Chapter 33
SIMEON
Istare at Jack in shocked surprise. It’s not often I’m lost for words, but I am now.
“You found her.”
Jack nods, his expression grim.
“She lives on a ranch in Idaho.”
“Alone?”
He shakes his head, his expression grave.
“But how?”
Once again, I am struck by the speed of this man, and he shrugs, a triumphant gleam in his eye, knowing nobody can beat his investigative skills.
“I arranged cover on the Goldsworthy’s as soon as we hit Switzerland to retrieve his granddaughter.
As always, I was leaving nothing to chance.
A private investigator friend was sent to work on the mother’s accident and do some digging under the radar.
He discovered that the body in the car had her DNA and was signed off as Sarah Goldsworthy.
However, there was a missing girl who was never found, and after painstaking work by my PI, the trail led to Idaho. ”
“I still don’t understand. How do you know it’s her?”
Jack’s expression is smug.
“The private investigator and his team studied every missing person record and, using the latest technology, cross-referenced it with recent dental files. He uses bent IT experts who will ply their trade for more money than they would earn from the government corporations where they hone their skills. It didn’t take long for a match to turn up on the dental records of a certain Annie Greyson, a woman around the same age as Sarah Goldsworthy living in Idaho. ”
“Are you one hundred percent certain of that?”
My mind is all over the place as I contemplate his findings, and he nods.
“Of course. The dental records were a perfect match. I sent a local contact to do some digging, and he discovered that Annie had moved to the ranch not long after Sarah apparently died, but that’s not the only similarity.”
“Go on.”
“She could be her twin.”
He pushes some photographs across the desk toward me, and it’s obvious they were taken in the nearby town due to the background. Alongside them are pictures of Sarah Goldsworthy in her prime, her resemblance to Alice uncanny.
The woman in the picture has a different hair color. Beautiful chestnut hair hanging long down her back, no make-up, wearing a plaid shirt, and a hat pulled low on her head, sunglasses disguising her eyes.
There is another shot of her inside the local bank, taken by the security cameras. It shows her without her glasses and offers a clearer image of her face.
Jack says, “His contact superimposed the before and after images and asked the algorithm to assess the likeness. It came up as a ninety-six percent match.”
“Not one hundred percent, though.”
“It’s enough.” He grins, supercharged at his own investigative work, and I stifle a smile. Jack is diligent in his job in every aspect and will be thriving on this discovery.
“We hacked into her doctor’s records, IRS records , dental records, and history.
It all came back as a match except for her name and history.
Bank records show a more than healthy balance with several investments, the main ones being in Goldsworthy Enterprises and their subsidiary businesses.
We also dug into her financial history, and it appears she lives a basic life while sitting on millions of dollars, preferring to care for her cattle and animals with a team of ranch hands for the heavy lifting.
Records show she has a huge scar across her abdomen signifying a cesarean procedure at the same time Alice was born. ”
“It sounds like our woman.”
“It is our woman.”
Jack’s confidence is well-earned, and I lean back in my seat. “This must have cost a great deal to carry out such a detailed investigation.”
Not that I care, they deserve their fee, whoever it was who engineered this masterpiece of investigative journalism.
“It would have cost them a lot more if they had never come up with the evidence.”
His enigmatic reply tells me he has heat on his sources, which doesn’t surprise me.
I wouldn’t want Jack as my enemy, which is why I keep him close.
He has an uncanny knack of discovering weaknesses and applying pressure, capable of taking his foot off the bleed and watching the life slip away from his victims.
He controls and manipulates, which are characteristics I admire, and I nod my approval.
“Good work. I’m impressed.”
This is the only compliment he is getting from me, and his wry grin tells me he knows how impressed I really am.
“I have arranged a meeting with Edward Goldsworthy for eleven am today. Then the jet is on standby for a whistlestop visit to Idaho at your request.”
My thoughts turn to Alice, and I wonder how she will deal with this. My first thought is to tell her. To lay everything out on the line, but old habits die hard and secrecy is my middle name, so I decide to leave her in ignorance while I figure her shit out for myself.
I leave Jack to arrange the finer details and head off in search of my wife, who is taking it easy this morning.
I left her in bed, and I expect she’s hungry.
I have decided not to order in food; instead opting to cook for her.
It’s not unusual for me to cook my own food.
I prefer it because it channels my turbulent mind into something other than business and sex.
I work out, sure, but I like my privacy, and so I often cook to cleanse my mind and settle down in front of a game to switch off from the daily shit life throws at me.
I head to the kitchen to make eggs, bacon, and pancakes. A morning feast for two extremely hungry people.
As I work, Alice enters the kitchen, her hair tousled and looking adorable in my robe.
“Morning, angel.”
She smiles and wanders over to me, slipping her arms around my waist from behind as I tend to the skillet.
“I could get used to this.”
“What, living over a strip club?”
She kisses my neck. “No. My own personal chef and man who tends to my every need.”
“I’m at your service.”
I don’t care if she looks on me as her servant because I am. I may be a heartless bastard, unforgiving and cruel at work, but I was raised to respect women and cherish them, despite the fact my father has kept a mistress for most of my life.
