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CHAPTER 11 Max gave Nigel a quick tour around the compound, making sure to point out that guards were posted at almost every entry and exit venue and the fence was electrified as well. Nigel showed enough interest that the tour lasted over an hour, and then they returned to the poolside. “By God, it’s hot!” Nigel sighed as he settled back at the shaded table and Pedro appeared with fresh glasses of cold iced tea for them. “Yes, but luckily we’ll be out of this environment soon,” Max replied. Nigel caught the term ‘we’ but did not ask about it. He wasn’t about to go anywhere with the man, but he didn’t want to risk a row. He picked up the photo album again and turned the pages. There were indeed several pictures of his mother, and one picture of the twin Bailey boys. Whatever doubt he’d harboured of this being a mistake or a fabrication, the proof of Ross and Roger Bailey was now before his very eyes. “Why did you hate my father so much?” he asked, suddenly. “He wasn’t your father, I am,” Max corrected as he lit another cigar. “And there were plenty of reasons to hate him.” “Like what?” “Well, for one, he stole the only woman I ever loved away from me.” “My mother?” Max nodded. “I’d met her when I was sixteen and fell for her immediately. She seemed to like me too, but as usual, Ross saw that I had something of my own and decided to take it away from me.” He puffed on his cigar and stared out over the horizon. “He was always doing that. Always lording over me that he was three minutes older than I, so he deserved first shot at things.” He shook his head. “He was ridiculously competitive, always taking a sudden interest in anything I showed an interest in, and he always had to be better at it, as well. If I wanted to learn how to fix cars, he’d become a Master Mechanic. If I enlisted in the drama club, he’d become the most talked about thespian at school. Of course, he had to date every girl I so much as smiled at.” Nigel stared at him and tried to hide his shock. Mason may as well have been describing Preston. All his life Preston had bullied him and bested him at whatever Nigel wanted to do. Preston had stolen his girlfriends, gotten better grades; he’d even taken the job that was promised to Nigel at the museum. Nigel hated him for it, but he never dreamed that Preston might have gotten such behavior from their father. He stared down at the photo album again. “Is…is that why you wanted to hurt him?” he asked quietly. “Why you tried to ruin their marriage?” “I didn’t try to do anything, Nigel. Elizabeth was horribly unhappy in her marriage, I was just there to offer her comfort.” Max shrugged. “You and Ian were the result of that comfort.” “You must have…felt something else. You must have known it was wrong to…to sleep with your brother’s wife?” “She would have been my wife if not for Ross,” Max growled, bitterly. “She should have been mine, but my brother was determined that I not have anything good in my life. He ruined my chance of living a good and decent life, Nigel. My only alternative was to turn to a life of crime.” “I don’t believe that,” Nigel refused again thinking of his bitterness towards Preston. If the job with Sydney hadn’t come along, would he have become like Mason and tried to lash out at his brother? Would his bitterness have consumed him, as it seemed to consume Mason? “There is always another choice,” he decided. “A person can only have power over you if you allow it.” “Is that how you see your situation, Nigel? Are you allowing me to have power over you, to keep you here?” “There’s more involved here, you’ve threatened to hurt someone I care about. I’d be a monster to allow that to happen.” “Like me, you mean?” Max asked. Nigel remained silent. Max chuckled. “She’s taught you well, your professor. You know when to speak and when it’s better not to.” “I don’t think you want to hurt us, Max,” Nigel said, deliberately using Mason’s first name. “I think you want to change, you just don’t know how.” “You took psychology in school as well, I see?” “I’m just saying…” “Nigel, I am who I am and I’m far to old to change now.” Max sighed and rolled the cigar between his fingertips. “I’m too far involved in this life to just walk away.” “People do it all the time.” “Do they? And how long do these people live once they’ve walked away?” Max shook his head and popped the cigar back into his mouth. “No, son. They would never let me go. I know too much.” “The police could protect you…” “The Keystone cops?” Max laughed. “I’d have a better chance being dropped in the middle