Chapter Thirteen
Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! What the hell was wrong with her? “It’s not relevant. So, where is the kitchen? Just point me in the—”
“I’m not kidding.”
“And I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Tough shit, lady. You opened the box. Sit down and tell me what happened.”
The gruff caveman act had been sexy last night. This morning, it only annoyed the hell out of her. “You have no right to ask.”
“I didn’t. You brought it up.”
“And now I’m dropping it.”
“It doesn’t work that way.”
She slammed the plates back down on the table. “Why? Because you say so?”
“No, because what affects you affects all of us now.”
“That’s why I said it’s not relevant. It’s not. Not to this situation.”
He gazed at the floor for a few moments before speaking, and this time his expression and voice were calm. “Okay. Even if you are correct about that, I won’t know it until I hear the story.”
“Are you calling me a liar?”
“No. I’m asking you to tell me.”
“So the fact I’ve said it’s not relevant to this situation means nothing to you?”
“It means everything to me. It explains why a bright woman who earned an MBA had no help in setting up a thriving company, and was therefore the perfect target for someone like Vito Cinquepalmi.”
If he’d slapped her it wouldn’t have taken her aback as much as those softly-spoken words did. She’d given barely anything away, and yet he’d somehow crashed through the barriers and struck at the heart of the matter with a single sentence.
Rai took her seat again as despair washed over her. She’d had the best sex of her life last night, and it still floored her that it had happened at all, considering the circumstances. She would likely lose her company, not to mention the breach of contract suits she’d have to face from her smaller clients. Who the fuck knew what would happen with Jennifer, Timmy, or Wade? She had no assurances she would be safe from Vito for the rest of her life, let alone that her staff would be.
As if all that wasn’t bad enough, she’d dropped her guard so much around this enigmatic man that she now needed to tell him about Ronnie. Well, not technically. She didn’t have to, but he had made a very good point.
Sure, he had secrets of his own he’d confessed, but that was different.
Are you sure about that? No, not really. He was hiding here as much as she was, if you took in the global picture. And the object of his hatred wasn’t on a Caribbean island. He was three miles down the road.
She took a few deep breaths as she surveyed his face. Such patience, but also absolute determination. He wouldn’t let this go. It was time to let another person inside and tell them this story. Not even Tiffany knew the whole truth, and yet she had access to literally everything connected to Silver Lining Marketing.
But this wasn’t the company. This was personal.
“Ronnie Ellis and I met in grade school. We lived in the same neighborhood, so we went to the same schools. By the time we were in high school, we’d begun dating. We got married a month after graduating from high school, and our divorce was finalized two years later. Parente is my maiden name.”
“What happened?” he asked gently.
“We had an apartment off campus. Yes, we went to the same university, but we had no classes together. I was a business administration major, working toward a combined BBA and MBA. Ronnie had visions of becoming a rock star, so he majored in music.”
“Did he play an instrument?”
“Guitar, but honestly, not all that well. He did, however, develop quite a reputation for getting high and fucking several women in one night during parties. I didn’t know about any of this until later. Until the day I came home early from one of my evening classes, and found him in bed with a vocal major named Lori Tichy.”
“You knew her?”
“She was in my psych class. Long story short, Ronnie told me he was in love with her and wanted a divorce. That was bad enough, but in the eighteen months we were married, he’d racked up quite a bit of credit card debt, to which I was a co-signer.”
Tannin held up a hand. “Wait a second. You knew this guy your entire life, dated him in high school, and in the space of eighteen months of marriage, he fell out of love and cheated on you?”
“There were signs.”
“When?”
“Always. Definitely all through high school. I ignored them because he was the only guy I had ever dated. The only guy I’d had sex with up to that point. I thought he was the one. I buried my head in the sand.”
He gave her a long, searching look before nodding. “Go on.”
“Instead of doing it the right way, he took off. Left school, took Lori with him, and fled the country.”
“What the fuck?”
“Yeah. My reaction, too. Only problem was, I was stuck with the debt. And the more attorney bills I racked up trying to find him and make him do something about it, the deeper in debt I became.”
“That is not right.”
“No, it’s not, but it was my reality. They couldn’t find him, so they came after me. I scaled back to part time classes and worked two jobs. I moved into the dorms because it was cheaper. It took me a year to get the divorce decree, and get to the point where I made a dent in paying down the debt. I had to file bankruptcy, though, to get completely out from under it.”
“Well that really blows.”
“I had no choice. I’d already lost my car by then. They had nothing left to take from me, but on the advice of an attorney, I filed. I still finished my combined degree in six years by taking classes every summer. After I graduated, I was lucky enough to find a PR firm who hired me as an associate. I saved every penny possible, worked a second job on weekends, and one year later I started my company.”
