Deadly Embrace by Jackie Collins (best 7 inch ereader .TXT) 📗

The two of them made quite a bizarre sight.

The turn-out for the funeral was enormous. Vito had had an endless stream of friends, business associates and acquaintances, all of whom were anxious to pay their respects.

Michael immediately spotted Mamie and Bone, and did his best to avoid them.

Mamie was having none of it: she accosted him on his way out of church. ‘Mikey,’ she said, spiky black eyelashes dominating over-made-up eyes. ‘My little Mikey.’

Did she not remember their past history? Had she forgotten that she was directly responsible for his mother’s murder and, God knows, probably Beth’s too?

He tried to turn in the other direction.

She placed her bony hand on his arm. Long fingers, every one beringed. ‘Don’t walk away when I’m talking to you.’

‘What is it?’ he said, keeping his voice low and even because he did not wish to cause a scene.

‘We came to New York to pay respects to my ex-husband,’ she said. ‘Vito would’ve wanted that.’ Michael nodded silently. ‘And also,’ she said, leaning confidentially towards him, ‘to work out how we’re gonna get the money he promised me.’

Now was his moment of triumph. ‘What money?’ he said blankly.

‘The money you’ve been looking after for him,’ she said, fixing him with a malevolent glare.

‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’

‘Don’t screw with me, Mikey,’ she said, talking to him as if he were still the teenage kid she’d known way back.

He brushed her hand off his arm and, in a very low voice so nobody else could hear, said, ‘Go fuck yourself, Mamie.’

Then he walked away.

Bone came up to him at the reception. ‘I understand you and Mamie had a talk,’ Bone said flatly, fingering the long, thin scar on his cheek.

Michael stared at him and didn’t say a word. How he hated the man who’d shot his mother. A mother he’d never known because of Bone.

‘Take this as a warning,’ Bone said with a great deal of malice in his voice. ‘You get her the money or you’re gonna regret it.’

‘I’ll tell you the same as I told Mamie,’ Michael said, holding back his anger. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

Bone shook his head in wonderment. ‘You’re still the same dumb bastard.’ His voice rose. ‘You get Mamie her money or you’ll see what’ll happen.’

‘Jeez!’ Michael said, taunting him. ‘Threats. What’re you going to do to me now?’

Bone’s eyes were cold and dead. ‘You’d be surprised,’ he said. ‘You’d be very surprised.’

Once more Michael walked away. There was nothing they could do to him. There was no way they could prove that Vito had entrusted him with any money. Besides, he was a legitimate businessman now; he was way out of their reach.

Over the next few days he made arrangements for Western to receive a princely income for the rest of her life. He didn’t feel bad about keeping the rest of Vito’s secret stash. He considered it Bone and Mamie’s punishment, a punishment that was not nearly harsh enough. Eventually he’d give every dollar of it to some deserving charity. Now, that was justice.

As the years had passed he’d begun to realize that seeking endless revenge could poison a person’s soul. Another thought: did revenge ever satisfy?

This particular time it did.

Later that night he spoke to Warner Carlysle. She was still close to Stella, and with her help he planned to move on.

‘I want a divorce,’ he told her. ‘Can you talk to Stella for me?’

‘I don’t know why you two can’t speak to each other,’ Warner grumbled.

‘She refuses to talk to me,’ he said, ‘so I’d appreciate it if you’d step in and tell her that either she proceeds with a divorce or I will. I won’t fight her. She can have anything she wants–including the house.’

‘Very well.’ Warner sighed, reluctant to get involved.

‘Thanks.’

‘Michael,’ Warner added curiously, ‘aren’t you interested in knowing why she ran off with another man?’

‘I couldn’t care less.’

‘Well,’ Warner said, ‘you have to admit that you were hardly ever there for her. And Stella felt you still loved Beth, and that you always put Madison before her.’

‘What’re you–her shrink?’ he said coldly.

He had no interest in Stella any more. She’d left him, and the truth was that he was relieved. He wished she’d done it years earlier.

‘I’ll talk to her, Michael,’ Warner promised. ‘It’s better for both of you to end it.’

A few days later, he was in his office when the phone rang. It was Warner.

‘Do you have news for me?’ he asked.

Her voice sounded tired and strained, unlike her usual spirited tone. ‘Yes, Michael,’ she said slowly, ‘I do.’

‘So tell me, is she willing to start divorce proceedings?’

‘It won’t be necessary,’ Warner said haltingly. ‘Stella and Lucien are both dead.’

‘What?’

‘They were shot in the back of the head, execution-style.’

‘Jesus!’ he said, almost dropping the phone.

‘Michael, I have to ask you this.’ A long, silent beat. ‘Did you do it?’

‘Are you out of your fucking mind?’ he screamed.

And then he knew.

Bone and Mamie had struck again.

Madison was confused, angry and upset. She’d been that way for a while. And it was all because of Michael and his bullshit lies.

When he’d revealed that Stella wasn’t her mother, and then made up some story about her real mother getting shot, she’d failed to believe him. Somehow his story didn’t make sense. So she’d hired a private detective to find out the real truth. The detective, Kimm Florian, had come up with plenty of information. She’d presented Madison with a stack of press clippings about a man called Michael Castellino who, of course, was Michael Castelli. Almost thirty years ago Michael Castellino had been accused of killing the woman he was living with, and that woman was Madison’s mother, Beth.

According to the newspapers he’d been acquitted.

So what? She’d spent her entire life loving a stranger. It was glaringly obvious that she didn’t know Michael at all. And she realized that was why Stella had always been so cold towards her. Growing up she’d thought it was just the way