Backing down wasn't in Miss Parker's nature. She had stood toe to toe with some of the nastiest pieces of work the Centre had to offer without blinking an eye. That courage didn't desert her now as she stood toe to toe with Antonio, her eyes searing into him like missiles, even as her hands were handcuffed to a pipe over her head.
But, where as the Centre's punishment for such audacity was quickly administered either by a trip to the renewal wing or a bullet to the head, Antonio seemed to relish every moment. As if to punctuate that point, another slap landed across Miss Parker's cheek. Though her head snapped in response, her eyes soon burned into Antonio's once again.
Stepping close, Antonio lowly offered, "I'll stop this right now. Just tell me where Joey sent the package."
A low bitter laugh broke from Parker. What a mess she had gotten herself into! Because of her "brilliant" plan, she was being tortured about a package that didn't exist. Even more ridiculous, that infamous non-existent package was the only thing keeping her breathing. Hell, she could give old scarface an address, she even knew some of Chase's warehouse addresses, but the real trouble began if he believed her. It would make her useless and by the look in Antonio's eyes, he was quite efficient in discarding useless people.
"Tell you what," Parker snarled, "let's play this like fish. You make a guess about the address and I'll tell you if you're right." This earned her a punch to the stomach.
Antonio grasped her jaw brutally, "You don't want to play games with me. I don't lose...ever."
"Neither do I. Go fish." Parker growled. Antonio delivered a backhanded slap to Parker's left cheek.
"I think it's time to take the game to a new level," Antonio smiled with a coldness that twisted Parker's stomach before he walked to the rear of the room with his cohorts.
Death was no stranger to Parker. She had seen it's cold hand steal her mother away and Faith and Thomas. And she had felt its icy grasp on her own life a time or two. But now it seemed an inescapable predator. There were no more Hudini acts to perform, the curtain was falling on her last act. And the life that was going to flash before her eyes wasn't the stuff of home movies.
Not for the first time, she was ashamed of her life ...of her soul. But this time she was faced with the true prospect of dying and seeing her mother and she was terrified of the disappointment....disgust that would radiate from the eyes that had once held her with such love. There was very little in her life that she could be proud of. It was ironic, her mother had been killed because of her ambition to free Jarod and now here Parker was, about to be killed because of her ambition to capture Jarod.
Her mother had treated Jarod like a human being, while Parker had treated him like a means to an end. Her freedom for his. In her head, it sounded like a great strategy. In her heart, it sounded like the death of her soul and his. If Jarod's only merit had been his genius, he would have been worth neither the cost of his freedom nor his capture. No, it was Jarod's heart that made Catherine Parker risk her life for his. And it was Jarod's heart that had slowly been deteriorating the wall Parker had fortified around her heart.
'I'm sorry, Jarod.' Parker silently sent out, praying that Jarod would someday know the truth of the words. 'If I had the chance, I'ld change. I'ld seize that turning point. I'ld make my mother proud and maybe you too.'
Her thoughts were interrupted as Antonio approached. He halted in front of her, brought his hand in front of her face and flicked open a switchblade knife. "I hate to mar that gorgeous face."
"Guess it'll be a closed casket," Parker evenly replied, bravely accepting the fate that lay before her.
Before the yacht had settled against the dock, Jarod leaped onto the dock and ran for the villa, his only thoughts of Parker. Slamming through the front door he came up short, "Parker?! Parker?! Anna?!" He began to take the stairs two at a time when a voice spoke from below.
"Miss Parker's with Chase, Jarod," Gina supplied as she stood at the base of the stairs wiping her hands on a dishtowel.
Jarod spun to face Gina, ready to launch into his questions but Chase, having entered the villa with Benny not more than ten steps behind Jarod, cut in "Who told Miss Parker to come see me?"
"Pauly."
Chase's cursed and hung his head in agony at the newest betrayer. But Jarod didn't let Chase wallow in his emotions. Striding to Chase, Jarod stood toe to toe with the don and snarled, "Where would they take her?!" Chase raised his head and met Jarod's enraged eyes but remained silent.
