Dangerous Conceit by Ali Lee

Chapter 31

Lexi marched upstairs as soon as she walked through the door even though they picked up dinner on the way home. She glanced inside Maura's room to see Rafa sitting on the floor with Maura and Lily in front of him. They were giggling and playing with Rafa. As cute as it was, Lexi was too furious to stop and watch. She shut the bedroom door instead, heaving her shirt overhead and yanking off her jeans before closing herself off in the restroom.

Ten minutes later, she squeezed the excess water from her hair and let her body fall to the bed. She thought about the shopping trip and shivered to think they would put her through that. Angelo did not know her. Why would he think that she would somehow give away his plan?

Lexi pulled a pillow over her head when she heard the doorknob turn. She did not want to see anyone else today. They could let her go hungry for all she cared.

“Hey…Ella and Nina put food on the table. Everyone is getting their plates.”

“I'm not hungry.” Her muffled voice came from underneath the fluffy pillow as she turned to her side, opposite from where Rafa stood.

“You need to eat. I don't remember you eating breakfast. I know you didn't eat anything while you were out.”

“I said I'm not hungry. I’m not in a good mood either.”

“Alexis, be polite. Those people are my family. Soon, they’ll be yours too. You’re coming down to eat with us if I have to carry you, and carrying anything right now isn’t a good idea…but I will do it.”

“Did you know?” She tossed off the pillow and stared at him.

“It doesn't matter if I knew; that’s what Angelo decided to do…end of discussion.”

“That's it? That's all you have? I was scared to go back to Homestead and leave Maura alone, and everyone’s all right with putting me through that?”

Rafa closed his eyes and gently stretched his neck before looking at her again. He knew Lexi would not let it go until he fed her some good reason behind their intent. He lowered himself to the bed and knelt directly in front of her. While grabbing her hand, he lifted the chin that hung downcast toward the bed.

“Look at me.” His brows rose to make sure he gained her attention. “Listen, I’m sorry you were scared, but Angelo had to look past the few minutes of fear that you would feel. He did what he thought was necessary to keep that asshole from ever coming near you again. You were never in any real danger. Kenneth can’t hurt you anymore. He will never lay another hand on you. He will never call you another name. Angelo took out that problem. You will never have to worry about seeing his face again. I want you to think about that, Lexi.”

Her body sunk. Not to be afraid of her stepfather…she could barely grasp the concept. “What are you going to do with him?”

“Don't worry about it.”

“Tell me.”

She refused his reply, frustrating him with her questioning. “Alexis—”

“I need to know. You told me there would be no secrets, so you must be able to tell me something without compromising your oath.”

“We will question him. Then we’ll get rid of him.” Rafa gave a simple answer, but at least it was assurance that she really would not see Kenneth again.

“Come here.” He tugged her hand closer, making her body jar forward, but Lexi stopped before touching him. “Come—here,” he ordered more forcefully.

“No, you're hurt.” Rafa glared until she gave in and moved her knees around the one he had on the bed, sliding her arms around his neck in the gentlest way possible. Rafa cared very little at this point and pulled her closer to his chest.

“I told you I will take care of you. If that means bringing those bastards to Miami with a few hints from our sheriff, then we’ll catch them one by one.”

Lexi melted onto his shoulder. A mere minute passed when an unwanted knock came at the door. “Rafa,” Angelo’s stern voice said, not even giving them ten minutes alone. “Come down here; and bring that girl with you.”

As Angelo walked away, Rafa jeered. “I'm surprised he didn't call.”

***

While the others chatted, Lexi sat quietly at the table, picking at her chicken and rice. Other food choices were available, but she still did not have much of an appetite. A good sleep is what she needed. Rather than focusing on eating, she listened to the conversations at hand.

“Ah, the children were adorable,” Antonio exclaimed, his hands dancing through the air with his words. “You should have seen Maura try to put on Lily's socks. She thought she was a live baby doll. Lily gave the sweetest laughs because Maura tickled her little feet. I have the entire thing on video. But that's nothing. Maura tried to fix Rafael's hair with a ribbon…funniest thing I ever saw. I don't think I ever laughed so hard.”

