~15~

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~        ~

She had really been putting the pressure on me lately. I had expected it would come at some time in our relationship, I was just surprised that it had taken three long years. She wanted me to get a divorce; to leave the home that I had provided and shared with my wife and children. Why wouldn't she want that? I loved her and she loved me.

The fact that we were so close to getting what we wanted helped. It felt good to have the power all in my hands-in our hands. I glanced behind me, through the opened door of the balcony to her high-rise apartment, and caught site of her blonde hair that was draped across one gray silk pillow. My chest grew tight with anticipation knowing that we would soon have the whole world in our hands. The tightening that grew in my groin next was all too familiar. It was in result to the games that she liked to play. Why did she like to toy with the Specters like this?

I knew that the attractions that she'd had for Sol Specter had diminished, long ago-just like the ones I'd had for Caroline had diminished long ago. I thought about the visit Caroline had made to my art class; yes, she had been so sexy, standing there, mad as hell, demanding that I leave her alone. But I had more to lose now. Her. A chuckle threatened to leave my mouth as I thought about Caroline's threat. Threats that she would not be making if she knew that I knew all about her husbands little secret. Just what would that husband of hers do? Call a hit on me? Have that little worker of his come do to me what he had done to the nanny? Sol Specter was powerful-one of the most powerful in the entire city- but with his little secret the game was mine.

As if She knew I was standing there, staring, She stirred in the bed and then a moment later sat up. She was beautiful, much more than any woman I had ever laid my eyes on. Even Caroline Specter, whom I thought at one point no one could be more beautiful than. I wanted to remind her just then of her allure but She spoke up, rubbing sleepy blue eyes.

"Are you okay?"

More 'okay' than She would ever know. Thanks to her and this elaborate plan to blackmail the Specters. The blackmailing would come soon. For now though, I would let her have her fun. "Fine. Let's sleep," I insisted, coming back into the room and closing the door. Once I was back where I always would desire to be-beside her in bed-I pulled her close, inhaled her scent.

"Sleep?" She asked, like that was the last thing on her mind and pulled away to slide down my body. I thought about the first time I had met her then:

I'd thought of every possible way to get Caroline Specter into my bed where I wanted her most. Just what was so damn good about that husband of hers? I would have never made this a mission but then again I was not used to being rejected. And the fact that her husband had come and threatened me while my wife was around only fueled things.

I didn't make a habit of following the woman around-I mainly just followed her social media account, obsessing like some psycho- but today when I had been picking up lunch I had spotted her. Caroline had been in the shopping district going from shop to shop with her baby in the stroller. Now, I sat on the other side of a coffee shop and watched her chat with a friend. I'd nearly lost my mind when she had gotten the baby out the breastfeed- even though I knew that sexualizing breastfeeding was wrong.

I couldn't help myself, I watched the entire time they visited. It wasn't until they got up and left the coffee shop that I noticed Mrs. Specter had a follower. Another follower. It took me a minute to confirm things and it didn't help that the person was not as inconspicuous as they thought. My target of interest had changed and as they tailed Caroline, I tailed them. I didn't bother wondering where Caroline was going or what she was doing any longer. I would only have those urges a few times after that.

The woman-or man-hurried to a car that had only been parked a few spaces from Caroline's when I closed in. My shock to learn that it was a woman when I grabbed her arm and turned her to face me was great. "Hey, douchebag!" Certainly a woman-so blonde and beautiful.

"You sure don't know much about following people, do you?" I glared down at her, at the stupidity she had entailed.

"Take your hand off me, you fucking psycho." The blonde woman commanded and jerked out of my grasp. "Who do you think you are, really?"

"I should ask you the same." The next few seconds included a full on glare-off and to say she didn't win with those icy blue eyes would be a lie. But then that was when I learned of her plan, who she was and why she was doing what she was doing. That was when my relationship with her began.

~Caroline~

Several hours later into the evening, I paced in front of a festering fire. Back and forth, wondering how this person had gotten into Miriam's house to plant Chris's little gift. I could hardly believe it, had cried for a long time thinking of what could have happened if the thing had gone off. I'd checked the gun after taking it from my stepson. The safety had been off...there had been and still was a bullet in the chamber. I could hardly think about it now without completing losing it. It was sick.

They knew so fucking much but didn't want to take a lesson from what had happened when people messed with Sol's children. I already knew he was going to have a damn fit over this one. And where was Thomas when we needed him? I was near close to losing my mind when I heard the garage door open off of the kitchen and left the living room in a rush. "Where have you been?" I demanded, near tears as I found him right at the liquor cabinet.

It seemed as if, by the expression he gave me, that was the last question he expected me to ask. "Working." The reply was dull, enough for me to believe he had not been working. One moment Sol seemed confused and the next he was alert. "What happened?" He demanded, bringing the fresh  drink to his lips.

"That motherfucker gave your son a gun, Sol. A gun! He had it in his hands and it was loaded. He found it in his bedroom at Miriam's. I am getting so fucking tired of shit like this. That's not even the best part either; these psychos with their infamous fucking notes asked if he wanted to be like you. Like you, Sol, a fucking killer!" I was on it, glaring and spitting fire and my husband looked like he was about to come undone. "Fix it. Fix it right now or we are gone. Do you hear me, gone? I will be damned if another one of my babies get hurt."

