“You’re not going anywhere.” His grip remained strong on her arm and he dragged her over to the couch. One shove and she was down on the seat. “Now tell me…what did you do with those papers?”
She looked towards Riley for support. He didn’t budge. “I said they’re in a safe place. When we go to the police, I’ll take them out.”
“You?” Raymond pursed his lips. “Have you put them in a locker?”
“I’m not telling you anything.”
He leaned down until his face was inches away from her. His breath was hot against her skin, and she could see the coils of rage in his eyes. This was a dangerous man, and she’d been stupid to come here.
“Now, listen to me, and listen well. You’re in a great deal of trouble, lady. If you don’t tell me what you’ve done with that information, I’ll start to break the bones in your body. One by one. It would hurt like hell.”
The color drained from her face. For the first time, Tania realized how deep this shit was. She was in great trouble. Her gaze darted to Riley but he looked away. So, this is what it came down to. She curled her lips. “You bastard. Asshole. Jerk. You said you would help me, that you loved me.”
Raymond laughed as he straightening. Walking over to Riley, he clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Good man. I should’ve put you in charge of things from the first day. Trusting Charlie with this was a huge mistake. He has been making one blunder after another. How did you find out that she had such information?”
“I didn’t. When I told her I loved her and had been looking for her because I was worried when I didn’t find her after the warehouse blew up, she told me everything on her own.”
The men shared a good laugh. Tania recalled the incident. She’d trusted Riley. They both fought to secure the same warehouse for their clients. He worked for an organization that she didn’t know, and she was a hired employee at an agency. Tania lost the deal because she trusted the wrong man. When she confronted him at the warehouse, it blew up. She’d assumed that Riley was behind her, but he managed to convince her that he wasn’t. That he loved her.
“That was all a lie?” she screamed. Tania got up from the couch and lunged towards him. Reaching him, she slapped him across his face. “You bastard. How dare you! I trusted you.”
“You trusted the wrong man.” He rubbed his jaw where she’d hit him. “And now you’re going to pay the price for it. What went down was terrible, but if you didn’t get involved in that investigation of yours, nothing else would’ve happened. We didn’t want to hurt you.”
“Yeah, I can vouch for that. He tried to convince us that you knew nothing, that it was a lucky break for us but I insisted he meet up with you,” gloated Raymond.
“How the hell was I supposed to know she was conducting her own searches? The woman is crazy,” said Riley. “She broke into Xavier’s office and he doesn’t even have a clue. Why the hell did you guys leave the papers with him?”
“He had a copy,” said Raymond. “That was, of course, the only weak link in this part. The man insisted we sign an agreement so if anything bad happened, he would be absolved of all crimes. We wanted the money pretty bad. Blowing up that warehouse and claiming the insurance money was our only option, so we’d to agree to his demands. My papers are kept in my safe, and there is no way anyone can get them. But in a way, she has done what we couldn’t. She got those papers away from Xavier, and now all we need is to take them away from her.”
“Only when hell freezes over,” she growled.
“And that it would do so much earlier than you anticipate, sweetheart,” said Riley with an awful grin. “I don’t know where she has kept them, but I have an idea. She might’ve handed them over to the guy who was sheltering her in his house all this while. Jason. He’s a director. He must be keeping them.”
“So break into his house and get them. We can’t afford to let that information fall into the wrong hands.”
Riley grimaced. “That house is a fortress. He has tons of security. There is no way anyone is going in there without his permission.”
“Then we’ve got a problem,” stated Raymond.
Tania’s gaze darted to the door but there was no way she could make it. Riley stood right in her path and it looked as if he weren’t in the mood to give her an inch of space. “Let me go, please.”
“On one condition, sweetheart, hand us over the papers.”
She bit her lip. “What guarantee do I have that if I give you the papers, you would let me go?”
“You would have to trust my word,” said Riley with an awful grin
Raymond laughed. “Look, we don’t want to hurt you. Call your friend and tell him to bring the papers and take you. It’s a fair deal – your life in exchange for that information. In this situation, nothing else makes sense.”
Truer words were never spoken. She was trapped in here with these two goons. “You did it on purpose,” she accused Riley. “Raymond was never one of the good guys. He’s the mastermind behind this scheme, isn’t he? And you told me that he would help us.”
He shrugged. “I had to do something to protect my club.”
The biker’s club, Devil’s Mafia Brotherhood, to which he owed his loyalty came first in his life. “Even if that meant breaking the heart of the woman who loved you.” Her voice broke. “It’s my mistake for trusting the wrong man. How can I place my faith in you again? What if you kill me after you take the papers from Jason?”
“So Jason has them?” said Raymond
She nodded. “He’s keeping them safe for me.”
