by Christina OW
“Melody wouldn’t look at the pictures or anything to do with the explosion,” Matthew defended her and Reno backed him by saying, “It was before Ruiz joined the family.”
“I knew the story, I just couldn’t bring myself to get too interested.” He turned to Riana with a sad smile, pain in his eyes. “I didn’t want to know what I’d lost moments after I’d found it. It would have hurt too much. But Clarissa was all too happy to tell me about my dead sister.”
Melody hugged his arm to her chest, cursing the woman. All she seemed to do was hurt Ruiz and today she’d topped it all. Melody could feel it from Ruiz’s shaking body next to her when Clarissa and her date walked up to them. That man, Angelo, was bad news if he managed to scare Ruiz so bad he was shaking. She suspected that fear was the same reason he ran up here to check on Esme.
“Ruiz, who was that man and why was he with Anthony?” Reno demanded.
Ruiz’s grip on her hand tightened as he stared silently at his brother. He didn’t want to talk about it. He wasn’t ready.
“Antonio—Anthony must have been using Red Roses Paris to launder Angelo’s money,” Melody piped up.
“Drug money,” Jackie added drawing the attention of the room. She lifted a number of papers off the couch and held them out to Reno. “We got these from Antonio—Anthony a month back. Right after he booked a few scary men into the hotel. It’s all there, details on the deals he was making and information on Angelo Cruz.”
Ruiz flinched at the sound of his name as if he’d been hit. That worried her.
“Ruiz, who is this man?” Reno repeated, passing the papers to Matthew without so much as a glance.
Ruiz stood stoically for a moment before he let go of Melody’s hand and pulled away from her. She wanted to claim his hand back, need to, but stopped herself when he pulled his jacket off and handed it to her. She took it and hugged it to her chest. He unbuttoned his shirt to his mid-section then shrugged the shirt off his left shoulder and turned to show it to the room. She held her breath and waited for the room’s reaction to the gang tattoo. She knew Loraine had seen it and probably Reno too when they were in the Bahamas, but she didn’t know about the rest.
“His name is Angelo Cruz and he’s the leader of one of the most notorious gangs in Argentina called Fuego del Infierno, meaning Hell’s Fire. I was one of them until I turned sixteen.”
The room was quiet, all staring wide eyes at Ruiz. Melody was scared they would judge him, that Allan would try to separate them now that he knew Ruiz’s shady past. She stepped closer to him just to show them where her solidarity lay.
“This was before juvie?” Reno asked casually, surprising Melody.
“Y-yes,” Ruiz answered clearly as surprised as she was.
“Never after?” Matthew asked.
Ruiz shook his head. “I was done when I was out at twenty—once I hit eighteen they transferred me to a low security prison to finish my sentence.”
Melody was taken aback. Prison? He spent two years in prison? He never told her that part.
Allan smiled wearily. “There is very little that can be hidden from me,” he looked at the two men at his side, “us when we go looking. Reno wanted to wait for you to volunteer the information, but once you started making googoo eyes at my sister and she made up a merger just to follow you to the Bahamas, you gave up your rights to privacy. I needed to trust you, especially after Anthony Torino.” He looked at Riana, who seemed to be coming back to the here and now, with worry in his eyes.
“Jeb was the straw that broke my resolve.” Reno stepped towards them. “I’ll apologize. You’re my brother and I should have trusted you’d tell me when you were ready to completely open up to me.”
Ruiz shook his head. “No worries. I’m so glad you know. It means I don’t have to go through telling it.”
“We don’t!” Loraine blurted out. “What? Oh come on! You’re not the least bit curious about what makes him so dark, broody and sexy?”
“No,” the guys responded in unison.
Loraine rolled her eyes. “And we as your wives are happy to hear that. But I was speaking to the ladies in the room—except Riana. Ruiz featuring in your fantasies would just be wrong on so many levels. He’s Zorro in mine. Mask, hat, cape and nothing else,” she finished with a wink at Ruiz.
Ruiz turned red as he stared at her wide eyed.
