Love or Money (16 page)

It rang once, twice, a third time, and Riel balled the sheets up in her sweaty fists. Midway through the fourth ring, there was a click, and a quiet, uncertain voice came on the line. “Hello?”

“Lizette?”

There was a short silence, in which Riel’s muscles tightened like bowstrings. “Riel, is that you?”

“Yes. Is Isaias with you right now?”

“No, he’s in bed. Oh my God, Riel, where are you?”

“I’m back here in Portland. Be quiet, Lizette, don’t let Isaias hear that I’m talking to you, okay?”

She lowered her voice. “What happened? He said you ran away with that Evan.”

“I did for a little while, but I’m back.” Riel took a deep breath. “Listen, Lizette. If I talk to you about something, can you promise you won’t tell Isaias?”

Lizette’s voice shook slightly. “What is it, Riel? What’s going on?”

“You have to promise me you won’t tell him, that you won’t say anything to
anybody.
Because if you tell, it could put us in danger, all of us. You, me, Isaias, the kids. Can you promise?”

There was another silence, and Riel squeezed the sheets so hard her hand started to ache. “I promise,” Lizette finally said. “I won’t say anything.”

Riel let out the breath she’d been holding. “Good. Good. Okay, Lizette…pretty soon, hopefully, Isaias is going to give you a bunch of money, put it in an account for you.”

“What? Why?”

“I don’t know what he’ll tell you it’s for, but the real reason is we’re doing something risky, and he wants to make sure you and the kids are taken care of in case something happens.”

“Riel, what are you doing? Don’t, whatever it is, just don’t do it if it’s too dangerous—”

“We have to do it. And don’t worry, we’ll be okay. This is all just in case.”

“But, Riel—”

“I’ll explain it all so that you’ll understand afterwards. Please, just trust me.”

Lizette sobbed into the phone. “I hate this so much. I hate that you guys do this work. I wish…”

She broke down, and Riel’s lips tightened. “You wish you’d hadn’t been pulled into this crap. You wish Isaias made his money some other way…or that you hadn’t married him at all.” Lizette sobbed again in response, and Riel listened, hoping the latter was the correct explanation, that Lizette wished she was rid of her horrible husband. “Well, you knew what his work was when you married him, Lizette. You knew what you were getting into.”

“Riel—”

“And besides, that’s why we’re doing this,” Riel cut in. “To escape this business. If this works out, you won’t have to worry anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

“No more mob bullshit, Lizette. We can all live normal lives.”

Lizette sniffed and took a shuddering breath. “Really?”

“Really.”

Her sister’s voice steadied. “What do I have to do?”

Riel squeezed her eyes shut. “There’s a United Bank account under the name of Nora Mejia. I’ll text you the account and routing numbers. Put the money in there. And if something happens to me—”

“Riel, if something happens to you, I’m not going to be worried about money—”

“I’m going to be fine, everything’s going to be okay, but
just in case,
Lizette. Because if something happens, you and the kids are still going to need money. I just can’t rest easy unless I know you guys are going to be okay, no matter what.”

Lizette began to cry again, not saying anything.

“I’m going to text you a number,” Riel continued. “If something happens to me, call it. This person will send you the documents you need in order to access the money yourself. I’m going to be fine, everything is going to work out, and I’ll be able to get the money back to you in person, but just in case, okay?”

“Okay, Riel,” Lizette said quietly. “But, please, just be really careful. You shouldn’t be doing this at all. You should just run away.”

Riel couldn’t keep herself from snorting. “Where would I go, that they wouldn’t find me? If it’s so easy, why don’t
you
run away?”

Riel waited breathlessly for her sister’s answer.

“I have the kids,” Lizette finally said, her voice shaking. “I need to take care of them. And Isaias…he’s my husband…”

“I know he’s your husband,” Riel said bitterly. “But he’s a
cabrón
, Lizette.”

The pressure on Riel’s heart eased when Lizette gave a watery laugh. That laugh died quickly into silence, however, and she spoke with a note of desperation in her voice. “I know he’s not perfect,” Lizette said, “but he takes care of us.”

Riel clutched the phone. “And if you could take care of yourself and the kids without him? Would you do it?”

Riel’s pounding heart rang into the silence. Lizette couldn’t be loyal to that asshole, she just couldn’t.

Lizette sniffed. “Yes,” she finally said, her voice barely audible. “If I could get out of this life, I would.”

Riel let out a breath.
Thank God.
“We’re going to get through this, Lizette.”

“I know we will. Just be careful.”

“You too, Lizette. I love you.”

“I love you too, Gabrielita.”

Riel hung up the phone and collapsed into bed. She’d done all she could. Now it was up to Isaias, her sister, and the FBI to keep their promises.

Chapter Seventeen

Riel was jolted out of a confused dream where she was searching for someplace to hide a bowling ball full of money. Consciousness surprised her, and she gasped and flailed, tangling herself up in blankets.

A hand reached out and grabbed her waist. “It’s okay, babe. Shhhh.”

She got a rush of adrenaline, but she made herself stop struggling. “Isaias?”

He pulled her closer. “Yeah, Rielita, don’t worry, it’s me. Why are you still in bed?”

“I couldn’t sleep last night. What time is it?”

“Nine thirty.”

Riel groaned, closing her sandy eyes. “I’m so tired. I didn’t get to sleep until late.”

He scooted closer, stretching out beside her and stroking her back. “Oh? Why not?”