However, it’s obvious Mom is his greatest love, his asset, and the woman he adores. She accepts he has other pastimes and apparently couldn’t give a shit.
That’s not for me.
It never struck me as a solid base for a marriage, and when I asked him about it once, he merely said,
‘A wife is the queen beside the throne. A mistress is a sin committed in the shadows. I need both to survive this life.’
When I questioned him further, he said casually, ‘I will not pretend that I am superhuman, Simeon. I make mistakes along with every other red-blooded man out there faced with temptation. Your mother is my queen, the one I’d die to protect, and my mistress is the object of my twisted fantasies.
I can do what I want with one and nurture the other. Who do you believe owns my heart?’
I said nothing more, never questioning him again because I kind of understood his meaning. Mom is and always has been the queen of our empire and has earned his respect. Hell, we all defer to her, and I’m guessing my father’s depravity and carnal proclivities would disrespect her in his eyes.
This world brings with it a certain kind of madness that sex does a good job of blurring for a sadistic moment.
It’s why I fuck whores in the rooms beside the gallery.
It’s cold, impersonal, and an outlet for my pent-up rage.
I would never hurt them, but I don’t respect them.
They service me like every other punter out there, and feelings don’t enter into it.
It’s cold, transactional, and serves a purpose, but now I understand my father’s point of view, accepting the fact that Alice will always be enough for me; otherwise, I would have failed at being the man she deserves.
I serve up the breakfast and as she sips her freshly squeezed juice, fresh from my juicer, she sighs with contentment.
“I love your life, Simeon. It’s so relaxing.”
It makes me chuckle. “What, living over a strip joint with a criminal is more relaxing than praying to God locked away in a convent?”
I raise my eyes, and she nods. “Of course. With you, I am free to indulge in living. There my personality was hidden behind a habit and a serene smile. Any wicked thoughts were crushed and replaced by charitable ones. It was a constant battle remaining pure in thought when the world beckoned outside my window.”
“It shows a certain kind of strength to choose that life, angel.”
“It appears I don’t have any strength, Simeon. I have chosen wicked sin over pure living because I have never felt so alive since I met you.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
I reach across the table, and our fingers entwine, and the intimacy of the moment is not lost on me.
“I have lived alone in this building for several years because this is my personal space I don’t get from living with my family.”
She smiles as if she understands, causing me to add, “They never come here. If they require it, I visit them and I am happy with that. This place is not for everyone, but it offers me sanctuary. This apartment is smaller than any my family owns and yet it enables me to breathe. I cook; I don’t clean though. ”
I drop a wink and her soft chuckle draws a smile on my face.
“I shut myself away in here to cleanse my mind and stop pretending. I never wanted to change a thing until you came into my life. It appears that home is now you, Alice. You give me a universe to orbit, and sharing this space with you feels right, as if you take a cold apartment and make it a home.”
“I love that.”
“What?”
“The way you open up to me and let me crawl inside. It reassures me because many would be horrified at the speed at which I allowed you to take over my world and change its direction.”
“I’m guessing you’re referring to your sisters.”
“I am.”
A sad smile accompanies her words, and she sighs, “Without them, an important part of me is missing.”
I say carefully, “I have news about Rose.”
“Good news?” She gasps, “I am so worried about her, Tiffany too.”
“She is married.”
“How do you know?”
“She married my brother, Julius.”
“Your brother?”
Her eyes widen and I nod, “So it appears that your sister is safe to a degree and hopefully happy, although knowing Julius, she has a hard time ahead of her.”
“Why?”
Her anxiety checks my teasing, and I grip her hand tightly. “Relax, he is apparently besotted with her, so I’m guessing she’s happy. We don’t force women, Alice, and if Rose married my brother, she did it willingly.”
“So, we are sisters-in-law as well as sisters. Who would have thought?”
The excitement shines in her eyes, and I smile, a rare one of happiness.
“It worked out well for you both.”
“Keep on proving that to me, Simeon, and I’ll be eternally happy.”
I prepare to deliver the next piece of news.
“We have a meeting with your grandfather in a few hours’ time.”
Her shocked gasp is her response, and she tenses. “Really. This is huge.”
“It will be interesting for sure.”
I nod at the plate of food.
“So, eat up. You will require the fuel to get through the day.”
“Thank you, Simeon.”
Her eyes swim with grateful tears. “I owe you so much. You really are my Prince Charming, no matter how much you will deny it.”
“Keep on telling yourself that, angel.”
I wink, causing the heat to flood her skin, and she groans. “And so hot. How did I get so lucky when I abandoned God for you?”
“You never abandoned God, baby, you just brought him along for the ride. A person doesn’t become wicked through association. You are merely attempting to save a soul with God’s blessing.”
“Save a soul?” She laughs out loud. “Then I’m fighting a losing battle because your soul is beyond redemption and you know it.”
She tosses her eyes as she lifts her silverware, and as we eat in companionable silence, the future is laid out before me in a far more satisfactory way than I thought I deserved.
We will make a good team, both in and out of the bedroom, and as the mother to my children, I couldn’t have asked for more.