“Thank you.”
“Faith, you were there for me when I needed a friend and I will always be there for you.”
“Would you be there if I asked you to order a pizza?”
Miles laughed. “Now you’re talking.”
“I guess if I have to crawl out of this hole I’m in, I should build up my strength and start eating again.”
“Meatballs and sausage?”
Faith smiled. “Ok.”
“I’ve missed that smile.”
“Chace, Kyle, what’s up?” Miguel extended his hand.
Chace shook Miguel’s hand. “Should we go talk somewhere secure?”
“Follow me to my office.”
Kyle and Chace followed Miguel down the hallway to his office. Miguel opened the first door and then the second door and escorted them in before closing both doors and taking a seat behind his desk.
“Chloe called me this morning to tell me that someone tapped into the files at the morgue.”
“I see.”
“Our guys traced it back to AG Holdings.”
Miguel nodded. “Good.”
“They also dug up Ryan’s grave.”
“I will have my men clean it up.”
“Kyle and I did a drive by and it looks like they cleaned it up.”
“I’ve reduced my guards down to one each for Alex and Faith. My guys haven’t seen anyone tailing them since the funeral.”
“How’s Dane’s op going?”
“Good, Kyle, Dane thinks they are fairly close to taking them all down.”
“How are you doing?”
“I was about to tell Alex what I did when you guys showed up.”
Chace looked at Kyle and then back at Miguel. “I’m no expert on women but I don’t think telling her the truth is a good idea.”
“Chace, I promised Alex that I’d never lie to her again.”
“You’re not lying; you’re just not telling her the truth.”
“I can’t function like this and knowing every minute that I’m the one responsible for Alex’s pain is killing ME.”
“Ryan made the choice to continue working on the Grimaldi case even after he knew that his life was in danger. In the end he chose to protect his sister and Faith. You may have helped carry that out but that doesn’t make you anything more than a man protecting the woman he loves.”
“What if Alex doesn’t forgive me?”
“She will.”
“What if she can’t understand and then I lose her, Chace?”
Kyle stood up. “We have to get going, but Miguel, I agree with Chace, she will forgive you because she loves you.”
Chace shook Miguel’s hand and patted him on the shoulder. “Good luck.”
MIGUEL MANAGED TO AVOID Alex for the rest of the night and when he went up to bed she was already asleep. So he slipped into bed and went to sleep. Now he was awake and dreading the day ahead. He exhaled.
“You awake?”
Miguel wanted to lie and keep quiet but it wouldn’t help to postpone the inevitable. “Good morning.”
Alex rolled over and cuddled up against Miguel. He kissed the top of her head. “So are we going to finish talking?”
“How about we go out for breakfast first.” Miguel kissed Alex’s hand.
“You really worried me yesterday.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“Do you promise me that we can talk about this after breakfast?”
“I promise; I’ll tell you everything.”
Alex kissed Miguel. “As long as we have each other we can handle anything.”
Miguel smiled. He just hoped they’d have each other after he told her the truth.
Faith arrived at work. She knew deep down that she needed to live her life like Miles said. She also decided that she wanted to finish what Ryan had started, so she called Zac and asked him if he’d entertain the idea of her picking up where Ryan left off on the Grimaldi case. Zac said that the case had been turned back over to the DA’s office. He warned Faith that it was something she shouldn’t get involved in because it was far too dangerous. Faith, however, called the DA’s office anyway and asked if she could be put on the case.
“Miss Nichols?”
Faith looked up from her desk. “Yes.”
“I’m Cliff Rogers, from the DA’s office.”
“Come in.”
“We don’t usually allow attorneys to help out with our cases but Mr. DiPietro had a case that was tied to ours so he was brought on board to work with us. However, due to the special circumstances, DA Reynolds has asked me to extend you the same invitation that was given to Mr. DiPietro.”
“Thank you. I know that this case was very important to Ryan and…” Faith cleared her throat. “I want to see it through for him.”
“I’m very sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you.”
“Are you sure that you want to do this? We’ve all been threatened and…”
“Ryan was my world. I need to do this…for him.”
Cliff stood up and extended his hand to Faith. “Welcome aboard.”
Faith shook his hand. “I look forward to working with you.”
“Miguel, why did we have to change cars?”
“We’re not going right home and Bobby needs the limo to pick up clients from the airport.”
“Where are we going?”
“I thought maybe we could go for a drive.”
“Ok, I’d like that.”
“Have you ever done something that you thought was right but it felt wrong?”
“Yes, when I met the sexiest man alive and I allowed him to sexually harass me because I wanted to know what it was like to feel him inside me.” Alex winked.
“And then you regretted it and got angry with me.”
“I was hurt. Especially after I realized that you thought I was a slut.”
“Alex, I hired reputable women not sluts.”
“Miguel, any woman that is paid to have sex is a slut…in my opinion.”
“Ok, so you understand that we don’t always make the best choices and sometimes even the right one can cause you to have regrets?”
“Ok, you’re officially frightening me again.”
Miguel pulled over. “Can we get out and walk?”
