Dangerous Conceit by Ali Lee
Chapter 51
It was sometime the following morning. Rafa had no idea what time it was when his phone nudged him awake. He had turned it on low the night before, expecting it to ring and moved to the nightstand to grab it. “Speak.” He lay back on the pillow, wishing the other end had been the wrong number. “Brett, this had better be important.” He leaned against his side, moving the sheet over Lexi's exposed breasts. “All right, bring it up and tap the door twice.” He hung up when Lexi moved, laying her arm around his neck.
“Don't leave,” she said and slipped her leg over his, soaking up the warmth of his body touching hers. “I won't let you leave.”
He smiled and strummed his fingers across her forehead, moving her hair behind her ears. “I'm stepping out of the door—right outside. I’m not leaving.”
“Hm.” She closed all gaps between his body and hers. “You can talk in here.”
“Not a chance. I'm not letting Brett see you like this. I’ll be right back, okay?” He kissed her softly as the taps came at the door, separating the limbs that clung to his. “Be right back, baby.”
He pulled on his pants, zipping them and disappeared outside. It seemed for his protection that Brett leaned against the wall opposite of where Rafa stood at the door. The news must have been bad if Brett feared his reaction.
“What do you have?” Rafa crossed his arms and waited for Brett to tell him the issue.
“We were emailed a video. You…aren't going to like it,” he said and handed Rafa his laptop.
Rafa swallowed and opened the device. He pressed play for a video already on the screen. He watched it through, glancing at Brett in intervals during the three-minute clip. Then he watched it again…and a third time. Lexi was on a bed naked; some man was standing close without a shirt.
“She's drugged.” Rafa's fingers nearly crushed the laptop's screen as he grew angrier, livid with the threat. “Lexi can't know about this. We don’t need to throw this at her.”
He pressed play on the video one more time when something else caught his eye—a piece of blond hair not belonging to his wife. “Did you catch this?” Rafa waved Brett over to see. “I’ll need to blow it up to be sure.” He slammed the laptop closed. “Go wait for me down stairs. Make sure that Abby does not leave. I have to grab a shirt.” Brett nodded and left as quickly as he came.
Back inside the room, Rafa slid under the covers next to Lexi, pulling her tight as if his strength could protect her. He swelled with hate, driven to kill the bastards who tried to use that video to their advantage. How was he supposed to shield her from a world that she had been thrown so far within? He pondered the answer, scheming in his mind. It did not matter which plan he used. The end was always the same.
“What was that about?” Lexi asked, feeling Rafa's stiff arms nearly squeezing the air out of her lungs.
“Nothing.” He loosened his grip. “Some asshole's twisted sense of humor. It's nothing to worry about.”
“Then kiss me,” she said, immediately enveloped in his arms. He did. He kissed her and rolled her sensual body underneath. The way her eyes pleaded for his affection made him hesitate to go, but he had to take care of the video issue.
“Lexi,” Rafa's voice whispered, making her whine as he pulled away. “I have to go downstairs for a minute. It’s urgent.”
“You can't.” She gripped his back tight.
“Baby…”
“Make love to me.” She lifted her knees around his waist, feeling the growing tension inside the pants he still wore.
“You already want more?” He gave a slight, seductive smile, wondering if he had half an hour to spare.
“Now.” Lexi unzipped the pants that separated him from her and pushed them below his hips. “Make love to me,” she ordered again and tangled her fingers around his head, unable to stop her lips from taking his.
“You want me, baby,” he mumbled inside of her mouth, not being able to resist. As soon as his pulsing force touched her, he could not help but lunge inside.
“Mm,” she moaned without reserve, loving the way he made her feel in the early morning hour. She did not care if she was loud. She did not try to stifle her screams. Lexi only saw him, feeling how he took control and being too tired to care. If loss of timidity was what Rafa could look forward to after a long night of sex, he vowed to exhaust her much more often as he eagerly filled her need.
***
After the indulgence, Lexi wanted to go back to sleep with Rafa next to her. He could not leave. This was her time. She needed Rafa there and squeezed his body flush when he attempted to lift away. “But you are my VIP today,” she protested.
Rafa smiled. She could be so incredibly cute. It was a shame that he had to leave. He did not have a choice. He would not give someone the chance to load that video. “Can you wait for me for a few minutes?”
“No,” she answered but released her grip around his spine. “But I don't have a choice, do I?”
