Grafted into Deceit

by Sherri Wilson Johnson

  He pushed up off the floor and closed the distance between them. “I’ve got the product, yes. Now I need all parties involved. I’m not going to stop until you’re safe.”

  “Well, I’ve been dragged into this scheme without my knowledge and certainly without my permission. I’m exhausted and I’m done!”

  ***

  Marina glared at Steven with eyes that stung and caused more pain than any injury she’d had the last few days. Hadn’t she helped him enough already?

  Then she slumped and bowed her head. No, she hadn’t helped him enough. And now her heart hurt more than anything over her willingness to abandon him. She couldn’t refuse this man whose kisses she’d just savored. He’d done nothing but protect her and receive with valor countless injuries in his quest to ensure her safety.

  She stepped toward him. “I’m sorry. Please forgive me.”

  “No, forgive me. Again.” Steven sat and pulled her down with him onto the grimy hardwood floors.

  “I never would’ve thought I’d seek refuge in a putrid, sweltering marijuana greenhouse.” She laughed then clutched her ribs to stop the shooting pain.

  Steven echoed her laugh and then gripped his blood-soaked shoulder. “We’re quite the pair, aren’t we?”

  Unable to stay angry with the man who’d endured so much for her, she patted his hand. “I’m sorry you’re hurt because of me.”

  “It’s my pleasure.” He winked.

  The fact he meant that statement endeared him to her even more. “How long do you think it’ll take them to get to us?”

  “Hopefully, no more than a few minutes.”

  “Okay, Detective Pennington, distract me until they come. Tell me something about you I don’t know.”

  “There’s a lot about me you don’t know, Marina.”

  Something fluttered inside her stomach over the mysteries this man held in his heart. “Clearly.”

  He chuckled. “You go first.”

  “Steven, that’s not fair. You’ve learned a lot about me over the last few days.”

  “There’s something I still don’t know.”

  She arched her eyebrow. “What?”

  He cocked his chin while brushing her sweat-drenched hair away from her face. “Why you broke it off with my brother and why you don’t date cops anymore.”

  She sighed, not surprised by his question. Before he could entertain thoughts of dating her, he’d have to know if the reward would be worth the risk of pursuing a woman who might bolt at any time.

  Given the choice, she’d pick kissing him again over digging into her heart and sharing her reasons for mistrusting policemen. But bringing the walls down wouldn’t happen if honesty with herself and with him didn’t prevail right now. “I guess I owe you that one.”

  “Yes, you do.”

  “It’s not a pleasant story.”

  “Marina, I don’t care.”

  “It’s going to hurt you.”

  “Let me be the judge of that. Okay?”

  With crossed legs and her hands folded in her lap, she gulped and began, “I dated a cop when I was in college, and he ... he tried to rape me.” A tremor ran through her.

  Steven clinched his jaw, and his eyes glazed over with apparent anger. Would he take her side once he heard what she had to say?

  She continued, “When I tried to press charges, no one believed me. His whole department was on his side, and not one single person would take a report.”

  “I’m sorry.” Steven rested his right hand on hers.

  She shrugged. “Every single policeman I met was crooked. They all looked out for their own.”

  Steven’s eyes blazed. “What about Mark? He was already cop when you started dating him. Right? But you dated him anyway?”

  She picked at a chip in her fingernail polish. “Yeah, and he convinced me to let him change my opinion of cops.”

  “Did he?”

  She shook her head. “No. He did the same thing to me.” She winced as the words left her mouth.

  “What do you mean? He assaulted you?”

  “He tried. But I was able to fend him off.”

  “Out of the blue, he tried to rape you?”

  Her chin quivered. “No. One night he said something that rubbed me the wrong way because it sounded like the cop who tried to rape me. I confronted him about it, and he got mad. From there, it just escalated until he couldn’t control himself.”

  “Mark did this?”

  “I know you don’t want to believe me, and I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t.”

  What was the look in Steven’s eyes? He looked like he could kill someone right now. “I believe you. I know you weren’t the first one.”

