“How dare you treat me like shit. You lied to me, betrayed me, and then tried to kill me.”
“I didn’t try to kill you.” His eyes were sharp, angry. Rage coiled in their depths. “That explosion at the warehouse had nothing to do with me.”
“You were the only one there that day,” she yelled. “You rigged that place.”
“Shhh…” he said, looking around at the people who were now openly staring at them.
Was he scared? She sure hoped so. How the hell did he get away with it? She was surprised that the police wasn’t after him as yet.
“What’s the matter now? Too frightened to talk about what you did?”
“I didn’t do anything.” He gnashed his teeth. “It was…” After running his hand through his hair, he glanced around. “Yes, I belonged to a motorcycle gang. They are called Devil’s Mafia Brotherhood and they wanted the warehouse for legitimate reasons…or so I thought. But that’s all in the past now. I just wanted to make sure that you were all right. I’ve been looking for you all this while, and I thought you…”
“What?”
“That something bad happened to you, damn it. And then I found that you were actually doing quite well. You’ve found a new man and are now holed up with him in this big mansion.”
Was he actually jealous? No, he couldn’t be. If he was jealous, it had to be because he cared about her, and she already knew that he didn’t give a shit about her. He left her with those men to die. “That has nothing to do with you.”
“You are damn right it doesn’t.”
Tania was aware that she’d made these grand plans to do something vile to him when she saw him but now that he was here in front of her, she didn’t quite know what to do. Should she hit him? No, she didn’t want to stoop to his level. She wanted to yell and scream, but she didn’t want to make a fool of herself in front of all those people who were now eying them with open interest.
Rather than waste her time arguing with him, she walked towards the car. “I need to go. We don’t have anything to discuss.”
He put a hand on the door, stopping her from opening it. “Just tell me one thing…did you care about me at all or was that just a ruse to know more about the deal?”
That statement was so ridiculous, so crazy, that it took her a few minutes to even understand it. He was accusing her of doing a drama when she was the one who was betrayed? “You…” Tania lost her cool. She jabbed him in the chest. “How dare you say such a thing? Ruse?” she laughed. “It’s funny that you should accuse me of that when you were the one who spun this fairytale, making me believe that you actually cared about me when you got in my pants just so you could keep me quiet about the deal!”
“I didn’t plan anything.”
“Yeah, right. So the deal miraculously happened without you, and you were just as shocked as me to hear about it.”
“That’s the truth.”
She wanted to slap him. Tania had never used violence in her life to deal with any situation but right now her hand itched to slap him. It was a mark of her character that she took a careful step back to keep some distance between them. “I don’t want to argue with you anymore. It’s…useless.”
“Easy for you to say. You’ve already moved on.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I was forced to move on. Thanks to you, I lost my job. Thanks to you, I was forced out of my home because people kidnapped me. They took me prisoner and I didn’t know…” Her voice broke a little. “I didn’t know what they were going to do to me. They might’ve killed me, and I am sure that is what they planned to do.”
“I’m sorry about that.”
His words took her breath away. She nearly died twice, once at the warehouse and once in that house, and all he had to say was this. “You can take your sorry and shove it up your ass.”
“I didn’t want those things to happen to you.”
“I don’t fucking believe a word you say.”
“It’s the truth. I didn’t know that they were going behind my back to finalize the deal. They…did it to do some insurance fraud and I wasn’t a party to it.”
So that was the reason why the warehouse was blown up. Well, things made sense now. “You’re lucky that you’re not in jail.”
“I’m not in jail because I didn’t do anything wrong.”
She sneered. “Poor you, right? You didn’t have any clue as to what was going on.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.” He sighed. “Look, I can understand that you’re not willing to believe I word I say. Fine. If that’s the way you want it, if you want to paint me as this evil monster who has been lying to you all along, then it’s okay, but at least have the guts to admit that you didn’t care about me.”
“I never cared about you?” She had spent days crying over him. In the beginning, she couldn’t sleep and she was still having problems and yet he had the audacity to tell her that she was the one who wasn’t affected by this whole mess. “You asshole. How dare you try and make me out to be the bad guy when you were the one who wasn’t real all through this relationship. I was the idiot who thought that we were happy together, that we had something good going on, while all this time you were plotting behind my back.”
“You thought we were happy together?”
She didn’t know why she was telling him this. What was the point? Nothing good could come out of this conversation. He’d done what he did, and now it was over. They weren’t together anymore. She certainly didn’t owe him any explanations but now that they had said so much, she couldn’t back out without letting him know full well as to how much he hurt her. “I was…” No, she couldn’t tell him that she was nearly in love with him. “I cared about you a lot. Is that what you wanted to hear? Does that give your ego a good boost to know that you fooled me completely? Yes, I cried when I realized that you never cared for me, that you didn’t harbor such feelings at any time, and that is was all a lie for you.” She stopped to take a breath. “Does it make you feel good to know that you actually managed to convince me that we had a future together, that we belonged with each other? Now that you know all this, will you be able to sleep better at night.”
