“Love at first sight?”
The first hint of a smile crept to his lips. Slow in its ascent, it took its time to build, but by the time it was there, she couldn’t doubt that the smile was one of nostalgia. “She glittered. It was impossible for men to take their eyes away from her. She was like… I don’t know, it was like one of those Old Hollywood movies, you know? She sat there perched on the edge of her stool at the bar wearing this shiny dress, surrounded by guys who were clamoring for her attention.”
“And you wanted to be the one who got it,” she said, turning her back, but the broad mirror above the vanity made it impossible for her to get away from him. “I understand that competitiveness.”
Her attention dropped to the sink. “Anwen pursued me,” he said. Raising her head, Harlow landed her attention on his reflection that was a step closer than it had been before. “I saw her at the event, knew she was beautiful, but she wasn’t part of the plan. I was there to network, keep my eye on the auction, leave with Parratt, charm him. I had to make myself seen at the after auction event, then get back to the auction hotel to do the switch of the sister piece for our buddy. Maze got me in, Noon got me out. Went like a dream.”
“The switch?”
“The jewel our associate wanted, we had a fake for that too. It’s always a good idea to leave the real deal on show for as long as possible. The event was over. Everyone had gone home. The piece would’ve been packed for shipping the next day. No one who does the packing is expecting a fake, probably wouldn’t know the real deal if it bit them on the ass. So, the piece is packed, goes on its way, and no one can prove when the switch was made.”
She didn’t want a lesson on how to commit theft. “And Anwen…”
“She was outside,” he said. “Job was done. I got out. Noon was an alley over waiting. I was on my way out, my way home. I walked out of the hotel into the service alley on my way to meet Noon and ended up face to face with Anwen. She’d had some fight with Hagan and was pissed as all get out. She remembered me from the auction. I just wanted to get the hell out of there. Comforting angry women isn’t my forte.”
Already, Harlow could tell where this was going. “I don’t think there’s anything that isn’t your forte when it comes to women.”
He didn’t grace her comment with a reaction. “I had to get out of there, fast… so I did what I know.”
“You slept with her.”
Ryske raised his brows. “I fucked her,” he said, adamant about the difference. “She wanted payback ‘cause she thought Hagan was messing around on her. She said she was sick of his attitude. I don’t know. I was only half listening, and had Noon yapping in my ear about what the hell was causing the delay. Maze was with him, tapped into security. They knew I was out of the building…”
“But you didn’t make it to the getaway car.”
“I made it,” he said. “I was just delayed.”
Because he was waylaid by Anwen… and having sex with her. The story was dubious. “That was her pursuit? She was crying in an alley, so you had sex with her? That’s hardly a grand chase.”
“No, that wasn’t it. The pursuit came after,” he said. “Far as I was concerned, that night was it. I didn’t need to see her again. I’ll be honest, I didn’t even think about her again. In that alley, I thought on my feet, that’s what I do.”
“And if that involves sex, that’s a bonus,” she said, without meaning to sound so snide.
It wasn’t fair to be sarcastic when he was being honest. Ryske had a past, and so did she. Neither of them were virgins. Harlow’s contempt wasn’t judgement, she was smart enough to recognize that her response was rooted in jealousy. Her life had never been one of abandon like that where she’d have sex in an alleyway just because the moment called for it.
Her life had been void of anything even close to adventure. Danger was a word used in books and movies. She’d never taken a risk in her life. Not a real one. Ryske and his crew were daring, living on the edge. In her studies, she’d read countless stories about people whose lives were cut short by prison or death because they chose that life.
But it was attractive, alluring, exciting, interesting, all of the things her life hadn’t been.
The story wasn’t finished, so he kept going. “I’d met Ophelia before then. She didn’t know me like she does now, but, she’d been my in to the auction. She believed I was the quiet, rich entrepreneur I wanted her to believe I was.”
“You seduced her first.”
“No,” he said, coming closer still, but staying out of reach, which she was grateful for. “We flirted. We’ve always flirted. But, things get messy fast when you mix business and pleasure. I didn’t need to screw anyone but the mark for that job… least not in the original plan. Ophelia was a business contact. To get close to Parratt, I needed a way into that circle. Ophelia was it. I gave her some advice to help her in her role with Hagan, one she doesn’t have any more, but at the time, she was trying to make a name for herself in the company. I coached her, we flirted. Yeah, the relationship was fun, but that was it.”
To him maybe, Ophelia had thought it was something more, or could’ve been something more. “How did Ophelia find out about you and Anwen?”
“They were best friends. Maze set up a digital answering service for us years ago. Means we can change the number any time and never have to answer calls. None of us carry phones. People want to talk to us, they leave messages, and we get back to them, ignore them, take action, whatever… Anwen got the number from Ophelia’s phone, that call was a goddamn surprise, let me tell you… Anwen wanted a replay. At first, we ignored it. But, Anwen called and called and called. Maze was about to change the number when Anwen left a message saying she was going to tell Hagan what had happened. She’d already told Ophelia. Shit was falling apart.”
“So, you had to see her again?”
