Chapter 4

 

“Honey, you should eat your vegetables.”

From her places at the edge of the table, Holly watched as Maddy toyed with the broccoli on her plate. She finished her steak and potatoes, but nothing Holly did could get her daughter to eat her broccoli.

Maddy glared up at her mother, her expression sullen. “Daddy puts cheese on it.”

Glancing up from her paperwork, Holly sighed. Though the pain her late husband’s name caused her had lessened substantially in the past year, that didn’t mean she was ever ready for the unexpected pang of discomfort in her belly. “Sweetheart, Daddy’s not here.” Holly put her papers down, rising from the table to make her way over to Madison’s side and kneel before her. Reaching out, she ruffled her daughter’s hair with gentle affection. “You want me to go to the kitchen and get you some cheese?”

In reply, Maddy only reached up to dislodge her mother’s hand, gazing daggers at her plate. At least, Holly told herself, she hadn’t run away. That was something. She, wincing slightly at the kink in her back before signaling one of the waitresses milling about the restaurant. When the blonde teen came close, Holly shot her a sincere smile. “Emily, could you keep an eye on Maddy while I pop into the kitchen?”

“Sure, Holly.” Emily all but beamed. Despite the fact that Maddy had been sullen and withdrawn for the past eleven months, that didn’t deter the young waitress. She loved children, and she was always determined to make Maddy laugh – even when she didn’t succeed.

“Thanks.”

Stepping away from the table, Holly cast her daughter a parting glance before beginning towards the back of the establishment. As she did, she allowed her carefully erected mask of optimism to fade somewhat as she gazed over the patrons in the restaurant.

There were still far too few.

In Tommy’s heyday, the seats had been filled almost every night. They were frequently featured in top ten lists and tourists flocked in for the chef’s everyday specialties. Since Tommy had died, things were quieter. Business had never quite returned to what it was when he was alive, and so, the restaurant had to cut back some. It hurt Holly to let staff go – to cut hours and take Tommy’s beloved dishes off the menu; but, no one could do things the way he could. No one could bring people in like Tommy could.

Holly was just trying to keep his legacy alive.

“Oh my God, Hol, you won’t believe what happened to me last night?” At Kelly’s enthused squeal, Holly forced a smile into place as she turned to face her friend. The blonde had just walked in for her five to close shift and she was all but glowing. Holly hardly needed to ask why, but she would anyway.

It was obvious that Kelly was dying to spill the beans.

“What happened, Kelly?”

The restaurant manager was all but bouncing on the balls of her feet, and, in an instant, Holly’s smile went from forced to genuine. It was hard for her to stay upset when Kelly’s enthusiasm was so infectious. “I met the most amazing guy in the Cosmos at The Strike last night!”

It was always a guy – always. “Did you?” Holly’s smile was genuine. If anything, Kelly’s stories were always interesting.

“Six foot four, amazing body and rich as hell. He asked to buy me a drink and then we danced. He was an amazing dancer…” Kelly ran a hand through her perfectly curled hair, tousling the waves even more. She was the kind of woman who drew every man’s attention, and she knew it. It was an attribute she exploited the hell out of. Even now, at least half of the restaurant’s male customers were staring at her, their mouths slightly open.

But Kelly paid them little attention. She linked her arm with Holly as she led her towards the bar. “Two or three drinks in, he starts talking about how I’m like no girl he’s ever met before, how he’s never met anyone so beautiful, yadda yadda…standard man talk to get into your panties. But then, get this,” Kelly rounded the bar to slip behind it and punched her card to clock in in a smooth motion. “He asked to take me to dinner the next day. Today.”

The admission did indeed make Holly’s eyes widen. While Kelly would readily admit that she as a wild child that went looking for men to take home, she didn’t often date. She was a woman of few commitments – and those she did have were to the two cats she kept at home in her apartment. Men could never keep up with her, though a multitude of them exhausted themselves trying.

“So…he wanted a date.” Holly took a seat at the bar, arching a brow. “And you went?”

