Motherfucker.
Richard knew there was something seedy about him. Knew he couldn’t be trusted.
Another kick to the gut.
Richard grunted and slumped to the floor. No longer able to keep himself upright. But he fought it. Fought to climb back to his hands and knees. “You’re not getting away with this.”
Martin’s voice was back in Richard’s ear, whispering his wickedness, “That’s cute, Richard. But we own you, and I’m not just talking about Mylton Records. You have no idea who we are. How far our reach goes. We own this city. This country. The entire fucking world. Go ahead. Go to the cops. See what happens to that cute little wife of yours.”
They sat in the back of the cab in front of the hotel where they’d been staying, the first rays of the morning edging the sky in a vapid gray.
It rose like a slow illumination of horrors.
Like they were waking up from a nightmare to forever live in a bad dream.
Lily was curled up against the door as far away from Richard as she could get. No words said since they’d tossed them into the car and warned they’d, “Be in touch.”
Richard’s voice was held so the driver couldn’t hear. “Lily…let’s go to the police. Don’t give a fuck what they say. We need to get you help. Need to get you to the hospital.”
He reached for her like it would give her comfort.
She whimpered and pushed away, but she turned those eyes on him. So much like her sister’s, only they’d faded from the liveliness they’d always exuded. Her voice was haggard. Hushed and hard. “I’m getting out of this car right now, Richard. I’m going inside with my sister, and I’m going to fly home with her this afternoon. Then I’m going to pack up and leave. Start a new life. Leave what happened last night behind.”
She kept looking at him. Something fierce on her quivering jaw. “And you’re not coming with us. You’re leaving right now. You’re going to stay away from her. Far, far away.”
Torment ripped him in two. “Lily. Please.”
“You don’t deserve her, and I won’t let you wreck her, too.”
His spirit screamed in misery because he knew it was true. But he couldn’t…he couldn’t walk away. “Lily. Please let me help you.”
She choked out a disbelieving laugh that was mostly a cry. “Help me? You did this. You. Did. This.”
Guilt wracked his body, every inch writhing in agony, broken bones and a broken soul and shattered belief.
What had he done?
What had he done?
Lily’s voice scratched through the cab, her fingers flexing on the door handle. “If you ever come near her again, I will tell her what you did. I’ll show the texts of how you lured me there. They have pictures, Richard. Pictures of you. Of me. They’ll destroy her, but I’ll make sure she sees them if that’s what it takes to keep you away from her.”
“Lily, oh god. Please. I didn’t know what was going to happen. I swear to you.”
“It doesn’t matter, Richard. It did happen. This is your fault. Your fault. If you really love her, if you care about her, if you regret what happened to me at all—if you have an ounce of a soul—you will walk away and you won’t look back. You won’t mention what you saw last night. Never.”
“Lily.” Richard choked on a sob. Didn’t even care he was sniveling. He had been all night.
Unable to process.
Unable to grasp something so sick.
The pink veil of goodness he’d watched the world with stripped away to reveal the true wickedness that lurked underneath.
How could she fuckin’ ask this of him? To ignore what she’d been through?
“Promise me,” she gritted on a subdued, emphatic shout. “Promise me.”
Richard looked over at her and saw his world go dim.
Just like he deserved.
Guilt and shame cleaved him in half.
Nothing left but the one promise he could give her.
Richard gave her a tight nod. “I promise.”
Without saying anything else, she opened the door, whimpering as she got out, and she hobbled toward the entrance of the glitzy hotel, wearing heels and hugging herself to cover the spot where her dress was ripped.
Or maybe she was just trying to hold herself together.
While Richard splintered apart.
It only took one moment.
One fucking mistake.
One misstep to ruin it all. To start a spiral that you couldn’t stop.
Richard knew his. The one moment he’d told Martin Jennings he would do whatever it took to make it.
Flashes of last night burned through his mind.
The cruelness and atrocities.
Lily. Lily. Lily.
A guttural cry tore from his throat.
He was the one who’d set it in motion.
The one responsible.
He’d done this.
And there was no way of taking it back.
It’d been almost six years since Richard had seen Liliana Marin. Six fucking years since he’d watched her climb out of that cab and disappear inside and take his heart with her.
Six years since he’d written that letter to Violet.
Six years since his world had gone dim.
And there Lily stood at the end of the hallway at the swanky hotel in Hollywood where the band was staying after they had played earlier that night at a dive bar about a mile away.
Her face frozen in horror and her body rocking back with shock.
She wore this super short glitzy gold dress and super high heels. A ton of makeup. Jewelry.
But there was death in her eyes.
Hopelessness.
Despair.
And with the fear that blanched her entire face, Richard knew immediately she hadn’t started a new life.
He just…felt it.
Sure of it in an instant.
Six years of torment flashed through his mind.
She started to turn and run.
