She didn’t answer him, just turned hurt eyes on him. “Don’t. Please, Maceo….”
“It’s your stepfather, isn’t it?”
Ori felt all the air being pushed out of her lungs. Maceo saw through her to the frightened little girl that she was. She stared at him but saw no malice in his looks. He stood and came to her, but she backed away.Don’t touch me or I’ll break.
Her back hit the wall, but Maceo wouldn’t let her run, trapping her in the cage of his arms. “Bella. Mio amata ...”His voice was soft and tender. “What the hell did he do to you?”
Ori stared back at him, her eyes filling with tears. “Maceo … please don’t do this. I can’t.”
He stroked her face. “I can see it in your eyes, my love. Whatever that man has done to you, I’ll make him pay for it.”
She pushed her way out of his arms. “Don’t promise things you can’t deliver.”
Maceo sighed. “Why are you so afraid of sharing your life with me?”
“I’m not ready!” she exclaimed, pain shooting through her. “If I tell you, it’ll make it real and….” Tears came now, and she choked on her words. Her cell phone beeped and, grateful for the distraction, she picked up the phone. Voicemail. She listened to it, her face pale.
Maceo watched the different emotions running across her face and waited until she ended the call. “It’s AJ,” she said in a dull voice, “He’s in a rehab facility in New York. That was his physician. He’s had a relapse in his depression. He needs me. Maceo, I’m sorry. I have to go to him.”
Maceo nodded. “Of course, we will fly out immediately.”
We?Ori closed her eyes. “No, Maceo, I can’t let you get involved. It’s too much to ask.”
But Maceo would not be shut out and a couple of hours later, they were on a plane to the States.
Ori was in turmoil. On the one hand, she was grateful to Maceo for his kindness. On the other, she didn’t want to drag him into this part of her life, the part where she was unhappy, into her family drama. If Tyson knew about Maceo, who knew what he would do? Tyson Janek was violently jealous and possessive over Ori. He had paid past boyfriends off, or blackmailed them into leaving her alone. She knew Maceo would not be so easily gotten rid of, and it frightened her to think what depths Tyson would sink to. The thought of anything happening to Maceo … Ori knew then, at that moment, that the worst thing had happened. She was in love with Maceo Bartoli.
She closed her eyes, willing the tears not to come, but then felt his lips on her forehead. “Tell me,” he said softly, and wrapped his arms around her. And so, in the confines of his private jet, Ori told him the horrors of her family, of how broken she was, and how her stepfather had tormented her, her whole life.
“What doyou mean he’s not here?” Ori’s voice was growing shriller by the minute as she stood in the very well-appointed reception of the Pinegap Rehabilitation Facility. The director looked at her with sympathy.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Roy. Mr. Janek removed his son from the facility yesterday; as he has power of attorney, there was nothing we could do. I do have some of Adam’s possessions that he forgot in a rush. Would you like to take them to him?”
Ori nodded, feeling bleak. Tyson had done this on purpose, to show her he was still in control. She guessed he would not easily give up where AJ was. Maceo stood beside her silently, his hand on the small of her back protectively. She looked at him and shook her head, and he nodded. She wanted to scream and rant, but she was damned if she would do it here.
The director came back with a plastic bag. “Just a few items, but he may want them in the future.”
Ori thanked the director, and she and Maceo returned to Maceo’s town car. Ori opened the bag and took out an empty money clip, a copy ofThe Sun Also Rises(AJ’s favorite book), and the burner phone she had gotten him.
“Fuck that bastard,” she hissed and showed Maceo the phone. “He knew AJ and I would talk. He’s cutting us off from each other.”
Maceo looked angry. “Bella, I will help you find him. I have a fleet of private investigators here in New York that I can put on the case right now, if you’d like. Janek won’t be able to hide AJ forever.”
Ori smiled at him gratefully. “That would be wonderful, Maceo. I can’t thank you enough; I’m sorry you had to get involved in this bullshit.”
“Don’t be sorry; just be ready to fight.” Maceo nodded grimly. “Because one way or another, Janek is going down.”
AJ Janek saton the bunk of his new cell. It was luxurious, he had to give his dad that, but cold and sterile. The reason he had chosen Pinegap was because it had outside space and places he could spend time sketching or watching the birds in the trees. Tyson had arrived yesterday and had barely given AJ the time to acknowledge his presence before he was whisked away in Tyson’s bulletproof car to this place.Jesus…
AJ put his head in his hands. He didn’t even have his phone to call Ori now. Tyson had forbidden calls, and the staff here was obviously under strict instructions not to help AJ at all. AJ wondered if this was even a hospital or just one of Janek’s ‘businesses’ that he used to launder cash.
Yeah, Dad. I know all about the illegal activities. And you know that too, don’t you? It’s why you destroyed my peace of mind and undermined my confidence so much so I couldn’t function. And what you did to me and Ori?What would the good people of the United States think of the congressman if they knew the real truth?
Despair flooded through him, and he slumped back on his bed.What the hell am I going to do now?He hoped that when Ori discovered he was gone from Pinegap that she would come for him, but he knew without a doubt that Tyson would try to stop her—and AJ was under no illusions of the grotesque ways in which his father would try to stop her.
Ori had insistedon going to see Tyson, demanding to know where her brother was. “I don’t want him to even think for a moment he has won,” she raged to Maceo. “I’m going to go in there, to his office, in front of his staff, and demand he tells me.”
Maceo wasn’t enamored of the idea, but knew he wouldn’t be able to stop her. “At least let me come with you.”