“Of course not.” Kelly shook her magnificent head in denial as she stashed her bag under the bar. “You know dates aren’t my thing, Hol. What I’m trying to say is: I got his business card. And guess who he is?”

Holly swallowed a laugh. She wouldn’t be able to. Not in a million years. “Who is he?”

Kelly paused for dramatic effect before revealing the answer. “Connor White.”

It took Holly a good minute or so of wracking her brain before she came up with a face to match the name. Connor White was the son of Miami’s mayor, an infamous playboy, filthy rich, and notoriously badly behaved.

Exactly Kelly’s type. “Whoa, Kelly. And you told him no?”

Kelly only grinned triumphantly. “What else was I going to tell him? I don’t want him to think I’m easy.”

Holly choked on her laughter. Though she loved Kelly with every fiber of her being, she wasn’t the kind of woman people accused of being easy. They straight up said it – perhaps behind her back, but Kelly was well known for her sexual adventurousness.

“So…what are you going to do with his card?” Holly decided not to touch that comment.

“Save it.” Kelly smiled triumphantly. “Get back to him on my terms.”

Sighing, Holly merely shook her head. She had long discovered that there was little she could do to stop Kelly from living recklessly. The most important thing was simply that she was careful. While the strip was fairly safe, Miami had its fair share of kidnappings and disappearances.

“Just promise me that whatever you do, you’ll do it responsibly,” Holly pleaded, taking the glass of water her friend offered her.

“Of course, Hol. You know me, I’m always careful.” She winked at Holly before pulling out the scheduling book to begin looking over it.

While it was true that nothing really dire had ever happened to Kelly, Holly still worried about her. They were best friends – and unlike most women their age, they didn’t often get the opportunity to go out together. If one of them wasn’t at the restaurant, the other was – which meant that she wasn’t there to ensure that her friend was alright.

“So…” After a moment of checking to see that everyone was present for their shifts, Kelly raised her head to fix Holly with a questioning gaze. “What about that guy whose number you took?”

At the question, Holly felt her stomach drop. She remembered all too vividly when she and Kelly had gone out to lunch the previous week and a blonde man in a gray suit three tables down bought them drinks. While Kelly had giggled and tittered, amused as hell, Holly found that she didn’t really know how to feel.

It had been well over a year since she’d last been with a man, and, in her life, she’d only ever been with Tommy. He was a sweet, tender lover, and not once had he ever made her feel as if she were anything less than absolutely cherished.

While it was true that in the past few months especially, certain impulses Holly had thought long buried began to resurface, she wasn’t like Kelly. She didn’t think she could simply sleep with someone for the hell of it. While she was ambitious enough as a teenager, she’d never been promiscuous. Tommy was her first everything. Her first kiss, her first intimate encounter…And not even the charming smile from the blonde stranger was enough to make her want him the way she’d wanted Tommy.

“I…I don’t know, Kelly. I don’t think I’m going to call him. It’s still…too soon.” In truth, sometimes Holly wondered if she’d ever be able to be with another man. It wasn’t simply her own reservations – but she had the restaurant to look after, along with Maddy. She had bills to pay and a house to keep – something that Tommy’s life insurance barely touched.

Not that Holly wasn’t grateful for the money. The five hundred grand had been just enough to get the restaurant out of the debt that crippled it. After paying their staff and making sure they had all the supplies they needed on a day to day basis, Holly had just enough money to pay her mortgage for two months before the funds were exhausted.

She still had to work to make her living, but at least she didn’t have to worry about Tommy’s restaurant closing. She didn’t know if she’d be able to live with herself if she’d allowed such a thing to happen.

But that didn’t mean that her stress was gone in its entirety. Maddy still needed clothes –things for school. Holly’s mother still needed a nurse to care for her in-home daily. All of Holly’s expenses were piling up so she barely made ends meet. She was struggling to stay afloat – though she’d be damned if she let anyone know how much. Kelly had cared for her when Holly thought Tommy’s death would destroy her. She wasn’t going to worry her friend any longer if she could help it.