“Lily,” Richard shouted behind her, racing down the hall to get to her. In those sky-high heels, it only took a few sprinted strides for him to catch up. “Stop, Lily.”
She heaved out in desperation, pushing herself faster, turning a corner and dashing down another hall.
Richard snatched her by the wrist.
She cried out when he turned her to face him, the girl backing against the wall. Those eyes were wild. Feral.
“Lily, I’m not gonna hurt you.”
Her entire face pinched in grief.
“Fuck. Lily. What happened to you? Tell me what happened.”
She looked both ways down the deserted hall. “You can’t be here. Someone’s gonna see you.”
“Who?” He was asking it, his stomach already sinking to the floor.
Awareness right there.
Though it didn’t quite make sense. Didn’t add up.
“Please tell me, Lily, and don’t fuckin’ lie. I see you. I see you’re hurting. I see you’re terrified.”
Her chin trembled, and she was looking both ways again, her voice dropped to the lowest whisper when she looked back at him, “Richard. I can’t talk to you. Can’t be seen with you.”
“Why?” he demanded.
“Because I no longer belong to myself,” she wheezed.
Rage.
It was instant.
He edged in closer like he could shroud her in protection.
He never should have let her get out of that cab. Never.
“What are you saying?”
The words started to spill from her mouth, “It was Martin Jennings that wanted me, Richard. That night when he took us out to dinner, he took one look at me, and decided he was going to keep me. He used Shawn to get me there.”
“But that fucker is rotting in jail.”
Her head shook. “It didn’t matter. I became his, which meant I became Lester Ford’s property, because everybody belongs to him.” Her voice dropped even lower on that.
“Le
ster Ford?”
Richard knew the name instantly.
He was one of the richest men in the world.
Politics.
Oil.
It was well known his hands were in just about everything.
And Richard had always thought he was about as seedy as they came.
Currently, he was a senator from California who was throwing in a bid for presidency.
“Mylton Records has always been a front for him. When Martin went down years ago? That was Lester throwing him under the bus. He made Martin take the fall when one of their trafficking routes was discovered. Lester got off, absolved of any connection, and Martin went down. When he did, Karl took his place.”
Richard knew that part, at least. In the mayhem of Martin being arrested right after that fateful night, Carolina George had slipped through the cracks. Their contract stalled.
They’d used the bad press as an excuse to pass on the offer. On top of that, they’d “lost” their drummer and the band was in transition. It’d been easy to convince Emily and Rhys that Shawn had dumped them for bigger and better things.
“I don’t understand how you ended up back here?” Richard pressed, trying to piece together the fragments of that time.
Resigned sadness shook her head. “They wanted me, Richard. Don’t you get it? They told me if I didn’t come back, they’d take my sister instead. That they would make you pay, too.”
His insides splintered apart.
Christ.
She’d been protecting Violet that morning. When she’d told him to leave. When she’d made up some lie about restarting her life, she was condemning herself to hell.
Scared for those who she loved most.
Manipulated into taking on this life.
Sorrow collided with the rage.
He should have known when he found out she’d left Daisy with Violet all those years ago. Should have read it for what it was. He should have known. Fuck, he should have known.
“Come with me.”
Fear blanketed her face. “I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. Let’s go, right now.”
A door opened somewhere down the hall. Horror rushed through her body. This palpable, emanating fear that ate through her being. “You don’t understand what will happen to me if I leave. They’ll find me, and my fate will be much worse than it is now. I’ve got to go.”
“Where are you staying? Where are they keeping you?” he demanded.
She choked out a whimpered cry. “At the same house.”
Footsteps echoed from afar, and she wrangled away from him. She started heading back in the direction she’d come, and he took her by the hand again.
She looked at him from over her shoulder.
“I’ll find a way. I’ll find a way to get you out. I promise.”
It didn’t take all that much to show a change of heart.
Crawling on his knees to Karl Fitzgerald and kissing his scummy-ass feet and telling him that he was interested in signing.
That he realized Carolina George was nothing without him.
A lie the glutton ate up like a feast.
They’d been gaining in popularity as it was. He wanted them. But Richard had stalled. He’d told Fitzgerald he needed time to convince the rest of the band, that they weren’t sure since it’d fallen through the last time.
Shawn was still in LA drumming for another band.
The piece of shit smirked when he saw Richard back at that house with Lily on his lap.
When he saw Richard playing it up with other girls.
Lily’s friends who were as desperate as her to get out.
Ones who Richard was whispering plans into their ears while he made it look like another depraved, disgusting act.
He knew they were being photographed. It didn’t matter. He’d take any chance, risk it all, to get her out.
It was dangerous.
Of course, it was.
But he’d die to save her.
To save them.
He just had to find the right opportunity. Get enough information to take Lester Ford down because you couldn’t topple an empire without killing its king.
Pray to God he could keep his family safe in the middle of it.
