The Heist (29 page)

***

“Pops was a good man,” Lee told her. “I was wrong about him.”

After leaving Joker’s Wild, he had surprised her with a visit to New York, where he wined and dined her. The fantasy was short-lived. Lee wanted her to himself and ushered her to a penthouse suite he had prepared. Now she was left to deal with the future that loomed ahead.

She stared out at the city. The lights of New York at night were magical. She held to the balcony.

“We need to talk,” Lee said, coming out to join her. He wrapped his arms around her waist.

Michelle closed her eyes and smiled. “No. Not now. I just want to be like this for a while longer.”

“You’ve forgiven me?” Lee asked into her ear. “For pulling you back into this life, misleading you for my revenge? I lost my way, Michelle. I thought he had betrayed me. I was angry and I was a fool. But I’m different now.”

“Okay.”

“There’s more you don’t know. I have something to tell you.”

“Okay.”

When he didn’t speak, she turned in his arms. The wind tossed the hair from his brow. She stroked his strong profile. “Talk to me. What is it? After everything, what else could there be?”

“Sasha, your sister.”

“What about her?”

“We’ve met.”

Michelle’s brows drew together. There was a cold hardness to Lee’s stare and sharpness to his tone. One she didn’t like. “I know you met her, she was gambling in your casinos. She ran up that tab.”

“No, she wasn’t. She never had a debt with me. Not like you think.”

Her heart began to pound, thundering in her chest. Her hands curled into fists as she narrowed her eyes on her lover. “Why don’t you just say it, Lee? Whatever it is?”

“Sasha paid me a visit and made a proposal.”

“What kind of proposal?”

“You. She offered me you. She said together we could lift the Jesus Stones with your help.”

“Me?”

“Sasha said you’d do it if she was the bait.”

Stunned, Michelle pressed back into the railing away from his touch. “Bait? So the kidnapping…?”

“All arranged by me. To make sure you’d pull off the job.”

Michelle shoved him away. “You bastard! Are you serious!” Impaled by the truth she tried to leave, but he grabbed her arm.

“I
am
a bastard. But this happened before I fell in love with you.”

“Go to hell!” She stormed inside the suite. She tossed off the coat, now feeling trapped by it. She put her hands to her head. “You were never in love with me. I was the one that always saw something in you. I was just stupid enough to believe you would reciprocate.”

“You were young; you were too special to be corrupted by me.”

Michelle threw her hands up. “Oh, this is rich. So you were honorable then, but now I’m just some piece of ass? Old enough to be your plaything.”

“That’s not what I’m saying. Pops’ death rocked me. He was my anchor. I couldn't deal with my bitterness. I blamed him for everything, Michelle. Just as you blamed him. You know what that bitterness does to a person.”

“No. I would never use anybody. Never. I’m leaving.”

“Michelle! That’s not all.”

Of course it wasn’t. She was forced to stop and hear the rest, but part of her knew it would just be another link in the chain that tied her to him, another one of his manipulations. God, she was such a fool. She turned on her heel and glared openly at him. “Spare me the details, Lee. I’m not really interested in the sordid story of how you and my sister played me for a fool. I’ll deal with her, but I warned you if you betrayed me, we’d be done.”

Lee dropped his hands in his pockets and walked toward her. He held her in his stare. “Like I said, I wasn’t with you when I struck the deal with Sasha.”

“And you think that matters!”

“We’ve changed. We fell in love. I’ll do anything to make this right. That’s why I’m confessing to you now.”

“You’re sick!”

“Maybe, but don’t deny your feelings for me. You gave yourself to me while believing I kidnapped your sister.”

“For revenge!”

“No! You did it ‘cause you wanted me. Just like I wanted you! Be honest about it!”

She couldn’t believe his arrogance. Michelle looked him up and down. How did she ever allow herself to consider loving a man that knew nothing about emotion? She shook her head sadly. “It doesn’t matter to me what you feel. I can’t…no, let me take that back. I won’t do this; I will never trust you again.” She turned and headed for the door. She opened it and two men stood there. As if they expected she’d try to leave. Tired, she closed it.

“I want to go.”

“You can’t,” he said.

“The hell I can’t!”

“Sasha’s at my place,” Lee said. “If you want your sister to stay alive, you will join her.”

“What did you say?”

“She’s under my protection.”

