Already flyinghigh above the city, Shiloh looked out of the window at the lights of Paris beneath her and let a few tears drip down her face.Goodbye.She squeezed her eyes shut and put her hand over her belly. She’d lain in her bed the morning of her appointment at the clinic and listened to them calling her voicemail, asking her where she was.She couldn’t do it. Not Benoit’s child. Not her child.Whatever physical changes had come over her were nothing to the emotional bond she already felt with the tiny embryo inside her. She couldn’t get rid of it and now that she would be alone in Africa …screw it,she had thought.I want this child; I want it so badly.
She sighed and leaned her head against the window.Even if its father doesn’t want me…
Tyson Janek was tiredof waiting. His career had been shot to smithereens and now he had nothing left. Well, not nothing; there was still his private fortune—he would never have to work again. But Tyson wanted fame above everything, and if he couldn’t get it through politics …
He found out where she and Bartoli were staying and put together a reasonably sloppy disguise to throw her bodyguards off the scent. He figured if he went all out on prosthetics, it would be seen through in a moment. Instead, he shaved his head and wore his frameless glasses. His glossy, well-coiffed head of hair had been his standout insignia, along with his blandly handsome face. Without it, someone wouldn’t be completely sure if it was him or not.
It was ridiculously easy to gain entrance to her hotel – even easier to bribe some staff into helping him. He used one of his staff’s credit cards to book into a suite. He had to be careful; his bodyguard had reported back to him that the F.B.I. was talking to Ori. They might be with her. They might on the lookout for him.
So he let himself into the suite opposite Ori and Maceo’s and waited. She would be unprotected at some point; the Ori he knew hated to be cooped up. She would skip out for some ice from the machine in the hallway, or down to the lobby for some air, and then he would take her. No elaborate plan, just grab her and stick the knife into her as many times as he could before her security came running.Easy.
Ha,Tyson thought now, setting up a chair near the door so he could hear her door opening and shutting, along snippets of conversations.Easy wasn’t the word I’d choose. Ori would die in agony, bleeding out before her bastard lover could summon the help she needed. Tyson didn’t much care about himself after that; they could put him in jail. As long as Ori was dead, he would be satisfied.
His chance camethree days later. He was listening to her talking to Maceo at their doorway before kissing him goodbye and telling him to hurry back home. Tyson watched through the peephole as Maceo Bartoli took off. The other guy, the American, seemed to be in the room with her, but when Tyson heard him leave too, he risked going across to the door and trying it.
He couldn’t believe it.It was open.His heart pounding, he darted back to his room and grabbed the knife he kept ready. It was long, thin, and lethal.
Tyson crept slowly over to Ori’s room and went inside. He walked silently through the apartment until he saw her. She was napping on the couch, stretched along the wide cushions. In her sleep, her T-shirt had ridden up, and Tyson was distracted by the long expanse of silky brown midriff. He gripped the knife and stepped forward, crouching down to her level. God, she was beautiful … he placed the tip of the knife against her skin, anticipating how it would split and gush blood, how her eyes would open in shock and terror, her moans of agony ...
“Goodbye, Ori….”
A hand clamped over his mouth and jerked him away from Ori’s sleeping body. He dropped the knife as he realized he could smell chemicals and then the room was fading around him. As he lost consciousness, he heard a voice next to his ear, say, “Your death will be more merciful than you deserve, you piece of scum, more merciful than the one you were about to give Ori … you’ll never touch her again….”
Tyson Janek knew then he was a dead man and that Ori, his Ori, had finally won.
When Ori woke, it was already dark. She blinked; she’d only meant to sleep for an hour or so. Someone was banging on the door. “Miss Roy! Miss Roy!’
She pushed herself off the couch and stumbled, still half asleep, to the door. Yanking it open, she was amazed to see her bodyguard almost frantic.
“God, are you okay? Jesus, please, sit down, I’ll call 911.”
Ori was completely discombobulated and let him lead her to the couch. “David, I don’t need 911. I’m fine; what are you …?.” She trailed off as she placed a hand on her belly to quell the rising panic—and her hand came away wet. She looked down.
Blood. Ice flooded her veins … what the hell? She pulled up her T-shirt to find a shallow but definite stab wound just right of her navel. What the hell was going on?
She suddenly felt lightheaded and she must have paled as David, who was always professional with her, stuck his arm around her to steady here. He was talking rapidly into his phone, only pausing when she turned frightened eyes towards him.
“I’ve been stabbed,” she said in disbelief and he nodded, grim-faced, relaying that news to whomever was on the other end of the phone. A second later she discovered it was Maceo, also frantic; as David handed the phone to her, she could hear him yelling her name.
“Ori,mio Dio, are you okay?”
“Maceo, calm down, I’m fine. It’s not very deep … I just don’t understand how it happened.”
She heard heavy breathing as Maceo tried to gather himself. “Maceo … why was David pounding on the door? Has something happened?”
“God, Ori … it’s Janek. He’s been found dead.”
Shock rippled through her—shock, but not sadness. “That’s … not important to us anymore.”
Maceo sighed. “Look, David is going to take you to the emergency room and I’ll meet you there. Where the hell was Alex all day?”
“Sweetheart, he has a job. I told him I’d be fine….”Jesus, she had no idea what was going on, and she suddenly felt exhausted. “Okay, look, I’ll go with David. You’ll be there?”
“Of course.”
Maceo, his handsome face lined with fear, wrapped his arms around her. The doctor smiled at him. “She’s fine. It’s just a little cut. I’m more concerned about the sedative.”
Maceo was confused. “What?”
