Heart Lies & Alibis (37 page)

I snapped my mouth closed to regain my composure, steeled my nerves, and then spoke. "Hello everyone. I didn't know we were expecting company Declan. I am sorry I wasn't here when you arrived. What brings you all here for a visit?" I sounded like a deranged Stepford Wife. I smiled again, from nerves and the desire to further unsettle our captors by appearing far calmer than I felt.

Ortiz and Malachy looked momentarily surprised, as if my appearance in the house was more unexpected than appreciated, while Amberly looked downright giddy to see me. I'm sure her joy had something to do with what she thought, or hoped, her boyfriend and his goons planned to do to me. Either way, I wanted nothing more in that moment than to slap the smile off her face. "Amberly, I was hoping I would get to see you again. I believe we have some unfinished business to discuss regarding my dead husband." Her smile faded slightly and she was momentarily speechless, shocked at my audacious behavior or my apparent lack of terror at the situation I found myself in. But before she could respond my attention was drawn back to Ortiz.

He had recovered from his momentary moment of surprise at my appearance in the house and once again oozed calm and confidence. "Ahh, it is so nice to see that the lovely Mrs. McCallister has finally joined us." He began once again cool and calm.

I forced another smile on my face. "Call me Reagan, please. I am no longer Mrs. McCallister after all. You took care of that problem for me, remember?" The fear in my heart boiled away and was replaced by the heat of raw anger. I leveled white-hot embers on him with a stare that said he had fucked with the wrong woman.

He met my gaze and never flinched, his eyes dark pools of evil without a trace of a soul. "Very well. Reagan, please come in. And do have a seat. It is so nice to see you again as we still have some things to discuss with you after your unexpected departure a few days ago. I am very happy you returned. We were starting to worry." He was smiling but everyone in the room had to feel the unspoken threat in his words.

I walked over and sat in the chair he indicated. I met Declan's eyes for only a brief moment and I saw fear for my safety and questions as to what the hell I thought I was doing. I had to look away because I didn't have any answers so I turned my gaze back to Ortiz.

"Mr. Ortiz, as I told you in Houston, I don't have any information about Thad's business dealings with you. I have no information that could help you in any way. I swear that's the truth."

"She's lying. He told her everything I'm sure. She always had her nose in his business." Amberly interrupted, her voice rising with annoyance.

I turned a blazing glare in her direction and she narrowed her own at me.
You just made a major mistake little girl. I will destroy you before this day is over.

"Why would you believe he told me everything, Amberly? He obviously didn't tell me he was fucking you so we weren't quite as communicative as you'd like to believe." I watched Ortiz straighten slightly and frown for a moment at the mention of Amberly's affair with Thad. Apparently pimping his girlfriend out for business was one thing but hearing about it was not something he enjoyed. Good, he deserved to feel the pain of infidelity just as much as I had to.

She glanced sideways at Ortiz and paled slightly at his stern gaze before she answered. "Well, yeah that's true but I know he still told you things. He wouldn't shut up sometimes about how smart he thought you were, especially about business and about how to be a good lawyer. I swear, I asked him once why he cheated on you so much when he seemed to worship you in so many ways. He told me you were too complicated to really love, that you had too many demons and secrets from the past, and he liked being with women who took less work to have a relationship with." I sat back hard against the chair while her words washed over me. Had Thad known more about my past than he let on? Had I been that hard to love?

I felt my mind start to split, one piece spinning around this new light Amberley had cast on my relationship with Thad, the other part dumbfounded that I would be able to forget for even one second exactly how close to getting killed I was. As the two wildly different states of mind fought for my attention another, colder piece of me snapped me back to attention. I had to survive the situation I was in if I wanted to have a future with Declan, a future free of the murderous animals that were surrounding me from all sides right now, and a future that I was in control of.

My legs were moving before my mind had come to terms with everything and I soon found myself running like the devil himself was chasing me. I was going to save Declan or die trying, of that I was never more certain.

Chapter 21

Things were getting desperate so I decided to try a different approach. I looked at Ortiz and smiled the smile I often used with clients when I wanted to put them at ease while convincing them to tell me everything I needed to know. "Mr. Ortiz, may I call you Emiliano?" I hoped talking to him on a more personal level could stave off whatever plans he had for killing Declan and me before the police could arrive.

His eyes looked amused for a moment before he nodded. "You may call me Emil, Reagan."

I forced my face into another smile. Maybe this plan would work. "Emil. I believe we can solve this problem with more finesse, perhaps, and less bloodshed. There must be something specific you would like to know regarding Thad and his business dealings with you. Why don't you ask me some questions and we can see if I can answer them. If Thad told me anything, I will be able to tell you what you want to know." I was sure everyone could hear my heart thudding inside my chest and I was afraid to breathe.

Ortiz narrowed his eyes in a cynical glare. "And what will stop you from lying to me if you do know anything?" I had anticipated the question because it is what I would have asked in the same situation.

I looked from him to Declan and back again. "I will tell you the truth because I know if I don't, you will kill the man I love right in front of my eyes. And that is something I can't let happen."

This answer seemed to please him. "As I noted before, you possess a very good balance of beauty and brains. Yes, that will be the exact consequences if you do not tell me everything you know. In spite of what Mr. Lynch keeps asserting, Mr. O'Shea may not be returned to Mr. O'Bannion exactly as ordered if I decide his death will bring me the information I need. Of course, everything is up to you and what you say from this moment on." He smiled and I felt bile rise in my throat.

The fear he created thudded like a falling boulder into the pit of my stomach but I pushed it away. Now was the time to find that same strength that had let me walk away from Winchester all those years ago. "I understand completely Emil. And I will cooperate to the best of my ability. You have my word. Please, ask your first question."

