The Devil Inside Part 3

"Thanks, Dad," he joked.

"Anytime, son. Hang in there, and I'll be there soon to keep you company. Did they pitch a tent out with the cows for me?"

"You get the bunkhouse, but don't hold your breath on a warm welcome from Grandma Carol." He laughed at the thought of his grandmother, suspecting her hostility came from his large dose of Casey genes. "She's even quieter than you are, and I don't think it's because she's thinking deep thoughts, you know?"

"We've met, so don't worry. Go get some sleep. You want to be well rested for all the milking you'll have to do in the morning."

"You're so funny. Tell Merrick hi for me. Bye, I'll call you tomorrow. Love you."

"Love you too." Cain took the phone headset off and toweled her face. She battled the urge not to jump on the next plane to make Hayden feel better.

"You can't fight all his wars for him, baby." Merrick put the weights she'd been curling back on the stand and faced her employer. "We can be there by tomorrow night. Any sooner and it'll look like you're hovering."

"I'm his mother, I'm supposed to hover."

"Boss, you knew this day would come. The girl wasn't going to disappear forever unless you gave her a little push in that direction, if you know what I mean."

"Unless you have a death wish yourself, don't ever say that again. Emma's a b.i.t.c.h, I'll concede that point, but she's Hayden's mother, and I'd never do anything to harm her."

"I know that, baby. Emma just never gave you credit for your sense of honor. He asked again, didn't he?"

Cain let out a sigh of her own. Those things she'd told Hayden up to then had left her with her own demons, which would probably be with her forever. Emma had urged her to make choices with her heart, and she had capitulated, even though those choices went against her instinct.

Her father had harped on that subject more than anything when she was learning the business. He knew from his own experiences how easy it was to give in to the caring side of your nature, but therein laid the trap. Your heart kept your enemies around to fight another day, and when they did, most times they picked the easiest targets. The targets that inflicted the most pain to those left behind.

Up to now she hadn't lied to Hayden but had tried to s.h.i.+eld him from the whole truth. She had done it to give Hayden the opportunity to have a relations.h.i.+p with Emma. It was a gamble, but once again she had turned away from her gut and gone with her heart. With Emma back in their lives, though, her decisions could return to haunt her. It would be Cain's main concern to keep Hayden whole if they did.

Remembering Merrick's question, she finally answered, "Yeah, he asked, and I don't have an answer for him. Not one I can live with, anyway. If Emma knows what's good for her, she'll clam up on the subject. If she wants any type of relations.h.i.+p with Hayden, honesty on her part won't be the mortar that'll pave that brick road for her."

"It's not your fault, Cain."

"The h.e.l.l it isn't, Merrick. Marie would be alive if I'd thought with my head instead of my heart. You knew my father. He'd have never made that mistake. And for what? I turned a blind eye to what happened, and Emma left anyway."

Knowing better than to argue, Merrick held her hand out so Cain would come closer. "Come on, let's get you packed and ready to go. It's colder than h.e.l.l up there, so we have to find your long johns."

Chapter Six.

The panic set in when Emma went to check on Hayden the next morning and found his and Mook's beds both empty. That he'd gotten disgusted with his visit and left crossed her mind, and it brought on a fresh batch of tears. Her eyes were still a little swollen already after eavesdropping on his telephone conversation with Cain the night before.

"What's the matter?" Hayden appeared in the doorway and appeared confused as to why Emma was in his room crying.

"Nothing. Just thinking about something. Would you like some breakfast?" The sweaty clothes and red cheeks could only mean Hayden was a morning runner, like Cain.

"Just cereal is fine, if you have it."

"It's no trouble, really. Let me make you something."

Hayden stripped off his sweaty s.h.i.+rt and folded it neatly before he put it in what looked like a laundry bag.

"Did you have a nice run?"

He nodded and grabbed another set of clothes to take into the bathroom with him.

"Let me grab a shower first. I'm not that picky, so don't knock yourself out."

Emma looked at his bag full of folded clothes and the order of the room. Both Hayden and Mook had made their beds before they'd gone out, and nothing was out of place. Hayden was neat, polite, intelligent, and thoughtfulall the attributes she would not have put together with someone so young. The illusions she had spun with her upstanding Christian mother's help were fiction. She could see now leaving him with Cain hadn't been a mistake. Her son had become the person he was at Cain's knee, not at the end of her fist.

"G.o.d forgive me for what I've done." She got off the bed and left the room without another word. Her mother's disgusted look as she pa.s.sed her in the hall didn't brighten her mood as Emma headed to the kitchen.

Carol had been standing in the hall like a sentinel on guard to make sure their guests didn't run off with her silver. "This isn't a cafe, Emma. The boy has got to learn we aren't here to cater to his every whim."

Carol had watched Hayden run off with Mook and felt her anger start to simmer. Seeing Hayden was like looking at a mirror image of the woman Emma had introduced to her and Ross on the day of her graduation from Tulane.