“Sleep?” His laugh was bitter. “I haven’t slept since I last saw you at the warehouse. When I didn’t find you, and you weren’t in the hospital with me, I thought…” Much to her shock, his voice hitched. He blinked his eyes as if he was wiping away the memories of that day. “But you are okay, and I guess that is all that matters. Be happy. That’s all I ever wanted for you.”
Happy? He thought she was happy? How could the idiot think that when he broke her heart? Unless…did he actually believe that she was with Jason now, that she’d moved on with her love life? It had to be that. He was actually jealous. But if he felt like this then surely, he harbored some real feelings for her? Or was she imagining things?
Maybe she was still so besotted by him that she was trying to project her feelings on to him. Suddenly, she was very confused. This impromptu meeting was not what she expected. She’d thought that when she met him, she would know for sure what to do, but now she didn’t have a clue how she was supposed to respond to him.
Suddenly, Riley turned around. Tania’s gaze followed him. She saw two men closing in from a distance. Although she didn’t know who they were, she had a fairly good idea that they belonged to same gang that kidnapped her. Damn it! Had she fallen in his trap once more? Did he make her linger here so that his companions would come and take her back?
She turned to push him out of the way, but, much to her shock, he opened the car door and tugged her inside.
“What’s going on?”
“I want you to leave right. Go away, and don’t be out alone. It’s not safe for you. These people mean business. They are scared that you know about their warehouse plan because I was involved with you, and they will do whatever is necessary to keep you quiet,” he said quickly.
“But…”
“Listen to me,” he sai
d in an urgent voice. “Don’t trust anyone. They are in this town, and right now they are scrambling for cover. If you get in their way, you’ll go down. Stay safe.” He slammed the car door. “Go.”
The men were so near that she could see them. Although they were not familiar, she thought one of them was the same as the one who watched her in the house. What the hell was going on? Riley was actually trying to get her out of this mess. How could this be? Wasn’t he the one who got her kidnapped? If so, why did he change his tune now?
“Let’s go,” she told the chauffeur.
As the car moved forward, she saw the men move towards Riley. One of them pushed him while the other punched him. Shit! What the hell was this? Why were they beating him?
She might’ve slipped out of the car to try and help him, but she could hear him yelling. “Go, go.” Even at this time, he was worried about her safety. The car moved away. She turned back to look at the men who were forcing Riley to walk with them. Did he just offer himself as a sacrifice so that she could get away?
She looked at him until the car turned a corner and he was out of sight. She leaned back against the seat. Frustrated and confused, she didn’t know what to believe anymore. Everything was topsy-turvy. She’d thought that Riley betrayed her, but if that were the case, he wouldn’t have helped her escape…right? Nothing was as she’d assumed.
She needed to get to the bottom of this mystery, but she didn’t know who to approach and whom to trust. Nothing made sense anymore – and she didn’t know if it ever would do so again.
Chapter Seven
Riley was in a great deal of trouble. As he faced the board of members of Devil’s Mafia Brotherhood, he wasn’t sure if he would leave the building alive. Sure, he’d never known them to resort to violence before this particular incident, but now it seemed obvious to him that they were desperate to close this matter. In desperation, people did crazy things – and right now he was smack in the center of the trouble zone.
“You let the girl go. I’d ordered you to bring her in,” said Charlie.
If he’d known Charlie ordered his men to shadow Riley to see if he would lead them to Tania, he never would’ve made any attempt to find her or he would’ve, at least, been more discreet. He only found out about that when he saw the men near her car, but he’d shown them clearly that his loyalties no longer lay with the club.
Why risk so much for a woman who had already moved on? He didn’t know the reason, but he couldn’t betray her. Not even now. Not after all that happened. She did get into a lot of trouble because of him and, of course, he still loved her. Just because she chose someone else over him didn’t mean that his love died. It was still there, smoldering in a corner of his broken heart. Perhaps it would never fade away. Truth be told, she was the love of his life and he couldn’t imagine a life without her. But he would have to find the strength to continue – alone.
“Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?” said Raymond, the financial head of Devil’s Mafia Brotherhood. “Why did you let her go?”
He might be down, but he wasn’t stupid. “There were too many witnesses in that place. What were they supposed to do? Did you really expect them to get away with a kidnapping in broad daylight?”
Charlie’s mouth gaped open. “Are you actually implying that you let her get away to save my men?”
