Victorious Vice, page 21
He slides his hands down my body, leaving a trail of fire in their wake as he reaches between my legs. His touch is light, almost reverent, but it’s enough to make me gasp in pleasure.
“Vinnie,” I whisper again, my voice shaky with need.
“Shhh,” he murmurs against my ear. “I’ve got you.”
He slips his fingers between my folds. I buck my hips against his hand as a moan escapes my lips. He groans in return.
I reach for the buckle on his belt. His pants follow, and within another moment he’s inside me, thrusting, thrusting, thrusting…
Our bodies move in perfect rhythm, his thrusts matching my gasps, creating a symphony of unsaid words and pent-up desires.
“Raven…” He breathes my name into the crook of my neck.
I dig into his back and pull him closer. His hips grind into mine again and again. Each stroke of his hard length inside me is a brand, marking me as his.
His lips find mine again—rough, passionate, needy. They taste like desperation and promise.
A moment later, he stiffens and buries himself deeper within me with a low grunt. Heat floods me as he spills into me while I cling onto him tightly, my body convulsing around him.
And for just this moment, I have everything I need.
40
VINNIE
God, I love this woman.
I know in this moment that our lives will be entwined forever. No matter how hard I try to push her away for her own safety, we always return to each other.
And maybe that isn’t such a bad thing.
While I’d like to stay embedded in Raven forever, I force myself to get to my feet, giving her a gentle kiss on the forehead before I do. I dress and tell her she must as well. Then I leave her in the capable hands of Slade and two others and I head to the communications room.
I need answers.
If this doesn’t have anything to do with whoever is threatening Raven, then what is it about? Why would Austin Bellamy try to take his own life?
He’s hardly a saint.
Maybe he has truly bitten off more than he can chew.
Thank God he’ll survive.
And now that Mario has agreed that I’m in charge of the family business, I can take care of this.
Austin Bellamy will live.
Diego Vega will not.
Jacinto Agudelo will not.
Declan McAllister will not.
The plans are already set. I put them into motion when I was driving to the airport in Bogotá.
They go down within forty-eight hours. As soon as Mario and Serena are safely out of Austin with their new identification.
So many unanswered questions regarding Austin Bellamy’s role in this whole thing.
And I still don’t know who the hell is buried underneath his old barn.
Whoever it is, Eagle recognized him as Diego Vega all those years ago.
Hawk and Falcon wouldn’t have known the difference.
The only other people who can answer any questions, besides Bellamy himself, are the two men who were with Vega that night. The two men who escaped, were apprehended at the border, and never heard from again.
I haven’t told Raven about her father’s role. That he was the one who hijacked her Uber app. That he’s the one who’s been sending the warning messages on that burner phone. I’m not sure about the pendant, but he might have had something to do with that as well.
As for the threatening messages, I have my suspicions that they’ve been coming from the McAllisters.
There’s only one way to find out.
Declan McAllister will be dead within forty-eight hours. If the messages stop after that, I’ll know.
Taking down my father’s cartel won’t be simple, but I have enough clean money through the coffee business that I can make sure all of the best men are taken care of. They’ll live out their lives with their loved ones and all their needs will be met.
I’ll take down the men who are controlling the cartel my mafia family is involved with. Jacinto Agudelo and Diego Vega will go down in Colombia. McAllister will go down in Austin. Several others will go down at the same time in various places. It will be bloody, but silent. The plan is already in motion, and it will be carried out while I’m here in Austin with an ironclad alibi.
And they made fun of my peanut butter plot.
In Bogotá, Jacinto Agudelo will be entertaining one of his lavish parties twenty-four hours from now. I attended one of his get-togethers while I was staying at his home. He spares no expense, be it on booze, drugs, or women. Around midnight, he’ll disappear from the party after all his friends have taken an escort to bed. He’ll lock himself in his study, where he’ll indulge in vintage Scotch and Cuban cigars alone. There, my man Rodrigo will strike. Rodrigo is an expert at blending in the crowd. The waitstaff for the company catering his events is regularly replaced, and Agudelo won’t recognize Rodrigo as a new face. He will poison Agudelo’s Scotch without a hitch.
Diego Vega is a different breed entirely. He shuns luxury, preferring to handle things on his own turf—on the streets of Bogotá where he grew up and built his empire from scratch. This rugged reality makes him more guarded and difficult to reach, but not impossible. Vega’s unwavering loyalty to his roots is where I’ll get him. The local soccer match he attends every Sunday without fail. Manuel, a local street vendor known for his empanada stand near the soccer field, will ensure that Vega’s usual order is laced with a lethal dose of cyanide baked carefully into his favorite beef empanada.
I have found that McAllister in Austin is a man of meticulous habits, predictably punctual and consistently cautious. His morning routine consists of an early jog along Lady Bird Lake and then a vanilla latte at the same coffee shop he’s patronized for over a decade every morning at precisely eight-fifteen.
