Beautiful Liar Read online

  Victoria’s eyes looked up to mine. “Yes baby, he is.”

  Twenty minutes later with Jo in my arms and Victoria slowly walking next to me, we climbed into bed and held each other. Waiting for Jo to wake up and Sam to figure out what the hell was in their bodies.

  Chapter Thirteen

  I lay here holding her hand, looking at her beautiful face while she sleeps. I look down at this incredible child laying between us, with her small bandage on her neck. Who the hell was my brother? Why would he hurt or want to hurt a child, this child, my child? The more I think about it I realize the angrier I get. My mission in this life has now become them, to protect them, to give them the best possible life.

  My eyes travel up to her face, I am met with her incredible blue eyes. I see the tears built up in them. Reaching up, I gently wipe them away. I want nothing more than to hold her, kiss her and make her feel nothing but me.

  Slowly she gets up, walking around to my side of the bed, taking my hand, she led me into the closet. It seems to be the place we always end up. When I closed the door, she turned and walked into my chest. “Paul,” she got out before she completely broke. I slid down the door pulling her into my lap and held her.

  “I got you, beautiful.” I whispered into her neck. She felt like heaven in my arms. I held her while she let it all go.

  “I’m sorry,” she sobbed out.

  “No, don’t. There is nothing to be sorry for. I am here because I can’t not be here. You have become everything to me. Both of you. I don’t care what we have to face, we will do it together.”

  She nodded into my chest.

  I am finding that the only place I seem to be able to find solace is in his arms. I just cannot comprehend why someone would do this to Jo, to me. What the hell? It’s not so much as someone, but the someone. I need to end this. I knew that my arm wasn’t broken the way they said it was. It’s my forearm, not my upper arm. They casted me the way they did because of what they put in me.

  As I sit in his arms I know that this is where I am supposed to be. With him, having a life with him. There is still so much we need to learn about each other. But for now, I just want this, I just want normal. I want what every woman on the planet wants, the love of a good man and a happy life.

  “Are you a good man Paul?” I whisper.

  “I want to be. But I haven’t been. Victoria, I will not hurt you.”

  “I know. I just want to know if you’re a good man.”

  “I haven’t wanted to be a good man for a long time. I didn’t give a shit about anyone or anything except myself and my brother. Then I met you. You took my breath away and it scared the shit out of me. That day that you slapped me across the face for kissing you. I knew then that I was going to have to change who I was if I stood a chance in hell of ever having you. I began that day to clean up my life, to become the best man I could. Simply because you deserve nothing less.”

  “Thank you.”

  He chuckled, “For what?”

  “For kissing me that day. I really wanted you. I fought it so hard. I’m grateful that you feel the same way. I just don’t know what I would do right now without you. Without this. For so long, I’ve lived a life that wasn’t mine. My life with Steven was a lie. It destroyed me to leave him. I hoped that when it was all over that I could go back and explain it all to him. You know, make him understand. But he had orchestrated this whole fucking thing. My whole life Paul, has been nothing but lies, and I am the biggest lie of them all.”

  He chuckled, his fingers turning my head up, his lips pressing against mine, “Perhaps, but you are the most beautiful liar I’ve ever known.” He deepened his kiss.

  Pulling back, I looked him in the eyes. “Steven’s last name was Holmes, it’s not mine. My last name is Parker.”

  “Victoria Parker, nice to meet you. I’m Paul Alexander Simon.” He whispered as he kissed me. “I really want to make love to you right now.” He moaned in my mouth.

  “Mmmm, and I want you to make love to me.” His hand moving under my shirt to cup my breast.

  “Come on, you haven’t had anything to eat. We need to feed you, and hopefully Jo will be getting up soon.”

  We made our way to the kitchen, leaving Max to sit with Jo. “Do you think he minds being a babysitter?” I had to ask.

  “Believe it or not, he insisted.”

