16. Chapter 16 #2
She wants me to be her girlfriend . She wants to spoil me .
She wants to take care of me. Alicia combed her hair in front of the large mirror in a dark bathroom.
A gold box full of petal soft tissues became her best friend as she fixed her makeup and washed parts of her body so she wouldn’t smell when she left.
Even though her scent is now all over me.
Alicia held up her jacket collar and inhaled. Flowers never smelled so good on her.
The woman looking back at her in the mirror was nothing special.
She was still young, and being blond was on her side, but aside from that, what was so special about her face covered in drugstore makeup and sporting a high nose and cheekbones too low to match?
She wasn’t ugly. She was plain. Normal. Boring.
Her breasts weren’t big, and her hips were hilariously nonexistent.
What was so damn impressive about her? Why would a woman, who could and did have anyone she wanted, be so taken by her?
One thing for Danica to pick her out in her club because of some stupid ritual she had.
Quite another for her to repeatedly seek her out and ask to initiate Alicia in a dark world of depravity.
Oh, well. She had done crazier things in her life, right? Right.
Alicia zipped her purse shut and walked into the main reception area of Danica’s executive office.
Ultra-modern with floor-to-ceiling windows, stark furniture, and a myriad of people dressed in pristine clothes and no hair out of place, the whole room harkened to Alicia’s day hosting at a Japanese-French fusion restaurant. Dark days.
She passed the receptionist’s desk, set apart in the center of the huge room with a giant “MOREAU INDUSTRIES, INC.” sign hanging above her head.
The receptionist moved effortlessly as she answered phones, worked on a computer, and wrote down appointments using the kind of pen Alicia knew cost hundreds of dollars.
She had to look away before the woman, with hundreds of beautiful black braids pulled back into a low ponytail and wearing a Queen Anne peach-colored dress, looked up at her with eyes that glared, “What are you doing here? Oh, another one. Go on. Your clothes are too cheap to be here.” Unfortunately for Alicia’s preconceived notions about the people Danica employed directly beneath her, the receptionist had done nothing but pleasantly smile at her.
A frosted glass nameplate said Abby Oduya .
Canary yellow nails drummed on the floating desk.
Now that was the kind of gorgeous woman Danica Moreau would date.
Maybe they have dated before . Alicia had wondered that about Ms. Clayborn, too, even though that woman was so plain she made Alicia look like the supermodel Danica claimed her to be.
She saw a Clayborn when she turned around. It was not Ms . Clayborn at all.
Alicia didn’t know how the two assistants were related. Married? Siblings? None of that mattered when Mr. Nigel Clayborn, with his quick reflexes, snatched Alicia by the arm and half-dragged her to a conference room. “Hey!” she called out, stumbling as this guy made off with her. “Excuse you!”
She barely had enough time to realize she was being kidnapped before she was tossed into the conference room, and the door was locked behind her. Locked! What was this? Another one of Danica’s crazy sex schemes?
“Ah, Ms. Colbert.” A voice summoned her attention. “That is your name, right?”
Alicia regathered her bearings before acknowledging the man in the room with her. Two men, actually. The first one she saw was a stoic bodyguard standing with his hands crossed in front of him. His suit was crisp and freshly pressed against his large, broad body.
Then there was the man sitting at the head of the conference table. Tall. Gangly. Silver-haired. A force to be reckoned with. He owned the building, after all.
“Yeah… yes,” Alicia stuttered. “That’s my name.”
Russell Moreau turned his body toward her. That was not a welcoming expression on his face. “Alicia Marie Colbert. Born on Long Island, a New York girl at heart.” His arms were folded on the table. “Does that sound about right?”
Creepy, but right. “Can I help you, sir?”
Russell glanced at his bodyguard. “She wants to cut to the chase, Sam.” The bodyguard flinched with a smile. “All right. I’ll cut to the chase. How much is my daughter paying you for your services, young lady?”
Alicia gasped. “I’m… I’m not!” The audacity! “She’s not paying me anything!”
“Worse than I feared, then. Too bad. Because I was going to offer to pay double your rate for the next six months if you cut her off. Do you have a rate now?”
Alicia was too aghast to properly respond.
“I’ll take that look as a no.” Russell sighed, although a grin remained on his face.
At least I know where Danica gets that smirk from.
There was nothing cheeky in Russell’s expression, though.
“Fine. Then let me be blunt, Ms. Colbert.” Nope.
His saying her name was not sexy at all.
“My daughter is not available to you. I don’t care what she’s said or what she’s offered you.
Do you understand? You are not now, or ever will be, her girlfriend.
There are far better prospects out there for my daughter. ”
Alicia swallowed. “With all due respect, sir, Danica’s gotta be thirty years old.”
“Yes, a grand age, isn’t it? I remember when I was thirty. I had a marriage of convenience. Should’ve done the same for her. Cut the chaff out much more easily. Less messy.”