At that precise time tomorrow morning, Sofia, who has been working at the coffee shop for the last week, will serve McAllister his daily brew. Sofia has an uncanny ability to make herself forgettable, a trait that makes her perfect for this job. She’ll poison his morning drink flawlessly.
McAllister won’t suspect a thing. He’ll raise his cup to his lips and not even notice the slight bitterness masked by sugar and warm milk. By the time he realizes something is wrong, it will be too late. He’ll clutch at his chest, gasp for breath and collapse right there in that quaint little coffee shop. It will look like a heart attack. I’ve already paid off the coroners at the local hospital in the likely event that an autopsy is ordered. Once his staff is notified of his demise, Natalie will take Belinda to social services, where a contact there has agreed to allow me to take guardianship of her until she turns eighteen.
Once Daniela is eighteen and she gets her green card, she and I will divorce and I’ll send her to culinary school on my dime and make sure she has everything she needs. It’s the least I can do, since I’m having her father killed. His assets will be seized by the cartel, and there won’t be anything left for Daniela. I will make sure she’s set for life.
I will be in Austin at City Hall tomorrow morning, presenting a hefty check to the local school district, shaking hands with politicians, and making speeches about how we need to invest more in our children’s education. Lots of witnesses to solidify my alibi.
At least that’s where I’m supposed to be.
Bellamy’s suicide attempt has fucked up those plans. I’m not leaving Raven alone.
“Get information on Austin Bellamy first,” I tell Sam, my hacker. “I want to know his prognosis.”
Sam hacks into the hospital computer and scans the screen.
“Looks like he’s going to make it. They stitched him up. Gave him a transfusion for the blood loss. He’s in ICU for observation, but the prognosis is good.”
I heave a sigh of relief for Raven.
For me? I’m convinced Bellamy has plenty to hide, and though he may think he has his children’s best interests at heart, I’m not so certain that he does.
“Any news from Bogotá?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “Not yet.”
I nod. Not that I was expecting any. Nothing will go down until tonight.
“What about Mario and Serena?”
“Their documents are in their hands, and they’re boarding a flight to Dubai tonight.”
I nod.
John and Marla Perkins, as Mario and Serena will now be known, will live in a villa situated in a quiet gated community in Emirates Hills that offers security and privacy. Their home is close to high-end amenities and an excellent healthcare facility. Mario has enough clean money to live comfortably with Serena for the next twenty years.
I’m confident in my plans to keep them safely hidden away for the rest of their days. After all, I escaped from my own family’s watchful eye for seventeen years. I can certainly give Mario and Serena ten or so.
I leave the communications room to check on Raven.
“Please,” she begs when I go to her. “I have to see my father. I have to, Vinnie.”
She’s not asking for a lot. But, “I just checked with the hospital, Raven. His prognosis is good. He’s going to be okay.”
“I’m glad of that. Thrilled, actually. But I still need to see him. Please.”
When she looks at me like that, with those brown eyes pleading, I can’t deny her anything. Nothing could have kept me from my mother’s side when she was in ICU.
I can’t deny Raven the same.
“All right. I’ll get Elmo and Fred to take us. Jared too.”
41
RAVEN
Today is Daddy’s birthday.
I’m the only one of the five of us who remembers his birthday. Eagle is too little, and maybe Hawk too, so I guess they get an excuse. But Falcon is older than I am, and Robbie is of course the same age as I am.
I guess some people are just better at remembering birthdays.
I got up early and made him blueberry pancakes all by myself. Our housekeeper offered to help me, but I wouldn’t let her. I want Daddy to know that I made these from scratch.
They came out pretty well. A little burnt. But it’s my first time. Daddy will still gobble them up. He loves blueberry pancakes. He’ll especially like them if he knows I made them for him.
I make a big stack of pancakes on a plate and place a big square of butter on top. I’m serving the syrup on the side, because that’s the way they do it in restaurants. I also poured him a big glass of orange juice. I don’t like orange juice, but Daddy does. I prefer my Orange Crush. Mommy says it’s bad for me, but I learned in school that it has less sugar than regular orange juice. Mommy didn’t think it was funny when I pointed that out.
I checked when I woke up to see if he was still in bed. He wasn’t. Daddy usually gets up early to check things out on the ranch, but today he’s taking the day off for his birthday. He’s probably in his study, so I’ll bring his breakfast in there.
I put the plate of pancakes, the container of syrup, and the glass of orange juice on a tray and carefully carry it to his office door, making sure the orange juice doesn’t splash everywhere.
The door is closed, but I can see that the latch isn’t in place, so I’ll be able to open it up with my hip.
I walk inside, beaming.
“Happy birthday, Da—”
Daddy isn’t alone. There’s a man in his office. His skin is tan, he has dark hair, and he looks…just a little slimy.
Daddy looks at me and widens his eyes. “Raven!” he yells. “Get out of here! Can’t you see I’m in a meeting?”
I drop my jaw. Daddy doesn’t ever yell at me.
I want to leave, but I’m frozen in place. The tray in my hands feels like it weighs a hundred pounds.
“Raven, did I stutter? Leave!”
