Beneath These Lies (34 page)

“You bring it or she dies. Slowly. Painfully. Bloody. After my guys have had their fill. Your choice.”

Rage roiled through my veins like napalm. I would destroy him.

“If anyone touches a single hair on her head, I swear to God I will gut you all like the spineless fucks you are.”

His laugh met my ears again. “I got all the cards here. Bring the money or I’ll leave her body in the gutter.”

“Where?”

The address memorized as soon as it was out of his mouth, I walked to the bar and grabbed a napkin and pen off someone’s credit card folder and scribbled it down. I wouldn’t take a single chance of getting this wrong.

It was a familiar street. On the lake. I knew the general vicinity, and it didn’t make sense for the FNDs to be setting up shop in such a nice hood. They were trash. Crack houses were more their style than lake houses.

But the step up gave credence to the rumors I’d been hearing on the street—the ones I knew Hennessy would be very interested in. The FNDs were running the drug ring he was trying to bring down, and they had to be in bed with the cartel. The only reason Trio would need to get his hands on that kind of cash was if some serious bad shit was going down and he was fucked without it.

“I’ll be there.”

The line went dead and I lowered my phone to the bar, fighting the urge to smash it and follow it up with my fists the way Hennessy had with the door at the warehouse. I glanced at the wall I’d already punched. I hadn’t left a mark, but I would now. I would tear this place down with my bare hands if it would get her back, but right now I couldn’t afford to waste the energy. Right now, the only thing that mattered was getting Valentina back. And vengeance.

“What the fuck is going on?” Hennessy asked from beside me.

I had a decision to make. Go it alone, bringing half the cash and as many guys as I could assemble in the next two hours, or let Hennessy in on what was going down. I would do anything to get Valentina back quicker and safer. I knew the moment I told him the FNDs had her, he’d make this his problem and the problem of the NOPD.

I made my choice.

The FNDs would never expect a SWAT team.

I turned to Hennessy. “We’re going back to the station, and you’re gonna get that promotion you’ve been after because you’re gonna bust a drug ring and help me get my woman back.”

At the mention of Valentina, Hennessy’s eyes narrowed. “What the hell did you get her into now?”

“I’ll explain on the way.”

S
TAY STILL. DON’T BREAK.

The words repeated like a mantra in my head as my body shook and I dug my nails into my shins, willing my body to stay curled into the ball I’d wrapped myself in. I needed the pain.

Memories and flashbacks of that night bombarded me. The dark, deserted road. When he pulled off onto the shoulder. My questions. His hand across my face. The door wrenching open and my nails clawing at the seat as he dragged me out and threw me in the back, tearing at my clothes.

Tremors of fear rattled my teeth with their strength. Tears mixed with the dried blood on my face and hands. I was pathetic. Helpless. Useless. Defenseless.

I stared at the wall, seeing the scene replay over and over.

Smears of blood. Broken nails. I’d fought him, and it hadn’t helped.

My eyes constantly darted to the door.

Would they come? Would I fight?

I will survive. Even if I want to die.

I tried to find the strength I’d fought for all these years, but there was nothing left.

My mind shifted, dragging thoughts of Rix to the forefront. I wanted to be strong. Wanted to be the girl who could save herself. But I was foolish. Broken.

He can’t see me like this. I can’t take seeing the pity in his eyes.
It would be worse than seeing it in Rhett’s. I couldn’t take it.

God, listen to yourself, Valentina. Stop.

The voices inside me were strong and adamant from both sides. The battle played out in my head as I waited silently with tears streaming down my face.

My sense of time was warped as I stayed curled into my ball. It could have been minutes or hours that had passed before I heard glass shatter, a crash, and men yelling.

Good guys? Or bad?

Weak threads of hope twined together in my belly.

“Go! Go! Go!”

Gunshots.

More yelling.

I squeezed into a smaller ball as doors slammed open.

Footsteps thundered up the stairs.

Oh shit.

“Clear!”

“Clear!”

Something rammed into the door, and the handle flew off on the inside.

I gripped my shins tighter, my gaze fixed on the door.
Good guys or bad?

SWAT. It was the first thing I saw when the man in the black vest, helmet, and goggles charged through the doorway, his gun sweeping the room.

The good guys
.

“Got her!” He lowered the gun, pressed an earpiece, and spoke quickly. “Hendrix, I’m bringing her out!” The man turned to me. “Come on, Ms. Noble. Let’s get you out of here. Hendrix will be happy as fuck to see you’re okay.”

Hendrix?

And
okay?
What was okay? Blood dripped from my face and my hands.
It could always be worse.
I nodded, my head bobbing. I was sort of okay.

But who was Hendrix? My brain struggled to free itself from survival mode, but I couldn’t answer my own swirling questions. Instead, I just latched onto the fact that he was one of the good guys.

The man helped me to my feet. One of my flip-flops was missing, but I didn’t care. I wanted out of this house. Right now.