What the hell do I say? Alicia took a step back. “Excuse me, sir. I really must be going.” Could someone please unlock this door for her?
“I don’t think you understood me, Ms. Colbert.” There went the grandfatherly demeanor. “I don’t want to see you around here again. I warned you once. I’ve warned you twice now. Do not make me warn you a third time. The third time will not be so cordial.”
Alicia nodded. Anything to make this man leave her alone.
“I’m sure you’re a lovely woman, Ms. Colbert.
Smart, too, am I correct? My daughter does not trifle with ignorant women, that much I can say about her.
Be that as it may, though, I cannot afford to have my family infiltrated by a stained woman such as yourself.
Do us both a favor and move on. If it’s money you’re after, we may work out some sort of arrangement. ”
The conference room door opened, and Mr. Clayborn stood on the other side, ready to escort Alicia out.
“Sorry for taking up your time, Ms. Colbert. Have a nice day.”
Nigel took her arm more gently this time. Alicia, too dumbfounded to fight him off, allowed herself to be escorted to the elevator and down to the main lobby of the building. The driver Danica promised her waited there.
“Have a good afternoon, Ms. Colbert,” Nigel said, timid. “Sorry for any trouble.”
She turned to him before the driver could make off with her, too. “Does Danica know about that?”
Nigel did not respond. He bowed and returned to the elevator.
“This way, ma’am,” the driver bade, gesturing to the revolving door leading to the sidewalk and the car parked beyond it. “I’ll get you home quickly.”
Alicia went. She was still in a daze when the driver opened the door, and she crawled into the back of a limo. Being dragged into a conference room and threatened by her girlfriend’s father was enough to shock her for the rest of the week.
“Excuse me, ma’am, I need to make a call.” The driver held up his phone before stepping to the corner of the sidewalk. Alicia was ready to curl up in the backseat and call Candice to tell her about what had happened. Where was she now? At work? Cooking dinner at home?
As Alicia pulled out her phone, however, the limo door opened and admitted a frazzled middle-aged woman she had never seen before.
“Holy shit!” Alicia exclaimed, holding herself to the back seat as this woman hurried to close the door behind her. “Who the hell are you?” She couldn’t take any more surprises!
The woman’s curly red hair created a frizzy perimeter as she swung her head around.
Oh my God! What is wrong with her face! Burn scars concealed themselves beneath a forest of curls.
Half of the woman’s face was burned, restored with plastic surgery, then seemingly left to fend for itself again.
Alicia gaped to see how it affected the corner of the woman’s right eye.
“Are you her? Are you the girl from the papers? The one with Danica?”
Alicia’s mouth dropped open. She went to open the door and make her escape, or at least scream for help, but the woman lunged forward and clapped her veiny hands over Alicia’s.
“Wait! Please! You’re her, right? I don’t know your name. I’m sorry for scaring you.” The woman released Alicia, hesitating. “I had to find you. To warn you.”
Alicia closed her eyes. What now? Who else wanted to threaten her? Sheesh . Was dating Danica really worth this stress? “If you want to threaten me like her father did, then save your breath. I got the message.”
The woman moaned, hands slapping against her forehead, curls spilling between her fingers. I’ve gotta get out of here. Alicia reached for the handle again.
“He got to you! He got to you already!” Bright, blazing ambers swirled before Alicia.
As it turned out, Alicia had it all wrong. Danica hadn’t inherited her eyes from her father.
“You’re…”
“Run!” Danica Moreau’s mother growled. “Run far, far away from those monsters. They only want to destroy you!”
Alicia shook her head. “You’re scaring me.”
“Good.” The woman’s chapped lips were mere inches away from Alicia’s nose.
Those eyes? Filled with their own fears, traumas, and terrible memories coming to the forefront.
Don’t look into them. Look away! Fire. Fire burned in the ex-Mrs. Moreau’s eyes.
The fire that burned her? Alicia was afraid to ask.
“You should fear for your life. Get out while you can!”
Something stirred outside the limo. The woman jerked to the other side, hastily opening the door and flying out – straight into traffic.
Horns honked. Cab drivers screamed into the void. A cyclist fell over, protected by his helmet and pads, but still scraped up. The limo driver hopped into the front seat and turned to Alicia.
“What was that all about?”
Alicia couldn’t find the words. Or the breath. Or the wits to understand.
“Dunno. Some crazy woman, I guess.”
The driver started the car. Soon enough, he and Alicia pulled away from the curb, heading toward her neighborhood.
Beside her, a cell phone blinked to life with a text message.
“I look forward to our future together, Alicia,” it read. “I’ll make sure it’s the most memorable moments of your life.”
Sounded like another threat to her.
END OF PART 1
Continue the saga in part 2, TRAINED!