“That’s one hell of a survival story, Rai.”
“No, it’s not. Beating cancer is a survival story. Losing a limb but coming back to win a marathon is a survival story. Starting a foundation to help victims of violent crime after you’ve been a victim of one yourself is a survival story. I’m as stupid in relationships as I am in business, apparently.”
“You’re not stupid.”
She couldn’t even meet his gaze, much less respond.
“Where is Ronnie now?”
“I have no clue. Last time I bothered to have someone check, he and Lori were married and living off the grid in Aruba or the Cayman Islands. We weren’t sure which, or even if either of those were correct.”
“Why don’t you find him and bring him to justice? Those islands have extradition treaties.”
“It’s on my to-do list.” He gave her a droll look. “Look, it’s not that I don’t want to see that happen. It’s that I’ve already spent a ton of money getting the divorce and trying to find him. I don’t have unlimited time to do the latter. There’s a statute of limitations on these things.”
“It’s still not right.”
“I totally agree with you. But until the shit hit the fan with Vito Cinquepalmi, I believed I was doing quite well. My revenge for what he did to me was to live well and become successful.”
“You’ve done that.”
“Tannin, I will likely lose my company. Even if Jennifer, Timmy, and Wade go down for whatever charges the Federal courts can slap on them, my smaller clients weren’t in on this. They can sue me for breach of contract, and they would win. I’ll have to liquidate the company, and that’s assuming I will still have access to the capital, in order to pay off their contracts. No clients equals no marketing firm. I’m back to square one.”
She sucked in a huge breath in an attempt to force back the panic racing through her. Saying the words out loud brought the reality crashing down on her head. “All because of a fucking criminal! A goddamn Mob boss who took advantage of my eagerness and my stupidity…”
“You are not stupid.”
“All right. I’m not stupid. I’m unlucky. Better?” She swiped at the tears spilling over her lashes. Tannin pulled her into his arms, but she didn’t want to be held. She wanted to wake up and never have heard of Vito Cinquepalmi or the Mob. She wanted to go back to fifth grade, when Ronnie kissed her for the first time underneath the sliding board on the playground at school. And this time, she wouldn’t kiss him back. This time, she’d walk away and never speak to him again.
“It’s okay.” Tannin stroked her hair, and the warmth of his strong body slowly seeped through the cold surrounding her heart and soul. Rai cried in his arms, and he let her, kissing her hair, caressing it, and gently pulling her from the chair onto his lap so he could cradle her tighter.
He held her the way one would hold a sobbing child, or a lover. This gruff biker, who had been groomed from his childhood to take over a multi-billion-dollar corporation. This man who had turned his back on all the wealth and power he’d inherited, because his father was nothing more than a criminal at heart. This man who befriended the son of a biker, and whose own father had that friend killed.
She finally understood what Tannin meant by the Demons on Wheels MC calling each other Brothers. They were a family, but not like the Mob. Not even close. The MC shared a commonality born out of respect and a chosen way of life.
It wasn’t that different from the corporate types she’d met, dated, and fucked. Except they were only united on the surface. Turn your back on one of them and they’d stab you without giving it a second thought. Right before they licked the knife clean and walked away.
The men in this MC would never hurt or betray each other. They’d sooner cut off an arm. No wonder Tannin had preferred their company, even as a child. If her parents were still alive, they’d tell her she should have chosen a man like Tannin, not Ronnie. They’d never liked him. If only she’d listened. But you can’t go back. You can only play the hand you were dealt, and move forward.
“Someone will be up here to collect this tray soon. Do you want to put your robe on?”
She didn’t give a shit if any of them saw her naked right now. “What should I do all day? Besides wait for Russell to answer my email, that is? I’m so lost here.”
“Take a shower, get dressed, and I’ll show you the club.”
“You know, it occurred to me that if I’d kept going last night, after I threw up on your boots, I’d probably be dead by now.”
“You threw up on my jeans, too.”
Rai laughed softly. “Yes, that’s right. I did. I offered to have them cleaned for you. I’m so sorry.”
“No need to be.”
“How do you do that? Make me laugh when all I want to do is curl up in a corner and cry?”
“I don’t know. I only know I’m glad you didn’t drive away.”
It was still difficult to breathe, but not because of the earlier panic. One look into Tannin’s eyes and Rai forgot her own name. “So am I. I’d like that shower now, but not alone.”
His slow, sexy grin sent shivers down her spine. “That’s the best offer I’ve had in a long time. But let’s go across the hall to my room and take it. I don’t want anyone walking in on us.”