“Ok.” Alex looked around and didn’t see much but trees and grass. She was starting to think that Miguel had lost his mind.
Miles came walking into Faith’s office carrying a vase of flowers.
“Miles, they’re beautiful. Thank you.”
“Thought I’d drop by and see how you were doing?”
“Better than I expected. Everyone’s been so nice.”
Miles looked down and saw a business card on the floor. “I think someone dropped this.” He leaned down and picked it up. “Why was Cliff Rogers here?”
Faith smiled. “He came to see me earlier.”
“I figured that out already but why? What’s going on?”
“I don’t expect you to understand but I’m taking over Ryan’s case.”
“You’re what?”
Faith walked over and closed her office door. “Miles, I need to do this.”
“Faith, you know damn well that if it wasn’t for that case Ryan wouldn’t be dead!”
“I know.”
“So is that what this is all about? Do you want them to kill you too?”
“Maybe.”
Miles walked over to Faith and wrapped his arms around her. “Please, think about this. I don’t want to lose you.”
After walking almost ten minutes in silence Alex was getting a pain in the pit of her stomach. She couldn’t imagine what Miguel had done that was so awful that he was too upset to talk about it. Finally, she stopped walking. “Miguel, whatever it is…just tell me please!”
“Alex, I did something and at the time all I could think about was protecting you. I was so afraid I’d lose you.”
Alex grabbed Miguel’s hands. “Tell me what you did?
”
“Come on.”
“No, I’m not moving until you tell me what you did?”
“Alex, come with me.” Miguel pulled her by the hand and Alex reluctantly went. Miguel walked up the front steps of a nearby house.
“Miguel, what are you doing? Who lives here?”
Miguel didn’t answer, he knocked on the door. A man in a suit answered who looked like he worked for the Agency. “This is my wife, Alex. Alex, this is Chuck.”
Alex nodded. “Miguel, where are we?”
Miguel led Alex up a flight of stairs and then stopped and turned toward her. “I need you to remember something.”
“Remember?”
“Remember how much I love you and that everything I did was because I love you so much.” Miguel pushed open a door.
Alex gasped…she couldn’t speak and tears started rolling down her cheeks. She stood there staring at the man in the bed. His hair was a mess; he had grown a beard but she knew that he was her brother. “Ry.”
Ryan nodded. “It’s really me.”
Once she heard his voice, Alex couldn’t get to Ryan fast enough. She grabbed him and hugged him for what seemed like an eternity.
Ryan patted Alex’s hair and back while she cried. “Shhh…it’s ok now.”
Alex pulled away and Ryan grabbed her hand. “But, I saw you, you were…dead.”
“Miguel only made it appear that way.”
Alex pulled her hand away and looked at Miguel who was still standing in the doorway. “YOU KNEW ALL ALONG THAT HE WASN’T DEAD?”
“Alex, Miguel saved my life and probably yours and Faith’s. He had no choice.”
“I saw your dead body. We had a funeral and buried you and all along he knew.”
Miguel knew that Alex was going to be angry and there wasn’t a damn thing that he could say to defend himself, so he stood there allowing her to yell at him.
Ryan reached out his hand. “Alex, come sit down.” Alex sat down on the bed. “Miguel came to me and he explained everything. It was the only way. I’m certain that Grimaldi’s men would have killed me by now if we didn’t follow Miguel’s plan.”
“What did he do to you to make you look so dead?”
“He injected me with a cocktail of drugs to put my body into hibernation basically. I signed the DNR so that the doctors couldn’t revive me. Next thing I knew I was freezing, I woke up and Dane was here with me. He said it took two tries to get my heart going again but they did it.”
Alex looked at Miguel. “When you gave him those drugs, how sure were you that they wouldn’t kill him?”
Miguel looked away and then ran his hands through his hair. “I wasn’t.”
“So, if you killed him, would you have ever told me the truth?”
“Alex, I’m ok and he saved us.”
Alex looked from Ryan back at Miguel.
“I don’t know. I’m sorry.” Miguel turned and walked out.
Miguel was sitting on the back porch talking on the phone when he heard the floorboard creak. He pulled his gun as he sprung to his feet and spun around.
Alex threw her arms up in the air. “It’s only me!”
“My God, Alex, you scared the hell out of me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No it’s my fault, I should have been more alert and I would have known that it was you.”
“No, Miguel, I’m sorry. I was upset and I took it out on you and I shouldn’t have.”
Miguel holstered his gun and then walked closer to Alex. “Alex, I didn’t want to hurt you. I should have told you, but at the time it seemed safer for everyone involved, to do this on my own.”
“I love you.” Alex closed the distance between her and Miguel.
Miguel grabbed her and pulled her into his arms. “Every tear you shed ripped at my heart. I’m so sorry, Baby.”
“You saved my brother’s life and that’s all that matters right now.”
“Right now?” Miguel pulled away. “Alex, I don’t want your forgiveness if it’s only to thank me for saving your brother or so that I continue to keep him safe.”
Alex stood there a minute while she let Miguel’s words sink in. Was she only forgiving him because she was grateful to him saving her brother? “I don’t know how to answer that.”
