Desired Too (29 page)

“Yes, sir.”

I had made brief eye contact with both men before I headed to the door.

“Where will you be?” Hugo asked.

“I’m going to end this fucking feud once and for all.”

I didn’t have to tell them anymore than that. They knew who I was going to see. However, I never made it there. The second I put my hand on the doorknob, I heard sirens and the screeching of about a dozen cars.

“Fuck!” Darrell exclaimed and looked at me eyes wide.

We all knew who it was coming to start some shit. Darrell pulled out his phone and made the necessary calls needed. I took out my guns and placed them in my hidden safe underneath one of the floorboards in the room. My guns were licensed, but I didn’t want to deal with bullshit.

Remember I mentioned the storm that I felt was surrounding me? Well, I could feel the winds starting to pick up. In fact, it picked up the moment Darrell told me all about Raquel.

The war wasn’t coming; it had already arrived.

“Let’s get this over with. We have shit to do,” I said aloud just as Darrell put his phone away. I opened the door, put my hands behind my head and laced my fingers.

“But boss,” Darrell started. However, I was already out the door.

When I came out of the office, there were two SUVs parked behind my Mustang and Darrell’s Suburban. I headed in the trucks direction just as a familiar face emerged from the truck closest to me.

“That’s far enough, Leonetti. Keep your hands where I can see them.”

There were about five guns trained on us, so I didn’t move.

What I did do, just to piss off the man before me, was smile and asked, “And what brings my favorite cousin to my doorstep?”

Daniel turned bright red with anger as he approached me. “We have a warrant to search these premises.”

I chuckled sarcastically. “Of course you do.”

Daniel forcefully pushed me up against the truck and searched me. “Are you armed?”

“Do you think I’m stupid?” I asked him.

I felt the zip ties placed on my wrists and just before he stood me upright, he said in my ear. “I finally got you, motherfucker. You’re going down.”

He turned me around to face him and we locked eyes.

The storm was definitely in full force.

Son of a bitch!

Face plants aren’t very pleasant, especially when you’re getting your ass kicked.

“What the hell, Raquel? Get your head out of your ass!”

I opened my eyes and found a very angry, but strikingly handsome face looking down at me.

“If you didn’t come here to work, then stop wasting my time.”

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry,” I mumbled.

I quickly stood, punched my gloves together, cracked my neck and got ready.

Okay, girl. Focus. Concentrate.

I threw a few punches. One connected, but I got greedy and forgot who I was fighting. I went for a roundhouse kick to the temple and found my leg extended in the air and my other swept from under me. I landed hard on the mat, the wind knocked out of my lungs, and a fist in my gut for good measure.

“Goddamn it!” I turned over coughing.

“You’re done!”

I got to my knees feeling the air starting to flow correctly through my lungs.

“I’m sorry, Mason,” I managed to get out.

“You know I agreed to train you because of the skills you possess. I don’t train people.”

I nodded my head. “I know.”

I gave up on standing and just laid on the mat, eyes closed.

After I left Denny’s, I had Junior take me to the meeting I had told Angel about in his garage this morning. I wanted to start my own consulting firm. I loved the financial world, and I was good at what I did. I could find any Joe Schmo company, a diamond in the rough investment opportunity, and make them a sought out treasure. I just had that knack for knowing just what to do, what companies to invest in and, most importantly, I knew when a company was a loss.

I was out here selling myself and actually found a few clients that were willing to take a chance on me. One of them was the very one that was giving me a nasty disapproving look.

After my promising meeting with the successful billionaire Mason West, who promised to send more business my way if I proved myself, he talked me into working out with him. 

He and I actually worked out a lot together. He was training me, not for competition, mind you, but to keep me sharp. Fighting was something that I enjoyed doing. I had been caught out there with a threat on my life without knowing how to effectively protect myself, and I vowed never to be caught out there like that again. But ever since Ira came into town, I’d been skipping out on our sessions. So when Mason mentioned working out today during our meeting, I felt guilty. So, I told him yes, even though I knew that I wasn’t mentally there. I knew that I couldn’t handle him on a good day, so I knew my off day was going to be brutal.

I opened my eyes just as Mason knelt next to me. “What’s going on with you, Roxy?”

I sat up and looked in his eyes. Did I say he was fine as shit? He had ice blue eyes that were so hypnotizing. Goodness, Max was a very lucky woman.

Mason took me by my hand and arm, then helped me up.

