Image of Deceit

by Rumer Raines

  A few seconds pass by and my phone rings.

  “Yes?” I answer and Oliver groans into the phone.

  “I was testing him. Just come to the damn club. I talked to Frank and Alex and they are willing to hear me out. I’ll tell them about Sam. They’ll agree that we all have a fucking common enemy,” Oliver pleads with me, but I still need a guarantee.

  “Promise me that nothing will happen to Noah, Oliver.”

  I hear Oliver sigh and a few seconds later he gives me the two words that I hope he will follow through on.

  “I promise.”

  Noah

  I have serious doubts about going to Deluca’s. Oliver assured me that I will walk out in the same condition I walk in. I still wish I wouldn’t have left my damn gun in Boston. I feel like I am about to meet the devil, in his own home. I know Alexis is nervous about this whole meeting thing too. It took her almost two hours to get dressed and she is just putting on the same shit she came in.

  The ride to Deluca’s is quiet. I start to think about the last time I was in this alley. I was going to kill Frank and Alex Deluca. I was going to make them pay for killing Nick. I would never have thought that Sam could have pulled this shit off. We walk into Deluca’s and head straight up to Frank’s office. Alexis knocks on the door and it’s quickly opened by the big, mean-looking guy that Alexis greets as Thomas. He nods at both of us and moves away from the door.

  Once inside, I notice Frank, Alex, and Oliver all seated around the desk. Frank has his hands on his chin at one side of the desk, while Oliver and Frank are sitting across from him. No one in this office looks happy to see me. Alex looks me over and grunts when he sees Alexis and I are holding hands. Her grip tightens, and she looks up at me giving a small smile.

  Thomas brings two chairs over to desk and Alexis takes one. I shake my head letting him know that I will stand. I won’t let myself get too comfortable in this damn office, with the fucking mob. I have a feeling once you crawl into bed with them, it’s not the easiest thing to get out of. I shake my head wondering if that’s what happened with Nick. I guess it didn’t keep him safe from Sam, so it doesn’t matter if he did or not.

  After a few minutes, Oliver starts to fill everyone in on what he’s known and for how long. He tells the Delucas how Nick wasn’t dead when the first shots were fired. He was wearing a bulletproof vest. He goes on to tell them everything that he told me and Alexis earlier at the house. Sam killed Nick with several shots to his chest. Alex shakes his head and tells Oliver that there must be a mistake. He doesn’t believe that a woman would have gotten the upper hand on Nick.

  Oliver reminds Alex that Nick would have let his guard done because he was facing his wife, not someone he felt danger from. The next questions that float around the room are why Sam would want Nick dead and Frank’s eyes move to Alexis.

  “She found out he was having an affair,” Frank announces and we all look at a fidgeting Alexis.

  “I didn’t know he was married,” Alexis whispers and I pull the empty chair towards her and put my hand on hers. I want her to know that I believe her, and I don’t have any hard feelings toward her.

  Alex jumps out of his chair and starts to pace the office, while he starts to run his hands running through his beard. My heart feels like it is about to explode through my chest as he mentions that Sam must be the person that tried to kill Alexis.

  I don’t want to believe it. Would Sam try to kill Alexis? I feel stupid for even having doubts when I just found out that she killed her own husband, my brother. The same brother that she has been pressuring me to find. Now I know she only wanted me to help her find his body. Sam may have squeezed herself into my company, but unless Nick is found, she is entitled to half. Sam must feel like she killed Nick for nothing at this point.

  I stare at the men that now sit with me wondering how I ended up here. How could I possibly be sitting in the same room as the mob? I was planning to kill two of them, not too long ago. I listen as they decide what they will do with Sam. I don’t understand why this is even their concern, but Frank looks at me and notices my confusion.

  They considered Nick a part of their family. If anyone messes with anyone in their family, they just fucked with all of them. I nod, and Alexis gives my hand a squeeze. I can’t help but notice the annoyed grunt that Alex gives, and I tense at the thought of sitting in the same room with him. I can’t deny the hate and disgust I feel for the guy. However, now we have a common enemy.

