Empath's Angel - M J Marlow (easy readers .TXT) 📗

as possible. He had never been so happy,and it made him ache to think that this was not going to last forever. His father would find them,and their happy life would be at an end. “Something is wrong,” Emilia finally broke the silence. “Tell me.” “We’ve been here too long,” Stephen replied. He felt her stiffen. “I was outside getting the mailand I caught sight of someone I thought I recognized. When I looked again they were gone.” “Then we’ll go,” Emilia answered. She turned to look up into his worried eyes. “We belong to each other now. We can’t let him destroy what we are building here. Besides,” she said shyly, her eyes shining with happiness, “I think I might be pregnant, Moja miłość.” Stephen looked down at her in shockand then he was beaming. He pulled her up into his armsand spun her around. Emilia was relieved; she had feared he would not want a child so soon. As they shared a moment of contentment, there was a pounding on the door. Stephen frownedand let her go with great reluctance. Emilia pulled on her robeand followed him. A large black-skinned man pushed his way inand made Stephen back up. He set the immense gift basket he was carrying on the foyer tableand took up a position nearby. A moment later, a very angry Samuel strode into the house. “You are not welcome here, Father.” “How could I not be?” Samuel laughed. He turned his attention to Emiliaand smiled at her. “Emilia, I came to welcome you into the family.” He indicated the gift basket. “A small token of my pleasure at the news of your wedding.” “What do you want, Father?” Stephen asked as he moved closer to his wife. “I want youand your pretty wife to come home with me,” Samuel told his son bluntly. He looked around the house. “While this is a nice enough place, youand Emilia should be in better surroundings.” “That’s not possible,” Emilia snapped at him. “We have other plans.” She looked down at his hand as he clamped it around her wrist. “Let go of me now.” “The child certainly has spirit,” Samuel laughed at her. “Youand Stephen are coming with me, Emilia.” “No, we are not,” Emilia hissed. She broke his hold on her wristand moved away from him. “Glenville is our home.” “If you come near us again, Father,” Stephen added as he put his arms around Emiliaand glared at him over her head, “I will have you arrested.” “That will be hard to do,” Samuel said coldly as he nodded to his man, “from your grave!” He saw Emilia pale. “You will come willingly, or I will make your pretty wife a widow.” He looked at his son’s cold expression. “She will be much easier to control that way.” Samuel looked at Emiliaand Stephen, frowning darkly. There was a bond there. He had not expected that to happen. After years of watching his son move from one woman to another, he had begun to believe that Stephen was incapable of commitment. But here he stood, fiercely protecting his wife. Stephen was actually in love with the girl! It didn’t matter; Samuel was not going to let his son ruin his plans now. “Bravo,” Samuel told the man after he had calmed down a bit. “I want you to convince my son that it is in his own best interests to come home.” He settled into a chairand watched as Bravo yanked Stephen away from Emiliaand clamped his arm around Stephen’s neck. “You will do as I say, Stephen, or I will have Bravo kill you.” “He’s your son!” Emilia cried in disbelief. “You couldn’t…” “He ceased to be my son,” Samuel broke in coldly, “when he decided to marry you, girl!” He saw Stephen’s eyes go cold. “If you die, Stephen, who will protect your pretty wife?” He pulled Emilia to his sideand ran his hand along her cheek, feeling her shudder. “I will have her committed to Faringdale under Doctor Stanford’s care. I’m afraid she could hurt herself in her delicate emotional state.” “You would go that far to get what you want?” Stephen hissed. He winced as Bravo twisted his arm painfully. “I won’t do it! Emilia is my wife now. She is having my child!And I am not going to let you anywhere near us!” “A child?” Samuel asked, momentarily shocked at this news. He looked down at Emiliaand smiled. “Bravo, let him go.” He let Emilia goand she went to Stephen. His son pulled Emilia closeand glared at him. “Very well, son. You have won this round. I will let you have some time alone with your pretty wife.” They watched as his fatherand Bravo left the house. Stephen was not relieved; he knew it was far from over. His father never gave up once he knew what he wanted;and he wanted Emilia. He was going to do something to make it happen. Stephen pulled Emilia closer, knowing that his days were numbered. Samuel did not speak until he got to the limousine. He was not about to lose now! There was only one thing he could do,and there was not even a second of remorse as he issued the order. “I am issuing the extermination order, Bravo,” Samuel said coldly. “Five million to the person who executes my sonand makes it look like an accident.” “I will execute the order myself, sir,” Bravo replied as he started the car. “To make certain it is done properly.” Samuel nodded his agreement,and Bravo hid his frown. He had known that Professor Winslow was obsessive, but this command to have his own son murdered was extreme. Bravo noddedand drove away from the house. He would make it appear as if the order had been carried out. Breaking this couple apart was wrong, but it would have to be done if they ever had a chance to be together. Once he dropped Samuel