I didn't even bother waiting for a response, rather it be against me or them. I left him with his drink in the kitchen and went up to the suite. I could hardly believe the things that were happening. Even after everything with Lydia, I had chose to ignore the possibility of being stalked twice. The fact that it was my entire family, not just me, made it so much worse.

I contemplated having a bath or ten glasses of wine, anything to get my mind off of things but in the end I just went into the closet and changed into a slip. After the day I'd had, it seemed like climbing in bed took all of my energy and it didn't take more than two minutes to fall asleep.

In a dream I was going back up our wide staircase to the second floor. Going to get Christopher for dinner. Except the outcome on the other side of my stepsons bedroom door was different; there was blood and on the bed was Chris, lifeless, with the gun. A tragic accident. It felt so cold and my scream was terrifying. The scream of a mother who had lost a child, even if he wasn't one I had birthed.

My entire body jerked when I came awake in a cold sweat. Tears stung my eyes and I threw the covers off of my body. Every instinct in me told me to leave the bedroom, go down the hall and check on both of the children. My feet hit the carpet and I stood up but that is all I managed. "Christ, what are you doing?" My heart went wild for an entirely different reason. My husband needed to stop making a habit of being in that chair when I woke up. Especially when it was almost too dark to see.

I ran my hand through my dampened hair and sat back down on the edge of our bed. They're fine, Caroline, I reassured myself mentally. But for how long? What if it had been Lydia instead of Chris? My baby. "Thinking," Sol answered after a while. I reached over and turned the bedside lamp on to get a better look at him.

He was just sitting there, frowning with disheveled, blonde hair as if his fingers had ran through it a million times. So ruggedly handsome...The straight razor that he was running his thumb across had my immediate attention. "Thinking? Well you don't have to be so...threatening about it."

"Threatening?" Sol laughed, giving me one of those looks I'd seen many times before-especially when our lives were simpler and we lived in the condo. Very. He might as well have been stroking the tongues of a whip. "Nah, baby, if I heard correctly earlier you're the one that threatened to take my children. Don't fucking do that again. That's a threat." He was serious, I could tell by the dip of his brows and the flexing of his jaw. It was so annoying and sexy.

"Save me. I wouldn't take them to hurt you, I would take them to keep them safe. It's like you didn't hear a word I said, Sol, did-"

"I heard every word, Caroline."

Had he? It seemed like he was thinking about everything but the shit that mattered. That cold, hard expression didn't waiver when I shot up. "We should have just told the police who they were but instead you wanted to be a badass-no, let me correct myself. A murderer-" In a second, Sol was out of that chair and in my face. When I took a step back I ran into the nightstand; trapped.

"Shut up," The command left his mouth through his teeth. "I'm thinking and you've interrupted me again. I don't know what the fuck to do and it doesn't help that every chance you get, you remind me that I've fucked up." I would have argued then but the actual tears that threatened to spill over in his dark blue eyes left me speechless. "So, I'm sorry that I'm doing a shit job at protecting my family." He added finally before he turned away and went to the closet. All I wanted to do was scream at the top of my lungs.

"Damn it." I whispered under my breath instead and took another seat on the edge of the bed. Would this ever be over?

~One week later~

~Sol~

The only thing that had changed about her was the length of her hair. It brushed her bare shoulders, poker-straight and almost white. The smile on her red lips was taunting as she took the full bottom one between her white teeth. Everything about her was fake, from her lips to her breast that were so very visible behind the dark, see-through slip. Her legs seemed to be miles and miles long. Were her eyes brown or green under that blindfold? I couldn't remember, didn't really give a damn. I tried to recall her name, as I looked away and my eyes danced around at the knives and razors. A goddamn wet dream for a guy like me. Danica something...

"Such a shame we never got to finish where we started. They told me all about your cheat wife. She seemed so hurt...yet caring when she found you with me."

My head snapped back to her at her words and I tried like hell not to lose my shit. "Who's they?" I demanded. As if to taunt me, she started laughing...and laughing. She knew but I didn't and that was power. I didn't have time for this, so before I snapped, I left her exactly where I had found her.

For about the millionth time in a week I thought about that short period of time in the hotel room. Didn't know why, it irritated the shit out of me every time. It had been pointless, a complete waste of my time and that bitch hadn't been helpful whatsoever. What had been a promising encounter to gain information had only put me back on square one.

"When's mommy going to be home?" Lydia's question brought me to the now, where she was sitting beside me in a stool at the island, picking at her pizza. She was becoming quite the picky little thing.

I glanced down at my Rolex; eight-thirty. "Soon, princess. Finish eating and we can watch a movie in the living room." I'd spent half the day with my daughter while Caroline had a shift at the boutique and Christopher went to a friends for the night. Not much had been said about the gun thing but I had thought teaching him a lesson in gun safety would be good.

