Betrayed (The New Yorker)

by M. O. Kenyan

  “Soon, hermanita.”Lisette smiled reassuring. Their father had promised them an apartment. But nothing he had in mind would meet Michael’s budget. They were better off staying here if they wanted to eat too. “I’ll talk to him. Maybe you could get something in the school district. That way you will be able to go to school too.”

  “Really!” The excitement in Catalella’s voice told Lisette that this was the first piece of good news the girl had gotten since making the rash decision of marriage. “I would offer you something to drink, but we only have tap water.”

  Lisette could almost laugh at the frown on Catalella’s face. What was more hilarious was the shame on Michael’s face. It would be easy to get him to accept her proposition. Lisette couldn’t let her fun end there—she just had to poke at this disaster one more time. “Did you get any supper?”

  “I did.” she smiled. “I just asked the delivery boy outside to get us something from De Alma. I would have gone myself but I’m so tired from shopping. Daniela and I had a great time.”

  “What delivery boy?” Michael’s harsh tone cut in.

  “The ones outside. They were waiting with the valet, next to Lisette’s car.”

  “My car!” Lisette yelped. She started to run out the door, but the reality of her sister sleeping hungry slapped her in the face. “How about a girl’s night out? Come with me, Catalella. We’ll have dinner and some fun.”

  “Sure!” The little girl ran out the door like someone had lit a fire under her butt.

  Lisette chanced a glance at Michael and laughed. “That’s what you get when you take a baby from her mother’s tit. Enjoy married life.”

  “Tomorrow, the money for your airhead of a sister.”

  “Deal!”

  * * * *

  Reno hadn’t heard from Lisette for two days now. He’d heard Catalella wasn’t feeling well but he still worried, at least Michael’s body hadn’t washed up somewhere. That was a good sign. Maybe she just needed time to deal with everything that had hit her in the last few days. He walked into his father’s office, his father, he was still getting used to that term, hoping for some news.

  “Did you hear from the private detective you hired?”

  “Yes.” The look of hope on Dennis’s face made Reno smile. Finally, some good news.

  “What did he say?” He took a seat and eagerly leaned toward his father. He didn’t want a word getting past him.

  “There was a girl at your old place looking for you.” Dennis paused. “She said her name was Rhyne. She was looking for her mother and her elder brother.”

  “Rhyne.” Reno brushed away the one determined tear that rolled slowly down his cheek. He never thought he would ever say that name without feeling pain constrict his chest. But now he could, only because there was hope of finding her. “Did she say where she would be, like an address or a telephone number where she could be reached?”

  “Yes, she is working at a hotel there. Look, we could leave today and be there—”

  “No.” Reno swallowed the lump that formed in his throat. He watched as Dennis’s excited face fell. “I’m going alone.”

  “What?” Dennis shot to his feet and paced the length of his office. “My youngest daughter won’t speak to me, my wife can’t stand me and DJ has disappeared. I need to do something good for my family.”

  “And you have.” It was uncharacteristic for Reno to afford his father this win, but he had to. “You found Rhyne. As for Daniela, she’s not one to keep a grudge. She’s probably following Issadora’s lead. And DJ, he hasn’t disappeared. He’s just gone to Paris. He’ll be back when he’s sorted his thoughts and feelings out.”

  “What about law school?”

  “Don’t try looking for him,” Reno warned. “I know where he is. I’m keeping tabs on him just as an older brother should. He’s not giving up his law career; he just needs time out from your web of lies.”

  “I’m his father!”

  “Yet, I’m the one he came to for help.” Reno exhaled, the rage and tension releasing from his body as he did. “I don’t want to fight. I have a handle on things. Right now, all I want is to go and get Rhyne.”

  “Fine. That’s good. I’ll have my secretary arrange everything for you. You can leave tonight.”

  “Thank you.”