“A car is on its way to meet me on the east side of the property.” Miguel exhaled. “Will you be coming home with me?”
“Would it be alright if I stayed here with Ryan?”
Miguel hung his head in defeat. He knew Ryan wasn’t the only reason she was staying. He walked over to Alex and kissed her on the top of her head. “No matter how you feel about me, I’ll always love you, Alex.”
Alex stood there, numb as she watched Miguel walk away.
Three days later…
RYAN PICKED UP THE newspaper. “ALEX!”
Alex came running into Ryan’s room. “What’s the matter?”
“Look at this.” Ryan held up the newspaper.
“Shit.”
“What the fuck is she doing with Cliff Rogers?”
Alex grabbed the newspaper and started reading. “Oh God!”
“Oh God, what?”
“Faith is working with him.”
“What? Why?”
“I don’t know but I’m sure as hell going to find out.” Alex reached for her phone.
“Can you talk to her on speaker so I can hear her voice?”
Alex walked over and sat down next to Ryan. “Oh Ry, I know how much you miss her.”
“I can’t wait for this to all be over so I can tell her the truth and beg for her forgiveness.”
“She will be so happy to see you that she’ll forgive you.”
“Like you forgave Miguel?”
“That’s different.”
“Really, how?”
“He’s my husband and he promised he’d never lie to me again.”
“Well he had no choice, Alex. If he could have, he would have given up his own life to save me. He had no choice and it practically killed him. He told you because he couldn’t handle it anymore. All he ever said was that you’d never forgive him…and I guess he was right.”
“He promised.”
“Alex, I’m sure that when he promised he never expected that the Grimaldi family would come along and try to take out your brother, leaving him no choice but to fake my death.”
Alex actually let out a laugh and so did Ryan. “I guess you’re right.”
“Good. Now call Faith.”
Alex kissed Ryan on his cheek and then dialed the phone.
“Alex, where have you been? I’ve been trying to call you for two days now.”
“I’m sorry. I had an unexpected business trip and forgot my phone.” Alex looked at Ryan and shrugged her shoulders. She hated lying to Faith.
“Can we do dinner tonight or tomorrow? I need to talk to you about…”
“About Cliff Rogers and why you’re on the cover of the newspaper with him?”
“You saw that, huh.”
“I did. What the hell, Faith?”
“I got DA Reynolds to allow me to takeover for Ryan.”
Ryan grew sick at the thought of someone hurting Faith. “Oh God.”
“Who was that?”
“This guy here in the office. He just spilled his coffee all over his paperwork. I better go.”
“Alex, wait…”
“I’ll call you back later. How about breakfast tomorrow?”
“Ok.”
“Faith, please be careful. I couldn’t handle it if anything happened to you.”
“At least I’d be with Ryan then.”
Ryan dropped his face into his hands.
“Faith!”
“I miss him so much, Alex.”
“I know.”
“I’m sorry, I know you miss him too.”
Alex looked over at Ryan and now she realized how awful Miguel must have felt lying to her all that time.
“I love you, Faith.”
>
“I love you too. I will see you tomorrow.”
Alex hung up. She was in tears and so was Ryan. Ryan hugged her. “You have to change her mind. You have to promise to get her to drop that case.”
Faith hung up with Alex. She was about to get up and go visit Ryan’s grave when Cliff came walking in with pastries and coffee.
“Good morning, Beautiful.”
Faith looked up with her tear stained face. “Hi.”
Cliff quickly put down the pastries and coffee and walked over to Faith and knelt down beside her. “Hey, what’s going on?”
Faith wiped her cheeks, sniffled and then looked up at Cliff. “I’m having a moment.”
“Can I help?”
“Not unless you can bring back the dead?”
“Jeez, no I haven’t mastered that yet.”
“I’m sorry. You’ve obviously come here for a reason.”
“I came to apologize about the photo in the paper.”
“Apologize?”
“It was my intention to keep you out of the mix.”
“I told you, I don’t care what happens to me.”
Cliff placed his hand on Faith’s cheek. “I do.”
Faith swallowed hard and then she looked at Cliff. Cliff looked back at her before he leaned in and gave her a soft kiss on her lips. Faith opened her eyes wide. “Oh.”
“I like you, Faith.”
“I, uhh.”
“It’s ok. I know you just lost Ryan. I don’t expect you to jump into anything yet but I’m here when you’re ready.”
Faith gave Cliff a half of a smile. He was handsome and smart but he’d never be Ryan. “I don’t know what to say.”
Cliff stood up and grabbed the box of pastries and opened them. “Lemon or cherry?” Then he smiled.
Faith felt more at ease. “Cherry.”
Miguel was working on a proposal when he heard his office door open. He didn’t even look up. “Lacey, you can just put the files on the conference table. Thank you.”
“It’s not Lacey.”
Miguel immediately looked up. “Alex.”
“Can we talk?”
Miguel felt sick hearing those words. He panicked that Alex was going to tell him that she was leaving him. He stood up and walked over to where Alex was standing. “Of course.”
Sex & Lies Page 8