Betrayed (The New Yorker) (18 page)

Michael and Lisette weren’t going
to run him out of town. He wasn’t going to let them think they had beaten him.
School and work was going to keep him busy. Hopefully it would take his mind
off everything around him, silence the uproar in his heart. He needed a
distraction.

“I want to be included in
everything about
Rhyne
. I’ll stay.”

“That makes one of us,” DJ said.

“I thought you came back for good?”
Dennis asked.

“I came back because
Catalella
and Lisette were in the hospital, and my brother
needed me.”

Reno was touched by the tender look
in DJ’s eyes. He really did come to make sure Reno was all right.

“You need to stay.”

“He needs to do what’s right for
him,” Reno put in. “If he needs some time off, let him go. Besides, I’ll take
care of his responsibilities while he’s gone.”

“You don’t have to—”

“I want to. I’m your elder
brother.” Reno smiled and pulled DJ into a quick manly hug.

“Thanks, big bro’. You know how to
reach me.” DJ stood up and gave his father a quick salute before walking out.

“DJ!”
Dennis was
on his heels, his tone of voice demanding obedience. Reno shook his head and
chuckled. DJ was the rebel and reminded him so much of
himself
.
His gaze shifted back to the portrait on the wall. Daniela’s smile pulled him
in yet again. She looked so much like
Rhyne
. The only
differences were
Rhyne
had a darker skin tone and was
slimmer. Daniela was strong headed, so unlike
Rhyne’s
softness. Then again it had been two decades since he had seen his little
sister. There was no telling the kind of person circumstances had turned her
into. He was witness to how quickly people could change. Reno sat quietly as he
dealt with his slowly building anger.

* * * *

Lisette couldn’t look to the side
nor move at all. She was stuck staring at the white ceiling of her hospital
room, as the moments she broke Reno’s heart played before her. AJ’s shuffling
feet intruded into her thoughts every few seconds. She would hear his labored
step, the confused sigh and the angry grunts. The only thing that saved her
from the rant going on in his head was the fact she was trapped in her hospital
bed.

“Just ask me,” she muttered.

“Why would you do that to him?” She
felt AJ’s warmth as he stood by her bedside, but her eyes never left the
ceiling. She was looking heavenward, praying for her lying. “He never left your
side. He loves you. And you just lie to him that way? He was ready to let you
deal with your immobility in your own way. He was going to give you the space
you needed. Reno understood you and what you wanted. But you just had to stab
him in the heart and twist the blade.”

Lisette’s eyes flickered to AJ.
Reno did understand her. She didn’t want him to see her in a weak state. She
didn’t want him putting his life on hold as she went through rehab. Lisette had
managed to expose her weakness and her cowardice. She might have stabbed him in
the heart with the ice pick of her tongue, but the knife had gone through her
own heart first. Deciding between Reno and
Catalella
wasn’t a choice.

“He’ll understand, eventually,” she
whispered as she struggled to blink back the cloud of tears and swallow the
emotional cotton ball in her throat.

“He won’t,” AJ warned. “He’s put up
with a lot when it comes to you, Lisette. You know how Reno feels about
betrayal. You didn’t trust him enough to tell him the truth. Hell! I don’t even
know what the truth is. You need to face the reality of a future without Reno.
If I were you, I’d start now.”

Lisette’s gaze returned to the
white-wash above her. She lay still, balancing her breath. When the door closed
and the sound of AJ’s footsteps disappeared down the hall, she let the anger,
sadness and pain tearing her heart apart out of her lips.

“He’ll understand. He loves me.
He’ll understand.”

* * * *

Three
months later…

“When can I get out of here?”
Lisette grabbed a fist full of linen. She was finally sitting up, the iron cast
was off, and she could finally move her legs. However, the pain that resulted
from her movements was almost unbearable. She was trying to wean herself off
the pain medications that she had been on for the past four weeks. She didn’t
want to rely on them or turn into some pill junkie. Her determination and
hardheadedness was the only medication she needed.

“Soon,” AJ said absentmindedly as
he pushed her knee up to her chest.

His eyes searched her face for the
slightest sign of pain, but Lisette was determined not to show it to him.
Besides, nine out of the ten times she was in pain, it was from her heart and
not her battered body. Reno hadn’t come back to see her, not even for her
birthday, or the day Lisette had donated her bone marrow to
Catalella
,
or when
Catalella’s
oncologist had announced she was
in remission.

He didn’t care anymore. Lisette had
to watch Michael play the good husband, and bare AJ’s ‘
I told you so’
looks. Rosalinda had finally stopped asking why Reno
hadn’t shown up, and Adrian Senior just grunted his disapproval every time his
name was mentioned.

“Anybody heard from the Kent
family?” Lisette asked in a tone that she hoped sounded nonchalant.