  Reno had tried his hardest to get a hold of Lisette, but she was still ignoring his calls. As a last resort he left a message with AJ. She would probably be pissed that he left for the island without telling her, but it was her fault. Reno took a breath from his parking spot. His hand rubbed on the left side of his chest. He had a bad feeling. It wasn’t anything physical, but emotionally he felt that something was terribly wrong. It was like his heart was preparing itself to be broken. He had to find Lisette before he left. A quick glance at his watch told him he had three hours before he had to leave for the airport. That had to be enough to track down the woman he was in love with.

  Reno was just about to leave his apartment when he received a message. A slow smile crept on his lips when he read it. It seemed like Lisette was thinking about him too. She must have heard about his trip. He grabbed his car keys and made his way to the Waldorf.

  Chapter Eight

  Reno had his key card in hand. He didn’t know what waited for him on the other side of the door. Part of him expected Lisette to jump out of a cake dressed in a red, silk teddy, but she wasn’t that cliché. So she was probably waiting on the bed in nothing but black lace.

  The little beep went off when the door opened. He was certainly not going to turn Lisette away tonight. He would make love to her for as long as he could. If he had to he would postpone his trip to Hawaii for the next day. Or maybe, he could convince Lisette to go with him.

  Did he have any condoms? Hopefully she did. Though, he wouldn’t mind getting her pregnant. There was nothing he wanted more than to start a family with Lisette.

  “Lisette?” Reno took a step into the room and was assaulted by the undeniable sexual sounds of a man grunting. What the hell? Was she watching porn? He chuckled. Of course his Lisette would be doing research. Reno rushed in the room hoping to catch her unaware. But it was him who was caught unprepared.

  Everything around him seemed to blur out, as the bed was highlighted in his mind. There was no way of denying it was Lisette in the bed. Her long black curls poured over the edge. Her eyes were closed, but he could swear he could see the intensity in their deep sunset color. Her arms fell to the sides as Michael sat on his haunches and smiled at him.

  Reno couldn’t account for his next actions, all he knew was that his fists were meeting Michael’s face. Michael fell off the bed and tried to get on his feet, but Reno wouldn’t let him. He kicked, punched and kicked him some more. The only thing that brought him out of his angry haze was the sound of Lisette’s voice.

  “What’s…what’s going on?”

  Reno had only turned away from the worm for a second, but Mathew had managed to scramble to his feet and fly out of the room. No matter how hard he tried, Reno couldn’t turn back to the bed where Lisette was. He followed the worm out and shut the door with a loud bang. There was no louder sound than the sound of his heart building bricks around itself. He was never going to fall victim to love, ever again.

  * * * *

  Lisette thrashed around the bed. She could hear the steady beep of a machine. She didn’t know where she was. The last thing she remembered was walking into the hotel room at the Waldorf. She had brought the cash and the annulment papers with her.

  “It’s time to sign, Mathews.”

  Michael took the papers from her and walked to the tiny table in the room. She watched him put his signature on the papers and almost broke out in a triumphant dance. She had done it. Obviously Catalella would be upset, but with time she would see that Lisette was acting in her best interest. The girl already couldn’t bear living in the shit hole Michael called a home.

  Michael gave her the papers and she handed him the briefcase stuf
fed with her trust fund advance. Her father would have to forgive her for using her money this way. She understood the old man was trying to teach Catalella a lesson, but it seemed to be too harsh.

  “How about a drink to celebrate the closing of our first business deal?”

  She stared warily at the contents of the glass. She never drank, but maybe she could make an exception this once. She was celebrating a major victory after all.

  After the initial bitter taste of whiskey on her lips, the burning of the liquid as it made it down her throat, Lisette couldn’t remember anything else. Nothing, except the sound of Reno’s voice.

  Lisette struggled to open her eyes against the pounding of her head. She groaned as she brought the palm of her hand to her face, covering the glaring light. “Close the curtains,” she mumbled.

  “Lisette?” She recognized her mother’s voice. “Mija!”