He nodded. “To let her down gently, to tell her I didn’t want trouble with Hagan, I didn’t… Then I got there and…”
“You couldn’t contain yourself.”
He’d already said she was beautiful. It wouldn’t have been easy to refuse the advances of any woman determined to have him. But if Anwen was as perfect as he’d implied, he wouldn’t have put up much of a fight.
Harlow pictured him meeting Anwen in a hotel room somewhere, walking in to find the beauty in some silky negligee, begging him to satisfy her. Ryske wasn’t picky, as demonstrated by his early lust for her.
The only time Harlow had worn negligee she’d felt like an idiot. Rupert had bought some Victoria’s Secret apparel and she’d tried it on. It looked fine, was softer than air. The trouble was, she didn’t feel delicate and wasn’t patient. Standing in front of Rupert while he “admired” her had just bored her.
“She threatened me,” Ryske said, jarring Harlow out of her thoughts. “Said we had to keep going or she’d tell Hagan… I didn’t want to be the guy who screwed other men’s wives. We’d been working the con with Parratt since before the Hagan auction opportunity cropped up. Parratt was about to hand us more than half a million dollars. I couldn’t risk that deal, we needed that money.”
The reason he needed that money was interesting, but she could only pursue one line at a time. “So, you… you and Anwen kept going? You had an affair with her.”
“Yeah,” he said. “For six months before he found out.”
Stunned, her reaction was instant. “Six…” Spinning to face him, she expected some kind of contrition, but didn’t find any. “How did he find out? Wasn’t the point that he wasn’t supposed to know?”
“The deal with Parratt was done by then. We had the money and I was out of their circle. Parratt never admitted we’d taken him for the half mill. Guess he was embarrassed. We strung him along for a while. Whenever I see him, I’m still convinced he thinks I’ll come up with the goods.”
“You told Hagan the truth?” she asked, wondering if the confession was his way of getting out of the affair.
&nbs
p; Except, if they’d been sleeping together for six months, Ryske must have developed some kind of feelings for her.
“I didn’t owe Hagan anything. That’s always the way I feel if I’m in a married woman’s bed, or an almost married woman’s bed. I didn’t make any pledge to their other half. But, with women like that, women who would do that to their partner, I… there’s always an element of…”
It was like he was searching for his meaning, but she got it. “Anger,” she said. “Resentment. You can’t understand why they would do that to someone they’re supposed to love.”
His head bobbed. Silence reigned for a few seconds. “Business, I understand, if everyone’s on the same page. If it has a reason, a purpose, I get it. Sex is just sex; it can be just sex. But, she was sleeping with me to hurt him, that’s what it was about. Except… they would fight and he’d…”
Pushing the heels of her hands into the vanity, Harlow straightened. “Hit her? Did it get violent?”
“He’d have his men do it, Brash and Animal usually. Hagan doesn’t like to get his hands dirty. So, I understood her need to have control, to feel like she had some kind of control. When she was fucking me, she was trying to fuck out that hurt and her hatred for him, I get that.”
“Why marry him?” she asked. “If she hated him so much, why was she still engaged to him?”
“Anwen came from nothing,” he said. “Hagan has money. He was supporting her. Her parents were gone, she had no one. Her life was entwined with his, and if she even thought about leaving him… Let’s just say, he’s the kind of guy who holds a grudge. He’d never let her just walk away. He’d take it as a personal affront. She was stuck. She didn’t have the power to get away from him. Even if she did, he had the power to pull her back every time.”
“What happened when Hagan found out about you and Anwen?”
That answer was simple. Ryske looked her straight in the eye as he delivered it. “She killed herself.”
26
The end of the story was so shocking and unexpected that her mouth fell open. After a stuttering moment of astonishment, Harlow pushed away from the vanity and went to him, wrapping her arms around his torso to hold him.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “Oh, Ryske, that’s horrible. I’m so sorry… She committed suicide?”
He stroked a flat hand down her back over the length of her hair. “That’s what Hagan will tell you.”
Pushing away, she inspected his face. Did that mean… was he implying Hagan had hurt her… had Jarvis Hagan killed his own fiancée?
If Harlow needed any further proof that she was a terrible judge of character, she’d just got it. Harlow had deemed Hagan an asshole, but hadn’t considered him dangerous. In one way, she was right, Ryske had said Hagan didn’t do his own dirty work. But, Hagan had the resources, and manpower, to end a person and he’d used them before, so he was definitely dangerous.
Ophelia had been right too. Such an experience would change a person.
Touching his face, Harlow wondered how Ryske had made it through such a difficult time. “If this was all two years ago, why are you still dealing with him?”
“After Anwen was gone, about eighteen months ago, we all went our separate ways. I thought that was it.”
“Until?”
“Losing the half mill was embarrassing for Parratt, but he could afford to absorb the loss. Once he figured out the investment wasn’t coming good, he’d said he wouldn’t go to the cops on the proviso that when he needed something from me, I’d have to deliver. Helped that he couldn’t prove anything illegal. He’d handed over the money and had no evidence I lied… But, we let him say his piece, he wanted to save face after being taken for a ride. Sometimes pays when guys like him reach out.”
