Beautiful Dangerous

by Michelle Betham

  “And why are we taking the plane? We can drive there, it’s just across the border.”

  “I want the plane to remain in Mexico for now. It’ll stay at the airfield, but I expect to be doing more business overseas, especially in Europe, so I need it close by.” He swallows a mouthful of food – Celine’s delicious chicken and pepper rice – and when he looks at me he smiles, but his eyes remain cold. Hard. “I trust you’re all packed and ready to go?”

  I drop my gaze, start poking at a piece of chicken, my appetite has all but gone these days, and despite Celine’s beautiful food everything I eat tastes like cardboard.

  “I don’t see why we need to rush. I could do with a little more time to check things at The Garden are going to be okay once I’ve gone, and construction work on the new hotel has only just begun…”

  “Those are excuses, Olivia. The Garden is one of our most lucrative and well run businesses, it will fair absolutely fine without you here, and as for the new hotel, Lucca has a team of people here to help him oversee things, a team you put together yourself. The very best people we have. They’ll be able to tackle any emergency, should there be one.”

  I frown slightly, because like so many things he says these days that sounded like another veiled threat. And I’m not sure how safe Lucca is going to be, and that tears at my chest with a pain so brutal I have to clench my teeth and swallow hard until the wave passes.

  “Come.” Javier wipes the corners of his mouth with a napkin and lays it down beside his empty plate. I look down at my almost untouched one. Celine will be disappointed – possibly offended, even – to see so much wasted food still there on my plate, but I’m just not hungry. “Let’s go inside.”

  I push my chair back and stand up, falling into step alongside Javier as we walk in silence from the terrace back into the house.

  “I think maybe it’s time you cut down on alcohol,” Javier remarks as he pours himself a whiskey and fills another tumbler with soda water, adding a wedge of lemon before he hands it to me. “Actually, cutting it out altogether would probably be more preferable. After all, at your age, the likelihood of you falling pregnant quickly may be reduced, so any little nudge we can give has got to be a help.” He takes a sip of his whiskey, his eyes meeting mine above the rim of his glass. “Do you agree?”

  “Do I have a choice?”

  I hadn’t meant to say that out loud, and his eyes widen, but he’s smiling. “I think cutting it out altogether is the best idea. That way we might be able to get things moving a little quicker.”

  “You didn’t listen to a word I said this morning, did you?”

  He sits down, sits back, crosses one leg over the other, and takes another sip of his drink. “I listened, Olivia. But what you said – what you asked for, it’s just not practical. You can’t look after a small child and run a cartel, and what’s more, I don’t want that for my son or daughter. I don’t want that for their mother. Not anymore.”

  “I don’t want children, Javier. Did I not make that clear?”

  “You may not want children, but I need an heir. We’re married, Olivia, and that means making sacrifices. Compromising. We don’t always get everything we want.”

  “And what compromises are you making?”

  He sets his drink down, gets up, and comes over to me, his eyes now so dark they’re sending out an unsettling warning signal, his jaw clenched so tight as he steps into my space.

  “Taking back a woman who fucked my lieutenant; who carried on seeing him even after I came back to her; a woman who plotted with the man who betrayed me to leave the life I gave the ungrateful bitch, that’s a big enough compromise, Olivia.”

  I stare at him, and I know my eyes are carrying just as much anger as his are; my jaw is clenched just as tight, my teeth grinding together, and I could cry for the lost years I spent with this man, because I just don’t know how many of them were real.

  “Fuck you, Javier. Fuck. You.”

  He grabs my arm before I have a chance to realize what’s happening, but the second I do I reach for the glass of soda water by my side and bring it crashing against the side of his head, soaking his neck and shoulders, lemon segments and water mixing with the bloody cut on his temple.

  “Maldita perra!” He spits, my head slamming back against the wall as the palm of his hand connects with my cheek. “You think I don’t know you and he were alone today? Huh? Do you take me for a fucking fool?”

