Devious Little Lies (24 page)

Chapter Thirty-Nine

“Rena Rosetti, you’re under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder, murder, tax evasion, and money laundering. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”

One minute she was about to make love with Shane and the next thing Rena knew she was being dragged half-naked from bed. She struggled against the two men holding her by the arms.

“Let me go.”

“Looks like we might have to add resisting arrest to your rap sheet,” a dark haired man with a mustache said.

“She’s a real piece of work. Look at those tits. Maybe we ought to add solicitation and prostitution to the list,” the pockmarked faced lackey holding her other arm said.

She spit on him and he raised his hand as if to strike her.

“Enough,” a voice yelled.

Her attention turned from her captors. Shane stood in front of her buttoning up his shirt. He was calm and finally when he looked at her, there was ice in his gaze. Her internal alarm went off as her eyebrows drew together.

“Shane?”

“Let her get dressed,” he said without addressing her.

He handed the dark haired man her clothes and pulled a small revolver from the back of his pocket.

“Damn it, Shane. Say something.”

“Wow, man, looks like you did a number on her, not that I can blame you. Screwing such a hot piece of ass must have been quite a perk of having this assignment,” the crater faced man said.

“Fuck you, asshole.”

“Let’s try to keep some professionalism here, Chris.”

The man scoffed. “I bet you weren’t worried about professionalism when you were fucking her brains out.”

Before she could blink, Shane was grabbing Chris by the scruff of his collar and slamming him into the wall.

“Let’s get something straight here. I’m the boss of this operation and as your superior you will give me the respect I deserve. Got it?”

“Easy, Shane. We’re all on the same side here,” Mr. Mustache said releasing her to put his hand on Shane’s shoulder.

The truth was suddenly crystal clear. Rena ran from the bedroom and towards the front of the suite, clothes be damned. As her palm closed on the front door hands wrapped around her waist lifting her off the ground.

“No. Let me go. Let me go.”

She struggled in her captor’s arms.

“Stop it, Rena. Don’t make this any harder than it has to be.”

She stopped struggling as she was turned abruptly to face her lover. His expression was of anger and something else she couldn’t identify.

“You lying son of a bitch. You’d think I’d have learned by now.”

He thrust her clothes at her and ordered her to get dressed before he took out his gun and held it against his thigh. The gun wasn’t pointed at her but it was a subtle reminder of what was happening. Glaring at him with hate, she put her clothes back on and waited.

“Guys, let’s go,” he called out.

The two men appeared from the bedroom. They blew out the candles that Shane had set up for their romantic afternoon together. Some romance.
Why does every man in my life use me? Why can’t someone just love me?
She fought back the tears threatening to fall. She was done crying over men.

“Are we using the cuffs?” Chris asked.

“There’s no need for them,” Shane said.

“If you think I’m just going to walk out of here like a good little criminal, you’ve got another think coming,”

“Fine.”

Scowling, Shane holstered his gun and withdrew a pair of handcuffs. As he approached her, she let her fist fly and connected squarely with his jaw. He didn’t flinch. Shane simply snapped the cuffs around her wrists and pushed her towards the door. Holding her head high, Rena allowed him to lead her from the suite and down the hall. People watched them and now she wished that she had her sunglasses on to hide her face, but it was too late. No doubt her arrest would be on every major news outlet. No doubt her betrayer was going to receive full commendations for helping nab such a dangerous criminal figure.

As she was unceremoniously forced into a black SUV, her ex-lover looked at her, eyes begging for forgiveness. She turned away and as he shut the door, a tear slipped down her cheek. Quickly she used her cuffed hands to wipe it away. Her heart felt as if it was squeezed so tight inside that she would never breathe again. Betrayal seemed to be her lot in life. Every man she’d ever encountered had taken a piece of her soul and now there was nothing left.

The SUV started to move and she reflected over everything that she’d lost: her daughter, her husband, her lover, and now her freedom. She was a fool, thinking she was invincible. Shane watched her in the rearview mirror. Quickly she looked away.

Rena should have known that he was too good to be true. His complete and unadulterated interest and the so called relationship he had with her daughter. Not to mention his coolness under pressure. It stared her in the face the whole time and she ignored it. In real life a man didn’t have a cup of hot chocolate and fall in love with you. That only happened in the movies and her life had never been as good as a movie. It was more like a nightmare full of devious little lies that wouldn’t stop repeating itself. Angrily she hit her hands against the side of the door. His eyes darted to hers in the mirror again.

“Stop looking at me. You lost that right the minute you betrayed me.”

He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it. There was nothing that he could say to change what he had done. Despite the fact that she should have known better, she’d opened her heart to him and looked forward to having the chance at a brand new start. It was all lies. Shane Van Adams had never loved her. She was just another criminal to take off the streets. It didn’t matter that she’d opened herself up to him in a way that she’d never had with another man and it sure as hell didn’t matter now that she was slowly falling for him. Life had a funny way of reminding you that it would fuck you over every time you thought you had a real shot at happiness.