“You’ve been MIA for a few weeks. You have Max worried as shit. You haven’t been here to work out like you normally do. It’s crazy that the only way I could check up on you is to call a business meeting.”

I sighed. “I know. I’ll call Max and explain everything, I promise.”

He nodded, but kept watching me.

I looked around the gym and found no one paying us any attention. I mean, the place was packed, but everyone was in his or her own world, including Junior. He was busy talking to some fighter that he knew in the circuit.

I looked back at an expectant Mason and asked, “Can I ask you something?”

Mason didn’t reply. He just motioned for me to follow him as he headed for a set of chairs on the side of the mat we were working on.

Once we sat down, he passed me my bottled water and grabbed his own. He took a huge gulp, then took a deep breath, as if he was preparing himself for some bullshit.

Hell, how does he know?

“Okay, have you ever kept something from Max that was so deep that you knew the moment she found out she wouldn’t look at you the same way?”

He scoffed and shook his head. “Woman, you have no idea.”

“Really?” I couldn’t help my surprise.

Everything that I learned about Mason surprised me. When you first see him, you think he’s oblivious to the ways of the world; that is, until you look in his eyes. There was nothing innocent behind his eyes. He could be friendly to those close to him. I could see it when he spoke to the owner of the gym, and I could see it when he looked at his family. I started to see it when we trained together too, which was why I felt I could talk to him about my problem.

Mason blew out an exacerbated breath. “There’re things in my past that I know for a fact if I shared them with my wife, she would pack up and leave with my kids. Look, Raquel, there will be things in our lives that we just can’t share with our significant others. I mean, I’m sure Leonetti will never share certain things with you.”

“Yes, I know, but…”

“But what?”

I scooted up in my chair and looked down at my shoes. “You don’t know him like I do. What I have to tell him isn’t going to go over well.”

“Okay, I agree.  I don’t know him personally, but I know the type of man he is. I know he is as ruthless as they come, especially when you cross him. I know he has people around him that are worse than he is, if that’s even possible. He lives by codes that could definitely be his demise. I also know he’s crazy about you.”

I looked up at him and he nodded as if he was reading my mind.

“I’ve done my homework on your beau. I probably know a lot more about him than you would ever know. I even know a lot about you.”

I looked at him questioningly and he continued. “My wife adores you. She thinks of you as her friend, and I’m sure you feel the same way. You know she and my family are the reason why I exist. I will not let anything or anyone take that away from me. With that said, since you and she were getting close, I looked into both you and Leonetti. I will say I’m not happy with who Leonetti is, but he seems to keep his shit away from the people he’s closest to. He’s feared by most, and the rest don’t want the drama. So I’m kind of curious as to what secret you have that would change the way he feels about you.”

I couldn’t help the skeptical grunt that escaped my lips. “Dude, you have no idea.”

Mason smiled and leaned back in his chair. “Try me.”

“Okay, what would you say if I told you that I am a licensed Private Investigator in San Francisco? I have a license to carry a gun here and in Cali. As a matter of fact, I’m actually qualified to handle most handguns and a couple of assault rifles.”

“I would say, prove it.”

I laughed. “I would love to.”

Mason smiled himself. “Okay, for arguments sake, let’s say everything you’re saying is true. That to me isn’t something that would make him leave. In fact, it would probably be a turn on. Seeing a woman handle herself like that…” He shook his head. “Damn, it’s sexy.”

I laughed. “You’re too much, you know that?” I asked.

“Sure do, but I stand by my statement. You can tell him that. That’s nothing.”

“I know that. He will be pissed that I kept it from him, but he wouldn’t care. He knows I come here to work out. He doesn’t know the extent of my skills, but I’m sure he wouldn’t be surprised to hear that I know how to handle myself.”

“Okay, Roxy, before you say anything else, let me tell you that your man knows a whole hell of a lot about you, more than just the basics.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Really? I need to tell you about your man?” I didn’t reply and he scooted closer to me. “Raquel, that man is deliriously in love with you.”

I started shaking my head. “No, I beg to differ. He cares about me. He tries to control me, but love…”

“Please, woman, you’re blind if you can’t see that. I could and I’ve only seen you two together a few times. Now if this man is anything like myself, and I have a feeling he is, he has made it his life goal to make sure he knows everything there is to know about your life. So the secret you’re keeping, he probably knows.”

“You think he knows I’m a PI?”

“Yeah, I bet my life he knows.”

“Do you think he knows that I have one of the deadliest mafia families on the west coast after me?”

Mason didn’t reply. His mouth was open too wide for him to use it.

