I didn’t have the slightest clue of all that happened prior to that night and was surprised when I realized she hadn’t told me everything before she took the stand. I took it as it was and knew Liza and I would talk about it someday…not now, and maybe not anytime soon. But one day this would be a distant memory. Something we could look back on and talk about without her being afraid.
I think with it being over now, and with the verdict having turned out the way we wanted, just maybe Liza’s day will brighten up. But it only seems to have her down. I’m afraid to ask her. I want to, but I worry that if I push her to talk, she’ll shut down. If there is one thing I’ve learned since meeting Liza it’s that she will come to me in her own time.
I decide to take her to lunch.
“Where are we going?” she asks, when she realizes I passed the turn that leads up to our house.
“You’ll see.” I smile and wink.
She narrows her eyes, but I can see the hint of a smile creeping across her face. She hates surprises, but I’m glad she’s going along with it for the moment.
When we reach the stretch of asphalt outside of town, I hit the gas and let the car fly. It would be a shame if I didn’t take advantage of the open road before me. A soft laugh escapes from Liza and I glance over. At least she seems happy now…
I look in the rearview mirror and see a black sedan following us a little too closely for comfort. I first noticed the car when we left the courthouse, but didn’t think anything of it until now. I can’t make out whether it’s a man or woman behind the wheel—not that it matters; the fact that whoever it is has been following us since we left is more than enough to concern me.
Please, dear God, do not let it be Rhett.
I think about the phone call he left on the answering machine a few months ago, threatening to return, and to harm not only me but Liza as well. I’ve been on constant watch, just waiting for the moment he decides to make his move.
I grip the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles turn white, and I press the gas pedal further to the floor. The car lurches forward.
Liza lets out a small squeal. “Reid!” she screams. “Slow down!”
The diner comes into view as I glance in the rearview mirror. The car behind us has accelerated as well, but maintains the same distance. I slow as we get closer to the diner, and when I turn onto the gravel parking lot, dust clouds surround us. I slam on the brakes, thrown against the back of my seat, and let out a deep breath. I watch as the car blows past us, not slowing down for a second. I can hear Liza’s shaking breath and finally look over at her. She’s gripping the handle of the door, her face pale and her eyes closed. She purses her lips and takes slow, steady breaths through her nose.
“Hey,” I say softly and reach out to touch her. She pulls back from my touch and opens her eyes.
I flinch at her deathly glare. “Do. Not. Touch. Me.” She enunciates each word with a bit of acid. She is mad—no, more than mad…she’s enraged. “What the fuck was that all about?” Liza rarely swears, but when she does, it’s for good reason.
“I’m sorry,” I say after a few thick moments of silence. “I let the thrill of the ride take over.” I bite my lower lip, knowing she loves it when I do this. I hope she buys it.
She laughs and shakes her head. “Maybe next time you can give me a bit of warning.”
I let out a sigh of relief.
“Or else you won’t be having the thrill of my ride later…”
My jaw drops. Who is this woman sitting next to me? Sure, the sex is great…it’s amazing, actually. Absolutely mind-blowing. But it’s taken a lot to get her out of her shell. For her to open her mouth and drop a bomb like that, well…it’s wholly unexpected.
It’s also thoroughly hot.
A grin spreads across my face and I lean over the center console, taking her face into my hands and pressing my lips against hers. Liza tries to fight it off, but after a few moments she gives in and kisses me back. Our lips part, our tongues doing their familiar dance, and I moan softly. The power this woman holds over me is unbelievable. One kiss, and I melt into her arms like a raging hormonal teenage boy.
Liza breaks the kiss after a few minutes and I groan in protest. My vision is hazy and all I can see is her. The sound of a car horn honking snaps me back into reality and I remember we’re in the parking lot of Mercury’s Diner, the site of our first date. As much as Liza denies it was a date, it was a date to me. So I dubbed it the undate—like a more romantic version of the unbirthday in Alice in Wonderland.
“Thank you,” Liza says breathlessly, as if she’s snapping out of the haze herself. “I love this place.”
I look at her, study her face with the smile spreading across it, and know her thoughts are churning.
My heart skips a beat remembering our first time here. It was the first time I got Liza to willingly go somewhere without having to resort to some level of blackmail. Call me an idiot, or call me a jackass, but I wasn’t going to stop until I had her. It was the first time I was having dinner with someone I wanted to have something more than just a night with.
Things were awkward at first, but eventually, we both started to relax. After dinner, I took her to a place I thought she might appreciate. A place I thought would give her a better impression of me. I took her to the new adoption center I helped build. I could see the fascination in her eyes but there was something more. I didn’t know what it was, until later that night after I’d done some digging. I learned she’d donated a large amount to the old center every month and was helping with the building of the new one. If that wasn’t a sign, I didn’t know what was. I remember the night she finally told me about the adoption center and why she donated. She told me about the money she’d inherited and the bank account it sat in that she never touched. “Blood money” is what she called it. She figured she needed something to do with it to give back and didn’t think there was anything better than helping kids without a family have a home—a place they could feel loved and not alone. It was something she’d never had growing up.