  We had sandwich’s and just sat on the couch for a bit. Joe came in and sat looking at me before he spoke. “You both are very lucky. The tracker in your neck had a nerve agent in it. Remotely released. Jack is trying to locate the source.”

  “I know where it came from.” I said quietly. They both looked at me. “What was in my arm?”

  “Apparently one of the pins was an explosive device, the other two were filled with some kind of chemical weapon. Victoria, the amount of explosives in the canister were more than enough to end your life as well as people within a twenty-foot radius. The chemicals in the other two are not known to us now. I came in here to ask you if you would be all right with me calling in some friends of mine. This is huge, chemical warfare huge. I don’t think any of us has ever seen anything like this. Like I said before you need to trust us or we can’t help you.”

  I sat there looking at him, reading his eyes. He was a trustworthy man. “I need to end this. I know who did this and I need for it to be over. I’m the only one who knows who did this. You or your friends will not get close to him. I can.”

  “How can you be so sure of that?” Joe asked.

  I couldn’t tell him. I couldn’t say anything yet. I needed a plan. I need to make sure Jo is safe, and right now she is not. “I can’t tell you right now. I need to make sure Joanna is safe. If she had the same toxins in her body as I did, then she was some sort of insurance policy that I would do what I was told to do. If that’s the case, then I am the only one who can do this. He will see you coming a mile away. I need for her to survive this. She is just a baby, she beat the odds by surviving the death of her mother and I need to make sure she does just that.”

  “I have an idea. I’m not sure how you will feel about this. But I have a place to stash her, making her as safe as she is with you.”

  “I’m not sure she would leave me.”

  “She will go with Max,” Paul said softly.

  I turned my head and looked at him. “She is so little.”

  “Victoria,” I looked at Joe. “I would stash her with my mother.”

  I giggled, “I’m sure your mother wants a three-year-old hanging around.”

  Joe laughed, “I have five brothers, and not one of us has children. Trust me she would love it. Why don’t I call her, talk to her and then have my little brother bring her here? She can hang out with Jo so they can get to know one another.”

  I nodded. I needed this to be over. “You can call your friends as well. I’m going to need some help. I don’t want to die.” Turning my head, I looked at Paul. “I want that life you keep talking about.”

  He smiled, “And a great life it will be.”

  The next few hours were a blur. Victoria and Jo cuddled in my bed, while Joe and his team worked to isolate the toxins. Joe’s mother, Sally, came and was in the kitchen making brownies and cookies. She was excited to meet Joanna, but they stayed in the bedroom talking and holding one another. I wanted to be a part of that, but I know Victoria had been away from her for so long.

  Max came walking out with Jo in his arms, “Victoria is in the shower, and Jo is hungry,” Max said.

  I smiled, “Jo I wanted you to meet my friend Sally. She came here to meet you and to hang out with you.”

  Jo smiled at me, “I know why she is here Paul. Momma told me.”

  I couldn’t help but smile as I took her tiny hand and kissed it. I introduced Jo to Sally and they were thick as thieves’ minutes after. Looking at Max I said, “I’m going to take a shower.” He nodded and smiled.

  When I walked into my room, I made sure the door was locked. Victoria was in the bathro
om but I didn’t hear the shower, so I made my way in there. She was in the tub. “I can’t get my arm wet, but I needed to feel clean,” she whispered.

  Smiling, “Can I join you?” She nodded and scooted up while I dropped my clothes. Climbing in behind her, I wrapped my arms around her pulling her against my chest. “I’ve never taken a bath with someone before.”

  She giggled, “Paul, out of all those women, did you bring them home with you?”

  “No, not one of them. You are the only woman since my wife that has been in my bed.”

  “I’m sorry that your brother killed her.”

  “Yeah me too. But they say that people die for a reason. If I hadn’t known her, I wouldn’t know how to love you.”

  “That’s nice to say. I suppose the same goes for Steven. If all this mess hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t be here in America and I would have never met you. I’m grateful for you and I am so thankful that you were so very persistent in having me.”

