Betrayed (The New Yorker) (16 page)

“What?” Adrian and Dennis exclaimed
in unison.

“I’m fine, he’s fine, everyone is
fine,” Reno said. “No wait, everyone is not fine. If cancer was contagious I
would blame him for that too.”

“Who?”
Dennis
asked.

“Michael Mathews,” DJ said.
“Exactly what is going on?”

Reno let out a frustrated breath.
How was he supposed to tell them what happened to Lisette? These were the men
in her life. He had entered her life, when they were taking care of her. The
responsibility had been handed to him and he had fucked it up, royally.
Laboring at finding the words, he decided the direct approach was the best.
“The reason why Lisette was in the accident is because Michael Mathews drugged
her.”

DJ didn’t wait for any
explanations. He opened Lisette’s door and said, “Forgive me for stopping you.
You should definitely go kill the bastard.”

“DJ, close that door,” Dennis
ordered. “How do you know it was the Mathews fellow?”

Reno explained that night to them,
sparing Adrian Senior all the gory details as much as he could. He could see
the pain in the old man’s face as he looked at his broken daughter, lying still
in the hospital bed.

“But there was alcohol in her
system,” Adrian said.

“Barely
any,
and definitely not enough that Lisette would lose control behind the wheel.
Dad, Lisette was drugged.”

“I hate to play devil’s advocate but
how do you know that she didn’t go to a bar after she left the hotel. Someone
else could have drugged her.” Dennis’ point was valid, but it was one Reno
didn’t want to accept. He already knew his villain and nothing was going to
stop him from going after Michael Mathews.

“I don’t need anyone’s permission
to solve this problem. I already know my guy. I love
Catalella
like a little sister, but she’s going to be a widow soon,” Reno muttered.

“What about
Rhyne
?”

“What about her?” Reno moved back
on instinct when Dennis took a step toward him.

“You go to prison, then what? What
happens to the company? Obviously DJ isn’t here to stay—”

“You got that right, old man.” DJ
snorted.

Dennis shot a silencing glare DJ’s
way. Reno didn’t know when he got so protective, but he stepped into the path
of that glare bringing their father’s attention back to him. “I don’t care
about that,” Reno said.

“That company belongs to your
children. So yes, forget the company—but how are you going to continue
searching for
Rhyne
if you are in a cage?”

“DJ will find her for us. He’s her
brother too!”

“I’m her brother too?” DJ shot in.

Reno rolled his eyes at the goofy
grin DJ had on his face. Reno reached into his back pocket and handed DJ
Rhyne’s
picture. “Is this how she looks like? She is so
beautiful. It seems like I have to build a second cage. At this rate we won’t
be able to keep our sisters safe from New York men.”

“The cages I assume are for Daniela
and
Rhyne
?” AJ rolled his eyes.

“Can we stay on topic here?” Reno
said.

“No way
you can
go to prison. Keeping the guys away from Daniela is hard enough. When
Rhyne
walks into town there will be a stampede. Or maybe we
could marry her off to Ross when she arrives.”

DJ showed AJ the picture and he let
out a long whistle, a wolfish grin on his face. Reno’s eyes narrowed at him.
“Hey, you are dating my sister, why can’t I date yours.”

“Reno, bottom line is
,
you stay away from Mathews.”

Reno was about to protest when
Adrian lifted his hand to silence him. “She’s my daughter and your father has a
point. Leave the bastard to us. You focus on bringing my little girl out of
that coma.”

* * * *

Lisette wanted to lift her hand and
shoo away the annoying beeping sound that filled her ears. As much as she tried
she couldn’t lift her arm. Groaning in frustration she forced her heavy eye
lids to open. She winced when the florescent light above her burned into her
eyes.

What’s
going on
? Her whole body seemed to be held in place.
Every
inch of her hurt, even the tips of her fingers.
She tried to move again,
but her attempt brought a horrible stabbing pain in her chest. Lisette was
about to give up every effort of waking up when she heard her name being
called. It sounded so far, so she reached for it. She held on to the desperate
tone in that voice, hoping that it would bring her out of the darkness.
One more try
. She convinced herself to
force her eyes open. When she did she was rewarded with a dazzling smile from
the man she loved.

“Hey, baby!”

She tried to talk, but her throat
felt like it was being scratched with sand paper. As if sensing her discomfort,
Reno brought a cup of water to her lips. A little sip was all it took to bring
her some relief, but comfort was still at bay.

“Hold on, baby. I’ll go get the
doctor.”

She wanted to tell him to wait, but
she couldn’t. Her eyes followed his disheveled body out the door. Tired at her
attempts to join the living, Lisette convinced herself that a nap wasn’t so
bad. Letting heavy lids drift closed, she fell back into slumber.

The sound
of metal crunching, the smell of burning tires and the pain from the force of
the steering wheel hitting her chest assaulted Lisette all at once. Her
beautiful Range Rover
Evoque
turned into a tiny
casket. Lisette banged on the roof of the car as it closed in on her. She slammed
her shoulder against the door, but all that achieved was to pull it closer. She
fought with her seat belt and climbed to the passenger seat of the car. There
was nowhere to go. The car seemed to shrink with every move she made. Spreading
her arms wide she tried to keep the doors at bay, as with her feet she pushed
at the dash board. She hoped and prayed that somehow, the car would widen.

“Lisette?”

Her head
snapped to the back seat where Reno lay in a pool of blood.

“Hold on,
mi
amor
!” She wheezed as the strength left her
exhausted body. Her gaze frantically searched the car for a way out.

“I’m dead,”
Reno wheezed.