“Really, Loraine!” Riana rebuked.
“In mine he’s a soccer player with a mean samba. His hair as long as it is now and not jelled back, he’s shirtless with a rose between his teeth seducing me with his moves on the dance floor,” Amy said with a whimsical sigh before she quickly turned to her husband and said. “No offense. If it makes you feel better, I’ve fantasized about all of them, but never when we’re having sex.”
His eyes narrowed till the crinkles at the sides stood out. “Thanks for the reassurance love, I feel so much better.”
Melody had to bit her lips shut to keep from laughing.
“He’s a painter in mine, one who loves to paint on the roof top during sunset and in the nude,” Jackie said, causing a few giggles and laughs. “I may be old, but that doesn’t mean I’m dead.”
Ruiz only grew redder. He quickly shrugged his shirt back over his shoulder hurriedly buttoning it up. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so uncomfortable and under dressed in my life. I feel like I should be covering my junk or something.”
That made everyone laugh even more. Melody was glad the tension in room had reduced. It had become stifling. She took Ruiz’s hand in hers and said, “He’s plain sexy Ruiz Albury to me.”
He looked at her with a wide grin. “Thanks babe.”
“That’s because he’s the real deal to you, not a fantasy.” Then with a little seriousness Loraine added, “What I’m trying to say is no one will judge you for the person you used to be as a teenager because you’re not that man right now. Otherwise you would already be in that shallow grave and I would have an alibi.” She pointed to Allan with her thumb, shielding her mouth with her other hand so that only Melody and Ruiz could see and pretended to whisper, “Now him, not so much. Well, yes, but it would have been paid for.”
“Most definitely!” Allan added with a smile.
Now that everyone was a little relaxed thanks to Loraine, Melody asked the question that she was sure was in everyone’s mind. “What do we do now?”
“Wait,” Ruiz answered. “Angelo will be here soon. Allan, where’s your pose?”
Allan stretched his hand out to Riana. She went quickly to him, tucking herself into his side. Allan wrapped his arms around her and said, “Not mine. Dante’s. And they are picking off Angel’s men one by one right now.”
“Picking off? What do you mean?” Melody asked cautiously, not sure she even wanted to know the answer.
“Restraining them…or more if need be.”
“I need to sit down,” Loraine muttered waddling slowly towards the couch. Reno rushed to her, taking her arm and lowering her down on the soft cushion. “This stress isn’t good for you.”
She glowered at him. “Nor is the porcelain doll treatment. Now pay attention, Ruiz has a plan to get us all out of this mess.”
“And how would you know that?”
Loraine turned to look at Ruiz with pity. “Everyone who has a living breathing ghost always has some kind of plan.”
She would know. Loraine’s plan had been to run as far as she could get and she ran into Reno’s arms, but her ghosts found her and the end wasn’t pretty. Melody was scared this particular ghost was going to make Ruiz’s life hell before they were rid of him.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to drag any of you into my mess,” Ruiz apologized with regret.
“Don’t apologize. It’s not just your past that has come to haunt us,” Riana spoke, looking up to meet Allan’s gaze.
Their past, my present, Melody thought.
“So what’s the plan?” Matthew asked, taking Amy’s hand in his as she hugged his arm t
o her chest.
“Find out what he wants then take it from there,” Ruiz answered.
“That’s it? Zorro, I expected more from you.” Loraine complained.
Melody smiled at that, but it froze on her lips when she caught the meaningful looks Reno and Allan were exchanging before they both turned to look at Ruiz. Something else was going on, something they weren’t sharing.
The unexpected knock on the door made her jump.
“Show time.” Ruiz released her hand, took his jacket from her and slid it on. “Jackie, please go sit with the children and lock the door. If any one of them wakes up don’t let them out. Take the files with you and make sure Jon Luc gets them when this is all over,” Ruiz ordered gently and Jackie did as he asked.
She stopped at Melody’s side for a moment, kissed her cheek and whispered “Bon chance,” before she disappeared into the room behind them, the resounding click of the lock in her aftermath.