The communication between Caroline and myself had been basically non existent. Either she had nothing to say or I had been too harsh. Truthful but harsh. The good thing was that for a week now no annoying fucking notes had popped up. The little games had ceased and perhaps that would put my wife's mind at ease. 

Before my daughter even got two more bites in, she was jumping from the stool. "Come on, Daddy!" Her voice rang out in a song. I grabbed my half eaten piece of pizza and followed in her wake. Lydia was already sitting in the middle of the couch, waiting patiently for me turn the big tv on. "We aren't supposed to eat in the living room, you know." She pointed out as I crossed the room to the dvd shelves.

"Yea...I know."

"Then why are you eating in the living room, Daddy?"

"Because I can."

"Why can you but no one else?"

"Why do you ask so many questions, little girl?"

"Because I can." When I glanced over she actually had a freakin' smirk on her tiny face and the only thing I could see was Caroline. I shook my head and for the next five minutes read of at least fifteen different movies to her; fluffy, unicorn, barbies and rainbow shit until I thought she might just never make up her mind. Once things were going I told her I would back.

I had a few calls make. Thomas, my security who had just up and fucking disappeared, being one. A few guesses as to why went through my brain as I headed for the study. Had something happened to him? The thought that this thing going on could be him crossed my mind but only for a second. Thomas was too loyal-wherever the hell he was. I was so wrapped up in my own shit that I didn't notice him until I was halfway to the desk. Stopping dead in my tracks, it took me a moment to comprehend things...to really get a good look at what was in front of my face.

"Took you long enough, Mr. Specter." It was a little eerie hearing a voice but not seeing the mouth that had made it. Of course it had everything to do with the white mask covering a cowards face. In all back, the motherfucker actually had his boots on my desk, was holding my paperweight in his palm. The gun on the surface of my desk was spotlighted under the desk lamp.

"What do you want?" I finally asked. The exact question I had been waiting and wanting to ask him for weeks now. I'd imagined I would be in a rage when this time came but not even my heartbeat was irregular.

"You mean it? Anything I want?" Excitement was feigned, he leaned forward, moved his boots onto the floor and tilted his head to the side. "Anything to keep you out of prison..." I hated how the mask muffled the voice. He knew me. Did I know him? Quickly, I became irritated and shifted in my loafers.

"Money?"

"No. No, I don't want your money." His head shook almost violently as he relaxed against the back of my chair again. I was glad he didn't put his boots back on my desk, for his own sake. "I don't know what I want yet. Maybe...Mmm, maybe your wife." He was fidgeting way to much, in a second he was standing. "You're probably wondering how I got into the house. You know you should upgrade your shitty alarm system or higher people who will actually do their jobs." He suggested before he picked up the gun. The same exact one that had been sent to my son.

I nearly lost my shit thinking about it. Here he was, the person who had put a weapon in my child's hands. "What the fuck do you want?"

"I told you. Maybe your wife. You know I've been in this house for hours, plenty of time to think about how delicious she looked in the shower this morning." He confessed. I imagined he was grinning behind that mask. When I had nothing to say he walked around the desk, stopped ten feet from me and held that hunk of metal at his side in one gloved hand. "But like I said, I don't know what I want. You'll squirm until I figure it out because let's face it...your fate is in my hands."

"Like hell," I growled.

"Oh? No? I'm gonna shoot you and if you tell the police you were assaulted, your done. Are you ready to play, Mr. Specter?" Again, he tilted his head I wasn't sure if he was trying making a statement out of it. Then I really didn't have a chance to figure it out.

"Fuck you-"

And that was punctuated by a load pop. The force of the bullet going through bone knocked me back several feet and I finally fell halfway in the hall and halfway in the study. It took several second for my brain to catch the right chemicals and when it did the red, hot, burning pain was unbearable. I didn't exactly know where the wound was until I looked down the length of my body and my fingers slipped in running blood. "Fuck."

I wasn't sure if the words actually left my mouth and sooner than I would have liked things got weird. I was there but I wasn't. "Daddy?" The scared little voice sounded like a dream but I knew better. My vision wavered as I caught a glimpse of my daughter standing at the end of the hall, just outside of the living room, clutching some stuffy.

All of my energy was nearly gone when he came to stand above me. "Play nice." Were the last words before he headed down the hallway...towards Lydia. If I hadn't had my first round of unconsciousness then, I would have yelled out, protested, dared him to lay a hand on her.

"Daddy?" This time she was above me, tears wetting her pink cheeks and her bottom lip quivered. I wanted to comfort her but moving was nearly impossible. I could hardly think.

For a little while it was quiet and dark until I felt hands on my chest roaming and sobs. Caroline's sobs. "Oh God, Sol. No, no, no." I couldn't open my eyes but I could feel her touch, frantic and hear her voice, scared.

"Oh, baby. I love you." Is what I imagined would have came out of my mouth if I could just open the fucking thing and talk.

I slipped again...into the darkness that was filled with that fucking pain.

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I hope you guys enjoyed and I am soooo glad Sol didn't give into temptation with that woman or with Caroline when he had the chance!

More to come...

-Lu 💋

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