Chapter
40: Secrets, Lies, and Deceit
It was nearly
Van grabbed Sara’s hand and dragged her towards the first store on Rodeo
he wanted to take her to, a high priced jewelry store. She tried to resist him,
but was only met with an even better defense. Sara couldn’t say no when Van
said he wanted to see what a million dollar diamond looked like around her neck
or her wrist, or her finger for that matter.
“Hello, Van!” one of the young women working the counters greeted them
as they walked through the door.
“Hey, Justine!” he replied, walking over to her and placing a light
kiss on her cheek.
“So, what can I do for you today?” Justine asked, a soft smile on her
face as she looked over at Sara approvingly. “And who’s the pretty woman
you’re with?”
“This is my girlfriend, Sara,” Van introduced.
“Pleased to meet you, Sara,” Justine politely replied as they shook
hands.
“How do you two know each other?” Sara questioned, feeling a little
suspicious of the relationship she sensed here. Van gave her one of those looks
that pretty much told her everything. Their relationship had been strictly
business, and Justine’s hospitality was genuine. “Ohh! Okay,” Sara
replied, relieved.
“So, what would you like to see?” Justine said, continuing to smile at
the couple.
“I don’t know, something in the seven figure range,” Van answered.
“Alright, step this way and I’ll find you something that might
interest you.” Justine showed them past all the glass cases, making Sara’s
eyes wander every time she saw something glitter. They were taken into one of
the back rooms where another person waited to greet them.
“Well, if it isn’t my best customer!” a man in a dark blue suit
exclaimed as they entered the room. He was an older gentleman with graying hair,
slate blue eyes, and a rounded figure (if you get my drift). Everything about
him screamed money, except his attitude towards the young couple. “What can I
do for you this lovely afternoon?”
“As I told Justine, my girlfriend would like to try out some jewelry in
the seven figure range,” Van answered.
“You’re just in luck. I have some beautiful diamond necklaces that
were just dropped off this morning that are absolutely stunning.” He turned to
Sara and said, “My, you’re a beautiful catch. If I didn’t have a wife and
kids, I’d probably try to steal you away for myself!” Sara laughed at his
comment finding it quite amusing. “I’m Roger, and you are?”
“Sara,” she replied, letting him shake her hand.
“A beautiful name to go with a beautiful creature,” Roger commented.
“So, my dear, what would you like to try on today? A necklace, a tennis
bracelet, a ring? Anything you desire, you shall receive.”
Sara didn’t know how to answer. This was the first time she had ever
been in a jewelry store. She had no idea what she wanted to try on and merely
answered, “Anything and everything. I’ll try whatever you got.”
“Wonderful!” Roger exclaimed as he opened one of his drawers and
started pulling out boxes. The first thing that caught Sara’s eyes was a ten
karat diamond necklace by Harry Winston. She reeled at the thought of putting it
around her neck, and when Roger held it up against her skin, she instantly felt
her knees weaken. “This would look perfect on you! Come on, let’s try it
on!” He slipped the necklace around her neck and clasped it, then holding up a
mirror, she glanced at her reflection.
“Oh, my God!” Sara gasped when she saw the thing sparking around her
neck. “I can’t believe I’m wearing a Harry Winston.”
“Honey, there are many more where that came from!” Roger replied with
more enthusiasm than she expected from an older man. As she admired the necklace
in the mirror, Van leaned into Roger’s ear, whispering something Sara
couldn’t hear. Whatever it was, she didn’t care. Just having this diamond
around her neck was overwhelming.
Roger quickly scurried out of the room and returned with a few smaller
boxes that obviously contained rings. He slipped the necklace off Sara’s neck
and opened the first of the four small boxes he had brought back. It contained a
diamond the size of her thumbnail that sparkled with such an intensity Sara
thought she’d go blind if she stared at it for too long.
“Holy shit…” she trailed off as Roger slipped the ring on her
finger. It weighed so much her hand nearly fell onto the glass case below it.
“Whoa! Now that’s what I call big. How much is this thing anyway?”
“Eight karats, four point seven million dollars,” Roger answered.
Sara’s eyes popped open as she stared at the huge ring on her finger.
That was definitely not something she wanted to carry around with her for longer
than she had to. Right now was probably the perfect time to take it off. She
handed the ring back to Roger as he opened another box that contained another
large diamond, but this time it was tinted a light pink color and had two
smaller begets on either side.
“Oh, my God! Is that…?” Sara began to ask when she realized that the
ring looked exactly like the engagement ring Jennifer Lopez received from Ben
Affleck.
“Oh, no, but it’s similar. Her ring doesn’t have the two begets,”
Roger answered, knowing exactly what she was going to say. “But it does cost a
little more.”
