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“Ms. Lake, it’s good to see you again.”
“Decided, you mean?” Ben accepted Lucas Ricx’s outstretched hand. “If we’re going to do this, don’t you think you should call me by my first name?” she asked.
Smiling much more easily then, Luke nodded. “Then I’d have to ask that same goes. Call me Luke, alright?”
Ben reciprocated the smile/nod combination before gesturing behind her. “Lucas Ricxs, my best friend and coworker, Rhys Jefferson.”
Luke’s compelling gaze narrowed with brief, yet undeniable male interest. “Ms. Jefferson,” again he extended his hand.
“You were right, much more impressive in person,” Rhys spoke so only Ben could hear, as she moved to accept Luke’s hand. “Same goes for me too,” she said to Luke, “it’s Rhys,” she told him.
“Absolutely,” he said.
Ben headed on into the private hotel dining room while Luke and Rhys finished sizing up one another. The previous day’s rains had returned. The overcast made the room’s soft lighting appear far more brilliant.
“We hope you might be willing to make a quick trip to the island, Benaja,” Luke was saying as he led Rhys to one of the embroidered, high-backed chairs at the small round table. “We understand you may have job responsibilities that may take some time to close out.”
Ben shared a look with Rhys who was accepting a glass of chilled white wine from a waiter. “That may not be much of an issue.”
Luke caught the look passing between the two women. “Am I missing something?”
“Ben just closed a big deal for our company. She’s got a lot of vacation time, the brass won’t make a big deal about her taking.”
Ben used her fresh-filled glass of white wine to toast Rhy’s explanation.
“That’s good to hear,” Luke accepted a chilled glass mug of his preferred lager. “Considering the state of things.”
“The state of things,” Ben probed.
Luke gripped the mug handle, but didn’t lift it from the table. “Certain family members are overseeing the company’s day to day operations. That’s been the way of it for a while now with your uncle being ill. That’s okay for the company so far, but the island itself which inhabits over ninety five percent of the Bino workforce...the island is a mess. Crime, housing, hunger... the percentages make no sense given that your uncle is such a generous employer.”
“But if there are those who want the employees to quit...” Ben noted.
Rhys finished the theory. “Working for a great company doesn’t mean much if you’re being threatened because of it. Lucas?” Rhys set aside her wine, “How safe is my friend with this? I don’t know how I feel about her walking into certain danger.”
“That’s what Syson’s there for,” Luke said to Ben.
“And what’s going on out there is so bad you need someone of his caliber to keep the peace-”
“Rhys-”
“No it’s okay Benaja, Rhys is right,” Luke soothed. “The last time we spoke, I told you about your uncle hiring a private security group to control the uptick in trouble he was getting from his competitors. Do you remember that?”
Ben nodded. “I remember.”
“That security firm is led by a man named Andrew Faust. We have reason to believe he’s an even greater threat to your uncle’s company and the island than all his competitors combined. Trouble is, he’s got the support of many decision makers currently in charge of the company.”
“Faust?” Ben set aside her wine glass as well.
“He’s Syson’s uncle. He’s running the company that, by rights, Syson should be in charge of.”
“Why isn’t he?” Rhys queried.
Luke’s mouth tilted into an apologetic smile. “It’s not my place to share those particular details. Just know that we believe Syson is the only one capable of bringing his uncle to heel. He’s been gone a while, but with him back we expect a great deal of change. We’re gonna need you to secure that change, though.”
Ben fixed Luke and Rhys with a resigned smile. “I understand,” she said.
Luke reached for a leather bound portfolio lying on the only empty chair at the table. “I assume you’ve done some research into the island?”
Ben inclined her head. “What I’ve just heard tells me my research was lacking.”
“An unfortunate turn of events,” Luke extracted a sheaf of glossy 8x10s from a burgundy portfolio. “Don’t let that sour you on the place.”
“Jeez...” Rhys breathed when Luke let the photos slide out over the table.
“Mr. Bino’s villa. Soon to be your villa,” Luke shared.
Rhys whistled while Ben gaped over the shots of the Caribbean retreat they studied.
“If you’re lying to us Mr. Ricxs, you’re very good at it,” Rhys said.
Luke chuckled. “I know this is all very...outrageous. Mr. Bino has plans to call you tonight and discuss certain things.”
Ben frowned. “Tonight. But I- is he strong enough for that?”
Luke smiled. “Wild horses couldn’t stop him if you’re still willing to take the trip once you hear what he has to say, your travels will be documented with the authorities here. You’re welcomed to confirm that,” he said to Rhys. “You’d be welcomed to join your friend as well,” he added.
Rhys’ eyes skimmed the pictures again. “When do we leave?” she asked.
***
“Thanks for the ride.”
“All two blocks of it, right?”
“Did I complain?”