I drop the tray. The plate under the pancakes shatters into a million pieces, as does the glass of orange juice. The syrup and the juice splatter everywhere, and the pancakes I worked so hard on all by myself are ruined.
I burst into tears and run out of the office.
“Raven. Whatever is the matter, darling?”
It’s my grandma. She came over to help Mom with the preparations for Daddy’s birthday party tonight.
I run into her arms, bawling.
“Honey, what is it?”
I wipe my eyes. “Daddy yelled at me. I came into this office to surprise him with breakfast. And he was talking to someone and he got mad at me for interrupting.”
Grandma strokes my hair. “Oh, sweetheart. I’m so sorry.”
I look up at her. “He’s never yelled at me like that. And I’ve accidentally interrupted him before. Normally he’s calm.”
Grandma takes a deep breath in. “Raven, my angel. I’ve got a secret for you. Something that every child must learn eventually. Promise you won’t tell?”
A secret? What is Grandma talking about?
“I promise.”
Grandma gives me a smile, but her eyes are sad. “Grown-ups make mistakes. And your father has made a big one.”
“He has?”
She nods slowly. “He has. He thinks I know nothing about it, but people tend to underestimate old women. We know a lot more than people think we do.”
“Is Daddy going to fix his mistake?”
“I sure hope he does, sweetie.” Grandma looks out the window and lets out a sigh. “I’m not sure if it will happen in my lifetime, but your Daddy is a good man. But he has…his own secrets. Every grown-up does.”
“They do?”
“Yes. And I’m sure you have secrets too, right?”
I wipe a tear from my cheeks. “Sometimes I sneak the dog scraps from the table. Especially if it’s something I don’t like.”
Grandma chuckles. “Of course. Remember that, Raven. Remember that everyone has little secrets. And sometimes you’re better off not asking questions you don’t want the answer to.”
I jerk myself out of my daydream. I’m in the car with Vinnie. His people are driving us to the hospital.
That voice from the dreams, the one telling me to remember something…
It’s my grandmother. It’s a memory from the day I walked in on my father in his office talking with that strange man. The strange man who looked like he was up to no good.
She told me to remember that everyone has little secrets.
I haven’t thought about that day in forever. I always just thought that my father was in a bad mood and overreacted.
But now, in the light of his attempted suicide, I can’t help but wonder.
Is Dad involved with something bad?
I try not to cry when I see my father in the ICU bed, hooked up to all kinds of monitors. So many times he had to look at me like this.
It must have been awful for him.
My mother sits next to him. Robin, Falcon, Hawk, and Eagle are here, but they’re in the waiting area with Vinnie and Jared. The staff doesn’t like more than two visitors in the room at a time.
I sit in the hard, uncomfortable chair near the window as I watch my father sleep. I let the silence of the room wrap itself around me, the steady beep of the heart monitor the only sound that breaks through. I trace the weathered lines on his hands.
My mother’s face is a mask of calm, but her eyes betray her fear. She squeezes my father’s other hand gently. “How could he do this?” she asks, but I don’t feel like she’s talking to me.
She’s talking to the universe.
A nurse walks in, her face impassive behind her sterile mask. She checks my father’s vitals and gives us a curt nod before leaving. Her detached professionalism does nothing to ease the tension in the room.
I squeeze his hand. “Daddy,” I whisper. “You have so much to live for. How could you?”
His eyes flicker open. “Ray,” he croaks out.
“I’m here. Mom’s here.”
“I need to see Vinnie,” he says.
I raise my eyebrows. “Vinnie? Why?”
“Is he here with you?”
How would my father know that? “Yes, he’s here.”
“Please. I need to talk to him. Before I fall asleep again.”
“Okay. I’ll get him.”
I walk back out to the waiting area and grab Vinnie’s hand. “He says he wants to see you.”
My brothers all raise their eyebrows, though not one of them speaks. They’re still all in shock.
“Why me?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t ask.” I wipe a tear from my cheek. “I just want… I want whatever he wants.”
Vinnie nods. “Of course. I’ll go.”
He follows me down the hallway to my father’s room.
Dad’s eyes are still open, and Mom is wiping his forehead with a cool towel. His head is bandaged.
“I’m back, Daddy,” I say. “Vinnie is with me.”
“Thank you.” Dad tries to clear the hoarseness from his throat. “I need to talk to Vinnie alone.”
“Daddy…”
“Go, Raven.” He looks at Mom. “You too, Star.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Mom says.
“Please,” Dad says. “It’s only for a minute. Please.”
Mom stands, gulping. She looks at me, her forehead wrinkled, her eyes sunken and sad. Is she looking for reassurance? I have none to give.
“Come on.” I take Mom’s hand and lead her out. “Everything will be okay.”
Mom grabs a tissue and dabs her eyes. “How could he do this, Ray? Why would he do this?”
I don’t reply.
Because I have no answer.
42
VINNIE
Bellamy’s skin is pale, but he otherwise looks strong. His physique is still muscular, and but for the bandage over his head, he looks okay.