“How much?” Sara replied, afraid to hear the answer.
“Eleven million.”
Sara’s jaw dropped, and if it hadn’t been held in place by her jaw
muscles, it probably would have hit the floor. Just wearing a ring this size
freaked her out. She had to give it back before she somehow managed to lose it.
Roger opened the third box to reveal a much smaller diamond, only tinted a light
shade of blue. “Oh, that’s so pretty,” Sara remarked as he slipped it onto
her finger. It looked nice, but it just wasn’t something she would wear.
“That’s a four karat blue diamond valued around five million,” Roger
told her. She quickly handed him back the ring. She was really getting antsy
around all this high priced jewelry. Finally, he opened the last box to reveal
something a little more down to earth. It was a beautiful two karat solitaire
with two begets on both sides and a platinum band.
“Let me do the honors,” Van interrupted just before Roger slipped the
ring on Sara’s finger.
“Of course,” Roger replied, winking. Sara knew there was something
going on between the two, but was unable to figure it out. Instead, she shrugged
it off and allowed Van to slip the beautiful ring around her finger.
“Oh, God!” she whispered when she finally looked at it perched on her
hand. It seemed like it belonged there! “It’s so beautiful.” Van looked up
at her and smiled. She was completely taken by the ring. “Please don’t tell
me this one has an outrageous price tag like the rest because I’d probably
just break down and cry.”
“Actually, that ring is fifty thousand dollars,” Roger told her.
She looked up at him sharply and said, “I thought I told you not to tell
me it had an outrageous price tag like the rest.”
Van and Roger laughed at her comment. “Sara, that’s the cheapest ring
in the store,” Van replied.
“It’s almost as much as I make in a year!” she exclaimed, but
didn’t take it off. It fit so well on her finger that she began to wonder if
the ring had actually been specially made for her, as outrageous as it sounded.
This time Roger laughed. “Van is known for buying his lady friends some
exceptional jewelry. I think this little purchase is one that I find extremely
odd, but Van is my best customer, so whatever you wish, you may have,” he
said.
“Roger, you don’t have to play along right now. Sara’s one of us,”
Van said.
“Oh! So this isn’t a business meeting?” Roger replied, finally
getting why Van had chosen such an inexpensive ring compared to the others. In
fact, he was also under the impression that he was going to buy this ring,
eventually, with real money, and not Candy Store loot. If he was right, that
gleam in Van’s eyes was pure admiration and love for the woman sitting in
front of them. Roger could only hope that he wouldn’t squash his chances with
this beautiful woman like he had with several of his high profile marks.
“Nope, I just wanted to show Sara around, and you know, give her a taste
of LA life. She’s from
“I thought I sensed that about her,” Roger said. “Well, Sara, I hope
you enjoyed yourself today. Those diamonds looked stunning on you. If police
work doesn’t cut it for you anymore, give me a call so you can model here at
the store.”
Sara blushed, feeling a little self conscious but grateful for the
comment. No one had ever really blatantly told her she was beautiful enough to
mode something like diamonds. “Of course,” she replied, half jokingly.
“What girl wouldn’t want to model diamonds for a jewelry store?”
“Only a crazy one,” Roger answered cheerfully. “Have a wonderful
time in LA, my dear. And may Van be as good to you as he is to me.”
Sara saw Van cringe slightly, and realized that this was probably some
kind of joke then let it slide as she smiled and said, “He has been a good
boy. Let’s hope he stays that way.” Van cringed again, visibly this time to
get everyone’s attention that he didn’t like the way he was being treated at
the moment. Sara laughed and grabbed his arm. “Come on, let’s go. I think
we’ve made some pretty big asses out of ourselves already.” She tugged him
out of the store so they could meet Deaq and Vicky down the block at they café
they had agreed on before going their own separate ways.
“So, what was all that bull shit about at the jeweler?” Sara asked
when she and Van were finally alone on the sidewalk.
“It’s an inside thing,” Van replied. “Hard to explain. He does
that to me every time.”
Sara nodded even though she wasn’t completely satisfied with his answer.
“I’ll let that slide, but if you keep me out of the loop any longer, I’m
gonna be forced to use the Witchblade on you,” she playfully warned as she
slipped her hand into his.
“Ooh, sounds like a threat,” he retorted. “I’d better be careful
then.”
“You’d better.”
“That stuff was amazing! Never in my wildest dreams did I ever see
myself wearing Harry Winston. I guess you could say I felt like royalty with all
those jewels on my neck and my fingers,” Sara answered, almost going off into
dream land with the way her voice became somewhat wispy. “And that last ring,
oh my God! It was amazing! It was like the thing was made to fit my finger. If I
ever got married, that would be my engagement ring.”