What Richard hadn’t expected was for Royce Reilly to come on the scene. Didn’t anticipate his goal.
The night of Karl Fitzgerald’s shakedown, Richard made the split-second decision to make his move.
It was probably the most foolish, reckless thing he’d ever done.
But he had to take advantage of the moment’s weakness.
Richard chartered a private jet and flew through the night. Kade was already in LA where he’d been for the last three months.
Ready.
Waiting for direction.
Desperate to get his daughter out.
Game the second Richard had contacted him and told him he’d located his missing daughter.
They went in through a third-story window while chaos ensued through the bottom floors of the massive house.
As Lester Ford’s men rushed through the offices to get rid of any evidence of his connection to Karl Fitzgerald, they got six women out.
Risky.
Yeah.
But worth it.
No matter the cost.
Forty
Richard
Frantic, I pounded on the front door. My heart was lodged somewhere in my throat, fully cutting off airflow. I banged again, ready to kick the fucker in when it finally whipped open to Mr. Marin shaking his head in disbelief. “Haven’t you done enough? She isn’t here, and you are not welcome.”
“I know you don’t trust me, but I need you to right now. I need to know where she went. She could be in danger.”
“She’s been in danger since the moment you came back. Do you not see the connection? What has happened since you came back to this town? You’ve hurt her enough.”
Agitation blazed, and I angled closer to Violet’s father. “There are people out there who are far more dangerous than me.”
His face blanched.
“Listen to me, Mr. Marin. Lily…”
Could see the shock of it punch through his expression. “Lily?” Her name wheezed from his lungs.
“Lily got involved in some stuff years ago. Out in LA. I’ve been trying to help her.”
All the blood drained from his face. The man rocked.
“My Lily is alive? You are certain?”
“Yes. She’s alive, and I’m doing everything I can to keep her that way.”
“You knew?” Hurt slashed and curled, and his head shook as he struggled to process.
“Please. We don’t have time. I need to know where Violet is. I’ve called twenty times and she’s not answering.”
Mr. Marin shifted on his feet, looking to the wall before he spoke toward the ground. “She said she had to go meet someone. That she would be right back.”
“When?”
“She left thirty minutes ago.”
Fuck.
“Call her. See if she’ll answer.”
He hesitated for a moment before he gave a wary nod, and he dug his phone out of his pocket and made the call.
My nerves ratcheted higher and higher with each ring that went unanswered.
With each second that passed that warned she was already in harm’s way.
I knew Violet well enough to be sure that she wouldn’t put off a call from her father. Not when Daisy was in his care. She would interrupt anything if she thought it interfered with the well-being of that kid.
That sweet, adorable kid who was standing on the last stair of the staircase.
“She’s not answering,” Mr. Marin said, pulling the phone from his ear and looking at it like it were coded in affliction. Like he was coming to awareness, too.
Fear crackled in the air.
Daisy stared across at me in her sweet worry. Those eyes too keen. That energy zapping. All the devotion I had for her twisting me in two.
“I want my mommy to come back.”
I couldn’t stop myself from edging inside. From moving her way. My fucking shredded heart throbbing and moaning and bringing me to my knees. I dropped in front of her and pulled her into my arms. “I will bring her back. I will. I promise you.”
Both of them.
Tension bound the cab of my truck. Anxiety rode high. Nothing but fuel to feed the fire that burned and ravaged and became this violent aggression that raged through our veins.
Royce sat in the front seat of my truck. Rhys in the back.
Lincoln and my father had taken Emily, Maggie, Anna, and my mother to Violet’s farm so they could all be together.
Safety in numbers.
Detective Casile was on a flight out. Working on putting together a team he could trust.
After what happened last night with Fitzgerald and Douglas?
With this piece-of-shit crooked private investigator?
We knew this had reached a head.
I should have known it the second I saw those pictures that the investigator was not who he’d pretended to be. Should have known exactly how he’d had access to them.
Should have known Lester Ford could get to anyone.
He was the master of that fucked-up universe.
And Lily knew all of it. Had all the details. Had borne witness to it throughout the years of her captivity. She was the one person who could bring his entire empire down.
And I knew he’d stop at nothing to silence her.
I picked up my phone and glanced at it again in the vain hope that I might have missed a call or text from Violet.
Praying for a miracle and knowing it wasn’t gonna happen.
Knowing she was in trouble.
Felt it all the way to my soul. That connection blared in the deepest parts of me, shouting of alarm and distress.
I threw my phone back to the console and roughed a hand over my face. I was going to lose my shit.
Felt my skin crawling with desperation.
Desperate to get to her. To find her.
Couldn’t let something happen to her.
Couldn’t.
“She’s going to be fine,” Royce rumbled, his jaw clenched. Dude wasn’t close to being immune to the turmoil that radiated from my skin.
Falling into You: A Falling Stars Stand-Alone Romance Page 38