okay? Franky?” I check her over carefully and try to revive her until she finally opens her eyes.

“Nick? Oh Nick, these people they took your mother!” Franky says, getting up and struggling to find her way out the door.

“Don’t worry. I got her, but she is hurt and needs a doctor. Can you help her?” Franky instantly begins to cry and tell me she is sorry and that she tried to stop them, but she couldn’t handle them all on her own. She has no idea how they got in or past security, but I do. Her panicked rambling means she is clearly in no shape to help my mother; she obviously needs help herself. A few quick calls and both Franky and my mother are rushed to the nearest hospital.

My anxiety increases as time goes by, and I still have no word on my mother. To make things worse, not long after we arrive, Savage shows up with a concerned expression. “What are you doing here?” I ask him.

“I heard what happened. Contrary to what you may believe, I am very concerned about you Nicholas, especially after what happened the other night. So I have some of my people watching out for you. How is the rest of your family?”

“They are fine. I just talked to Kayla, my … one of my best men is with them,” I say, stopping myself from calling Ryan out as my brother.

“Are you sure? These people are not ones to give up easily, and they are certainly not ones that your usual guards can handle. They won’t stop until they have you vulnerable. They are testing you to figure out how to kill you, and you are making it easy for them. They don’t realize who you are. If you would do what I told you to do, then you wouldn’t have to worry about your family.” He stops briefly to look over at Franky as she approaches me with a weak smile. “Or your girlfriends,” he hums with a questioning expression.

I snap my head back in his direction. “She is only a friend that got caught up in this mess because of me.”

“Nick, I am so sorry …” she cries, crashing into my chest.

I shake my head, trying to console her without encouraging any further judgment from Savage. “Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t your fault. I am going to take care of it. I think it is best I move my mother out of the facility for everyone’s safety.”

“No, you can’t do that. She is happy where she is. She doesn’t handle change well, Nick. She is just starting to make progress. You can’t to take her away now,” Franky snaps back at me.

“I don’t have a choice Franky! She is badly hurt. She wouldn’t handle another attack. I am not even sure she is going to make it through this one!”

“Nicholas, I think all this disagreement could be handled simply by you joining me sooner than anticipated. I can teach you what you need to know to protect your family. In the meantime, I am happy to help you move your mother safely to your home and hire this beautiful young lady full time to be your mother’s personal physician.” A quick glance in Franky’s direction, and I can already see a smile beginning to form. I guess she is agreeable to that idea, but I am not sure I am.

“I don’t think that is a good idea,” I say, shaking my head.

“Why not?” Franky asks.

“Because I don’t think it is a good idea to have my ex-girlfriend living in my house with my wife,” I say to her with a hard glare. Surely she remembers our last argument that Kayla caused by investigating Franky. There is no way those two can stand to be in the same house together now.

“Oh, now I remember! Yes, Franky. My, how you have grown into a beautiful woman,” Savage says. “It is too bad you two lost each other so early in your relationship,” he continues with a smile until I glare at him.

I turn back towards Franky, “It is a bad idea, and there is no way Kayla …”

“Why, is she threatened by me?” she asks, and I instantly laugh.

“Kayla? Threatened? That is hilarious. You don’t want to mess with my wife, Franky, and that is why I don’t want you there.”

“You’re scared of her?” Franky asks as Savage now laughs.

“Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” I ask him.

“Nicholas, this is foolish. Let me help you, and then we can help each other. Your family will be safe with Nicky and … your other trustful guards. I can have one of my men come in and watch over them, too. However, I think you should have this young woman move in with your family since she has obviously been labeled as a target for them as well. They are all safer together under one roof, and more easily protected.”

“Why would Franky be a target?” I ask.

“She is connected to you, and you are here with her. That alone tells them that she obviously means something to you. All that they want is to take from you until you break and show yourself to be vulnerable.”

“Who are they?” I ask since he seems to know.

“Our family’s enemies. Since Adair’s departure, they see me as being weakened, and they think it is a good time to strike me. However, my connection with you has them worried. So, they are out to destroy any possible allies I might have, but they are starting to realize you are more than just an ally.”

