Dangerous Conceit by Ali Lee
Chapter 24
With the store's interior severely damaged, Rafa let out a weak breath, feeling more lightheaded with every passing second. Angelo needed to take immediate action if he would save his life. Feeling panicked, Lexi laid Rafa flat on the floor and ripped the buttons from the shirt beneath his coat. A small gasp was the only noise that escaped her mouth. She did not want to alarm the man underneath her hands, but he must have noticed the fear in her eyes.
Lexi clenched several new articles of clothing, items with expensive tags that she had been worried about purchasing. She grabbed whatever she could reach to compress the wounds further. She no longer cared about the price with the situation at hand, mashing them against his crimson soaked torso to keep him from falling out.
“I'm sorry. I don't want to hurt you.” Rafa made no verbal sound, but his breathing quickened, making her heart pound with the effort to stop the bleeding. “I hope the owner doesn't mind me ruining these clothes, but I have no choice,” she mumbled to break the silence, Rafa choking out a reply.
“Use…whatever you like. The owner has more important things to worry about…like staying alive.”
With a split second's pause, Lexi looked in his eyes, realizing Rafa was the said owner. Her shock did not last as she removed one garment from his injury to add another. After what seemed equal to hours, Angelo and a dozen men burst through the destroyed entrance. One look at Rafa sent Angelo in a rage.
“Fuck!” He slammed his fist, cracking what was left of the marbled counter as he pointed two of his men toward Rafa. Then he pulled out his phone, not bothering to wait for a greeting on the other end. “Drop whatever the hell you're doing. I need you at the warehouse off Landry Street. Be there ten minutes ago. Got it?” Lexi guessed the person on the other end understood when Angelo shoved his phone back in his pocket and started dictating orders.
“You. Back up the van and hurry up. And you”—he pointed at three others, the tension never leaving his face—”clean up this mess.” Angelo’s boot lurched to the side of one of the dead bodies on the floor. “I'm giving you about three minutes to do it and be gone.”
Lexi recognized the blond man as Brett when he dropped to the floor in front of her. He wanted her to move, but she was not moving. She did not want to hand him over charge. She did not want to leave Rafa’s side. It was unthinkable and she refused to budge, but Angelo caught her worried expression and nodded once. Lexi ignored his assurance and made him nod again, more forceful this time.
Frowning at him, she reluctantly lifted her hands. Rafa’s helpless body distressed her even more. How could Angelo make her let go of him?
“What happened in here?” Angelo asked to get her mind off of Rafa.
She knew what he was doing and let out a breath. It did not take a genius to see the obvious, but his ploy worked. It brought her mind back to reality and away from Rafa’s wounds.
“I was in the back room with Maura and the clerks. Sounds came from down the hallway. I locked Maura inside with the women and used Rafa's gun to shoot two men. Then I came out here and saw Rafa bleeding. I shot two more who made him that way. I think he shot the last two. It all happened really fast.”
“Did the clerks see what happened?” Lexi shook her head. “Good,” Angelo said and glanced at his men who stacked bodies in the van. “There are two more bodies down that hallway. Take care of it and get going.” The men wasted no time following the order before starting the ignition and departing from the store.
“Brett, get Rafa to the warehouse. Take Vin and Sammy with you. The doctor is on his way.”
“What the hell…took you so long?” Rafa managed to ask when Angelo shook his head, his hand extended out with helpless frustration.
“After we put your name in for governor, hell opened up. Someone from Miami PD didn’t like the new competition. The fuckers had a mile radius blocked off around the hotel. I’m assuming so we couldn't get to you. They had to let up at some point though. They backed traffic coming off the highway in both directions.”
“And Jim…Ray?”
“Car chase. They finally took care of that, but—” Angelo glared. “Get him the fuck out of here. We'll talk about this later.”
Brett nodded but Lexi started to protest as Brett and two other men lifted Rafa on a stretcher. “Where are you taking him?” She stood and moved to follow, but Angelo held up his hand, motioning for her to stay put.
“We’ll take care of him. You need to get your daughter back home where both of you are safe.”
“But how will I know if he's all right?” Lexi asked and held her forehead. Angelo's stern expression warned her not to argue. Then Rafa caught her hesitant gaze.
“It’s okay. I’ll be fine. Go ahead and listen to him.” He touched the bottom of her chin with what little strength he had left; then she watched Brett and the other man carry him out. Lexi sulked. What would happen to him now? She cast a disapproving glance back at Angelo and then threw her blood-splattered vest to the floor. Angelo ignored her attitude for the moment and gave another order to his remaining men.
