Beneath the Truth

by Meghan March

  I stared at the TV as Heath turned his back on the camera and walked toward the door, pain evident in every uneven step.

  “Tell your little sister good-bye, Heath.”

  My brother’s head whipped around just in time for someone to draw a pistol with a long barrel and pull the trigger three times.

  “NO!”

  My screams echoed through the house as my brother dropped to his knees, clutching his chest where the bullets had penetrated, and collapsed on the floor.

  61

  Rhett

  When we got to the house, Ari still wasn’t answering. I pounded on the door to the safe room, but no noise came from inside.

  “You have the override?” Rix asked.

  “No.”

  Carver burst into the closet. “I’ve got the override code.” He flipped open a hidden panel to reveal a keypad and punched in the numbers.

  The door slid open silently, and I rushed in. “Ari!”

  The room was empty. She was gone.

  I spun around to face the men behind me. “How did this happen? How the hell did she get out of here and not a single one of you noticed?”

  One of the men spoke up. “There was a car that drove by a couple times, real slow. I went out front to check. Then the back sensor went off, and we cleared the front threat to go check that one out.”

  Rix walked into the safe room. “There’s no sign of struggle. My guess is she left on her own.”

  “Why the fuck would she do that?” I strode out of the safe room, but I already knew the answer as soon as I voiced the question. “Heath or her dad. Herrera has one of them.”

  Carver shook his head. “Mr. Sampson is at the rehab center. I called to check.”

  That left only one possibility.

  “If they had Heath, she would’ve gone.” I knew it down to my bones, because that’s how loyal Ari was.

  Carver’s phone rang, and he glanced down at it before picking up. “What? Wait, at the Sampson house?” His gaze cut to mine. “We’re on our way.”

  “What the hell is going on?”

  “Got a guy monitoring police radio. Call just came in from a neighbor about the Sampson house. Said she was worried about a possible domestic disturbance because of the yelling.”

  “That has to be them.” My heart jumped into my throat. “Let’s move.”

  I’m coming for you, Ari.

  62

  Ariel

  Neighborhood dogs barked outside, maybe because my screaming had set them off. Or maybe it had been the sound of Carlos’s fist connecting with my jaw to silence me, or the sound of my head smashing into the edge of a table or the lamp shattering as it hit the tile.

  “Shut up. Your brother doesn’t deserve your sympathy. Worthless piece of shit. He showed you that picture of me, used it to push you away. That’s why your father is lying where he is. To teach him a lesson. Look where his actions got you all.”

  I curled into a ball, shielding myself from another blow. “Where’s my dad?” My voice was raw, destroyed from crying.

  Carlos dragged me back up to my feet, this time by a fistful of hair, and my scalp burned as a chunk ripped free. “Same place he’s been all day. You think security would make a difference if I wanted him dead? I didn’t need him. I knew you’d come.” He shook his head. “Oblivious, trusting Ariel.”

  He was right. I was. I’d missed it all, and my brain struggled to piece together what I’d learned. My brother stole money from the cartel to pay back gambling debts. He’d worked for them, had been responsible for the explosion that killed Ronan Hennessy.

  “Now, we wait to get your boyfriend here, and I can eliminate another Hennessy before he causes me any more trouble.”

  The disgusted tone of Carlos’s voice made it sound personal, which I didn’t understand. Had Ronan somehow double-crossed the cartel? Was that what he’d done to earn his end?

  “Why?”

  “You want to know just how tarnished a bloodline Rhett Hennessy comes from? His father was dirty for over a decade. He facilitated all cartel business in the city for years. Then the oldest son decided to make taking down the cartel his top priority. Like that would keep drugs off the streets.” Carlos laughed. “It’s a losing battle. The cops will never win. We have money, power, and resources they’ll never fully comprehend. We will always win, always get what we want. And we’ll always take out anyone who gets in our way.”

  My jaw and head throbbed, but my heart ached for Rhett. This would wreck him.