of the Sahara, with no food or water, and told to find my way home.” “I have a friend at Interpol. She…” “I know all about Cate Hemphill, Nigel. I know she was the one who pulled you into posing as Ian to get close to me.” Nigel immediately grew concerned. “If you’ve done anything to Cate…” “I haven’t touched her, she’s small potatoes and of no threat to me.” Nigel visibly relaxed. “Are you sure you wouldn’t like to take a quick dip?” Max offered, gesturing to the pool. “You don’t have to go under, but it would make all the difference in this heat.” “Did…did you have anything to do with my parent’s accident?” Max glanced at Nigel, startled. “No,” he denied quickly. “No, of course not. I loved Elizabeth and even though I didn’t care for Ross, he was still my brother. I was very upset when I learned of their death.” He paused. “Although, I admit to a small bit of relief as well.” “Relief?” “Well, Ross had detectives tailing me everywhere I went. All I wanted was to raise my son and be left alone, but he kept coming, kept chasing me and forced me into hiding. I couldn’t live a normal life because of his incessant quest to find me.” Nigel considered this for a minute and then an idea came to him. “Because you’d stolen their child.” It was a statement, not a question. He realized that the only way Mason would have been allowed to take his son, even if it had been the result of an affair, was to steal the child away from Elizabeth and Ross Bailey. He suddenly remembered moments when he was very young, times when he had seen his mother looking so sad. Pieces of conversations he had overheard between his parents. We’ll find him, Lizzie. Be careful, Ross. He’s mad. We’ll get him back, I promise you. Nigel remembered that his father always seemed to be flying off somewhere on short notice, though he never knew where. He could remember his mother being worried when her husband was gone, but then he turned eight and they shipped him of to a private boarding school. An argument between his parents suddenly came to him. It’s for his own good, Lizzie. He’s just a baby! I need him! It’s the only way! He can’t ever learn there were two! “That’s why they were chasing you,” Nigel said, numbly as he felt an overwhelming sense of grief settle through him. He’d thought his parents wanted him out of the way, and that was why they had sent him off to school, but it wasn’t that at all. They had been protecting him from Mason finding out that Elizabeth had two boys, not just one. “You kidnapped their son.” “My son,” Max corrected. “I had every right to take him. I even gave Elizabeth a choice, she could have come with us, but she refuse. What sort of mother does that, Nigel? She turned her back on her child!” “You wanted her to leave her family, her husband and my brother to be with you?” “With her son.” “You used your own child as a bargaining tool! That’s barbaric!” “Any other woman would have agreed. She would have put the child before her own needs.” Nigel bolted from his chair. “You’re insane! My parents suffered horribly because of you!” Max also stood. “And what of me? They hid your existence from me! It was my right as a father to know you, to raise you and she stole that from me!” “What of her rights? Didn’t she have any?” “She got to keep you, didn’t she?” Max sneered. “You never knew that!” Nigel snapped. “You took her son, your son, and she never saw him again!” “She would have seen Ian whenever she looked at you, Nigel.” Nigel felt as if he’d just had the wind knocked out of him. The fact that he would have been a constant reminder to his beautiful, sweet and loving mother of the child that was taken away, he couldn’t imagine such sorrow. He couldn’t even imagine how she could have loved him in the hell that Mason had created for her. To raise one child, a twin, and to lose another, all the while watching one grow up and worrying about the other. All the while, wondering what would be different, comparing them in her mind of what was and what might be. “It isn’t the same,” he croaked as he slowly dropped back into the deck chair. Max seemed suddenly concerned. “Nigel, on this subject we will never agree,” he decided. “You can only see your parent’s side of things and you will never see mine, because you don’t know the history between my brother and I.” “Sod your brother!” Nigel screamed, bolting out of the chair. “To hell with him and you, I don’t care if you had a miserable childhood, we all have issues, get over it! My mother did nothing to deserve what the two of you did to her. She should not have been a victim in your battle at all!” “It