The hate in her eyes cut him to his heart. He’d lied to her at every turn. When she’d given herself to him he’d used her feelings against her. He was the lowest of the low but he had no choice. Long before Rena gave him her heart, he gave his oath and he had no choice but to keep it. How he wished things could have turned out differently, but Fate had set them on paths that they had no choice but to see things through.

He’d sent Chris and Rob in a separate car because he’d needed time to speak with her and try to make her understand that this wasn’t what he’d wanted. The first time they’d kissed, she’d stopped being just a mark to take down. She became a flesh and blood woman that needed to be loved in the worst possible way and he knew that he was the one to love her. To always love her.

But now they were just two enemies on opposite sides of the law. He’d done the worst thing you could do to a woman…broken her heart. Though she’d never said the words, he knew that Rena felt the same for him as he did for her but now he would never hear those words. His eyes shifted to hers in the rearview.

“Rena…I didn’t want this to happen.”

“I have nothing to say to you.”

“That’s fine, but will you at least listen?”

“I’m done listening to your lies.”

“I never lied about loving you.”

“Don’t you dare. Every second we spent together was a damn lie and I swear one way or another I am going to make you pay for what you did to me and my daughter.”

“There’s nothing you can do that can possibly hurt me as much as what I’m feeling right now.”

“Keep thinking that. I can be very inventive when pushed into a corner.”

“I don’t doubt that, but sometimes pain is preferable to feeling nothing at all.”

She raised a brow and her eyes glittered with malice. “Says someone who’s never seen me in action.”

Shane stopped at a red light and turned around to face her. “You forgot. I’ve seen and felt all of you in action. I can take whatever you throw at me, love.”

“I’m not your love. I’m your enemy.”

“The first time we kissed you stopped being my enemy.”

Rena leaned forward and attempted to hit him with her cuffed hands, but he easily dodged her before he grabbed the link between her cuffs and pulled her towards him, kissing her hard. She resisted, trying to back away from him but he refused to let her go. He kissed her with all the longing he had in his soul and then just as her lips started to melt beneath his own, something slammed into them and they were turned topsy-turvy. When the truck stopped rolling, the last thing he saw before unconsciousness claimed him was Rena lying motionless among broken glass.

Chapter Forty

When she came to, her head was pounding as if someone had taken a hammer and repeatedly bashed inside her skull. The pain was sharp and stabbing. A light nearly blinded her as she opened her eyes. Squinting against the glare, she tried to get a sense of her bearings and noticed she was lying down with cold concrete at her back. Slowly she tried to ease herself into a sitting position.

“Oww. Oww.”

“Rena?”

That voice.

Slowly inching her head to the left, she saw Shane shackled to a cinderblock wall behind them. A large, purple bruise covered nearly all of his forehead. A large gash on his cheek bled.

“What the hell happened?” she asked him.

“Somebody hit us.”

“Did you see who?”

He shook his head. “No. I was too busy kissing you, remember?”

Her eyes closed as she forced herself to think back. Yes. She remembered him kissing her with every ounce of the passion she’d always felt from him. The knife twisted in her heart all over again. Scooting until she was leaning against the wall, Rena glared at him.

“Maybe if you’d have been paying attention, instead of sticking your tongue down my throat, none of this would have happened.”

“I doubt that. Somebody intended to hit us.”

“You’re probably right. It seems I’m
numero uno
on everyone’s hit list these days.”

“Not mine, well maybe a different kind of hit list,” Shane said. He grinned at her.

“I can’t believe you. We don’t know where the hell we are or who tried to kill us and you’re acting like this is no big deal.”

“I’m not, but the first thing you learn as an agent is not to panic. It won’t do you any good. If anything it might get you killed.”

“What are you? FBI? CIA?”

“FBI.”

“It all makes sense now.”

He raised a brow and winced. “What does?”

“Why you were so calm at Sage’s party when armed men burst in and shot at us. How you knew how to use a weapon without batting an eye. Oh and don’t let me forget, why the police never made a visit to my house questioning me about it afterwards. You left me free long enough for you to entrap me.”

Grunting, Shane pulled against the chain that had him shackled to the wall. It didn’t budge but he had enough slack to slide over towards her. A scowl marred his features.

“Let’s get something straight. I tried to do everything I could to protect you. You’re the one who kept trying to be some Mob Queen continuing to cause more problems.”

“I am a Mob Queen. Sorry that shatters your image of me.”

“No, you’re not. What you are is a beautiful, sexy housewife who got tired of sitting alone at home and wanted a distraction. You thought running a crime family would be all about power, adventure, and money, but you were wrong. It’s not the life for you, Rena, and every time I tried to show you that you wouldn’t listen to me.”

Her nostrils flared and as she tried to kick him with her right leg, a sharp pain stopped her cold. Shane laughed, which only made her angrier.

