Imperfect Forgery: (A Dark Romantic Suspense) Read online

  "Each forgery?" Greg raises his eyebrow.

  "Damn, this was a good plan. Nobody brags about owning a stolen painting. Certainly not to the rivals who wished to buy it," I conclude the confession, leaning against Silverstone's oversized antique wooden desk – the centerpiece of this room. "Why did you change the plan?"

  "My girlfriend didn't trust the man. She said we could report the robbery before the arranged date, and flee the country with the original. We found a forger, but he was late delivering the copy, and you know the rest..."

  "Let us sum this up." I walk to him, invading his private space. "You double-crossed Beltrani because you didn't want to share the profit; then you gave away the original artwork to the cops instead of running away with it? So, the question remains, how were you going to retrieve it?"

  "As I said, we were going to switch it with the forgery once it was finished," he bleats like a goat now. "As long as the canvas was in police possession, there was no problem."

  "How was that not a problem?" I spit my question into his face.

  "I'm done talking. I would like a lawyer now." A goat he may be because he is surely stubborn when it comes to exposing his precious lover.

  "You are done when I say so!" I clutch his jacket in my fists. "Why did you leave the auction with the girl, and don't fucking tell me she wanted it!"

  Blood runs hot in my veins by thinking this sweaty maggot laid hands on Lava, even worse, he...

  "My girlfriend said we had to follow the original plan not to raise any suspicions, and sex with that student was my first reward, according to the man."

  My blood is not hot anymore, it is molten lava. I tackle him to the floor, punching his ugly face until his security comes to the rescue and pulls me off the groaning bloody sack of potatoes.

  "You better sing the same song to the FBI before Beltrani gets to you!" I shout my warning as the security escorts us out.

  ∞∞∞

  "I don't think he would ever press assault charges," Greg says when we return to the precinct. "He is most likely cowering in the corner now in fear of getting arrested."

  "Or killed by Beltrani," I add. "I must give it to him; the sucker had the balls to double-cross the devil. Or maybe it was the girlfriend who had the balls. After all, she is the one who orchestrated everything.

  "Damn it! I need to talk to Lava. I need to hug her and assure her she will never go through any of this ever again."

  "Lucas and Aurelia are with her now. Call him."

  Before I reach for my phone, I notice Anders snooping around my desk. I pat Greg on the shoulder and point for him to look. He nods in confirmation and walks away.

  Anders tries to retreat as soon as he spots me, only to crash into Greg already standing behind him. "Going somewhere?"

  "Did you forget anything on my desk?" I ask and take another step closer to him, trapping Anders in between us. "I believe it is time for us to get to know each other better, partner."

  "I was just..."

  I make a tsk sound. "Save it. We ask questions, you answer. It is that simple. Let's have a smoke, shall we?"

  "I don't smoke."

  Greg leans toward my snitch of a partner. "You do now."

  The moment we step outside Anders starts pleading, "Guys, it's a misunderstanding. I was looking for the report on the stone installation robbery."

  "You mean the one you and I handed personally to the captain?"

  Anders bleats something incoherent, his right foot tapping the floor fast. "Look, I was only supposed to keep an eye on you."

  "Who hired you?" Greg asks although we both know the answer is Beltrani.

  "Some woman."

  Not the reply I expected.

  "One morning I received an envelope with a USB stick. There were pictures on it and a video. It was a bachelor party. I was drunk and stoned, and I paid a hooker for sex. My career would have been over if anybody saw it. Then my phone rang. A woman told me I would be transferred and partnered up with you, but I only had to watch you and report back to her."

  "Her number!" I demand through clenched teeth.

  "Don't you think I checked? It was a burner phone. No name, not even a GPS location. I had no other choice. Besides, I gave her nothing until recently; until I heard you took a leave of absence to be at the hospital with that girl who was assaulted."

  "Nothing? Fuck, you led her assailant back to her, you idiot!" I want to punch him in the face, but Greg intervenes in time.