“Ladies, sit down and act calm even though you don’t feel it. Don’t sit together—Amy and Riana take the couch behind you, Melody join Loraine on this one. Matthew, why don’t you pour them a drink, something strong?”
Ruiz didn’t even look at her when he led her to the couch and sat her down. His voice was calm and direct, absent of emotion. She’d never heard him speak with complete and total detachment of emotion before and she had to look at his face a few times to make sure it was him talking.
“Allan, Reno get yourselves a drink then stand by the couches, your backs to the dining area but close enough that your legs are partially shielded by the couches. Allan, make sure to stand in clear view of the window.”
“Why?” Riana asked taking the shot glass Matthew handed her.
“Swallow it,” Matthew ordered. Riana looked at him skeptically before she did and immediately winced. Then he handed her a flute of champagne. Melody had had an open bottle sent up to celebrate the success of the launch, now it felt like the last meal. Matthew repeated the process with Amy and Melody. The whiskey was to settle their nerves she realized, but why were they holding the flutes of champagne?
“Why?” Riana repeated.
“To give the illusion that Reno has a gun at his feet, ready to pull it out if necessary. And since Allan is the Allan Sinclair ruthless international businessman billionaire, Angelo won’t expect him to lower himself by getting his hands dirty. He has people for that. So having Allan stand there with nothing between him and the floor to ceiling window will have Angelo searching for a red dot.”
“What?” Amy echoed Melody’s confusion.
“Sniper,” Loraine answered. “He’s going to assume Allan has a sniper looking over his shoulder, watching the room, especially if Angelo knows the story with Anthony Torino and notices his men are missing.”
Ruiz nodded with a slight dangerous smile. “Been watching a lot of gangster movies Loraine?”
“No, I just notice things faster than the normal human. Years of being very observant about my surroundings.”
“And you Ruiz?” Melody blurted out.
He turned his hard gaze on her. For just a second, his eyes softened before they were hard again. “I played gangster long enough to know the ins and outs.” He turned away from her then. “Matthew, behind the couch, but close to the liquor tray.”
“You’re staging us. All this is to provoke a certain perception. And us, the wives sitting in the line of danger, is that supposed to show your confidence that this will go down your way?” Amy asked anxiously.
Ruiz shook his head. “Only a fool would do that.”
“Then what is the point?” Matthew asked sounding agitated. Melody didn’t blame him. He had cover to jump behind of, his wife didn’t.
“To tell him he’ll leave in a body bag if he tried anything stupid tonight. The same reason he has my mother on his arm.”
“It’s a warning?”
“Or a sign of peace, it all depends on him. He won’t even pay them much attention. I can assure you that he doesn’t believe in hurting women—physically that is. It wouldn’t be an even fight because he sees them as weaker. He just uses them as chess pieces and in the process—I won’t lie to you—some of them end up severely traumatized.”
The knock came again, this time impatient.
Ruiz went to open the door, “Whatever you do, don’t show him any weakness more than what we’ve already displayed—our wives.”
“Or you’re dead,” Melody finished the phrase she’d heard him say to his image in the mirror a few weeks ago.
Showing weakness gets you dead.
He turned to her again, but this time the hardness didn’t leave his eyes. He turned away from her and Melody moved to stand, but Loraine pulled her back down and held her hand tight. She was beginning to wonder if she was the only one scared out of her mind until Loraine’s tremulous smile told her otherwise.
“Jon Luc, Dante. You’re late to the party. Mother, Angelo and Anthony, I don’t remember inviting you up.” But even as he said the words, he stepped aside and let them all in.
“Do you have to be so rude all the time?” his mother chastised sauntering in with Anthony like they were royalty.
Melody noticed Angelo didn’t give Ruiz his back even once. But Ruiz did, closing the door and walking into the room. “Champagne anyone?”
“Pour me one darling,” Clarissa sat in one of the two single chairs in the living room.
“Me too,” Antonio—Anthony said, smugly falling into the chair next to Clarissa. His confidence sickened her.
