Kimberly Meter - A Chance in the Night

Nico nodded and smiled up at her, his fears dropping away. “Can we get hot dogs?”

“Of course. A trip to the park isn’t complete without a hot dog with lots of ketchup and mustard, right?”

“Right!”

She carefully wound a warm, woolen scarf around his neck and grabbed his mittens and deliberately pushed aside the knot of fear lodged in her belly for the repercussions that were surely coming for her disrespect. She was going to have a great day with Nico and that’s all she was going to think about. Period. “Let’s hit it, little man,” she announced with a smile. “We’ve got a whole lot of fun to do before the day is done.”

That’s right. Fun, damn it.

And she’d mow over anyone who tried to get in their way.

LITTLE LEAGUE TRYOUTS were finished and Mathias and Christian were both starved so they headed for the hot dog vendor that was smart enough to hang around the park during the tryouts. It was there Christian saw her again.

The brisk air had put hearty roses in her cheeks and pinked the tip of her nose but it was the million-watt, sweet smile that stopped him, sucking the air out of his lungs. The memory of her beaten and broken seemed incongruous with the image of her now. Her blond hair, tucked in a messy ponytail trailed down to the middle of her back and she was laughing with a small boy who looked to be around four years old. She wiped mustard from the corners of his mouth while he giggled.

She looked…different. Wholesome. Nothing like the woman he often saw at the bar, waiting, world-weary, jaded.

Her sunglasses hid her eyes but there was no mistaking the love she felt for the boy.

“Are we gonna get some dogs or are you gonna stare at that lady all day?” Mathias asked, annoyed that Christian had simply stopped in his tracks, obviously rattled. Mathias elbowed him. “I’m starved.”

He shook himself. “I’m not staring,” he denied to the kid who was too street-smart to buy it but Christian couldn’t admit that he’d been shocked to see the woman here, in a setting so far removed from where he usually saw her. Looking nothing like she normally did. Not to mention now the worst of the bruising had faded and while she still favored her left side, she looked like a million bucks. He glanced down at Mathias who had shaken his head as if to say “weird” and moved on ahead to get his dog. Christian slowed as he approached the vendor, coming up on her and the boy, and found himself staring harder. Questions better left unanswered crowded his brain and he couldn’t look away. Maybe he’d been all wrong about her. The possibility made him feel like an idiot. In this light it was hard to imagine her as the seductress he’d seen. Sure, the worn jeans hugged a near-perfect ass and even though she was layered in warm clothing, he could almost see the outline of firm breasts but there was nothing of the overt siren he was accustomed to seeing.

And hot damn, she was stunning.

SKYE FELT EYES ON HER and just as she’d popped her finger in her mouth to suck off the mustard that had dripped from her hot dog, she locked eyes with the man who’d quite literally saved her life.

Sweeps of unruly brown hair ruffled in the breeze curling around the park, the sunlight picking up the subtle golden highlights and accentuating blue eyes that made her think of cool seaside mornings and crisp outdoor days. She pulled her finger from her mouth and looked away. What were the odds in a city crowded with people that she’d run into this man?

“Hey, lady, you’re holding up the line,” the surly hot dog vendor said, cranky and annoyed. “Keep it movin’. I ain’t standing here for my health, you know!”

She risked a short glance at the man again before clasping Nico’s hand and walking away with a murmured apology to the vendor.

“Mama? Are you okay?” Nico asked, looking up at her with a frown on his beloved face.

She smiled. “Of course, sweetheart. I was just surprised is all. I thought I knew that man from some-where but I think I was wrong. C’mon, sweetie, let’s find a spot where we can eat these dogs.”

Nico seemed content with her answer and quickly forgot as he ate his hot dog. “Mama, I love the park,” he announced, a mustard smear on his cheek that she wiped away with her napkin. “Can we come back tomorrow?”

“I don’t know…maybe,” she hedged, although an unhappy knot twisted her stomach. Belleni refused to keep to a visitation schedule, partly she was sure to keep her tethered and partly because he couldn’t be bothered with something he considered so trivial. Never mind that she lived and breathed for the opportunity to spend time with her son. Nico’s expression fell and she sighed, giving in. “If it’s not raining or snowing, perhaps Belleni wouldn’t mind,” she said, pleased when Nico grinned. Her son’s happiness meant the world to her. She’d risk whatever she had to, to lessen the effects of such an unusual living arrangement for Nico.

“And can we have another hot dog?” he asked.

“Of course,” she answered, leaning forward to kiss him on the nose. “Now, eat up, so you can ride the swings.”

She kept her smile but on the inside she trembled with a growing sense of urgency to get away from Belleni. Two months ago she’d been on the verge of escape. But that all came crashing down the day Belleni called her to his home.

“Hello, darling,” Belleni had said, his voice deceptively mild as she’d entered his sprawling office with its imported Roberto Cavalli rugs and fine-grained, hand-carved mahogany furnishings that cost more than most people saw in a lifetime. At one time she’d been awed by his display of wealth, his obvious fine tastes reflected in the works of art hanging on the walls and the opulence of his home but that was before she’d realized how he consumed lives to pay for his lifestyle. Now it just turned her stomach.

“You wanted to see me?” she asked, nerves stretched thin at the request. At first she’d thought he wanted sex—and though the thought of that man touching her body made her quake with disgust—she’d endure to keep up appearances.

But that wasn’t his intent and she should’ve known when she saw Vivian standing beside him, her eyes aglow with barely concealed glee that something far worse was coming her way.

“Aren’t you happy being a Belleni girl?” he asked, throwing her. “Do I not see to your every need?”

“Y-yes,” she said, her gaze darting to Vivian, uneasy at the questions he was asking. “Of course. I’m quite happy,” she lied.

“I want to believe that, I truly do, but something troubles me,” he said with a heavy sigh, his solid body rippling with the motion. He pulled a small slip of paper and gazed at it a long moment, his mouth pursing with displeasure and her blood chilled as she realized what he was staring at.

An ATM slip. Her mind tripped over possibilities. Had she been sloppy and dropped it somewhere in the apartment? She thought of the last time she visited her bank to make a deposit into her secret account and she held her breath, too afraid to give anything away. That money—painstakingly deposited away from Vivian’s watchful eye—was her and Nico’s ticket out of this hell. She finally had enough to run. She was just biding her time, looking for the perfect opportunity to slip away….

He let the paper drift from his fingertips in perfect timing as two men Belleni hired as muscle came soundlessly into the room, blocking the exit with their solid mass.

“I took you in off the streets,” he began, steepling his fingers as he regarded her with the sharp eyes of the predator he was but she resisted the urge to make a run for it. To run would signify guilt and so far he hadn’t actually accused her of anything. “You were such a sad thing when I found you. Full of broken dreams and heartache. I nursed you to health. I gave you purpose. I gave you Nico.”