  “You killed Robin?”

  Carlos snorted in disgust. “Like I would lower myself. I have more important things to do.” He paused. “But I ordered it. Too bad the father finally found his conscience and had to join him.”

  Coming closer, he nudged me with the toe of his expensive shoe. “How do you think your boyfriend is going to feel about you when he learns your brother killed his father? It’s a good thing you won’t be here to find out. You’re going to make me the most powerful man in the world instead. You’re going to give that facial-recognition software to all the police departments in the country, and then we’re going to use it against them because you’re giving us a back door. We will know their every movement as it happens.”

  He was crazy. Insane.

  “I’ll never—”

  My declaration was cut off by a knock at the front door.

  “Is someone in there? Ariel? Heath?” Mrs. Thurman’s shaky voice called. “I called the police, just in case something was wrong.”

  Carlos waved a hand toward the door and one of the goons moved toward it, pulling out the same gun that had killed Heath. Heath. My heart ached for him.

  I couldn’t save him. He’d been beyond saving.

  But I can save her.

  “Everything is fine!” I yelled toward the door, and the goon paused and glanced back at Carlos and me. “Just doing some redecorating before Dad moves back in. We got into a little argument about paint, and I knocked over a lamp with the roller. I’ll stop by when I’m done, Mrs. Thurman.”

  Carlos grabbed me by the hair again. “You’ll learn only to speak when spoken to.” Then he nodded at the goon. “Kill the old bitch. No witnesses. And make it quick. We’re leaving.”

  Another protest left my lips as Carlos dragged me toward the back door, right beside a tarp wrapped around what had to be my brother’s body.

  When I struggled to untangle his fingers from my hair without success, he growled in my ear. “If you don’t cooperate, I’ll send someone to the rehab facility to kill your father.”

  He dragged me out the back door and down the steps into the backyard.

  Dazed, I fixed my gaze on the rosebushes. My dad had planted one every year on my mom’s birthday. They lined two fences now, and I wished I’d been here to help him do it instead of spending so much time away. Maybe then I would have had a clue what was going on, and Heath wouldn’t have done what he did.

  Carlos jerked to a stop, and I stumbled in front of him. He wrapped an arm around my body and pinned me to his front as a familiar voice rumbled in a menacing growl.

  “Let her go.”

  Rhett.

  63

  Rhett

  I couldn’t get a clear shot. First the trees, and then Ari being too close to the target. Now that I saw her face, bruised and bloody, I cursed myself for not taking the risk.

  “He killed Heath,” she croaked. “They’re going to kill Mrs. Thurman from across the street. You have to stop them.” Her wrecked voice matched her appearance. “Don’t let them hurt her!”

  One of the crew peeled off and ran for the front of the house as Carlos gloated.

  “You won’t take the shot, Hennessy. Too worried about harming the woman whose brother killed your father. Pathetic.”

  Heath killed my father?

  The information sliced into me but I didn’t let it show. Right now, all that mattered was getting Ari away from him and taking this motherfucker out.

  The b
ack door to the house burst open and shots rang out. A round punched into my shoulder but I ignored it and did the only thing that made sense. I dived at Carlos and Ari, knocking them to the ground before he could pull his weapon.

  Bullets flew over our heads as Ari snapped into action, maneuvering her body and wrenching Carlos’s wrist back to get him in an arm-bar like she had the morning I saw her with Carver. I leaned up and landed a punch to his face.

  “You don’t fucking hit a woman. Didn’t anyone teach you that, you piece of shit?” Blood spilled from my shoulder, and I hoped like fuck it blinded him.

  “You’re going to die,” he said, his accent thickening.

  “Wrong, asshole. That’s you.”

  When I reached for the gun in my ankle holster, Carlos yelled, “Kill them!”

