Chapter 47
Stephanie sat in her office with Alex, Mark, Glen, Dwayne and her husband, nodding her approval when Mark informed them Rajani was being preoccupied with wedding details. "The less she knows about this, the better. Now then, time to go over the plan for when we arrive in Florida..."
Kane was the odd man out here and wisely kept his ass out of general sight, leaning against a wall with his arms folded over his chest. He knew damn well the only reason he was here was due to Stephanie and Alex. Mark and Dwayne were more inclined to beat him to death than anything else.
"Does Trish know anything about what's going on?" Dwayne asked quietly. It would royally suck if she did, but also if she didn't, in the event that something happened.
"I'm not taking any chances with Cena lurking in the shadows, so yes Trish is aware of what's going on." Stephanie stated, pinching the bridge of her nose and looked over at Glen, feeling uneasy about his silence. "Glen, do you have anything to add to the plan?" She really wished she knew what the big man was thinking, narrowing her blue eyes slightly.
"You already know what I think. I think you're an idiot who just needs to let me, or Mark, do this our way." Without the fuss, without the extravagant planning. Plain simple murder.
"You're forgetting the part where this needs to look like an accident."
Which he could totally do, screw Glen, Taker thought angrily, maintaining his temper.
"You forgot that little important factor, Glen. Listen, I'm counting on all of you to work as a team because, if even one of you cracks under the pressure, the whole thing will fall to pieces. It has to look like an accident, there can be no questioning about it." Stephanie couldn't believe she was actually planning one of the WWE's top Superstars demise, but Cena had pushed her too far, especially when it came to the safety of her own family. "Now, about the timing..."
"Do it in a match." Alex suggested, ignoring the look she shot him. One death in the ring had occurred and that was a total tragic accident. "Then the timing doesn't matter, accidents happen in the ring all the time." On the plus side, it would be publicity. Sure, it would be bad publicity, but easy to get out of and it would also allow the company to 'honor' a top Superstar after the fact.
"No, I can't have that." Stephanie shook her head emphatically, knowing her father would have a field day if he ever found out about this. "It has to be discreet and there's no way Cena would come out of the woodwork on national television. He's not that stupid, Alex." Where had his smarts disappeared to? "The fans will know he died and that's it. They don't need to SEE it happen."
"So catch him in his hotel room." They were all idiots.
"Yeah, and how do you propose we do that?" Paul demanded, not too keen on this son of a bitch.
"Between all of us, and the resources I know Stephy has, I'm sure we could cover airports and hotel rooms."
"And what makes you so sure he'll even go to a hotel?" Alex demanded with an arched brow. "He might just come straight here."
"Psycho, not a total idiot. He knows he's being set up so I would imagine he'll arrive in town early, if he's not already there doing a little investigating of his own." Considering he had worked with Cena, Kane did know a thing or two about the lunatic.
"Glen..." Stephanie's tone held warning, blue eyes flashing at him. "One way or another, he will show up and he will be in the arena. The place I had in mind was actually the boiler room."
"Why?" Paul demanded, staring down at his wife with wide eyes.
"Think about it. Rajani has been in the boiler room before and that's where Glen's character, Kane, resides as far as everyone knows. Glen could contact Cena and ask for a peace offering, of sorts. You will tell him you have Rajani and if he wants her back, he will meet you in the boiler room. Simple, clean-cut. The killing happens because he will be ambushed and nobody will hear because it's the boiler room." Stephanie had been in one of those when she was younger, thanks to doing a very scary angle with Mark back in his Lord of Darkness days. "Any comments or concerns?"
She was an idiot and Kane simply smirked under the mask he wore. Totally committed to his character, he very rarely showed up to work without the thing. "One last question."
"You are seriously pushing your luck, Jacobs."
He had pushed his luck the minute he got anywhere near his sister. The only thing keeping him alive as far as Dwayne was concerned was the fact he figured Glen should be the one to take the fall if anything.
