Page 49 of Tainted Reasoning

Chapter Twenty-Two

Tamara

“Iwon’t be long. I’m just going to drop these papers off at court, and then I’ll be back. You stay in bed…keep it warm for when I return.” I lean in to kiss a sleepy William’s lips as he lies in the bed we’ve shared every night since my mother’s funeral, almost two months ago. He was up late last night, returning another one of the art pieces the society had stolen. It’s the last one to be returned, for now. The rest have been hidden away deep in the Oakfield vault and are likely to remain there for some time, yet. It’s a shame the valuable pieces won’t be seen, but the risk to Nicholas and William from their breaking and entering is becoming too much. Security is tighter, and if they are caught, it is highly unlikely I’d be able to get a custodial sentence of anything less than twenty to thirty years for them both. It’s a life time, and one Victoria and I are not prepared to spend without them.

“Don’t go alone,” William murmurs as his eyes drift shut again.

“I won’t. I’ve got one of Nicholas’ bodyguards coming with me.”

“Good.” He turns over in the bed and before long is softly snoring again. I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to do this, last night, while I was finishing the documentation I needed, and I managed to get an appointment with a judge I admire. I haven’t actually spoken to Nicholas, but I have spoken to his driver who’ll sort it all out for me. I stop, for a few moments, and watch William – I’ve been so lucky to find him. We are both very different from each other, but that’s what makes us so strong together. Sometimes he’s the controlling one, and sometimes, maybe, I am. It allows us both to get exactly what we need from our relationship, and it’s only going from strength to strength. Between my thigh’s throbs at the thought of the heights of ecstasy he can bring me to. I think maybe later I’ll ask him to chase me through the forest again – I want it rough and dirty tonight. I can’t get enough.

I reach for my Mulberry briefcase, sitting ready on the top of the sideboard, and place it over my shoulder. I open the heavy oak door to the bedroom, quietly, hoping it doesn’t squeak on its antique hinges and wake William again. I breathe a sigh of relief when I’m out of the room, and I take the stairs down to the front door at a skip. The driver’s waiting in the hallway for me.

“Good morning, Miss Bennett.” He bows his head at me out of courtesy.

“Good morning,” I reply.

“I’ve had the car running to warm it up. It’s below zero out there at the moment. I think we could get snow later.”

“I bet the Oakfield grounds are pretty when it snows.”

“They are. I remember the current Duke and Earl running around and building snowmen as boys. It was good to see.”

“You’ve worked here a long time, then.”

I place my bag on the ground, and he hands me a thick overcoat to put on while he collects my bag and then waits for me to finish doing up the buttons on the coat.

“Almost thirty years.”

“You don’t look old enough.”

“I don’t know. Days when the wind is this cold, I certainly feel it.” The driver laughs as he opens the front door and escorts me to the waiting car where I slide into the back seat. It’s lovely and warm when I get in, and I immediately start to undo my coat.

“That’s the thing I hate about this weather. It’s on and off with coats all the time.”

“Tell me about it.” He removes his thick jacket and places it on the passenger seat. The car pulls away before I have a chance to register that we don’t have one of Nicholas’ guards in the vehicle with us.

“Aren’t we supposed to have a bodyguard with us?” I lean forward and query.

“In the vehicle behind.” The driver looks in the mirror, and I turn my head to see a black Range Rover following us.

“Good.”

I settle back into my car for the journey into London. I’m going straight to the highest authority with the papers I want signing, and then I’m meeting with a friend of mine at the criminal courts in the Old Bailey. Opening my bag, I pull out the sheets of paper to check them one final time. I become engrossed in the information, knowing the contents will help to freeze the assets of some of the key conspirators within the society who still want it to be run the old-fashioned way. It’s not going to happen. Once these are filed, Nicholas and William will be fully in control of the new Oakfield Society and can start to run it the way they want. We spent the other night discussing ideas, and they have so many great ones. The Oakfield Society will become synonymous with helping people, especially woman. Not destroying them.

When I look up from my papers, I expect to see the sights of London around me, but I don’t. It’s still countryside.

“Are we going a different way?” I ask the driver, but he doesn’t reply. He simply flicks a switch on the dashboard, and all the doors lock around me. The skin on the back of my neck pricks, and I know I’m in trouble. I reach into my bag and look for my phone but it’s not there. I’m certain I put it in there this morning – I remember doing it. “Please, stop the car,” I say to the driver, but he doesn’t reply. He puts his foot down, and we go a little faster. I lean forward, again, and see my phone in a compartment between the two front seats. He must have taken it out of my bag. I make a grab for it, but he’s quicker.

“Sit down, Miss Bennett,” he orders.

“What are you doing?”

“Making sure you don’t destroy what I spent most of my life working hard to help build.”

I turn around in my seat and start to wave at the vehicle behind us, containing the bodyguard. The driver laughs, an eerie cackle, which brings bile to my throat.

“Wave all you want. They aren’t Nicholas’ bodyguards. They’re helping me bring you in to him.”

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