  As I rolled back up, Ari’s entire body jerked and she lost her grip on Carlos. He shoved up to his knees and I didn’t hesitate. I pulled the trigger, putting a bullet right between his fucking eyes. His body fell sideways as I crawled toward Ari. Bullets still flew, but all I saw was the blood gushing from her neck.

  “We need a fucking ambulance!” I roared the words as I yanked her shirt up to put pressure on the wound to slow the bleeding, but her eyes were closed.

  Someone behind me unloaded on the last man standing, and the gunfire died away.

  “Ari, wake up,” I pleaded. “Stay with me. I won’t fucking lose you now, goddammit!”

  Rix skidded to a halt beside me. “Ambulance won’t be quick enough. We gotta get her there now.”

  I ripped my shirt off and wrapped it around her neck before we lifted her and carried her to the SUV.

  “Five minutes. She’ll be there in five minutes.” Rix met my eyes. “She’s gonna make it.”

  * * *

  It was the longest five minutes of my life, and then the longest two hours.

  Rix, Valentina, and I sat there with Carver and the security guys, waiting for an update on Ari’s surgery.

  “Any word?”

  I jerked my head to the side, shaking off my stupor as Con Leahy sat down beside me.

  “Where’d you come from?” I asked, shocked to see him here.

  “Valentina called Vanessa. You got people who care. We’re here for you. Whatever you need.”

  Ten minutes later, Lord walked into the waiting room and took a seat with a chin jerk. They waited with me for hours. Ari had never even met them, and I prayed she’d have the chance.

  Our lives were a shattered mess of lies, death, and betrayal, but I didn’t care. Together, we could figure out how to pick up the pieces. Without her . . .

  I didn’t even want to think about it.

  Finally, a surgeon entered the waiting room and I stood. Rix got to his feet beside me and placed a hand on my shoulder. My heart stuck in my throat as I waited for the verdict.

  “Ms. Sampson’s family?”

  “Right here,” I said.

  The surgeon nodded, and my entire body tensed until he said, “She’s going to be fine. She’s in recovery now.”

  He continued with a long-winded explanation of what they’d done to repair the damage, but only one word stuck with me, echoing in my head. Fine. Fine. Fine.

  “Can I see her?”

  His gaze cut to me. “Give us a half hour to get her settled in and for her to hopefully wake up, and a nurse will bring you back.”

  “Thank you.” My voice hoarse, I reached out to shake his hand. “Thank you for making sure she had a shot.”

  “You stopped the bleeding and got her here. If you hadn’t acted so quickly, we might have lost her. Today is Ms. Sampson’s lucky day.” He released my hand and turned to walk out.

  Her lucky day? The day her brother was murdered and her ex-boyfriend nearly killed her?

  As soon as I decided the surgeon and I must have different definitions of the word luck, it hit me that Ari and I had survived it all and were getting our shot at picking up the pieces.

  Together.

  64

  Ariel

  Everything was fuzzy when I opened my eyes. My mind kicked over into fight-or-flight mode, but a hand clenched mine and Rhett’s voice calmed my panic.

  “Right here, Red. I got you.”

  My throat was sore and my head swam, but fractured memories sliced through my head.

  “What happened?” The memories felt like bad dreams. Nightmares. Like they couldn’t be real.

  “Doesn’t matter right now,” Rhett said, but his tone told me so much more. The nightmares were real.

  My brother sold me out to save his own life, and had wound up losing his anyway. He’d betrayed my family and his best friend. All for money.

  My eyes burned as tears broke free, splashing hot on my cheeks. “Heath killed your dad. You must hate me.”

  Rhett’s grip on my hand tightened. “Never. You had nothing to do with any of it. This isn’t your fault. You don’t get to take this on yourself.”

  The words were so much like the ones I’d said to him once upon a time when we both thought my family had the moral high ground. All that had been shattered now.

  “But—”

  “He made his choice. It wasn’t your fault, Ari. None of it.”

