Anatomy of a Nightmare by M J Marlow (best pdf ebook reader txt) 📕

She went with her to Evelyn’s room and frowned. Her sister was not there. Marina handed her a pill and a glass of water. “How did you know I had a headache?”
“A mother knows her child,” Marina replied as Lily took the pill. She took the glass and set it aside as her smile turned cold. “And also what is best for them.” The door opened and James came inside. “Take her to the pool house. Quentin will be along to collect her.” She patted Lily’s cheek. “He has some very special plans for you, Lily dear.”
“What are you doing?” Lily asked as James grabbed her arm.
“A friend of ours wants you, Lily,” Marina smiled at her. “He paid me a great deal of money to insure that you go with Quentin.” She saw Lily’s shocked expression. “Did you really think you could just swoop into our lives and we’d welcome you with open arms?” she laughed coldly. “Evelyn would never be so naïve.”
“Why is my twin living here and not me?” Lily had to know the truth then. She pulled her arm out of James’ grip. “Please tell me.”
“My husband got a little too familiar with your mother just after her husband left for another tour of duty overseas,” Marina said to her. “He was drunk and she was available.”
“He raped her?”
“He raped her,” Marina nodded. “Nine months later, she had twin daughters. Joseph called us and told William to come get his child. He had decided to keep one of you out of sympathy for his poor wife. You are my husband’s daughter, Lily; but no one can ever know. That is why you are being sent away.” She nodded to James. “Get her out of here before someone comes along to check for her, James.”
Lily tried to pull free but the sedative she had been given in place of a pain killer took over. She was growing weaker now and she had no way of stopping the man from taking her out of the house. The few people that he did run across were told she had had ‘just a little too much champagne’ and was being taken somewhere quiet to sleep it off.

Gregory knew something was going to happen to Lily but he had to trust the team to watch out for her. He was here to do a job and he had to focus. He planted the tracker on the briefcase he saw William set down under the bench by the front door and moved away to make a call. He was assured that Lily would be safe. He nodded to the men who would follow the person who picked up the briefcase and went back to the reception. It was time to make Grey suffer for what he was putting Lily and Evelyn through.
“Geoff,” Doctor Hawkins smiled as Gregory sat back down. “I hear your brother just bought the chairmanship at Arista Pharmaceuticals. How much did that cost him?”
“Only twenty million,” Geoffrey said to him. “His loose change, actually.” He saw William blanch. “You have stock in that company, don’t you, William?” The Senator nodded. “Gregory gave Evelyn and I ten thousand shares as a wedding present.” He smiled lazily. “With his 65,000, I believe that gives the Talbot family a controlling interest in the company.” He laughed humorlessly. “It’s a shame you had us sign that pre-nup, William. If Evelyn leaves me, those shares revert back to Gregory.”
“How did your brother manage to get his hands on all those shares?” William choked out. “It would have raised flags.”
“If I had bought them all at once,” Gregory smiled at him, “or in my own name. But I am not too modest to admit that I am a very canny businessman, William. I also have a lot of people who owe me favors. They bought lots of the stock over the past few months in their names and ‘gave’ them to me.” He laughed. “The wedding present was the only lot I bought in my own name.” He finished off his glass of champagne and set it down on the table. “By the way, William, if you ever try to take my brother’s wife away from him again, I will break you!”
He got to his feet and walked away, passing the FBI agents who had been sent to arrest the Senator. He was smiling as he watched the man being taken away. He and the rest of the team were congratulating each other on a successful job when Geoffrey and Evelyn came towards him looking very worried.
“Lily has disappeared, Gregory,” Geoffrey said to him bluntly.
“What happened to Lily?”
“She went into the house with Marina Grey and didn’t come out,” Esme told him. “I went to her room and she wasn’t there.”
Geoffrey and Evelyn went to talk to her mother. When Gregory had assured himself Lily was nowhere else in the house, he joined them in the lounge. He was too worried to think straight so he just yanked Marina up on her feet and started shaking her.
“What did you do to her, Mrs. Grey?” he snarled as the woman looked at him in shock. “Where is Lily?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Marina stated coldly. She looked at her daughter and the anger in Evelyn’s eyes broke her. “Oh all right! The girl came to me and said this whole situation was making her uncomfortable. Then she said she was going home and James drove her to the airport.”
“Lily would not do that,” Gregory shook his head. “Something has happened to her.” He glared at Marina. “If I find you have had a hand in her disappearance Mrs. Grey, I will see you in prison.”
“And I will throw away the key,” Evelyn added and then turned to her husband. “Let’s go, Geoffrey. I won’t spend another moment in this house.”
“Owen,” Gregory beckoned to his team member. “Take Mrs. Grey to the Federal building and see if you can’t get her to tell you more about what happened here.”
He ran from the house and joined his brother and Evelyn in the car. He was silent as they drove to the Federal Building. He knew that Lily had not left the house of her own accord. Someone had taken her and was holding her prisoner. But who would do such a thing and why?

