Hearts on Fire 3: Tasha(22)
Hands shaking, she knew she needed to play her role. This could be the chance she needed to learn about this big deal and end this chaos.
She reached up, as he held her gaze with his intense dark eyes and she caressed his lips.
The move touched him. She saw it all in his eyes. The eyes of a killer, a manipulator, a lying, murderous bastard who thought he had full control of her. When he caressed his hands over her ass, giving them a squeeze, she held his gaze and knew without a doubt that stopping him from taking her sexually was coming fast.
“Let’s meet our guests.” He guided her toward the door, a hand on her hip as he escorted her to another room, a private one. As they gathered around a dining table, she eyed the large, sharp steak knives and fancy place settings. It took more courage and determination she ever had to not pick up one of the knives off the table and use it. She stared in disgust as she was introduced to JJ LaCosta, and Vincent Carbanero. Her father’s killers were all in one room, at one table, and accessible. Could she pick up the knife and kill them all?
That thought stirred something dark and scary inside of her. She wasn’t a killer, but if faced with her life or theirs, she knew what she had to do. Slowly she moved the knife closer to her plate and wondered if it were sharp enough.
* * * *
“Is this the agent, Melanie?” James yelled as he held her up off the floor by her hair. Melanie was in so much pain. She was bleeding, bruised, had a broken arm, broken ribs, and could hardly see from her swollen eyes. She cried out, snot dripping from her nose.
“It’s all right. Melanie,” Agent Riker spoke, as he knelt on the ground while Carlo held his arms behind his back. His face was beaten and battered. Melanie knew that Dash ordered this. He found out about her talking with the agent, but Melanie was trying to protect Tasha. She had no idea that Tasha was working with the agents to put all these men behind bars. To learn that they thought Melanie was weak and couldn’t handle working undercover angered her. She had always been a disappointment to her parents. Even when she met James, her father told her that the man wasn’t good and why would someone so wealthy and attractive be interested in her. She hadn’t realized he was trying to scare her away from James. It was too late. She could do this. She could give her life for her cousin, for her father and mother.
“Answer me!” James yelled and backhanded her to the face. She fell backward.
“I don’t know who he is.”
“He’s the agent you contacted to rat out our operation,” James yelled at her.
“No, no, I didn’t call or contact anyone.”
“Then how did they find out about Mary Ann, and about Avalon?”
She cried, the pain becoming too much for her. “Avalon was an agent, too,” she revealed and James looked shocked. He turned around and hit Agent Riker in the head with the barrel of his gun. Agent Riker fell to the floor.
“This isn’t over, Melanie. Dash will decide your fate.”
* * * *
Tasha couldn’t believe how freely they talked about their business dealings in front of her. She was kind of impressed with their ability to evade detection for so long. They apparently had a casino set up that was built with hidden rooms, fully functional for illegal high stakes gambling, prostitution and drug dealing. They had plans for another casino that would also have hidden rooms, soundproof behind walls of real rooms that were manufacturing drugs and other paraphernalia.
She found herself asking questions, and Dash didn’t stop her but instead leaned back and listened to her, seemingly enjoying it.
“So even the building inspectors, the construction people, materials crews, everyone has to be tight lipped or turn their heads as these fake rooms are being built. That’s amazing.”
Carbanero chuckled as he took a sip of his scotch. “It sure is, darling. You’re going to be a part of it, from what Dash has explained.”
She looked to Dash. “Me?”
Dash placed his arm over her shoulders and leaned back in his chair. He held her gaze. “In a week, we leave for AC for good. You, me, the crew. James is staying on here to handle Borderhouse.”
“Dash, what about my mom, my friends?”
His eyes darkened and the other two men started a conversation amongst themselves.
He held her gaze. “Our life together starts completely next week. Your mom will be well taken care of. You can visit her when I say.”
“Dash, I—” She lowered her eyes and he gripped her cheek. She gasped.
“You worried about your friends? Maybe those firefighters who kissed you?” he asked, his grip so tight she felt tears reach her eyes.
“Dash.”
