Page 55 of The Lies You Love
She laughs long and hard. “Do you know how many people hate you? How easy it will be to get you where it hurts? If you don’t walk out that door and never look back, she’ll be dead by midnight. I bought out the Rifts. They’ve had a target on her back for a while now.”
“How sadistic are you? Auden was your friend!”
She taps her lip with a manicured nail. “She still is, but in my business, I have to keep my enemies closer. It’s not personal. I need to get back to my father and my plan has gone exactly how I hoped it would. Go have a life with Auden. With the woman who has your sister’s heart. It’s so cliché. Tell them I disappeared and your listening devices stopped working. Write up your little report and say Ramsey Taerpietier is a gone girl, never to be found again. They’ll search, but they won’t know how it happened or who I was. That’s the trade, Beck. The life Auden has always wanted for your silence about mine. How badly do you want her to be happy? She still loves you. You’ve done a good job of keeping her baited at the end of the line. While you pretend duty and honor are more important than your love for her. I mean, that’s demeaning.”
She rounds the corner of the island, setting her glass down. “I am curious though.” Ramsey drags her pointer finger down my chest. “Do you fuck as beautifully as she says?”
“Fuck off,” I hiss. My eyes are hot and the anger inside me wars with the base instinct to protect this woman. My whole life is a lie. I’ve been protecting a monster.
My hands stay fisted by my sides and she grabs my cock through my jeans and raises both of her brows.
“Impressive, Beck. I’m going to play with it.”
I’m shaking, afraid of what I might do to her if I let it slip, the mask I’m wearing because she’s a wildfire that’s torched almost every area of my life. She unbuttons and unzips my pants, licking her lips, gaze locked on mine. Before she can hit her knees in front of me, I push her back.
“That wasn’t part of the deal,” I growl. “Get your filthy hands off me.” I back away, panting, trying to catch my breath. “Disappear. Don’t touch a hair on Auden’s head. Never come back.”
Ramsey looks amused, her face lighting as she braces her stumble. “You’ll be able to live with yourself? The honorable Charge Man will lie?”
I shake my head. “It’s not a lie.”
“It is, but call it what you want as long as I have your silence. I needed to use you to make my escape. It was the last box to check.”
“I cared about you,” I whisper, my anger turning to shock. “It was all a lie.”
“Oh, now, now, it’s not your fault I’m so good. You didn’t care about me; I was your job. You care about Auden, which is my ticket out of here. With all of the money.”
“You stole from her pet store.”
She furrows her brow. “Never. Just cleaned the money there. It’s a smaller business though so I knew I wouldn’t be able to use it for long before the feds caught on to the large deposits being made every day. Now that I have the Rifts in my pocket, they’ll clean up everything after I’m back with my father overseas.”
“What’s stopping me from turning you in right now? Or in ten years?”
“Exactly what I just said. The Rifts will clean up anything I tell them to. If you value Auden’s life, you’ll keep quiet. Right now, or in ten years, your silence is the price you pay. Do you understand?”
The whole conversation is being recorded, and I will find a way to make her pay for her crimes. Maisey. Maisey. Maisey. I close my eyes. He spoke French. Why didn’t I put two and two together? Because I trusted my bosses and this assignment blindly. This woman is obviously skilled in deception, and I do what I’m fucking told. Being a Charge Man is an honor, and our Principals are of great value. They don’t realize how high value mine is.
“What about Grey?” I ask, voice cracking.
“Leave him out of it,” Ramsey says, returning to her wine. She has suitcases all over her apartment in different stages of packed. “Give him my houseplants. Maybe he can sell them back.”
“I’m the one who bought you the damn plant.” Well, the incidental credit card did.
“Ah, I knew it. I wasn’t sure if it was from the Rifts on our deal of the Charge Men to placate me.”
“The Rifts aren’t people anyone should trust.”
She waves me off. “They do what I tell them. They’re scared of me.”
“And when they turn on you?”
“Why do you care?” she asks.
I shake my head. “I don’t, but you’re touting yourself as the best criminal mastermind of all time and it seems like a JV move.”
She furrows her brows. “Is it tiring? Living with one foot in two different worlds? Just take what I’m offering and thank me. You’ll get fired for losing me and you can have a fucking life. Don’t worry about the Rifts. I know how to handle bad. It’s the good I’m worrying about handling.” Her gaze ignites as it meets mine. “Do you understand?”
“Yes.” I swallow hard.