“Hey, stop that.” Holly’s head jerked up when Kelly addressed her. She was surprised to see the blonde wearing a stern expression. “Stop that. You’re thinking too much. I can tell when you get stuck inside your own head.” The concerned lines in her face smoothed somewhat. “If you’re not ready, you’re not ready, Hol. I just thought it might be good for you to start…you know…putting yourself back out there.”

Holly bit her lip. Apparently, putting herself out there wasn’t something she’d been terribly proficient at from the beginning. She’d been a mother before she’d had any other man but Tommy tell her she was sexy…and Holly was just now beginning to realize how woefully inexperienced that made her. “I will, eventually.” She exhaled hotly. “Just don’t ask me when.”

“Gotcha.” Kelly laughed softly. “More for me, I guess.”

Rolling her eyes, Holly slipped from her bar stool. “All for you.” With that, she finished her water before heading back towards the kitchen. By this time, she was certain that Maddy would have abandoned her broccoli all together, but she would bring the cheese anyway. It was worth a try.

While she was asking Trey, one of the sous chefs, if cheddar or gruyere would go better with broccoli, Kelly entered the kitchen. Holly looked up, surprised. “Something you need, Kel?”

“There’s someone here to see you.” Kelly arched a brow in inquiry. “Says his name is Kurt…Kit…something like that.”

With a sigh, Holly told Trey to bring both the cheddar and the gruyere. If she was lucky, Emily would get her to eat one of them. She followed Kelly from the kitchen and back into the moderately crowded restaurant. Almost immediately, Holly spotted her caller.

He was tall – maybe an inch or two over six feet – with honey blonde hair and deep blue eyes. The suit he wore was a deep gray color, coordinating with a blue striped tie, and she could just see the edges of a tattoo at his collarbone under the crisp button-up he wore beneath. When the man spotted her, he smiled – a gesture that didn’t quite meet his eyes – and Holly realized that she recognized him.

His attractive visage was vaguely familiar.

“Hello.” She held out her hand to shake. “You’re looking for me? Holly Wilder.”

“Pleased to meet you, Miss Wilder. Names Kirk Luckston. I was a friend of your late husband’s but I don’t believe we ever had the pleasure. I was sad to hear about his loss.”

“Oh.” It all clicked.

Holly had seen this man in the restaurant. In the last six months or so before Tommy’s death, he came in at least once a month and always asked to speak to Tommy alone in the office. “Thank you,” she managed, trying to remember if Tommy ever told her the details of those meetings.

“Of course. I can’t imagine the turmoil you must have gone through. I heard you were hurt as well?” Kirk shook his head in sympathy. “I hope you’re healing alright.”

Holly had, in fact, long since healed. The only remaining evidence of her wounds was two angry red scars running across her belly. “I’m fine, thank you.” Holly glanced over at Kelly, who was watching their exchange with questioning eyes. A subtle gesture from Holly and Kelly was headed back to check on the serving staff. “How can I help you, Mr. Luckston?”

“Ah, well.” He ran a hand through his short hair and as he shifted, Holly caught a whiff of expensive perfume. “I was actually hoping to discuss some business with you. Something Tommy and I started before be passed…perhaps you might still be interested in it? I’ve heard the restaurant has been suffering in the past few months. Perhaps we can discuss assistance of some sort?”

Holly’s interest was immediately piqued. She couldn’t help it. Anything to boost business – to get things closer to the way they’d been when Tommy was still alive. If this man was still interested in carrying on business Tommy had spoken of before he died, perhaps the opportunity was still available.

“What kind of assistance?” Despite her interest, running a business had long turned Holly into a shrewd businesswoman. She could certainly smell when something stank – and she’d need Kirk Luckston to tell her the details up front before she sat down with him.

To her surprise, the man’s mild smile only widened. “Might we speak in your office? The details of the deal are a bit sensitive, I’m sure you understand. That is…unless you’d like me to come back another time.”

“No.” The word escaped Holly before she could stop it and she immediately recanted. “I mean, No. I have time now.”

