Corinne (Book One of The Red Diamond Saga) Read online

  “I saw him.” Corinne gasped out as her mind was flooded with the memory of Daniel striking the restrained woman.

  “Daniel?” Sam asked as he leaned closer to her. “Is he the one that hurt you?” He asked, his eyes searching what he could see of hers.

  “He was hitting a woman.” She said, each word forced painfully from between her lips.

  “You, was he hitting you?” Sam asked, leaning even closer to her.

  All that Corinne could remember clearly was something very familiar about the person who assaulted her.

  “I don't know.” She whispered as she stared up at the white ceiling above her.

  “Just tell me the truth, Corinne.” Sam insisted as he grasped her hand tightly. “Don't try to protect him.”

  Corinne's mind swam with images. At one point she saw Daniel's hand lifting into the air; she saw it striking the woman who was restrained. She remembered the gun in the back of his pants. Was it possible that it had been him that followed and attacked her?

  “Tell me.” Sam insisted as he tried to keep her focused. “Just say it was him, I will make him pay, right now.”

  Corinne shook her head softly grimacing at the pain the movement caused. “No, no Daniel wouldn't...” She gasped as the ceiling above her began to spin. Just before she slipped back into the darkness, she heard the door to the hospital room open and close.

  9

  The next time she awoke she was alone in her hospital room. It was filled with the scent of coffee. She smiled wearily as she glanced around the room.

  “Daniel.” She murmured, as he had a habit of bringing her a cup of coffee in bed. But there was no one else in the room and no sign of any coffee. She sighed as she settled back in the hospital bed. Some of the pain and grogginess she felt had subsided. She could finally piece together some of her memories.

  A few minutes later a nurse stepped into the room.

  “Where's Sam?” She asked as the nurse checked her vitals.

  “Oh, he will be by in a little while.” She smiled compassionately at Corinne. “He is at the arraignment.”

  Corinne blinked a few times as her confusion resurfaced. “What arraignment?”

  The nurse frowned as she realized that Corinne did not understand what was happening. “For the man that hurt you, Daniel.”

  Corinne sat up in the hospital bed, ignoring the bursts of pain the sudden movement caused. “Daniel? But he didn't hurt me.” She argued as the nurse tried to guide her back against the bed.

  “Take it easy hon; you are not out of the woods yet.”

  Corinne shook her head firmly. “No, this is wrong. No!” She shouted as she pushed the nurse's hands away. “Daniel did not hurt me, he was not the one.”

  The nurse only continued to quiet her, but all Corinne could think of was Daniel in handcuffs being prosecuted for a crime he did not commit.

  “Coffee.” She whispered as she suddenly recalled what was so familiar about her assailant.

  Sam arrived at the hospital a few hours later. Corinne was dressed and ready to leave. She did not care that the doctors had not released her. When Sam entered her hospital room she met his gaze darkly.

  “You arrested Daniel?”

  “Of course I did.” Sam said as he paused right before her. “He hurt you, I would have rather tortured him, but I couldn't.” He frowned. “The nurse said you are insisting on leaving, why?”

  Corinne continued to glare at him as she felt a gnawing dread at what was about to occur, without knowing exactly why. “I never said it was him.” Her voice was low as she spoke.

  “Yes, Corinne, you did.” Sam rested his hand lightly on her shoulder. “You're confused; it's going to be okay.” He tried to pull her close to him for a hug.

  She pulled back with another glare. “No, Sam, it is not.” She reached up to pull his hand off of her shoulder, but he tightened his grasp, making it impossible for her to move, and causing her to wince in pain.

  “Sit down, Corinne.” Sam said through gritted teeth as he shoved her toward the bed.

  She sat down more out of shock than obedience.

  “Daniel was an undercover police officer.” He explained as he sat down on the bed beside her, keeping one hand on her shoulder in case he needed to restrain her. “He was working with one of the local gangs, and turns out, he got a little too used to the lifestyle.”

  Corinne recalled the gathering of men. She heard Daniel's words replay in her mind, claiming his innocence, and that he would explain everything when he could.

  “I'm sorry Corinne.” Sam said as he sighed, his expression lost in guilt. “I never would have introduced you if I thought there was a chance that he would turn out like this.” He rested his head lightly to her forehead as he added. “I've always tried to protect you.”

  His breath lingered on her features as he spoke. “I am sorry I couldn't this time.” He whispered, and his hand slid behind the back of her neck, where it grasped.

  Gently he touched his lips to her wounded ones, and when she tried to pull back, he tightened his grasp on the back of her neck and forced her lips to his.

  Corinne struggled away from the kiss, her lips tearing open again as she did.

  “Stop it!” She cried out as she shoved at him with her hands. She was too weak to defend herself, but she would still try.

  He laughed a little at her attempt. “It's okay, Corinne.” He brushed a lock of her blonde hair back from her face as he smiled at her. “I know I never made my feelings clear, but now I am.”

