C4 Who really is Eva?

Darius Kane's penthouse was located in the heart of Millionaire's Row, Miami Beach. The house overlooked the sparkling blue ocean and had an unobstructed view of the Miami sunsets. It contained ten luxury bedrooms with elegant bathrooms, a glass pool, Jacuzzi, top-notch electronics and gadgets, and a sophisticated dining room. The kitchen was complete with modern new appliances, granite counters, custom cabinets, and a perfect view of the waters. The penthouse also had a six-car garage that housed a Cadillac, an Escalade, and two Rolls-Royce Wraiths. The house was the definition of polished Miami living.

Inside his living room, Darius, after a quick shower that morning, was sitting on a couch, moping over a hot mug of black coffee. There was a dark, bleak look on his face as he put the cup to his lips and sipped the drink. He grimaced as the hot liquid shot down his throat. The back of his head still hurt severely, and it felt as if a lump of iron had been bounced on his skull. He relaxed into the seat, and when the pain had subsided a little, he lit a cigarette and did some thinking. What was with Eva and me? he thought. How did I come to love her so much that I almost got my head knocked off? He drew in a long, slow breath and grimaced.

The whole trouble with Eva had started when he had seen her on TV. She was a model then and was advertising for a famous designer in Miami. That was when he had seen her. That day, he had felt his blood move through his body as she performed the advertisement campaign, and it was that day he had fallen in love with her. Though Darius disliked beautiful women and had stayed clear of them, he found he was continually thinking of Eva. He was so obsessed with her that he hired a private investigator to find out about her.

A few days later, the private investigator returned and gave him a full dossier filled with Eva Montreal's life history.

He had been astonished when he read she was a successful runway model who was extremely rich and had come from a respectable, wealthy family. He had been even more astonished when he read that she was married to a wealthy, handsome man who maltreats her because of her promiscuousness. The dossier also contained all her dirty scandals and secrets with different men in Miami city. According to the dossier, Eva Montreal was a wild woman who had dated and slept with various Miami men. How was he to cope with such a woman? he had asked himself. It wasn't that she was the only beautiful woman in Miami.

There were lots of them! And yet he just could not understand how she had been able to affect him so much.

He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he did not see a short, fat man wearing a butler's outfit come into the living room. The fat man was carrying a breakfast tray. On it was a delicious sausage, heated buttered croissants, and freshly squeezed orange. He settled the tray on the table and turned his attention to his master, who had a sad look on his face.

The fat butler coughed slightly, and Darius jerked up his head, coming out of his thoughts.

"What is it, Alfred?" he asked.

"Breakfast is ready, sir."

Darius dragged his eyes to the table and eyed the tray wistfully. He had no appetite, but the food appeared delicious. He waved the butler away and settled down to eat. The food tasted extraordinarily good, and he washed it down with the orange juice. When he was done, he pushed the plates away and began to brood.

Suddenly, the telephone in the room started to ring. The butler came out almost at once and crossed the room to the phone. He lifted the receiver and put it to his ear.

"Mr. Kane's residence," the butler said in a pompous voice. He listened for a few seconds and held the receiver out to Darius. "Sir! It's for you, Miss Gates."

Darius frowned, puzzled. "Who?" Then his face cleared. "For God's sake!" He walked over and took the receiver from the butler.

"Hello! Lauren," he said into the receiver.

"How are you feeling this morning, cowboy? How's your head?"

He grimaced. "Hurts like hell! That man almost clobbered me to death!"

"I told you! But you wouldn't listen. Vince Montreal is never a man to joke with his wife."

"How do you know it was him?" he asked.

"Who else could it be? This is not the first time he would do something like that in a social gathering, and you are not the first man to fall victim to such."

"There should be a law against such unruly behavior," he growled.

"Vince has a lot of influence in Miami. He has the police in his pocket. If he asks them to jump, they would simply tell him how high."

"Don't forget! I've got friends in high places too. That man is an animal. He should be arrested and jailed for life."

"Oh yeah? Why don't you tell that to the judge, and you will also back it up with a good explanation of why you were kissing his wife."

"It was just a simple kiss which led to another!" he gritted out, remembering the previous night. "Anyways, thanks for taking me home."

"Not to mention, cowboy. I could not believe my eyes when I saw you lying unconscious, knocked out cold on the patio. We had a hard time getting you inside the car."

"Is he always like that? I mean, is he still that violent?"

"Yeah! He is, especially when it concerns Eva! I don't blame him! He's madly in love with her!"

"And yet he beats her?"

"That's no secret. Every busybody in Miami knows that Vince and his wife do not get along pretty well. Some said he beats her to instill discipline into her, and some said that he beats her to stop her from seeing different men, while some said he beats her just for the kick of it, but no one knows for sure."

"And none of these busybodies is ready to do anything about this unjust act carried out on a woman?"

Lauren gave a short laugh, which irritated Darius.