“You want me to carry you, Ms. Noble?”

I shook my head and didn’t spit out the words I wanted to.
Don’t touch me.
Digging deep and grabbing hold of some fleeting reserve of strength, I followed him out of the room.

Bile rose in my throat at the dead bodies on the living room floor, blood seeping out around them into the beige carpet.

Tearing my gaze away, I searched for the door.
Out. Now.

Men with SWAT vests swarmed the house, and confusion dogged my every step.
Who called in the SWAT team?

One of the men slung his gun over his shoulder and rushed toward us. “Thank fuck,” he murmured as he grabbed me and pulled me into him.

I jerked back. “Don’t touch me,” I whispered, my voice harsh and broken.

He pulled away, his hands cupping my jaw before I could shove away. “I got you, duchess.”

My eyes met silver ones through the goggles.

Rix.

In a SWAT uniform.

What?
My brain couldn’t keep up.

“Let’s get you out of here. Come on.”

He bustled me out the front door hanging drunkenly off its hinges. We reached a black Suburban, and Rix shoved the goggles up off his face and onto the helmet.

“Are you okay?”

That question again.

I nodded, but my heart rate accelerated. Tears stung my eyes at the concern in his gaze.

I wanted to turn away. Didn’t want him to see me like this.

Be strong, Valentina. Don’t break. Don’t let him see you break.

I tried to focus on him, not on the pathetic mess I knew I was. “Why are you wearing a uniform?” My words came out faint and shaky.

Rix ignored my question and ran his hands over my face, hair, arms, and hands. “Fuck. You got some cuts.” I opened my mouth to ask my question again, when Rix returned to the tender spot on my temple. “Already bruising, duchess. Dammit. We need to get you to the ER to get checked out.”

I couldn’t think about my injuries or I’d fail in my promise to myself not to let him see me break. Instead, I grabbed his hand as he smoothed my hair away from my face.

“Why are you wearing a SWAT uniform?”

The man who’d brought me down the stairs joined us at the SUV. “Good to have you back, man. Just like we trained at the academy.”

Academy?

“You want to get her out of here? No one needs to know you were here. Don’t want to blow your cover.” He dug keys out of his pocket and handed them off to Rix.

Blow your cover?

Even in the chaos of my mind, it all slid together. My gaze shot to Rix. His face was hard, but one thing was clear.

Rix wasn’t Rix.

And he’d been lying to me since the day we met.

The knowledge rocked me as the confession bled into his gaze. I didn’t need him to reply to know it was true.
Rix isn’t Rix.

Jerking out of his arms, I stumbled back. He let me go—another confession of guilt.

“Who are you?” My voice shook, and the mess of my emotions rammed together like fists to flesh.

I was going to break. I was going to lose it. He was my safety. The one solid thing I could count on. And he wasn’t real. He was a lie.

“Thank fuck, you got her.” Another familiar voice joined the rush of static in my head.

Rhett came around the SUV. Rhett. The man who’d seen me at my worst before, and it had changed his opinion of me forever, no matter what he’d said.

“Who are you?” I demanded again.

Rix’s mouth tightened. “Beauregard Hendrix. NOPD. Undercover.”

The words were like a kick to the gut, shattering my ability to hold it together.
Everything was a lie
.

“I don’t even know you.”

His silver gaze pierced me. “I’m the same man I was before, duchess.”

I swallowed as hot tears spilled over. “I can’t do this right now. I can’t do this.”

I tore my eyes away from Rix, or whoever he was, and found Rhett. I spun and threw myself into his arms.

“Get me out of here,” I begged. The whole of me was falling to pieces. A full-on breakdown was imminent, and that wasn’t something I wanted anyone to see.

Rhett closed his arms around me. “Shhh. It’s okay. You’re fine. You’re just fine, honey.”

“Get me out of here,” I said again, my voice raw with the sobs I was holding back. “Now. Please.”

“Okay. We’re going.” Over my head, he spoke to someone else. “I’m taking her to the hospital.”

The thought of once again finding myself battered and bruised in a hospital bed, Rhett sitting across from me, shredded the remainder of my control. Sobs broke free, racking my body. He held me tighter, and I wanted to curl into myself and never come out.

I’m broken. I’m truly broken.

W
ATCHING AS
V
ALENTINA SHRANK AWAY
from me and threw herself into the arms of another man ripped at my insides.
Fuck
. I wanted to tear her away from Hennessy and hold her close to make sure she was okay, but the look on her face told me everything I needed to know.

She didn’t want me touching her.

That knowledge was enough to bring a man to his knees. But to fight for her, I’d stand strong.

And there’s no way in hell I wasn’t following them to the hospital. I wasn’t letting her go. I’d make her understand.

Fuck
. I would not lose her. Not over this. Not over any goddamned thing.

I watched as Hennessy loaded her into his Jeep and rounded the hood. When he met my eyes, there was no triumph in his gaze.