“Wonderful.” Kirk gestured towards the office, stepping aside. “After you.”

Holly cast him a small smile before leading the way towards the north end of the restaurant. On the way, she passed the table where Maddy sat. She wasn’t surprised to see that her daughter didn’t eat any more broccoli with cheese than she had without. Maddy was, and always had been, a picky eater.

“Thanks, Emily.” She touched the blonde teen’s shoulder as she passed. “I’ll be right back. Give me twenty minutes, ok?”

Emily, of course, was still in hog heaven, despite Maddy’s frustrated expression. “Sure. No problem.”

Holly was reaching for the keys on her belt when Kirk spoke again. “That your daughter? Tommy’s daughter?”

“Yes.” Holly smiled fondly as she opened the office. “Madison. She’s sweet. Don’t let that sour face fool you.” She didn’t let it fool her. Even if she hadn’t seen Maddy smile in months, Holly knew that she still could. And one day, she would.

She just had to be patient.

“Alright, Mr. Luckston. Let’s talk about your proposition.” Leaning against the desk that still so reminded her of Tommy, Holly turned to face Luckston – only to watch him close the door behind them and turn the lock.

Almost immediately, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. From the moment she’d seen him, something had unnerved her about Kirk Luckston’s smile, and now, Holly found her sense of unease growing.

“Just making sure that we have some privacy, Holly. You don’t mind if I call you Holly, do you?” The man turned to face her, his expression congenial – eyes still cold.

“Um…I do, actually.” She managed, pressing herself against the desk as the man advanced on her. Holly now noticed that he’d placed himself between her and the door – which meant there was no way she could get to help should she happen to need it.

“Do you?” Now Luckston was a mere two feet away, and Holly found her entire body tensing as he loomed ever closer. Warning sirens wailed in her head, and her stomach clenched in trepidation. She realized, far too late, that it had been a mistake to let this man get her alone. “Well, that’s unfortunate, Holly. Just too damn unfortunate.”

Holly grabbed hold of the first thing her scrabbling fingers found on Tommy’s desk – which just so happened to be a stapler. Before she could put too much thought into it, she swung the object forward towards Kirk Luckston’s face – only to have her wrist caught in a strong, jarring grip. When Holly opened her mouth to scream, Kirk’s opposite hand closed around her throat in a painfully tight grip, cutting off her airflow within milliseconds.

Luckston performed these actions with the ease of someone practiced in them – and not once did his expression change from one of congenial friendliness. “Now, Holly, I want you to listen to me.”

As if she had a choice. The man was choking her, his grip so tight that stars soon burst to life before her vision. “You’re not going to scream. You’re not going to yell. In fact, if you utter one peep to do anything other than answer when I speak to you, I’m going to take this stapler to places you can’t even imagine. Do we understand one another?”

Her heart pounding wildly, Holly nodded. Luckston let her gasp for air a little while longer before he finally released her. As air rushed back into her system, Holly began to tremble. She was caught between fury and terrible, crippling fury at the man who still held her. He plucked the stapler from her grasp to toss aside before locking eyes with her once more.

“That’s better. Now, I think, we’re ready to talk.”

Holly’s gaze narrowed to a glare. “What do you want?”

Luckston hit her – and not just a warning shot. He hauled off and slammed the flat of his hand into her jaw so hard she went reeling from the desk to the floor with a thud that jarred her joints. Pain exploded through her line of vision and she tasted blood in her mouth – and in that instant, Holly knew that this was not a man to be trifled with. Any thought she might have had of standing up to him was going to hurt.

A lot.

“What,” Kirk cracked the bones in the knuckles of the hand with which he’d struck her. “Did I just say?”

This time, Holly said absolutely nothing. She knew better. She touched her lip, wincing when she found the rent skin and her fingers came away stained red.

“There we go.” Kirk chuckled darkly, the edge of insanity in his voice. “I think she gets it now.”

The last time Holly had been so helplessly afraid was the night Tommy had been killed. Was tonight going to be like that night?