  He pulled her head back close to his lips, but this time he whispered in her ear. “No one will ever believe you.” He smirked around his words. “You know, all of the other girls I hurt, I had fun with too.” He squeezed her neck tighter as she tried to squirm away from him. “But not you.” He kissed her softly on the cheek. “You're too special for that. So you can play nice, or,” He grasped her chin with his other hand, which was still swollen from where he had struck it with his foot. “It can be rough. Either way, is fine with me.”

  When he lowered his hand from her chin to graze it across her shirt, he felt it. His once possessive expression became fearful within an instant. He was about to rip the wire out from under her shirt when the hospital room door burst open. Several officers flooded the room with weapons drawn, all trained on Sam.

  “How did you know?” Sam whispered as he realized that his entire confession had been recorded and transmitted through the wire that she wore.

  Corinne reached up to swipe at the blood that was flowing freely from her lip.

  “Daniel doesn't drink coffee.” She said quietly. “He makes it for me, but he won't touch it himself.” She tipped her chin in his direction. “You're the one whose breath always reeks of it.”

  As Sam was being led away in handcuffs, she stood and grabbed his arm roughly.

  “Just tell me one thing Sam.” She felt more agony from his betrayal than any of the injuries he had caused. “Why were you so kind to me?”

  He smirked with an arrogant glint in his eyes as he studied her. “I did what I was paid to do Corinne. No matter how long they lock me up, I will always know more about who you really are, than you ever will.” He laughed at that as the officers led him away.

  Corinne was left feeling as if she had been punched in the stomach. There had been moments when she wondered about her real parents, and why they had given her away. But life had taught her to never dream about what was not real, and to her, a family, would never be real.

  That night as she lay in Daniel's arms, she could not rest. The only person had had ever trusted had turned out to be a sadistic serial rapist. Her own fiancée had hidden an entire aspect of her life from her, though she understood now that he had no choice.

  She wondered as she stared off into the darkness that surrounded her if

  she would ever truly be capable of trust.

  10

  The mid-summer sky was weighted with the promise of a thunderstorm as the sun
struggled to break through the clouds gathered. Corinne found the imagery to be a perfect representation of what had been happening within her over the past few months.

  After discovering that she had been misled for most of her life by the only person she had ever truly trusted, she had to testify at his trial. Seeing that Sam, a police officer who had been beating and raping women while he offered her fatherly advice and pretended to care about her well-being, had been convicted and would spend thirty years in jail.

  Corinne had been one of the women he had attacked, and every time she recalled the feel of his fist colliding with her flesh, she wondered how a judge could decide how many years such torture was worth. He had not sexually assaulted her as he had the other women; her rape was not of her physical body, but of the last shred of her innocence.

  In a time when she felt the most lost, Sam had come to her rescue. She had been a young girl, barely able to speak, when he had befriended her as a rookie police officer. Since that moment she had believed that there could be good in people, only to have that belief shattered by who Sam truly was.

  Her mind was plagued with the memory of his words. He said that he had been kind to her because he was paid to be, and that he knew things about her past that she did not. She was certain that was possible considering that she knew nothing about her past. She had no information as to her parents names, or whether her last name, Sanders, was shared with either of her parents. It had never crossed her mind to dig into her past. Unlike some other children in her situation, she did not question where her parents were, she had always assumed she simply had none.

  Her curiosity had been awakened by Sam's words. She knew he could be lying, but the more she thought about her past, the more strange it seemed. Most kids in foster care had a story behind it. Often they were born to drug addicts or simply put up for adoption and not adopted. A rare few were orphans in the traditional way, with both parents being dead. Many parents were in jail, and some had simply been abandoned.

  She was one of the abandoned children, as far as she knew. The only information she had ever been told was that she was left at a hospital at a few days old with no evidence of her past other than a blanket embroidered with the name Corinne.

  One of her foster mother's had once murmured as she ran her fingers across the embroidered name, that someone must have been waiting for her to be born, to take the time to embroider it. Corinne had ignored the comment. She had learned not to feel emotional about the parents she did not have, as it had served no purpose.

  Shuttled from home to home, the blanket was the only thing that never left her side. She did not sleep with it or use it for security; she simply made sure it did not get left behind. She operated on the assumption that if her parents had seen fit to abandon her, then they were not fit to be parents.

  These thoughts had driven her to one of her sacred places, a local park where she enjoyed observing the nature around her. Here, she could be out in the open but still remain as isolated as she was comfortable with.

  As hard as she tried to distract herself from the gnawing curiosity that plagued her, she simply could not let go of the notion that there was more to her past than she realized. She had even gone to visit Sam, hoping that he would be able to tell her something more. He had only laughed at her, with no trace of his previous affection. She had set him up; she was responsible for his arrest. He would not tell her a thing.

  So she was left with no information, not even a name to begin with, and a burning need to know what she had never had before.

  “Can I join you?” His rich voice asked as he paused beside her, the scent of coffee wafting from the Styrofoam cup that he held.