“I need all of you to clean up the floors. Load up the Accord and get rid of it. Find something to seal off that entrance.” Angelo crossed his arms and turned to Lexi next. She could feel his eyes on her engagement ring. “Seeing how you’re infatuated with my second, I’ll take you to the warehouse if you can keep your mouth shut.”
“Yes.” Lexi did not have to think about her answer, seeing that he might take her to Rafa.
“Fine, there's a restroom over there. Clean yourself up. When you’re finished, get your daughter and bring the clerks with you. I need to talk to them.”
***
After getting Maura, Lexi returned from the break room with the two employees behind. The clerks would not stop whining and complaining. Lexi could have treated them much worse. Now, she would have to defend herself against their relentless accusations.
“You didn't have to threaten us. We were really scared after that huge crash. That was really mean of you to say what you did.”
“I told you I was sorry. But you needed to understand that I didn't know what was going on, and your loud sobbing could have put us in danger.”
“You threatened to kill us.”
“Of course I did. My daughter was in that room too, and I needed you to shut up.”
One of the clerks thrust Lexi’s shoes at her and huffed. “Here’s your heels back. I hope you break your legs with them.”
Lexi stopped and glared at the woman, jerking the white heels from her fingers. “For all you know, you could be dead right now. I could have saved your a—”
“Enough,” Angelo interrupted before Lexi said more than she should. He threw a metal hanger at the wall, scowling at her to shut her mouth.
“Oh my god!” One of the women brought her hands over her face at the destroyed scene. The other simply said nothing but gawked at the damaged car setting within. Maura gripped Lexi's neck tighter and gazed around, looking straight at her mother.
“It's a big mess, Mommy.”
Lexi gave her a small kiss on the cheek to calm her fears. “It is a big mess, but those men are cleaning it all up.” Maura nodded when Angelo waved at the clerks to gain their attention while also trying to control his volume around Maura.
“Come here, both of you.” They did as were told. “Look,” Angelo said. “There was a pissed off employee who was fired. He wanted to get back at the owner. The cops already arrested him and has taken your boss in for questioning. He said to give you a week's paid leave, and when you come back to work, everything will be fixed.”
“Oh…okay.” They nodded in unison, not second guessing Angelo's story.
“All right, go home then. There's nothing else to see here.”
The clerks grabbed their cell phones and keys and walked out. As they stepped in their cars to leave, an Escalade parked in front of the store's opening. Jim and Ray finally arrived, rushing into the store. They looked around, taking in the ravaged scene.
“Where's Rafa?” asked Jim.
“Off to meet the doctor; so nice of you to join this shit scene.” Angelo threw another hanger at the wall.
Ray shook his head. “We did everything we could to get here. Something bad is going down. I’ve never seen them attack us on so many different sides. They had us all covered today.”
Angelo breathed and considered that Donnie might know answers regarding this latest stunt. It was Donnie who Rafa acquired police endorsing, but it did not seem as though the entire force would accept Rafa’s run as they thought.
Angelo shook his head and returned to the present; his eyes narrowed at Lexi. “What did you say to those clerks to rile them like that?”
Lexi huffed at the thought. “I was scared for Maura, so I threatened them,” she stated matter of fact. “I wasn't going to let them risk Maura's life with their endless sniveling.”
Angelo already was tired of the morning's raid and walked closer, staring in her eyes. “What did you tell them…exactly? I need to know if I should handle those women more than I did.”
“I didn't tell them anything like that, actually.” Angelo crossed his arms, waiting for her to elaborate. She guessed that answer was not good enough. “Fine.” Lexi escorted Maura to a chair several feet away, handed her the phone from her pocket and returned. “I told them if they didn’t shut their mouths, if they put my daughter in danger by even breathing hard, I was going to take my heels and stab it through their eyes.”
Angelo cleared his throat to prevent a laugh. “You told them that in front of your daughter?”
Lexi looked insulted. “No…I covered her ears.”
“Aren't you violent for a woman. No wonder Rafa has a thing for you.”
Lexi shook her head. “I’m not violent, but those clerks wouldn't quit. That's probably why those men came back there in the first place.”
“And would you have really done it?”
Lexi shrugged. “I don't know. I'm not angry anymore. Maura’s safe now.”
Angelo turned to keep Lexi from seeing the creeping smirk on his lips as he spoke to Jim. “You and Ray are going to take me and Lexi to the hotel. Then I want you to take Abby and Maura to Rafa's house where you will stand guard. I'm going to take Lexi to the warehouse to see Rafa.”