Chapter 14 #3
Enough to destroy them a hundred times over, ma petite fleur. I will have copies sent to the Metropolitan Police as well as all reputable news outlets as soon as you wish.
I message back:
Now. Thank you for this. I won’t forget everything you’ve done.
I close the laptop and my eyes, leaning back and letting out a long sigh.
‘The Heath is done. There’s no way Stoke is getting out of this.’
Shade
When I open my eyes, I smile in the low light.
It’s the reopening of the club tonight, and it’s also our girl’s birthday.
I missed so many of them, and, knowing that none were celebrated in The Heath, I want today to be extra special for her.
I was going to plan a ton of things, but, in the end, she told us that all she wanted was to spend some time with all three of us in the safety of what we’re now calling the bunker.
So, I wake up early and go out to grab her a breakfast burrito with bacon and eggs from down the street.
Outside, it’s still cold, but there’s a definite springtime vibe in the air.
The snow that’s been in piles around the city for weeks is finally starting to melt away.
The changing of the season brings me hope I haven’t felt in a while.
The club is opening, our girl is safe and sound with us, the cops haven’t bothered us, and that horrible clinic and Stoke are going to be nothing but smoking craters in the ground. Metaphorically, of course.
I order enough burritos for all of us and take the bag back to Wrath, using my keycard to open the bunker. When I get to the bedroom, the bed is empty and I frown as I hear a moan from the Dark Lounge.
Clearly, they’ve started without me.
I slide the door open a little and peer inside. Daisy is on the table, strapped down with her legs tied apart while Mav eats her out. While I watch, she comes with a cry, and he begins to fuck her.
‘Breakfast,’ I call from the door, and Mav gives me a nod, his eyes not moving away from Daisy’s writhing body.
I’d love to join them, but I don’t want her birthday breakfast getting cold because of me.
A minute later, they both emerge from the next room. Daisy’s eyes are a little glazed as she flops onto the bed, naked and sated.
‘Happy Birthday,’ I murmur, bending over her and drawing one of her nipples into my mouth.
‘Thanks,’ she grins.
I let the peak go with a pop and smile down at her.
‘Breakfast?’
She perks up immediately, and I hand her the burrito which she opens with gusto.
While she eats, Blake draws her a bubble bath, putting in all the scents he knows she likes. He takes her into the bathroom when she’s done eating and, a few minutes later, we hear her making the most delicious moans.
I frown, wanting my turn with her now, too, but there’s still a whole day, I reason. Plenty of time.
When she comes out wrapped in a fluffy white towel not too much later, looking refreshed and yet even more dazed than before, I pull her over to the bed and sit with her on my lap.
‘Ready for presents?’
Her eyes widen and her hand grips me in excitement. ‘Presents?’
‘Of course!’ Mav exclaims.
‘But the new Dark Lounge, the bunker.’ She looks at the ceiling. ‘My painting…’
‘Shh,’ I say, putting my finger to her lips.
She bites it playfully and then laughs, and I give her a tight hug.
‘First one.’
Mav hands her a small, wrapped box, complete with bow. She tears the ribbon and paper off, opening the box and gasping at the earrings inside.
‘They’re so sparkly!’ she says, taking the silver and diamond pear drops out and putting them in quickly.
She stands up and goes to the mirror in the bathroom. ‘I love them,’ she says, coming out with a wide smile.
‘They’re from all of us,’ Blake says. ‘But I picked them out.’
Mav produces another box, this one longer.
She tears into this one with just as much excitement, exclaiming over the matching necklace inside.
‘I found that,’ Mav murmurs.
‘But it’s from all of us,’ Blake says, giving him a look.
Mav’s eyes narrow. ‘She already knows that.’
Daisy’s smile is infectious. ‘Thanks, guys.’
She gives Mav and then Blake a hug, saying thank you to them both again before coming back to me and sitting on my lap.
‘Thanks,’ she says, hugging me hard.
‘There’s something else,’ I say.
‘Where is it?’ she asks, looking around.
I laugh. ‘It’s not an unwrap, beautiful. It’s different.’
She cants her head at me. ‘What is it?’