  “He tried it with someone else?”

  “Sadly, yes. Did you report him?”

  “I threatened to go to his higher-ups, but everyone connected to him made up lies about me. His friends said they’d testify that I wanted to sleep with him, but he turned me down. They threatened to say I planned to ruin his career because of it, and that’s why I was filing false charges against him.”

  “I’m so sorry. I never knew about this.”

  “Turns out your brother was friends with the first guy, one of the ones who defended him when I accused him. He knew when I told him what had happened that it was his friend I’d accused, and he withheld that little bit of pertinent information from me. I’d never have dated him if I’d known they were friends. My first thought was he’d tricked me into dating him to take revenge on me for soiling his buddy’s reputation.”

  Steven’s jaw ticked, and he punched the floor.

  “I couldn’t go out with him anymore, and I couldn’t return to that church where we met.”

  “Again, I’m so sorry you went through this and had no one to turn to.” He squeezed her hand. “I’d never do something like that to you.”

  “I know. I can trust you. You proved that to me when you rescued me Friday night and didn’t abandon me afterward. You’ve never ceased protecting me.” She smiled and ran her finger across his perspiring cheek. “You’re nothing like Mark.”

  He took her hand in his and kissed her sweat-stained palm sending delight up her arm and down her spine. “Does that mean you’d go on a date with me after we get this whole thing cleared away?”

  She pointed to her chest. “You’d go on a date with me?”

  “Why not? You’re great!”

  How could he say that? He didn’t know the real Marina. “You’ve only seen the hurt and angry sides of me.”

  “I can tell you’re great because of the way you care about your friends. You won’t accuse them of something unless you know they’re guilty.”

  A twinge of condemnation scorched her heart. “I’m not doing what those cops did. I’m not protecting Iris.”

  “I know. I didn’t mean to imply that.” He brushed his index finger across the tip of her nose.

  “I don’t even go to church and you do.”

  “I’m not concerned about church attendance, Marina, although I do believe it’s where a Christian grows and thrives. I see your heart, and I know you have faith.”

  She nodded, and her throat tightened. “Yes, I do. It’s weak sometimes, but I do.”

  “Maybe you wouldn’t go out with someone like me.”

  She shifted to find a more comfortable position and shook her head. “I only hesitate because you’re law enforcement. If it weren’t for that, I would’ve gone out with you Friday night.” A smile spread across her face.

  “It doesn’t bother you that I’m Mark’s brother? You’re not afraid I’d be like him?”

  “Nope.”

  Steven raised an eyebrow. “But I have a bad history with women.”

  “How so?” He couldn’t scare her away now. He’d hooked her.

  “I tend to fall for victims because, according to John, I have a hero complex and pick women who need protection. Apparently, I misread their need for help as a signal for love.”

 
; She huffed. “Ridiculous! You’ve just not found the right girl yet.”

  “Until now?” He cut a sideways glance at her and leaned in close.

  “Let’s just say, you haven’t misread my signals.”

  He almost giggled. “So you’ll go on a date with me?”

  She rested her forehead against his, and his strength poured into her body. “I guess I owe it to all cops to give you the benefit of the doubt.”

  “Yes, you do.”

  “And since I already forced myself on you earlier, I guess you owe it to me to take me on a date.”

  Steven laughed and drew closer to her. “You didn’t force yourself on me.” His lips had almost reached hers when gunfire blasted through the house. “Get down!” he screamed, grabbed Marina’s arm, and shoved her underneath the closest marijuana bench. He rolled to his stomach and joined her.

  “Well, what do we have here?” A female voice sneered from the doorway. “A cop and his victim all cozied up together.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Iris?” Marina scrambled out from underneath the bench and bolted to her feet. Steven tried to pull her back down, but she locked her knees and secured her spot beside the marijuana beds. “What are you doing here? I thought you were out of town.” Because she’d been entranced in Steven, she hadn’t heard the door open, and the shock still surged through her.