Panic tore through Jarod and he clutched onto Chase's shirt and yelled into his face, "Where would they take her?!"
Benny cocked his gun and rested it against Jarod's shoulder, "Back off. Now."
But Jarod cared little for his own life not when Parker's was at stake. Jarod shook Chase, "They are your men! You're the one who couldn't control them and now Parker's paying the price!"
Suddenly Chase shoved Jarod back and brought his own gun against Jarod's temple. "Your life, her life has been in my hands since the start," Chase's deadly tone didn't begin to match the depths of his darkened eyes. "I let you live when it was safer to put a bullet in your skull. I treated you like honored guests. And now you disrespect me like this." Chase leaned in close, his eyes boring into Jarod's "Know this, I will do whatever I have to do to regain control of my family." He paused a moment before threatening, "Now you can either share Antonio's fate and never lay eyes on Parker again or you can shut your mouth and do exactly as I say. What's it gonna be?"
Jarod searched Chase's eyes a moment before replying, "What do you want me to do?"
Antonio drew the blade lightly along Ms. Parker's neck, leaving a thin trail of blood in it's wake. "No, I think I'ld like to savor the moment, work my way up to the finale." Before Parker could fully guess his meaning, Antonio raised the knife from her neck. An instant later a cry of agony escaped her barriers as the blade ripped across her right side.
A satisfied smile sprang to Antonio's lips, "The ice maiden does feel pain. Now I'm going to start enjoying myself."
A second cut tore into Parker's right side but this time she steeled herself for the agony, biting down on her lip to hold back the scream that tried to crawl up her throat. The third cut skittered across her ribs and she clamped her eyes shut with the effort of bearing the growing agony.
Breath stinking of garlic fluttered across her face, "I'll stop right now. Just tell me the address."
Parker swallowed hard and put her terror into the box the Centre had nurtured in her soul. Slowly Parker opened her eyes and met Antonio's merciless look.
A curse spilled from Antonio at the now concrete resolve he saw in the woman's eyes. This woman was a fighter. She would use all the pain he inflicted on her and redirect it into hatred. Hatred that kindled the fight in her soul, that nurtured her strength and tightened her grasp on life.
Parker's voice was low, seductive, deadly as her eyes seared into Antonio's "I'm not going to tell you what the address is because, just like Joey, it's going to be my revenge from the grave. It must be frustrating to kill people to cover up a secret and still not be able to shut them up."
A yell of rage erupted from Antonio and Parker watched without outward fear as the knife began to arch toward her throat.
A cell phone's shrill ring jolted Antonio from his intent. He swung to face his two men. It was Pauly who sheepishly pulled his phone from his jacket pocket.
"Yeah," he answered as his eyes never left Antonio's. "Hey, Chase how's the fishing?" Silence fell on Pauly's side of the conversation for a few moments before he spoke again. "Well I wouldn't come in yet if I were catching that many either. No, no pressing business here." A pause, "I said nothing going on here." Pauly shrugged in frustration to Antonio. "Hold on, I'm inside the villa. Maybe the connection'll be better outside." With that said, Pauly headed down the cave hallway, his voice echoeing off the walls "Can you hear me?" A moment later Pauly could not be heard in the cave.
Antonio resighted his attention on Parker.
"Alright, Chase, how am I coming in now?" Pauly asked as he emerged from the cave. A gun barrel suddenly rested on the back of his head.
"Just fine," Chase replied, taking Pauly's gun from it's holster and handing it to Benny. Chase roughly pulled Pauly backward away from the cave entrance and shoved him to his knees. Chase hissed in his ear, "Make a sound and I'll let you live...as a vegetable." Giving a nod for Benny to handle Pauly, Chase headed for the cave.
"Now I think I was about to kill you when we got interrupted," Antonio drawled standing in front of Parker once again. "Jamie, make sure Pauly's off the phone. I wouldn't want Ms. Parker's screams to be overheard by Chase."
