Betrayed (The New Yorker) (9 page)

“Once
Catalella
saw Mama prepare a bowl of chili for her
Tacos,
she wasn’t interested in it until my father told her she couldn’t have any,” AJ
explained.

“The forbidden fruit,” Reno
muttered.

“If we tell her no, she’ll start
asking why and if you don’t have an answer that will satisfy her, she’ll go
after Michael with everything she’s got,” Lisette said. “I have a better idea,
let’s drown him in the ocean and let the sharks eat him.”

“That’s a crime, sweetheart.” Reno
pulled a grim Lisette into his arms and kissed her. He watched Daniela with her
boyfriend and wondered what he would do if she was dating someone he didn’t
approve of.

“We’ll just keep an eye on Michael.
If he tries something, I’m going to beat him to within an inch of his life,” AJ
swore.

“I thought you were a doctor. You
are supposed to save lives,” DJ teased.

“I thought you were her teenage
crush. Go do something that will distract her from that leach,” AJ retorted.

“Dude, she’s over me.”

Reno chuckled, but the laughter
froze in his throat when he turned around and found Adrian and Dennis studying
him. The two didn’t bother looking away after they were caught. They were
speaking in harsh tones, and the expression on their faces told him whatever
they were discussing was serious. He just hoped it wasn’t about him. When
Adrian waved him over, Reno realized he was actually the topic of discussion.
He followed the two men to the study, and once the door was closed he turned
toward them expectantly.

Adrian glanced at Dennis and Reno realized
his supposed father was meant to start the conversation, but when the silence
rolled through minutes, Adrian took over.

“We know who you are.”

“Who is that, sir?” Reno tried to
keep the steel out of his voice. He was angry at Dennis but loathed the fact
that Adrian was assuming his responsibilities.

“We know you are my son,” Dennis
finally said.

“No, I’m not.” Reno saw the panic
register in both their faces. “You are just the man who got my mother pregnant
twice, then left when you found a new family. You are the man who was supposed
to protect us, but left us at the mercy of a drunk and an abuser. You were
nowhere in sight when that man sold my sister to the highest bidder. You are
not my father—you just happen to be the man my mother had the misfortune of
meeting.” Reno let out a pained bark of laughter. “’Till the day she died she
still believed you were a saint. A saint wouldn’t have left her to be killed by
her crazy boyfriend.”

“Reno, I’m sorry.”

Reno took an angered step toward
him, his fingers balled into fists, his body coiled in rage and ready to
attack. “Don’t apologize to me. I will not be the one to give you peace when my
sister is out there, God knows who with.”

“We are going to find her.”

“Don’t you think I’ve tried?” he
cried out. “I remember the night she was taken, unlike you, her father. I
looked everywhere for her. It was the reason I never left the island, because I
thought she was still there.”

“Why did you come here, Reno?”
Adrian asked.

“I had a plan, not a plan but an
intention.” Reno’s gaze focused on Dennis’s face. “I wanted to hurt you just as
much as you hurt me, my mother and my sister.”

“You came for revenge?” Adrian
asked once more.

“Yes,” Reno said through clenched
teeth.

“Is that why you attached yourself
to my daughter?”

Reno’s bewildered gaze switched to
Adrian. He knew everyone would come to that conclusion once they found out
about his ties with Dennis. It was what he was afraid of. “No, I adore Lisette.
I would never hurt her.”

“Prove it.”

“How?”

“Leave her alone until this thing
with Dennis is settled. You might be a good man, Reno, but my daughter will not
be caught in the middle of this,” Adrian warned.

“She won’t allow that.”

“Let me worry about my daughter and
you worry about finding your sister.”

“I have someone looking for her,”
Dennis put in.

“Why?”

“I want my children together. I see
how you are with DJ and Daniela. I know you haven’t carried out your revenge
because of them. I want them to meet their sister.”

A rush of relief blew through Reno.
He couldn’t believe the old man was willing to help him. With his money and
influence he was sure they would be able to find
Rhyne
.
But what about Lisette?
Reno didn’t think she would
ever understand. He knew he owed this to
Rhyne
.

“Fine, I’ll leave now if you give
me your word that you are going to find
Rhyne
.” He
directed his statement to Adrian.

"I give you my word,” he
swore. “Then maybe after all of this is resolved, if your intentions toward my
daughter are honorable, you can get her back.”

“I doubt she’ll forgive me for
leaving her.” Reno turned around and walked away. From the hallway he could
hear Lisette’s laughter, and although it ripped him apart, he knew he had to
walk away.

“Reno?”

“Yes.”

“I know you don’t want me anywhere
near you,” Dennis muttered under his breath. “But I would appreciate it if you
spent the Fourth of July with your brother and sister. I’m sure Lisette would
also appreciate it.”

“What about Mr. Ross?”

“He doesn’t mind.”

Reno chewed on the bottom of his
lip. He would have rather made his escape without Lisette knowing he was that
much of a coward. Having the chance to spend the rest of the day with her, to
watch the fireworks together, seemed to be the perfect
Band-aid
for his already broken heart. Spending time with Daniela and DJ was also
another bonus.

“All
right.”

* * * *

Lisette had a swarm of bees buzzing
inside her belly. She looked up at Reno and the expression on his face gave her
heart flutters. The light from the different colors of fireworks fell on his
face so perfectly, highlighting the contours in his expression. This was it—she
had to tell him how she felt.

“Reno?” She swallowed the knot of
nerves that had risen in her throat.