  “Clearly, I’m not.” Iris’s tone pierced Marina’s soul.

  “I was going to call you when I got to safety. They arrested Mack. Look what he’s been doing.” She fanned her hands out to emphasize the crops.

  “Stop talking and stay there, Marina. I’ll shoot if you come toward me.”

  Marina squinted. The light from outdoors backlit Iris standing in the doorway and prevented her from seeing much detail about her partner except for her dreds. “You’re pointing a gun at me right now? Seriously?”

  Steven slid out from under the bench and pushed his way in front of Marina.

  “Stay there, cop.” Iris stepped inside and flipped on the lights.

  “It’s detective. Detective Pennington, to be exact.” Steven inched his way closer to Iris.

  “Stay back. I’ll shoot!” Iris waved her gun at them.

  Marina tried to unscramble her thoughts and make sense of Iris’s intentions. “Why are you protecting Mack like this?”

  “You’re so stupid, Marina. I’m not protecting Mack. We’ve been growing marijuana since college. This empire of yours was the perfect cover for us to start a bigger operation.”

  Marina gasped, causing her heart to lurch. How had she never figured out Iris was using her? She was smart, but when it came to Iris, she’d always trusted her and never thought she’d betray her like this. “What?”

  “When you stayed busy with design and with acquiring customers, everything was fine. But you had to snoop.”

  “I snooped because you stole money from me. Is that why Mack tried to set me up with Jason?” She stepped up beside Steven.

  “That proved to be the worst mistake Mack ever made. He was about to rat us out.”

  “Did he kill him?”

  Iris laughed but withheld her answer.

  Marina jammed her hands on her hips. “I would’ve eventually figured out where the $150,000 had gone. Why did you steal from our business?”

  “I needed the money to start our production. Using this old house was a good financial move, but I needed equipment. I took a little at a time, so we’d still have enough money to pay the company’s bills. I was going to put it back with this next shipment. But you were impatient and couldn’t keep your nose out of my business.”

  Marina glared at Iris. “Your business is our business when you use money that belongs to me.”

  “Whatever. And this cop, is he the one you told me about?” Iris took two steps toward Steven and steadied her grip on the gun.

  Was she going to shoot him in the face? Marina waved her hands in front of her former friend. “Iris, stop! You’ve lost your mind.”

  “Turn around and get on your knees. I don’t want to look at you when I shoot you.”

  “You’d shoot me? I’m your best friend.”

  “Mack is my best friend.” Iris flexed her finger on the trigger and grinned.

  Marina shook her head and sobbed, stomach acid rising in her esophagus. “Iris, don’t. Please!”

  Steven moved closer to Iris, his gun still in his holster. “Right now, you’re looking at jail time for fraud, embezzlement, trafficking, theft, and endangerment, but it doesn’t have to be for murder. You don’t have to kill us. We can try to cut you a deal if you testify against Kemar and Jarvis.”

  Iris wiped the beads of sweat from her upper lip. “Testify against my husband and my cousin? You’re crazy!”

  So Iris was related to Kemar after all. The lies continued to stack on top of each other. Now Iris’s house of lies was crumbling around her.

  Iris pointed the gun at Steven’s face, her waning confidence evident. “You won’t cut me a deal.”

  Steven stepped closer. “If you help my case, I’ll see what I can do.”

  Iris wiped her perspiring brow with her left hand then fingered her nose ring. This tick of hers meant she was considering his offer.

  Iris needed to corroborate Steven’s suspicions, and Marina was the only one who could convince her to do so. “Iris, Detective Pennington can help you. I don’t want you to go to jail if you didn’t know about this.”

  “And if I did?” Iris hissed. Her words stung like venom.

  “I want justice for everyone involved. You know how I feel about people who get away with crimes. No matter what, though, I want you to get help for your gambling addiction.”

  Iris snatched her gun from its focus on Steven and marched right up to her, the same tension of a thunderstorm pressing in on Marina. To ward off an attack, Marina held her hands in front of her. When Iris pointed the gun at her forehead, Marina screamed and dropped her hands. She couldn’t defend herself against a gun.