  “Mama. The lights are too bright.” Lisette’s hand fell to her neck. She felt a plastic like covering on it. She swallowed hard. The inside of her throat felt scratchy and painful, it was like she could taste blood. She tried to raise her other arm to block out the sunlight, she assumed was streaming into her room, but couldn’t. Her arm felt heavy and restrained.

  “Don’t move,mija. I’ll go get your papa and your brother.”

  Lisette tried to turn toward the sound of her mother’s voice but couldn’t. She couldn’t move at all, but she could feel her legs. That was a good sign. What the hell had happened that resulted in her being so immobile? The stiffness in her back told Lisette that she needed to move from the position she was in now. She tried to lift herself off the bed with her one good arm but couldn’t. That was the moment her mother’s words chose to rush into her mind all at one. Why would her mama need to get her papa or AJ? Where was Reno?

  The beeping noise assaulted her ears once more, followed by the pungent smell of sterilization. Lisette moved her head as far as she could, and the monitor at the side of her bed confirmed her suspicions. She lifted her free hand to her face and there she saw an IV. She was in the hospital, but why?

  Help me!

  Reno!

  Mama!

  Papa!

  AJ, Catalella!

  Lisette’s body went rigid. Punch by punch, gruesome scenes filled her mind.

  Then…

  She was trapped. She could smell the gas, taste the coppery scent of blood on her tongue. She couldn’t move. Lisette stared down at her body, her lower half was out of sight. All she could see was the steering wheel pressed up to her chest. She tried to push it away, but Lisette couldn’t find her other hand. That too was buried beneath the steering wheel. Lisette tried to move around, but each action brought with it a stab of pain. She couldn’t feel her legs or her left arm. But the pain bursting from her chest claimed her. If she couldn’t already feel the rest of her body, the pain would have paralyzed her.

  At least I’m alive, she said to herself. No pain meant death. So she welcomed the pain, fought to keep herself from passing out, fought to keep herself alive, for her family for Reno.

  Fear wrapped its fingers around her heart and squeezed. The last voice she heard was Reno’s. Did that mean Reno was in the car with her?

  “Hey Piggy?”

  “Re—Reno?” Lisette didn’t realize she was crying until her words came out as gasping breaths and her chest heaved. It was then she felt the warmth of a tear rolling down her temple. Why was she so flat on her back?

  “Reno is in Hawaii. We haven’t been able to reach him but Uncle Dennis is working on it.”

  Lisette cried out in relief. Reno was all right. She closed her eyes as exhaustion took over her body. If Reno was all right nothing else mattered. She would find out why she couldn’t move once she woke up. Right now, she just needed to sleep for a while.

  * * * *

  Reno had turned his mind off everything and everyone in New York. That didn’t mean that at night when he was alone he didn’t cry his heart out. The deep cut left there by Lisette didn’t seem as if it was mending at all. He had turned his phone off the whole week, giving people the number to his hotel if they had any news of his sister. He had decided to stay at the hotel his sister worked for. Past tense. Apparently he had missed her by a day.

  Rhyne had left her job and no one knew where she went. All they knew was that she went with a woman claiming to be her cousin.

  Reno knew they didn’t have any cousins from both sides of the family. Kono’s brother had been killed in a drug war and didn’t leave any kids. Dennis was an only child. Maybe Rhyne had found a new family. But the probability of that hurt Reno more than ever. What if someone had replaced him in her life?

  Reno didn’t have any other choice but to retrace Rhyne’s steps as best as he could. He was going to find this cousin and figure out if anyone one else knew of their plans. He had to find Rhyne, and at the moment, she was the only thing keeping him sane.

  Reno went back to the hotel at the end of the day. He picked up his messages from the front desk and went up to his room. He dreaded the silence the room offered. There was nothing keeping the thoughts of Lisette from bombarding his mind. He needed to get the memories of that night out of his mind. Maybe a lobotomy? Anything was better than the pain that night inflicted on his heart.