  A few hours later, I am making a call to Sam. I ask if she can come to Chicago because I have a lead on Nick. I feel sick. I don’t know if I feel sick at the thought of calling Sam and knowing that I am handing her over to the mob. Or if I feel sick that I have stooped low enough to work with them. Alexis stares at me, waiting for me to get into the car but I can’t force myself to get in. The door is open and all I need to do is get in the damn car, but I just can’t move. I lean into the car and tell her that I need to take a cab and I softly close the door before she says anything.

  Alexis calls out to me, but I don’t stop walking. I can’t look at her right now, let alone talk to her. I have no idea what the hell I have just done. I don’t know much about the mob, but I do know once you’re in, you don’t just walk away. Sam will come to Chicago and they will kill her.

  I walk around in my own personal fog for hours. Alexis and Sam have both called me several times. I also have several voice mail messages that I don’t want to listen to. When I finally get tired of walking the streets of Chicago, I grab a taxi and head back to the townhouse. I notice Alexis’ car parked out front as we turn onto the street. I ask the driver to keep driving and have him drop me off at a hotel.

  Alexis

  I haven’t heard from Noah in three days. I am back in the safe house with Oliver, who has been on edge. Everyone has been on edge since Noah pulled his disappearing act. The guys are nervous that he knows too much and has disappeared. They are worried that he will go to the cops. I am more worried that Noah has seen a lifestyle that he wants no part of. The worst part is now I am associated with that very lifestyle.

  “I need to tell you something, Alexis, and it’s not good,” Oliver advises, and I take a deep breath waiting for him to break whatever this news.

  “Okay. What is it?” I ask not wanting to know what he’s about to say.

  “Noah is back in Boston. Apparently, he stopped Sam from coming and ran back home,” Oliver announces with irritation in his voice.

  I feel Oliver’s eyes on me, but I refuse to meet them.

  “What are you going to do?” I ask, and I pray that plans aren’t being made to go to Boston.

  “Nothing. If they stay in Boston, we won’t touch them. If we think we even smell them in Chicago, they are dead. We’ll stay at the safe house for another week and if nothing else happens we can go home.”

  I close my eyes as I replay Oliver’s words in my mind. He didn’t say they wouldn’t touch Sam. He said they won’t touch them. They won’t only kill Sam, they will kill Noah too. Noah fucked over the mob and now he is on their hit list.

  Oliver and I survive the week, and everything appears safe. We both go back home, and I go back to work at the store. Lola and Adele are working when I arrive and they both greet me with hugs. I still can’t say that I fully trust them, not the way I used to.

  They both carefully watch my every move while at the store. I don’t know if they are watching because we used to be friends, or if Frank and Alex told them to. I can’t help but also feel the emptiness the store has without Chance.

  When the day is finally over, I head home to resume the empty life I lived before Noah.

  It’s now been three weeks and still, nothing has changed. I have been so tempted to call Noah, but I somehow have remained strong. If he wanted to talk to me, he has my number. I can’t blame him for not wanting anything to do with me. My brothers are fucking criminals and basically planned to kill Sam. Making matters even worse, they included him in the plan. Noah
is a good man. He’s not a killer.

  It’s been one month since Noah walked away from me. I am not a criminal, but I have just committed a crime. I am sure Frank, Alex, Thomas, and Oliver would be proud. I just broke into Noah’s townhouse. I picked the lock to the front door and walked in. The house feels cold and unwelcoming. It doesn’t feel like Noah anymore. I guess it shouldn’t since he’s been gone for a month.

  I walk into the bedroom and find one of Noah’s t-shirts laying on the bed. I take off my clothes and put it on hoping it still has his scent. I climb into Noah’s side of the bed and drift off to sleep wishing that he was here with me.

  Noah

  “My lawyers have advised that I am entitled to more since this is considered abandonment!” Sam yells at us in another one of her spur-of-the-moment meetings.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” Maurice yells back and I pinch the bridge of my nose not wanting to deal with any of this shit. “Noah, will you please say something to this bitch?” Maurice pleads with me as I grip a little harder.