“Protection from what?”

She waited for him to speak. Instead, he went through the darkness of their suite to the private bar. He began to pour himself a drink. Michelle walked into the room. “From what, Lee?”

“I had to know if Rawhead had the diamonds. If Bill Dwyer had been the fool to take them from Pops after he faked that car crash to cover up the murder. Rawhead was always the wild card in the deck. The sick freak should have never been accepted into The Order. He couldn’t be trusted. I got the confirmation two days ago. Sasha hit Rawhead’s place and stole the diamonds. On my instructions.”

Michelle couldn’t believe her ears. Lee tossed back the scotch; he turned with the glass in his hands. He looked as tired of the tale as she felt. But she had no sympathy for him. She couldn’t name what she was feeling in the moment.

“She’s safe. Rawhead has a contract on her head. You both need to be under my protection, now.”

Michelle smiled and applauded him. “So this was your plan?” She opened her arms. “How you intended to keep me right where you wanted me? Use my sister, use my family, and us, all of it against me?” She put her hands to her hips. “Bravo, Lee. Let me guess, you want me to find the Chalice? That’s what this was all about? How did Sasha just wind up at your place? How did you lure her in?”

Lee smirked. “I didn’t have to, it’s in her blood… just like it’s in yours.”

“Well, you forgot one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Nobody owns me. Not my father, not that stupid sister of mine, and certainly not you.”

A sly smile curled up the left corner of Lee's mouth. “I didn’t forget. How could I?” He took a step forward.

She stepped back, fearing his touch. “Don’t even think about it.”

“I’ll take you to her.” He extended his hand. Michelle looked at his hand and then glared at him. She grabbed her purse and headed for the door.

Epilogue

Sasha rested in Kumar’s arms on the sofa. The two of them lay comfortably watching a comedy on the flat screen. The lock turned on the door and Sasha stiffened. As she slowly rose, the door opened. Her sister came in with Lee behind her. At first, Michelle didn’t see her, but she soon looked over at them both. Sasha saw the raw hurt and anger in her eyes.

Lee closed the door behind them with a soft click.

“Michelle, umm…hey.”

Michelle’s glare was withering. Sasha knew she was a sight. In a tank top and shorts, she still had scratches on her face and arms, and a bandage on her neck from the bite wound.

“Lee, hi,” Sasha said softly.

“Hello, Sasha,” he said dryly. She would find no help there.

“I want to speak to my sister alone,” Michelle announced with forced restraint.

Lee gave Kumar a look. He rose and left. Together they went out into the hall.

“Michelle, I can explain.”

“Really? ‘Cause I really want to hear this. You’re going to explain why you’d hurt me like this. Why you’d do this to us both?”

“I wasn’t thinking.”

***

Michelle put her hand to her forehead. Not many things made her cry, but Pops and Sasha always could. “You weren’t thinking. Oh, that’s right! Sasha doesn’t have to be accountable. Me and Pops were supposed to do the thinking. All Sasha had to do was sit back and be fed, and babied, and spoiled, and reap all the benefits. Right?”

“That’s not fair!”

“Shut your mouth!” Michelle leveled a threatening finger at her. “Look at you! Look at you.” She charged over and grabbed her by her arm. She dragged her toward what she thought was the bathroom.

“Stop it, let me go, Michelle, you’re hurting me.”

Michelle threw her inside the bathroom and turned on the light. Sasha came up against the sink and looked up in the mirror at her sister behind her.

“Look at you! Look, damn it!” Michelle shouted.

“Let me explain….”

“Kidnapped? Attacked, beaten…was it fun, Sasha? Did you get the thrill of the business? Huh? Tell me! How was it in Rawhead’s? What did you have to do to get next to those diamonds? What did they do when they found you?”

Sasha dropped her head and started crying. “Those people were psychos and that Casper creature won’t stop hunting me.”

“Oh no, don’t cry now. See, we’re in the business now, Sasha! That’s right, Rawhead has a name and a face and he’s going to want revenge.”

“Lee could….”

“Lee! Lee! Lee will only protect Lee. When Lee has what he wants, he won’t give a shit about either one of us!”

“He saved my life!” Sasha turned already and shouted back. “I would be dead now if Lee hadn’t come to the rescue.”