  "The next time she calls, ask for a meeting, and you come to us. If not, trust me, the sex tape is going to be the least of your worries."

  Greg waves Anders off before I lose the last bits of self-control. "You think this woman and the CEO's lover is one and the same?" He reads my mind.

  "Your guess is as good as mine, but whoever she is, that woman is indeed working with Silvio, and not against him."

  Upon reentering the station, a front counter receptionist waves me over. The woman is about to retire after years of service, and I sure as hell am going to miss her badass Mexican sense of humor.

  "This came from the lab for you." She hands me an envelope.

  "Gracias, amor." I kiss her hand. "Who is going to brighten up my every morning when you're gone?"

  She giggles, playing with her silver hair, her dark eyes sparkling. "From what your friend right here told me, you already found somebody to brighten your mornings."

  Greg shrugs his shoulders, not even trying to look apologetic for gossiping about me.

  "I sure hope you're right, Paula. Now if only I can convince her to give me another chance."

  "If she is important to you, mijo, you will not give up." She folds her arms over her chest, waiting for my confirmation like a mother, or more accurately, a mother-in-law would.

  "I will." I smile in response. I will do whatever it takes to prove myself worthy of her.

  This is when the realization of what the envelope holds pushes me off balance.

  I tear the corner off, my fingers trembling with anticipation, my heart hammering in my chest as I pull out the papers and read the words "positive match". The trembling only intensifies with every page I turn.

  Greg grips my shoulder. "What's up? Have you seen a ghost?"

  "Worse." I hand him the folder, unable to say more.

  My friend scans the results and pulls out a poster of a missing child – a seven-year-old Judith Orlova. A tirade of unrecognizable Thai curses leaves his mouth before he looks back at me. "She's been missing for seventeen years."

  I take the poster from him and trace the contours of a portrait in the photo with my index finger. Long curly hair fills the entire background, framing a sweet smiling face, her front tooth not yet fully grown. Those huge hazel eyes gleam with innocent delight, and it pains me to imagine what she had to endure soon after this picture was taken.

  Chapter 16

  Kahina

  The last couple of hours spent with David's best friend Lucas and his girlfriend Aurelia seem to have been magical. For the first time in days, I woke up with a smile, rather than covered in cold sweat. For the first time, I met neither Silvio nor Mauro in my dreams.

  I cannot help but smile again, recollecting the time spent with the couple who, despite all the odds against them, preserved their love for each other. I met dangerous men before, enough to recognize Lucas as one of them, but he also holds a soft side – reserved for the woman he adores and the friends he would defend with his life. And while he kept studying me, as if to determine if I am worth the effort to be protected, Aurelia embraced me the second she stepped into the room.

  As I try to get out of bed, my bruised legs remind me of something. Aurelia did not look horrified at the sight of my bruises, unlike some of the nurses in here. Surely, she must have had her fair share of injuries as a contemporary dancer and former jiu-jitsu fighter, but the way she looked at me and smiled – there was no pity there. Instead, there was understanding and comfort in her eyes. Her smile eased my pain, w
hich at last is bearable enough for me to skip drugs.

  Lucas told me David is free now, but he is not allowed to see me. I need to find a way to tell those detectives the truth. My stomach churns just thinking about it, my lips still tingle from the assault of Silvio's cruel mouth, the images of blood-leaking walls still hover above me, transforming me into a shaky creature I used to be.

  Have I felt anything but fear and shame until David made me laugh? I cannot remember. Years of abuse, loneliness, and betrayal smudged the images of the boy from the neighboring cell who used to tell me about stars to make me smile.

  Every strike, every humiliation, and every violent thrust entangled those happy memories like bramble – its thorns abrading my soul, bleeding me out daily, until there was no more dignity, hope, or will to live left in me.

  Yet, my throat tightens knowing Mauro is all alone now. He can never return to the mansion after what he did to save me, but he cannot be around me either. Not after I witnessed the beast Silvio nurtured for years take over my childhood friend again… And he didn't let go of him until I was bleeding to death on the floor.