“Hmm?”
He looked
down at her, and the adoration that shone through his eyes gave her the last
boost of confidence that she needed.

“I love you.” There—she had said
it. She exhaled a sigh of relief and with it all the stress that had built up
to that moment. But her heart had frozen in her chest, waiting for him to say
it back or to totally blow her off.

Reno didn’t say anything. He just
leaned down toward her, his lips a gentle brush against hers, enthralling and
lighting every nerve in her body. As the shock had begun to subside he pulled
back, and a chill of loneliness invaded the space where his lips had left her
hot. Lisette watched as the emotions flickered in his eyes, the love was there,
then fear and replaced by regret. She found herself holding onto his arm with
both of her hands. She was afraid of letting go, afraid that he would disappear
if she closed her eyes.

Lisette’s fear became true when
Reno gently pulled his arm free and said. “I have to go.”

“What do you mean you have to go?”
Lisette followed as Reno walked into the house, his large strides making her
run just to catch up. “But you are staying the whole weekend.”

Lisette entered his temporary room
to find him already packed. He hauled the duffle bag over his shoulder, before
taking a step toward her. She closed the door and leaned against it. She was
going to barricade them in there if she had to. Lisette needed answers and a
perfectly good reason as to why he was leaving her, ten seconds after she
confessed her love for him.

“You are not leaving!” To her
surprise her bark was only met by an amused smile. “Do you think this is
funny?”

Reno cleared his throat, replacing
his smile with a frown. “I don’t think it’s funny, but I need to leave. We
can’t be together right now.”

“Why?” Fear fizzled inside her
chest as her knees threatened to give way to her weight, sending her crushing
down on the floor. Lisette’s grip tightened on the door knob as her body sagged
against the door. “I love you.”

“I know.”

“Don’t you love me?”

* * * *

Reno looked away. What was he
supposed to say? If he told her he loved her, that he wanted nothing more than
to be with her, she would never understand him leaving. But he could tell her
the truth. However, that would mean risking losing Adrian’s help. They just had
to spend some time apart.

“I can’t be with you right now,” he
mumbled.

“Why?”

“I don’t fit in your world.”

“Is it because I told you about
Ricardo—”

“No!” Reno let the bag fall to the
floor and took a step toward her. “It has nothing to do with you, but
everything to do with me.”

“It’s not you, it’s me!” Lisette
barked, anger piercing through her questioning tears.

Reno realized the only way she
would get through him leaving would be if she had anger to hold on to. “You and
I come from different worlds. I will never be good enough for you. And you will
never be enough for me. What am I going to do with a bratty virgin with a
questionable past?”

Reno stopped before his damage was
irreparable. He watched as Lisette viciously swiped the tears off her face. She
stood up straight and held the door open for him. Reno picked up his bag, the
closed expression on her face telling him Lisette was done with him. When he
got downstairs he realized he had an audience waiting for him. The angry stares
that looked back at him tore through his heart. Daniela and DJ only spared him
a scowl before looking away. All of a sudden his sacrifice didn’t seem that
important. Adrian was also waiting at the bottom of the staircase for him, his
hand outstretched with a car key in it.

“You can bring it to the office on
Monday,” he said.

Reno grabbed the key and ran out of
the house. He couldn’t bear to listen to Lisette’s sobs, or the anger from the
people he considered family.

* * * *

“You don’t need to come in today.”
Adrian sipped his steaming cup of coffee as he watched Lisette.

Lisette was determined to live her
life as if she had never met Reno
Kanaloa
. She was
glad he had never accepted her invitation to part her from her virginity. She
worried everyone would know about Ricardo. She didn’t dare tell her mother or
father she had trusted Reno with the family secret.

“Would you give your other
employees a day off just because they got their hearts broken?” Lisette didn’t
wait for her father to answer. “I have work to do,
Papa,
I don’t have time to cry over a man I shouldn’t have pursued in the first
place.”

Lisette regretted her words once
they arrived at the office. Reno was there, his head buried in a stack of
papers. His shirt was rolled up to his elbows, a pen tucked behind his ear as
he scowled at the reports in front of him. For a second, she thought about
turning around and running. She wasn’t a coward and she never ran away from a
fight, but sharing a space with the source of her torment was going to be too
much for her.

Lisette lost her chance to run when
Reno looked up and saw her. He looked at her questioningly, probably wondering
what she was doing here. This was Lisette’s domain, her world and she had been
here first. She took a confident step into her office, and sat at her desk
acknowledging Reno with just a nod.

“How are you?”

“Since you stomped on my heart? I
have never been better.” She cleared her throat of the emotion that was
starting to cloud there. “You actually opened my eyes. I have to thank you for
rescuing me from that stupid fairytale. I have to concentrate on work, because
opposed to
love,
I can touch and feel these files in
my hands.”

“Lisette I—”

“I think we have said enough
already. I need to review these files for Mr. Kent.” Lisette ended the
conversation there, and soon a blanket of silence enveloped them for the rest
of the day.

Lisette had been counting the
seconds to the end of the day. For some reason, the interns chose that day not
to disturb her and her uncle Dennis too. She felt as if she was going to burst
from all the tension in the room. Reno had only left the office for five
minutes at a time, all three times that he had stood up. It hadn’t given her
enough time to sneak in a tear, a sniffle or take a breath to ease the pain
pulling her heat apart.

She was glad the day was over, but
just as she was about to leave, they got a call to see Dennis.

* * * *