THE GREATEST BETRAYAL: A romantic thriller with a shocking twist, page 23
‘And her father’s death? The pills?’
‘When Raf first started seeing Monica, I knew he’d tire of her, but at the same time, I needed him to stay with her, marry her, to give the two of us time to gain a foothold in the Leeman company. I hit on the idea of manufacturing those placebos.’
‘But Monica didn’t get pregnant.’
‘No, but it didn’t matter, Raf stayed with her long enough anyway, married her–’
‘Long enough to swap fake heart pills so her father died and Raf, as Monica’s husband, inherited a half share in the bulk of the company stocks.’
‘I’m not proud of any of it, Liz. But Raf was a wild card, a great salesman, yes, but he burned every bridge he crossed. We never would’ve achieved anything, got hold of any of the companies, without my planning behind the scenes.’
‘I’ve been so blind…’ Liz took deep breaths. She needed to keep her wits about her.
‘I wish I could hold you, make you see it will all be okay.’
‘Don’t you come anywhere near me.’ Liz gripped the back of the chair tighter. ‘You weren’t really very successful at all, were you, despite the murder and despite forcibly taking control of Leeman’s business? You were funding everything you and Raf did with drug money. And even that hasn’t been successful. The Feds have been tracking your activities for years and now they’ve pounced.’
Bruno spread his hands. ‘I know what you’re trying to do. Insult me so I’ll get angry and hate you. I could never hate you, Liz. I want only the best for you, for us.’
‘But you’re happy enough to keep me imprisoned here while Raf is on the run for your crimes.’
‘I never wanted that to happen, but I had to be prepared for any eventuality.’
‘By having everything you ever did, in case it was exposed, set to implicate Raf, not you. You forged his signature on documents, masqueraded as him on phone calls and emails, used his boat and his crew on the Hawkesbury to collect and transfer the shipments.’ Liz could see the hurt on his face.
Bruno headed for the door. ‘It’s best I go for now.’
‘You can’t leave Mac stranded up there.’
‘The emergency services are heading up the mountain, to assess damage from the landslide and check for any injured or stranded locals. They’ll find Mac.’
‘And he’ll tell them everything he knows.’
‘What does he know? That I had a sat phone and was in touch with a mafioso sniper? There’s no proof it was me and everyone believes Raf was behind all this, even that ace journo Vickerson. And Raf’s fled. My friends here have already sent men to remove the sniper’s body so there’s no proof any of it happened. And they will back me up, suggesting Mac’s been mentally affected by the landslide and by losing you, that we all believe you and Luke were in that car that went over the cliff. They’ll find its ruins, and the driver, and the open doors will suggest you and the boy were thrown clear.’
‘And they’ll never find our bodies.’
‘If you can find it within yourself to accept me, Liz, and I hope in time, love me, for all I’ve done for us, then we can start new lives, with new identities, anywhere we wish.’
‘And what about your daughter?’
‘I’ll bring her with us.’
Liz had heard enough. ‘Just go, and don’t come back,’ she said in defiance.
She watched as he walked out. The house guard out front, a large, bearded bear of a man, slammed the door closed.
Then she heard the click as the door locked.
EIGHTY-FIVE
The woman with the silver streaks emerged from the kitchen. She hadn’t introduced herself before and she didn’t on this occasion either. She held up a small electronic unit that fitted neatly in her palm.
‘I’ve been told to press this panic button if I even suspect you’re up to something or if you wander out of bounds. It will send my colleagues rushing in.’ She gestured to the kitchen. ‘You’re free to use the kitchen, bathroom, living room, and the first two bedrooms along the hall. Do not move anywhere else in the house and do not give me reason to get suspicious. The men outside are stationed at the front and the rear, and they will get nervous if they even spy you near one of the windows. Understood?’
‘Understood,’ Liz said. She looked at the woman with curiosity. ‘You know who I am. Who are you?’
‘You can call me La Vipera.’
‘Viper?’
‘Trust me, you don’t want to find out.’