I took a deep breath and got myself together. “Being a PI wasn’t a lifelong goal. As you very well know, I graduated with a major in finance, minor in international business. I love the finance world. I love finding out about someone’s dream to change the world and investing in that dream. However, when I became a PI, I felt like
I
was fulfilling a lifelong dream. My ex-boyfriend used to tell me so many stories about his job that instantly attracted me. Before I decided to be a PI, he used to ask me to do favors for him. Nothing major, stuff like financial backgrounds for his clients. I would research people for him and find money that husbands hid from their wives and money that CEO’s and owners of top companies hid from their investors or even the IRS.

“I didn’t mind helping him, of course. It felt good helping people,” I told Mason. “That actually became my thing. I worked with Ira, my ex, so he could train me. We were a team. Some business he would throw my way and other times we would work together. When Ira and I split, I continued to do my own thing. I hired a staff of my own, guys that I met at the gym I went to. I was actually quite successful. I was smart with my clientele and made sure the cases I took weren’t things I couldn’t handle.

“One day, I was working late and my ex came to see me. I had been avoiding his crazy ass for months. When he asked to hire me, I should have told him, ‘Hell no.’ The trust in him was long gone, but he gave me such a sob story about his client that I was hooked. Anyway, to make a long story short, I took his case. I knew deep down that I shouldn’t have done it, but I figured all he wanted was a financial packet completed. It was easy enough, something I could do with my eyes closed.

“I learned however, that this case was far from simple. Ira asked me to do a complete workup on this company for his client. He wanted to know everything about the profits this company made yearly, as well as the CEO. I didn’t think anything of it at first, of course. I just did my thing and ended up giving him a majority of the information he needed in a few days.” Mason’s eyes grew and I nodded. “Yeah, I’m that good. Actually, I think I’m too good. Ira told me that what I gave him was good enough, but I kept digging. I really wanted to bury the guy, you know. The sob story Ira gave me touched me. I hated bullies, and this man was a complete bully. What I discovered, though, caused me to halt everything. I found that the company I was looking into didn’t really exist.”

Mason frowned. “It was a shell?”

I nodded. “Yup, and I will say that information was hidden very well. It took some time for me to find that tidbit of info, as well as who truly owned the shell company, which was some cartel family. When I told all of this to Ira, he was pissed. He told me that I should have given him this information before and that he had revealed all of this company’s financials to his client. He told me that I should have found out everything at one at time. He was right, of course, but he kept hogging me to give him what I had. I should have told him to wait until I had everything, but I didn’t.

“Of course I was worried about what I found out and who I had just exposed to a potential enemy of this cartel family. Ira did assure me that my name never came up. He told me that his client didn’t know anything about me. Therefore, I relaxed, until one of my employees was killed in a suspicious car crash and another almost met the same fate, but it just so happened he let someone else borrow his car.”

Mason shook his head. “What did Ira do when you told him about your two employees? Did you go to the police?”

I felt like an idiot when I shook my head.

I needed to explain my stupidity and professed, “Honestly, Mace, I didn’t think anything of the two incidents with my employees, at first. I don’t know, maybe I was in denial, but I didn’t think they were related. When the threatening calls came into my office and cell, that was when I knew something wasn’t right. Whatever Ira told me was a lie. My name had to have been out there. Why else would my employees have been targets? I told Ira everything that was going on and he became my bodyguard. He said he found out someone was following him the other day and figured we needed to stick together in this. Two heads were better than one, and I agreed, until the threats started literally hitting home. One night, he and I were at my apartment when someone actually did a drive-by and bullets turned my apartment into Swiss cheese. Shit, we barely made it out with our lives. I was scared half out of my mind. I told Ira I was going to the police. I had enough information that could get me at least some protection, but then Ira finally told me who his client was.”

“I take it Ira didn’t agree with you?” Mason asserted and I nodded soberly.

“No, he didn’t. He simply reminded me who this family was, and what kind of connections they had.
‘You could be captured and dead the moment you call the police
,’ is what he said to me. I couldn’t disagree with him. He suggested I go home and said that he would take this heat for me. If he needed to, he’d go to the Feds with everything. He again promised to keep my name out of all of this. Before I left the state, he called me and told me that he had everything under control. He said,
‘Once the Feds saw what I had, they were jumping through hoops to keep me safe.'
Therefore, I came home with that assurance. However, a few weeks ago, Ira popped up out of nowhere and told me that this family did indeed know my name and was coming after me.” “And you haven’t told Leonetti?”