50 Shades of Pink Page 14

  All it took was for me to call Colette, to pretend I had been abused by Victoria. I was more convincing than I thought because she invited me to see her at her apartment, more than sympathetic to my situation. I would play on her emotions, make her believe I sided with her, and get her to admit what she had done to Victoria, while recording her with the same recorder she had given me for the mock interview with Victoria.

  My plan was risky, but I had to do something. Colette would never see me coming. The innocence and naivety she found “so refreshing” would work in my favor.

  I hurried into her building as it started to rain. With a cheery smile in place, I approached security.

  “Hello, I’m here to see Miss Duarte. She’s expecting me,” I said to the woman behind the front desk.

  “Your name?” the woman asked, sound more bored than polite.

  “Lindsay Pinke.”

  She picked up the phone and called Colette. After the confirmation, I was directed to take the elevator up to the twentieth floor.

  Purposely perky and gracious, I thanked the guard and strolled to the elevators. The doors opened and I entered the elevator alone. I then turned on the recorder and placed it in my coat pocket. I’d keep my coat on, using the excuse that I hid my bruises.

  When the elevator stopped, I took a deep breath and headed down the hall where Colette stood in the open doorway to her condo. For an early morning visit, she looked refreshed and ready to start the day, except for the satin robe she was wearing.

  “You look like you’ve been through hell and back,” she said, having the audacity to cup my chin and inspect my face. She zoned in on my mouth and frowned.

  “I had a rough night,” I said in the softest and shakiest voice possible and poked my split lip with my tongue. I winced, pressing my finger there.

  “You’re bleeding.” She pulled my hand away, spotting blood staining my finger.

  “Victoria and I had a bad fight.” I latched onto the wall. “She’s crazy.”

  “Come inside.” She waved me in and shut the door behind me.

  When she touched my back, I flinched and turned around, rubbing my arms. “Please don’t touch me. It still hurts.”

  Her befuddled look was priceless. “What happened to you?”

  I lowered my head to my chest and let out a sob. “I was stupid to trust Victoria. She ended up seducing me. She is…was my first lover, and the naïve girl that I am, I believed everything she said.”

  “What did she say?” Colette asked in an impatient tone.

  “She told me awful things about you, and I believed her.” My voice broke and I covered my face. “She took me to a sex club last night—”

  “My brother’s new club. He told me he saw you and Victoria there,” Colette said.

  I nodded. “Yes, we talked to him for a while. I don’t understand why Victoria took me there because we didn’t stay long. I went home with her and she…we….”

  She stepped closer to me and tilted up my chin. “What did Victoria do to you?”

  I closed my eyes. “I can’t remember all that much because we were drinking. I must have gotten drunk because I let her do the most horrible things to me. When I woke up this morning, alone, I was sore all over and nauseous. I overheard her on the phone, or maybe she wanted me to hear. I don’t know who she was talking to but she told the person what she did to me last night. She said she has these unhealthy sexual urges and blamed you for them!”

  Colette petted the top of my head even though it sickened me. “Do you know who she talked to on the phone and why I was mentioned?”

  I stared at her with real tears in my eyes, remembered Victoria breaking down in my arms and how real her pain was over the years of Colette’s sexual abuse. “I don’t know who, but she said she wanted to get help because she can’t live with the guilt of….” I swallowed hard and shook my head.

  “What guilt?” Colette stroked my hair like a mother would do to her child.

  “I don’t know what to believe.” I groaned low in my throat, as if I was tortured by what I had to say. “She said you raped her on her fourteenth birthday and might have been responsible for the death of her college girlfriend.”

  Colette’s hand stilled and she shifted back, lowering her hand to her side. “She said that about me?”

  “Yes. She’s lying, right?” I hugged my arms to my chest.

  I almost didn’t catch it at first but a soft beeping came from the direction of the laptop on a desk in the corner. Colette glanced at her desk and then back at me.

  “What’s that sound?” I sniffed and wiped my eyes.

