A Matter of Circumstance by M J Marlow (if you give a mouse a cookie read aloud .TXT) 📖

us, Emile. Try to keep her from getting killed. Her husband wants her back.” He hung up and took Hawk out into the hall with him where Steven could not listen. He made the call again and asked if had ever heard of Steven Gunther. The answer was not what he wanted to hear, because it meant the man, though a slime ball and an idiot, was not the leak. There was someone else out there who had set Victoria up and was looking to end her life before someone realized that she was not involved. 14 “You shouldn’t have brought me here, Papa,” Victoria said tightly as she faced him over the dinner table. She wasn’t feeling very well and she assumed it was the after-effects of the sedative she’d been given. “I already have one federal agent sniffing at my heels expecting to find me embroiled in something dirty.” She saw his shocked look and knew he had been unaware of this. “He was asking about Mama’s ring,” she told him. When he shrugged, she grew angry. “What is going on, Papa?” “As you say, ma fille; someone is sniffing at heels,” Nicol replied. “I read of your last case, Victoria.” He raised his wine glass to her. “I am quite proud of you.” She saw his sign and realized that the house was bugged. They could not speak freely here. She would have to continue her subterfuge. She was so tired of lying to people about what she knew, but it was necessary if they were going to succeed in bringing these men down. She signed that she understood his warning and he nodded so only she caught the slight movement. “Should that make me happy?” Victoria asked him. “You made it quite clear by staying out of my life for twenty years that you didn’t want any part of my life. Something is going on with you and it’s spilling over into my life. I want you to stop it now!” “You have every right to be angry at me, Victoria,” Nicol nodded. He sipped his wine. “I wish I had heard of the threat forming against you sooner. The shot would never have been fired.” He looked at her in concern. “You have not eaten much of your dinner, ma fille. Are you not feeling well?” He smiled as she looked at him coldly. “You have your mother’s fire. How she would have loved to see you home again.” “Maybe if you had thought more of her than yourself,” Victoria snapped at him, “she would still be here!” “You are being deliberately hurtful, Victoria,” Nicol said to her sadly. “I make allowances for your bad behavior. I understand it is an effect of the injury your brain suffered when you were shot.” “How very big of you,” Victoria sniffed. “It’s your fault I lost my mother in the first place!” “I was not here when our home was attacked,” Nicol frowned at her. “You were happy and safe with your uncle and I was content to let him keep you.” He shook his finger at her. “Until you decided to become an agent at least.” He saw her rubbing her temples. “Your head hurts?” “I am trying too hard to figure things out,” Victoria told him. She looked at him in regret and knew he understood her abhorrence for the actions they had chosen to take. “If I only knew the man was in prison, I might be able to relax.” “That knowledge will come or it will not,” Nicol shrugged. “Just remember that you are my beloved daughter and I will move heaven and earth to keep you safe. That will be enough.” He finished his wine. “You will stay here with me another two days. By then we shall have the identity of the man who would have killed you and you will be able to return to your home.” He saw her look. “You thought I would keep you here as a prisoner?” Victoria nodded. “You always did have the imagination, ma fille.” He stroked her cheek. “I would never keep you from your husband.” “Can I at least call him, Papa,” Victoria asked him, “and let him know I am all right?” “Finish your dinner, Victoria,” Nicol said as he raised his fingers and a woman came to him. “My daughter is not to be disturbed by anyone. Is this clear?” The woman nodded. “You need to rest, ma fille. I shall have the doctor come and bring you something for the ache in your head.” He got up and came to her to kiss her on the forehead. “Tomorrow morning is soon enough for you to assure your husband you are well.” “Very well, Papa,” Victoria smiled at him for the first time since she had woken up in his home. She finished eating as he left her alone and then went up to her room. She was ill and was rinsing out her mouth when her eyes widened. With everything that had been happening she hadn’t been keeping track of her period. Was it possible she might be pregnant? There was a knock on the door and she opened it to see Michael standing there. Her question as to why he was there died as she saw the gun in his hand. “Come with me, Victoria,” he said as he grabbed her arm and led her from the room. She saw the servants being gathered into the lounge. She saw her father being shoved into a chair. His face was bruised from their blows. Nicol’s bravado faltered a bit as he saw her. “Here she is, Mr. Madison.” “Very good,” the man with dark hair and goatee smiled. “We could not conclude our little contract without the property being exchanged. Eh, Nicol?” His smile widened as Victoria stared at him. He came towards her