Rafa's eyes rolled as Lexi smiled. “I hope you didn't catch that on video too, Antonio.”

“Why wouldn’t I? Why do you think I have a phone? That’s what they’re for, Rafael.”

“Great.” Rafa shoved another bite in his mouth but continued to stare at Antonio, dreading when he would pass that video around. He already had to put up with Angelo’s torment the first time.

“Well,” Nina began. “We had a good time with shopping. We talked and Ella did as you asked Rafa. Everything that Lexi seemed to like will be here tomorrow.”

“What?” Lexi looked at Ella and then at Rafa. “What is she talking about?”

Rafa held his hand toward Ella. “I had a feeling you would end up not buying anything, so I told her that whatever you seemed to like, to get it.”

“Do you know how many clothes I tried on, not to mention all the things I looked at for Maura?”

“Don't worry; I'm sure you didn't like everything.”

“But still…” Lexi picked up her fork. “Oh…forget it.” She shook her head. “This argument isn't going anywhere anyway.” Rafa nodded in agreement.

“See, they’re like a married couple already.” Nina pointed. “I told you his first wife didn't mean anything.”

Rafa’s jaw dropped. He missed his mouth with the fork and stabbed himself instead. Angelo swallowed a bite the wrong way and coughed, grabbing the glass of water in front of him as Nina continued chewing with a smile on her face. She remained oblivious to having said anything out of the ordinary—or was she? Lexi thought she saw a glimmer in her eyes at the outburst.

Rafa glanced at Lexi who looked quietly at the table. It seemed as though she was putting in great effort to think before she spoke, and he shook his head, not knowing how to defend himself. “I will talk to you about that later.” He offered while Lexi shrugged and held her fork in the air.

“Well,” she whispered to Ella who sat next to Maura. “I guess you forgot to tell Nina that we weren't going to tell on her.” Ella's mouth hung wide open. She tried to talk but no words came out. Lexi gave up on anything going right this day. She woke up to Angelo’s family, was forced to shop, found out Rafa was married and then almost got abducted. It was too insane for a smile not to form on her face.

“Life had a sense of humor today and I was the target. That's all there is to it. I'm waiting for someone to tell me that Rafa has five kids somewhere around.”

“What?” Angelo jabbed. “You don't know?”

Rafa pointed. “She's the only woman I’ve never used protection with.”

“Too much information, Rafa,” Lexi said pointedly.

“What does it matter? I've already been had.”

“Still,” Lexi said.

“You weren't supposed to agree with me.”

“So when are you two going to have another baby?” Angelo interrupted to break up the growing tension.

“Baby?” Rafa scoffed. “At this rate, there won't be a wedding.”

“Nonsense!” Antonio spout, “You have a child with her. You two are going to get married.”

“I was being sarcastic, Antonio,” Rafa claimed.

Abby looked at Lexi and smiled—a smile that Lexi did not like. Abby’s expression meant trouble. “Honestly, I don't think there's anything that Rafa could ever do that would convince Lexi to not marry him.”

“Abby!” Lexi darted a scathing look at her friend. “I am not that desperate.”

“No, but you are in—”

“Enough.” Rafa stopped any further attempts to frustrate Lexi. “I have heard enough. This is my house, so enough talk about either one of us.” He pulled her to his side where she could hear him speak to her alone. “Don't let them bother you. They’re trying to figure out what makes you tick. That’s how this family gets to know you better. I didn't tell you about my marriage mistake because honestly, it was a fluke. It doesn't even show up on record.”

“It's fine.” Lexi gave in. “You already warned me that I would hear things about you that I wouldn't like.”

Rafa nodded. “We can talk about it later if you want.” He placed a soft kiss on her hand and tried to return to his food but Angelo’s eyes were staring at him. “Is there something that you need?” Rafa asked.

“No, I’m seeing how genuine you both are toward each other.”

“Can’t you eat your food, Angelo?” Rafa raised his hand in question.

“Yes, I can,” Angelo took a bite but did not look away.