  I chuckled, “I think even if none of this had happened that I would have found you.”

  “You think?” she whispered.

  Kissing her neck, “Oh I think.”

  We had a lovely bath, just sitting in the water holding another, until the water went cold. Getting out I couldn’t help but watch her dry herself off.

  “What’s going on in your head?” I asked.

  She smiled, “I’m terrified,” she said softly.

  I dropped my towel and pulled her into my arms. “I’m with you all the way.”

  “Paul, that’s what scares me the most. I think in order for this to work that I am going to need you to help me. But I can’t do it, I can’t risk your life as well as mine. Jo deserves to be happy, she deserves to have a life, one filled with love and happiness.”

  “I made a promise to you and I plan on keeping it. I don’t need to go with you. I want to go with you, but you’re right. She needs to stay safe. I don’t like knowing you are going to go out there and possibly not come back. But I understand it.”

  She wrapped her arms around me, “I really do love you, love this. Love the idea of a life with you.”

  I kissed her head, “We will have those things. I promise.”

  Shaking her head, she pulled away from me. “Make love to me.” She moaned as she looked at me. “You’re so beautiful and I need to feel. I need to feel us, instead of this mess.”

  Gently I picked her up and took my time loving her. When we finished, she lay sedate in my arms. I felt her move up my body her breath warm on my ear. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to kill more people. Can you live with knowing I’m a murderer?”

  “If I’m being honest, I try not to think about it. As far as I am concerned, it’s either kill or be killed. Victoria, if I was in the same position I would do the same thing.”

  She snuggled closer to me, “You might have no choice Paul. Can you pull the trigger if you had too?”

  “If it was to protect you and Jo, fucking right I will. Without hesitating. You, in such a short time have become my life. Your father,” I felt her tense up when I mentioned him, “gave me back my life. Hey while I’m thinking about it, how did he do that?”

  She pulled away from me and got out of bed. I watched as she walked to the bathroom. When she came out she went in the closet and put on a pair of my pajama bottoms and a tee shirt. When she walked out she looked at me. “I need time to myself. I need to think.”

  I nodded to her and watched her walk out of the room. I wanted to go with her, I wanted, no needed to make her understand that she isn’t alone. But I didn’t. I got up, dressed and went to find Jo. She was in the kitchen with Sally and Max, having a good time making cookies.

  “Hi, Paul. We made cake and now we are making cookies.” She was beaming.

  “Well that’s wonderful, so we get to have some after we have dinner,” I smiled at her. I turned to look out the window. Victoria was headed towards the beach. Even dressed in my clothes she was magnificent.

  I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with all this information in my brain. Looking out at the water my mind is like a whirlwind of information. Every single moment in my life came to a point. It was all a lie, all training for this moment in time. I needed to be the machine I was trained to be. Kathy held more answers than not. She had information I didn’t have, and could only speculate on. I’ve never gone into a mission without every possible piece of information.

  Turning I looked at the house, I needed to talk to her. I need to trust Paul and tell him what I know. I can see him standing in the window watching me. I suspect he knows that something is wrong. How long until my arm heals? The break is nothing, it’s the stitching I’m worry about. It could be used as a weapon against me. As I search my brain, my eyes close, a week, maybe two. I need information.

  When I opened my eyes, I see, Paul, Joe and Al on the deck with five other men. Men I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure they are here to pick my brain. Shaking my head, I turn around and start to walk along the beach.

  Time is not my friend here, the more time that goes by the more danger. Especially if the trackers were for a reason. I just can’t figure out why the explosives were in my arm. What did he want me to do? Could he have killed me? He killed my brother, but did he? Or was Johnathan killed to control him? Would I have been sacrificed as well? Did he know? Does he know?

  When I came back across the house along the beach, I noticed one of Joe’s men standing guard over me. I smiled, I couldn’t help but wonder if they thought I would take off. Looking down at myself, no bra, no panties, dressed in clothes that are literally five times my size and barefoot. Where in the hell could I go? I giggled.

