Independence & Consequences, M J Marlow [read out loud books .txt] 📗

with him being a bit ‘damaged’ when I arrest him.” He saw by her smile that he had appeased her. “So we just hang around here until we hear that your husband is dead?” “Oh no, darling,” Nell smiled and came towards him slowly. She ran her hand over his bare chest, her eyes going quite warm. Lang was nearly taken in by her act. The woman was incredible. “We find Isabel and free her from whatever nightmare she has been forced to endure.” “You know where she is, don’t you?” “I think I know,” Nell told him. “That is not the same thing.” She got dressed, not bothering to hide from him. She came to sit next to him and met his eyes seriously. “We are kindred spirits, Lang Tolliver.” “I see that,” Lang smiled back at her. She was as much the chameleon as he prided himself to be. He cupped her chin in his and kissed her gently on the lips. “It’s a shame I couldn’t have met you first.” “You should not think this,” Nell shook her head, even as she moved to straddle his lap. “If I were not Jake’s woman first, we would not be in a position to help the pretty child.” She could feel his interest rising and she looked into his eyes. “Perhaps later, once Isabel is free and the nightmare is ended, we can discuss a possible friendship.” “I don’t think friendship is the right word,” Lang laughed and pulled her into his arms. Much later, he looked down into her sated eyes and thanked whatever fate had put her there. “You know who has her, don’t you?” “Her name is Liza Stoner,” Nell told him. “If Isabel is with her,” she continued as she clenched her fists, “then we have got to find her soon. Liza is a gifted drug designer. She will have the girl believing she is a codfish, if we don’t get to her.” “Do you have any idea where she would have taken Isabel?” Lang asked as they got into the car. He called the office and gave them the information they had. “Family holdings? Vacation properties?” “My only contact with the woman,” Nell told him as she knew she had to share a part of her own experience to help the child, “was when she gave me drugs to turn me into a pleasure slave for Enrique Alvarez.” She looked at Lang fiercely. “We have to get to Isabel, Lang. She’s just a child!” . * Isabel woke up several hours later feeling much better. She hated the thought of being sedated but, obviously, it had been the right decision. She heard someone moving nearby and sat up to watch as a strange woman laid out a long gown of white silk. She uncuffed her and Isabel got dressed. She sank down at the table where a meal was waiting for her and ate. Today was the day she would learn why all of this was happening to her. She still could not shake the feeling that she was not going to be happy with the outcome of this trial that was being arranged. But how could anyone believe that she had any part in the con that Olivia and Roger had been discussing? The door opened and Sebastian came into the stateroom. Emilio and Guillermo pulled her to her feet and held her as he looked at her in disgust. “It will do,” he nodded to the woman. “No shoes,” he shook his head. “This one will go barefoot before the Council.” “What is going on?” Isabel asked as he led her out of the stateroom. “No questions, Isabel,” Sebastian told her as they entered the elevator and went up one level. “Let this happen as it will.” Just outside the lounge, he cuffed her wrists behind her back. Then he cupped her chin in his hand and looked down at her sternly. “There in only one rule for you now: since your status is under dispute, you must stay silent until you are asked to respond.” He laid his fingers on her lips as she started to protest. “No matter what happens, Isabel. Your freedom depends on it.” The guards opened the lounge doors and Sebastian pulled her forward. He led her to the center of the lounge and forced her down onto her knees. She looked at the twelve men seated along the table in front of her. Sebastian’s hand remained on her shoulder as a warning. She didn’t know what was going on, but for some strange reason she believed he meant to help her. “This is the child whose status is in question,” Sebastian said and bowed his head to the Council. “She awaits your judgment.” “This one claims descent from the Alvarez,” Orlando Sandoval, the orator for the Council said as he rose to his feet. “Is there any who can confirm or deny its claim?” “I deny it, Your Honors,” Olivia said as she rose from a chair at the back. “This girl was in my care for 18 years,” she continued as she came into the center of the lounge. “She knew that I was working a con on the Alvarez family.” “And you, brother of the Alvarez,” Orlando asked, “what part in this do you hold?” “As disputor,” Enrique said coldly. He heard his brother’s gasp and hid his smile. “The woman was known to me, Orator. She is a con artist.” He looked at Isabel who was looking as shocked as he knew she would be. “This female is not the daughter of the Alvarez, but the child stolen from Dr. Charles Stoner and his wife, Dr. Liza Stoner.” He held up a folder. “I had her tested.” “If this is true,” Orlando frowned as the folder was retrieved and brought to the Council by a guard, “then this female has wronged the Alvarez.” “I claim my right as second son to stand as punisher,” Enrique spoke up as the results made their way down the table. “You would punish this child for something she