Insufferable Proximity (73 page)

“Don’t go.” She pleaded.

“You’re safe here and I won’t be long.”

***

Heaven was sitting up in bed with her back against the headboard, trying to read a magazine to distract her from Julian’s stupid mission.

He finally walked in a few hours later and Heaven sat straight up, her back as straight as an arrow as he walked towards her.

“Did you find him?” were the first words out of her mouth.

“No, but we’re going to go back out tomorrow.” he informed her and she frowned.

***

The house itself wasn’t necessarily on lock down, just Julian and Heaven were.

“I want you in my sight at all times.” he said, his hand on her butt, slipping into the waistband of her skirt, “I mean it.”

“I know.” she nodded, in all honesty, she didn’t want to leave his side either, she felt safer with him than anyone else. “Let’s go away.” she suggested and he nodded.

“As soon as they find Gavin we will.” he bent down and kissed her lips.

“I say we go now.”

“I want to catch Gavin first.” Julian was on a hunt for blood and there was no stopping him at this point.

“I want the police to catch Gavin, while you and I are in Hawaii making love on the beach.” she wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his chest. He ran his hand down her hair and continued down her back until he reached her butt.

“We’re staying here.” he said with an underlining finality that irritated her.

“No, we are going to Hawaii.” she raised her chin.

“No.” he kissed her with a grin, loving her stubborn ways.

“Fine then I’ll go by myself while you can stay here and catch Gavin.” she pulled back away from him with a pout.

“No you’re not,” he pulled her back to him, “I told you, you’re not leaving my sight Princess.”

“That’s not fair.”

“I don’t care about fairness, I care about your safety,” he said grabbing her behind tightly, “you’re staying here-”

“But-”

“One more word and I will spank you.” he warned her.

“Fine I will stay on one condition, you have to let the police handle this. No more late night, vigilante search parties with your crazy cousins. I’m worried about your safety too.” she frowned.

“You don’t have to worry about my safety, trust me, I'll be fine.”

“I can’t stand the thought of something happening to you.” She admitted.

“And I can’t stand the thought of something happening to you again. That’s why I need to find Gavin and make sure he can never hurt you.”

“No, I want you to forget about him and stay right here with me.”

“I want you to marry me.” he said and she looked at him.

“You mean another fake marriage until they catch Gavin?”

“No, I want you to have my last name. I want you to be my wife, my real wife.” he smoothed a curl back from her face.

“What is this, like a proposal or something?”

“Yes, it is. I was so scared when you were missing, I can’t even imagine a day without you. I want you in my life forever, I want to call you Mrs. King and I want you to have my babies.” He looked into her eyes as he slowly removed the ring from her finger. When he bent down on one knee before her, Heaven was positive she would faint from shock and pure elation.

“You’re serious.” She said as she felt the happiness begin to burst throughout her mind and body.

“I’m very serious. Will you marry me Heaven Sevigne Deville?” he asked and Heaven felt the tears begin to form in her eyes.

“Yes.” She answered and he slid the ring back on her finger.

“I love you.” Julian told her before kissing her lips.

“I love you too.” she wrapped her arms around his neck as he held her tightly to him.

***

Gavin used his laptop to break into their security centers main computer to steal their password before he carefully let himself inside of the house. He had been staking out Julian’s house and knew there were two staff members still inside. The cook was easy, Gavin had hid in the pantry closet and when she walked over by the door he jumped out and slipped the chloroform soaked rag over her mouth. He then proceeded to drag her down to the basement and tied her up. To Gavin’s delight, the butler had come out to investigate a strange noise and Gavin was able to take the large man down before tying him up in the basement next to the cook. He gagged and blindfolded them both just in case they woke up earlier than expected and then locked the basement door from the outside.

He then crept upstairs to his favorite hiding spot, the bathroom. He hid deep in the back of the linen closet, behind the revolving shelves that the towels sat on. He crouched in the corner waiting for them to come to the bed and fall asleep. Once they were asleep, his plan was to creep out of the closet and hide behind the door. He stood silently, listening to the snores coming from the room then heard the bed move before he heard the footsteps come towards the bathroom. He waited until Heaven had fully entered the bathroom then grabbed her from behind, putting the chloroform soaked cloth over her face. He held her tightly, waiting for the chemicals to take affect when he felt her body go limp. He carefully laid her in the bathtub, turning her to her side then tying her hands behind her back before soaking the cloth again then heading into the bedroom.

He crawled as silent as an ant through the room, coming up to Julian’s side, then with every ounce of his strength he shoved the cloth over his face and held him still before it took effect. If the chemicals had of taken even a moment longer, Gavin realized Julian would have over powered him and this would have ended completely different then he wanted. Once Julian was out cold, he quickly tied his hands and ankles together then sat him on the bed, leaning him against the headboard before going to get Heaven.

***

For some reason Ayden could not sleep, he felt an unexplained urgency rushing through him. He felt like he should be alert and ready, but he was not sure why. He went down the hall to his private office and pulled out the evidence against Gavin Grant. He needed to know why Gavin had done this. Ayden had always considered himself an excellent judge of character, it was a talent he used to help him pick the right clients to defend as well, but somehow, this psychopath had completely fooled him.

Gavin had gone to college with Julian and had come directly to the King Law firm after their graduation. Although he did not graduate at the top of his class and was not the usual type that Ayden would hire, he saw a drive in the young man that Ayden could not resist. So like he did with all of his new lawyers, he took him under his wing and re-educated him in a way that would strengthen his weaknesses and excel his strengths.