isn’t…” Max began, startled. “How can you expect me to see your side on anything?” Nigel demanded. “You seduced my mother and stole her child. You kidnapped Sydney and threatened to have her raped or killed by your Neanderthal guards, if I didn’t stay and tell you private things that I don’t tell anyone.” “Not even your precious Sydney?” Max asked. Nigel’s hands curled into fists. “I won’t discuss my relationship with Sydney.” “You love her,” Max said. “I can see that you do. Can’t you see that what you feel for her is what I felt for your mother?” “No!” “It’s true! I would have given Elizabeth the world. I loved her like…” “You kidnapped her child and tried to destroy her marriage!” Nigel accused, furious. “She had the world, all ready. She had it with my father and all you ever did was cause her pain!” “Because she caused me pain!” Max insisted. “I saw her first! I loved her first, but Ross stole her from me. He ruined everything. I tried to be like him. I tried to be good, patient, and successful, but she neglected me. She hurt me first!” “That’s why we’re different!” Nigel insisted. “Sydney’s happiness will always be my first priority, whether it’s with me or another man, her happiness, her well being is most important. Whatever makes her life complete is what I will do for her. That’s love, Max, true love, unparalleled and unconditional. You were just a petulant, obsessive child throwing a tantrum at not having his way!” “She loved me, first!’ Max hissed. “She would have married me, but Ross convinced her I was no good. She looked down on me, she held me in contempt because I wasn’t as good as my brother.” He snickered. “But who had the last laugh, hey? Who had them scrambling like dogs after a bone? Me! I did, and they deserved every bit of suffering they got.” Nigel stared at Mason and it dawned on him that his mother would never have slept with this man, no matter how unhappy she might have been in her marriage. “You tricked her,” he realized. “You pretended to be my father and raped her.” “It wasn’t rape,’ Max denied, quickly. “She enjoyed it. It was consensual.” “She thought you were my father!” “I am your father!” “You lied!” “Yes!” he snapped. “And she couldn’t tell the difference, could she? She thought I was Ross and she couldn’t tell the difference between the man she hated and the man she loved. What does that tell you, Nigel?” Nigel didn’t answer, he simply reacted. His fist connected with Mason’s jaw, toppling the hefty man backwards into the pool and a moment later, the butt of Ricardo automatic rifle knocked Nigel to the ground. “Leave him!” Max cried, pulling himself out of the pool and scurrying over to the prone Englishman. “Nigel?” he said, gently shaking the young man’s shoulder. “Son, wake up.” Nigel didn’t move. “Damn you!” Max hissed at the large Mexican. “Why did you hit him with your gun? You could have killed him!” “He attacked you, Señor,” Ricardo reminded, repentant. “Pick him up!” Max demanded rising. “Take him to his room.” He turned to another guard who was hurrying over. “Get the doctor out here pronto.” Sydney was startled by the knock on her door, and Mason rushing inside. “Come with me,” he demanded. “Why should I?” “Nigel’s been hurt.” “What have you done to him?” Sydney demanded, furious. “Stop arguing with me and come, damn it!” She followed him out of the room and down one flight to another, larger bedroom. She stepped inside and saw Nigel laying on the bed, an older doctor leaning over him, his expression grim. “We need to move him to a hospital, Max,” the doctor insisted. “He could slip into a coma, if he doesn’t wake up soon and I have no idea if he has a concussion or internal injuries.” Sydney moved past them both and shoved the doctor out of the way. She touched the bandage on Nigel’s forehead that was already stained with blood. She spun around at Mason. “What happened?” “Ricardo hit him with his rifle,” Max stated, grimly. “He was only doing his job, because Nigel punched me.” Sydney didn’t bother to hide her pride. “I hope he broke something?” “Max, we need to move him,” the doctor began again. “We can’t risk it!” Max snapped. “The police are watching all the hospitals, you know that!” He looked at Sydney. “Wake him up, Professor. If anyone can get him to come around, you can.” Sydney considered refusing, but then thought better of it. She didn’t want Nigel to slip into a coma and Mason seemed visibly upset at that happening. She settled beside her friend and leaned over him. “Nigel? Can you hear me, it’s Sydney.” Nothing. “Nigel, I need you to wake up. Come on, I know you’re