Red Handed(85)

She shook her head, the pain of it making her stomach rebel. “I’m confused. You are one of those women.”

“Really?” Tasha snagged a red pillar candle from the top of the desk. “How many of them could stage their own kidnapping and get away with it? How many of them could manipulate a man like Rinaldi into doing her bidding?”

Fear for her life and her baby’s life swept through her. “You didn’t stage it. You couldn’t. It was Rinaldi. He took you.” As she witnessed the look of pride on Tasha’s face, understanding struck her like a lightning bolt. “You were partners?”

She fluffed her layered blonde hair. “Partners implies we had an equal amount of power in the relationship. He worked for me.” Her jaw tightened. “Well, ‘worked’ makes it sound as though he had a choice. He owed me and my friends a great deal of money. Cole DeMarco convinced Rinaldi to invest, and Rinaldi convinced us. Even a sadistic psychopath like Rinaldi can be blackmailed with the people he loves. In return for his cooperation, we let his wife and children live.”

“But he ordered Michael to shoot you.”

Tasha sighed and shook her head as if pitying Danielle for her stupidity. “All part of the plan. Michael would have roughed me up a little before letting me go. I would’ve told the police I escaped, but couldn’t save you. And, of course, I couldn’t identify the man who kidnapped me because he kept me blindfolded.”

Although she’d heard some of this from Cole and Rinaldi, there were missing pieces to the story. “Why did you marry my father?”

Tasha’s eyes narrowed. “To keep him in line. Contrary to what you’ve always believed, your father was no saint. His hands were as dirty as the rest of ours. He could handle the money laundering, but when he learned about where that money came from, he got nervous, not only for his future but for yours.”

Using a match, she lit the candle and held it in her hands. “By then, I had married him and become his confidante. He told me was going to turn over the evidence he had on the Mikhailov Bratva, which, unbeknownst to him, was my family. I convinced him instead to put the money in an offshore account with me as the trustee and beneficiary. No one could touch it. We’d move away and take you kids with us. I don’t know why, but instead he gave the evidence of his Ponzi scheme over to Cole to give to the FBI. To protect you from the families, the official statement was Cole had discovered the embezzlement and mismanagement of the funds and that your father burned all his records of the Rinaldi and Mikhailov accounts. Then he left the trust to you.”

Tasha’s story made Danielle ill. How had she lived with this woman all these years and not known her true nature?

“And if he had run off with you and the money?”

Tasha rolled her eyes. “After I had control of the money, you and he would have met an untimely demise.”

She thought when she’d left Benediction, she’d returned to reality, but in truth, her entire life had been an illusion. Her only hope was if Cole sent for help when he received her email. If he received her email. Unless . . .

“Is Roman working for you?”

Tasha’s expression grew stony. “No, he knows nothing, and I plan to keep it that way. Before he left, I made sure to send him on a few errands to keep him busy for the next couple of hours.” She sighed and shook her head. “If you would’ve only married him, it would have made things so much easier. Once you rejected him, I had to initiate plan B.”

“And if I had married him?”

The flames of the candle flickered in Tasha’s eyes. “You would’ve died in an accident, leaving my son a widower. A wealthy one who shared everything with his mother, including his bank account.” She set down the candle and waved her finger at Danielle. “But no, my Roman wasn’t good enough for you. You had the silly infatuation with Cole DeMarco that I helped fan into an obsession. You blamed him for your father’s death when his real killer held you as you cried.”

Odd that Tasha saw herself in the role of consoler when she’d barely managed as much as a hug over the years. If anyone had held her, it had been Roman. “My father would never have left me with you if he thought I was in danger.”

Tasha’s lips curled into a cruel smile. “Oh, but he did. No, he didn’t realize I was the one pulling the strings. I got a message to him through an associate of mine. It was either him or you. He thought by killing himself he’d keep you safe. And to a point, that was true. I had to wait until you either married or turned twenty-five before the trustee of the money could turn over the assets to you. I couldn’t even find out where he’d set up the account. All I knew was he had told DeMarco to keep the information in your mother’s jewelry box for you and that the password was engraved on your locket. Rinaldi and Michael both tried to get into DeMarco’s private residence, but of course, they failed. That’s when I thought about sending you.”