  “It’s from the tracking report on my laptop. I installed a GPS tracker on your recorder to follow your movements.” She went to her desk and tapped the keys on the keyboard as she stared at the monitor. “It tells me the recorder I gave you is in this room.”

  Oh no. How could I be so dumb?

  Loud static shrieked in my pocket where I hid the recorder.

  She laughed. “You, silly silly girl.”

  I shifted over to the door. She caught on and blocked me. “Give me the recorder.” She held out her hand.

  I took it out and chucked it at her, too close to her head.

  She skipped back before it hit her and it landed on the floor. She bent down and picked it up, clicking it off. “You really thought I’d admit to something that might possibly incriminate me?”

  “What did you expect me to do? You didn’t think Victoria would tell me about what you did to her? How you raped—”

  “Did she really say that?” Colette asked in a patient voice.

  “You got her drunk and molested her when she was fourteen!” I shouted, jabbing my finger in the air.

  Colette folded her hands across her stomach and stared at me wide eyed. “If that’s true, then why didn’t she go to the police and report me?”

  “You-you threatened her into keeping quiet—”

  “I did? But then explain to me once Victoria turned eighteen, and of sound mind and legal age, engaged in a sexual relationship with me until she was twenty?” Colette took a step toward me. “Did she also mention after she returned from England we renewed our acquaintance?” She licked her lips. “She invited me to the same type of club you went to last night and we spent the night together in a private room enjoying our reunion.”

  “You’re lying.” I backed away. “She left the country because you killed her—”

  Her hand shot out and she slapped my face.

  Startled, I froze. That gave her enough time to grab the back of my neck and toss me on the couch. She then snagged me by the hair and straddled me. I opened my mouth to scream, but she grasped my throat and squeezed hard.

  I batted at her hands, but she wouldn’t loosen her grip. She lowered her face to mine and snarled. “I know just the right amount of pressure to make a person pass out from lack of air. If you stop struggling, I’ll let go.”

  “Yes!” I gasped through strained lips.

  She lessened her hold just enough for me to inhale. Gagging, I gulped in much needed air, blinking away the dark spots in front of my eyes.

  Colette sat on top of me, waiting. My scalp throbbed where she clutched my hair and my throat burned raw along with my throbbing cheek.

  “Are you going to cry?” She tugged on my hair.

  “Fuck you,” I gasped, still winded.

  Bending down, she sealed her legs around mine. Her face glowed and her eyes glistened in satisfaction. Knowing she was aroused by my struggling made me ill. I went limp. She set her mouth near my ear, and I cringed, biting my lip to stop from making a sound.

  “Victoria cried many times, but I always made her come. The first time I saw her crying at her parent’s grave, I wanted her then, to make her my own special girl,” Colette crooned, her mouth moist and damp on my ear. “She was so eager to please, to do whatever I wanted.”

  “You’re sick,” I grunted, turning my head away from her.

  Her ha
nd tightened on my throat. “You think I’m sick because I lusted for Victoria? I’ve never wanted anyone else but her. There’s been no one else who has mattered except for her. If she hadn’t run away from me, we would still be together.”

  “But you killed the woman she loved.” I spat, staring at the door. If I could just figure out a way to get Colette to release me, then I’d escape.

  She twined a piece of my hair around her finger and yanked. I lifted my head to keep her from ripping my hair out. Grasping my chin, she forced me to look at her.

  “I didn’t touch a hair on that girl’s head, and Victoria knows it,” Colette snarled, her spit hitting my in the face.

  I glared at her, hate for this diabolical witch running through my body. I wanted to hurt her for the lies she spewed. “Victoria despises you. It will be a cold day in hell before she takes you back.”

  She set her finger on my split lip. I smacked her hand away. She didn’t retaliate but viewed my blood on her finger with disinterest. Then she licked it away.

  “You’re disgusting.” Taunting wasn’t smart, but she was more open to explaining herself when I did.