  I just shake my head, push myself away from the wall, and walk toward him, he doesn’t scare me. He doesn’t intimidate me. He doesn’t get to control me, I’m done with that. I’m done with him. This is over. I’m fighting for the life I want now, not the life he wants me to live.

  “I’m not having your child, Javier. I’m not playing any part in bringing another version of you into this world, it’s not happening.”

  “Olivia, please, come on, this is stupid…”

  The fact he’s calmed down, his speech slow and steady, that just makes me all the more determined to finish this. Because I know what he’s doing. If he’s calm, he’ll assume I’ll think twice about what’s happening here, about what I’ve started, but I know him too well now. I know the man he is, how long has he really been controlling me?

  “I was willing to compromise.” As I speak his dark eyes burn into mine, but he’s not winning this one. Not anymore. I’m tired of the games and the lies, I want something different. Something more. “You and I, running the cartel together, in Mexico, I would’ve happily gone with you if that…”

  “Liar!” he hisses, grabbing my wrist, but his attempt to throw me back against the wall fails as I yank my arm free of his grip, he’s underestimating the strength anger gives me. “You were never willing to compromise, you were plotting to leave me, for him, you ungrateful bitch! I gave you all of this. You didn’t earn it, you don’t deserve it, I put you where you are today…”

  “And where am I today, Javier? Hmm? Where am I? Trapped in a marriage I don’t want to be a part of anymore, in love with a man who betrayed you, surrounded by people twenty-four-seven, never alone, and yet I’m so fucking lonely. Does that sound like something I should be grateful for?”

  He moves toward me, and I stay still, I let him come closer, I’m okay. I’m good. I’m in control of this.

  “I loved you, Olivia. The night I left you, it was the most painful thing I have ever done, leaving you like that, because I loved you, so much. And I knew I was hurting you. I knew what it was going to do to you, but I trusted that you loved me, too. That you would wait for me…”

  “I did love you, Javier. I did. But how could I wait for a man I thought was dead? What did you want me to do? Remain in mourning forever?”

  “I didn’t expect you to screw my best friend. I didn’t expect him to betray me.”

  The look in his eyes is pure anger. Red hot, seething anger, but behind that I can also see a sadness that’s verging on heartbreaking. “How much of what we had was real?” I whisper, reaching out to touch his cheek, a reflex action I couldn’t stop myself from doing. And his fingers grasp my wrist, gently, and for a moment the anger slips from his eyes and a snapshot of the man I thought he used to be appears, and I take a breath and close my eyes and let the memories flood my brain. Let his mouth brush the side of my neck, his breath warming my skin as our fingers slide together, but that was a mistake. Letting that happen, was a mistake, and as he spins me around, so fast my face slams hard against the wall, the pain causing me to cry out in both shock and surprise, I know I’ve just lost that control I had. Thought I had…

  “You are my wife, Olivia, do you understand that?” He’s spitting the words out, his voice low; sinister. The mask has finally fallen and I’m now seeing the man I really married. “And from now on things are going to be very different. Your choices, they will be few and far between, but your life will still be a good one.” I close my eyes and try to breathe as he keeps me pinned against the wall;
bite down on my lip as his fingers slide under the sides of my panties, pushing them down. “And you’ll be grateful for it.” In one harsh tug he tears my panties away, the sound of the material ripping filling my ears, but not loud enough to drown out the violent beating of my heart. “And despite everything you are now, everything you seem to have turned into in my absence, you’ll still be a good mother to my child. My heir. Do you hear me, Olivia?”

  I try to buck my hips back, to push him away, but he’s stronger than me, now. For some reason, all my fight is seeping away as his fingers brush my thigh, moving around, touching me where I don’t want him to go, forcing my legs apart. It’s only when the gunshot rings out that I can breathe again…

  Lucca

  “Come on.” I grab her hand and drag her out of the room, we don’t have a lot of time.

  “What – what have you done? Lucca…?”

