Page 46 of Alex

Chapter Twenty-Two

When Evelyn’sfoot landed on the top step, she saw a man with his back to her standing looking out to sea, one hand in his pocket the other holding a cigar. She didn’t know what it was, whether it was the familiar way he stood or the woodsy sweet scent of the cigar, but her belly filled with poison as the impossible started to take root.

A hand in the middle of her back pushed her forward so that she almost tripped onto the large sun deck complete with small jacuzzi. The motion made the man turn and as their eyes connected, the twisting brutal pain of betrayal lanced through her.

“David?” she asked with a shake of her head as if she couldn’t quite believe what her eyes were telling her.

“Evelyn, my dear girl. You look so well. Love suits you.” He moved forward taking her hands in both of his and holding them out so he could look at her in the fatherly way he always had.

“I don’t understand. I thought you died. You had cancer. I nursed you. I watched you until you became too sick to see me.” Evelyn could hear the remembered pain in her voice she’d felt at losing the only person who cared about her.

“Come sit down, Evelyn. You look like you’re about to faint.” David took her hand and led her towards a sun lounger and pushed her to sit.

Evelyn took a moment to breathe, composing herself while she ran the facts in her head. But they refused to come to any other conclusion than the one she didn’t want to make.

David had aged but he looked well, his hair grey but styled, the paunch he’d had before he got sick now gone. The clothes he wore were of designer variety and the watch on his wrist was a real Rolex not a cheap knock off. Add the fact the guard had called him the boss and she kept coming to the same conclusion.

“David, what is going on?” she asked as she studied him. He had cared for her, looked after her, trained her until he could no longer and then he had sent her to Roz.

“My name is Arthur Roach. I’m afraid I lied to you, my sweet girl. You see, I was not a handler for the American government. I worked for Omar Fuentes.” She could see the sadness on his face as he spoke, and she couldn’t hide the gasp of surprise or the pain his words evoked.

“What?” she asked as she felt the blow as his words hit and took it, pushing it down deep so she could deal with it in private later.

“Let me start at the beginning. I was born in Chicago to parents who worked to keep the wolf from the door until it killed them. They worked hard, paid taxes, and were good people and it got them nothing but an early grave. I wanted better so I worked for a local gang running drugs, working my way up until I caught the attention of one of the higher-ups. I was young, fit, eager to do anything to get me out of the hell hole I called home.”

Arthur began to pace as he spoke outlining his rise until he moved to Miami. “I started to work inside the inner circle and then one day I met her, the love of my life. Belita Fuentes. She was Omar’s youngest daughter. Sweet, kind, beautiful, and she loved me, but Omar would only sanction the marriage if I started working his other business for him. He wanted someone inside the family to run the trafficking side and I was the man for the job. At first, I was flattered. We married and were so happy when little Estrella was born. She was the light of my life. I started to see what I did was wrong. The guilt ate away at me every time I looked into her cherubic face. I needed to get my family out, but I was trapped.”

Evelyn had never noticed it before, but David—Arthur—was selfish. He had been happy to take the money until it no longer suited him. He’d had choices and those choices led to that. “I guess he didn’t want to you to leave?” she said instead not sure who the man in front of her was and not wanting to rile him.

“No, he did not.” He shook his head sadly.

“What happened?” Tucking her hands underneath her legs she went to activate the comms mic.

“I took them to Courchevel on holiday. We spent the whole time planning how we would make our escape. We were so close and then the accident happened, and they were taken from me.” He sat down beside her and with a sad look grabbed for her wrist pulling it from under her and shaking his head. “Why, Evelyn? Why betray me. I was not going to hurt you. I just wanted to clear the air so we could keep things friendly between us.” He ripped the bracelet from her wrist as he spoke, dropped it on the deck, and smashed it under his foot.

Evelyn glared mutinously at him. “So why all this?” She gestured with her hands to encompass the yacht.

“Simon is a young boy who thinks he’s a big fish. He needed an ally and I needed a distraction. When I faked my death and set you on the path to kill the rest of the Fuentes cartel to free me, I thought life would be different. Now I am richer than God himself and yet I still find myself unfulfilled.”

“So, you knew I would go back and kill them?” The feeling of being used did not sit well with her.

“Evelyn, of course. You had so much rage, so much untapped potential. I gave you the tools to free us both. I made you what you are today.”

“And the child I found? Ellie. Did you kill her too?”

“That was unfortunate.” He pushed himself to his feet angrily and walked away from her.

“Unfortunate? She was a baby. You killed her and you call it unfortunate? What kind of fucking monster are you?” she asked finally letting her temper get the better of her.

“I am the man who saved you.”

She could hear his fury in every word as he spoke to her and responded in kind. “You are the monster who nearly destroyed me. The police never knew about me, did they? I was just a runaway kid as far as they were concerned. You faked the attack on me to isolate me, to make me run and trust only you. That was why you let me keep my name and wear the necklace. You knew nobody would be looking for me, not really. I would be just another missing teenager.” As she said the last words the full impact of it all hit her and she hugged her arms to her belly.

“No, Evelyn, they never did.”

“So how did you come to be outside the police station that night?” she asked wanting all the details to make sense.

“I was in a car further down making sure those goons didn’t fuck up. I saw you run and knew where you would go. I drove there and intercepted you, it wasn’t difficult.”