  I tightened my hold on his hand. Absolving myself wasn’t so easy. “I should’ve—”

  Rhett pressed a finger to my lips as his gaze turned serious. “If my father’s sins aren’t mine to bear, then your brother’s aren’t yours.”

  His words echoed in my head. How could I disagree with him when he put it like that? His father’s actions didn’t reflect on the man Rhett was . . . therefore the corollary should also be true.

  But sound logic couldn’t wipe away my guilt.

  “I’m so sorry, Rhett. Your dad . . .”

  “He wouldn’t hold it against you either.”

  I wanted to disagree. Argue. Rage that he was wrong and I was to blame, but I couldn’t without Rhett taking on the blame for his father’s actions. I couldn’t let him do that. He had borne too much responsibility for things he didn’t do. Now it was time for him to let go . . .

  But I had no idea how I could. My brother’s betrayal was too fresh and too raw.

  “I have to tell you the rest.”

  Rhett climbed into bed beside me and held me as I told him everything, never letting me go, even as I cried through the end of it. His strength held me together, and eventually, my tears ran dry and a head poked through the doorway.

  Carver. “I don’t want to interrupt, but I had to see for myself that you were okay.”

  Rhett’s expression darkened as he turned to look at the man. “You can report back to your boss that she’s going to be fine and no longer requires your services.”

  His boss? Did he just fire Carver? I’d missed something here. Carver didn’t protest, only nodded.

  “It was a pleasure serving you, Ms. Sampson. I wish you a speedy recovery.”

  With that, he left the room, and I looked at Rhett.

  “I’ll tell you later. You need to rest.”

  My eyes were already heavy, and I drifted off.

  65

  Rhett

  “If my father’s sins aren’t mine to bear, then your brother’s aren’t yours.”

  I replayed the words I’d said to Ari while she slept, but I wasn’t sure I believed them as they applied to me.

  Eventually, the nurses had kicked me out of Ari’s bed, but I refused to leave the room. I wasn’t letting her out of my sight for a long damned time.

  Her chest rose and fell with even breaths while I wondered, Where do we go from here?

  I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to let go of what my father had done. Likewise, Ari would carry her brother’s actions with her for life.

  It still shredded me to realize that two of the most important people in my life had betrayed me and everything I believed in. Heath had been closer to me than my brothers, and somehow I’d been completely oblivious to what was happening beneath the su
rface. I should have been a better friend, a better son, and maybe . . .

  There I went again.

  It was going to be a hard habit to break, for Ari and me both.

  Separately, we were two broken people struggling to make sense of things, but together, maybe we could heal each other. I wasn’t going to consider any other alternative, so I hoped like hell I was right.

  My phone vibrated and I stepped outside the room, still watching her from the cracked door as I answered.

  “Please tell me she’s really going to be okay.” My mom’s voice carried a heavy dose of fear, even though I’d kept her updated by text.

  “She’s going to be fine, Mom. I promise.”

  “Thank the Lord.” She paused. “And I swear, Rhett Hennessy, you’ve damn near given me a heart attack for the very last time. No more of those I’m in the hospital messages. I’m done.”

  “I know.”

  “You going to talk her into staying? Plant some roots back where she belongs?”

  I had to smile. My mom could jump from subject to subject without any hesitation. “We’ve talked about it.”

  “Well, stop talking and just do it. Life is too short to waste time. I learned that the hard way.”

  The sorrow in her voice gutted me.

  “I wish I would’ve found out something different, Mom. I wish we would’ve found out he had nothing to do with it.”

  She got quiet for a moment. “Me too, but it doesn’t change the fact that he was the love of my life. Good people do bad things, Rhett. Sometimes for good reasons, sometimes for bad ones, but that doesn’t mean all those memories we have are somehow worth less. And it surely doesn’t mean that what he did has any bearing on you. You didn’t do this.”

  “Ari said something along those lines.”

  “And she’s right. Focus on the future, Rhett. Ari will need all the support you can give. You both deserve to be happy. I love you.”