“Not verbally, no.” Syson left the truck, smiling when Ben’s laughter followed him from the cab.
The Louie Bistro wasn’t far from Ben’s apartment complex which, in Syson’s opinion, made it the perfect choice for the early supper. It wasn’t a date. His friends Avery Damien and Jace Coyt would be joining them. They were more than good friends. Up until three weeks ago, they were his fellow inmates. Now, they were the men he trusted most to help him guard a woman who was becoming increasingly important to him.
~~~
“Trust us, Benaja, we’d rather be here guarding you than anywhere.”
Jace’s pledge had Syson smiling as he cut into a massive Porterhouse steak. Given that ‘anywhere’ was a prison cell the words rang wholly true.
“I may not make it easy for you,” she’d warned the duo.
“That’s the damn truth,” Syson muttered and cleared his throat when he felt her sharp look radiating in his direction.
Ben shook her head and smiled at Jace and Avery. She’d taken an instant liking to the two men whose looks could have had most thinking they were brothers. They were both licorice dark with close cut onyx waves and bottomless deep-set eyes. They were tall, of course. She was starting to think Syson Faust only hung around giants like him.
“You guys are putting your lives on the line to protect me,” Ben set down the tasty morsel of vegetable lasagna she’d just forked up. “A man who thinks he’s pretty wise once said he believed I should know what I was getting into beforehand.”
Jace and Avery chuckled again, both catching Ben’s dig at Syson. Syson caught it as well and ignored his steak to focus on her words.
“I don’t plan to spend my days sitting up in some gilded castle to look down on the people I’m there to help. I plan to get to know them-that means being accessible to them.”
“Within reason,” Syson injected.
Mouth tightening, Ben studied her food. “They should know me. Otherwise, what’s the point?”
“The point is that you understand the danger you’re in down there.”
“Which is why I have protection,” she countered.
“Ben,” Syson set his heavy fork to the platter loudly. “You do realize we can only do our jobs as well as you allow us to? In other words, not taking unnecessary risks.”
“Well yes, I get that.”
“Good.” He returned his focus to the steak.
Ben watched Syson devour the meat with the deliberate determination of a predator consuming its prey with relish. The Porterhouse was nearly halfway demolished by the time she spoke again. “The status quo on that island is a nightmare if what I’ve been told is true.”
Syson looked up from his plate when nothing more was said. The look on Ben’s dark, lovely face said she was waiting on his agreement. “Yes Ben, it’s true-”
“Then that means these people deserve better. If I do this, I want to do it right. I plan to do it right.”
Avery and Jace looked to be fully entertained and seconds away from erupting into laughter. When Syson daggered a look in their direction, Jace made a pretense of fixing his shirt cuffs while Avery resituated the linen napkin draped in his lap. The smiles never left their handsome faces. They fully enjoyed the back and forth between their old friend and the beauty next to him. It was a rare thing for anyone to argue with Syson Faust once he stated his position. For them, dinner was an enjoyable affair.
~~~
“You don’t have to do this tonight, Ben. I’m guessing you’re pretty talked out after dinner.
“Not at all,” Ben draped her rust colored shawl across the back of the loveseat. “I enjoy enlightening people when they’re wrong.”
Mildly exasperated, Syson hung his head and laughed quietly. “So I’m wrong to want to keep you safe?”
“No. You’re not wrong at all, for that.” She went to dig her phone from the depths of her bag, smiling resignedly when her hand closed over the slender device. “I need to talk to him. I need to know whatever he does about my mother.”
Syson’s brow furrowed as new awareness crept into his jarring gaze. “You want to know why she never told you about him?”
Ben let her silence speak.
He nodded. “I’ll leave you to it then.”
“Syson?” She blurted when he turned to go. “Would you stay? Please?”
Smiling then, he hiked a thumb over one shoulder. “I’ll just be raiding your fridge.”
Her jaw dropped. “After that monster steak?”
He gave a casual shrug. “That was just an appetizer.”
Syson left and Ben was still shaking her head over his outlook, when the phone shook in her palm. The face plate read Unknown. With a final inhale to summon calm, Ben settled to one of the armchairs near her sofa.
“Benaja Lake,” she said.
A moment’s silence and then, “Maxim Bino, Miss Lake. Your mother was my sister.”
She closed her eyes on the potent statement. “Then I guess you should call me by my first name, Mr. Bino.”
“And I guess you should call me Uncle, child.”
“I’d like that.”
“But you’re not quite sure, it’s true.”
Again, Ben pulled in a breath of air to summon calm. “My parents never spoke of you or any of the family-not even the island.”
“It’s the way your father wanted it, love.”
“My father? Are you saying he forced her to leave?”
“Is that what he told you?”
“Well no, but...I...like I said, they never spoke of it.” Silently, Ben’s thoughts backtracked to all the times she’d wondered that very thing.