‘I was able to get a meeting with Fussell & Meyer next week.’
Her eyes widen. ‘But they were adamant that I had to be with my guardian, or they wouldn’t speak with me. How did you do it?’
‘They were corresponding with Richard Burrows. He was an old friend of my mom’s before he was the Novelle’s lawyer and he always said that between Andy and me, I was more like her.
Anyway, he has a soft spot for me. I told him about what the lawyers said.
He’d also been told you were in an institution, and you couldn’t care for yourself.
Then, he met you at the police station, and he realized that was bullshit.
He agreed to talk to the other lawyers on your behalf and they’re willing to speak to us.
You just need to verify who you are to them. ’
‘I’ll need my passport,’ she frowns. ‘That’s in the Novelle house somewhere. Somehow, I don’t think Andy is going to cough it up.’
‘Actually, it’s not.’ I hold it up. ‘I had Samantha, the maid who helped you get out of there, grab it for me. It was in Pop’s old room… Andy’s now, I guess. There’s your proof. At least we can get information from them.’
She grips me hard, her eyes glassy. ‘Thank you. This is…amazing. You’re perfect.’ She looks around at the others. ‘You all are. A year ago, I would never have thought that this would be my life. I love you guys.’
‘We love you,’ I say, kissing her cheek. ‘Happy Birthday.’
Her phone on the nightstand vibrates.
‘Who is it?’ she asks.
Blake peers at it. ‘The French fuck.’
‘Don’t call him that,’ Daisy chastises. ‘What does he say?’
‘Petite Fleur. Joyeux anniversaire. Happy Birthday. My gift to you. And then there’s a link to the BBC news website.’
‘Can I see?’ she asks, sitting upright.
He hands her the phone and a second later, an English news report comes out over the speakers.
‘These were the scenes earlier today when authorities, acting on information received by the Metropolitan Police, gained entry into The Heath Clinic, a psychiatric facility in Warwickshire, and arrested Doctor Theodore Stoke as well as several members of staff on charges of Misconduct, Fraud, and Gross Negligence. Other arrests in connection with the facility and misuse of funds include a top Cabinet Minister and Lord Hillingsbury, whose family owned the lands surrounding the clinic as well as the house itself until recently.’
Daisy turns the phone, and we see footage of a man in a white coat being walked to waiting police cars with his hands cuffed behind his back.
‘Things took a darker turn when, acting on the information received, police discovered human remains beneath bins beside the manor, which appear to have been there for at least a decade, preliminary findings revealed. A reporter, who was planning an exposé of the facility, disappeared some weeks ago. Her body was later found in the Thames. Met Police are treating the death as suspicious. The facility has been closed by the Quality Care Commission and Crown Prosecution Service, with patients being moved to other facilities in the county. More on this harrowing story as details become known.’
Daisy is silent, her mouth open as if she can’t believe that this is actually happening.
‘You did it,’ I say.
She gives me a look.
‘Sauvage and his contacts did it,’ she says. ‘Not me.’
‘No, Daisy,’ Mav says, taking her hand. ‘No one would have known that Natalie Mason’s death wasn’t suicide if you hadn’t asked Sauvage to look into her.
The Heath would still be open for business if it wasn’t for you.
You got that place closed down, just like you said you would, and it sounds like Stoke and the Blanks won't be the only ones who pay for what happened there.’
She smiles at me. ‘I guess I did,’ she says, and then she begins to laugh. ‘Stoke is in jail! I’ll bet Crewes and Sue are, too!’
She clambers off my lap and flops back on the bed, her glee filling the room.
‘Best birthday ever!’
For the rest of the morning and into the afternoon, Daisy is riding her high. We spend our time in the bunker, watching movies and being together, forgetting about the outside world.
When the evening arrives, we get ready for the reopening. The night’s theme is ‘Costume Party’. Mav, Blake, and I don our tailored suits, courtesy of Sauvage, and our matching domino masks.
Our girl is in a sable dress with her new jewelry on , her mask black like ours, but with feathers and black sequins all over it. When I see her all dressed up, it takes everything in me not to push her back into bed and not bother going to the party tonight at all.