Michelle raised her hand to strike her sister, but stopped herself. She let tears fall, instead. “Don’t you see that he’s the one who risked your life? For some diamonds he never cared about!”

Sasha looked on, confused.

“Damn it, Sasha…you don’t see, do you?” Michelle groaned, shaking her head.

“I didn’t think….”

“Of course you didn’t! You never do! I can’t believe you! I can’t believe this! Look at this! Look at you! Look!” She repeated, going over and forcing her face up. “Look at yourself.”

Michelle’s tears continued to fall. “This isn’t over. Not now. All you have to look forward to is thievery and a life on the run. This is your future!” She glared at the scratches on her sister's face and the way Sasha’s neck was bandaged. Peeling off the tape, she gasped at the barely healed wound from a human bite.

“Michelle, I didn’t know it would get this bad, I just didn’t. I didn’t think you’d get hurt, or I’d get hurt…. I just didn’t know how bad things could get. Please say you forgive me.”

Michelle just stood there in silence.

Sasha stepped toward her sister. “Talk to me.”

“I can’t. I should just walk away and leave you to them. Give you exactly what you wanted. I can protect myself from them. You wanted to be grown, learn how.”

“No.”

Michelle went for the door and Sasha stepped in front of her. “I made a mistake. A big one. But we got to stick together. Those people are crazy, Michelle…they’re hunting me. I’m scared. You don’t know what they…you don’t understand.”

“No, little sister,
you
don’t understand. You never did.” Michelle left. Lee and Kumar were back in the living room. She wiped at her tears, heading straight for the door.

***

“Michelle, where are you going? What will I do next?”

Lee spun around at Sasha’s voice and watched Michelle go out through the doors. “Michelle!”

Michelle continued on, heading for the elevators. He chased after her, passing Sasha who stood frozen by the doors. He stopped and cast a look over his shoulder at the younger woman, noting her remorseful expression. He had learned a lot about himself the past few days. More importantly he could admit to himself what Michelle Dixon meant to him. There was no way in hell he would lose her to the one mistake he made with her kid sister. It would be the final straw to drive her them apart. He narrowed his line of vision on Sasha, and she lowered her eyes.

He felt Kumar’s stare from the door and shot him a look to retreat. His tech read the message in his glare and slipped back inside the condo. It was now just he and Sasha in the hall as he heard the elevator doors close behind him. He approached her and said in a low voice, “You just do as we agreed, you’ll be okay. Not a word to your sister about what never happened between us. You say or do anything to jeopardize my relationship with her, and I will consider it an unforgivable offense. Do you understand?”

Slowly she met his stare. “Yes. Yes, Lee. I understand.”

“Good girl.”

He turned on his heel and was surprised to find Michelle waiting for him at the elevator. The tension in his chest eased a bit to see her. She was so unpredictable, he half expected her to be running from him at this very moment. He vowed to atone for his sins, make her love him, and he’d get it right this time.

Together they entered the elevator. He stopped Michelle from pressing the button. “I will protect her.”

“At what cost Lee?” Michelle said softly.

“I can protect you both. No cost. I love you.”

“What does that matter, Lee, when your love is poison and as twisted as my sister is naïve?”

He took her by the hand and forced her to look at him. “You know me, you know what I am. You said you understood. Well, understand this. I’m not perfect. I never will be. But I do love you, Michelle Dixon. I love you.”

“Oh, I believe you. I understand better than you think.” She snatched her hand away and pressed the down button.

“What you want is what you’ve always wanted: The Chalice,” Michelle said.

Her words hit him hard. But he couldn’t break himself down before her any more. The elevator slowed to a stop and doors opened to the lower level. She gave a cruel laugh when one of his men opened the door to the front of the building and she passed through it.

“It’s okay. I will get your Chalice for you, and when it’s over, so are we.” He heard her say.

Michelle slipped into the limo waiting for them. He released a deep sigh. “This wasn’t the end. It was just the beginning.”

~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~

Sienna Mynx is your naughty writer of Paranormal, Contemporary, and Historical Interracial Romance. Her tales are for readers that love the bad boy's but desire to be the women that tame them. A current resident of southern Georgia, Sienna Mynx has just emerged into the e-publishing scene. Her novella's reflect her thirst for romance told from a dark sensual perspective with the diversity women of all colors crave in erotic Romance. Look for more to come
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