Chapter Eight

 

Thump, thump. Ricky's stick hit the hardwood floor like a rhythmic drum. "Marla, get in here!"

Marla flinched. She looked at her father, who was trimming the hedges in a stricken panic.

"Dad, I can't take this for one day more. Ricky came back from his therapy really confident that he is making progress and according to him, he has plans for me. You should see his face when he said it. I am not going to stay around to know what those plans are!"

Her father's shoulders slumped slightly. He was a thin, wiry man, a little taller than she was. These days he was looking almost sickly. Marla hadn't realized just how much he had let himself go. She only saw him sporadically these days. He preferred to spend his time after work hanging out at the Poison Pirate bar and then after that he would pass out on the beach somewhere.

His fair skin sunburned to a leathery brown texture but she could see his spidery green veins through his too-thin skin. He looked much worse than usual and she had seen him through some really tough times.

She sometimes wondered how he had coped with handling a newborn by himself when she was a baby because he was not doing too well these days, though he was just forty-nine.

He looked at least two decades older. The excessive drinking and smoking were not doing him any favors.

Marla suddenly felt a shaft of compassion for him and she bit back the criticism that was on the tip of her tongue. Instead her voice had a slight whine to it.

"Yuri asked me to go to Kingston with him six weeks ago! Dad, I am wasting my life here. I am too young for this. I want to be with Yuri."

John turned bloodshot eyes to her and growled grumpily, "Marla, stop complaining, you live in luxury. He is an evil blackmailer but at least he is not abusing you. Many people would think that this is better than prison."

Marla swallowed. "I am sorry but that argument is wearing thin."

"What do you want me to do?" John hacked a huge chunk of bougainvillea viciously. "Kill him? I would, but the last time I tried, he was merely paralyzed."

"Dad!" Marla squealed, her eyes widening in shock.

"Yes, I tampered with his fancy Porsche. I wanted him gone. Maybe you could poison him?" John said hopefully. "You have access."

Marla backed away a few steps. "Dad, stop it. Yuri was in that car."

"How was I to know that he would allow Yuri to drive his precious car?" John spat. "Listen, if you want to get rid of Ricky you have to kill him. You better do it before he starts walking too. I saw him out of his wheelchair this morning. You might not have much time left. His kind of evil should not be strutting around on two legs."

"No it shouldn’t, but you are not going to be doing anything about this, you hear me?" Marla's heart was pounding in an uncomfortable staccato beat. When had her father become so bloodthirsty?

John went back to hacking the plants with exaggerated energy. Marla went into the house without another word. Her father's casual suggestion to murder was worrying. They said that alcohol destroyed brain cells. Obviously some of his were gone.

"What were you two talking about, plotting another murder?" Ricky rolled his wheelchair in front of Marla and she jumped guiltily.

"What is this?" Ricky smirked at her in her stricken silence. He waved a pregnancy test package in front of her face. The package crackled under his fist.

Marla closed her eyes and sighed. How could she forget that Ricky had the housekeeper report on her every move? She had just left the package on her bed and gone to talk to her father five minutes before.

"Heather acts fast," she said nervously.

Ricky cocked his head to one side, a small, tight smile on his face. "So what are the results?"

"None of your business," Marla said, walking around the wheelchair. The house had belonged to Ricky's mother, who had loved the open concept idea.

Ricky wheeled himself before her and blocked her from heading up the stairs. Marla eyed him tensely.

Ricky might be in a wheelchair but he was not handicapped. He had muscular arms. He trained hard with his personal trainer and though his legs had lost some of their conditioning, he did a lot of swim therapy.

He also looked really healthy. He was conscious of not getting fat even though he was immobile for the time being. His face looked the same. His wavy hair was worn a little bit long at the front to disguise his widow's peak. The same whisky colored eyes that always seemed alert had an evil glint.

Ricky had a hard face. Handsome but hard. He could easily play the villain in any play. He was always calculating and had a reptilian smile that could freeze the warm waters of the Caribbean. He inherited his complexion from his white father and his nose too, thin and aristocratic. He got his high forehead from his mother.

He was giving her one of his cold smiles now and his eyes were calculating.

Marla would not for one minute underestimate Ricky, whether he was in a wheelchair or not.

"Marla...come on..." He lowered his voice to a purr, like a cat looking at its prey. "Tell me, what are the results from your lover’s tryst with Yuri?"

Marla folded her arms. She could feel his eyes running over her body as he tried to guess the results.

"You don't look any different. You are not throwing up in the mornings but you missed a period, didn't you?"

"Is there nothing sacred in this house?" Marla gasped. "Do you have hidden cameras upstairs or is Heather so thorough she is keeping a record of my monthly cycle?"

"So it is positive." Ricky wheeled toward the front window and looked out at the landscape. "Yuri's baby. A Scarlett baby." He glanced behind at Marla. "I'll tell him."

Marla slumped to the bottom step of the stairs and closed her eyes tightly. "I'll tell him."

"No you won't," Ricky said, anticipation lacing his voice. "You are never to have contact with Yuri again. I don't need to reiterate the same thing over and over again, do I? You know what will happen if you do defy me, don't you? If you call Yuri, if I even find the hint of his number on your phone records, I am going to hand you over to the cops."

"Just shut up." Marla got up and headed up the stairs.

Ricky laughed. "This is better than I expected. An honest to goodness baby!"

"One day you are not going to be able to blackmail me," Marla growled. "One day I might just leave because I do not care."

"Ah," Ricky countered, "feeling hemmed in and powerless, little Marla? I understand. I really do."