Throughout the entire dinner, Rafa knew that Angelo kept watching both him and Lexi. Who knew what he was looking for? Whatever it was, Rafa saw him nod to himself and finally focus all of his attention on his plate.

***

After Antonio and Nina said their goodbyes, everyone else went in the family room to talk. Lexi thought it was for nothing since Rafa was making his speech the next day. Everything he would say had already been decided. He pulled out the recliner and closed his eyes with Lexi next to him. Ella sat on the floor and played with Lily while leaning against Angelo's legs who sat behind on the sofa. Abby took the middle of the sectional. Brett, Jim, and Ray sat on the chairs around the room.

Angelo crossed his arms as he looked at Lexi, something on his mind. “I want to know why you’re so important that Moretti sends his men to track you down. Your stepfather and the man with him weren’t the only ones at the mall. There were at least a dozen more…just for you. Why would they need so many men for a single woman?”

A solemn expression crossed her face as she looked down at Maura who played with a couple of toys from her room. She worried about keeping Maura safe. It was a good thing Rafa insisted that she stay home. “I don’t know.”

“What is she not telling me?” Angelo looked at Abby.

“Maybe because Lexi is his queen bee.”

“And what exactly did Moretti use you for, Lexi?”

“Anything he wanted,” Lexi answered.

Before anyone said another word, Angelo pointed at Maura. “Why don't you take her upstairs? This talk isn’t good for her.”

Lexi stood. She and Angelo finally agreed on something. “Come here, sweetie. It's time for bed.”

After Lexi disappeared, Abby continued with her explanation. “Lexi was the smart one. She was the first one. And they taught her everything because they knew she couldn’t run.  She got serious about it the night they held her down and cut off her hair.”

“Why was her hair cut?” Rafa asked, tilting his head to see them better.

“Because her braid came undone and got in her way. She couldn’t get some papers they wanted. They just chopped it off. She’s kept it short since. I think they’re afraid Lexi will expose them now, and she probably could now that they lost their collateral. That’s why they want her back so badly.”

“You mean Maura?” Rafa raised up his arm so Lexi could sit next to him again. She stared at the television and let them discuss the situation without her.

“Moretti isn't worried for nothing. That’s exactly what she planned to do once she found Maura's father. Everything she did was for Maura.”

As Angelo considered what he heard, Rafa tightened his grip around Lexi’s shoulders and pulled her tightly to his side. “Okay, Lexi,” Angelo began. “Let’s say you found Maura's father, assuming it wasn't Rafa, and she was out of danger. Where exactly did I fit into your plans since you were going to ask me for help?”

Lexi nodded and moved her arms from Rafa's grip. “Right—here’s how I planned everything out. Moretti sent us to take you down, so you’d be out of the picture. I figured that was a strike against him already. We were all hoping you wouldn’t like how he did things with us girls, so we made a gamble there. We wanted your help with money. Abby needed a computer…a good computer, not some cheap piece of shit. She could get me through the business tower that has Moretti's office. We needed guns in case something went wrong. Plus, we had no phones and no car. You get the idea.”

“That’s where I'm confused. Why would we give you money instead of handling it ourselves? We don't put women out there like that.”

“You mean other than earlier.” Lexi raised her brow; her accusatory tone provoked a glare from Angelo.

“No—I had men looking out for you. I was there too. There's no way we would have let them take you.”

Lexi nodded, understanding him better. “I didn't think about whether or not you used women. We were never treated any different from the men. We handled harder situations than they did. We were better at it. We had motivation—Maura.”

“All right.” Angelo pointed at Lexi. “So if you’re a thief and a killer and Abby's a hacker, what were the other two used for?”

Lexi and Abby glanced at each other. “They were the bait.”

Angelo shook his head. “Moretti had a hell of a party with you four. I imagine he does want his fairytale princesses back. Now that we have Kenneth, our lives are about to be overturned. Their PD is going to notice.” Angelo stood and gestured for Ella to get Lily ready to leave. “Rafa, you had better heal fast. The quicker we handle Moretti and Pearson, the safer we’ll all be.”