So what happened? How had the mild mannered young man he trained turned into a mentally disturbed saboteur? Why was he doing this? What would he gain? Ayden wondered if there was something he wasn’t seeing and began re-checking all the evidence lay out before him.

He started at the very beginning and worked his way to the last event, going over every detail with a fine tooth comb. He was looking over the last of the evidence, the information about the car Heaven had made her escape in when he noticed a detailed note attached to the back of Gavin Grant’s car registration. The hand written note explained that although the car was registered to Gavin, it had been insured through someone else’s name, Ayden quickly scanned all of the paperwork to find out who the car was insured to and when he found the name of the person he felt perspiration instantly bead on his brow as his lungs constricted and his pulse faltered. He immediately grabbed his cell phone to call Julian.

***

Alice wasn’t exactly digging her date for the evening and had drunk a few extra shots of tequila to like her more. After consuming half of the bottle, she realized, her self-obsessed date just wasn’t getting any more interesting and she made an excuse to leave. She was going to go to her little apartment, but decided to take advantage of her room in the staff quarters at her boss’s house. She had to get up real early to service the limo then drive her boss to his little bungalow by the beach. She silently slipped into the house and decided to make a snack before heading off to bed when she noticed the back door was ajar. An uneasy feeling washed over her and she quickly shut the door then checked the security key pad. Her eyes grew wide with alarm when she saw that the security had been deactivated.

She ran to the staff room to see if cook was up, but she found her room was empty. She then ran down to the butler’s room, only to find another empty room.

“Don’t panic,” she whispered to herself, wishing she had not drank so much tequila, “there is a perfectly good explanation for this.” she looked around the room unable to shake the uneasy feeling. “You’re drunk and paranoid, Alice.” she hiccupped before leaving the room.

***

Ayden continued calling Julian’s phone, but could get no answer. He was getting dressed and debating whether or not to go to Julian’s house when he received a text message from his son’s phone.

“Come to my house I need to talk to you about something very important.”

Ayden was overcome with dread as he read the text from his son and he knew something was wrong. He immediately dialed Fritz as he ran down to his car, not even bothering to change out of his pajamas.

***

Gavin held the smelling salts before Julian’s face to help wake him up faster and Julian came to his senses in a whirlwind. Julian’s brain was a little fuzzy, but it all came rushing back to him quickly and he looked up to see Gavin Grant’s grinning face. He tried to grab him and quickly discovered that his arms were chained to the bedposts and his ankles were wrapped in chains. He then looked up to see Heaven tied to a chair and he felt his anger explode throughout him. He lost control, yanking against the bedposts and growling like a wild animal.

“You can’t get loose, I tied you extra tight, Mr. King.” Gavin said as he stepped back towards Heaven, then put the smelling salt under her nose.

“Get away from her!” Julian roared, tried desperately to get loose.

Gavin’s smile deepened as he held the strong salts under Heaven’s nose. Heaven woke abruptly, trying to focus her brain and her eyes in the dim room. She tried to stand up but felt her body being held back and the all too familiar feeling of being tied to a chair came rushing back to her. She looked down to see that it was happening again.

“Feel familiar?” she heard the voice she had come to despise and she looked up to see Gavin standing next to her. “At least this time you’re not alone.” he said and motioned towards the bed. Heaven followed the direction he was staring and saw Julian chained to the bed with a look of pure-unadulterated rage contorting his face.

“Heaven, look at me baby,” Julian tried to get her attention, seeing the tears pool in her eyes.

“No, this is just another bad dream.” she whispered shaking her head, praying she would wake up from this horrible nightmare.

“Heaven!” Julian yelled and she finally looked at him.

“But you know it’s not a dream.” Gavin said with pleasure and Heaven felt the bile rise in the back of her throat.

“I’m getting loose and I am going to fucking kill you Grant!” Julian growled and Gavin fought desperately to hide the fear etched in his face.

“Then I’ll make sure to kill you before you get a chance to get loose.” Gavin replied and Heaven, knowing Gavin’s hatred of Julian, knew he would try to kill him.

“Let Julian go.” she was ready to beg if she needed to.

“I will after he’s dead.”

“No!” she cried.

“Don’t listen to that shit Heaven, there’s no way I’ll let him kill me!” Julian yelled.

“No?” Gavin asked walking towards him, pulling a large knife from the holster around his waist then put it under Julian’s throat.

“No!” Heaven yelled, trying to get loose, shaking the chair and screaming at the top of her lungs.

“I am going to kill you slowly.” Julian said looking into Gavin’s eyes.

“Let him go! He doesn’t have anything to do with this.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” Gavin frowned, “He is the reason for this,
all
of it.”

“You’re full of shit.” Julian was scowling, trying to work his hand loose of the bedrails. He felt the thick wood weakening below the chains but was careful not to let Gavin see.

***

“You ruined my life,” Gavin stood back to face Julian, “have you ever heard of May Lennox?”

“Let me guess, she’s the woman you loved and I fucked her.” Julian grinned sadistically.

“No I never really did love that woman but you definitely fucked her, but not in a sexual way, she’s my mother.” he pulled a picture out of his pocket and held it out for Julian to see. Julian looked at the picture, it was a tall woman with golden brown hair. “This is May, see May was a delusional schizophrenic who had been beaten to the brink of death so many times by her own mother that there was no way May could ever be a normal girl with normal emotions. May thought her life was a waste and was obsessed with death then one day her prince charming came along and saved her life. Prince charming showed her what happiness could be and in doing so, May began acquainting happiness with him. She was dependent on his love, so when his wife became pregnant, he left May with a damaged heart and a developing fetus.”