  I don’t answer her question, like I said, we don’t have a lot of time, and I’m practically dragging her behind me but we need to get out of here. And as I run I pull out my phone, call Eddie, I need help. So much fucking help…

  “Get in.”

  I open the passenger door of the truck and push her inside before running around the front and jumping into the driver’s seat, the tires screeching as I pull away.

  Keeping my eyes on the road I drive out of the estate, I need to stay focused, now more than ever.

  “What have you done?” she asks again, and I glance at her, quickly, before checking the rear-view mirror, but we’re okay. For now. No-one’s following us. Yet. But that gun had no silencer. Celine, the guards, some member of staff will have found him by now, and raised one hell of an alarm. And I’m just praying it wasn’t Celine, she doesn’t deserve that. “Lucca, what the fuck is going on?”

  “I didn’t kill him. He’s not dead.”

  “Jesus…”

  She throws herself back in the seat and rakes a hand through her hair.

  “I heard you both, heard the raised voices. I knew something wasn’t right…”

  “So, what? You came in all guns blazing like my knight in shining armor?”

  I look at her, and I can’t work out what she’s feeling here. “He was about to rape you, Olivia, or are you gonna sit there and tell me you wanted that?”

  She turns her head away from me, her shoulders sagging, and I know she’s crying. I know all this shit has finally caught up with her, but she won’t want me to see her like that.

  “I’m sorry,” she murmurs, keeping her head turned away.

  “You have nothing to apologize for.” I check the rear-view mirror again, but there’s still no sign of anyone following us, and I’m not sure whether that makes me nervous or relieved. But then again, no-one saw who shot him. I’m almost sure of that. They would’ve heard the gun but not seen who’d fired it. But then again, all the cameras covering the estate, that’s going to show Olivia and me running, and that in itself is an admission of guilt. “I had to get you out of there, Liv. And when I saw what he was doing to you…”

  She doesn’t say anything, just keeps staring out of the window, and I take a breath and put my foot down, I’m taking no chances now. I’ve come this far, we can do this.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Devil’s Creed compound. You need a change of clothes and we need to pick up some guns.”

  She looks at me, and she knows. Now. She knows.

  “Where did you shoot him?”

  “The hip. I don’t know how much damage I did but he dropped to the floor the instant the bullet hit him.”

  “He’ll come for us.”

  “I know.”

  “Why didn’t you kill him?”

  I shrug, because I don’t know. I really don’t. “I just wanted some time to get you out of there, Liv. Everything that happened tonight, it was impulsive. None of it was planned, but we can do this now.”

  “He’ll come for us.” She repeats, her focus now on the blackness outside as we speed toward the compound.

  The moment we get there, the gates open and we skid to a halt outside the clubhouse, where Eddie and Angel are waiting.

  “The plane’s on standby,” Eddie says as he hands Olivia a holdall. “These are from the girls. A change of clothes, some food.” Eddie jerks his head toward the clubhouse entrance and I jump out of the car and join him. “We sent some men to the airfield, just to make sure that plane takes off. If they find out it isn’t for Javier…”

  “Which they will. He’s not stupid, he’ll know that’s where we’ll be heading.”

  “No-one following you yet?”

  “They will. It’s just a matter of time, which is why we can’t hang about.”

  “Do you need back-up?”

  I shake my head, watching as Angel hands Olivia the guns. “No. There’s every likelihood he’ll send men here, to the compound, you need to be prepared for that.”

  “We are.”

  “Jesus, Eddie, I’m sorry for dragging you into this. For starting another fucking war…”

  “You don’t know if that’s going to happen yet, Lucca. And if it does, we’ll fight it. You just need to get out of here.”

  He’s right.

  We do.

  Olivia

  “You’re gonna be okay, do you hear me?”

  I nod as I pull the torn dress off over my head, tossing it out of the window, onto the ground by Angel’s feet. And I’m not sure we are going to be okay, but we have no other choice but to run now.

  “Olivia?”