“I am not implying anything.” Riley kept his voice even and friendly. “I am stating that I saved our men from the police by not letting them conduct a crime in front of a dozen witnesses. Had they made an attempt to take her away they would’ve been sitting in the jail right now. Is that what you wanted?”
Charlie sputtered. He raised his hand and then looked at Raymond as if seeking his support. “What the hell is this new drama?”
Riley cocked an eyebrow. “It’s not a drama but critical thinking, which you, unfortunately, lack. That has always been your mistake. If you guys had trusted me right from the start, this entire mess wouldn’t have been created. Had I known the reason you wanted the warehouse and what you intended to do, I would’ve gotten Tania off your back a long time ago. But no. You hid things from me, and look at the result now.”
Raymond tapped his pen on the desk. He looked thoughtful, serious. “So what is your plan now?”
“I know where she is and I’ve convinced her that I had nothing to do with the warehouse explosion. The fact that I let her get away will make her realize that I never intended her any harm. She will meet me again, and when she does so…” He shrugged. “You can have her then.”
Raymond smiled. “You’re a sharp one. We should’ve trusted you more from the beginning.”
“That’s what I’m saying,” said Riley in a cocky voice. “It was a huge mistake.”
“I hope there won’t be any more mistakes from now on,” said Raymond. “I am trusting you with this assignment, and we hope you’ll be able to show us you can do a lot for the gang. If you prove yourself, we can offer you a seat on the board.”
That’s exactly what he’d wanted all this while. It seemed ages ago that he thought it would make him happy if he was one of those wielding power in the gang’s higher echelons. How things had changed since then. “Great.” Riley turned, but then he looked back at them. “What is it that you guys are intending to do once you get your hands on her? She doesn’t know much about the explosion. It might be a better idea to just forget her, leave her alone, and move on.”
“She knows too much, thanks to you,” yelled Charlie.
“I didn’t tell her anything because I didn’t know anything, remember?” Riley shouted back. “And I need to know because if you’re planning to do something stupid, it doesn’t serve our purpose.”
“We’re only going to talk to her to see what she intends to do with the information that she had,” said Raymond.
He curled his upper lip. Riley didn’t believe him. “As far as I know, she doesn’t have any relevant information. If she did, she would’ve gone to the police long ago.”
“Are you trying to protect her?” Charlie demanded.
“As always, I’m looking out for our best interests.”
“Shhh…” said Raymond in a commanding voice. “We don’t want any more arguments within our ranks. Once you bring her in, we’ll decide as to what we want to do. Right now, she is a loose cannon and we can’t afford to let her remain a threat to us. She knows you, she has recognized the two men, and she was aware of the location where she was kept. That place is our property. If she takes the police over there, we will be in serious trouble. So before she opens her mouth, we need her with us.”
“Fine,” huffed Charlie. “But I don’t trust him. He won’t bring her in.”
“You wait and see,” said Riley with a cocky grin. “I’m going now. I’ll be meeting her soon, and I hope that your goons won’t follow me. If she sees a sign of them, she might back off, and then it won’t be my fault.”
“You go ahead,” said Raymond. “Two days you’ve got and if you can’t do the job in that time, we’ll have to take over.”
Riley executed a smart salute and sauntered out of the place. He was in a well of shit, and there was no way out. There was only one thing that he could do to escape the repercussions of failure, and that was to meet Tania. Would she even see him again?
He could’ve gone home, changed, and thought about his strategy, but he was impatient. He wanted to see her now. After checking his watch, he realized that it was already six in the evening. Would she be home? Or did she step out?
Her phone was still switched off or, perhaps, she never got a new one. There was only one way to meet her, and that was to go see her in that mansion. If she called the police on him, he would be stuck. Not that he had a choice.
After hailing a cab, he went straight to her house, or rather to the mansion that belonged to her new lover.
She didn’t take too long to replace him. The hurt would never leave him. Still, she was the one he loved, and he would do anything to
save her, even if it meant that he had to put his life on the line.
That’s exactly what he was doing, but he didn’t care. He was reckless, strong, and nothing could stop him from protecting the woman he gave his heart to. Riley rang the bell on her mansion after he was dropped off in front of it. Shit! He wished that he’d taken the time to shower and change. He looked like a mess. Roughly, he ran his hands through his hair and, much to his surprise, the gate swung open.
He glanced into the camera that was mounted on top. So she knew that he was here. Good. He didn’t intend to waste any time. After he walked in, it took him a few moments to get over the staggering beauty of the estate. The magnificent garden that surrounded the house was stunning. The profusion of color, the scent of them, was heady.
Full Throttle (Devil's Mafia Brotherhood Motorcycle Club Book 2) Page 5