Lily watched the maid and the guard as they played cards on the other side of the room. She had been told she would not be harmed if she stayed quiet and she took them at their word. She sat back and watched the birds playing in the water fountain outside the window. She almost forgot she was a prisoner until someone knocked on the door and James opened it to allow Quentin to enter.
“So,” he smiled nastily as he looked at Lily, “you really aren’t Evelyn.” He ran his eyes over her slowly and Lily was shaking. “That is good.” He pulled up a chair and set it down so she could not get past him. “Do you want to know what we are planning to do with you, Lily?” He ran his hand along her leg and smiled as he saw her fear. “We have decided that you are going to become the first human test subject for a very intriguing drug.”
“No!” Lily shook her head.
“You are young and healthy so you should survive the process,” Quentin continued as he grabbed her wrists and yanked her into his lap. “I think you will be quite an asset to us.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. “Here is our first gift to you, my pet; a pair of pretty bracelets.”
“Let me go!” Lily screamed as he got to his feet and hefted her over his shoulder. “You can’t do this to me. It’s kidnapping!”
“You should be used to men taking you by force, Lily,” Quentin laughed. “Isn’t that how Agent Talbot got you here?” He slapped her backside. “Well, you’re mine now, Lily. You will be far happier if you get that straight right now.”
“I am not yours,” Lily protested as he carried her out of the cottage and she saw his car. James had the trunk open. “You are not putting me in there!” She kicked and struggled but she wound up in the trunk, anyway. Quentin put an oxygen mask over her face and she felt the sedative added to the oxygen take over. She was too drugged to think straight by the time the lid was closed.
James was just getting ready to leave when he saw a man in a black overcoat coming towards him. The look on this man’s face told him the next few minutes were going to be decidedly painful. He went back into his rooms and congratulated himself on his ability to read people as he felt the knife enter his back repeatedly. He was almost gone when he heard a noise and saw Violet crawling towards him. She had been beaten badly and her clothing was torn. She looked at him in confusion. Don’t pick up the knife, he willed to her. He died with a cry of frustration on his lips.

“What do you mean,” Edward Randall said stiffly, “you lost my sister?” He glared at Gregory as the man stood in the living room after making his report. “Is that how the FBI works these days?”
“We have a suspect, Officer Randall,” Dave Lassiter spoke up from where he stood by the fireplace. “We know where he’s going.”
“Before or after he abuses my sister?” Edward snarled. “You had no right to force Lily into a situation where she would draw the attention of a man like Quentin Caine.” He looked directly at Gregory as he spoke. “I hold you personally responsible for everything, Gregory.” He went to the door and opened it. “Now get out of my house.”
“That was pleasant,” Dave said as they walked to the car.
“Did you expect anything less?” Gregory asked his superior. “We threw a civilian into our assignment and expected there to be no risks for her! The girl was sick and vulnerable and we just let someone walk off with her while we were congratulating ourselves on a successful mission.” He ran his hand through his hair. “If anything happens to her, you will find my resignation on your desk, Dave.”
“You fell for her, didn’t you?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Gregory replied. “After this, I will never be welcome around her.” He looked at his partner. “Why did you lie to Randall and say we had a suspect? The only man who could tell us what happened to Lily is dead.”
“Do you buy that whole scene, Greg?” Dave asked him. Gregory looked puzzled. “Oh come on. He is the only person who can call Mrs. Grey a liar and he ends up murdered by the maid he strangled and raped?”
“Maybe the maid…” Gregory answered his phone. “Talk.” His face went tight. “Thanks. Write it up and come on back.” He hung up the phone. “That was Thomas. The maid died twenty minutes ago. Someone put the wrong drug in her IV.”
“Someone is going to an awful lot of trouble to bury Lily Ambrose, Greg,” Dave frowned. “The same someone with the money to hire a professional hit man, maybe?”
“I don’t like where your maybes are going, Dave…”
“Because they mirror your own suspicions, Greg?” Dave asked his longtime friend. He turned to Owen. “Find Quentin Caine! Now!”

“Come on out, sweetheart,” Quentin laughed as he opened the lid and the butterflies Lily had been watching vanished in the sunlight. “Feeling happy, Lily?” he smiled as he pulled her out of the trunk and helped her