  I wriggle into jeans, pull on the donated shirt, and replace heels with army boots, yanking my hair back into a ponytail.

  “This isn’t how I expected it to end, Angel.”

  He reaches for my hand, brings it to his mouth and kisses my knuckles as Lucca jumps back into the driver’s seat and starts the engine.

  “Do whatever you have to do to be happy, Liv. Okay?”

  I smile at Angel, mouthing thank you at him before we pull out of the gates and head in the direction of the airfield. It isn’t too far away, but as I glance at Lucca I can see the nerves on his face. It’s not written in stone that we’re going to get there alive, I know that. So does he.

  I pick up a gun, my fingers tightening around it, and I inhale deeply, close my eyes, and breathe out through my mouth, I need to be ready to fight now. For Lucca. For my fucking life…

  “Shit!”

  My eyes spring open, and I look at Lucca. “Why are we slowing down?”

  “I think we got a flat.”

  He pulls over onto the side of the road, leaping out of the truck and running to the back, flinging the doors open, and I pray there’s a spare tire in there.

  “Get back in the truck, Liv.”

  He jacks the truck up, and quickly dispatches of the flat tire.

  “Let me help.”

  “Just get in the fucking truck.” He glances back over his shoulder, and we’re still good, but we both know Javier will be coming. We aren’t going to get out of this without a fight. “Jesus, Olivia!”

  I back off toward the front of the truck, watching as Lucca swaps the tires in record-quick time, but as he casts another glance back over his shoulder I can hear it too. The sound of tires screeching. Of a vehicle heading toward us. And I run back to Lucca, whip the jack away from under the truck and toss it into the back, just as the pick-up, headlights blazing, turns onto the road.

  “Get in the fucking truck, Olivia. Now!” Lucca yells as bullets rain from the front of the pick-up, hitting the back of the van, and I cry out in pain as one catches my shoulder, causing me to fall to my knees. But the fear and the pain just serve to drive me to my feet, and I scramble back into the truck, Lucca pulling me up and into the cab, driving away before I’ve even had time to close the door. He’s driving so fast it’s like the world outside is nothing more than a blur, and as he swerves off onto a side road, the truck bumping along unfamiliar t
errain, the gun shots become more distant, and I sit back and breathe; try to ignore the pain tearing down my arm. I close my eyes and I take a moment, and then my fingers once more tighten around the gun, I’m ready. For anything.

  “Was Javier there?” I ask, but I don’t think either of us had any time to check just who’s coming after us. Who Javier’s sent to end us both, if he can’t do it himself.

  “I don’t know. And I don’t think it matters.” He quickly looks at me, frowning as he catches sight of the blood seeping through my shirt. “You okay?”

  “I think the bullet just scratched it.”

  He checks the rear-view mirror, and I can hear them, they’re still behind us, they’re just playing catch-up. “You sure you’re okay?”

  “Just drive, Lucca.”

  The wind whistles through the open window as we speed into the night, the sound of distant gun shots still ringing loud in my ears. Wiping the palm of my hand on my torn, mud-splattered jeans I wrap my fingers back around the gun and lean out of the window, looking behind us, but I can’t see anything. I think we might’ve lost them, for now. But the coast’s anything but clear.

  “How long ’til we reach the airfield?” I sit back down, still holding tightly onto the gun.

  “Almost there. Another five minutes, max.”

  I close my eyes and take the deepest of breaths, but all that does is exacerbate the pain in my shoulder where the bullet grazed it.

  “You need to get that seen to.”

  I raise an eyebrow. “You think? You want to take a detour to the hospital?”

  I’m aware that sarcasm and a smart mouth aren’t entirely helpful right now, but it’s all I’ve got.

  “Shit!”

  “What?” My fingers tighten their grip on the gun as I look in the rear-view mirror. “Fuck!”

  Kneeling up on the seat I twist around so most of my upper half is hanging out of the window and, ignoring the pain tearing through my shoulder, I point the gun out in front of me as the headlights grow closer, flashing their deadly threat.