  The gruesome pictures of my only days’ old execution flood my mind like water from a broken dam. The world around me blackens, and I grip the rail of the bed in time to stop myself from collapsing to the floor.

  Lowering myself onto the end of the bed, I concentrate on taking slow deep breaths while raw and unfiltered images keep flashing in front of my eyes, slowly becoming a steady flow. I do not try to push them aside anymore. I have to start accepting my dark past. Maybe then, I will finally be able to talk about it.

  If this means I must relive every single detail of that ordeal again in my head, I am prepared to do so. I am ready for anything to resist Silvio's influence.

  Cold shivers surge up and down my spine with each vivid recollection, until frost seeps into my bones, rendering me breathless.

  There was a woman in the basement. I have no idea when she arrived, or if she was there all the time, but I am certain Silvio and Mauro were not the only ones there.

  She watched us from afar and smiled while I screamed in agony. Why would a woman I never met be there, watching me, relishing the spectacle of my suffering?

  Her smile... No, it was a grin, like one of Cheshire cat illustrations. The grin so dominating that the rest of her features remain shadowy. No matter how hard I try, the horrid vision of her exposed teeth is all I can see. It is growing larger with every loud thud of my heart until Bryan’s voice from outside the room pushes the image away.

  I wait for him to enter, but the door remains closed. There are other voices I never heard before, too. Except for one. A familiar female voice speaks – her words indistinguishable.

  Yet every frozen cell of my body is screaming that Silvio made his move.

  The door opens and Lea steps inside, shutting it behind her and exhaling loudly.

  "Lea, what's wrong? Where is Bryan?" I ask, and the instant she looks at me I read the answer written all over her face. "He's coming for me. I mean my..." I cannot say that word anymore.

  Silvio is not my father!

  "I'm sorry." She sighs, putting a tray with bandages and scissors on the nightstand. "There are new officers outside, and they won't let anybody in. I was allowed because I am your doctor, but that might change at any moment, I'm afraid."

  "Please don't leave me." A supplication from the depths of my soul finds its way into the world that never cared about my pleas – the world that hid behind closed doors, limo glass, and artificial smiles.

  I should not expect anything different this time, not from a stranger, but during the last couple of days strangers treated me better than those in Silvio's circle ever did.

  Lea takes my hand and squeezes it. "I'm not leaving you. I am getting you out of here. But first, I need to talk to the big guy. I will return shortly with some of my clothes. Get ready. We are breaking you out of the hospital!"

  My doctor-turned-savior leaves before I have the chance to respond.

  The fire I spotted in her eyes was like nothing I had ever seen in mine. I can only hope to one day become as strong, but until then, I intend to imitate the confidence and determination I just witnessed.

  If Silvio taught me anything, it is how never to stop perfecting a forgery.

  I get off the bed, pick up a pair of scissors Lea left behind, and head into the bathroom.

  "Goodbye, Lavinia Beltrani." I stare at my bruised and exhausted face in the mirror, cupping locks of hair with one hand.

  Every time I went to the bathroom, I avoided looking at the consequences of Silvio's rage, but I could not evade smelling him on me.

  Days passed breathing in the stench of torture locked inside those curls – the scent of Silvio locked inside those curls. I could wash them forever and still fail to abolish his presence because it is the image itself that belongs to him.

  And I am so sick of looking at it.

  Lea returns with black yoga pants and a blue T-shirt hidden under her scrubs and tells me her plan while helping me dress up.

  The rest happens in no time.

  A loud crash outside my room a few minutes later is my signal to move.

  "Help me, don't just stand there!" Lea yells to the men guarding my door.

  Peeking out the door, I spot two guards in uniforms hoisting the man off the floor and back into the wheelchair. He appears heavy and barely conscious. Only because Lea told me he was in good health and agreed to play the dying swan, I do not feel guilty for causing this.

