Chapter 23
Sascha felt Gregory’s mood had darkened by the time he returned home from work, and she wanted to know what was wrong so she could help him through it.
Then she read his mind; her eyes widened when she realized one of Gregory’s PIs had told him that he had learned something about the case.
The stories she had brought up about Gregory’s family’s involvement in France to help the resistance during WWII and the killing of the traitor and the supposed mix-up of babies at Memorial Hospital were connected.
“But why did he go after you, if Brendan is the guy who has done so?” Sascha asked.
Then Gregory gave her one of his award-winning smiles and pulled her into an embrace. “You read my mind.”
“Yeah, you can’t keep your feelings secret from me.”
He kissed her and sighed. “I’m glad, really.”
She led him into the living room. “Okay, so what triggered him to come after you?” Then she frowned when she envisioned a blond-haired woman who had been on a date with Gregory in the past. They were having drinks at a bar and then danced, not close, not like when Sascha and Gregory danced with each other, like they weren’t really into each other. “You dated Brendan’s girlfriend.”
“What?” Gregory sat next to Sascha on the sofa, their legs touching, her head on his shoulder.
She loved this with him.
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and squeezed.
Maria came into the living room and asked, “Would you like a drink before dinner?”
He shook his head.
“No, I’m good, thanks,” Sascha said.
Nick was checking out the house again. Omar and Henry were sleeping so they could work through the night. Red was checking out the grounds.
Sascha hoped she wouldn’t have another nightmare or vision that brought them all running to protect her. Thankfully, she hadn’t had another experience like that since that night at the rental house on South Padre Island.
Gregory took hold of her hand and caressed it. “You were saying that I had dated Brendan’s girlfriend?”
“I saw a vision of it. You were dancing with her at a club and having drinks. It was rainy out. You were both wearing raincoats and had left them hanging on the back of the chairs when you went to dance. She was wearing a form-fitting, clingy hot-pink dress with black high heels. You were wearing a long-sleeved, button-down collar shirt, dress slacks, and black dress shoes. Brendan had broken up with her, and she was looking to date someone else. You fit the bill.”
“Hmm. I dated several women one or two times. I don’t recall her. I suspect we didn’t have anything in common when I went out with her. That was often the case. And then I didn’t ask the woman out again. What did she look like?”
“Her hair had been dyed red. She was really a blonde. She had green eyes. She was tall, shapely. Really pretty. But that confuses me because your mother said you hadn’t dated anyone in over a year.”
“Yeah, she was right. I was seeing a woman for about three months, and then we broke up. That was a year ago. I just went out on a date, not anything long-term like that. I don’t tell my parents about every date I’ve had that resulted in one or two dates.
She would have wanted them to come over for lunch or dinner to meet them. ”
Sascha smiled. “Sure, that’s understandable. What about the woman you had dated for three months?”
“Mom kept asking me to bring her over to see them. I wouldn’t until I was sure it was going to be something more official.”
Sascha thought that was interesting that he took her over to see his parents right away.
Well, and said they were getting married, so he had not only made up his mind about that, but he also cared deeply enough about her that he wasn’t going to let her go.
“So what went wrong with the woman you were dating for three months?”
Gregory shook his head. “She started seeing someone else behind my back. Then I learned she was seeing three other guys. I just took her for her word that she had photography sessions with clients. Until I caught her at several places with some other guy. I confronted her, and she always had an excuse. She was meeting with a client about a new photoshoot, was her usual excuse. So I accepted it, for the most part. But when I ran into her at a coffee shop and saw her with guy number three, and she was kissing him, that went beyond a photographer-client relationship.”
“You are much too trusting.”
Gregory smiled. “Na?ve, yeah. Though I hate to admit it. Rose scolded me because she didn’t believe my girlfriend when she told me she was working. Rose told me I had so much going for me, I didn’t need to be with a woman that couldn’t be honest with me, or loyal.”
“For sure. You should have listened to your sister.”
“I should have, and I told Rose so after I ended it with the girlfriend. And you? Have you dated a lot?”
“Damon has been the only one I ever dated. Until you.”
Gregory hugged her. “It’s hard to believe, as beautiful as you are and how nice you are, that you didn’t have a lot of dates. I’m glad I went to the Worthingtons’ party to see you.”
“You were trying to learn about my family’s secrets.”
