Dangerous Conceit by Ali Lee
Chapter 13
Lexi was a no-show at work the next three days. She was a crying mess, wondering what she was trying to prove. She wondered what she was fighting for in the first place. One step forward quadrupled her steps back. She did not know how she supposed to make it through the banquet at the hotel when her spirit was almost dead, but there would be no other chance for any of the women after that night. They would be locked into Moretti—or dead.
After Lexi and Kayla dressed for the evening ceremony, they waited for their ride to arrive at the hotel's entrance. The lights at the Royal Flush lit up the night sky with a spectacular view. Complacent men and women walked with their heads held high as they entered the regal establishment. It made Lexi question how the two of them would ever blend in with everyone else stepping out of a limo.
She pushed herself forward anyway, wearing a pink evening gown with Kayla behind in a pearl dress that flared at the knees. Greeters welcomed them as they entered. They followed everyone else to the elevators. There was a wait for the next available, but Lexi did not mind delaying the inevitable for the next few minutes. Angelo could be waiting to kill them for all they knew. Their wait did not last long enough. Before Lexi knew it, both were making their way to one of the liquor tables inside the banquet hall.
“I can barely walk, Kayla.” Lexi took a complimentary glass of wine and swallowed. “Maybe this will help numb me a little.”
“Watch it, Lex. Trust me; you don’t want to be drunk when we come face to face with that man.”
“A couple of sips won’t hurt.” Lexi sighed and looked at Kayla’s long, red hair. “Your hair looks really beautiful, Kayla. Too bad my hair…” Lexi looked to the floor, recollecting with vivid memory of the night that Moretti had his men cut her hair off.
“Thank you very much.” Kayla grinned and twisted one of the pieces that fell to Lexi's neck. “You are gorgeous no matter how long your hair is; your eyes are absolutely to die for. Remember that, Alexis,” Kayla said in her normal, loud tone.
Lexi looked up at her and smiled. “Thank you, Kayla. Now let’s find Mr. Tomassi in the middle of this crowd. Do you want to walk around?”
“Well,” Kayla began with a laugh. “We might as well enjoy our last meal before execution.”
Lexi and Kayla strolled throughout, gaining curious and interested glances from those in attendance. Lexi assumed the two of them were new faces among the elite. If she did not know better, some of those looks came from the eyes of envious women. Lexi chuckled to herself, believing the women were jealous over nothing. There was no way that a pair of ordinary workers ever had a chance with any of these wealthy men. Lexi inwardly laughed at the absurdity but had no time to foster their inferior status when a couple of those men approached them, one with brown hair lifting Lexi's hand.
“I haven't seen you before. Would you mind dancing with me?”
Lexi smiled, not sure how she would turn down a dance at such a beautiful event, but her body ached too much for any sort of movement much less dancing.
“She’s already taken,” said Rafa in a striking dark suit without taking his eyes off her. Then she saw a bandage on his forehead and wondered how he got hurt.
She had not realized he led her away from Kayla, until he neared a table lined with exotic wines and glasses. Rafa casually swiped one bottle, two glasses and Lexi's hand as he began leading her away from the mass of guests to a narrow hallway in the back.
Lexi looked at a door in front of her when he slid in a card and pressed a code that opened the lock. “Get in.” He gave her a slight push on an area too low for any other man beside him.
“Wait. I can't. I'm with a friend and we’re here to talk to—“ She did not finish her sentence. “I left her out there by herself.”
“Who were you here to talk to?” Rafa shut the door, leaving them alone.
“Well, I…” Lexi went silent and did not want to say anything else.
“Not talking.” He set the wine on a small marble table and poured two glasses. After taking a sip, Rafa handed her a glass and moved directly behind her. “You will talk tonight, Alexis,” he said and reached for the droplet-shaped metal on the back of her dress.
“Rafa. Don’t…”
He instantly cut her short. “I already know what you’re trying to hide, so stay still.”
“What?” she mumbled as he slowly unzipped the back of the silky pink material. A make-do bandage lay overtop that he gently peeled away to reveal the fresh, red strikes covering her spine. With the pain, Lexi’s eyes started to water.
“You set me up. You never had an interest in me in the first place. I was nothing but a tool,” Lexi blurted out. “You knew who I was the whole time.”
“And you knew who I was the whole time,” Rafa returned. “We’re even, aren’t we?” Rafa clenched his fist at the sight of her injuries. “Lay down,” he said, taking out his phone. “Hey, I stepped out of the banquet for a while. Bring some pain meds and a first aid kit to the meeting room… Yeah, leave Thomas on watch. Jim and Ray will be back in a few minutes. They’re taking care of someone.”
When he clicked off his phone, Lexi lay on her stomach and looked at him. “I should’ve known that a man like you didn’t have an actual interest in me.”
“Right,” Rafa said dryly, “and you could have told me you wanted me dead.” He countered without hesitation.
“What? I never tried to kill you.”
“Oh no? Then explain that explosion the other day after you ran out of work.”
“You were there?” Lexi said with surprise.
“No, Alexis. This bandage is merely for looks. Do you realize that Angelo wants you dead for trying to kill me? We know you’re working for Moretti, and you’re lucky he's giving you a chance to explain—so start. Why do they call you Cinderella?”
At the name, everything made sense. They knew who she was all along, using her to get to Moretti. She should have gone with her instinct when she first met Rafa.
