Worth Dying For (30 page)

“I was thank you very much,” Rheyna said as she hugged her a little longer than she probably should have. “You look fabulous,” she whispered in Caroline’s ear, not one bit ashamed to admit that she had noticed. Rheyna leaned back to look at her. She was powerless to stop her eyes from slowly traveling the full length of Caroline’s body and felt an all-too-familiar ache as she looked at Caroline’s mouth. When she moved to Caroline’s eyes, she could have sworn they were laughing.

Caroline leaned over and whispered in her ear. “In case you didn’t know it, you are the most beautiful woman here tonight.”

Rheyna felt her heart skip a beat. She started to respond, but thought better of it. She was grateful when the crowd started cheering again. She and Caroline turned to look at the stage.

“Thank you for helping us tonight and for joining our fight to find a cure for AIDS,” Jesse yelled into the microphone. He turned and handed the microphone to Phil.

“As everyone knows, we hold this benefit party every year to raise research money for the Pediatric Aids wing at Children’s Hospital. Although Jesse and I are both resident Physicians, we still rely on your funding to cover the cost of the research, in hopes of one day finding a cure.”

The crowd let out a huge cheer. Phil held up his hand to quiet them. “Last year, all of you, our generous friends and colleagues, donated over two and a half million dollars.”

The crowd cheered so loud, Rheyna was sure it could be heard in the next city.

Jesse held a green envelope over his head and waved it in the air. “We have donation envelopes like this located on the table in the entryway, or you can get one from any of our gracious servers walking around,” he said, handing the envelope to a young man in front of the stage. “And without further ado, I will now turn things back over to Ms. Sienna and Evening Shade.” He smiled and then yelled, “Let’s party!” as he and Phil jumped from the stage and immediately started gyrating to the beat as the band broke into a raucous pop song.

It didn’t take long for the dance floor to fill up. Rheyna turned to Caroline. “Dance with me,” she yelled over the music, pulling Caroline onto the dance floor.

“Do I have a choice?” Caroline asked, raising her voice loud enough for Rheyna to hear.

Rheyna grinned at her, shook her head, and mouthed the word, “No.”

They danced for several minutes and then the lights began to dim.

“What’ya say we slow things down a bit?” Sienna purred into the microphone.

Caroline turned to leave the floor as a slow, melodic number began.

Rheyna grabbed her by the hand. “Where are you going?” she asked.

“It’s a slow song,” Caroline answered.

“So what?” Rheyna said, pulling Caroline into her arms.

Caroline laced her fingers around Rheyna’s neck and looked up at her. “Do I lead or follow?”

“Neither,” Rheyna answered, wrapping her arms tightly around Caroline’s waist. Their bodies brushed sensuously against each other in time with the rhythm of the music.

She feels so good
, Rheyna thought as she pulled Caroline closer. She could feel her own body trembling and wondered if Caroline was feeling it, too. She looked into Caroline’s eyes and she felt more want and desire than she could have ever imagined possible.

Her body ached for Caroline’s, and every single fiber in her being wanted her. All she could think about was how right it felt, how it was where she was meant to be. It was just her and Caroline. No one else existed at that moment but them. For the first time in a long time, she felt at peace.

Caroline raised her eyes to meet Rheyna’s, her lips slightly parted.

Rheyna lowered her head to kiss Caroline as if it were the most natural thing in the world to do. With Rheyna’s mouth less than an inch from hers, Caroline pulled away. Rheyna saw the confusion in her eyes.

She pulled out of Rheyna’s grasp. “I … I can’t.”

Rheyna put her hand on Caroline’s hand and felt a stabbing pain in her chest when Caroline jerked her arm away. Rheyna looked questioningly at the blue eyes staring back at her.

“I have to leave … I have to leave now,” Caroline stammered.

In shock, Rheyna watched Caroline turn and run from the dance floor. “Caroline, wait!” she yelled as she weaved her way through the crowd toward the front door, her progress greatly slowed by the crowd.

She stepped out on the driveway just in time to see the limo’s taillights turn out of the gate.

“Damn it,” she yelled at the top of her lungs.
I’m an idiot, a complete and total fucking idiot
, she thought to herself as she ran her fingers through her hair out of pure frustration. “Damn it to hell, Rheyna, what have you done?” she yelled, getting the attention of a couple standing near the door. She hoped that she hadn’t completely blown things with Caroline. Her lapse in judgment was unforgivable.

Chapter 21

Rheyna was distraught. She couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, and was just downright having a hard time with basic functions. It had been twenty-four hours since Phil and Jesse’s party, and Caroline hadn’t returned any of her phone calls. She dialed Caroline’s number again for the umpteenth time, and once again waited for the answering machine to pick up.

“Caroline, if you’re there, please pick up,” she practically begged. “I’ve left countless messages. Why won’t you return my calls? I need to talk to you. I need to explain. I’m so sorry; please don’t do this.”

Rheyna wasn’t sure if she was more afraid of losing Caroline, or more afraid that she had blown their operation. What she did was wrong, and she had risked everything without giving it a second thought.