Liz could tell from the scorn on the woman’s face she was never going to reveal her real name.
The woman returned to the breakfast bar in the kitchen, where she remained perched most of the time, browsing magazines.
Liz looked in on Luke who thankfully was still sleeping soundly. The poor child was exhausted. She sat on the edge of the bed, watching him.
Thank God, my boy is safe and unharmed.
Liz didn’t know much about satellite phones, but she did remember Mac saying you usually needed to be out in the open, with a clear sky overhead, to send and receive calls.
How am I going to manage that?
Her mind flashed over everything Bruno had said.
He was obsessed with her and she’d never even remotely suspected it. But then neither, apparently, had Raf or Caterina.
He’d said Mac would be found by the emergency services but if the mafioso found Mac before the emergency services reached him, why not correct the first sniper’s failure, and finish the job?
Bruno was humouring me.
She went to the window, making certain she was hidden by the heavy drapes, and peered through the gap. The window looked out on the side of the house. She couldn’t see the front, but the angle of the side wall was such she could see just a fraction of the front corner. The rear of the four-wheel drive jutted into view there and she could see Bruno standing beside it, talking animatedly on his sat phone, hands gesticulating wildly and pointing back in the direction from which they’d come.
The first faint ray of dawn was filtering down through the top of the woods.
Bruno was issuing commands.
He’s going to have Mac killed, Liz thought.
EIGHTY-SIX
She had to get free of the house, so she could use the sat phone before Bruno discovered it was missing. She took the phone from the duffel bag and rammed it in the waistband of her hiking pants. She picked Luke up and as gently as she could she placed him on the floor, under the bed, out of view.
This isn’t going to work if he wakes up.
She went back into the first bedroom – her room – drew back the drapes, picked up the chair in the corner of the room, and smashed it with all her might into the windowpane. That would bring the woman and the two men running and it was imperative they believed she and Luke had fled out that side window.
She stepped into the closet, pulling the door closed behind her, and positioned herself behind the hanging clothes. The bedroom door flung open and she heard her three watchers push in.
‘Check for the boy,’ the woman said.
‘He’s not in the bed!’ one of the men shouted seconds later.
‘No one in the other rooms,’ called the second guard.
‘Get them!’ the woman shouted back.
The three of them rushed outside, heading off from the side and spreading out. Liz crept from the cupboard and slipped out the back, running in the opposite direction and into the woods. She’d heard Luke cry as she went, and it broke her heart, but she had to close her mind to her little boy’s terror.
She had to raise the alarm.
She wasn’t sure what number would get her through to the local authorities or to emergency operators. She knew Martin de Courcey’s number, so she punched in the numbers, hoping, praying, he would answer regardless of the time back in Australia.
She felt like yelling out in triumph when his voice came on the line.
‘Martin,’ she spoke rapidly, ‘I’m being held captive and Mac’s in danger. You need to get in touch with the Calabrian polizia and–’
‘Liz, where are you?’
‘Somewhere on the outskirts of Taurianova. And Mac’s in a hut on the Aspromonte mountains… Bruno’s sent gunmen…’
‘Bruno?’
‘Yes.’
‘Liz, leave the line open. I’ve got the sat phone number showing, I’ll see if the polizia there can trace your location–’
‘Okay,’ she said, ‘but I’ve got to go…’
She wedged the phone in a branch of the nearest tree, where it was obscured from view by leaves, and she crept back towards the house. When she saw one of the men she raced out of hiding, waving at him.
I need to be returned to the house without them suspecting what I’ve done.
‘I’m sorry…’ she called out. ‘I’m coming back.’
She put her hands in the air and walked towards him. The other house guard and the Calabrian woman came running, surrounding her.
‘I’m sorry,’ Liz said. ‘I must’ve gone mental… running off, without Luke…’
‘Where’s the boy?’ the woman asked.
‘Still in the house… under the bed.’
