Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
“Who is she?”
Magnus glanced up at his youngest brother, Linus, as the other man strolled into Rufus’s office, and Magnus’s temporary one, in the Wynter Security building the following morning.
Asking one of the questions Magnus had predicted he would.
Magnus leaned back in his leather office chair. “I thought you were going to tell me that.”
Linus, along with their other brother and cousin, was another owner and the technical genius behind Wynter Security. If that genius was occasionally—often!—utilized for hacking, then they dismissed their scruples in those cases and accepted it was sometimes necessary when they were asked for help.
Magnus had preferred to actually call in at Linus’s apartment the previous evening rather than just telephone him. He’d wanted to personally give his brother all the details he had on Sapphie and Angel. Which, he accepted, wasn’t much. But those details came with a request for Linus to find out more about them. A lot more.
Because Magnus hadn’t believed Sapphie, not even for a minute, when she’d told him she wasn’t hiding Angel from someone. The logical answer would be an ex-husband or partner, but Magnus wanted to know the specific details before he offered Sapphie his help.
His brother shrugged. “Let me rephrase the question…I now know exactly who she is, I want to know what she is to you?”
“A new acquaintance.”
“Personal or business?”
“Personal.”
“Very personal?”
Magnus thought about that feeling of being hit by a four-by-four to the chest the first time he looked at Sapphie, and his cock’s reaction to her, and answered truthfully. “I believe she’s going to be. Very much so.”
“Okay.” Linus nodded briskly. “So, it took a while to get through all the bullshit. But I won’t bother you with the details of that,” he added after obviously seeing the same impatience in Magnus’s expression that he was feeling inside. “By a process of elimination, I finally tracked down her details and now know your woman’s birth name is Sapphire Walker.”
“She isn’t my woman, and she prefers to be called Sapphie.” Although Sapphire was a beautiful name. It also indicated that when she was born, her parents hadn’t known the blue eyes she’d had at birth would become the beautiful violet color they were now.
“Whatever.” His brother gave a disinterested shrug. “She was born in Devon almost twenty-five years ago. Her parents died in a house fire when she was eight. There were no grandparents or other relatives to take her in, and so she spent the next ten years in care. She has a four-year-old daughter named Angelique.”
“Who prefers to be called Angel.”
“Fair enough.”
Magnus frowned. “Is she married? Divorced?” He knew Angel had said her mother wasn’t married now , but that didn’t mean Sapphire hadn’t been married and was now divorced, and the reason she was running was because of contention as to which parent had custody of Angel. The fact Angel notably hadn’t mentioned having a daddy would imply it had to be something like that.
“She’s very much a widow.” Linus’s revelation blew any further supposition on that subject out of the water.
Magnus grimaced his dissatisfaction with the answer. His eyes narrowed. “When and how did her husband die?”
“Two years ago. As for the how, this is where the ‘very much’ part of her widowhood comes in,” Linus announced cheerfully. “The death certificate states her husband’s cause of death as being ‘multiple fatal injuries.’ Which is a polite way of saying they couldn’t decide which injury had killed him after his body was broken beyond repair when the helicopter he was a passenger in hit the ground with enough force to mangle it and the people inside beyond recognition.”
Ah. Magnus knew instinctively there was more. Much more. “And who was he?”
“Marco Carlucci.”
“Jesus Christ!” Magnus recoiled back to stare across at his brother. “ The Marco Carlucci?”
“Yes.”
“You’re sure?”
Linus looked suitably irritated by the question. They all knew he didn’t make mistakes. Ever. “Very.”
Marco Carlucci had been the only son and heir of Roman and Patrice Carlucci. He had also been a newcomer to American politics, not yet old enough to run for the Senate but very visible as a future contender. His charm and charisma had been likened to the Kennedys. He had even met his death, in a helicopter crash just outside Washington, DC, two years ago, in a similar way to a couple of members of that famous family.
The senior Carlucci, Roman, was very rich and even more powerful.
The media had been full of the family tragedy for weeks after the helicopter crash. Magnus vaguely recalled those reports mentioning the other man had been married, and that he had a young daughter. But as there hadn’t been any pictures of the two of them, that Magnus remembered, at least, he’d had no idea what that wife or child looked like.
He knew now.
Angels.
They both looked like angels.
And yesterday, Sapphie, after learning of Angel’s unauthorized visit to the park and her daughter’s conversation with Magnus, had looked absolutely terrified.
He released a slow breath. “I’m taking a guess that when their only son died, the Carlucci seniors wanted to spend more time with their granddaughter.”
“A lot more,” Linus confirmed grimly. “In fact, they went for full custody of Angel, claiming their daughter-in-law is an unfit mother. A warrant for Sapphie’s arrest for abducting the Carluccis’ granddaughter was issued.”
“She’s Sapphie’s daughter!”
Linus grimaced. “The Carluccis lost their son. They now want custody of the last person to carry their DNA.”
And this was what Sapphie was running from? Had been running from for the past two years?
All of Magnus’s protective instincts were now tuned fully toward Sapphie and Angel.