“No you are
not!” Lisette hiccupped as the cries wracked her whole body. She looked back
and Reno’s head rolled from his shoulders to the car floor.

“No!” Lisette thrashed on her bed,
but no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t free herself.

“Open your eyes, baby,” a voice
called to her from the dark haze she was engulfed in. “Come on, sweetheart. Let
me see those beautiful brown eyes.” She tried to focus on the sound of his
voice. She fought against the pain and the darkness. Her body screamed in
distress, her heart ached for her loss. A thought came to mind, why should she
fight if she had lost the love of her life.

“Fight for me, sweetheart. It’s
Reno. Open your eyes for me.”

Reno?

“She probably can’t hear you.”

“Yes she can, Dad.”

The fog was slowly dissipating and
Lisette could recognize the voices around her. Her father, mother, AJ and Reno
were with her.
Where is
Catalella
?
As her mind cleared, the drugs she assumed
they had given her to help with the pain slowly wore off. She could feel every
bruise, cut, fracture and break in her body. Part of her wished the darkness
would swallow her back, but she had to see if Reno was truly alive.

“
Arrgggh
!”

“She’s in pain,” AJ said.

“Could you give her something?” The
concern in Reno’s voice made her pain even worse. She hated that she was
hurting him like this. Although it wasn’t directly her fault, she hated to hear
the weariness in his tone.

“That could put her back under. We
need her to wake up and see if she responds to commands.”

“No.” Lisette wasn’t sure if anyone
had heard her. All she knew that her throat felt as if it were being assaulted
by sand paper. The potent coppery taste of blood in her mouth assured her of
it.

“Baby!”
The
triumph in Reno’s voice told her that he at least had heard her. “Are you
coming back to me?”

Lisette couldn’t find her voice.
She tried to nod but couldn’t move. She tried to lift her arms, but she
couldn’t move those either. She was restrained and that built a wave of panic
in her chest. She didn’t want to be held down, especially not after she had
been trapped in her car.

“Hey, piggy, calm down.”

“What’s going on, AJ?”

“Her blood pressure is rising and
her heart’s racing. I think she’s just realized she can’t move. If she doesn’t
calm down, I’ll have to sedate her.”

“No.” She forced the word out of
her sore throat once more.

“Baby, listen to me. Listen to the
sound of my voice. You are fine. You are just a little broken. AJ is going to
fix you. Your mom and dad are here too.” She felt the warmth of Reno’s lips as
he pressed a kiss on her temple. “Hang on to the sound of my voice. You are
safe with us. Now open your eyes.”

As if her eyes were slaves to his
command, they opened. Not slowly, but wide and wondering as that of a new babe.
All she could see was a cloud before her eyes. She blinked a couple of times
and her vision cleared. Her lips pulled into a painful smile when she looked
into Reno’s deep brown eyes. She licked her dry lips, and he read her mind. He
gave her a gentle kiss on her lips. She tried to tell him she loved him, but
nothing emerged from her cracked mouth.

“I love you too.”

“Excuse me.” Lisette didn’t
recognize that voice. She thought that she should probably look to see who the
visitor was, but she couldn’t pull away from Reno’s gentle smiling eyes. It was
pure pleasure and terror that had her glued to them. She couldn’t risk looking
away and have him disappear.

“If you could all wait outside, I need
to examine her.”

“No.” That word again.

“It’s okay, I won’t leave your
side,” Reno promised.

“But—”

Lisette smiled at the threatening
glare in Reno’s eyes and the silenced protest. With him so close by, Lisette
endured the poking and prodding of the nurse. Then when she was exhausted, she
tightened her hold on Reno’s eyes before letting sleep consume her.

* * * *

“Did you see the look in her eyes?”
Reno couldn’t shake that haunted look in Lisette’s eyes. He stood with one foot
in her room, the other in the hallway. Her eyes had been stricken with fear
when she thought he would leave her alone. He wanted to be close by just in
case she stirred, but didn’t want his conversation with AJ to disturb her.

“It’s like she got a panic attack.
I’ve never seen her that scared.” AJ peeked into the room, sighed then looked
back at him. “I’m glad she has you. Now that she’s awake I don’t have to worry
so much. They never tell you how much work being a big brother is.”

“I’ll take care of Lisette. You
make sure the baby of the family is strong enough to fight the cancer.”

“The journey of recovery is just
beginning, Reno. I hope you are up for it.”

Reno had to laugh at the warning in
AJ’s voice. He had a little brother and little sisters. He understood the big
brother role, the unfathomed love and need to protect. It was his basic
instinct to throw himself in front of any trouble that would come to his
siblings. But with Lisette, he would walk in front of a train for her, and
fight to live just to see her smile. He knew AJ didn’t understand. AJ avoided
anything that would require him to make a commitment. His medical profession
was his mistress, wife and girlfriend.

“I’m going to marry your sister.”

“I would welcome you to the family
with open arms.” He snickered. “You are the only brother-in-law I like and
approve of.”

“Don’t worry; I think between the
two of us we can find a way to get rid of Michael Mathews.”

“I thought we talked about that.”
Adrian Senior voice boomed behind him. “You both need to go home and sleep.” Reno
was about to protest but Adrian didn’t give him a chance. “I’ll watch over my
little girls for the next couple of hours.
Home.Now
.”

Reno couldn’t argue. His love for
Lisette had enabled him to keep vigil by her bedside for days. His fear and
nightmares of her life slipping away without him knowing had kept him from
sleeping for more than five minutes at a time. He needed food, a shower and
some sleep. Reluctantly he agreed. He walked to her bed and kissed her
forehead. “I’ll be back before you know it, baby.”

* * * *