The Iron Tiara

The waiter set their plates down and gave her a questioning look. “Can you pack those up to go, please?” she asked as she downed the rest of her Brandy Alexander in one long gulp.

“Why does my favorite drink have to have his name in it?” she asked out loud as she watched the waiter walk away carrying a plate in each hand.

Two hours later, she soaked in her bathtub and let the hot water soothe her. She’d been livid down to the marrow in her bones when Alexander not only left the restaurant without explanation, but mucked up any chance she may have had with Nicholas. She wanted to hang on to that anger to eradicate what that brief kiss did to her insides. She was now feeling relaxed and looked forward to a hot cup of tea and immersing herself in a novel she’d been meaning to read.

Later, she put on her nightshirt and was brushing out her hair when the telephone rang. She picked up the phone that was sitting on her nightstand.

“Hello?”

She quickly hung up after hearing the disgusting words that were being whispered. She tucked her hair behind her ear and took a deep breath. Who was this person saying such obscene and horrible things? It was obviously a man who was disguising his voice. She jumped when the phone rang again and pondered whether to answer it. I’ll give Mr. Dirty Mouth a piece of my mind, she thought. She picked it up on the second ring.

“What?” she yelled into the phone.

“Nisha, it’s Alexander.”

She rolled her eyes and plopped on the bed. Owani! she thought.

"If you’re calling to apologize, I’m not accepting," she told him.

“I’ve been detained at the airport. I forgot I bought a switchblade today. I meant to give it to you and ask you to mail it to me. Anyway, they found it in my pocket when I was going through security."

“That’s unfortunate,” she said, mimicking his earlier response. Her voice was steely.

“You’re not funny. I’m a convicted felon, so this will probably get complicated. I need you to help me. You’re an attorney. I have to get back to Florida, and I have to do it quickly. I’m not sure what my next step is. I’ve never been taken into custody for an airport security violation.” He brushed his hand down his face.

A beat passed. He didn’t think she was going to answer him.

“You’re a smart guy. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

He heard the click of the telephone and knew she’d hung up on him. He couldn’t help himself from smiling and realized he was more than attracted to her. He was downright infatuated, and this wasn't over. As a matter of fact, it'd just begun. He turned around to the officer that had detained him. “Can I make another phone call?”





Chapter Thirty-Four





Naples, Florida 1978





It felt like forever before Christy finally saw the weathered sign that indicated she’d found Camp Sawgrass. She’d gotten lost twice and almost caused an accident when she pulled a quick U-turn without signaling. The long, twisting road reminded her of the one Anthony lived at the end of, and she was relieved when she saw lights as the camp finally came into view. She pulled her little car up to one of the buildings and got out. She noticed some motorcycles and a sense of dread began to seep in when she realized the doctor’s fancy sports car and Anthony’s truck were nowhere in sight. Then she heard them. Their voices were getting louder as they came toward her. She turned around and saw four men approaching her. The large one that led the pack was licking his lips.

“Thank you, Anthony Bear,” he laughed, and she heard the other men agreeing with him.

She started to back away from them as memories of the Glades Motel jolted her senses. Her pulse sped, and the pounding in her head was so loud it wouldn’t allow a coherent thought to enter. Her knees weakened and her stomach churned violently. This couldn’t be happening. Not again. Not here at Anthony’s camp.

She turned to grab for her car door when she was roughly snatched by the hair and spun around.

“Look for the white rabbit,” one of the men said. “Just like the lady doc said!”

“No. This isn’t right. I’m here to see Anthony. He’s been hurt. Take me to him.” Her eyes stung as she fought back tears and her scalp burned as the big man held her hair so tightly she had to stand on her tiptoes to try and ease some of the tension. He lifted her higher, and she resisted the urge to cry out.

“Anthony put out a message that he was sending a special delivery. Something that he had no further use for. You’re ours now,” the man who held her sneered. He was so close to her she could smell his rancid breath.

“We were told to look for the white rabbit,” another one snickered. “Looks like a white rabbit to me.”

“Behind the building,” one of the men added as he motioned toward a distant structure. “Don’t want John to wake up and want us to share our present from Anthony.”

Christy couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her mind scrambled to process what was happening. She couldn’t resolve in her head that Anthony was giving her to these depraved men. Why had Veronique told her he was hurt? Where was she? Were they lovers who’d been secretly scheming all along to use her as payback against Van? The tears came in a rush, and she could feel them as they trailed hot lines on her cheeks. She started to scream when she was roughly jerked up higher by her hair and pushed toward a building. She was being shoved backward, tripping over her own feet even though they barely touched the ground.

The man slammed her hard against the structure while using his other hand to lift her completely off the ground by her throat. Her feet were no longer touching the grass, and she used both hands to try and pry his fingers from around her neck. He was squeezing so tightly, she could feel herself losing consciousness. She may have been passing out, but she wasn’t going to go down without a fight. With all her strength, she kicked and knew she’d connected when she heard a grunt of pain and was dropped to the ground. She started coughing and felt hands around her throat again. She tried her hardest to stay awake, to keep fighting, but the lack of oxygen made it impossible.

“You’ll pay for that you stupid bi—” She didn’t hear the rest as she felt herself slipping into a gray realm of nothingness and her world ceased to exist.



Anthony turned at the sign that led to the camp. He was anxious to take care of the emergency and get home to Christy. He missed her more than he ever imagined and didn’t want to be here. The recognition jolted him. When had he ever preferred a woman over his gang or his business? He allowed himself a few seconds to process what would happen if he turned around and let the emergency take whatever course it did on its own. He would’ve done that if X was in town, but since he was almost there, he would handle it. He pressed on the accelerator and took a few of the curves a little too fast, almost spinning out of control, just like his life now that Christy was in it.



Christy was trying to wake up from a bad dream. She heard voices and couldn’t tell if they were part of the dream or if she was hearing them.

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