“The whole
clan,
or just Reno in particular?” AJ asked a mocking smile curving his lips.

“I haven’t heard from Uncle Dennis
in a while.” Lisette ignored AJ’s remark as she stared past him and at her
father.

“Hawaii,” Adrian said.

Lisette waited for him to expand on
that but he never did. “Okay. Did they locate
Rhyne
?”

“Really guys, no one is going to
tell me anything?” Lisette looked around the room and immediately knew they
were keeping something from her. Her mother picked nonexistent lint from her
father’s sweater with his assistance. AJ just smiled like a Cheshire cat and
flashed another
I told you so
grin.

“What no one wants to tell you is
,
Reno took his new girlfriend to Hawaii. In fact the whole
family went. Even DJ came back from Paris so that he could attend the family
vacation.”

“What was the occasion?” Lisette’s
insides lurched as her heart slammed against her ribcage. She had been
replaced, just like that—as if she hadn’t been the love of his life.

“What you are really asking is who
the girl is.” AJ tilted his head and skimmed his gaze over her. “I will tell
you, dear sister, because I warned you about your little lies. Her name is
Veronica or something. The Kent family is celebrating
Rhyne’s
birthday.”

“
Rhyne’s
birthday, that’s sweet.” Those were the words that left her lips. The ones that
stayed in were turning rancid in her mouth.
Victoria
that was the name AJ meant, and that was the name of the biggest bitch in New
York who would soon be a dead bitch.

“You gave him
up,
remember that before you tear the state of New York apart in search of the
interloper.”

“Her name is Victoria. I won’t have
to look far because her bleached blonde hair is always close to Reno’s side,”
she ground out through clenched teeth.

“Careful, sweetheart, your claws
are showing.” AJ threw his head back as his roar of laughter echoed in the
small room.

“I want a new doctor.”

“Unfortunately for you, I’m the
only one you are unable to bully and chase away with your sunny disposition.”

“When can I get out of here?”

“Reno won’t be back for a week. He
won’t want to see you. Besides he’ll be busy with his finals and learning the
ropes at Kent-Corp,” Adrian Senior put in.

Lisette could see the protective
shield he was already erecting around her. Everyone seemed to think that Reno
would reject her without even granting her an audience to plead her case. To
tell the truth, Lisette knew it to be true. She also knew that if she could get
him to listen he would forgive her. However, Lisette wanted to leave the
hospital for a different reason altogether. She needed to get back to her life,
to run from the nightly nightmares and panic attacks. She needed to feel strong
again, and home was where she could rejuvenate her strength.

She couldn’t tell her family just
yet, how terrified she was about getting into a car. The thought of being
trapped in by the four sides of metal sent cold chills down her back. Somehow
she would have to overcome it.

“You are going to be in a wheel
chair and then crutches for a while, Lisette. Don’t push yourself too hard.
Take your time and let your body heal properly.” AJ jotted some notes on her
charts as he spoke.

“Is that your medical advice, or
are just trying to make sure I don’t run out of this place the first chance I
get.”

Chapter Eleven

Three
months later…

Reno looked at the tiny crawl space
which had been his apartment the past year and a half. He didn’t have many
memories in it. Just one, when Lisette spent the night in his arms after a
night of talking and consoling one another. He sighed as the movers took the
last of the boxes. Most of them were books generously given to him by his
father. Books that he needed to successfully complete his degree. The other
boxes held his clothes and mementos from Hawaii. His whole life had been packed
in boxes once again and was being moved to a different part of the city.

Dennis had offered him a room in
his penthouse home. He had wanted them to be a family. Reno only felt as if he
was expected to fill the gap DJ had left by moving to Paris. Even now he was
the only one who knew his brother’s exact whereabouts, and his contacts. The
secret had somehow built his and DJ’s relationship. They established trust and
dependency and even though there was distance between them, love.

“Sweetheart!”

Reno shivered at the sound of
Victoria’s shrill voice. He still hadn’t got used to it. He didn’t know why he
still tolerated her. He had decided to leave her behind, just as he was leaving
the apartment behind.

“Sweetheart, you still
haven’t
told me where we are moving to.” Her snake-like arms
wound around his torso.

“We?”
Reno
stepped out of her embrace and turned to face her. “There is no ‘
we’,
Victoria. I thought you
understood—ours was just a sexual relationship.”

“But all my stuff is in the car,”
she whined, her bottom lip pouting.

Reno never thought that blatant
show of blackmail was cute on anyone, maybe just his little sister and probably
Lisette. But Lisette’s character demanded she use her words and her actions to
get what she wanted. She never stooped so low as to use emotional blackmail.