  Lea notices me and signals for me to go. I mouth the words 'thank you' as I sneak out the door and shut it behind me, as quietly as I can, before walking away. I don't run; I walk like I am not escaping from the hell Silvio wants to pull me back into.

  Even as I press the elevator button, my heart drumming the ancient warning rhythms of an upcoming war, I never glance back; not even when the doors open, and I step inside, pressing the ground floor button repeatedly.

  Only when I am all alone in the closed space, my legs give in, and I sink to the floor, getting back on my feet only after the number zero appears on the screen.

  I walk out of the building, and for the first time, allow myself to relax and inhale the fresh air of freedom before I continue toward the place behind the hospital where Bryan is supposed to be waiting for me.

  A short walk later, I spot the dark blue sedan Lea described. I jump inside, laughing like a maniac, forgetting all about the physical pain. "I did it!"

  Bryan's deep voice submerges mine. "Yes you did, sugar!" he teases me, but today I don't care.

  I am free!

  "Damn, you look hot as fuck," he adds, and I nearly choke on my laughter, arrows shooting through my stomach, reminding me of what men did to me before.

  I should not worry; after all, Bryan is in love. He didn't admit this, but the way he spoke about his bartender, Lara, left no doubt. Still, most of the men who hurt me had wives or girlfriends... It is no sooner than I dare to glance at him, my dread of another man using me for his pleasure, recedes a little.

  "Shit, excuse my loose tongue once again." Apparently, my reaction does not go unnoticed.

  "It's fine," I reply with a hint of a smile.

  "Hey, you know what?"

  "What?" I ask hesitantly.

  "From now on you can do whatever you want with your hair, or any part of your body. Hell, if you ever consider a tattoo, I will personally take you to the best artist in Chicago," Bryan says, a smile softening his hard features.

  ∞∞∞

  The engine goes silent, and I jump in my seat. I must have dozed off while we drove.

  It dawns on me that I never asked the colossal man I barely know where we were going.

  Now I don't have to. I recognize the driveway of David's lake house – the place where my best and my worst memories collide, and I am uncertain which ones are more persistent right now.

  Bryan helps me get out of the car and then goes behind to take s
omething out of the trunk.

  "So you don't feel bored while you wait for your prince charming." He chuckles and opens a large box.

  "David is not here?"

  "We had no time to indulge him in the plan yet."

  Trying to conceal my disappointment, I peek inside the box. It is loaded with paper, canvases, and paint. "Thank you! For everything."

  Bryan winks and pulls the keys out of his jeans pocket.

  I frown eyeing the bundle.

  "I have a spare in case we… Don’t take it personally, but if you want to know why, you will need to ask David yourself."

  Except, he already kind of did. The bond David, Lucas, Gregory, and Bryan share is no mystery. From what I had seen so far – there is nothing they would not do to help each other. And I can guess why Bryan or Lucas could need a place not many people know about.

  "In case you need a safe house?” I conclude the sentence.

  Any hint of his previous joker attitude vanishes. "David told you about Lucas and our pledge? You are much more to him than I imagined, and I pray you never crush his heart. I'm not sure it could take another blow."

  I look at the unbreakable and robust man who seems so vulnerable, pleading for the wellbeing of his friend. "Bryan, I would rather die, I swear."

  He unlocks the door and lets me go in first. When we both stand inside the warzone that used to be the living room, Bryan grunts.

  "I've changed my mind, sugar. Do hurt him, please. For me. Because now I must clean the mess he left behind."

  "I will tidy it up," I assure him because that's what I always did.

  "No." He pushes me across the room and into the balcony. "Enjoy the fresh breeze, and don't worry about a thing."

  "Bryan," I call him before he walks off. "How long till I see David?"

  "Let's wait a day or two so David can evade the tail they'll put on him. For as long as he acts as if he has no knowledge of your whereabouts, and follows his routine, you are safe. We will bring him here. You have my word."