  “Because I licked your blood?” Her eyes widened her eyes dramatically and she tapped my lip. “Victoria used to love it when I went down on her when she had her period. She was so ripe and sweet. I remember one time —”

  “Shut up!” I yelled and tried to buck her off of me.

  She slapped me again, but harder this time. The ringing in ears made my head spin and my eyes water.

  “You won’t get away with this.”

  “Get away with what?” She stroked my burning check with the back of her hand.

  “Killing me,” I gulped in air through my mouth.

  “Kill you?” She lurched back. “I need you alive so you can go back to Victoria and show her I’ll always end up the winner of our games.”

  Colette was delusional. She considered me a pawn to be used and abused, thrown away after I served my purpose. “You want me to go back to Victoria as a messenger? You’re still playing this warped game of yours.”

  She beamed at me and nodded. “Exactly.”

  “Then let me go.” My first stop would be the nearest police station.

  “When I’m finished with you.” She untied her robe, showing off a short matching nightgown. Her nipples beaded the fabric and the hem was damp with her arousal. She curled each end of the sash around her fists and pulled it taunt.

  My heart drummed against my chest and bile climbed in my throat. I had a good idea what she planned to do to me. She’d send me back to Victoria battered both inside and out.

  “I’ll tell the po-police,” I hated the pleading tone in my voice, making me sound weak.

  “Good luck with that. No one will believe you. My brother will make sure of that. Now flip on your stomach so I can tie your wrists together.”

  “Victoria will hate you more than she does now!” I fisted my hands at my sides and stiffened.

  “I’d rather Victoria hate me than feel nothing at all.” She jabbed her knee into my hip. “Turn over before I really lose my temper.”

  I shot her one last hateful look and started to turn like she ordered me to. Making her believe I surrendered to her whims, I waited until she shifted away, allowing me just enough freedom to fist my hand. Right before I lay on my back, I cocked my fist and punched her in the face.

  She tumbled back, allowing me to break free. Scooping up my purse, I ran toward the door. Something flew by me and crashed into the wall. I reached out for the doorknob, but she tackled me to the floor.

  “Let me go, you crazy bitch!” I kicked at her as she tried to subdue me.

  “You won’t be able to walk when I get through with you.” She latched onto my ankle and drew me toward her.

  Snatching up my purse, I slapped her in the head, hard. She clutched her head, cursing me. I jumped up and searched through my purse, finding the pepper spray I always carried with me. I sprayed her straight in the face and she cried out in pain.

  I shot over to the door, opened it and ran down the hall to the elevator. Thankfully the doors opened once I pressed the down button. I darted inside. I started to shake, and a cold sweat made my dress stick to my back and my inner thighs.

  Once the elevator doors opened, I flew out of them, speed walking toward the exit, praying security wouldn’t notice anything was wrong. I could have asked them for help, but they might be devoted to Colette or on her payroll.

  Security didn’t stop me. When one of their phones rang, I broke into a run, darting down the street in the rain, wiping away my face, sticky with sweat. My phone rang, and when Victoria’s number popped up, I answered but didn’t slow down.

  “Where are you, Lindsay?” she asked, sounding frantic.

  “I-I’m on the Upper East Side on the way to a police station, if I c-can find o-one,” I spoke through hard pants.

  “Why are you going to the police?” she asked.

  “I went to see Ccc-colette and trick her into confessing what she did to you and your ggg-girlfriend from college. I was going to get her ad-admission on tape, bbb-but she figured it out and she tried to…she tried.…” I stopped in my tracks as I shivered. The world spun in front of me.

  “Lindsay! Don’t go the police. I’m coming to get you. Where are you exactly?”

  I sat down in between two cars parked in front of a building. My vision blurred and my head pounded from the loud ringing in my ears. “I’m on Fifty-Ninth and Central Park South. I think I’m going to pass out.” I laid my cheek on the wet bumper of a car.