‘Bruno told me you’re not to be hurt,’ the woman said, ‘but I don’t always follow orders.’ Her right hand rose high and she slapped Liz across the face so hard that Liz toppled backwards, losing her footing, and hitting the ground. ‘You try a stunt like that again and I’ll tear you apart with my bare hands.’
EIGHTY-SEVEN
Luke had crawled out from under the bed and was sitting in the middle of the floor. He’d found his dummy and was contentedly sucking on it.
Liz took him in her arms. ‘Good boy,’ she whispered in his ear. ‘Mummy’s going to get us out of here.’
Morning light was flooding the kitchen as she began preparing breakfast, Luke still in her arms. She heard tyres on the gravel outside and a moment later Bruno came in the front door and into the living room, flanked by the two guards. The Calabrian woman was seated there, and she stood, curious, as Bruno entered.
‘Why are you back here?’ she asked.
Liz went through to the room. ‘Bruno?’
‘One of the sat phones is missing,’ Bruno said. He faced Liz. ‘You found the phone in the four-wheel drive.’
‘No.’
‘I got a message you tried to escape…’
‘It was a mistake, Bruno. I… I went a little crazy…’
‘Smashed one of the bedroom windows,’ the Calabrian said.
‘You would never try to run and leave Luke behind, no matter what,’ Bruno said to Liz.
‘What are you getting at?’ one of the guards asked.
Bruno’s gaze was still on Liz. ‘You ran out there to get a clear signal for the sat phone,’ he said. ‘There’s no other reason…’
‘That explains why suddenly she came back, pretending to be sorry,’ said the woman.
‘I wasn’t pretending,’ Liz said.
‘Where’s the phone?’ Bruno asked.
‘I don’t have the phone, Bruno.’
‘Good God, if she got a message through and the line’s still open…’ La Vipera didn’t need to complete the thought.
‘We need to move to another location, just in case.’ Bruno turned to the Italian woman. ‘Your father has arranged one of your uncle’s houses, on the opposite end of the town.’
‘I know the house.’
Liz played for time. ‘Bruno, I’ve thought this through and I’m not going to say anything to the authorities.’
‘You expect us to believe that.’ The Calabrian woman rolled her eyes.
‘Bruno,’ Liz continued, ‘you said yourself there’s no proof tying you to any of this. Raf’s out there, on the run, believed responsible for everything. Neither Mac nor I have any physical evidence–’
Bruno stared at her. ‘That doesn’t mean–’
‘Hear me out. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder, fearing retribution from these mafioso families. And I’d never, ever expose Luke to that kind of threat. You know that.’
‘So, what would you do?’ Bruno asked.
‘She’s lying,’ the mafioso woman said.
‘We return to Sydney,’ said Liz, ‘and resume our lives, just as they were, but without Raf. You run the company. We put this behind us, Bruno, and we go back to the way we were, friends, with our Saturday get-togethers with you and Caterina.’
Liz saw the glimmer of hope in his eyes.
If he was so obsessed with her then, like a drowning man, he might clutch at straws. That was what she was counting on. Would he jump at the chance their “friendship” could develop into something more?
‘Don’t listen to her,’ the woman said.
‘I want to believe you,’ Bruno said to Liz, ‘but I need time, we both need time, and we all need to move from this location.’ He turned to the other woman. ‘You take your cousins in your car and I’ll follow in the four-wheel drive, with Liz and Luke–’
The woman cut him off sharply. ‘No. She can’t be trusted, and our family cannot take the chance she’ll run, and contact the polizia…’
Damn, thought Liz.
‘We play it safe for now,’ the woman said. ‘You will take Luke and one of my cousins with you.’ She glanced at one of the men. ‘You go with Bruno, you know the way.’
‘Okay,’ he said.
‘I will take Liz,’ the woman said to Bruno. ‘This way we ensure she won’t try anything. We will meet you at the new house. The cars need to travel separately so we don’t attract any undue attention.’
‘An added precaution,’ one of the cousins said.