off, he took his own carand went back to the house. He knocked on the doorand Stephen opened it, frowning. “If you want to live, Stephen,” Bravo said simply as he came into the house, “you need to come with me.” Stephen watched as the man looked for Emilia before he said anything further. “Your father has issued an extermination order on you.” He was surprised when all the young man did was frown. “You’re not surprised?” “Not especially,” Stephen told him. “So are you here to carry out the execution, Bryan?” “I am here to make it appear that I have carried it out, Stephen,” Bravo told him, as he pulled up his sleeveand showed Stephen a certain tattoo. “Where’s your wife?” “Sleeping,” Stephen told the man. He couldn’t ignore the summons of the organization that had been backing him in his sabotage on his own father’s organization the past twelve years. He left a note for Emilia, telling her he had to check in at the hospital. “You’re certain this is the only way?” “Yes,” Bravo nodded. “This will leave Emilia vulnerable,” Stephen said as they left the house. “We have people keeping an eye on her for you, Stephen,” Bravo said. Stephen noddedand followed Bravo out of Glenville. They stopped at the private airfield west of townand he parked next to Bravo outside of a hangar at the far end of the field. He enteredand froze as he saw a man he had believed to be dead. Benjamin Winslow, his father’s younger brother, rose from his seat at a table near the jetand smiled in greeting. Stephen had been told his uncle was dead. But here he stood, aliveand well. “Uncle Ben?” Stephen was stunned. “Stephen,” Benjamin Winslow noddedand smiled. He looked over at Bravo. “What you need is waiting for you in Stephen’s car, Bravo.” He watched Bravo go, after getting Stephen’s keys,and then took Stephen aboard the jet. He poured them each a drink. “I hear that you’ve been busy the past twelve years, nephew.” He took a sip of his drink. “Sabotaging your father’s drug shipments?” Stephen looked shocked that he knew. “You shouldn’t be shocked, boy,” he smiled as he sat downand strapped in. “I have been keeping a very close eye on you since I left.” “I have a feeling that you’ve been doing more than keeping an eye on me, Uncle,” Stephen said as he sat down. “There were a lot of times over the past twelve years when I could have sworn you were close.” “You always were a very perceptive boy,” Alpha smiled. “I call myself Alpha,” he told his nephew. “My menand I have been working to stop your father since Charlotteand I ‘died’ in that train accident when you were twelve.” “You’re the head of the organization that recruited me!” Stephen cried in surprise. “Why didn’t you ever contact me before?” “If I had,” Alpha replied, “and your father found out you were a traitor, how long do you think you would last before you told him I wasn’t dead?” He saw Stephen’s lookand nodded. “Doctor Sobieski has designed some very nasty drugs for my brother. Samuel would not hesitate to use one on you.” He looked at his nephew closely. “Tell me about his daughter.” “I’m convinced that Emilia is innocent of all knowledge of her father’s work,” Stephen told him. “In fact, Uncle, if she knew what he had been forced to do, she would be horrified.” He was shaken to the core at the thought of leaving her unprotected. “She’s having my child, Uncle. I shouldn’t have left her alone.” “She’s a very special young woman, your Emilia,” Alpha replied. He was glad to see that his nephew had honest feelings for the girl he had made his wife. “We’ll make certain he can’t hurt her.” “If he does,” Stephen stated coldly; “I will come back from the deadand take him to hell with me.” “Let us do our job, boy,” Alpha suggested. “People are in place to keep an eye on your wife,and Samuel is not going to hurt her while she is carrying his grandchild.” He smiled warmly as the jet liftedand they were allowed to get up. He poured them both a drink,and raised his glass to Stephen. “Congratulations on the marriageand the future heir.” “Thanks,” Stephen replied. “I was only planning on the marriage as a means of keeping her away from my father…” “She got to you, didn’t she?” Alpha smiled as he saw the truth of things. “Emilia is right for you, Stephen. She is a very beautiful young woman, insideand out, like her late mother.And she is not tainted by the evil that your fathers are.” “Here’s to making certain she never is,” Stephen said as he raised his glass. “Amen to that, boy,” Alpha noddedand drained his glass. He would keep his true purpose for the pretty child to himself. His nephew did not need to know what was really going on. He watched as his nephew lost consciousnessand the glass he had been holding fell to the deck. “Romeo,” he called to the pilot, as he got out of the seat. “You know where to take him. Make certain he gets there safely,” he continued as he opened the hatch. “I have need of him still.” * Emilia woke up from her napand looked at the empty space on the bed. Stephen! She was on her feetand running to the living room. He was not there. She told herself not to worry; Stephen was just out running an errand or something. The note she found propped up on the hall table seemed to confirm this; but there was a chill on her that she could not dispel,and she knew that something was very, very wrong. Emilia got dressedand went to make a phone call to Daniel. She was told that he was out on business. Emilia hung upand frowned as someone knocked on the door. Daniel was standing there,