Parratt had gotten him involved in this recent mess? Harlow wanted to know more. “Parratt reached out?”
“About six months after Anwen was gone, Parratt called in a favor and I had a chance to square things… I screwed that up…” She didn’t understand how and he wasn’t forthcoming. “The debt was still outstanding, but I didn’t hear anything until a few months ago. Parratt left a message on the answering service. Maze has a program that checks the old numbers once in a while… He called in the chit.”
Called in the chit, that had to be what the meeting tonight was about. Parratt was bringing Ryske into some deal. “Parratt called in a favor that’s going to cost you a million dollars… where are you going to get a million dollars?”
One side of his mouth rose in a dashing smile that she recognized as the one he used on the con. “Cool mill is easy, babydoll.”
Sometimes she lost herself in wondering how he could live such a capricious life. “How?”
Combing his fingers through her hair, he brushed it down the back of her shoulder. “We’ll come up with it if we have to… might not be ours, but, there will be numbers on the screen if there has to be.”
Did that mean Maze would steal it or that he’d manufacture it? She didn’t know, but it seemed the money wasn’t the problem. “I don’t understand. If this is about a deal with Parratt, what was the talk about Hagan competing and the gambling and—”
“Part of the reason Hagan wants in on the deal is because he’s branching into less than… legitimate ventures. He bought a club. It’s vital to this deal with Parratt, who needs… premises to make it work… That’s what Hagan brings to the table. The premises.
“Don’t think Hagan knew I was going to be involved until I showed up at one of their initial meetings. We hadn’t seen each other since Anwen. I walked in there and I guess it all came back to him. We’re a sort of consortium, you could say, everyone brings something to the table. Me, Hagan, Parratt, and Yarker… Ophelia was at that first meeting too.”
“That’s how you met with her again?”
He nodded. “She’s responsible for Parratt getting me involved. She didn’t say it, but I know her. Somewhere behind the scenes, I knew she was pulling some string somewhere… Like I said, she’s not involved in Hagan’s business anymore, not his legitimate business. This kinda shit gets her off.”
Illegal shit, that’s what he meant. Ophelia couldn’t work with her brother in business, but she could in a crime syndicate.
“Parratt brought you in on this deal?” Harlow asked, wary of Parratt’s motives. “Even though he knew what you did, that you conned him out of that investment money?”
“This new operation is a second chance to clean the slate. Couldn’t say no to hearing them out… So, we got together, me, Parratt, Yarker, and Hagan, who’s been fuming about my involvement the whole time. This op is not small potatoes. Ponying up the money is a sign of our commitment.” And Parratt would want a sign of that from Ryske in order to trust him. “Every man has his own responsibility in this op. Hagan provides the premises, but like you heard them say tonight, they need my… connections.”
Speaking to Ryske was supposed to help her understand what was happening. There were serious layers to the operation and to the individual relationships.
Harlow understood that the Floyd’s crew had scammed Parratt out of money. Ingratiating themselves with him had involved Ryske coaching Ophelia in business. Ophelia had to believe there was some element of romance to their relationship as she’d taken him to her brother’s auction.
Going to the auction had been twofold for them. They donated a fake item to give themselves credibility with Parratt, and stolen another item for an associate, whom she didn’t know. While at the auction, Ryske had met Anwen. That had set in motion a series of events that she doubted he could’ve predicted. The affair, Anwen’s suicide, Hagan’s hatred.
If it wasn’t for the debt he owed to Parratt, Ryske would probably have avoided Hagan forever. But, Parratt needed Ryske’s connections, and needed Hagan’s premises, so the men were in business together. Given that Ryske had slept with Hagan’s fiancée, it made sense that there was animosity. It even made sense that Ryske would dislike Hagan who ha
d been violent with the woman he was supposed to love.
This wasn’t over and she doubted that it would be any time soon.
With this new information, something else became clear. Ryske had sold her a bill of goods. This wasn’t about any professional rivalry. The men were embroiled in the same operation, Parratt’s operation, which she didn’t yet understand. But it wasn’t about Hagan’s premises taking Floyd’s business.
Figuring that out changed so much about her view of their previous conversations. “It was a lie… You, who always said you couldn’t lie to me, lied to me… What you and the guys told me about Hagan trying to take Floyd’s business, being in competition with you… it was a lie?”
He didn’t admit it straight out, choosing instead to offer an explanation for what had happened the night they met. “I didn’t want you involved in any of this, Trink… Parratt’s operation, it’s intriguing, and playing along will settle the score. We won’t owe him anymore. Having Hagan involved makes it risky… Me and the guys knew Hagan was pissed about Anwen, and we have no friends in Parratt’s operation, none except Ophelia who can turn on a dime. We had to figure out if this could be a trap… Playing at Hagan’s place gave me a chance to see how far he’d go for payback. Losing was a strategic move. Parratt knows I never lose…”
Frustration didn’t begin to explain how she felt about how casual he was with his own safety. “You’re impugning Hagan’s credibility, that’s what it was about? You got stabbed because you wanted to shame him?”
Go With It (A Go Novel Book 1) Page 24