My reason for donating was simple: my parents had adopted a little girl when I was around seven or eight. I loved my sister more than I could express; she was the light of my life. But she was troubled. As a teen, she found herself getting involved with our older brother and his no-good friends. In the end, she didn’t make it. Another reason I hate my brother. He is at fault for her death and ever since then, I haven’t been able to look past all of his wrong doings.
“Hey,” Liza says softly. “You okay?”
I look down and see my hands are balled into fists. How can one of my favorite memories of Liza and me become tainted with memories of my brother?
“Just remembering our first time here.”
Her face drops and she looks out the window. I wait what feels like a lifetime before she looks back at me. “I like to think it’s a good memory.”
“It is.” I try to reassure her, but I can see the hurt lurking in her eyes. “It got me thinking about the adoption center…and then about Alexandra.”
This lifts her spirits a little and her frown disappears. She nods and offers me a smile. “Have you thought about my suggestion to visit her gravesite?”
When don’t I think about it? It’s been almost nine years since her death, and I’ve never gone—and I’d refused to go to the funeral, too. I take a deep breath.
“I’m sorry,” Liza says. “I’m ruining your surprise for me.”
I let out a long sigh and shake my head. “It isn’t you,” I answer softly.
Liza watches me for a moment before grabbing my hand. She lifts it to her mouth, and I relax when she places a gentle kiss against the back. “Let’s get inside.”
She’s right. The longer I sit out here and stew about my brother— about the past—the more afraid I get. I don’t know what my brother is up to. I have secrets I don’t want Liza to know about, but I know I’ll have to tell her eventually. Just not right now.
The d
iner is just what the both of us need to snap us out of this funk.
I put on my best smile and race around the car to help her out.
“I’m so happy to see you two!” Sally, the waitress who served us our first time here, comes barreling toward us when we enter. She throws her arms around me. “You still making her happy, boy?”
I nod and smile. “I hope so.”
Sally pulls out of my arms and runs her hands down her white apron before pulling Liza in for a hug. She whispers something in Liza’s ear, something she’s done the last few times we’ve come to eat. I watch a wide grin dance across Liza’s face. I’ll never know what just exchanged between the two, since Liza never tells me. I’m sure she delights in keeping me in suspense.
Over the past couple months, Sally has become a surrogate mother to Liza. They spend a lot of time together outside of the diner. She’s found refuge in Sally, though she also loves Eli’s mother, Jezebel.
Jezzie has been there for Liza from the moment she and Eli met in kindergarten. But ever since Liza “broke” Eli’s heart, she’s been a bit different toward her, a bit overbearing. She makes it her mission to let me know she doesn’t like me and that it should be Eli planning a wedding with Liza. Regardless, I love the woman…especially after she has a few margaritas in her.
Sally leads us through the diner to the same table we sat at our first time here. It’s sort of become a symbol of our relationship, where it all started, and we won’t sit anywhere else. I let Liza slide onto the bench first then slid in next to her. I smile when Liza orders a cheeseburger and fries. I love that she has no reservations about eating. I’d probably keel over and die if she ever ordered a salad.
I smile as Liza talks to Sally about wedding details. Other men would shy away from this topic and leave everything up to the bride. But whenever Liza talks wedding, I listen. Since taking over my uncle’s company, I haven’t been able to be involved as much as I would like. And much to Eli’s and Jezzie’s delight, he’s had to step in for me more than a few times.
As the afternoon wears on, I feel confident in my decision about coming here. The color in Liza’s face has brightened, and for the first time she looks genuinely happy.
We stay long after we finish eating. Liza fills me in on the some of the wedding details.
“The cake tasting is coming up next week and we still have to go over the seating chart,” she says between sips of her milkshake.
“I can’t wait.” I force a smile. Though I’m enjoying just being here and talking with her, in the back of my mind, I can’t stop thinking about the car that was following us.
CHAPTER FOUR
“HEY, LOVE?” I say as we walk through the front door. “Why don’t you go run a bath for us? I’m going to go check in with Marco, and then I’ll be up to join you.”
Liza smiles and nods. She heads toward the stairs, stops, and looks over her shoulder at me. “I’ll be waiting.”
I watch as she climbs the stairs, swaying her hips. When she turns down the hallway, I hurry to the lower level on the other side of the house.
Marco Rodriguez has become a permanent resident in our house. For the most part, we don’t even know he’s here. He stays in a guest room. Liza has gotten pretty good at coaxing him out of the room, to take a break from his search, to join us for dinner or a night out.
I hired Marco eight years ago to follow and track my brother’s dealings overseas. Marco and his men never had any problems keeping a watchful eye on Rhett, keeping me updated on him, and making sure he made no plans to return to the US. But six months ago, Rhett outsmarted Marco and his men and made his escape. Since then, Marco has refused any kind of payment except room and board. I try to slip some spending money every so often, but I always find the bills tucked under my desk blotter the next day.