Riley snapped his fingers. “Look, sweetheart, killing you won’t serve any purpose. It might get us into greater trouble. Murder is a big thing and there is no statute of limitation on it. That means that if we kill you, we would have to look over our shoulders our entire life. So we don’t want that kind of trouble. Give us the papers and we’ll let you go. Without any evidence, you can’t do much and we’ll be safe,” said Riley, his voice calm. “Help us, and we’ll let you go. Hinder us, and we won’t have any option but to murder you and your friend. Do you want his death on your conscience?”
She gulped. His voice was so cold, so emotionless. “It was stupid of me to think that you were capable of love. You’re an animal.”
“Sticks and stones don’t hurt my bones and neither do words.” He grinned. “Now come on. Stop wasting time. What’s it going to be? Death or defeat – it’s your choice.”
“I hate you.” Her voice trembled. Raymond laughed as a tear spilled down her cheek. “I’ll forever hate you.”
“I don’t give a shit. Now tell me what I want to hear.”
“Fine. Call Jason. Tell him to come here and bring the papers.”
“Here?” said Raymond. “Why here?”
Riley shrugged. “Is there another safe place? I can’t take her to another location. What if she makes a fuss in the car? Anything could happen. It’s too risky.”
Raymond frowned. “I don’t want to keep her here for long. At night, I want you to shift her to another place.”
“I can’t find a secure location in such a short time,” argued Riley.
“We’ve got a warehouse out of town.”
“If I take her there, Charlie will get to know, and you are quite aware of how he is. He will interfere and I can’t make guarantees that things will progress as smoothly. Right now, it’s just the two of us, and we can handle things the way we want. Jason will bring the papers here, and we’ll let her go. They can cry to the police all they want but without proof, there isn’t much that they can do.”
Raymond gnashed his teeth. “Shit! I don’t like it, but fine. I don’t want to involve Charlie. He messes up things. What’s her friend’s number? I’ll call him.”
Riley glanced at Tania and repeated the number that he’d taken from Jason not long ago when he went to see her at his place. “Do you want me to talk to him?”
Raymond shook his head. “I’ll do it. You just stay here and make sure
that she doesn’t escape.”
“Not a chance.” After Raymond left the room, he turned right and they heard the door of another room close. He was going to call Jason. “Your friend, Jason, will come through?”
Tania grabbed his arm. “He will. Sorry about the slap.”
He winced as he gazed into her eyes. “Went with the flow, didn’t you, sweetheart? It was a hard one. My eye is still throbbing.”
“I had to make it look convincing,” she whispered. Knowing they were safe for now, she gave him a quick kiss on his lips. “The way you said those things sent shivers down my spine. For a few seconds, I thought you were playing for real.”
“Never, sweetheart. I’m on your side and don’t you forget it for a moment.”
She gave him an encouraging smile and then walked to the couch. Tania rearranged her features so that she looked suitably upset. This was all going according to plan. Raymond believed Riley dragged her here so he could help his gang. Now, he would call Jason and that would set into motion the second part of their scheme. Things were going exactly as they predicted – and soon they would’ve enough evidence in their hands to bring this club to justice. Only then would they be able to start their life again.
Chapter Twenty Two
Riley was scared. Of course he was. They were in Raymond’s house, and this wasn’t the safest place for Tania. Raymond ordered the gang to commit insurance fraud, and he would’ve gotten away with it if Tania and Riley weren’t on the scene of the crime the day it happened. Their involvement wasn’t something he planned, and now that they were both within his grasp, he could do anything he wanted to rid himself of this threat.
He could kill Tania. He could murder Riley.
But of course, they had a trump card up their sleeve: Jason. He was their backup, their hope for escape. Still, Riley wasn’t sure how Raymond would react if he discovered Riley was working with Tania. He wouldn’t take it well.
It was important to keep up appearances and, hence, when Raymond emerged from his office, Riley was wearing a furious expression as he gazed at Tania. She, in turn, was looking down.
Raymond clapped him on the back. “It seems Tania has a good friend. Jason is willing to exchange the information as long as she remains safe.”
Riley smiled. “So he’ll come here?”
Raymond shook his head, looking a tad uncertain. Riley could understand his need to maintain control over the situation by doing everything on his own and his inability to trust Riley completely. “He insisted on meeting outside in a public place.”
“Oh! I could go meet him and get the papers that he has,” he offered.
Of course, Raymond wouldn’t agree to that. Riley had counted on that. He wouldn’t want Riley to get his hands on the evidence that clearly showed Raymond was involved in the explosion. It was a true dilemma for the man, and Riley sure hoped his inability to trust others extended to other members of the club, or else they were screwed.
Raymond curled his upper lip. “I think it would be better if I went to talk to him.”
Riley frowned. “Is that a good idea? Do you really want to meet him face to face?”
“All that matters is that we get the papers away from them.”
“What if they have copies?”