“I will be as fast as I can.”
Rafa waited for Lexi to fall back asleep before leaving the room. Once he made it to the second floor, he dialed Angelo's number—no answer. He dialed the members that drove Angelo home. Then he dialed Ella, but nobody would answer their phone. What was going on?
He clenched the laptop in his hand, anxious to find out the truth of the video. He ignored the workers who cleaned up after the wedding and marched straight inside the conference room. “Bring her out here,” he ordered Brett.
Abby looked confused. Her face seemed worried when she saw Rafa. His eyes narrowed, showing he was in no mood to kid. He simply pointed to the chair in front and turned the laptop around.
After the video played, Abby's face lost its color. She went pale and shook her head. “It isn’t how it looks. I swear it isn't.”
“For your sake, it had better not. Those assholes are threatening to blast this all over the internet.” He pulled out his phone again, having a nagging feeling in his chest. “Answer the damn phone, Angelo,” he cursed, unable to reach the boss. Then he dialed another number. “Jim, you and Ray go to Angelo's house. I can't get a hold of him or Ella. Call me back as soon as you know something.”
He clicked the phone off and took out his pistol, looking at it and inspecting it, instilling the fear of whatever god the woman prayed to from across from him. “Start talking or I’ll be the last man you ever see.”
Brett looked at Rafa wide-eyed but dared not to speak. He knew the severity of the video. Why was he silently questioning Rafa’s response? Rafa noticed his unusual concern and pointed him to the door. “I need you to go to my room and guard it with Thomas and Sammy. Whoever's responsible could've been staying here before Angelo set security yesterday.”
When Brett left, Abby held onto the desk, trying to keep her back from slouching with the weight of Rafa’s threat. She was scared. It showed in her eyes, in the trembling of her arms as the hairs stood on end. She slowly shook her head. “Lexi has already seen the video. I tried to get rid of it for her. I thought I had. I was only in it because they brought her back to our room that way. I tried to protect her too.”
“So she’s already seen it.”
“We were together in all that. You had no reason to think I did anything wrong because you saw me in a video. If I don’t tell you something about Lexi, it’s because I’m still not used to it. We never talked to anyone. It’s how we stayed alive.” Abby scooted to the edge of the sofa, sitting as straight as she could manage. “I'm not afraid to die. If you think I betrayed my best friend, then shoot me.”
Their eyes locked. Rafa probed every crease of her face, looking for something and anything that indicated deceit. He focused on her hands, whether or not they fidgeted or twiddled, signaling she was nervous. He looked her over from head to foot, searching for signs of perspiration. There was none. Nothing at all showed signs of dishonesty though she might have been his hardest person to read yet. He never realized because he never looked that close. Rafa closed his eyes and breathed. If he shot her now without reason, Lexi would be devastated.
“I’m sorry,” said Abby. “It's really hard to trust people when you haven't trusted anyone for so long. If I think of anything else that might be important, you will be the first to know. I promise.”
Rafa nodded but still wondered about Abby. Could he really blame her for being guarded, even around him? “Can you tell me who made the video?”
Abby let out a breath as relief washed over her face. Rafa guessed she really did not want to die. “Yeah, Moretti did. He used to drug her when she would try to talk back. But I have no idea about anything other than that.”
“I need you to track down the source. Erase the video and find out where they are. Can you do that?” Abby nodded and went back to the small office in back.
Rafa stood and took out his phone, eager to hear something of Angelo. This time, Angelo's phone went straight to voicemail. That was a first. With the video to top it off, something felt wrong. Rafa dialed Jim again. “Are you there yet?” he spoke into the receiver and huffed. “Fine, make sure you call me as soon as you get there.”
Rafa dropped the phone in his pocket and looked around the room. He had never known a time when he had to wait to get answers. It was as if someone was causing disruptions at every end, disorienting the group to prevent their next move.
He needed to get back to Lexi. Rafa picked up his gun and obscured it in the back pocket of his pants. He started to reach for the door when the floor vibrated followed by a long, faint rumble.
“What was that?” Abby jumped from the office, looking as alarmed as he was when the building shook. He raised his arms to keep his balance, to steady his feet in place. The lights flickered as the low growl continued like shock waves from a quake. Then all was quiet again.
Rafa swallowed, glancing between Abby and the door, not being able to believe what had happened. “What the fuck is going on?” He yanked the door open and stormed out, leaving the door to slam behind him as he ran.