He followed that up with a sarcastic laugh that grated on Marla's last nerve. She slammed the door and waited for the nervous pulse in her wrist to calm down and the heavy pounding in her head to quiet a notch.

Surely it wasn't normal to live like this? And it wasn't going to be good for her baby either. She clutched her still-flat belly and lay back down on the bed.

This was not good. She wished she hadn't gotten pregnant. She had unwittingly played right into Ricky's hands. This was not bad news for her so-called husband, her blackmailer, her jailer.

This was another pawn in his stupid power game with Yuri. This Scarlett baby, as Ricky stated, was just another tie to keep her in the marriage and another way for Ricky to control Yuri.

 

*****

 

"Yuri, I am glad that you called me today." Zachary slid across from him in the dimly lit restaurant. "I got the papers all drawn up as you indicated and the company contracts have all been ironed out. I just have one little concern, but that is just me being fastidious. Before we go into that, let’s eat. I am famished."

Yuri nodded. "Sure. I always order the vegetable stew. It's good."

Zachary raised one eyebrow doubtfully. "I trust your taste.” He indicated to a waitress nearby and they placed their orders. "Where on earth do you find these restaurants, Yuri? It seems so unassuming from outside, I wouldn't have known that there is a bustling restaurant in here."

"When you are on a budget, one has to quickly know the ins and outs of the eateries around here, and this one does brisk business because it serves healthy and tasty food at a fraction of the regular price."

Zachary nodded. "I should introduce you to some other places though, now that you are not on a budget."

"Wait until you taste Cassandra's veggie stew before you make promises." Yuri laughed.

"Well, if it's good I just may join you here for lunch sometimes. My office is near enough to you Mr. Soon-to-be executive vice-president of his own company."

"It still feels unreal," Yuri shook his head. "My whole family is reeling from it."

"It happens, more than you know." Zachary shrugged. "We had a client once who I saw begging in the streets of downtown Kingston. I was just coming from court and I saw her. I was shocked. I almost spun around in the one-way street. My first thought was, did something happen to her account with us? At the time she had a multi million-dollar account and property, lots of it. I could not fathom that she was begging in rags and acting impoverished when she was so wealthy. Her family had no clue that she was that well-off until she died."

Yuri shook his head. "Now that is sick. I guess begging was lucrative for her. How is the search going for my missing cousins and Uncle Pete?"

"Terrible." Zack sighed. "Really bad. The trail on your uncle has gotten cold. We traced him to the university hospital where he was once a janitor. In that time period he got two ladies pregnant at almost the same time: Honey Allen, who had your cousin Oliver, and Keira Facey, who had your cousin Kane. We are still trying to find him. It's not easy. Kane ran away from home years ago."

"Take out an ad in the papers," Yuri said. "Let them come to you."

Zack nodded. "We tried that three years ago."

"Oh." Yuri frowned. "Maybe they don't read the papers."

"Or maybe like your cousin Oliver, they don't even know the real circumstances of their births. So they may not know that they are Scarletts or know who their father is."

"There is that." Yuri nodded. "I don't get Uncle Pete, though. I just couldn't have children and not be involved in their lives. How on earth he is related to Pops? I have no idea. Pops had a very strong sense of family. His favorite saying was once you have family you have everything."

Zack smiled. "Yes, I have heard him say that."

"Remember, I told you about my friend Ricky." Yuri grimaced. "The one I had asked for a loan before the will was read."

"Yes." Zack nodded.

"He had an accident. Well, I was driving and the brakes of the car just gave way. Anyway, to cut a long story short he... er... can't use his... er... parts anymore."

"He is paralyzed from his waist?" Zachary asked.

"Yes."

The food came and they dug in with gusto. When he was halfway to clearing his plate Yuri said, "Told you it was good."

"Yes," Zachary said, "really good. So what happened to your friend?"

"He wanted me to have a baby with his wife."

"Oh." Zachary cleared his throat. "Think of the legal ramifications of that before you attempt it. I have seen some cases where that arrangement didn't work out so well. And think about your feelings. I mean, you would know that they have your child. You would wonder about him or her...you'd probably run yourself ragged. I know I would."

"That's right," Yuri said hesitantly. "Thing is, I haven't spoken to him since that time he was in the States doing therapy. I've been wondering how to tell him that I can't do it. It wouldn't feel right. Besides, there is the added complication that his wife was my girlfriend. Well, not technically, but it was understood."

Zachary frowned. "Stay far away from that."

"Yes, I will," Yuri said it faintly. He was trying to subdue his thoughts of Marla but as was his regular issue these days, she was still in the forefront of his mind. Marla smiling, Marla naked in the sand in the moonlight at Sherman’s Cove, Marla clinging to him and crying softly as he caressed her body, Marla with tears in her eyes telling him she couldn't leave Ricky, Marla breaking his heart again.

He dragged his mind back to the present. Zack was watching him with speculation on his face. He hurriedly changed the subject.

"I found a house that I really like--gated community, garden...nice views overlooking Kingston—in the Smoky Vale area."

"Mmm." Zack nodded. "That’s my area. I know where you are talking about. It’s a new development. The prices are still good. If you are serious..."

"Yep." Yuri nodded. "Handle it for me. Can't wait to get out of my apartment."

Zack pushed his plate away. "You know what, I live in Smoky Vale. You should come by my place tonight. We are having a birthday dinner for one of the partners, Harrison. You remember him—old guy with the high afro. You are cordially invited."

Yuri grinned. "Sounds intimidating, rubbing shoulders with a group of lawyers."

Zack laughed. "We are your lawyers. We work for you. We should be the ones being intimidated by having a Scarlett millionaire in our presence. Besides, you'll get to see the view at night. Pretty spectacular."