“Don’t Dash me. They want you. They want what’s mine. I can get rid of them in a snap.” He clicked his fingers together. She jumped. “One fire, and I can take them all out.”
“No, Dash, please. It’s not why I’m questioning you. I’m just not used to being taken care of. I’ve had to take care of myself for a long time. You’re about to whisk me away to some fantasy lifestyle.”
He reached up and caressed her cheek and chin. “Not a fantasy lifestyle, but one you deserve. You’ll have more than you could have ever dreamed of, Tasha. Jewelry, a penthouse, designer clothes, spas, your own security team. I’m taking care of my girl, and that’s final.”
He leaned forward and kissed her lips. She reached up, cupped his cheek and kissed him back. When they parted he smiled.
“Thank you. I don’t know why you chose me when there are so many other women to choose from.”
He gripped her chin giving it a little tight shake. “No other woman compares to you. Not ever.” He looked her lips over and was just about to kiss her again when James arrived.
James leaned down and whispered into Dash’s ear. She heard Melanie’s name and the word agent. Her heart hammered in her chest.
“Get up.” He pulled her up and he excused himself from the room. She noticed a few women walk in, and Carbanero and LaCosta rubbed their hands together and smiled.
The moment they were in the hallway he was dragging her down toward his office.
He was pacing back and forth as she stood by his desk shaking.
“Dash, what’s wrong?” she asked, and he stepped toward her and then stopped himself from striking her as he placed his fists by his side. He was wild and angry.
Carlo walked in. “Where do you want me to leave the body?”
Tasha gasped and covered her mouth. Dash stared at her as he spoke. “Burn it up. Leave it somewhere where Engine 19 will respond. I want guys, snipers shooting at them when they arrive.”
“No. Oh God, Dash.” She stepped toward him and the backhand came out of nowhere. She flew back hitting the desk, grabbing her cheek.
“And Melanie?”
“Drop her on her father’s doorstep. Maybe that will teach him not to cooperate with the feds.”
“Melanie.” Tasha said her name and Dash struck her again. He pulled her up off the floor and started hitting her. In her ribs, her thighs, her eye, and cheek. She was screaming for him to stop. She fell to the floor and he kicked her. She wrapped her arms around his leg and cried, begging him to stop because she couldn’t take it any longer. He roared in anger and then stopped. Dash went from cool and calm to violent and psycho in a flash. He was sick. Insane. Where the hell were the feds? Weren’t they coming? Couldn’t they storm the building or something? The room fell completely silent except for her whimpering and his heavy breathing.
He reached down, grabbed her by her upper arms, and pulled her up and onto his desk. He shoved her dress upward against her thighs and stared at her. Even he cringed at the damage he did.
“Are you talking to any feds?” he asked. She shook her head.
He gripped her upper thighs under her dress against her skin. He squeezed his thumbs into her groin. “Dash, please stop it. Please tell me what’s going on. Why are you acting like this?”
“You don’t know?” he asked, and she shook her head.
“Your cousin is working with federal agents to bring my entire operation down. Your uncle has been doing the numbers, scamming the system for us for years. I’m so close to accomplishing my goals. I won’t let anyone stand in the way, Tasha. Not some little whore, not some two-bit accountant, not some nosey detectives, and not my woman.”
“I didn’t know about any of this, I swear.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the handkerchief. He stared into her eyes and then dabbed it against her bleeding lips. She gasped, feeling how swollen her lips were getting. Her cheek and jaw throbbed, even her eye. She hurt everywhere.
“You better not be lying to me, Tasha. I’ll kill your mother, your friends, your uncle, and Melanie, and then I’ll kill you.”
The tears rolled down her cheeks and she cried, but she needed to play her role the best she could right now or he would know she was lying.
“I know nothing, Dash. I’ll do whatever you want me to do to prove it. This is all so crazy. I told you that I wasn’t right for you, that you could do so much better. God, Dash, oh God, I think I’m falling in love with you.” She lowered her head, crying her eyes out from the pain, the hatred she had for this man. She needed to stay alive. She needed to warn the others before her friends and the men she loved got hurt or killed.