"Come on! Cowboy, Eva Montreal is not complaining. If she wants the beating to stop, all she has to do is stop cheating on her husband."

"That's the problem! No one is ready to know why a beautiful woman like Eva Montreal cheats on her husband," he returned spitefully.

"Calm down! You are getting so worked up. The only reason why Eva Montreal cheats on her husband is that she's just a cheap beautiful woman who cannot keep her legs tight. She has seduced almost all the men in Miami."

"That's not true!" he said vehemently.

"Of course, it's true. Stop defending her. Don't you know that's why her husband beats her?"

"I don't believe you, Lauren. My instincts keep telling me something is making her cheat on her husband."

"Save your instincts for other things. If the beating gets out of hand, she could file for a divorce!" Lauren suggested cynically.

Darius sniggered.

"Can't you see, Lauren? A man like Vince Montreal will never grant her a divorce. If indeed he's madly in love with Eva like you claimed him to be, such a man would never give a divorce. It would be like asking him to shoot himself in the head."

"That's understandable!" She paused and continued. "So what are you going to do now?"

He drew in a long, slow breath.

"Well, I'll lay low for now but have not given up on her. I'll find a way to see if I can still contact her again."

"Do you still want her? What exactly do you see in this woman? What exactly did she do to you that makes you want her so much?"

"I don't know, Lauren. I just don't know! I've been asking myself those questions for the past few months," he answered helplessly.

"She's not your type, Darius. There is a better woman than her in Miami. A woman like Eva could complicate things for you. She could destroy your image."

"I know, but I want her, Lauren. I like her so much."

"For Christ's sake! She's just a piece of trash!" Lauren exploded, unable to control herself.

"Don't call her that! Don't you dare call her that?" he returned in a grave tone. "I'm gonna make her my wife right after I find a way to take care of Vince."

"Make her your wife?" Lauren said, bewildered. "Just listen to yourself. I am sure she must have seduced you. That beautiful, little witch."

He gave an expressive sigh.

"Say whatever you like, Lauren! All I can think of right now is how I will protect her from that ogre that calls himself her husband. She needs help, Lauren, and I am going to help her."

There was a long pause, and Darius knew Lauren was trying to digest what he had said, then he heard her speak.

"There is something you should know," Lauren said, finally.

"What's that?" He was fully alert now.

"Carolyn Tender telephoned me this morning. Have you heard of her?"

Darius knew who Carolyn Tender was. A massive set woman with a fleshy face and a nose for gossips. She was a well-known gossip columnist based in Miami city.

"Yeah! I heard of her, what does she want with you?"

"Carolyn told me something early this morning, right before I called you. It's about Eva."

"Eva?" he replied. A slow, sickening fear was already spreading across his body. "Alright! I am listening."

"Eva traveled to New York yesterday morning to treat herself in one of the hospitals over there."

"Hospital? My God! What happened? Is she hurt?" He asked in a rasped voice, concern written all over him.

Lauren drew in a long slow breath and said, "She was bleeding from the rectum. Carolyn told me Eva was raped anally by her husband."

A blind panic hit Darius for a long moment; he stood motionless, his hand like a claw gripping the telephone receiver, his mind whirling with thoughts.

"Hello! Darius, are you there?"

"Yeah!" He affirmed weakly.

"Carolyn told me that Vince did it to her because of the parody she had with a man at a birthday party!" She paused and went on. "That man is you, Darius. Carolyn only told me this because we are close friends and have been known to keep secrets."

Darius lost himself in another bout of thoughts.

"Hello! Hello! What's wrong, Darius?" Lauren asked huskily. His silence was jeering on her nerves.

Darius snapped out of his trance. "How do you think Carolyn found out about this?"

"I think Eva planned to keep the public out of this, and that's why she travelled to New York. Unknown to her, the doctor who treated her in New York is related to Carolyn. The doctor asked Eva lots of personal questions. Poor girl! She needed a shoulder to lean on. She told the doctor everything. I think the doctor spilled the whole story to Carolyn."

"My God!" He exclaimed, "telling Carolyn that kind of information is dangerous. Moreover, how could that doctor have known Eva was a public figure in Miami?"

"I don’t know," Lauren said. "Maybe he was telling Carolyn about the interesting stories he hears from his patients and he was so caught up in it that he did not remember when the tale of Eva and her husband slipped out from his lousy mouth. Knowing the kind of woman Carolyn is, she'd have to dig up some info about Eva. In Miami, we both know marital issues and scandals make newspaper and gossip columns sell faster."

"Christ!" Darius exclaimed.

"Just be careful, cowboy!" she said. "Vince Montreal is not a man to mess with. He has the money, and he knows lots of people in Miami. So know who you are dealing with. So long, sweetie, I'll give you a call later." With that, she ended the call.

A cold shiver ran through Darius' body as he replaced the receiver with unsteady hands. He crossed the room to the big window and looked at the blue ocean as the morning sun bathed it. He lit a cigarette and began to think hard and fast on how he was going to help Eva.