  “Can you leave alone please?” I ask Maurice, who stomps out of my office and slams the door.

  “What the hell are you doing, Sam?” I growl at her and I hear her sigh.

  “I already told you. I talked to the lawyers.” She starts to go over her speech again before I hold up my hand stopping her.

  “I know you have talked to your lawyers. You seem to talk to them a lot, Sam. What exactly is your end game? Do you want us to just sign over Nick’s shares to you, so you can become a partner?” I ask, and Sam takes a breath and tilts her head.

  “If I am entitled to it. Nick has been gone for a long time, Noah. I think we need to come to terms with the fact that he’s not coming back,” Sam announces, and I narrow my eyes at her.

  “We don’t know that he’s not coming back. Unless there is something you’re not telling me?” I ask her, and she shakes her head turning her back to me.

  “I just don’t want us to be delusional,” Sam tells me before walking out and softly closing the door.

  It’s been a month since I walked away from Alexis and her Mafia family. Walking away from her was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I have picked up the phone daily to call her. I even thought about calling her and just not saying anything. Just the sound of her voice would keep me going. I hate to admit it, but I miss her so fucking much it hurts.

  I was sitting at Deluca’s listening to how Sam would be killed. I just couldn’t go through with it. The minute I got back to the hotel, I called Sam and told her not to come to Chicago. I would be home in a few hours and I caught the next flight to Boston. Sam questioned me about what I had found, but I lied and told her that I thought I had spotted Nick. The look on her face was priceless. I guess in her mind, I had seen a ghost since she knew she had killed him.

  Now I wonder if I ever will see Alexis again.

  Alexis

  Oliver didn’t ask me any questions when I requested that he send a locksmith to Noah’s townhouse. He just sighed and told me that he’d have someone there in about an hour. As promised, he arrived and new locks had been placed at the house. I glance around the fully furnished home and start to realize that I have lost my damn mind. Noah bailed, and I decorated our house and practically moved in. I know he’ll eventually come back, he has to. He will come back to put the house on the market, but he’ll find me here. He’ll see that I haven’t moved on and I want what we have or maybe it’s what we had up to this point.

  I climb into bed and think about Noah coming back home as I drift off to sleep.

  “Alexis… Open the damn door!” Oliver shouts and I jump out of bed to open the door for him. When I pull open the door I gasp as a bloody and beaten Oliver falls inside.

  He pushes me away when I try to help him up. Oliver manages to get to his feet as he yells for me to pack a bag because we need to get back to the safe house. I shake my head not wanting to go anywhere until he tells me what the hell is going on. Oliver yells and swears at me to get my fucking bag, so we can get to the safe house! Once my bag is packed, he walks over to the door and peeks outside before he grabs my arm and rushes me to his car.

  Oliver is driving at least ninety and weaving between every car on the road. I just pray that we don’t crash and die before we reach our destination. I turn to look at Oliver, whose knuckles are white as they strangle the steering wheel.

  “Where are we going, Oliver?” I whisper

  “We are going to the safe house.”

  “I think we missed the turn,” I point out, and he shakes his head.

  “We are not going to my safe house. We have to go to the Deluca’s.” Oliver advises and now I am the one shaking my head. My family has a safehouse?

  “I… I didn’t know there was a Deluca safehouse.” I struggle to get the words out and Oliver closes his eyes for a quick second.

  “Some bad shit went down tonight, Alexis. I need to get you to your family.” Oliver’s voice is tense and cold. I glance down at the dried blood and ask the question I don’t think I want the answer to.

  “Whose blood is that?” I whisper.

  “It’s Frank’s,” Oliver tells me, and I gasp, feeling my world about to go black. Frank was shot.

  I close my eyes and my head falls back onto the headrest. I pray that Frank isn’t dead. Why does Oliver have Frank’s blood on him? Why is my family at the safe house? I know I need Oliver to explain, but I don’t know if I can handle the answers he’ll give me.