He folded his hands in his lap, studying my face for a moment before he spoke. "Very well, we will try it your way and see what happens. As you may or may not know, your husband was working on the creation of a dummy corporation for us as a way to help us launder some of our money. It was also meant to provide a new conduit of distribution for our product. Now, before everything could be finalized, something went wrong. The cooperation was being investigated and the bank accounts associated with it were seized by the DEA." He paused letting the information sink in for a moment while watching me closely to see how I would respond. All I could do was stare at him because the honest truth was that I knew nothing about what he was talking about. Thad had been able to keep it all a secret and I felt like such a fool. I waited to hear more.

After he was satisfied I had nothing to add at this point, he continued. "It appears what happened, according to Ms. Jones' recent reports and our own research, was your husband had messed something up with the paperwork in the process of creating the corporation, drawing the attention of the US government in the process. After Mr. McCallister was confronted by the DEA agents investigating the issue, he found a way to help himself out of the mess." Leave it to Thad to try and weasel his way out of a situation he helped create. This was the kind of juvenile bullshit that made me furious with Thad hundreds of times throughout our relationship. His favorite pattern was to screw up something, try to cover up what he did, and hope no one actually noticed. Damn you Thad, it looks like the wrong people finally noticed, and now you're dead and I'm on the hook for all your fuck ups. And I'll bet you never even considered who would be left with the consequences once you were caught you selfish son-of-a-bitch.

Emil added more to the story. "It appears that in exchange for receiving immunity from prosecution for working with us, your husband made a deal to turn informant and report to the DEA any and all details he knew or could find out about our organization. He was surprisingly good at being a traitor to the Cartel and turned over quite a bit of information in a short time. It took us some time to uncover his treacherous behavior. This is what prompted us to introduce Ms. Jones to his life so we could find out exactly what he had been doing. By that point, our entire organization was under more surveillance than ever before and we were on the verge of being indicted. So my question then my dear Reagan, is if you were aware of what your husband was doing with the DEA and if you, yourself, have been working with them as well?"

I knew if I wanted to save Declan my only chance was to be able and convince him that I did not know anything about the DEA or anything else. "Emil, I have no information about your business, or Thad's dealing with the DEA, and I certainly have never worked with them myself. I had no idea you were even a client until a few days ago. The only thing I am guilty of in all of this is having exceptionally bad taste in the man I chose to marry, in being too blind or distracted to see how he was destroying my life, and finally for not trusting my instincts about the lovely Ms. Jones." I turned my eyes to Amberly for a moment and I enjoyed seeing her flinch under my gaze. I turned back to Ortiz. "I knew she was trouble from the moment I met her to when my husband insisted on hiring her. I just thought her only threat was to my marriage and now I know how much I underestimated how destructive she would be to my life. That is the absolute truth. I swear it on my life and," I looked over to Declan for assurance and saw him nod just slightly, his trust in me solid and unflinching at this critical moment, "on the life of the man I love." Whatever happened now, I was glad Declan and I would be together for it.

As I was waiting for him to respond, I could feel Malachy circling behind me and I was struggling to keep an eye on him and Ortiz and Amberly at the same time. I had just turned my attention back to Ortiz when I heard Malachy mutter, "Fuck this shit," from behind me. Then he stepped up behind my chair and, like a viper striking its prey, his hand shot out knocking my ball cap off my head. He snatched a handful of my hair, lifting me out of the chair to my feet while I struggled to pull myself free from his grip.

Stinging heat screamed outward on my scalp from where Malachy's hand had snatched me up from the ground. My eyes watered and my neck went stiff while my legs scrambled to push me up fast and ease the yanking on my hair. An involuntary yelp flew out of my mouth as I tried look around and see where I was headed and prepare myself for what he would do next.

He slammed me against the nearest wall, driving the breath from my body, and fully blurring my vision with the bright, sharp shock of impact as my head slammed into the corner. He let me go and I slumped to the ground for a moment, trying to clear my head and react before he came at me again. I was too slow though, as Malachy descended on me like a lion attacking fresh meat and began his assault.

At the same time Malachy was attacking me, Declan roared from where he sat tied up. "Malachy! You mother fucker. It's me you want. Stop hurting her. Enough!" From the corner of my eye, I could just make out his body struggling against the ropes before another attack from Malachy rained down on me.

He pulled me to my feet with his hand around my throat and then slammed me back against the wall. I was in full panic mode as I struggled to push his vice grip from my throat, the lack of oxygen making me desperate. He finally relaxed his fingers just a bit, which allowed me to commence with coughing and gasping for air while he spoke. "You are right Mikey. It isn't her fault. But I think it is time you knew some real pain. Hurting your lady love here seems like the best way to let you feel even a little bit of the torture I felt losing Abby." He looked deep into my panic filled eyes right then with his hand still at my throat. "What do you think Reagan? Does that seem like a fair plan" He laughed cruelly before he released my neck completely and I slumped to the floor, still gagging and trying to capture as much oxygen as possible.

He had turned to walk away and I collapsed in relief when he stepped back to me and delivered a kick to my midsection that left me gasping for air again and seized with an excruciating pain that radiated throughout my whole body.

I heard voices yelling but I was unable to make out their words over the raging rush of blood pounding through my ears. I felt underwater in so many ways, spinning, and heavy, wet with my own blood, desperate, mentally thrashing around looking for a break to catch my breath and clear my head enough to capture a clear thought.

I could just make out a guttural growl from Declan. "You son of a bitch Malachy. I am going to kill you. I swear to God." This time his words were hard, practically spit from his mouth, his anger and frustration swirling together in the threat.