comfortable in your quiet place away from all this shit, but you have to wake up, for me. Please?” Silence. She leaned closer and whispered in his ear. “You don’t want to leave me here alone do you? You promised if I was good you’d find a way for us to get out of this, remember?” She saw his lips twitch, ever so slightly and she straightened. “Well?” Mason asked. “He can probably hear us and doesn’t want to wake up,” she reasoned. “Maybe if you left me alone with him?” “Not possible.” Sydney whirled on him. “Look, I’m not a doctor and I don’t know what’s wrong with him, but if you’re going to refuse to get him the proper treatment, then at least let me try my way. There’s a Chinese form of meditation, it might pull him out of this, but I have to be alone to do it. I can’t have the distraction of people looking over my shoulder.” “You will have to manage somehow.” “Do you want him to die?” Sydney demanded. The doctor put a hand on Mason’s arm. “Max, anything that could help. He’s slipping away from us and if you won’t take him to a hospital, this is our only chance.” Mason stared at Sydney, who returned his gaze, defiantly. “Fine, we will leave you alone. But there will be a guard outside the door and we will be watching you.” He turned and ushered the doctor out. Sydney sat back on the bed and leaned over Nigel again, hiding his face from the camera. “Playing possum?’ she whispered. “Not really,” he whispered back. “I only just woke up, but I’m glad you got rid of them.” “Want to tell me what happened?” “Later. Syd, I think I know a way to get out of here.” “Does it involve you beating Mason to a pulp?” she murmured, proudly. “I would have paid to see that.” “Listen to me, Syd. Take my digital camera. It’s in my bag.” “What do you want me to do with it?” “The input cables are with my camera.” He paused. “The video camera in your loo is directed at the window.” Sydney smiled, understanding his plan, immediately. “You’re a genius, Nigel.” “Only when pressured to be.” He closed his eyes. “Go get the camera, before the come back.” Sydney rose and moved over to his bag. She pretended to search through it, sliding the small, hand sized camera and the cables up under her shirt, before pulling out a bottle of menthol lotion for aching muscles. She rubbed the lotion on her hands, returned to her place beside Nigel, and started to massage his temples. “That feels incredibly good,” he muttered, and then winced when she accidentally touched his head would. “Sorry,” she whispered as she clapped her palms together, and then rubbed them furiously to create friction “What time will you be coming to see me?” “After dark, late.” She nodded and put her warmed hands to his head. “Okay, wake up.” Nigel opened his eyes obediently. “Is that really an ancient Chinese ritual?” “I don’t know, I saw it in Karate Kid.” Max entered the minute Nigel started to sit up. “It worked!” he declared, impressed. “Nigel, son, are you okay?” “Would it matter?” Nigel groaned as Sydney helped him sit up and he put a hand to his pounding head. “I never meant for that to happen.” “Whatever.” He winced. “Could I have some aspirin?” The doctor stepped forward and offered him some pills. “Do you feel up to eating?” Max asked. “I could have some soup brought up, or a salad?” “I just want you to leave me alone.” “Nigel, don’t let our little tif ruin the day. We still have plenty to talk about.” Nigel glared at him, in disbelief. The man really was mad. “It’s a hot day, perhaps Professor Fox would like a dip in the pool, as you don’t swim?” Max paused. “If she gives you her promise.” Nigel looked at Sydney. “You want to go swimming, Syd?” Sydney couldn’t deny that she had been baking in her room and a cold dip would feel amazing, but she didn’t want to help Mason manipulate Nigel any further. “Swimming with sharks isn’t my bag, thanks.” “I think you should,” he returned, meeting her gaze. Sydney stared back and knew he was up to something. “Sure. A swim sounds good.” “Her word, Nigel,” Max reminded. “I must have it.” “You’ll be good, won’t you, Syd?” “I’m always good,” she purred. Nigel looked at Mason. “She’ll be good.” “That didn’t sound like much of a promise to me,” Max frowned. “It’s enough for me, so it will be enough for you.” Max’s eyes narrowed and then he turned away. “Very well,” he agreed. “I’ll send Maria up with a bathing costume for her and I will ask cook to prepare lunch for three.” Sydney looked at Nigel. “So, why am I going swimming?” “Purely for selfish reasons, I want to see you in a bathing suit.” She laughed.
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