Lisette.
He
always
thought of her. Each time he entertained the memories of their relationship he
got the same reaction from his heart—hard bumpy jerks of happiness, then
searing pain. She had betrayed him in the worst way. He knew in his heart he
could never forgive her.

“Take your stuff back home, Bitch-
toria
.”

The voice of the woman who filled
his dreams, whose image hid in the crevices of his mind with the sole purpose
of torturing him, echoed in his ears. He almost didn’t want to remove his gaze
from Victoria’s overly painted face. He didn’t know if his heart could take the
disappointment if the voice was yet another figment of his imagination. But the
angry scowl on Victoria’s face, her sharp turn, told Reno he wasn’t imagining.

Reno schooled his features to
appear like he didn’t care. He quickly stepped around Victoria and started
walking out the door, ignoring Lisette completely. He couldn’t afford any
weaknesses. One look at her and she would have him back in an instant.

“I came here to talk to you.”
Lisette stepped in front of him a determined look on her face.

Reno’s eyes betrayed him then. He
couldn’t stop taking in her features. She seemed to have healed. The ghastly
contraption that held her spine still was off, the purple and blue bruises had
faded into her olive skin and she was walking. “I’m glad you are healed, but we
don’t have anything to talk about. Victoria, let’s go.”

The squeal of delight that emanated
from Victoria made Reno cringe and he immediately changed his mind. “On second
thought, you should stay or go home. I have had my fill of overbearing,
treacherous women, enough for two lifetimes.”

“I didn’t cheat on you,” Lisette
announced.

“What exactly would you call it?”
Reno was startled by the rage that laced his tone. He couldn’t blame Lisette
for stepping hastily back a little. He watched her gather her courage once
more.

“Can we talk in private?”

“Why, you don’t want the whole
world to hear you traded me for that mouse?”

“Please!” she pleaded.

Reno refused to let his heart
succumb to her plea, forced his hands into his pockets so his arms wouldn’t
reach out to comfort her. Whenever she was around he couldn’t help the instinct
to protect her, even from himself. He stared forward, his jaw clenched as he
struggled to turn his heart cold and uncaring.

“I lied. He threatened me and I had
to lie.” Lisette stood before him, grabbing at his T-shirt. He didn’t look down
at her. Instead he stood stiller than a statue as she pulled at his T-shirt and
rose to her tip toes trying to grab his neck. “Look at me, please. I’m not
lying.”

“Oh please, Ross! You had your
chance. Reno and I are moving in together. Then we are getting married,”
Victoria boasted.

The blatant lie thawed Reno out. He
turned to face her, a smirk on his lips. Women never ceased to amaze him. They
would say and do anything to best the other.

“Get out of here, Victoria.”

Lisette walked around him.

A thought flirted in his mind. He
could leave the two of them clawing at each other. His truck was parked at the
curb. He could get to it and drive off in ten seconds flat. He was about to act
on it when he heard a thunder-like slap
rip
from
behind him. When he turned around Lisette was already on top of Victoria. It
was hard to believe she was the same woman who had been confined to a bed just
six months ago. He still thought he should leave. But his landlady had been so
nice to him. It wouldn’t be fair to turn her place into a crime scene.

Reno groaned in surrendered
frustration. He curled his arm around Lisette’s waist and lifted her off the
screeching Victoria. Immediately he noticed how light she was. It seemed she
had lost a lot of weight, but it was hard to tell just by looking at her
because she still had her bountiful curves. With his other hand he dragged
Victoria to her feet. The two wild cats were still fuming as they each tried to
claw each other’s eyes out.

“Stop!”
That
seemed to do the trick as both women froze in his arms. “You are both going to
get out of this apartment and out of my life. I don’t ever want to see you
again. Agreed?”

“But,
Reno?”
Victoria pouted, her bottom lip quivering.

“Stop with
the crocodile tears, you selfish cow!”
Lisette barked.

“Would you two just leave me in
peace?”

“Not until I have my say. I’ll
follow you everywhere you go, turn into a stalker if I have to. Everywhere you
go, I’ll be there. If you want to take a piss, guess who you’ll find in your
bathroom?”

“You?”
Reno asked
sarcastically. He put her on her feet. “I’m not looking forward to having a
tail, so say your piece then allow me some peace.”

“That thing has to leave first.”
Lisette’s fists were balled at her sides. He assumed all this pent up energy
was from her confinement and she was just dying to release it.

“Victoria, get out.”

“But—”

“Leave, I’ll call you later.” He
flashed his best smile, and caressed her cheek. When one couldn’t win with
force his only last resort was seduction. Victoria waved her fingers
seductively at him and gave her best ‘come hither’ expression. When the door
finally closed he turned to the other thorn in his side.

“Yuck, please don’t tell me you
have been fucking that.”