“And who the hell are you to tell me anything?”

“I’m the man who loves you, that’s who,” he said in a quiet tone.

“Are you still playing at that game? You need to get a new strategy.”

“There are no games when it comes to you. If I didn’t love you, there’s no way I would have stalled the Feds taking you down as long as I have.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Us meeting in the airport wasn’t an accident. I’d been assigned to follow you and ingratiate myself into your life. My boss thought you might have some information that could help us keep your husband behind bars with new charges and perhaps we could take down the Rosetti Crime Family once and for all.”

“I’m smart enough to surmise our meeting was planned. Go on.”

“I thought you’d be just some shallow, cookie-cutter mob wife, but you weren’t. You were a flesh and blood woman with a smile that could outshine the sun. You were also a woman nursing a lifetime of pain. It only took us sharing a table for me to realize that taking you down would be the hardest thing I ever had to do. Even then I started to have doubts.”

Rena brought her cuffed hands together and clapped. “Bravo. Bravo. I must say when it comes to telling a lie, you’re exceptional at it. You could give my cheating ass husband a few lessons. I’m impressed. Very impressed.”

His mouth formed into a grim twist. “I get that you’re angry—”

“No, I’m past angry. I am furious! You scheme your way into my daughter’s life and then into mine. You used us both. Me, I’m used to receiving that type of treatment from men, but Tricia isn’t and for that alone I will never forgive you.”

Shane hung his head for a moment before he looked at her with a hardness in his eyes. “I’m sure you’ll change your mind after you hear the rest of what I have to say.”

“I doubt it, but knock yourself out.”

“I never had any real designs on Tricia. She was just a way to get to you. I thought at first I should request another assignment and get as far away from you as I could, but then I realized if I didn’t stay on the case someone else would take it. Someone else who didn’t know you or your daughter. Someone who wouldn’t give a damn about destroying both your lives. So I stayed, and yes, I bugged your house and followed you, but I never turned any of that information over to my superior. None of it, Rena. Do you hear me?”

She shook her head. “I don’t believe you. Not a word of it, Shane.”

“Damn it, Rena. Take a minute and see past your damn ego and look at the big picture. I’ve been in your life for enough time to build a case against you and take you down before things even went down the way they did today. But every time the director approached me about wrapping things up and wanting you behind bars, I stalled him. I’ve been doing this for as long as I could, but things came to a head. I was supposed to take you down with the others at Manzelli’s
that night, but I couldn’t go through with it. That’s why I sent you that message. I wanted you to have a chance to escape.”

Rena’s breath caught in her throat. “You? You sent me that text?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

He gently caressed her face. She knew what he was going to say but she didn’t want to believe it.

“Because I love you, Rena.”

She lifted her chin, but she didn’t demand that he stop touching her. “Then why did you set me up?”

“I ran out of stalling techniques. I was ordered to get you on tape in the commission of a crime and bring you in. I didn’t want to, sweetheart, but I couldn’t do anything else without throwing the suspicion on myself. But I swear to you I was going to try and figure something out to get you out of this mess. You don’t deserve to be in prison.”

She laughed as bitterness filled her, heavy on her tongue.

“I’ve tortured and killed without thinking anything of it. I’ve commissioned murders. I’m not some misguided angel. I knew full well what I was getting myself into.”

“You need to stop lying to yourself. I know you’re not innocent, but you aren’t like everyone else in this lifestyle either. Besides, what do I care that you had a few wise guys taken out? There are less of them on the street for me to clean up.”

“You talk a good game,” she said leaning close enough so that their lips almost touched, “I wish I could believe you.”

“You can. When we get out of this, I’m going to show you. I don’t care about the murder and mayhem, Rena. I just want you, all of you…forever.”

In a frenzy they came together, tongues dueling, lips yearning for each other. She couldn’t trust him but when he said such things to her it tugged deep down into her soul and she wanted to believe him. She wanted to feel secure that it was not just lust he felt for her and she wasn’t just some offender he was assigned to take down. Rena melted against him and tears slipped down her cheeks.

“I hate you. I hate you,” she whispered between kisses.

“As long as you keep hating me like this.”

She bit his lip and then he was pushing up her skirt and delving his fingers inside her wet heat. She didn’t know where they were. They could die at any moment, but Rena didn’t care as long as she could go with him like this. Her hips moved against his hand as he finger fucked her on the concrete floor.

“Now isn’t this a sight? If we didn’t already have pressing matters to attend to, I’d be tempted to let them finish, wouldn’t you, Sage?”

Shane stilled and removed his hand while Rena yanked down her skirt and sat up. Her oldest enemy stared down at her, a sneer marking her surgically corrected features.

“Of course not, Armando. I’d like to have a go with your nephew myself.”

Rena’s eyes darted to Shane and the man standing in front of them Armando Vallaro.

Holy shit.