Jamie did as he was ordered and headed for the hallway. But at his first step into the hallway, he saw Chase striding toward him and made a vain attempt to pull his gun. Chase's bullet slammed into Jamie's chest, spinning him to the ground. Chase stepped over the corpse without a glance.
At the gunshot, Antonio had swung behind Parker, pulled his gun and rested it against her temple. As Chase stepped into the room of the cave, his gun leveled at Antonio's skull, Antonio hid further behind Parker. "I will kill her Chase."
Chase's deadly gaze met Antonio's. "I know that. That's why I didn't come alone."
Antonio searched behind Chase for another shooter but only darkness lurked in the shadows.
Suddenly the wall behind Antonio tumbled in and Antonio swirled to face this new threat. Jarod leaped from the crumbled wall and swung the pickaxe he carried at Antonio. Ducking the blow, Antonio raised his gun to shoot Jarod in the heart. But it was Antonio's heart that a bullet pierced and he crumbled to the ground like a discarded puppet.
Dropping the axe, Jarod rushed to Ms. Parker and a sob caught in his throat at the bruises and blood. With gentleness, he caressed her face. "I am so sorry, Parker," his eyes filling with tears.
A weary smiled pulled onto Parker's cut lips, "I'm letting the Pretending up to you from now on," she breathed finally allowing her pain to be unveiled.
Chase, having riffled through Jamie's pocket and finding the key, he reached up and unlocked the cuffs that bound Parker's wrists.
Parker sagged into Jarod's waiting arms and he buried himself against her. Tears streamed freely down his face as he clung desperately to her battered body. "I love you Parker. I love you and I'ld die if I lost you."
The world was starting to fade into black for Parker and it was hard to tell where the line between reality and dream ended and began. But she knew in her heart that Jarod's arms were real, that his strength and protection were real and that the words that sailed into her heart were too sweet and precious for even a dream. Finally her fight was over, she had won the most precious thing in the world. Jarod's love.
"Parker!" Jarod choked out as Parker collapsed unconscious against his chest. Immediately he swept her into his arms and strode down the hallway onto the beach. Sparing a glance to her pale, bruised face as it lay in the crook of his arm, Jarod pleaded, "Don't leave me, Parker. Please, don't leave me."
TBC
But, where as the Centre's punishment for such audacity was quickly administered either by a trip to the renewal wing or a bullet to the head, Antonio seemed to relish every moment. As if to punctuate that point, another slap landed across Miss Parker's cheek. Though her head snapped in response, her eyes soon burned into Antonio's once again.
Stepping close, Antonio lowly offered, "I'll stop this right now. Just tell me where Joey sent the package."
A low bitter laugh broke from Parker. What a mess she had gotten herself into! Because of her "brilliant" plan, she was being tortured about a package that didn't exist. Even more ridiculous, that infamous non-existent package was the only thing keeping her breathing. Hell, she could give old scarface an address, she even knew some of Chase's warehouse addresses, but the real trouble began if he believed her. It would make her useless and by the look in Antonio's eyes, he was quite efficient in discarding useless people.
"Tell you what," Parker snarled, "let's play this like fish. You make a guess about the address and I'll tell you if you're right." This earned her a punch to the stomach.
Antonio grasped her jaw brutally, "You don't want to play games with me. I don't lose...ever."
"Neither do I. Go fish." Parker growled. Antonio delivered a backhanded slap to Parker's left cheek.
"I think it's time to take the game to a new level," Antonio smiled with a coldness that twisted Parker's stomach before he walked to the rear of the room with his cohorts.
Death was no stranger to Parker. She had seen it's cold hand steal her mother away and Faith and Thomas. And she had felt its icy grasp on her own life a time or two. But now it seemed an inescapable predator. There were no more Hudini acts to perform, the curtain was falling on her last act. And the life that was going to flash before her eyes wasn't the stuff of home movies.
Not for the first time, she was ashamed of her life ...of her soul. But this time she was faced with the true prospect of dying and seeing her mother and she was terrified of the disappointment....disgust that would radiate from the eyes that had once held her with such love. There was very little in her life that she could be proud of. It was ironic, her mother had been killed because of her ambition to free Jarod and now here Parker was, about to be killed because of her ambition to capture Jarod.