“Get up,” Kirk ordered curtly, reaching forward to take her forearm in an iron grip and yank her to her feet. With little ceremony, his hands encircled her waist and he set her on the desk before her, bringing them eye to eye. “Holly, we’re going to have a discussion, you and me…we’re going to talk about Tommy and what he owes my organization.”

Holly’s eyes widened in horror. What Tommy…owed them? She’d just paid off all the debts Tommy owed. They were climbing out of debt. “I know this may come as somewhat of a surprise to you,” Kirk continued, his emotionless gaze centered on her face, “But your husband had a bit of a betting problem. He got lucky once or twice and things went to his head. I won’t bore you with the details, but at the time of his death, Tommy owed us a lot of money. And we couldn’t just let that slide.”

Dear sweet God…who the hell had Tommy been involved with?

“Now, I want you to ask me how much Tommy owed us.” Kirk demanded, his imposing form towering over hers.

Holly swallowed thickly, her heart pounding in her ears. “How…how much?”

“A fucking shit ton, sweetheart. More than you can imagine. Which is why you’re going to pay his debts.”

Holly sucked in a breath. She’d just finished paying Tommy’s debts. She couldn’t afford to pay any more!

“I…I don’t have anything.” This time, when Luckston hit her, it wasn’t her face he struck. The blow was low, right across the old marks of her injury. The pain was enough to make Holly’s vision swim before her eyes as she croaked desperately, winded. Her body bowed sideways over the desk until Kirk took a fistful of her hair to haul her back upright.

“Wrong.” He corrected her, his minty breath filling her nostrils. “You have a pretty popular restaurant – lucky you. Tommy might have been an idiotic bastard, but he could cook. That I have to hand to him.” Holly struggled to catch her breath as Kirk’s grip on her scalp tightened. “And so, I’ll tell you what we’re going to do: I’ll be a gentleman. I won’t ask for the whole amount at once. You just have to give me fifty percent of your biweekly earnings for the next year or so, and we’ll call it even.”

If Holly hadn’t been on the cusp of being sick before, she was now. Fifty percent of the earnings? They were barely making ends meet now. How the hell were they supposed to operate on half that? “Personally,” Kirk continued amicably. “I think that’s more than fair. What about you?”

Did he really think she’d do anything but agree with him? She couldn’t scream – couldn’t call anyone to help her. Someone could be standing right outside the office door and they’d never know what was happening beyond. Slowly, she nodded.

In reply, Luckston only jerked her hair hard enough to make her gasp in agony. “Answer me when I talk to you, you stupid cunt. Is. That. Fair?”

“Yes!” Holly’s answer was half sob, half cry, her entire body writhing in pain.

Luckston finally released her, letting her sag to the floor as she quivered violently. “Wonderful.” The bastard sounded elated. As if he’d just closed the business deal of the century. “Now…just so you know, this has to be our little secret. You can’t tell a soul.” He bent to a crouching position to take her chin in a firm grip, forcing her to look up at him. “If you utter so much as a single word to anyone you know, or the cops…I’ll kill you.” He paused for a moment, seeming to relish the thought. “And then I’ll kill your old lady in Wynwood.”

Holly inhaled sharply at the mention of her mother. “It would be easy. The bitch is out of her mind anyway. She’d probably invite me in.” Holly’s eyes shut tight as she felt tears of frustration and fear coursing down her cheeks. “And then,” Kirk chuckled lowly, obviously amused by her distress. “I’ll kill your little girl too. Tommy’s last living legacy.”

Holly reacted instinctively. Her eyes popping open, she launched herself at Kirk with a low cry of outrage as the mother lion in her roared. “You motherfucker!” She actually managed to grab a hank of his hair, ripping it out as she tore at him with her fingernails. “You touch her and I’ll fucking kill you! I’ll kill you!’