He might have only met the little girl for a few minutes, and Sapphie for even less time, but even so, it had been long enough for him to know that Angel was an adorable and outgoing little girl. Maybe not so wise in her choice of a pet spider, but otherwise, yes, Angel was obviously well-adjusted and happy to be with her mother. Magnus had no doubt those traits had been instilled in her by the unconditional love given to her by the protective and very loving Sapphie.
“I believe that coming up against such a rich and powerful family, Sapphie felt she had no choice but to leave the US and take her daughter with her,” Linus added.
“She was right to feel that way.”
His brother nodded. “Any woman with an ounce of self-preservation for her daughter’s and her own future would have felt compelled to do the same. She managed to leave the US and return to the UK before a court order had been put in place to prevent her from leaving the country. I’ve found no record of her having left the UK after arriving here two years ago. But she did change their name to Jones, and the two of them have been moving from city to city ever since. They never stay more than a few months in one place. This stint in London, six months, appears to have been the longest they’ve stayed anywhere so far.”
Magnus would take a guess on that possibly being because Angel was getting older, almost school age, and Sapphie would have been aware her daughter needed the connection of being able to meet and play with other children her age. A decision Sapphie no doubt now deeply regretted making.
“The warrant for the arrest of Sapphire Carlucci in connection with the abduction of one Angelique Carlucci is still outstanding in DC,” Linus continued. “From what I’ve learned, the Carluccis have employed people around the world to look for both mother and daughter. There’s a reward of a million dollars for anyone providing the information that results in the two of them being found.”
“At which time, they intend to take Sapphie’s daughter away from her.” It wasn’t a question.
“Looks that way, yes,” Linus confirmed anyway.
“Fucking hell!” Magnus muttered aggressively as he stood up to pace his office. “What a bloody mess.”
“Indeed.” Linus nodded. “I obviously covered any evidence of my investigation into her. I didn’t want to leave a trail online for anyone else to follow and know that I was looking into details of Sapphie and her daughter.”
Magnus had never doubted that for a moment. “But if you managed to find her…”
Linus nodded. “Then someone else could do it too, with enough patience and skill.”
“Yes.”
“Except they can’t, not anymore, because I removed any and all information that would lead to anyone discovering that they were ever in London or the previous UK cities,” Linus told him with satisfaction.
Magnus’s elation upon hearing that completely disappeared at Linus’s use of the past tense. “ Were in London?” he echoed guardedly.
“I thought you would pick up on that.” Linus grimaced. “Mother and daughter left London last night, with just a single bag each. Sapphie then bought tickets for them, with cash, on the overnight train to Edinburgh. Security cameras showed them leaving the train there this morning before booking into a modest boarding house. Again, she used cash. And again, I’ve already eliminated all that information as well.”
Magnus was more interested in how long it was going to take him to drive up to Edinburgh. All while hoping and praying Sapphie and Angel would still be at that same boarding house when he arrived.
Whether she liked it or not—and Magnus had a feeling she wouldn’t—it was time for Sapphie to stop running.
“Taking the company helicopter would be quicker than driving all the way to Scotland. You could fly them both back with you the same way.”
He looked up to find himself the focus of Linus’s mocking gaze. “Her husband died in a helicopter crash.”
“Oops,” his brother murmured without sympathy.
Magnus winced. “Was it a happy marriage?”
“Who knows?” Linus snorted. “There are more actors in Washington, DC, than there are in Hollywood!”
He didn’t think Sapphie looked as if she had a deceptive bone in her body. “Well?”
“Rumor had it that Carlucci Junior was a womanizer and couldn’t keep his dick in his pants,” Linus revealed. “A trait that no longer seems to be a problem when you’re in politics, either over there or here.”
The thought of Sapphie being a cheated-on wife caused a burning sensation in Magnus’s chest.
“Can you contact Derek and have him prepare the helicopter and put in a flight plan for takeoff the moment I arrive at the airport?” he instructed decisively. “Also, organize an SUV to be waiting for me when I get to Edinburgh?” Magnus needed to go to his apartment and pack a bag before making his way to the private airfield where the company helicopter was kept.
He was undecided as to what to do with Angus. He knew Linus would look after the dog if he asked him to, but Magnus also remembered how enamored Angel had been with the little Westie. Her daughter’s happiness when she saw the little dog again might help to ensure Sapphie was a little less ambivalent about Magnus turning up at the house in Edinburgh where she was renting a room.
Last night, he’d tried telling himself he was looking deeper into Sapphie’s situation because it was the right thing to do. That maybe he could help her. But another part of him knew he’d been telling himself absolute bullshit.
Fuck the age gap and the fact the two of them had only just met, because Magnus had taken that first look at Sapphie and known she was his .
That both mother and daughter were his.
If that confirmed he was moving back to the UK permanently, then so be it.
“Someone is knocking on the door, Mummy.” Angel didn’t look up from where she was sitting on the carpeted floor next to the bed watching the cartoons playing on the small television in the corner.