and Victoria backed away from him. She knew those eyes. He ran the back of his hand along her cheek. “You remember me now, don’t you?” “You’re the bastard who kidnapped and shot me!” Victoria realized. There was no mistaking it now. She saw the rage in her father’s eyes. “I really didn’t want to shoot you. Michelle moved at the wrong moment and you were in the way.” He tried to touch her and she flinched. His hand moved to his side. “You proved to be as stubborn as your lovely mother. You wouldn’t stop when I asked you to.” His hand moved lower and he knew she understood what he wanted from the way her eyes filled with anger and defiance. “You are going to be a hostage, Victoria.” “I would rather be dead,” Nicol spat, “than know you were defiling my daughter!” “I was not speaking to you, traitor,” Madison spat and backhanded the man. He turned back to Victoria. “Your mother wouldn’t give herself to me, Victoria, and you lost her. Do you want to lose another parent?” He began to unbutton the font of the dress she was wearing. His hand slid in to cup her breast. “You are so beautiful, Victoria. You will have to show me how your husband caressed you so that I can please you.” “You will be dead long before I let you touch me!” Victoria snapped at him. “So deliciously moral!” Madison slugged her across the jaw and she blacked out as that pain added to the ache in her head overwhelmed her. He smiled and hefted her over his shoulder. “I accept her as hostage against your loyalty, Nicol. Betray me again and the bullet won’t be accidental next time.” The Interpol agent arrived two hours later to find their undercover operative silent and immoveable. He would not turn over the files he had promised them on the activities of the international terrorist organization with ties to Interpol and the federal agencies in America. They were finally forced to arrest him. 15 “Your Papa,” Madison laughed as he held her down in a chair as they watched the news and they saw her father being led into the prison; “will never betray me, Victoria.” He ran his tongue along the side of her neck and he felt her shudder. “Not while you are mine, my pet.” He laughed and made her look at him. “You have turned him into a traitor, ma belle.” She pulled free of his hold and refused to speak to him. He held her down as she tried to get up and met the anger in her eyes. How he relished the thought of bringing this woman to heel. Her anger would be redirected to passion then. Victoria would take the place her mother should have had in his bed. “I do not need conversation from you, Victoria.” He yanked her up to her feet and shoved her onto the bed. He enjoyed the fire and hatred he saw in her eyes as he held her down. She was as lovely as her mother had been and he was glad now he had let this child live. “It is time for us to become better acquainted.” “No,” Victoria said coldly. She shoved him hard and was on her feet before he could touch her. She yanked the French doors opened and headed towards the railing on the balcony. “I will die before I let you have me!” “Ah, mon amour,” Madison laughed and clapped his hands in delight. “You are meant to be mine.” He laid his hand on a panel she did not see and bars shot up from the top of the rail, curving inwards towards the wall to form a cage. “Did you think I would not realize you might be reticent? You are your mother’s child, after all.” He shoved her into the bedroom and slapped her across the face so hard she fell against the bed and hit to the floor. “If you refuse me again, I will have you drugged, ma belle.” He yanked her up and shoved her towards the bathroom. “Clean yourself up. I will send the maids to help you prepare yourself for me.” He smiled as he heard her scream in anger. She was a willful child, but she would soon learn who the master was in this place. He was looking forward to having her in his bed. He conducted some business and then decided he had left her to worry long enough. He entered his rooms and saw her being held down on her knees for him. The fire blazing in her eyes only increased his ardor “Remember, ma belle,” he whispered in her ear as he yanked her to her feet as the other women left them alone, “your Papa’s life is in your keeping. If you refuse me his throat will be cut.” He felt her shudder. “The man is already in place at the prison to do just that.” He thought he saw defeat in her eyes and he set her down on the bed. “We are ready to begin.” “No!” she screamed as he came towards her. “I won’t let you do this to me!” He was not listening. “Please don’t do this,” she cried anxiously. “You’ll hurt my baby!” “You are pregnant?” Madison laughed in delight. “How wonderful!” He stepped back and nodded. “You give me two hostages and two men to control. I am quite pleased with you, Victoria!” He left her alone then and she fell into an uneasy sleep. Any minute she expected him to come back and rape her. But he did not and she finally fell asleep. She slipped out of bed in the early morning and put on a robe and went to his office. If she had to be his prisoner, she would make him suffer in a way he had not foreseen. Victoria slipped in a special programming code her father and she had developed that would bounce a copy of everything done on