In an instant, she was slammed backwards against the corner of the desk so hard something in her back popped and only Kirk Luckston’s hand covering her mouth stifled her scream of pain. She expected him to be pissed – to kill her on the spot – but instead, he merely grinned, a trickle of blood running down his temple from his scalp. She’d delivered several shallow gashes across her face with his fingernails but, disgustingly, the man only licked the blood from his lips. “Fuck, Holly! You’ve got more spirit than I thought! I like spirit.” Holly was horrified to feel the bulge of the man’s erection against her lower stomach. When he reached down to rip the hem of her shirt open with his free hand, she wailed against his hand.

“Shut up,” Luckston hissed, his eyes narrowed in hateful glee. “Or I swear to God I’ll knife the little bitch right here and now.” Holly immediately fell limp. She was in no position to attack Luckson again – and she had no doubt that he would carry out his threat without a second thought.

Once she was silent, he only laughed softly, divesting her entirely of her shirt so she lay half on the desk clad only in her black cotton bra. “Bit of a disappointment in the lingerie department, Holly, but you’ve got some nice tits.” To emphazise the statement, he palmed one roughly in his hand.

Inwardly Holly screamed in protest. No one had ever touched her except Tommy. No one.

Outwardly she forced her face and mind to go blank as Kirk groped her. She couldn’t let herself feel anything. Not when her daughter’s life was on the line.

“Goddamn, Holly. You smell good.” Kirk buried his face against her throat and the scent of his cologne made her sick to her stomach. When he bit her there, leaving a dark mark, she winced, but said nothing. Luckston inhaled deeply before seeming to compose himself. With a longing sigh, he straightened, tugging his tie back into place before smoothing his hair. “I think I’ve got a good idea.” The man’s hands curled around Holly’s thighs, bared where her skirt had hiked high on her hips during their struggle. “Instead of charging interest on Tommy’s losses, I’ll just have you. Whenever and however the fuck I like.”

Holly’s stomach twisted violently, but she forced herself to swallow the bile.

She said nothing.

“I’ll take that as assent.” With that, the man moved away from her, giving Holly’s thigh a last squeeze before lowering her skirt back into place. “Now,” in the space of five seconds, the man’s demeanor changed completely. He reached for a box of tissues on the edge of the desk to clean himself up, dabbing the blood from his face almost delicately. Within two minutes, one could hardly tell that he’d been manhandling her or smacking her around her office. In fact, Kirk Luckston looked no more dangerous than he had when she’d first laid eyes on him.

But now, Holly knew the truth.

“Unfortunately, I don’t have time to mess you up the way you so desperately need, Mrs. Wilder,” Kirk quipped, his smile scathing, “So it’ll have to wait a few weeks. The next time we see one another, I’ll expect my first payment. Don’t disappoint me.”

Leaning over, the dastardly man reached past her. Holly winced, thinking he meant to hit her again, but, instead, Kirk just plucked a family picture from the surface of the desk. It was a framed picture of her, Tommy and Maddy at the little girl’s sixth birthday party – one of Holly’s most treasured possessions. “Nice photo.” Kirk took a moment to admire it before tucking it into the breast pocket of his suit jacket. “I think I’ll keep it for the time being. Be a good girl, Holly, and you might get it back.”

With that, the man turned on his heel, unlocking the office door to slip from the small room and close it behind him.

Holly remained on the desk, her shirt in shreds, face body throbbing from where Luckston had hit her. Her chest heaved up and down as she tried to calm down – to tell herself that everything was going to be alright. That, somehow, she could handle this.

But deep down, she knew better.

There was sheer insanity in Kirk Luckston’s eyes – he was a loose cannon, and there would be no predicting what might happen if she didn’t meet his terms.

Slowly, Holly straightened, shedding the scraps of her shirt before tossing them into the wastebasket near the desk. As she rifled through the closet for a spare, her hands trembled. She couldn’t break now. She couldn’t. It would give everything away, and that would be the end.

For her mother…for Maddy. For Tommy’s business and all he’d left behind.

Holly had to be strong. There was no other option. She had to keep her family alive. But while she sought a way to do so, she felt something strangely like resentment creeping into her heart. It seemed the laundry list of secrets the man she loved had kept grew with each passing month.

And Holly didn’t know how many more she could take.