Thirteen Years Earlier at the Tulane Campus in New Orleans "Hi, baby. Your mom and I are so proud of you." Ross hugged Emma and held her for a long moment before he let her go. He had already taken two rolls of pictures on the old Kodak camera he'd lugged with him from Wisconsin so he could remember the day his little girl walked across the stage in her cap and gown.

"Thank you both for coming, Daddy." Emma squeezed her father one more time before she turned to face her mother.

Carol studied her daughter for a long while before she said anything. Something was different about Emma, and she couldn't quite place what it was. "I don't know what you think you're going to need all this education for when you come home and settle down. All this was a big waste of time and money, if you ask me."

"I'm sorry, did anyone ask you?"

The question was asked with a touch of humor, but when Carol looked up, the blue eyes held no trace of teasing.

"Mom, Daddy, I want you to meet Cain Casey. Cain, my parents, Carol and Ross Verde." Emma stepped next to Cain and put her arm around her waist. "Try and behave, baby." They had been seeing each other for over a year, and Emma felt comfortable prodding the mobster when it was warranted. Emma laughed at the way Cain's brow arched at her comment.

"Miss Casey, it's nice to meet a friend of Emma's." Ross held out his hand, unable to turn away from the sight of his daughter leaning against the tall, strong-looking body. The image was making his brain freeze temporarily, since he'd never seen Emma act like this with anyone before.

"Thank you, sir. I know she's been looking forward to you two making it down for this auspicious occasion."

After Cain saw the way Emma's mother inspected the crowd, she was amazed Emma was as carefree as she was. The woman looked like someone was following her around holding a piece of c.r.a.p under her nose.

"Are we ready to go out to dinner?" asked Cain.

Emma tried to act relaxed, but watching her mother size Cain up was making her nervous. "Cain made a reservation at one of the city's best restaurants, so I hope you guys are hungry."

Without one word Carol turned and walked away, leaving her husband no choice but to follow her. In all the years that followed, she never asked about Cain Casey. When she got the news of Hayden's birth, she had simply handed the phone to an overjoyed Ross.

Watching her grandson make his way down the stairs brought that day back to the forefront of Carol's memories. One look at Cain and she'd known she and Ross had lost Emma. When she saw the size of her daughter's smile and how comfortable she looked in that viper's arms, she knew exactly what was going on. Loving another woman went against everything she believed in, a lesson she thought she'd firmly instilled in Emma.

From that day she couldn't bring herself to forgive her daughter the mistake Cain had been. To see the proof of that mistake in her house was more than she should have to endure.

Hayden detoured into the living room after he bounced off the last step, wanting to see who had driven up. Peering out the window he could see he was mistaken; actually someone was pulling away from the bunkhouse. It struck him as odd that anyone living in the area would be driving a dark sedan instead of a truck or SUV.

"Problem?" Emma asked, studying Hayden's back as he looked out the window. She was wiping flour off her hands, wondering what he found so fascinating in a place where almost nothing ever happened. As a child she'd never wasted time gazing out windows to the empty fields beyond. She spent her time reading and expanding her horizons through books like Little Women and The Secret Garden.

Her life in Haywood tempered the different lessons in those pages, and her mother had filled in the gaps of what was right and wrong, and good and evil. Though Cain had added to Emma's experiences, her moniker of Hayseed was never too far off.

"Are we expecting company?" Hayden didn't really need an answer as he watched the car drive to the gate and take a left onto the road. He was more interested in what Emma's response would be.

"Not that I'm aware of. Why, is someone out there?"

"Not anymore." He turned away from the window and went to sit at the kitchen table with Mook.

Behind him Emma glanced out the window to try and see what Hayden was talking about. The only thing moving in the yard was her father on his tractor, hauling a load of feed to the fence line.

She washed the breakfast dishes and put them away. A couple of hours later she stepped out on the porch to search for Hayden and found him reading a book, while Mook kept an eye on the road as if he were expecting someone.

"Would you like to go for a walk?" asked Emma.

Hayden put his book down and shrugged. "Sure, there's some stuff I'd like to ask you."

"That'd be great. What would you like to talk about?"

Mook put his sungla.s.ses on and followed far enough behind to ensure their conversation would be private as long as they didn't start screaming at each other. The three followed the dirt road Hayden had jogged on that morning.

Emma put her hands in the pockets of her coat to keep them warm and waited to hear what Hayden had on his mind. The crunch of dead leaves under their feet sounded almost magnified as they walked up the path behind the house. It led to an open field Ross used to grow hay for his animals in the summer. Now the ground was frozen and covered in leaves from the nearby woods.

"Why did you leave us?"

Emma hadn't expected the question, even though she'd listened in on his conversation with Cain the night before. She would have thought Cain had settled this issue long ago in her blunt, forthright manner. "I'm sure Cain told you the answer to that already, Hayden, so are you just testing me?"

Hayden sighed in frustration. Emma was going to give him the same runaround Cain always did on the subject. "Unlike you, I don't ask questions just to make conversation. I want to know. Did Mom hurt you or something? Is that it? Because she won't tell me."