“Your father was right to want Cara with him. She was a rare soul.”
Her mother’s name on the stranger’s voice jerked Ben from her memories. “Why would you say that?” She asked him.
“Class distinctions are quite evident on Tesh, Benaja. Growing up wealthy can have an effect on a child and not always for the better. We grew up with all manner of privileges-ones that made those class distinctions even bolder between us and our island neighbors. Evan and Cara met-love at first sight. He saw what all the trappings had done to our family-wanted her away before it took its toll.”
“I thought you said you grew up that way.”
“I also said your mother was a rare soul. Evan though...your father was a smart one.” Bino’s quiet chuckle soon became a mild cough. Over the phone line, Ben could hear him tell someone he was fine and to let him be. “Your father believed they’d soon approach a slippery slope if they stayed there around it all,” Bino went on.
“Did you agree?” Ben asked.
“Yes, yes I did.” He returned without hesitation. “I’m glad he took her away.”
“But why? Why didn’t they ever go back?” Tension strained her voice. “I understand leaving, but to never return, to never speak of the place.”
“Your father was from Tesh as well. He had already lost his family-it would have been easy for him to leave and not look back.”
“And my mother? Would it have been easy for her?”
“Given the state of things, yes child, yes it would have been. Good decisions were made all the way around, Benaja,” he said before she could question his words. “Had your parents not left, you wouldn’t have gone on to build the life you have- we are hoping you can be the blessing for our school children here that you’ve been in America.”
Ben blinked, straightening on the chair. “You-you know my work?”
“I’ve followed it since you arranged the donations of the learning tablets from that digitizing company to those South Central elementary schools in California.”
It was Ben’s turn to chuckle. “That was years ago.”
“Years ago, but not forgotten.”
She smiled, shook her head. “No. Not forgotten,” again she heard background voices on Bino’s end of the phone line.
“My love, I’m afraid the rest of our chat will have to wait,” Bino told his niece. “My doctor is sending me evil looks from the door. He’s had enough of my ordering him to leave me alone. We’ll talk when you visit, yes?”
Ben nodded before supplying her verbal confirmation. “Yes. Goodbye Uncle Maxim.”
A breath hitched in surprise and delight over the line. “Goodbye, child.”
Ben held the phone to her ear long after the connection had ended.
“How was it?” Syson asked when Ben walked into the kitchen on slow steps.
“Good. It was...it was good.” She was still in a state of processing the conversation. As a result, she didn’t regard Syson with nearly the amazement she otherwise may have as he sat there at her table wolfing down a turkey and roast beef sandwich, chips and a tall glass of juice.
“Did you get your answers?”
She nodded, leaning against the counter while she pondered what she’d learned.
Syson reached for a barbeque chip but only tapped it to the plate while he studied her. “Did they give you fewer questions or more?”
She blinked as though seeing him for the first time. “How did you know?”
He shrugged. “It’s been my experience when it comes to getting answers.”
Sighing, Ben went to join him at the table. Syson grinned when she reached over to swipe one of the chips.
“He said some things I didn’t have the chance to question before he ended the call.”
“They upset you.”
“Not really,” she popped the chip into her mouth, munched consideringly. “They’ve got me curious, though.”
“And you’ll need to sort it out in Tesh.”
“Syson,” Ben scooted her chair closer to the table. “I know you’re not jazzed about me going there, but yeah, yeah I think I do need to sort it out there.” She blew out a laugh. “Maybe there’s nothing to sort out. Simply a girl running off to live happily ever after with the man she loves, traveling the world, enjoying life until they lost it in some freak charter plane crash.”
Syson resisted the need to grab her to him. “I’m sorry Ben.”
“No, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have-”
“Yes. Yes, you should have and I am sorry,” he squeezed her wrist then.
“Thank you,” she focused on his hand over her wrist. “I’m really not trying to be some badass here, you know? I’m not trying to make your life harder. Maybe going down there isn’t about getting answers to family secrets, but doing what I can to help some people who are being treated very unfairly. If that’s the case, then I want to do it right.” Her eyes drifted from his powerful hands, across wide biceps, chest and shoulders.
“You’re a man used to having people do what you tell them,” she forced her eyes to his. “I’m the last person to tell you how to do your job, but if you could at least try to see some part of my side in this...”
Syson regarded her quietly for a long moment and then he nodded. It wasn’t done for the sake of argument. The situation was a deeply personal one for her. This wasn’t about changing her status from working girl to heiress, living in a palatial villa and reigning over the masses. If he hadn’t seen that before, it was because he hadn’t bothered to, struck dumb as he’d been by her looks. He was no less struck dumb now, only now there was the added layer of admiration for her determination and selflesslessness. He couldn’t say whether her efforts would be successful, but he had no wish to be anywhere else while she worked to fulfill them.