Burned by Passion(29)

“Oh?” Terry murmured softly, eyebrows raised high. His dark expression had taken on a fearsome cast and Kira stared at him in horror. She cringed as he drew his face even closer.

“At least one thing I do know,” he said chillingly, “Is that you’re a fake, lying, cheating slut who’s been leading me on for months. Well I promise you, you won’t get away with it.”

Kira felt stung by his harshly voiced insults and she couldn’t stop herself from sneering thoughtlessly, “What are you going to do? Sue me?”

“No,” he said with icy rage. “Just something that will teach you not to f*ck with me. A little something to remember me by.” And with equal precision, he drew his fist back and hit her in the face.





Chapter Twelve


Blake strode out of the elevator on his father’s floor. He’d been summoned and he wondered why. As far as he knew he’d been on his best behavior and hadn’t slipped up on the job lately, so what now?

He walked into the elegantly furnished outer office, stopping short at the sight of Kira’s empty desk. This was the third time this week he didn’t see her seated there during work hours. His cool mask melted into a frown of worry, and he quickly went to his father’s door, knocked and went in.

“Where’s Kira?” he asked without preamble, standing in front of his father’s desk.

Bretton Carter, seated behind it, had an equally worried look on his face. “That’s exactly why I asked you up here. She hasn’t reported in for work since Monday. It’s nearing the end of the week and she hasn’t even phoned. It’s not like her at all. Something’s wrong.”

Blake shrugged, faking his casual tone as he said, “So? Maybe her fiancé couldn’t wait until the wedding day and they decided to elope. They might be at some exotic honeymoon location, having the time of their lives.”

“Cut it out, Blake. You know her better than that.”

Blake cocked an ironic brow at his father. “Really? And how is that possible? When you’ve effectively shut her safely away from my evil clutches?”


His father didn’t seem ready to rise to the bait. “Well, this once I’m letting up. I’ve tried reaching Terry but I was told he’s off on assignment somewhere each time I’ve called his office. So I have no choice but to send you down to her place and find out what could be wrong. I’m worried. This isn’t like her at all.”

Blake hid his surprise, reaching for the piece of paper his father had written on.

“That’s her address. I need you to go over there and see if everything’s okay,” Bretton said.

Staring down at the sheet, Blake’s forehead creased with unease. “Do you really think something’s wrong?”

“I know it,” his father stated. “I should’ve checked on her sooner. Now go out there and prove me wrong.”





***

Kira’s apartment was in a nice area barely a half hour’s ride from work. Blake glanced up at the building as he pulled to a stop beside it. He’d known exactly where to drive to because he’d already found out months earlier where she lived but hadn’t wanted to turn into a stalker by showing up before now.

Once inside the building he took the flight of stairs to the third floor where she’d rented her apartment.

He got to the door marked ‘22’ and knocked. When there was no response he knocked harder. Still, no response. His hand was already on the handle to check if he could let himself in, when the door at the far end of the corridor opened and a homely, robust woman leaned out.

“Hello,” Blake said politely, turning to face her. “I’m here looking for Kira Taylor. Do you know if she’s home?”

The woman scowled, iron-grey curls peeking from her scarf. “And what’s it to you? Are you her boyfriend?”

At the woman’s sharp question he knew better than to say yes. “No, ma’am. She’s an employee of my father’s. He asked me to swing by and check on her. She hasn’t showed up for work for a few days.” Blake replied. “She always calls in if she’s sick so we were getting a little worried.”

“Employee, huh?” the woman said, eyeing Blake speculatively. “Well I guess that’s different. I hope you’ll excuse my rudeness just now,” she said, stepping into the corridor and making her way down to where Blake waited by Kira’s door. “It’s just that after what happened to the poor girl we neighbors have to be careful with male visitors posing as friends.”

Blake’s eyes narrowed. “After what happened?”

“You couldn’t possibly have heard, hmm, being her employer and all,” the woman put in wryly. “Well, what happened was that she was found unconscious in her apartment three days ago. She’d been severely beaten.”

Blake felt like he’d swayed on his feet but it was just the earth shifting beneath him. That’s what it felt like hearing something had happened to Kira.

He could tell his face had blanched from the way the old woman was staring at him. Shoving his hands through his hair and praying for calm, he asked, “Where is she now? Where have they taken her? Is she okay?”

The old woman gave him the address of the hospital. “It was just pure luck that one of her next door neighbors normally goes out with her for a run on Thursdays or we’d hardly have found her in time,” she said. “Such a sad thing to happen to such a nice young lady...”