  “I’ll be there soon. Don’t hang up. Keep talking to me,” Victoria sounded like she was in some type of tunnel. Or it could have been because of my trouble hearing. An annoying swooshing had imbedded in my ears.

  “Talk to me, Lindsay!” she barked over what sounded like the squealing of tires.

  “I’ll sit here and wait for you,” I said, somewhat giddy all of a sudden.

  Victoria continued to talk, but it was all mumbles to me as I hummed to keep from passing out. For some reason there weren’t many people around, most likely because of the rain, or if any passed by me, they didn’t notice or care that a woman with a bruised and bloodied face leaned on a car during a rainstorm.

  Traffic must have been light or Victoria broke the speed limit. She double-parked her car right in front of where I sat. With her phone to her ear, she got out of her car and dropped down on her knees in front of me. Her eyes were tinged with red and her face was pale.

  “Don’t be angry at me,” I whispered.

  “Oh baby, what did she do to you?” She ran her fingers down my cheek.

  I dropped my head to her chest and clutched her tight.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “You should have driven me to the police station so I could file a report and Colette would be arrested,” I said, wincing as I removed the ice pack from my cheek.

  Victoria paced in front of me, shaking her head in agitation. “I wanted to take you to the hospital, but you pitched a fit while I drove.”

  “The hospital wasn’t necessary. She only smacked me in the face and grabbed my hair a few times.” I rubbed a sore the spot on my head.

  Victoria stared down at me, furious. She had paced the entire length of her living room since we returned to her penthouse. She had taken me in the bathroom and removed my clothes, checking me over. I had to calm her down when she got a better look at my face and my throat and neck covered in purple bruises from Colette trying to strangle me. She then gave me pajamas to wear and held me for a long time after that. She wanted me to rest. I didn’t want to sleep. I was afraid I’d have nightmares. Instead I had convinced her to sit in her living room to talk.

  She sat down next to me and set her palm on my nape. She circled her fingers there, helping ease the stiffness in my muscles. “She strangled you.”

  I touched one of the bruises, swallowing uncomfortably. My throat felt scratchy, and my voice hoars
e. “I got away from her.…”

  “But what if you didn’t?” She cupped the side of my face. “How could you confront her by yourself?”

  “I guess I deserved what I got, right?” I asked, shame hitting me deep.

  “No! Don’t ever say that.” She lifted my hand and kissed my palm. “You’re the victim here.” A cold glint appeared in her eyes. “She needs to be stopped.”

  “You’ll be happy to know I fought back hard. Her face looks a lot worse than mine,” I said through an achy smile.

  “She’s going to want revenge now.” Victoria laid her head back on the cushion but continued to hold my hand. “I’ll take care of her, but I need you safe. I want you to stay with your parents for a week or two.”

  “What about my job?”

  She snorted. “You are not going back to Virago even if you still have a job there. If for some reason Colette hasn’t fired you, you can tell Human Resources you have a family emergency.”

  “Then what?” I pulled my hand away and perched my elbows on my knees as I bent forward. “What reason do I give my parents or Jayden? What if you can’t take care of Colette? You expect me to remain in Seattle for good?”

  “In order to keep you safe, then yes.” She rubbed my back. “If you’re worried about money, I’ll open an account in your name.”

  “Oh God, no,” I whimpered.

  “Let me take care of you. It’s only fair since I got you into this mess.” She sat her chin on my shoulder and curved an arm around my waist.

  “That’s not true. I got myself into this mess.” I dabbed at the cut on my lip with a tissue.

  “Hey,” She squeezed my hip. “How many times do I have to tell you it’s not your fault?”

  “Until you admit you’ve been her victim for the last eighteen years.” I turned to her. “When I accused Colette of killing your college girlfriend, Laci she denied it like I expected her to.”

  Victoria closed her eyes. “There’s no evidence she caused Laci’s death. But even if Colette wasn’t involved, the damage was done. I ended up hating her then, and she lost me forever. We both lost something special when Laci died.”