"Other than killing him, have you considered how you're going to do it? Beat him to death, stab him? Set him on fire, shot to the head? Strangle him maybe?" His eyes flashed wickedly when Stephanie tinged green before swallowing hard.
"Enough."
"Something quick and unexpected. I do not want him to see it coming." Stephanie said meekly, folding papers on her desk and tried to swallow down the nausea she suddenly felt. "Rajani will be worried about wedding plans and not to mention I will keep her busy with a million errands until this is done. Don't worry Mark, she won't be leaving my office unless she's escorted by security." She had to ease Mark's mind somehow and looked up at her husband after everyone left her office, finally letting the tears fall.
What if she was making a mistake by committing murder?
Frowning, Paul took her into his arms, planting a kiss on top of her head and simply held her. He knew she was having doubts and probably feeling guilty as hell. Violence was not in Stephanie's nature, murder sure as hell was nothing she would ever consider. Except John had threatened their families, their children and that had crossed the line.
"We're doing the right thing, Steph." He whispered, secretly having his own doubts, but knowing that she needed his reassurance.
"I really hope so because we'll have to live with the fact we were accessories to a murder for the rest of our lives. We'll have to take the secret to the grave." Stephanie said, putting everything into harsh perspective for her husband and buried her face in his chest, letting her tears fall.
When Taker walked in later that day from his meeting with Stephanie, Rajani had papers scattered everywhere along with all different flowers in all different shades of purple. She looked up, a lilac dangling from her ear and smiled at him, brown eyes sparkling. Trish had to leave, but promised to be back soon to help her with more arrangements.
"Okay so, I picked the colors and hopefully they're not too girly for you. Silver and purple. I don't know why I chose them, but it just seems...right." Rajani shrugged, looking back down at the magazine and wore a simple pair of orange cotton shorts with a white and orange tank top, her black hair swept on top of her head in a messy bun. "Unless you have other colors in mind?"
Considering the day Taker had, walking into a room filled with tons of purple flowers was just...weird. Taker had to stop and just look around, trying to wrap his mind around how surreal this was. He had just come from a meeting where the discussion topic had been how, where and when to murder a coworker. Granted, he had wanted to murder Cena for some time, just...planning it out, casually, with other people was odd. Finally, he focused beginning to smile and reached out to finger the lilac on her ear.
"Silver and purple are perfect darlin'." He murmured. "Decidin' on flowers?"
"Yeah, I have no idea which ones to choose though because this is the shade I picked." She pointed to a color block in the magazine, looking back up at him and could see the twinkle in his green eyes. "Wait a minute, what's that twinkle for?" Setting the magazine aside momentarily, Rajani stood up on the bed to be eyelevel with him, wrapping her arms around Taker's neck. "Don't even try denying it either. I saw that twinkle. What aren't you telling me, Taker?" She poked his stomach, raising a brow and softly kissed his lips. "Come on, don't leave your fiancée in the dark."
He began laughing, wrapping his arms around her and lifted her off the bed. Since she was standing on it wasn't all that hard to do. Taker felt her legs automatically wrap around his waist and leaned in to press his forehead against hers. He inhaled deeply, smiling slightly, smelling the scents of the other flowers, but the strongest scent was the lilac. Mixed with Rajani's own delicious scent, it was...well, Taker had no words.
"Darlin', the twinkle is because I'm happy." He informed her and he was, all things considered. "Just seein' you right now lookin' a bit excited...makes me glad." Considering that this morning she had been anxious and doubting her ability to do this, it was a vast improvement.
"I know this may sound really strange, but I'm actually...enjoying planning a wedding. Trish was a major help. First she had me pick the colors, though she refused to let me pick green and then she took me to this beautiful flower shop down the street. That's why you see so many. I bought a few of each color of purple I saw. I don't think we'll be able to stick with just one solid color of purple, it'll have to be a combination of different shades. And I just-"
Rajani moaned when Taker kissed her, shutting her up for the moment and wrapped her arms around his neck, enjoying this amazing moment with her soon-to-be husband. Taker was going to be her husband. Rajani was really going to spend the rest of her life with this man.