  I sat down and pushed my feet into the sand. I am going to have to do this, I am probably going to have to kill him. I don’t want to. But he is willing to kill me, to kill Jo, hell he even went so far as to attempt to kill Paul. Who does that shit? I need answers. I need to know, or is it that I already know. I know it’s him, it’s the only thing that makes sense. How is it possible to hide in plain sight like that for so many years? It must be exhausting, keeping everything covered.

  I’m not sure how long I sat out here, but the sky was getting darker. I should go and see Jo. See how she is getting along with Sally. I have no choice but to trust Joe and his crew, I need help with this, I’m not naive enough to think I can do it on my own. I will be walking into the den of death. I have no doubt. Time to go see what the hell kind of cards they have up their sleeves, and to see who they are. As I stand the water looks so inviting. Looking up at the sky it’s dark out, well nearly. They wouldn’t be able to see me.

  Dropping my pants, I stepped towards the water. I pulled the tee shirt off and threw it behind me and headed out into the water. I know I have antibiotics in me, so my arm should be fine. I didn’t care, I just needed to swim. I hadn’t realized how far out I was until I turned to see the lights in the house. The lake was really calming. I headed back to the shore. As I got close I could see someone standing on the shore. Smiling, I would know that body anywhere. Paul was waiting for me, he had a huge towel in his hands. As I walked out of the lake, his face smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Not sure he is happy with me right now.

  I nearly had a stroke when she dropped her clothes and walked into the lake. I mean there were at least twenty men keeping watch over her. My heart raced as she lifted her shirt. I heard a few of the men groan. Smiling I thought, yeah look you bastards, she is mine. I turned and went in the house and grabbed a giant beach towel out of the hall closet and headed down to the water.

  As she walked out of the water, my cock was instantly fucking hard. The look in her eyes was one of pure sex. She smiled a little smile as she got closer. I know all those men behind me are seeing what I am seeing. I walked into the water, wrapping the towel around her as she pressed herself against me.

  “I see you,” she whispered, her hand coming to rest on my cock.

  I chuckled as I covered her mouth w
ith mine. Pulling back, I whispered, “Up until this moment, I wanted to throttle you. But now, all I want to do is make love to you, then fuck you.”

  She giggled, “I’m yours, they can look all they want. My heart belongs to you.” She whispered on my lips.

  I picked her up and she wrapped her legs around me. “Victoria,” I whispered on her lips. We stood there for a few minutes kissing. She released her legs and I set her down, wrapping the towel around her. “Come on, there are some people who want to talk to you and Jo is waiting dinner. She made cake.”

  It was good to hear her laugh. I grabbed her clothes as we headed back to the house. As she walked up onto the deck she nodded to the men sitting around, “Gentlemen, I need to shower and dress, then have dinner with my daughter. So if you’ll excuse us for about an hour, then I’m all yours.”

  Joe smiled at her, “Do what you need to do. We aren’t going anywhere. I’ll have Doc, re-bandage your arm. Might want to get a new cast on that arm as well.”

  She nodded and we went in the house and straight to the bedroom. I watched her drop the towel and walk that perfect ass into the bathroom. My cock hurt, from wanting her. I couldn’t help myself, I suppose on one level I’m a pervert, but I wanted her.

  She was standing in the shower with her hands on the wall. I shut and locked the door, dropping my clothes I stepped into the shower with her. “Victoria,” I whispered as I put my hands next to hers on the wall.

  Leaning back against me, “Paul, I don’t want to feel.” My hands moved on their own, touching her everywhere I could. I felt her move her hands around and wrap around me. “I need you,” she moaned.

  “Put your hands on the tile Victoria.”

  She released me, her hands moving to the wall. I slipped my leg between hers and bent my knees, finding her. “You have an incredible ass.” I whispered as I pushed up inside of her. I pulled her hips back a bit and proceeded to make love to her.