“You have one minute, Lisette.”
Reno looked around the empty apartment, wishing that he had convinced his
landlady not to remove the furniture. He needed to sit down and take a load
off. He walked to his bedroom. Luckily his bed was still there.

* * * *

“Everything is gone except the bed.
Were you planning on getting lucky?”

He didn’t laugh, or smile. He
didn’t even give her a pity smile. Lisette hadn’t known exactly what to expect
when she’d walked into Reno’s apartment. It had taken her weeks after leaving
the hospital to get into a car, let alone drive one. She didn’t want to ask
anyone to take her to Reno’s. She didn’t want him to think she had brought in
reinforcements. She wanted him to understand just how much strength it had
taken to come to him.

“When did you get out?”

“Three months ago.” She attempted
to sit on the bed but his lifted palm brought her to a halt. It was like a stop
sign, do not approach. It made her wonder why he was so scared to have her
close to him. Was it because he was still attracted to her, or because he was
repulsed by her? She didn’t want that question answered, so she kept her
distance. “It was two months before I could walk without the crutches, and
weeks of therapy before I could get into a car.”

He looked up at her then. For a
second she thought she saw compassion in the depths of his brown eyes. It
disappeared almost as soon as it had appeared, and was replaced by an icy
glare.

“What is this about, Lisette?”

“I would have come to see you
earlier, but I was terrified of getting into cars. They had to sedate me to
transport me from the hospital to home. I couldn’t trust myself behind the
wheel. I worked at it every day, because I wanted to come to you. My father
said he would send for you—”

“I wouldn’t have come.” He looked
outside his window.

“I just—”

“I know what it took for you to
come here. It’s the only reason I’m still sitting here, way past the sixty
seconds I gave you.” He sighed and his shoulders drooped. She had never seen
him look so defeated.

“Did I do that to you?” She
clenched her jaw to stop her bottom lip from trembling. She could feel the
tears prickling her eyes and a wail prepare itself in her chest. She wouldn’t
cry. This was about Reno, not her. “Did I make you so cynical and defeated?”

“I always had the weight of the
world on my shoulders. You never changed or impacted a second of my life.” It
was like an icy slap to the face. “I’m lying. I loved you, Lisette, but one
thing I can never forgive is betrayal.”

“I never cheated on you. I just
said that so that you would leave.”

“So you lied?”

“Yes.”

“What’s stopping me from believing
you aren’t lying now?”

“I love you.”

Pushing his fists on his thighs
Reno stood up. He shook his head, a sardonic smile splitting his face. “That
used to mean a lot coming from you. Now, they are just meaningless letters put
together to form inconsequential words.”

“I can prove it.” When his black
brow lifted, Lisette knew she had his attention.

“You can prove you were lying the
first time and are telling the truth this time?” Lisette nodded feverishly. “I
didn’t see you drag a lie detector in with you. So how are you going to prove
how truthful you are or how much of a liar you are?”

Lisette tried to steady the
thundering beating of her heart. There was only one way to prove it. She looked
past him and to the bed. Reno seemed to catch her meaning and he snorted his
refusal.

“It’s the only way.”

“I won’t touch you, not after
Michael Mathews pitched his tent between your legs.”

“Is that the reason, or are you
afraid the reason you’ve hated me all this time has been a lie.”

“It doesn’t matter if you are still
a virgin. You don’t get it, Lisette. At the end of the day you chose him over
me. I promised myself that I would never be anyone’s second best. Not again.”

“I’m not your mother or your
father.” She stretched her hand out to him. She stared at him as her lonely
hand was left hanging in between them. Her head begged him to take it, as her
mind raced thinking of other ways to get him to bed her. She was just about to
think of another way when Reno grabbed her and pulled her flush to his hard
body.

“You betrayed
me!” He hissed into her ear, his hot breathe scorching her skin. “I saw you in
bed with him.”

“You were there! You left me in
that hotel room with that mad man,” she spat back with the same vehemence.

Reno spun her around. He cocked an
eyebrow, silent encouragement for her to continue, a mocking smile on his lips.
Lisette took a step back. She was retreating. There was nothing else she could
do in the face of the hatred in his eyes. How could a man who had once looked
at her like she was manna from heaven, now regard her with such spite?

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to
sound like I was blaming you.” He remained silent, so she went on. “It’s not
your fault that I was stupid enough to fall for Michael’s tricks. Right now,
let me prove to you that I am untouched, that you are the man I have been
waiting for and that I love you.”

Instead of taking her in his arms,
Reno backed off. He shook his head either in denial or in refusal of her
request. Lisette didn’t know. She didn’t want to know. She had to act fast.
When the hate fell from his gaze and the old weakness for her replaced it, she
pounced at the opportunity. Lisette pulled her shirt off and launched herself
at Reno. He fell back on the bed, and Lisette claimed his lips
with her own
.