Van smiled at her answer. She really was off in her own little fantasy
world, which gave him ample time to swoop her into his arms and kiss her. Sara
giggled, that feeling of euphoria quickly skyrocketing as she held onto him. It
felt good being normal for once and not having someone watching her back all the
time. She was truly happy in LA and couldn’t ask for more. Maybe it was time
that she considered permanently moving here. Maybe now was the time that she
finally talked to him about their future.
“Van, I need to talk to you about something,” Sara said, a little
condescendingly once he put her down.
Van noticed the change in her voice and demeanor, quickly getting the
impression they were about to take a path neither one wanted to walk on.
“Alright,” he slowly replied as they continued to walk down the street
towards the café. “What do you wanna talk about?”
“As you know, when this case is over, I’m gonna have to go back to
“Sara?” Ian recoiled at the harshness of her tone. “I’m sorry if
I’m bothering you, but I have to tell you something.” He continued with his
story of the shooting at the park.
Van sighed as he watched Sara turn around, and also answered his phone,
but he looked at the caller ID before yelling at the person on the other line.
“Yeah, Billie?” he asked, his voice soft and low.
“We’ve got problems,” she immediately replied.
“What kind of problems?” Van questioned, sensing that this was much
bigger than she was able to tell him over the phone.
“I need all of you to come back to the Candy Store immediately. I
can’t tell you everything over the phone,” Billie reaffirmed his suspicion.
“I already called Deaq and told him, so get your ass in here within the hour,
and don’t give me hell about this. I’ll strangle you if you do.”
“Yes, sir,” he replied, deciding now was not the best time to piss
Billie off. He hung up the phone and turned back to Sara as she also finished
her conversation.
“Let me guess, Billie?” she asked.
“Yep.”
“Ian.”
“Ah.”
“So, I guess we’d better find the other two and head over to the Candy
Store.”
“Did he tell you what happened?”
“Something about a shooting…? I dunno, but I know this is serious.”
“Billie didn’t tell me shit, but that’s Billie for ya, always
leaving us out of the loop.” Van took Sara’s hand once more and added, “So
what were you saying about
“Nothing,” she replied, knowing this wasn’t the best time to bring
that up. “It’s not that important.”
Van knew something was up with Sara, but seeing that she was already
tense, he didn’t want to ignite the potential flame of anger that was
crackling within her. Instead, he wrapped his arm around her and they continued
to walk towards the café to find their companions and wrangle them up so they
could all head back to the Candy Store before Billie got pissed.
*~*~*
Billie was impatiently pacing her office as Ian and another man sat across
from her, the other man being Michael Savidge, the guy whose life Ian managed to
save by catching that bullet. She still hadn’t been able to find out how he
did that. He continued to keep her in the dark, which was really beginning to
piss her off.
“How much longer are we gonna have to wait?” Michael asked, his high
pitched voice still a little shaky with nerves from his attempted murder.
“Just a little longer, Mr. Savidge, my men are on their way,” Billie
replied, trying not to show her anger and distrust with Ian. She glared in his
direction, making Michael even more nervous. “Ian, could I talk to you for a
moment?” she asked, grabbing his muscled arm in her claws and dragging him out
of his seat. He knew he was in for it now and was beginning to wish he had told
her everything a long time ago. As they stood face to face in a darkened corner
of the Candy Store’s showroom, she gave him that angry look that could only be
described as the look of death. “You’d better tell me what the hell happened
today or I’m really going to hurt you,” she seethed, her finger pointing at
his chest as she poked it a couple of times to get her point across.
Ian sighed, knowing he was done for if he didn’t tell Billie the truth.
“I don’t know how to explain this to you, Billie,” he began, but wanted to
say, ‘so I won’t scare you to death with all the strange and disgusting
details about my past.’
“Well, I got an hour, start explaining,” she growled, her arms folding
over her chest as she stared him down with those harsh baby blue eyes that
seemed to glow with anger. She wanted to know what the hell was going on, and
she wanted to know NOW! And there was no doubt in her mind that this had
something to do with the Witchblade. How else could Ian have pulled off that
bullet catch with his bare hands?
“Billie, you have to promise me that you won’t turn away from me after
what I tell you. These things I have never discussed before with another human
being. I’ve hidden them for as long as I possibly could, and now that you’ve
seen what I could do, I have to tell you everything, as hard as it may be for
me,” Ian started quietly, keeping his voice low so that their guest wouldn’t
hear them.
“There’s nothing that can possibly make me turn away from you,”
Billie replied as she began to feel bad for forcing him to reveal things that
were probably almost impossible for him to talk about. “Besides, what could be
so bad that you’d want to hide it? Oh, wait… stupid question. We all have
our demons. Hell, I had some pretty horrible ones myself, some that I’ve told
you about, some that I’m still trying to face down. So tell me, Ian, what
happened today? Was it something that involved your connection with the
Witchblade? Or was it something far from it?”