“You…you killed Royce Payton? Why would you kill him and leave me alone? Do you see what I went through?” She pointed at her back. “Jason would have never been at that restaurant if Royce's dead body wasn't delivered to Moretti. I had nothing to do with that explosion. It’s your own fault they tried to kill you.”
When she rested her head back on the pillow, Rafa closed his eyes, mad at himself for not thinking ahead with the Payton situation. “Why are you and your friends all working at places Angelo owns? You can see how this looks?”
Lexi took a deep breath while Rafa waited to hear her answer. “My stepfather traded me to pay off money he borrowed from Moretti. He drank and gambled. It's the same sort of story for the others.”
“Debt payment?” Rafa considered the information; it did seem to match the timeline of what he already knew. “How old were you at the time?”
“I was eighteen…been working for him since.”
“Why didn’t you try to leave?”
Lexi raised her head from the small, decorative pillow; her words filled with regret. “I did,” she said pointedly, “a few times but he always brought me back. That's when I met Abby. She helped me to cope better.”
“Abby?” He thought for a moment. “Of course, why not put someone at the heart of it all. She's the blond I hired for the casino.” Rafa let out a breath as everything started to unravel. “If you tried to escape before, why would Moretti send you so far from Homestead?”
“Because,” she reflected with a shake of her head, “he doesn’t think I’ll try to run again. Even if he did, the risk was worth it. He was going to get a lot of money with Angelo out of the way.” Lexi glanced at Rafa, wondering how he was taking the truth. “But I had planned to meet Angelo…to ask him for help. I was hoping he’d help us since Moretti wants him dead.”
“Who offered to pay Moretti to get rid of Angelo?” Lexi was hesitant to answer the question. She needed to know where Angelo stood. “I asked who,” Rafa said again.
“If I tell you, will he help us?”
Rafa looked at her, then at the window of the office in back, tilting his head toward Lexi when Angelo walked out.
“You're smarter than the last woman who was sent to sabotage my life.” Angelo stopped walking and crossed his arms. His dark hair matched his suit without a hint of play in his eyes.
Lexi was surprised for a moment but it faded as soon as she acknowledged who stood in front of her. “Mr. Tomassi,” she acknowledged.
“You’ll need to tell me more before I consider helping you or any of your friends. Who’s paying Moretti to kill me?”
“The governor. He offered Moretti a lot of money to take you out. Moretti handed it to us girls—with me in the lead,” Lexi said.
“And who else have you taken out before?” asked Angelo.
Tired and impatient, Lexi could take no more of the interrogation and tried to push herself up. “Does it matter? I tried to refuse the job, and he killed my friend Ava. He killed her as a warning to me; and if I don't do what he says, he’ll kill Maura too. That's why he's kept me, all of us, for so long. He's using her as leverage against me, against us—Moretti’s using Maura as leverage.”
There was a light knock on the door. Lexi dreaded who else might enter when a man with blond hair walked in and handed Rafa a large white bag; then he waited.
“Brett,” Angelo said. “How are things out there? Any trouble yet?”
Brett shook his head. “Jim and Ray are at the elevators. Thomas is at the bar, and I’m walking around…haven’t found any fun yet though.”
“Good, I don’t want you to find any fun. I’ll be out there in a few minutes.” He waved Brett away as Rafa walked to a cabinet.
After searching for a few seconds, Rafa returned to Lexi and started sliding the dress straps off her shoulders. Lexi winced at the pain, her body flinching as he continued. “These need to be cared for properly.” Rafa glided the silk fabric of her dress down to her waist, the front of her dress still covering her breasts. As she lay face down, Rafa pulled out a picture from his pocket and showed it to her, making her eyes stop on the photo. “Who’s the baby?”
“You didn’t have a right to go through my stuff.”
“Answer me,” he said again.
She gazed at the picture for moments when he turned her cheek to face him, waiting for an answer. “That’s Maura,” she confessed.
“Is Moretti the father?” Rafa watched her expression, trying to anticipate how he would react with her answer.
“No,” she scoffed with disgust. “Moretti is certainly not the father.”
“Which one of you is her mother then?” She wanted him to let it go. Anything she said about Maura would put her at more risk than she already was. “Alexis, who is the child's mother? Answer me.” He spoke as calm as he could between his teeth. Lexi knew that her wayward responses were getting on his nerves. If she wanted their help, Rafa left her no choice but to tell.
“I am. Are you happy now?” She turned her face completely away to hide her tears. “Moretti didn’t know I was pregnant when he took me. He was pissed about it too. He didn't get me medical care. Nothing. Hell, Abby helped me deliver her in the dirty room where we slept. The third time I tried to escape, Moretti fired two shots at Maura when she was three months old. I thought she was dead, Rafa. And I never tried to escape again—not until now.”
“And where is her father? Who is he?”
“Giovanni is—the man I mentioned before. We’ve been looking for him ever since we got here. It's like he fell off the face of the earth, but this is the last place we found any traces of him. I was going to let him keep Maura while we took care of Moretti, but we’ve come up with nothing…nothing at all.”
“Giovanni, huh?” Angelo finished with some calls and stared at Lexi. “How do you know the child is his?”
Lexi lifted her face at his question, brushing the tears off her cheeks. “Because, Mr. Tomassi,” her voice was a mixture of utter exhaustion and defeat, “I’ve only slept with one guy. That's how.”
At the news, Rafa felt nauseous and gripped the arm of the sofa. He wondered if he had heard her correctly even though he knew he had. “I'll be back in a minute.” He looked at Angelo, realization striking them both; then Rafa disappeared inside the door of the back office.