“Copies won’t stand in a court of law.” He waved his hand. “So here is what we’re going to do. You’ll wait here. I’ll go and meet this man, and when he hands me the papers, I’ll call you. You’ll escort Tania out of the gate and give her the phone so she can talk to Jason. He insisted on that, said that he wouldn’t be comfortable handing over the papers until he was sure Tania was no longer in my custody.”
“Damn!” muttered Riley. “So we’ll have to let her go?”
“We don’t have a choice. She made a brilliant plan; I’ll give her that,” he said in a furious voice. “But as long as she doesn’t have any evidence, it wouldn’t matter if she were out. And if she does try to go to the police later, we could always take care of her later.”
Riley sucked in a deep breath. The man was bloodthirsty. He wouldn’t just stop here. Whenever he got the chance, he would eliminate Tania to avoid the risk of ever getting caught. It wasn’t just enough to scare these people. They needed to put them behind bars. “You could call someone to go with you.”
“That Jason guy is Mr. Hollywood. You think he would have the guts to try something on me in plain broad day? I don’t think so. No. This is easy and quick. I go out and collect the papers. You stay here, guard her, and, when the times comes, release her. That’s all we need to do. I trust you, Riley. You brought her in and now you’ve got to see this through.”
Riley nodded, hoping his eyes didn’t betray him. “I’ll do it. She will remain in this room and would only move out when you call me.”
“Good man!” Raymond clapped him on the back. “Needless to say, when all this is behind us, I would be happy to put your name forward as a member of the board.”
“It would be an honor to serve as a high member,” he said in a voice that brimmed with honesty. Of course, there was a time when he wanted this above anything. He needed that prestige, but now all he wanted was to keep Tania safe. One thing, he was happy about: Jason’s idea to fine tune the plan was brilliant. The guy had worked on so many scripts that he sure knew what would work in a given situation. He’d assured them Raymond would do either of two things: he would send Riley out to collect the papers or else he would go on his own. If he’d sent out Riley, Jason would’ve called the man and said he wanted to meet with him personally. But Jason had been confident that Raymond would come himself because he wouldn’t want Riley to get his hands on such key evidence. Out of the two things, Tania and the evidence, the evidence was more precious to him and he would want to keep it in his grasp.
“I should leave now. The guy didn’t give much time – seemed eager to get her back. He’s a really good friend.” He wriggled his brow. “It appears she may have been pleasing him in more ways than one.”
“It doesn’t matter to me. That part of our story is finished,” he said in a calm voice.
“Good for you, Riley. That’s what I like about you. Your priorities are clear.” Raymond glanced at Tania and then checked his watch. “I should go. Take care.”
After Raymond left, Riley waited until he heard the sound of the car driving off. He rushed to the window and checked to make sure he had, indeed, left. Now, there was much work to do. Raymond was a paranoid man and didn’t employ any domestic help for fear they would betray him. Thankfully, this meant they didn’t have to worry about prying eyes.
Tania rushed out to join him. “Check his study first.”
Out of his pocket, Riley pulled two pairs of gloves and passed one to her. “This is going to take some time.”
“Let’s hope Jason can keep him occupied until then.”
Their plan hinged on Raymond going on and leaving them at his house. They needed to get the papers from his safe. “There has to be a safe,” he muttered as they marched towards the room where Raymond had gone to talk to Jason. As expected, it was his study. The safe was nowhere to be seen.
For a moment, Riley was nonplussed. Where were the papers? He wouldn’t have kept them anywhere else! He didn’t trust anyone and would want to keep everything important in his possession. Riley’s gaze traveled to the walls while Tania checked the drawers and cabinets. She looked at the files and folders.
“This isn’t anything we can use.”
Riley’s gaze settled on the painting that dominated a wall. Raymond wasn’t an art lover, but this print of Van Gogh’s panting was, indeed, beautiful. He doubted the man as much as glanced at it once a day. Walking over, he took down the painting. “Bingo!” he said when saw the safe.
“How will you open it?”
He took out an electronic device from his pocket. Once more, it was courtesy of Jason who had used it in a movie once. Although it wasn’t available on the market, it was a custom made prop and was in Jas
on’s possession; he liked to hold onto them – they gave him a feeling of prestige. “Jason showed me. I just hope it works.” Riley had never done anything like this in his life. He put the device on top of the combination bar. It was a simple safe that needed a four-letter combination. After switching on the device, he punched a button and numbers and letters sprang to life. It was some kind of a mini computer that tried to crack the code. If the safe were manual, he had a set of keys in his pocket that could open it, but he’d guessed that Raymond was the kind of man who would need the highest security in his office. He wouldn't like a manual thing.
Within three minutes, the computer guessed the code and the safe clicked open. Riley pulled the door and saw the sheaf of papers. He took them out and passed on half to Tania. “Read them to see which are relevant.”
This Savage Love: A Bad Boy Romance Boxed Set Page 113