“Everything in my life is connected to the Witchblade,” he answered.
“What happened today was meant to happen. I was meant to show you one of my
secrets and save that man’s life for a reason. So listen to me with an open
mind when I tell you things that you will probably find horribly disgusting and
frightening. But believe me when I say I never wanted to hurt you or lie to you
or keep secrets from you. I’ve always been an honest man, but I’ve had to
hide all that was true behind cryptic mind games and riddles. You’re the first
person I’ve ever been straight forward with.”
“Ian,” Billie interrupted as she took his bandaged hands into hers and
looked deep into those pained caramel eyes. “Just tell me, okay? I’m
listening.” Her voice was soft and encouraging, allowing him to sigh deeply as
he began again.
Starting to pace the showroom floor, Ian told her about everything he had
experienced from his early childhood when he was adopted out of a harsh
orphanage on Long Island, the years of even harsher training that came
afterwards, the physical abuse along with the mental and emotional, the years he
spent with the Black Dragons, the drugs and the conditioning, the assassinations
of many under Irons’ contracting, and all his training on the Witchblade and
many other objects of power. It all ended with Sara receiving the Witchblade,
Irons getting mad that she wouldn’t let him control her, and Ian falling for
her like he never expected he would. He carefully left out anything about Irons
little fight with Sara and how he was dead.
Once he finished, Ian stopped pacing and looked over at Billie expecting
to see a mortified and absolutely shocked expression on her face, yet he found
something he didn’t expect, sympathy. Those big blue eyes of hers were almost
brimming with tears as she stepped over and wrapped her arms around him. “Oh,
God! Irons is a HORRIBLE man!” she nearly cried. “He should be shot and
killed! I swear if I wasn’t upholding the law, I’d be breaking it by
murdering him. How did you find the strength to get away?”
“I didn’t have to,” Ian softly replied, realizing that he was about
to put Sara’s reputation on the line. “He’s dead.”
“He’s dead?” Billie asked, pulling away and giving him a suspicious
look. “But you told me you two split after some kind of a disagreement. What
aren’t you telling me?”
Ian swallowed hard. He led Billie over to the couch in the lounge and made
sure that they sat across from each other as he said, “The disagreement we had
was over the Witchblade. He wanted it back, but I knew that Sara was meant to
have it, so I disobeyed him by not killing her, and that cost him his life.”
“But how?” Billie’s questions kept coming. There was no way she was
being kept out in the dark any longer.
“It was Sara…” Ian stopped, letting her figure things out before he further explained.
“Sara?!?!” Billie screeched. “She killed Kenneth Irons?”
“No, not exactly. He more or less sacrificed himself on the Witchblade
when he realized there was no way he’d be getting it back in this lifetime,”
he cleared up, hoping that he had saved Sara’s reputation in the process.
Billie was shaking her head as she tried to process everything she had
just been told. Then again, this should have been a piece of cake considering
all that she had seen in the last couple days. But still, it was a little hard
to digest seeing that it was all coming at her like a speeding bullet. She
sighed heavily and scratched her head. “So, Sara and Kenny had a little fight,
and he killed himself?” Billie said aloud, making sure she had everything
straight. Ian nodded. “Boy, I wonder how you’re gonna get yourself out of
this mess.”
“I’m still working on a plan of action. I have yet to figure out what
to tell the world when I finally announce Mr. Irons’ death,” Ian answered.
“Tell everyone he had a heart attack or an accident or something along
that line. It’ll keep both you and Sara out of trouble, not to mention keep
the reporters at bay,” Billie suggested without a second thought.
Ian gave her a wayward smile as they gazed at each other. “All this
coming from someone who has sworn to uphold the law. Billie, I had no idea you
could be so deceptive,” he replied.
“Hey, you’re in the Candy Store. The officers here are 51% cop and 49%
criminal. Of course we’re deceptive; it’s a job requirement,” she
answered. “But seriously, take my advice. It’ll also keep you out of legal
danger if an accident happened at the mansion and your doctor was able to
declare Kenny dead, that way the only lawyer you’d have to see is the one
that’s gonna read his will.”
“I’ll have preparations made at once so when I arrive in
“I trust you, you trust me, and that’s how a relationship is supposed to work. So you can believe me when I say none of this will ever leave the Candy Store walls,” Billie reassured him as she leaned over the couch and cupped his chin with her hand, pulling his face closer to hers for a kiss that sealed the deal. As she pulled away, she added, “Alright, lets go see what we can do for that poor guy whose ass you saved this afternoon."