Deception (Infidelity #3)

Nox kissed my forehead before disappearing in the other direction and leaving me alone with the kind woman I’d only met once.

“Coffee, thank you.” Forming longer sentences was suddenly outside of my repertoire.

I trailed a step behind Silvia as she walked toward the kitchen. The glistening Long Island Sound shone through the large windows with small white caps skirting across the blue water. I opened the glass door and inhaled the warm breeze.

“Dear, are you all right?”

Once again I looked down at my own body, scanning it as if it belonged to someone else. Flat ballet-type shoes peered out from the legs of my tight jeans and my top hung loosely from the edge of my light jacket. I unzipped the jacket, needing to be sure everything was fine underneath. Removing it, I said, “Physically. I-I don’t know or understand what just happened.”

“You’re safe. That’s what matters.”

She reached for the glass door that I’d opened and pulled it shut.

“Silvia, I think maybe I’d like to go out to the pool, just to feel some sunshine.”

She reached for my arm. “Alex, please stay inside until everything is secure.”

How did she know about everything?

The cold chill from earlier returned. “You don’t think…” I wasn’t sure how to ask my question. “…someone would hurt us here?”

“I’ve been with the Demetris for a long time. I was briefed before your arrival. What just happened was unusually brazen. The two of you were in Central Park, for goodness’ sake. If someone wanted to find you, it wouldn’t be difficult for that person to connect the dots. It’s a matter of public record that this house belongs to Lennox.” She released my arm and tended to the coffee. “This house is safe. I know that. However, outside needs to be secured. And there could be someone on a boat or a flyover for that matter. Staying inside is best.”

Oh my God!

My eyes widened at the wall of windows. “You’re sure we’re all right with the windows?”

“I’m sure, dear.”

My knees gave out as I sank onto a chair near the kitchen table and tucked my trembling hands between my knees.

Silvia turned my way. “I didn’t mean to scare you. Keeping you safe is the objective.”

I nodded, overwhelmed and a bit perplexed over her knowledge and level of comfort with this kind of emergency.

“Does this happen? Has it happened?” I asked.

Her eyes softened. “Not every day. Not every year. But the Demetris need to be prepared.”

“I-I.” Words began to fail me. I wanted Nox. I wanted to be locked in a bunker or perhaps secured on a desert island with him.

Silvia handed me a warm cup. “I have an idea. Let’s go to the pool house. It’s beautiful and you can enjoy the sunshine without going outdoors. It will help you ward away the chill.”

Without speaking, I stood and nodded. I didn’t know what else to do.

As we made our way through a breezeway, Silvia turned back toward me, her sparkling eyes bringing life to her expression. “I may have alluded to this before, but I’ve been around here for a while…” She allowed her words to trail away suggestively.

“Teenage Lennox?” I asked, remembering her words from over a month before.

She lifted her brow and pursed her lips. “Perhaps…”

I smiled, appreciating her willingness to ease my mind and refocus my attention. Nevertheless, her warnings clung to me like a fog, keeping the warming rays of sunshine just out of reach.

Before reaching the pool house, Nox’s voice boomed from the depths of the house. Silvia’s eyes met mine.

“Can you tell what he said?” I asked.

“No, but sometimes I hear his father in him.”

I shook my head. “I don’t know much about his family and haven’t been around that long, but I’d suspect that wouldn’t be a welcomed analogy.”

She grinned. “If you asked either of them, they’d say they’re oil and water, but my assessment is different.”

“It is?” I asked as we entered the pool house.

I stood and turned. The small outbuilding was gorgeous: glass covered three walls with sunshine lighting the interior. The other wall had a beautiful limestone brick fireplace in the center between large windows, and the ceiling was covered in knotty pine. The furnishings were comfortable, done along the lines of a family room, complete with a large round table. For some reason, it reminded me of Christmas displays and what it would be like to have a family gathered near for the holidays. In December the outside would be cold and covered in snow, yet the inside would be as warm as it was today.

Nothing like the cold stuffiness of the manor.

“I love this home,” I said. “There’s something about it that makes me feel… I’m not sure of the right word. Homey?”

Silvia smiled. “That’s what Angelina wanted.”

“Angelina?”

“Lennox’s mother. All she ever wanted was this house filled with family.”

I feigned a smile. “That’s sad.”

“It doesn’t have to be,” Silvia replied. “The house is Lennox’s. One day he could fulfill his mother’s wish.”

The skin of my neck prickled. “I don’t know, but I hope that someday Lennox fulfills his own dreams. I know what it’s like to have other people’s dreams thrust on you. I wouldn’t want that for him.”

Silvia nodded. “How old are you?”

Sitting on the edge of one of the long sofas facing the sound, I grinned. “Twenty-three. Why?”

“You seem older.”

“I hope that’s a good thing. Or do you recommend that once this is over, I visit my mother’s plastic surgeon for emergency intervention?”

“Oh, no!” she replied, aghast.

We both laughed as we settled on the soft cushions. Silvia curled her legs under herself in a position that told me she was comfortable in this home. I slipped my shoes from my feet and did the same, letting my toes warm beneath me.

Taking a deep breath, I prompted, “Oil and water?”

She shrugged. “I see the two of them more like Italian dressing.”

I smiled. “Italian would seem appropriate.”

“Yes. It needs both oil and water. If you let it settle, it separates, but if you shake it up, the two ingredients blend. They need one another, complement one another, and wouldn’t be the same without the other.”

“I like that. How do you think Lennox or Oren would feel about your assessment?”

“I know how they’d feel. Both of them would balk.”

“Loudly?” I said with a hint of a question.

“It doesn’t take being around that long to know that to be true.”

I sighed and placed the warm cup on the table. “Silvia, I don’t even know what happened this morning. It all happened so fast.”

Her head moved up and down. “You’re safe here. Inside of this place is a fortress.”

“I’m supposed to be in class. I mean, who’s to say I couldn’t? You don’t think that I was the target, do you?” Each word was softer than the one before as my mouth grew increasingly dry.

Silvia stared for a minute. “At this point, with what we know, it’s impossible to say for sure.”

I stood and paced around the large room. “Who were those men who drove us here? They weren’t our normal security.”

“Demetris have many layers of security. It is the way it is.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and hugged myself tighter. “How? How do they live like that?”

I didn’t realize she’d moved yet Silvia was now behind me. “For some people, the transition to this life is difficult. Those people have never experienced anything like a bodyguard or driver or house staff. They think a commercial company’s alarm system is security. And then, there are others…” She touched my shoulder. “…like you, who have lived with this their entire lives and are more comfortable.”

Tears teetered on my lids as the Long Island Sound blurred. Did everyone know my past? “But this felt different.”

“Because the risk was different,” she replied.

I turned toward her. “What do you mean?”