"Really? And please don't ever think that about Cain. I don't like what she does, but she never hurt me." She waved her hands to emphasize the denial.

It surprised him, though, how quickly Emma had come to his mother's defense. "Cain thought it best for you to answer that question, not her."

"The Cain I knew would've answered something so simple easily enough, so it just surprises me she didn't."

"Maybe that's what your problem isyou don't know my mother at all. Maybe you never did."

Emma stuffed her hands into her coat again and looked back at the big blond trailing them. Mook was far enough away so he couldn't hear what she had to say and report it back to Cain. "I'm not stupid enough to think Cain has sheltered you from what the Casey family does for a living. I just hope you know it doesn't have to be your destiny."

"I didn't ask what you thought about my mother. I asked why you left us."

Emma sighed, knowing he wasn't going to let it go. As much as she didn't want to, she was going to have to answer him. Her memories of that day, every grotesque moment of it, were still a raw spot in her soul. She still grappled with the consequences when the events played in her mind.

Chapter Seven.

Four Years Earlier at the Casey Residence "Mrs. Casey?" Carmen the housekeeper stood in the doorway of the sunroom waiting to be acknowledged. She had seen Emma make her way into the house and away from the mob in the yard.

Emma's attention jumped from the cake table to the door. Carmen was, as always, quiet as a cat. "Please, Carmen, I've been here long enough for you to start calling me Emma. We certainly spend enough time together."

"And as enjoyable as it is, your name to me is Mrs. Casey," she said with a smile. "I need the key to the cellar, ma'am. We've gone through more liquor than we put out, and there's a couple of hours to go yet."

The bas.e.m.e.nt, a rarity in New Orleans, was filled with cases of the best brands on the market, and in this case all of them legal. Cain was a gambler by nature when it came to business, but in her home everything was legitimate.

The key Carmen needed was in the top drawer of Cain's desk, which was why she'd gone in search of Emma. She enjoyed a high level of Cain's trust, but no way would she chance the mobster coming inside and finding her anywhere near her private office.

"Don't go jinxing us, Carmen. We've gone all afternoon with the whole of Cain's family having a good time, and there hasn't been one fistfight yet."

Emma's teasing made Carmen laugh as she accepted the key and headed off to replenish the bar.

Two of the guys who worked at the pub were waiting to do the heavy lifting, leaving Emma to her moment of peace once more. Outside, Cain was holding up a plate to the maid cutting the large lemon cake, their son waiting with a fork in his hand. She was about to sit in the sunroom and close her eyes a minute when she felt the hard body press against her back and a large hand clamp over her mouth. Even with all the people in attendance and the room's great view of the yard, not one person noticed when the man pulled her away and dragged her to a guest room near Cain's office.

When the door closed she heard his breathing and felt sick to her stomach when he pressed his crotch into her bottom.

"You believe in G.o.d, Emma?"

His speech sounded slurred, which she attributed to the liquor that had flowed so freely all afternoon.

"Do you know how G.o.d punishes the perverts of this world for being perverts?"

"Please don't do this."

He only pressed harder into her and laughed. "I asked you a question." He moved his hand from her throat and squeezed one of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s to the point of pain. "So answer me."

"My mother certainly thinks so, but G.o.d won't punish you near as much as Cain will if you do this."

"My cousin Cain plays at being a man, but she doesn't have what it takes." His hand moved lower to her abdomen, and Emma fought the urge to vomit. "She's led a charmed life, though, and I'm thinking I want a taste of the sweetest charm she has."

He pushed her so hard she landed in the middle of the bed, and before she could move he was on top of her, pressing her face into the mattress, yanking up her skirt. Her thoughts flew to Cain and how badly she needed her. Her tears began when she heard his zipper and his sickly laugh.

Outside, Cain looked around for the third time, not seeing Emma in the crowd, so she patted Hayden on the shoulder and pointed to Mook. Merrick and Lou broke away from the festivities when they saw her head into the house. The same laugh that was terrifying Emma zeroed Cain in on the closed door.

Once inside, Cain and her guards realized immediately what was happening when Danny turned and they saw the evidence of his intentions in his hand. In two strides Cain reached the bed and jerked him back into Lou, who dragged the idiot out of the room before Emma could straighten her skirt and sit up.

"It's all right, love." Cain's voice sounded soothing, but Emma could feel the tension building in the lanky frame. "I'm sorry for not getting here sooner, but it's all right now."

"He tried to..." She couldn't finish.

"I know, sweetling, but you're safe now." Cain pressed her palm to her lover's cheek and offered the only comfort she could at the moment. "And I promise you this won't ever happen again. No one comes into our home and touches what's mine. No one."

She pulled Emma closer and looked at Merrick over the blond head. "Clear the grounds and bring Hayden upstairs to our room. I want him to sit with his mother while I take care of this. And make sure Carmen sees to Marie."

Merrick left without a word, and Lou and his charge disappeared into the cellar. With no windows and cinder-block walls, the s.p.a.ce made a wonderful wine cellar, but in this instance it would serve as a great place to swallow all of the screams that would issue from it.