I can’t listen to him anymore. “Just shut up please! I can’t deal with this right now.”

“It is your decision, but I warn you, they will not stop. You need me, Nicholas, your family needs my help,” he says, causing me to feel as if I have just been punched hard in the gut.

I don’t bother arguing with Savage any further. My main focus now is my mother and getting her better. Kayla kindly doesn’t argue with me when I tell her I am moving my mother, along with her physician into our home.

Within a day after arriving at my home, my mother falls into a coma and stays there for days. I stay at her side the entire time. I keep everyone out of her room except for her caretakers, but somehow, Eey wanders in unnoticed. I didn’t even notice him until I feel him at my feet. I open my tired eyes as he lays his head on my mother’s hand. I don’t know if he is concerned about me or her, but the damn dog does seem to care. For some reason, no matter his reason, it makes me feel better. My mother looks weaker every day, and I begin to believe that the pain of losing her is better than the pain she is going through. Kayla checks on me periodically, sharing a kiss and a loving touch, all I need from her, and she doesn’t hold back giving me more when she sees that I need it. I even cradle Brayden in my arms and read to him until he falls asleep. Nicky always tries to be patient and wait his turn with me. Kayla says he pretends to be me some days when he is playing; she says he thinks of me as stronger and better than any superhero there is. He wants to be just like his father, Kayla says. So how can I deny him when he looks up at me with a pitiful expression from my mother’s doorway? “Come here, son,” I say, motioning to him. Nicky instantly runs to me and climbs into my lap to hug me and give his grandmother a kiss on the cheek.

“Feel better, Gillian,” he says sweetly. He doesn’t say much else; he just holds onto me and lets me feel some peace for a few moments. Even Franky gives me peace and does her best not to cause any issues with Kayla, at least none that either of them bother to tell me about.

My mother seemed to be getting worse, and I nearly give up on speaking to her ever again when her eyes open. She seems confused and scared when I take her hand to reassure her. “Mom? Mom, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry that you were cursed with me. I’m so sorry that my father walked into your life,” I say to my frail mother. Her eyes are still swollen, her body still broken, but her eyes focus on me for the first time.

“Nicholas, why are you rambling apologies?” She squeezes my hand weakly. “You obviously don’t know much about my life before your father, otherwise you wouldn’t be so apologetic now.” She coughs roughly, and I try to hush her, but she waves me off in frustration. “Your father saved me from the neglect and abuse I was enduring from my parents. I had never known love until him.”

“That was love?” I huff.

“It was more love than I had ever known which is probably why I didn’t know how to love you. Honestly, I was afraid to. To find love and to lose it is pain I didn’t want to know. It is easier to pretend that there is no love at all.” She starts coughing horribly, so I get up to get her some water. Franky walks in and smiles.

“You are awake. Good. I hope you are not tiring her out talking too much Nick? She needs her rest.” Franky checks her tubes while my mother eyes her funny. “Maybe you should go get some rest, Nick. I’ll sit with your mother for a while.” My mother grips my hand, triggering a smile to form on my face. She obviously doesn’t want me to leave, so I look up at Franky and shake my head. “Okay, well do you mind if I join you two. What are we talking about?”

“None of your business,” my mother says sharply.

“Mom.”

“I want to only talk to you, not her. Why is she here anyway?” my mother complains.

“She is here to help you.” My mother tenses, looking away from us both. “Franky, go ahead and go. Thanks for the offer, but I am fine here by myself.”

Franky reluctantly leaves as my mother watches her exit, wide-eyed. “I need to tell you something,” she whispers.

“It’s okay, you just rest, Mom.”

“No, I need to tell you now before it‘s too late. A man came the other day to see me and your father.”

“What man?”

“I don’t remember. He was an attractive man. A friend of your father’s, but he acted strangely. He kept calling everyone by the wrong name.” I shake my head, knowing her delusions cannot be trusted. “Listen, she is not who she says she is. She is an alien, and that man had her take over Franky’s body to kill me. I just know it. Don’t let her near me or anyone else we know.” I shake my head. “I’m telling you Nicholas. She is a spy. I bet she wants my company’s secrets.”