But that’s not an option. The club is pretty much all we have left, and we need it to be a success.
After Daisy finds her misplaced keycard in her coat pocket, the only way she can come and go from the bunker as she pleases, we leave the cellar and I make a mental note to put the damn thing on a lanyard for her so she doesn’t keep losing it.
Upstairs, the main floor of the club is a flurry of activity. There are black and red balloons everywhere, and Sandy is making sure the bar is fully stocked and ready. Dom is speaking to the security guys, and the DJ is testing out the equipment.
‘What do you think?’ I ask Daisy.
‘It looks great!’ she gushes. ‘Even better than before.’
I look around, my eyes taking in the scene. ‘It does, doesn’t it?’
‘Eat your heart out, stalker,’ Blake sneers from beside me.
Iwatch as Daisy twirls with Mav on the dance floor. He’s the logical choice out of the three of us to keep her safe when there’s so many people here because he’s almost a head taller than everyone else , and people naturally give him space, so Daisy isn’t crowded.
The reopening of Wrath is a huge success. There’s a line out the door and down the street. We’re almost sold out of Envy despite Sauvage sending half of what Daisy had stored in his safe in the hotel, and Sandy has had to restock the bar twice.
I check my watch. It’s just past midnight.
I meander around the club, making sure the staff have everything they need, ignoring the girls who literally throw themselves at me.
I decide to take a minute, going to the cellar door and slipping downstairs.
Behind me, the door opens again, and Blake appears. He closes it behind him.
‘Everything okay?’
I nod. ‘Yeah, just taking a break.’
I listen for a few seconds. ‘You really can’t hear anything down here now,’ I remark, touching the wall. ‘Can feel the vibrations a little though.’
Blake nods, putting his hand on the wall as well. ‘Not too bad though. I don’t think it’ll bother Daisy when she’s down here.’
I walk toward the bedroom. Blake follows me and goes straight into our Dark Lounge.
‘Planning what you want to do in there with her next?’
He glances back at me with a smirk on his face. ‘Definitely. That sensory idea of yours was perfect. She loved it.’
I shrug. ‘I thought she might. I’m putting together a list of other ideas. Textures. Temperatures. That kind of stuff.’
Blake nods. ‘Yeah, I have some ideas, too.’
I look around the room and roll my eyes when I notice the small pile of tissues, receipts, two ChapSticks, and three hair elastics that’s on the dresser in the otherwise pristine room.
Daisy must have emptied the pockets of her coat looking for her keycard.
I grab the trash to throw away, and my gaze falls on part of a stamped word on a folded piece of paper mixed in with everything else.
Police?
Frowning, I pick it up and unfold it. It says, ‘Evidence Photograph’ and then a bunch of numbers written in pen. I turn it over and my brain stutters to a complete stop.
‘What the fuck,’ I mutter just as Blake comes back into the room, whistling.
‘What is it?’ he asks as soon as he sees my face.
I hand it to him wordlessly.
He shrugs. ‘Must have fallen out of the evidence folder from the file on Larson Lu Garrett got for you.
I shake my head. ‘That wasn’t in there when we looked at it. There was a reference to a keychain found at the scene, but there was no picture.’
‘So? Who gives a shit?’
I open the second drawer in the bureau where I stashed the stuff I brought from the KIP house.
Inside is a small wooden box with a flip-up lid where I keep trinkets and memorabilia.
I rummage around for what I’m looking for.
When I find it, I bring it out and I look at it closely.
The sickening realization that I was right is like a lead ball settling in my gut.
‘It’s the same,’ Blake says quietly, looking from my shining black key chain to the picture and back again. ‘I don’t get it.’
‘This was my mom’s. My real mom’s. It’s made of onyx and silver.’
‘Okay,’ Blake replies quietly. ‘And why is it in this picture?’
‘Because there was a second one,’ I murmur, almost not able to get the words out.
Blake’s eyes are wide as he shakes his head, coming to the correct conclusion quickly. ‘No way!’
I close my eyes for a moment, trying to get my head around it.
‘It was Andy’s.’
‘We need to—’
But his words are cut off as the smoke alarms begin to blare.
Not again!