  Reno flipped through his messages. He was surprised to find some from his father. He hadn’t told him that he had changed his hotel, but then again a man of his means could track anyone down. Reno reached into his pocket and took out Rhyne’s employment photograph. She had beautiful hazel eyes, just like Dennis’, shining through her dark skin. Her hair was long and dark, just like Kono’s. And that smile—that smile only belonged to her. He was happy to see that the innocence in her expression was still there. That life hadn’t robbed her of it.

  He took out his phone and decided to call his father. Being MIA for a week was long enough. He had to break out of his solitude and return to the real world that was New York.

  Immediately he turned on his phone it went crazy, announcing the hundreds of message notifications—literally hundreds. He expected ninety-nine percent of them would be from Lisette, but to his surprise they were mostly from AJ, and some from his father. Reno stared at his phone and tried to make up his mind. He could listen to all the messages or just call his father and get a shorter, direct version.

  “Hullo!”

  “Where the hell have you been?”

  Reno held the phone away from his ear and frowned at his father’s tone. Since when did Dennis think he could talk to him in that tone? “Well, hullo to you too, Father.”

  “I told everyone you were in Hawaii, then the hotel said you hadn’t checked in. I was beginning to think you were in the car with Lisette after all. I’ve had the coast guard searching for your body. Why would you scare me like that? I’m your father, I love you.”

  “What’s going on?” Reno tried to stop the trembling of his hand. Something had to be wrong if Dennis told him that he loved him. Wait a minute—

  “What happened to Lisette’s car?”

  “It’s wrecked.” Dennis paused. Reno could feel the tension radiating from his father’s body through the phone. “There isn’t much of a car left. Hell, there isn’t much of Lisette left either.”

  “What?” The tremble began in his heart and flowed outward until his legs quaked and teeth chattered. There wasn’t much of Lisette left…what the hell did that mean? Reno felt his body give in to unseen pressure. His shoulders slumped and he raked his fingers through the thick mane of his hair.

  “Son.”

  Oh shit!

  “Lisette was in an accident.”

  “Is she dead?”

  “God no! That girl isn’t likely to leave you without a fight. But you need to come back.” The pause in Dennis’ voice, the silence, spoke volumes. And the more silent he was, the greater Reno’s fear grew. The pain in his heart wasn’t from Lisette betraying him, it was from the fact that she was leaving him. Lisette was dyin
g. A piece of his heart died with that thought. “I’m on my way. Tell her to hold on. Tell her I love her.”

  * * * *

  Reno could feel himself slowly going mad. The long flight back had made him irritable. He barked at the airhostess every time she approached him a seductive smile on her lips. Reno’s last straw was when she decided to sit next to him, taking every opportunity to rub her gigantic tits against his arm.

  “My girlfriend is dying and you’re here trying to get me to fuck you?”

  That warranted him a visit from the air marshal.

  The two men were able to reach an agreement—Reno would keep his cool if they kept the horny attendant away from him. Reno had left his bags behind when he didn’t think he could handle waiting for them to come through the conveyor belt. It was a good thing Dennis had sent one of his men with the helicopter. In the air once more, Reno thought he could run faster that the chopper. The sound of the blades cutting through the air seemed to calm him down.

  Now, three days later, he sat by Lisette’s bed waiting for her to wake up. He didn’t care she had slept with Michael, didn’t care she had betrayed him and her sister. All he wanted was to stare into her sunset stormy eyes and see her smile.

  “She woke up the day you arrived. Just for a moment though. She asked for you. She was so worried you were in the car with her.” Reno stared at Rosalinda’s exhausted expression. He felt for the woman. She had her eldest daughter lying still, as white as the sheets covering her, fighting for her life, while her youngest was across the hall, a death sentence looming over her head.

  “I shouldn’t have left her there.” Reno never expounded on his statement. Never, in the numerous times they had asked him, had he said why Lisette was at the Waldorf that night. The bigger mystery was why Lisette had been drinking—she had sworn off alcohol. He knew there was something AJ wasn’t telling him.