Ruiz didn’t even spare him a glance when he handed his mother a flute and said, “I don’t serve the help.” Then he stretched the other one out to Angelo.
Angelo narrowed his eyes with suspicion not making a move to take the flute from Ruiz.
Without missing a beat, Ruiz downed it with one swallow, picked up the bottle from the ice bucket, filled half the flute, downed that too before he refilled it to the top and offered it to Angelo again. This time he took it with a smirk.
“Jon Luc, Dante?”
“We’ll have something from the liquor trolley,” Jon Luc answered, already pouring himself a drink.
“I’ll just pour myself a glass then,” Anthony grumbled.
He got out of the chair and Ruiz pushed him back down. “The help don’t drink. So mother, Angelo wouldn’t have anything to do with your visit last month, would he?”
The shrewd smile was answer enough, but before she could put it to words, Angelo spoke. “Seeing as how my money is frozen in your accounts, I needed someone to check out the lay of the land for me.”
“Your money?” Ruiz chuckled. “Wow Angelo, I never took you for a fool. You trusted the wrong man this time.”
Melody watched as Angelo’s gaze grew hard and the muscle in his jaw jumped repeatedly. What was Ruiz doing antagonizing him? Then Angelo looked around the room, he stared at the ladies with a smile and a slight bow of the head to each one of them. Melody was glad none of them smiled back and though she knew they were as scared as she was, they didn’t show it. When it came to the men, the smile was still there, but his gaze lingered for a long while like he was assessing what kind of threat they pose to him. And then just as Loraine predicted, he looked out the window, at Allan then back out the window. Melody couldn’t believe how relaxed they all looked, like there was nothing wrong with what was happening.
“You have a beautiful view of Paris,” he commented casually.
“We like it. You can see half the city from up here,” Reno said.
“But why are the drapes open? Anyone can look in?”
“Precisely,” Allan answered, swirling the brown liquid in his glass with a twist of his wrist, and the lopsided grin on his face that Melody has always found terrifying. He only reserved it for those who’d crossed him and were about to pay the piper.
The room fell silent then as Angelo looked at each one of them again, but with a different light in his eyes before he finally turned to Ruiz.
/> “Alright, I’ve had enough of this game. I just want my money.”
“You’re going to have to ask the police for that,” Ruiz spoke moving backwards to stand in the middle of the room, just a hand reach away from Melody. She was tempted to reach out and touch him but she stayed put.
“Anthony, you told me he has it?” His words were soft spoken, but lethal.
Anthony vaulted out of his chair, his eyes wide with fear. “Of course he does! He’s made it that he’s the only signatory to the new account. If not, we could have taken Melody and she would have done what she was told, like she always does.”
Loraine squeezed her hand, but Melody refused to look at her to see the question in her eyes everyone else probably had. She wasn’t proud of how spineless she’d been then and she wasn’t willing to discuss it with anyone.
“Or we could have taken him and he would have done what we asked, especially with a gun to his head!” he yelled.
Angelo brushed at his lapel with his knuckles at invisible dust. “Then you must not know Ruiz very well. He doesn’t do what he doesn’t want to. Damn stubborn with a gun to his head.”
Melody couldn’t believe how proud Angelo sounded. Ruiz just stood there like a statue, staring blankly at the man who’d insisted on calling him son.
“And what new account? You never told me about a new account.”
Anthony’s mouth open and shut several times, nothing coming out, his feet shifting restlessly under him. His panic would have been funny if not for the crazed look that was slipping into his eyes.
“The new account has his money. I want my money.”
Anthony stuttered again no words coming out of his mouth.
“Clarissa, this isn’t what you promised me.”
What? Ha! Melody always knew the woman was a two timing witch!
Clarissa just sipped at her flute not even bothering to answer, but her contempt was clear as she stared at Ruiz. Anthony tried to speak again to no avail and his completely crazed eyes shifted around the room as he span aimlessly around like he was looking for a way out besides the one Angelo had his back to. Then his gaze landed on Allan and he went very still, his lips slowly rising into a snarl.