  I have been such a bitch to Frank and Alex and now Frank has been hurt. If he’s dead, I will never forgive myself for the way I treated him. We always say the most hurtful things to the people we love, without considering we may not get a chance to take them back. What if I never get to talk to him again? I feel a tear run down my cheek and I quickly wipe it away as Oliver’s hand squeezes mine.

  “It’s going to be okay, Alexis. We’ll take care of it. We’ll get her back,” Oliver tells me, and I open my eyes to look at him.

  “We’ll get who back?” I quietly ask.

  “Lola… They fucking took Lola.”

  I violently shake my head and yell for Oliver to pull over. When he stops the car, I open the door and retch.

  Alexis

  It’s been a bad week at the safe house. The women and kids are basically under house arrest. There are armed guards patrolling the property. My mom and Adele have been very quiet as they try to keep all the kids unaware that anything is wrong. My heart breaks each time the twins cry out for their mother.

  Oliver storms out of the office slamming the door and I follow him into one of the bedrooms. I softly close the door behind me and Oliver quickly pulls his gun pointing it at me. I lift my hands and he shakes his head as he realizes it’s me.

  “What do you want?” Oliver asks, and I sit on the bed watching him as he tucks away his gun.

  “Do you have any leads on Lola?” I ask, and Oliver’s eyes look past me toward the door.

  “I can’t discuss that with you, he says, and I sigh, shaking my head.

  “I need to know, Oliver. She’s my family,” I remind him, and he lets out a cold chuckle.

  “Now she’s family? It wasn’t that long ago you didn’t want anything to do with most of the people in this damn house. You don’t get to decide when you want to be considered family, Alexis,” Oliver reminds me.

  “Why can’t anyone understand where I am coming from, Oliver? I’ve been kept in the dark for years.”

  “You're being unreasonable, Alexis. Alex and Frank are grown ass men. They don’t owe you shit. These were the cards they were dealt, and it wasn’t any of your business. They did the one thing they could do, and that was to keep your ass safe. You didn’t need to be involved in this life, Alexis. Do you think any of us would have picked this?”

  “I don’t know what to think. I just don’t know, Oliver,” I whisper, and he sighs.

  “We think that Sam has something to do with Lola being missing,” Ol
iver says, and I stop in front of him narrowing my eyes.

  “What exactly happened, Oliver?” I ask again hoping he tells me. I have been unable to get any information from anyone since being locked up in this house.

  “After Frank and Lola left, we heard gunshots coming from the alley. We ran out and four guys were beating the hell out of him. They were able to take us out one by one and left us a fucking bloody mess. When I came to, Thomas and Alex were working on Frank, he had been shot but he was mad as hell. When he finally calmed down he asked where Lola was. She is never at the club that late. We had forgotten she was there and had walked out with him,” Oliver confesses, and I can tell he is upset that they didn’t remember she was there.

  “Why do you think Sam was involved?” I ask.

  “Frank said that they had Boston accents. We only know two people from Boston.”

  “Is Noah the other person you’re considering?” I ask, and I hold my breath waiting for the answer.

  “Frank suggested it. Alex, however, doesn’t think Noah would do anything like this,” Oliver states quietly, and my eyes widen as I stare at him.

  “Alex believes this?” I ask doubtfully.

  “Alex doesn’t think Noah would do anything that would hurt you,” Oliver answers.

  “What do you think, Oliver? Do you think Noah was involved?” I ask as I hold my breath.

  He replies, “No.”

  The house is soon filled with police officers, detectives, and FBI agents that are all bought and paid for by my brothers. They are all asking questions and being given directions by Alex. He wants every inch of Chicago searched until Lola is brought home safely and in one piece. Frank is silent and pacing the room; I can only watch him. He makes eye contact with me a few times, but his gaze is cold and hard. I know that he isn’t upset with me, but he just has other things to be concerned about. I only hope that I will one day have someone that loves me as much as Frank loves Lola. Their story may have started out a little sketchy, but they love each other. They found love when the odds were against them.