Her mother had treated Jarod like a human being, while Parker had treated him like a means to an end. Her freedom for his. In her head, it sounded like a great strategy. In her heart, it sounded like the death of her soul and his. If Jarod's only merit had been his genius, he would have been worth neither the cost of his freedom nor his capture. No, it was Jarod's heart that made Catherine Parker risk her life for his. And it was Jarod's heart that had slowly been deteriorating the wall Parker had fortified around her heart.
'I'm sorry, Jarod.' Parker silently sent out, praying that Jarod would someday know the truth of the words. 'If I had the chance, I'ld change. I'ld seize that turning point. I'ld make my mother proud and maybe you too.'
Her thoughts were interrupted as Antonio approached. He halted in front of her, brought his hand in front of her face and flicked open a switchblade knife. "I hate to mar that gorgeous face."
"Guess it'll be a closed casket," Parker evenly replied, bravely accepting the fate that lay before her.
Before the yacht had settled against the dock, Jarod leaped onto the dock and ran for the villa, his only thoughts of Parker. Slamming through the front door he came up short, "Parker?! Parker?! Anna?!" He began to take the stairs two at a time when a voice spoke from below.
"Miss Parker's with Chase, Jarod," Gina supplied as she stood at the base of the stairs wiping her hands on a dishtowel.
Jarod spun to face Gina, ready to launch into his questions but Chase, having entered the villa with Benny not more than ten steps behind Jarod, cut in "Who told Miss Parker to come see me?"
"Pauly."
Chase's cursed and hung his head in agony at the newest betrayer. But Jarod didn't let Chase wallow in his emotions. Striding to Chase, Jarod stood toe to toe with the don and snarled, "Where would they take her?!" Chase raised his head and met Jarod's enraged eyes but remained silent.
Panic tore through Jarod and he clutched onto Chase's shirt and yelled into his face, "Where would they take her?!"
Benny cocked his gun and rested it against Jarod's shoulder, "Back off. Now."
But Jarod cared little for his own life not when Parker's was at stake. Jarod shook Chase, "They are your men! You're the one who couldn't control them and now Parker's paying the price!"
Suddenly Chase shoved Jarod back and brought his own gun against Jarod's temple. "Your life, her life has been in my hands since the start," Chase's deadly tone didn't begin to match the depths of his darkened eyes. "I let you live when it was safer to put a bullet in your skull. I treated you like honored guests. And now you disrespect me like this." Chase leaned in close, his eyes boring into Jarod's "Know this, I will do whatever I have to do to regain control of my family." He paused a moment before threatening, "Now you can either share Antonio's fate and never lay eyes on Parker again or you can shut your mouth and do exactly as I say. What's it gonna be?"
Jarod searched Chase's eyes a moment before replying, "What do you want me to do?"
Antonio drew the blade lightly along Ms. Parker's neck, leaving a thin trail of blood in it's wake. "No, I think I'ld like to savor the moment, work my way up to the finale." Before Parker could fully guess his meaning, Antonio raised the knife from her neck. An instant later a cry of agony escaped her barriers as the blade ripped across her right side.
A satisfied smile sprang to Antonio's lips, "The ice maiden does feel pain. Now I'm going to start enjoying myself."
A second cut tore into Parker's right side but this time she steeled herself for the agony, biting down on her lip to hold back the scream that tried to crawl up her throat. The third cut skittered across her ribs and she clamped her eyes shut with the effort of bearing the growing agony.
Breath stinking of garlic fluttered across her face, "I'll stop right now. Just tell me the address."
Parker swallowed hard and put her terror into the box the Centre had nurtured in her soul. Slowly Parker opened her eyes and met Antonio's merciless look.
A curse spilled from Antonio at the now concrete resolve he saw in the woman's eyes. This woman was a fighter. She would use all the pain he inflicted on her and redirect it into hatred. Hatred that kindled the fight in her soul, that nurtured her strength and tightened her grasp on life.
