Page 17 of His Sweet Torment
“Bonfire.”
“Ouch.” But Dale grinned at her, obviously glad to see her joking after her distress. Padme sighed and leaned her head back on the couch.
“So, no job, no lover…wow. I could write a book on fucking up, couldn’t I?”
“What did you fuck up? You fell in love, is all. You did nothing wrong – in fact, you did everything right. Even after you quit, you still saved the protectee.”
Padme stared at him. “Then why did he leave me?”
“Maybe he figured he was bad news. You got shot because of him.”
“I got shot because Brian Dedalus was working for Frederick Ingles.”
“We don’t know that. For all we know, Dedalus could have just been jealous of you and Enver. Maybe he was in love with one of you and couldn’t live with it. He must have known we’d take him down once he started shooting.”
“Asshole.”
Dale nodded. “Right. So, working for Frederick Ingles…I don’t know.”
Padme looked at him unhappily. “What if he killed Enver, Dale? I have to know.” She hesitated. “Will you help me? Please?”
She’d asked before, of course, but now she felt Dale was listening, really listening to her. And yes, she needed to know whether her lover was alive or not…she couldn’t move on until she knew. If he were alive and didn’t want her – yes, it would hurt like hell, but she would have some closure, at least. Dale let out a long breath.
“I won’t do anything to risk my job at the bureau, but within those conditions…yes, alright. I’ll give you three months, Pad, and then we call it quits, and you move on with your life. Spend some of that money on yourself.”
She half-smiled at him. “Not my money, but as for the rest, okay, thank you. Three months.”
Three months to find out whether the love of her life was dead or alive…
And whether he still wanted her.
Padme went to bed that night, a little easier in her heart. It had felt like, since that terrible day in the courtroom, that her heart had been the one to take those three bullets. When she woke in the hospital three days after the shooting, barely able to move and in incredible pain, her first question was “Is Enver okay?”
Her pseudo-mother Severin had stroked the hair back from Padme’s forehead and told her that Enver hadn’t been hurt but that they’d had to take him into protective custody. Padme had been relieved, and as she recovered, it had given her strength to know that soon, she and Enver would be reunited.
But it hadn’t worked that way. One day, Henry had come to visit her and told her that Enver had gone. “We don’t know where, sweetheart.”
“Bullshit. He wouldn’t just leave me. Is this some plan you dreamed up to protect me?”
She wouldn’t listen to Henry’s explanations of why Enver hadn’t been allowed to contact her. It was only when it came time for her to settle her medical expenses that she discovered they had all been covered by Enver, and to add to that, her bank called her about the large deposit that had been made into her checking account.
“Excuse, how much did you say?” She couldn’t believe this wasn’t a prank.
“Almost seven hundred million dollars, Ms. Kaur. Obviously, we’re calling to set a meeting to discuss investing the sum and…”
“This is a joke, right? Dale? Is this you?”
It had taken some persuasion and logging onto her online banking account and seeing the numbers in black and white.
Credit$735,589.60CreditorE. Long.
‘E. Long’.Eddie Long– the name Enver had checked into the hotel where they had spent that incredible, erotic weekend. Enver had given her almost a million dollars? She had gone through many emotions, the overriding one being that she didn’t want his money and he must have known that. Was this a kiss-off? If it was, it was a humiliating one and completely out of character for Enver.
Padme rolled onto her back now and stared up at the ceiling.No.Something else was going on and she couldn’t, for the life of her, figure out what it was.
“If you’re out there, baby,” she whispered, “please. Come find me.”
She heard footsteps on the balcony outside her bedroom window. Another of Enver’s gifts – around-the-clock-security. She was still on Frederick Ingles’ radar, it would seem, although she had heard nothing, or witnessed anything suspicious since the shooting.Maybe it’s because Enver is dead and he has no more need for revenge.