had no knowledge of?” Ricardo spoke up as he looked over the DNA results. It was true; Isabel was not his daughter. “It remains to be seen if she was innocent of knowledge, hermano,” Enrique said coldly. “I shall find this out and she will be vindicated or punished as the answers are made known.” He looked over at Isabel and saw her starting to protest. “She has no voice here, Guerrero. Silence the animal.” Guerrero took out a silk handkerchief and used it to gag Isabel. She couldn’t believe this was happening to her. How could she have thought that he was going to help her? She glared at him and saw regret in his eyes. Confusion filled her. What was the truth here? She had been told she might be Ricardo and Cassandra’s daughter and now she was learning she was Liza’s child. But instead of being allowed to go to her mother, she was being tried as an accomplice to a crime she had no knowledge was actually being committed. “Do you argue his right, Alvarez?” Orlando asked her father. “It is his right,” Ricardo replied, looking as if a truck had hit him. “I will accept his proof and await the answers from his interrogation.” Isabel whimpered and Guerrero’s hand squeezed her shoulder, warning her to stay still. She closed her eyes and began to pray. This couldn’t be happening to her. Her life had become a complete and total nightmare. The Council filed out of the lounge and Isabel knew her very sanity depended on what they decided in their deliberations. She looked over at Enrique and he smiled back at her, satisfaction plain. He was doing this on purpose, she realized. For some reason, he wanted to make certain she and her father were never allowed to be together. He looked past her and she turned to see the Council returning. “The proof has been reviewed,” Orlando said solemnly. “The deliberations have been made. In accordance with our laws and traditions, this female will face interrogation at the hands of the Alvarez punisher.” “You are not allowed to question, only answer.” Enrique said as Sebastian removed the gag. Enrique came to look down into Isabel’s eyes. “Do you understand this, child? “I understand that you are…” “A simple yes or no is all we require of you, child,” Enrique said coldly as he clamped his hand over her mouth. “Do you understand?” He leaned down. “Because if you do not, I will have Guerrero gag you again.” “Yes,” Isabel choked as he squeezed her arm. “Very well,” Enrique nodded, satisfied that the interrogation would now go as he wished. “You were raised by a woman named Olivia Chambers. Is this correct?” “Yes.” “And did you overhear her conversation with Roger Hancock,” he asked her coldly, “in which they were discussing passing you off as an Alvarez?” “Yes.” Isabel nodded. “But, I…” “We require no explanations from you, child,” Enrique said as he squeezed her arm again. “Your mother put you in front of a member of the Alvarez family and he believed you to be his relative,” Enrique asked, “didn’t he?” “Yes.” Isabel saw the triumph in his eyes then and knew she was lost. He would twist her answers around to make it appear that she had not only had full knowledge of her mother’s con, but had gone along with it. She watched as Enrique held a book up in front of her eyes. It was Olivia’s journal. She had seen it lying on Olivia’s desk in the study many times during her childhood. “You recognize this book, child,” Enrique said as he held it up to her. “It is Olivia Chambers’ journal, is it not?” “Yes.” “I submit the following passages into evidence,” Enrique smiled and turned towards the camcorder as he opened the book. “Friday, June 14th: I received a phone call regarding the blood tests. They confirmed that Isabel was not the daughter of Ricardo Alvarez and Cassandra Talbot, as we had hoped. Roger and I decided to go ahead with our plan to con Alvarez anyway.” He heard Isabel gasp and shake her head. “Later that same day, Olivia Chambers writes: Called Gordon Talbot and told him I had his niece. Suggested he meet her at the opera. He accepted.” Enrique turned toward Isabel, enjoying the despair he saw in her eyes as she realized she was lost. “You have heard it from the child’s lips and her mother’s writings. I submit to the Council that this animal had full knowledge of the con her mother was planning.” He looked down at Isabel and saw the anger in her eyes. “I await your judgment.” He nodded to Sebastian and she was gagged. Isabel could do nothing now. She could only watch and listen. The men of the Council looked at her as if she were an abomination. Ricardo looked at her as if she had driven a knife into his heart. Isabel felt as if her heart were breaking. Orlando rose to his feet and came towards her. In his hand, he held a golden tube. He pressed it and Isabel watched as the end of it began to glow. He handed it to Enrique. “It is agreed,” Orlando said, not bothering to look at Isabel, “this female has wronged the Alvarez. As punisher for the house, it is yours to choose her fate.” “Through her a child was thought regained,” Enrique said solemnly. He pressed the tube to her arm, “she shall be rendered incapable of bearing children.” “No!” Rafael cried out, knowing this was where he spoke up. He had to. “I would suggest an alternate punishment.” “The Council will listen,” Ricardo spoke up before Orlando could. “Despite the fact that she overheard a con being plotted,” Rafael said as he stepped forward, “there is