Rhett may have been stupid, but he wasn’t stupid enough to return… until now. I can’t help but wonder why he’s waited nearly eight years to come back, thought I have a pretty good idea that it has something to do with Liza. I’m not sure how he knows about her in the first place though, or what he wants with her. The thought that he’s been keeping tabs on me just as much as I’ve been keeping tabs on him ties my stomach in knots. I want Rhett to stay gone; he has the power to hurt anyone he wants. But what makes him truly dangerous is that he has no remorse. I know first-hand. He takes what he wants, despite who it hurts, and he’ll do it again and again. Like the heartless soul he is.
Marco is pissed that he slipped up, made a mistake. He will stop at nothing to correct it. I don’t know how he manages to do what he is doing. If he isn’t locked in his room working on the computer, he’s out hunting down leads. I make sure he has whatever he needs. I’m usually pretty confident in his skills to find Rhett, but I’m not sure he can do it in time.
The door to his room is closed, and I knock. After a few seconds, the door opens. Marco’s forehead is creased with worry lines; his brown-green eyes have black bags under them, and his golden blond hair looks like it hasn’t been combed in days. He says nothing, simply steps aside so I can enter.
He’s converted the large space into what I can only imagine a FBI or CIA office might look like. Several computer monitors lined up on top of a large table that has taken precedence in what used to be a sitting area. The previously-empty wall behind the screens is now covered with photographs of my brother and his known associates, and maps of all shapes and sizes of possible locations he could be. Some of the circles on the maps have been crossed out to indicate the places he hasn’t been located.
Standing off a ways from the desk of computers is a large whiteboard, littered with pictures of my brother out and about during his time overseas. Some of the pictures are grotesque. I can’t believe my brother would sink so low. My breath catches when I see the newest additions to the collection, photographs of a time I have tried to forget. They’re pictures of the night my brother’s house burned down. Crime scene photos from the incident hang underneath the photos of the burned house, and next to that is a picture of Lily and her son. Lines are drawn, connecting them, and a big, black question mark rests in the middle of the chaos.
“What’s this?” I point over my shoulder, refusing to look at the photos again. I take slow and steady breaths.
“What’s what?” Marco says nonchalantly.
I shoot him a glare and take a deep breath before speaking. My heart is pounding, my hands shaking. I want to wring his neck. I struggle against being pulled back into the memory of that night and take another breath. “Don’t play stupid. You know what I’m talking about. Why are those photos up there? If Liza was to come in here…”
“She’s already seen them.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? What the hell were you thinking?” I take three steps and stop myself from going any further. I may be able to hold my ground against the majority of men, but Marco is not one of them.
“Relax,” Marco says in a calm voice. “She doesn’t know…she only knows what you’ve told her and what we’ve talked about in the past.”
That reassures me, but not much. It’s one thing to tell her about how Lily and Ollie died in a house fire, and that I suspect my brother is the reason why, but it’s another thing for her to see the evidence. She is plagued by enough nightmares of her own. She doesn’t need to be sucked into mine. “So what’s the deal with all of it then? You think there is some sort of connection between everything?”
Marco smiles. I’m not sure if I should worry or not. “That’s exactly what I’m thinking.” He walks to the whiteboard, and I reluctantly turn to watch him. He stands in front of the board, with his hands folded behind his back, and studies it. “Think about it for a minute…when did you first hear from Rhett?”
I don’t need to think. I already know. “A few weeks after the Heidi incident and not to long after Liza agreed to marry me.”
“Now consider what you just said.” I walk up beside him and take a similar stance in front of the board. “If
he’s been checking up on you, he had to know about what happened with Heidi, too…and it’s not like your engagement is a secret.”
Marco is right. It seems as if all of Longport knew Liza and I were engaged before it even happened. The very next day, the tabloids were plastered with the news. I don’t know how they found out so quickly. I wanted a bit of time to enjoy it privately at first, but that didn’t happen. I had my suspicions. I believe my mother is the one who contacted them, even if she tried to deny it—and even if she still does to this day.
Liza was distraught at first; it thrust her into the spotlight more than she wanted to be. Now, she’s learned to ignore them and go about her business. For the most part, anyway. There are still times where she’s out doing wedding things or grabbing lunch with Millie and they show up to hound her—especially with the trial going on. She can’t help that it gets under her skin at moments like that.
Marco’s voice pulls me from my thoughts. “He’s waited all this time, going about his business and getting his hands dirty without issuing a single word. He knew we were watching him, and not once did he try to get away. It’s as if he wants you to know what he’s capable of. And now, he has the perfect opportunity to exact revenge.”
I shudder when Marco says the word. I know it’s exactly what all of this is about. It was only a matter of time until he decided to make me pay for what I did, in spite of the fact that he thoroughly deserved it. Rhett deserves much more punishment for all his wrongs, though… he’s gotten away with what he’s doing for far too long. He’s a calculating man; he’s smart and when he strikes, with every detail well-thought out, every step meticulously planned. And he covers his tracks. The FBI has tried to bring him down many times, but never has enough evidence to hold him for very long.
He is untouchable.
“Your brother is the kind of person who sits on something. He lets it fester, and attacks only when he’s ready. You took something of his a long time ago, and now he wants to take something of yours. He’s waited all this time for you to get yourself to where you are now.”
If I Say No (Say Something #2) Page 3