  “You’re so stupid. I should kill you now if for no other reason than putting myself out of the misery of dealing with you. I don’t have a gambling addiction.” The whiskey on Iris’s breath curdled Marina’s stomach.

  Steven popped his gun out of its holster and trained it on Iris’s right temple. “You shoot her, and you’re dead in two seconds.”

  “You’re bluffing.” Iris’s gaze flitted from Steven’s gun to his eyes.

  His hand remained steady, and his fierce gaze never wavered. “Unless death sounds good to you right now, put the gun down.”

  Iris backed away toward the door while yanking at her dreadlocks. She had to be reaching her limit. “Where’s Mack? I want to see him now.”

  Steven stepped closer still, but Marina clung to his shirt sleeve. “Steven, don’t go any closer. She’s not thinking clearly, and she won’t negotiate.”

  He glanced back at her. “Let me try.”

  Iris trembled, her eyes wild. “No, I’m not talking to you. Where’s Mack? I want to see him now.”

  He edged closer. “Surrender your weapon to me, and I’ll take you to him.”

  The sun dipped behind a cloud and cast a shadow over the house. Marina shifted her focus to the open door. If Iris wasn’t blocking the way, she’d run as fast as she could and get as far away from this nightmare as possible. Outside, officers lined the pathway and stood surrounding the doorway. If Iris didn’t surrender, they’d kill her.

  Even though Marina wanted justice, and an unrecognizable hurt that wouldn’t heal for a while penetrated her, she loved Iris and didn’t want her to die. Not like this. Not in front of her. “Iris, please give him your gun. I’ll go with you to see Mack.” Marina stepped forward.

  “No, stay back. I’ll find him myself.” Iris pivoted and lunged for outside, but halted when she saw the officers.

  Steven rushed up behind her, wrestled her gun out of her hand, and grabbed both of her arms. He yanked her to the ground and k
icked her gun aside. As he read Iris her rights, he handcuffed her. Then he motioned to Ginger, who stood in the doorway scraped from whatever encounter she’d had out there but appearing to be unharmed.

  “Take her to a squad car. Can you follow my directions, Officer Steele?”

  “Yes, sir.” Ginger stepped into the house, cheeks blazing her embarrassment, and apprehended Iris.

  Steven drew Marina into an embrace distracting her from the trauma of seeing Iris arrested. “Are you okay?”

  She choked back her tears. “Yes. I just—I can’t believe this happened. You were right. Iris not only stole from me more than once, but she lied and used me.”

  “I’m sorry. This is one time I hate being right.”

  John and a few other officers swarmed around them collecting evidence. “You guys okay?”

  “We’re fine.” Steven escorted Marina toward the doorway of Greenhouse X.

  John caught his shoulder. “Jarvis said Iris shot Burney.”

  Marina halted and pivoted, her arms and legs heavy with tension. “Iris? But she was out of town at her mother’s house. I talked to her on the phone Saturday. I heard her sister’s kids in the background.”

  John shook his head. “Not Friday night. She was here.”

  She shuffled back a step. “Why?”

  “Jarvis said Burney was about to go to the Feds.” John frowned.

  Steven scratched his chin. “Who put his body in the truck?”

  “Jarvis and Kemar.”

  Marina tucked her chin to her chest. “How could they have lived such a lie in front of me every day?”

  “People do it all the time. But we have to keep the faith, Marina.” Steven lifted her chin. “Trustworthy people are out there.”

  “What’s going to happen to Iris and Mack? What about my business?” Could she pull the company out of the pit Iris had dumped it into?

  “Come on, let’s get you out of here. You can worry about all of that later.” Steven took her hand in his.

  They stepped out of the house in time to hear Iris’s screams while she fought the officers all the way down the pathway to the nursery. She’d pay for what she’d done to Marina. Maybe in the process, she’d change her heart.