"I can't wait to marry you, Taker." She mumbled against his lips, kissing him again and let everything else vanish from her mind for the time being.
"I am quite the catch."
He caught her hand before she could nail him and pressed a kiss to her palm, his tongue flickering out to taste her skin. Flowers, she smelled like flowers and Taker briefly entertained the idea of scattering them over the bed and making love to Rajani on them. Comparing their softness against hers was indeed a delicious thought.
"Mmm darlin', I can't wait either."
Taker wasn't about to play the 'catch her between husband's' game. He would be the last man she married and it'd be for life, no doubt about that. His idea came to life and Taker did exactly what he wanted, making love to his beautiful fiancée on the flowers. It was possibly the sweetest sex they'd ever had together. He took his time to thoroughly explore her body, making her feel beautiful and wanted, needed even.
With all the flowers surrounding them, Rajani lay her head on Taker's chest as they both slowly came down from their sexual high, her hand resting over his heart. They had to still go ring shopping, though Rajani decided she would make Taker go by himself, wanting to see what kind of jewelry he'd pick out for her. And she would do the same for his wedding band. Looking up at him, Rajani smiled as Taker brushed a strand of black hair from her face and brushed her lips against his, stroking his cheek gently with the back of her hand.
"Thank you for distracting me from the wedding planning." She chuckled, snuggling back against him and knew it could all wait. There was no way she was ruining this moment or moving an inch, not until Taker did first.
"You're welcome, it seems that you did enjoy yourself."
That could have gone for both the planning and the aftermath, which he was enjoying. With everything going on lately, it seemed just lying in bed holding each other was becoming a rare thing. Especially when they could do it without worrying or being afraid of something or someone lurking in the shadows.
"I'm all for the lilacs, by the way." Taker added as an afterthought, just in case she wanted some extra input in making her final decision. True, they didn't live for very long, but their scent...he was a guy who would admit that lilacs smelled incredible.
"Good, I'll make sure they're added into the flowers for the wedding then. I'll have to mix different shades of purple for the flowers, but hopefully it won't look bad." Rajani snuggled further against him, burrowing into his side and closed her eyes, loving his fingers running through her hair. "And if you have any other input, you need to let me know. This isn't just my wedding, it's yours too. I want us to do as much of this together as possible." She didn't realize what kind of a wrench in the plans of Stephanie she was putting, kissing his chest softly.
"Darlin', I'll give you my input as you go. I don't know jack shit about plannin' weddings. I just know what I like. Now...if you want me to help you pick out your wedding night lingerie, I have no problem in offering my assistance." Taker said gallantly, but there was definitely a wicked sparkle in his eyes. Anything she did get, he was sure would be lovely, but it was highly doubtful that it would last all that long.
"I'm not really the lingerie type, but now you've got me curious and wondering if I should start buying some."
Rajani shifted to fold her arms on his chest, staring at him with curiosity burning in her eyes. She loved this man so much. It was hard to believe he actually agreed to marry her when she proposed, which had been completely spontaneous. Rajani didn't have it planned or anything, it just happened and Taker hadn't let her down. Brushing her lips against his, it was enough to ignite round two between them as Taker rolled Rajani over, making love to her on the flowers again.
Doing what he could to keep fully distracted, Taker figured making love would definitely get the job done. He had never seen Rajani happier than today when he walked in that hotel room door and saw her surrounded in the beautiful flowers that were now crushed beneath their bodies. She looked breathtaking with the lilac hanging on her ear and the sparkle was back in her chocolate eyes. He vowed to do everything in his power to keep that sparkle and happiness in her eyes, no matter what he had to do.