  She smiled up at her fiancé, Daniel, who sat down beside her as she accepted the coffee. He laid an arm across her shoulders and the back of the bench as he too drank in the beautiful sight of the sky.

  “I see why you like it here.” He murmured as he stole a glance at her. She had not been the same since Sam's arrest. A lot had changed between them because she had discovered that he was not a paper pusher, as she had thought, but an undercover police officer. It had taken her a few days to even speak to him about it, as she processed the revelation. Now, at least she understood why she had never felt as if he was being completely honest with her.

  Corinne had a way of knowing the difference between the truth and a lie, even before someone spoke. Sam had called it her wacky senses. He teased her about it now and then. As she recalled those memories now, they made her wince. She did have a strong sense of intuition, but it had apparently not worked very well when it came to Sam. She still wondered how she had been able to trust someone who was so violent and sadistic inside. Even her own fiancé had been able to hide his true profession from her.

  No matter how well she had known Daniel before hand, finding out that he was a police officer had changed her opinion of him. His profession was dangerous, and his nature was protective. She could feel that need to protect her as his arm curled around her shoulders and he drew her close.

  “What are you thinking about?” He asked, as he searched her gaze for an honest answer.

  “Just lost in the past.” She smiled faintly as she snuggled into his side. She loved the feeling of him close to her. It offered her comfort in a way that she did not understand, but savored.

  Together they enjoyed the peaceful surroundings, as each sought to draw the peace within them and finally genuinely feel it.

  11

  Corinne had taken some time away from her classes to recover from the assault and to process Sam's betrayal. She was able to have some free time, only working part time to support herself. She thought she might take up painting as a way to soothe her mind, but instead she found herself staying up late each night searching the Internet for any hints of her past.

  Each time she thought she found a crumb it led to another dead end. The only thing the search offered her was more frustration.

  One late afternoon she was at Daniel’s house hunting the Internet for information as she heard a soft sound from behind her.

  She glanced up to see Daniel peering over her shoulder at the screen. He frowned as he noticed the subject of the search.

  “You know if this is something that you really want to find out, I might be able to help you.” He pulled up a chair beside the computer and sat down beside her without being invited.

  Corinne studied him for a moment as she had never considered asking for his help. “How?”

  He smiled faintly. “I am a cop you know, I do have connections.”

  She nodded slowly. “Okay, if you really don't mind.”

  Daniel sighed as he stared deeply into her eyes. No matter how he tried to convince her she never believed that he cared about her as much as he said he did.

  “I would do anything in my power to help you Corinne.” He murmured as he reached up and brushed a tendril of her blonde hair back behind her ear.

  “Please, trust me.”

  Corinne lowered her gaze as she heard those familiar words. Her trust was the only thing he ever requested of her, and it was the one thing she could not give.

  12

  The next morning as they were eating breakfast, Daniel left the house with a promise to keep her apprised of any information he was able to find. Corinne chose an outfit from the clothes she kept at Daniel's house and dressed for the day. She had to work for about five hours at the local courthouse. She was doing some court reporting while she studied to become a judge. It gave her the chance to get inside of the courtroom occasionally and rub elbows with those who were more seasoned in their profession.

  On the drive to the courthouse her mind was still occupied with the possibility of discovering who she truly was. Perhaps she had a whole history that she would be able to claim. It had never really crossed her mind before that her life could stretch beyond her own skin.

  She was about to pull into the parking lot of the courthouse when another car cut her off. It forced her to t
urn down a small side road to keep from striking it. With a gasp, she slammed on her brakes, and just avoided striking another car that was parked in the middle of the road. She slammed on the horn and started to back up, when the first car turned around and pulled up behind her, blocking her in. She started to become frightened as she realized this was more than poor driving. She was certain that these cars had pinned her in for a reason.

  Quickly she jumped out of her car, hoping to make it to one of the houses on the street. Before she could do so, a large man stepped out of one of the cars. He towered much taller than her, and his frame was thick with what she suspected was the augmentation of steroids. She turned away from him in time to find a second man emerging from the second car, armed with a pistol small enough to be disguised by his hand, but still lethal enough to kill her were she to try to run.

  As she stared at the man with the weapon, her face was growing paler by the moment. Her heart was slamming against her chest, and she did not even notice the first man stepping up behind her. The smell of whatever the rag was soaked in was sickly sweet. That was the last thing she remembered as it covered her mouth and nose, and instantly knocked her out.

  Her body collapsed into the arms of the larger man who eased her into the backseat of his car. A third man climbed out of the second car and hopped into Corinne's. Then all three cars drove away.

  13

  When Daniel arrived at work he was a man on a mission. He wanted to be able to find out everything he could for Corinne. She deserved to at least know who her parents were, even if she might never know why they had abandoned her. He was between cases at the moment, so he had nothing to distract him from his purpose. He started first with the abandoned infant reports during the time when Corinne was abandoned.