She still looked a little lethargic from the nap she’d taken in the double bed that dominated the small room, worn out from only sleeping in fits and starts during the long train journey to Scotland.
And Sapphie was all too aware that someone had just knocked on the door of their rented room.
Damn it, every cell in her body, every nerve ending, every molecule, had gone into flight mode the moment that single knock sounded loudly on the other side of the thin door, which was all that stood between the two of them and the outside world.
The point being, there shouldn’t be someone knocking on the door of their room when no one knew they were even in Edinburgh.
Unless…
She needed to calm down. No one knew where they were. It was probably just the landlady, making sure they were comfortable and didn’t need any more towels or other bathroom supplies. Mrs. Fingus had certainly seemed to take a liking to Angel when they made their weary inquiries this morning about the room advertised in the window outside.
Everyone liked Angel, Sapphie acknowledged with maternal affection. Angel’s adorableness was one of the reasons it made it so difficult for the two of them to hide successfully for any length of time.
Not that she would ever wish for her daughter to be less wonderful than she was. It was just another factor Sapphie had to take into account whenever she gauged it was time for them to move on to somewhere new.
Everyone liked Angel except Francesca Fuller, apparently, who, it seemed, hadn’t liked any children.
Sapphie was still furious at learning about the other woman’s unfair and aggressive behavior toward her daughter. Magnus Wynter had been right, Angel did have finger-shaped bruises on her arm today.
Magnus…
Sapphie had only met him briefly, but even in that short time, she knew that his mere presence had caused an excitement inside her more than any other man had in the past two years. Possibly ever.
She had been very young, only nineteen, when she and Marco met when she had been part of the staff catering the wedding in London at which he’d been a guest. It was one of the three part-time jobs Sapphie had to help pay her way through uni, where she was studying for a degree in Art and Design.
Marco had pursued her relentlessly after that first meeting, more often than not waiting for her when she finished her uni classes for the day. On the evenings she wasn’t working, he would insist on taking her out to dinner or to one of the shows in the West End.
It had been impossible for Sapphie not to fall in love with this warm and generous man who claimed to have fallen in love with her at first sight.
Within just a few short weeks, she had found herself married and moving to the States with her new husband.
Sapphie had intended to resume an art course once they were settled in Washington, but then Angel had been born within the first year of their marriage and motherhood had taken Sapphie in another direction completely. Not that she regretted that for a moment: she had loved and still did love every minute of being Angel’s mother.
Their daughter had been only three months old when Sapphie learned of Marco’s first affair. Well…it was the first she had known about for certain, although she had suspected there might have been others. He had been full of apologies, of course, claiming he had been feeling neglected during the pregnancy and those first sleep-deprived months, for Sapphie, at least, after Angel was born.
It had broken Sapphie’s heart to learn of Marco’s infidelity, but with a young baby depending on her and no family of her own and nowhere else to go, she had decided she had no choice but to forgive Marco and continue on with the marriage.
But it had never been the same between them. Sapphie’s trust in Marco, and their marriage, had been completely destroyed by his admitted infidelity.
Another few months had passed, and Sapphie became convinced Marco was having another affair. A second confrontation happened, followed by his admission of it being true, along with a perfunctory apology, and again, Sapphie had forgiven him. But within months, the pattern had repeated itself.
And so their marriage went on, with Marco being unfaithful again and again, until his death when Angel was only two.
Sapphie had grieved for him; of course she had. But more because he was Angel’s father, and the man Sapphie had thought he was when they first met. Rather than the self-centered man who intended to enter politics, already high on his own power, that he had revealed himself to be beneath that charming veneer.
Or possibly Marco had always been that way and Sapphie had just been too blinkered and in love to see it before then?
She did know that she hadn’t felt even mildly attracted to another man in the two years that followed. Instead, she had preferred to remain emotionally distant from everyone but her beloved daughter.
Until she had looked at Magnus Wynter and, despite her wariness of why he was at the nursery, she had felt the stirring of a sexual interest she hadn’t thought she would ever feel again after Marco’s numerous betrayals.
Magnus was just so big and solid, as if it would take an avalanche to move him off his course once he had set his mind on doing something. And the something he’d set his mind on yesterday had been to protect Angel. Sapphie had thought her heart might burst with gratitude when she realized the reason for his concern.
Another heavy knock sounded on the door. “I know you’re in there, Sapphie, so I suggest you open this door before you leave me with no choice but to break it down. Something I don’t think Mrs. Fingus is going to be too enamored with.”
She had been wrong to allow herself even these few minutes of believing no one knew where she and Angel were!
Magnus knew.
Hours had passed since Sapphie last saw him, and in that time, she and Angel had traveled hundreds of miles away from London.
Yet Sapphie knew with absolute certainty that it was Magnus standing on the other side of the closed and locked door.
“Magnus!” Angel confirmed that belief as she scrambled up onto her feet, cartoons and weariness forgotten, a big smile on her face as she ran over to unlock and open the door.
Before Sapphie could make a move to stop her, she’d thrown herself into the arms of the large and imposing man standing outside in the hallway.