Chuckling, he squeezed her tight and released her. “Yeah, but I also wanted to see you. You were like a total magnet, and I couldn’t stop watching you, wishing I was with you, garnering your full attention the whole time I was there.”
“Well, in truth, I genuinely couldn’t stop looking to see where you were at the party, even while I was giving future readings.”
He laughed. “I knew it. Then Red had his indigestion attack, and that was the end of me seeing you.”
“You weren’t giving up though.”
“Nope. I wanted to see you at my party the next night, but I couldn’t believe you would reject my invitation and not show up.”
She laughed and kissed his cheek. “I had to keep my mystery persona, and besides, I had planned to have the night off. The only time I do readings two days in a row is when I’m at the fairgrounds. Doing a show at a special event, like the ones I do at homes, takes a lot out of me.”
“Ha, you just wanted to show me that I couldn’t dictate what you were going to do that night—”
“Well, that too, by bribing me.”
He laughed. “Okay, well, Raymond helped to make that happen.”
“I love him.” She chuckled.
“Yeah, he will do anything you ask of him.” Then Gregory let out his breath. “Okay, so you think that Brendan’s girlfriend dated me and that was the last straw, even though he had broken up with her.”
“It is the right timing when whoever it is started coming after you. And if he already has all these feelings of neglect by his parents because of you ‘stealing his parents,’ that you are so successful, and then dated his girlfriend, that was it. Plus, he went back to her. At least for a while.”
“The strangler vision?”
“Maybe.”
“But I wasn’t given my wealth or all that I’ve accumulated. If Brendan had been raised by my parents, he would have been on his own like I was, sinking or swimming.”
“Right. But how would he know that?”
“True.”
“Plus, you did have a great life growing up, right?” Sascha was sure Gregory got whatever he wanted.
“I did, for the most part. My parents had a lot of limitations, but it was a good life.”
“And your parents loved you, showed you affection, didn’t act like you didn’t belong to them.”
“Yeah, and I think that’s really the key if Brendan feels that way about his own parents—like he wasn’t loved and didn’t belong.”
She pulled her hair back. “Brendan has a different identity.”
“Yeah. Do you have any clue as to what his name is now?”
She thought about it and then shook her head. “Maybe Kat, Lucy, or Aunt Meg can. If it affects me, I can’t see what’s going on.”
“What about the nightmare or vision you had at South Padre Island where he came after you?”
“Right.” She thought about the vision and realized when she had raised her hands to stop the strangler, she was wearing a ring, but it was plain gold and didn’t have a solitary diamond.
It was on her little finger. And she was wearing long, red-painted nails with pink hearts.
Sascha never painted her nails red. It didn’t go well with her red hair. “It wasn’t me.”
“What?”
“The dream. Or vision, if that’s what it was. It was about a woman with red nails and decorated with pink hearts.”
“Hell.”
“What?”
“That’s what Brendan’s girlfriend, the one I dated once, wore. Red nails with light pink hearts. She was wearing a hot pink dress, and I’m not normally that fashion-conscious, but her nails just clashed with the pink dress.”
“What about me? About what I wear?”
“You’re always put together in a way that makes me want to dance with you, cuddle with you, enjoy the vision of you.”
That’s why she loved him.
“And I love you.”
He read her mind.
Maria told them dinner was ready. Sascha took Gregory’s offered hand. They rose from the couch and headed for the dining room.
The prime rib roast sat on a platter on the table, with potatoes, carrots, and broccoli surrounding it, and it smelled and looked delicious.
“That’s a lot for just two people,” Sascha said, taking her seat next to him.
“We serve up what we want to eat, and then the staff will take it into the second dining room and enjoy it.”
“Oh, good.” Sascha was used to having leftovers when she made food at her apartment, but she realized they never had the same meal twice when she ate here. That was even better: that his staff could enjoy the delightful meals the chef prepared. A nice perk.
Gregory finished another bite of the roast. “You know, if there’s anything you want again, Chef Paul can make it for you.”
She hated asking for something that might mean the staff wouldn’t enjoy the main meal as much as they did.
“What are you thinking of eating?” He raised his brows.
“Ohmigod, you’re reading my mind again.”
“I sure am.”
“Roast beef hash. I love to have leftover beef with fried potatoes, garlic cloves, and onions.”
“Chef Paul can make it from fresh beef, so no one else is deprived of a good meal tonight.”