Parker's voice was low, seductive, deadly as her eyes seared into Antonio's "I'm not going to tell you what the address is because, just like Joey, it's going to be my revenge from the grave. It must be frustrating to kill people to cover up a secret and still not be able to shut them up."
A yell of rage erupted from Antonio and Parker watched without outward fear as the knife began to arch toward her throat.
A cell phone's shrill ring jolted Antonio from his intent. He swung to face his two men. It was Pauly who sheepishly pulled his phone from his jacket pocket.
"Yeah," he answered as his eyes never left Antonio's. "Hey, Chase how's the fishing?" Silence fell on Pauly's side of the conversation for a few moments before he spoke again. "Well I wouldn't come in yet if I were catching that many either. No, no pressing business here." A pause, "I said nothing going on here." Pauly shrugged in frustration to Antonio. "Hold on, I'm inside the villa. Maybe the connection'll be better outside." With that said, Pauly headed down the cave hallway, his voice echoeing off the walls "Can you hear me?" A moment later Pauly could not be heard in the cave.
Antonio resighted his attention on Parker.
"Alright, Chase, how am I coming in now?" Pauly asked as he emerged from the cave. A gun barrel suddenly rested on the back of his head.
"Just fine," Chase replied, taking Pauly's gun from it's holster and handing it to Benny. Chase roughly pulled Pauly backward away from the cave entrance and shoved him to his knees. Chase hissed in his ear, "Make a sound and I'll let you live...as a vegetable." Giving a nod for Benny to handle Pauly, Chase headed for the cave.
"Now I think I was about to kill you when we got interrupted," Antonio drawled standing in front of Parker once again. "Jamie, make sure Pauly's off the phone. I wouldn't want Ms. Parker's screams to be overheard by Chase."
Jamie did as he was ordered and headed for the hallway. But at his first step into the hallway, he saw Chase striding toward him and made a vain attempt to pull his gun. Chase's bullet slammed into Jamie's chest, spinning him to the ground. Chase stepped over the corpse without a glance.
At the gunshot, Antonio had swung behind Parker, pulled his gun and rested it against her temple. As Chase stepped into the room of the cave, his gun leveled at Antonio's skull, Antonio hid further behind Parker. "I will kill her Chase."
Chase's deadly gaze met Antonio's. "I know that. That's why I didn't come alone."
Antonio searched behind Chase for another shooter but only darkness lurked in the shadows.
Suddenly the wall behind Antonio tumbled in and Antonio swirled to face this new threat. Jarod leaped from the crumbled wall and swung the pickaxe he carried at Antonio. Ducking the blow, Antonio raised his gun to shoot Jarod in the heart. But it was Antonio's heart that a bullet pierced and he crumbled to the ground like a discarded puppet.
Dropping the axe, Jarod rushed to Ms. Parker and a sob caught in his throat at the bruises and blood. With gentleness, he caressed her face. "I am so sorry, Parker," his eyes filling with tears.
A weary smiled pulled onto Parker's cut lips, "I'm letting the Pretending up to you from now on," she breathed finally allowing her pain to be unveiled.
Chase, having riffled through Jamie's pocket and finding the key, he reached up and unlocked the cuffs that bound Parker's wrists.
Parker sagged into Jarod's waiting arms and he buried himself against her. Tears streamed freely down his face as he clung desperately to her battered body. "I love you Parker. I love you and I'ld die if I lost you."
The world was starting to fade into black for Parker and it was hard to tell where the line between reality and dream ended and began. But she knew in her heart that Jarod's arms were real, that his strength and protection were real and that the words that sailed into her heart were too sweet and precious for even a dream. Finally her fight was over, she had won the most precious thing in the world. Jarod's love.
"Parker!" Jarod choked out as Parker collapsed unconscious against his chest. Immediately he swept her into his arms and strode down the hallway onto the beach. Sparing a glance to her pale, bruised face as it lay in the crook of his arm, Jarod pleaded, "Don't leave me, Parker. Please, don't leave me."
TBC