###

Caroline sat on the edge of her bed, listening to Rheyna’s message. Why had she run like that? Was that not what she wanted? She grabbed her car keys off the dresser and left the room.

Joey looked up from his magazine and started to walk around to the rear of the car. She stopped him with a shake of her head and smiled.

“Not this time, Joey. I want to drive myself,” she said as she slid behind the wheel of her Jaguar.

###

Rheyna was surprised to open her front door and see Laura standing there. She hadn’t spoken to her since she had broken into Castrucci’s office, but she knew this could mean only one thing—they finally had enough to bring down Castrucci and the Pandora’s Box Operation was over.

Laura followed Rheyna inside, her grin quickly turning to a scowl. She pulled out one of the stools and took a seat at the counter. Rheyna instantly sensed something was wrong. Without fail, her mind churned out several worst-case scenarios.

“What is it, Laura? What’s wrong? Did something happen with Castrucci?”

Laura shook her head, her eyes watering. “No, no, nothing like that. I didn’t want to tell you over the phone, but Lynn passed away.”

Rheyna felt a lump form in the base of her throat. “When?” she asked. It took everything in her to keep the tears from falling down her cheeks.

“Yesterday morning. Complications from pneumonia. Ron said his immune system just wasn’t strong enough to fight off the infection.”

Rheyna thought about the pain she went through when Jenny died. “How’s he holding up?” she asked.

“He seems to be doing okay under the circumstances, I guess. His parents arrived this morning, along with Lynn’s family.”

“When’s the funeral?”

“Tomorrow afternoon. He said Lynn wanted to be cremated and made him promise not to have anything too fancy, so they’re just having a small memorial service for the family and a couple of friends.”

“I wish I could be there.”

Laura sighed heavily. “He knows you’d be there if you could, and I hope you don’t mind, but I went ahead and ordered flowers and added your name.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that.”

“Well, besides being the bearer of bad news, I thought you’d be a little happier to see me.”

Rheyna leaned over and hugged her. “I’m sorry,” she said, pulling out a stool.

“Once we get the indictment, Kyle’s pulling you. Your work is done here. Because of you, Castrucci will be spending the rest of his miserable life behind bars. You did a good job, Rheyna.”

Her words did nothing to lighten Rheyna’s mood or make her feel better as her thoughts turned to Caroline.

“You really like her, don’t you?” Laura asked, though it was more of a statement.

“Yes, I do.”

Laura continued to watch her. “Are you in love with her?” Her question only half surprised Rheyna. For as long as she could remember, Laura seemed to have a second sense when it came to Rheyna’s feelings. Laura affectionately shoved her, nearly pushing her off the stool. “You are! You fell for her, didn’t you?”

Rheyna decided to play dumb, knowing that Laura knew her better than she sometimes knew herself. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she lied. She had known for some time that she was in love with Caroline. She just didn’t want to admit it. She didn’t want to accept that she was in love with a woman she could never have—it hurt too much.

Laura ignored Rheyna’s halfhearted attempt at denial. “Sure you do. You’re in love with her. I can see it on your face.”

Rheyna got up and poured herself a cup of coffee.

“Is it mutual?” Laura asked.

“I don’t know,” Rheyna, answered honestly. She felt a small twinge of pain in her heart. It was a physical pain that ached in her chest. She tried to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat as she thought about the party. “She won’t return any of my phone calls. I think I blew it.”

“What’d you do? Try to kiss her?” Laura asked jokingly.

Rheyna jerked her head up in surprise and then slowly nodded, causing Laura’s eyebrows to shoot up. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I did.”

“Oh, Rheyna, you still need to be careful. This thing isn’t over yet.”

“I thought you said that we had enough to put Castrucci away for years.”

“As far as Castrucci’s concerned, we have enough to send him away for life. But he’s still free until we get the indictment.”

Rheyna looked at Laura. She could sense that something was troubling her and she had an idea of what it was. “And Artie?” she asked.

Laura shook her head. “Something doesn’t feel right.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ron sent over a copy of the bank surveillance tape, and it’s obvious that Artie was set up.”

“Are you sure?”

Laura nodded again.

Rheyna swallowed hard as she thought about the implication.

“And if he was set up, then that means—”

“The informant is still out there,” Rheyna finished the sentence for her. “Why hasn’t Castrucci come after me, then?”

“I honestly don’t know. Unless, by some small chance, he really doesn’t know about you. Regardless, you still need to be careful. Your life could still be at stake.”

Rheyna could see the concern on Laura’s face. It was not just concern—it was downright fear. “Don’t you think that some things in life are worth dying for?” Rheyna regretted the question the minute it came out of her mouth.

Laura looked at her as if she was crazy. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

“I know it was a dumb thing to say, but if you really think about it, isn’t that what La Cosa Nostra is all about? They are a family that lives by their own values. They swear their allegiance to each other, to La Cosa Nostra, to this ‘thing of ours’. They’re willing to risk their lives for their beliefs.” Rheyna held her hand up to stop Laura from saying what she knew would be coming next. “I know. It was a stupid thing to say and I promise I’ll be careful.”