Liz had caught the furtive expressions that passed between La Vipera and her two cousins. Bruno wasn’t in charge of this situation. The woman was. Her family of criminals had agreed to help their Australian drug counterpart. But just as they hadn’t addressed one another by their names in front of Liz, neither would they risk exposure to the police through Bruno’s actions.
‘They’re going to kill me,’ Liz said to Bruno.
‘Just follow my orders,’ the woman said to Bruno, ‘and everything will be fine, everything will be okay, and once the heat is off, then you and your lady friend can go home safely.’
Bruno stared at her, unsure.
‘Trust me,’ the woman said. ‘Our family knows how to contain troubles like these.’
‘Okay…’ Bruno said.
‘Bruno, no.’ Liz stepped back, shielding Luke, as the two men moved towards her.
‘These people are my colleagues, they’ve been helping me all along,’ Bruno said to her. ‘Everything will be fine. And you and Luke and I can go back to Sydney, together.’
Liz froze as one of the men took Luke from her. She didn’t want to frighten her son.
‘Mama…’ he cried out as he was taken by the man.
‘It’s okay, baby,’ Liz called after him, forcing a smile.
Bruno reached across and stroked Luke’s cheek. ‘Hey, Luke. Uncle Bruno’s here.’
The baby boy calmed at the sight of a face he knew.
Minutes after Bruno had driven off, La Vipera and two of her cousins bundled Liz into their sedan. Despairingly, Liz glanced at the woods as the car sped off. Once her rescuers reached the house she would be long gone. At the mercy of this ruthless couple who intended to kill her.
EIGHTY-EIGHT
The car was driven off the road and along a stony track to a secluded patch of forest. The man pushed open the door and shoved Liz out, keeping his grip on her.
‘Take her into the woods,’ the Calabrian woman said.
‘Bruno won’t forgive you for this,’ Liz shouted at her.
‘He will have to live with it. Bruno is a fool who allowed his obsession to cloud his judgement. My father should never have helped him with his ill-conceived kidnap. Now it’s exposed our family, and I need to clean this mess up.’ The woman shot a glance at her cousin. ‘No time for any of your fun,’ she said to him with contempt. ‘Make it quick and make certain she won’t be found. Your cousin and I will keep watch.’
‘Got it,’ he said, pushing Liz ahead of him into the woods.
She stumbled along, the ground rough beneath her feet, her legs wobbly, the fear weighing down on her. ‘Please…’ she began but she said no more. What was the point? This brute had shown no emotion from the time she’d arrived at the house the night before; if anything she’d only noticed him staring at her with a cold, callous lust.
They reached an area that was partly clear of the trees, littered with bushes and broken stumps and clumps of long grass. He pushed her free of him then he stood back, lifting his rifle.
She turned to face him, trembling.
He leered at her and there was a half-grin on his lips. ‘You’re a beautiful woman but you’re not worth Vetrani’s level of obsession.’ He waved the rifle, motioning to the large, rounded tree stump in the clearing.
‘Strip off and bend over that stump,’ he said.
‘What?’
‘Do it.’
‘Your cousin said none of your fun,’ Liz said.
‘She’ll be none the wiser.’
‘She’ll think you’re taking too long.’
‘We’ll be quick.’
He stepped forward and slammed the butt of the rifle into her left shoulder. She toppled back, gripping her shoulder as the pain exploded.
‘Next blow will be to the side of that pretty face,’ the brute said. ‘You can do this in agony or you can make it painless.’
Liz swallowed hard, trying to fight off the pure terror she felt. She sucked in a breath. Her hands shaking, she removed the parka, pulled her blouse up and over her head, then stepped out of her hiking pants and boots.
‘Everything,’ he said.
Tears in her eyes, breathing heavily, she removed her underwear.
‘Bend,’ he said.
Liz turned to the tree stump, stumbled forward, and bent herself over its flat surface.
The tears impaired her vision. How had it come to this? A pathetic, degrading death, at the hands of a stranger, in a country far from home. She would never see her baby son again, never see him grow, never know the comfort of Mac’s arms embracing her.