“I just can’t stop worrying about this deal going wrong. I keep playing it over and over in my mind.” She looked up at him through her eyelashes. “Why do you have to complicate it by calling a hit on Mishmash right now? Percha was right, it’d be better to wait, after we’re away with the money.”

“We won’t be safe with Mishmash out there, and I won’t be able to take over his route as easily.”

“If you kill him, how do you know his people won’t retaliate even harder than Mishmash would have, if he were still alive? It’s one thing to screw him over, another to kill him. He has loyal men, Isaias. And how do you know that the bigger guys won’t get pissed and call a hit on us for messing with their business like that?”

He stroked her hair back from her forehead. “Mishmash is small potatoes. No one is going to lose sleep over him being taken out.”

“I’m not sure that’s true. Even if his people don’t retaliate out of loyalty, they’ll do it just because they want to take over his piece for themselves. And the bosses don’t like it when people on this level get too big.”

He kissed her lightly. “You worry too much, little girl.”

Riel clamped her jaw down in frustration, her gaze darting to her phone sitting on the bedside table. She hoped they were hearing all of this clearly, and that they could stop Mishmash from getting hurt.

She made herself relax as his hand slid down to her ass and squeezed. He pressed his body against hers. “Ah, babe, stop worrying.”

“I can’t, Isaias.”

He dragged his fingers around the curve of her hip, up between her legs. “I know something that will relax you.”

“Isaias—”

“Let me slide it up between those beautiful thighs and fuck you so good, Riel. Please.”

Riel closed her eyes and let go of herself, banishing her ego and clearing her head.
This isn’t the real Riel. This is all pretend
. “Yeah?” she murmured. “You give Lizette her money yet?”

“I will,” he said, fondling her tits. “Today.”

“You promise? I need to feel right about this, Isaias.”

“I promise.” He kissed her, pulling her tight against him, his cock throbbing against her leg. “Tell me what your girlfriend did to you to make you come,” he muttered in her ear. “What was her name? Your girlfriend in prison.”

“Marissa,” she said. Riel remembered the feel of Marissa’s firm, silky tits and felt a pang of arousal. She clung to it, her mental life raft.

“Marissa,” Isaias breathed. “Tell me about her.”

“She had this amazing, dark skin, and an amazing ass. I loved the way it felt in my hands, all round and firm but still soft.”

He kissed her neck, his hands everywhere, but she hardly felt it, consumed by her fantasy. “Yeah?” Isaias said. “What kind of things did you do to each other, Riel?”

“My favorite thing was when one of the good guards would give us bathroom cleaning duty together, so we’d have some time. We’d get into one of the showers completely naked and turn the warm water on.” Riel ached. She felt herself get wet, remembering. “She’d suck on my nipples, and put her fingers inside me. Then she’d kiss my body, put her lips everywhere, soft kisses that felt good and tingly, and then she’d bite me just a little bit sometimes.”

Riel drew a breath as the fantasy filled her head, Isaias disappearing completely from her world. “She’d get on her knees and rub my clit with her little tongue.” Riel slid her hand down her pajama bottoms and rubbed, imagining Marissa’s wet, sensitive tongue there. “She was so good with her tongue, and she’d push her fingers in me real slow and deep, how I liked it, and she knew right where it felt good.” Riel rubbed slow and hard, her hips pressing up against her hand, and slipped two fingers deep inside her wet pussy, moaning softly. “She fucked me slow like that, until I wanted it, I wanted it hard, I’d be begging her until she finally banged me, fucked me hard up against the shower tile. She’d make me come…” Riel gasped as waves of pleasure broke over her, a small cry escaping her lips.

She came back slowly to reality. Isaias was squeezing her ass and stroking his cock; he grunted and gasped, then pulled his hand from his pants.

Riel blinked, laying stiffly as he kissed her.

“Ah, babe, I can’t wait until tomorrow night, when this deal is taken care of, and we can get away,” he said.

Riel squeezed her eyes shut. “Me neither,” she said.

***

Isaias waited while she took a long shower, then he took her out to breakfast. She sat poking at her crepes with her fork while he chomped down his breakfast
fajitas
.

“What story are you going to tell Lizette about why you’re giving her the money?” Riel asked. “Isn’t she going to get suspicious?”

Isaias shrugged, swallowing. “She knows not to ask too many questions. I’ll just tell her I need to spread the cash out a bit so I don’t have too much in one place.”

She made herself meet his gaze. “How much are you going to give her?”

He grinned lopsidedly, taking another bite of
fajita
. He spoke with his mouth full, Riel dodging the crumbs he launched at her. “Worried about your own prospects when you’re with me? Don’t worry, Rielita, I won’t give her all of it.”

Riel unclenched her teeth. “It’s not that. I know you’ll take care of us. I just need to know Lizette and the kids are taken care of too. Lizette’s had a hard life, Isaias. She made sure I had a good home through it all. She’s done so much for me.”

He put the
fajita
down and reached over to pat her hand, leaving dabs of steak grease on her skin. “I’ll make sure she and the kids have enough. And they have the house, which is all paid for. They’ll do fine.”

Riel forced a smile, her cheeks aching. Would the feds take the house too? She didn’t know. “You’re such a good man, Isaias,” she said.

“I try to be,” he said, grinning.

***

Isaias dropped her back at the apartment, telling her he had to take care of a few things, and so Riel was left to wander through the drab rooms, chewing her lip. Eventually she went out and sat in a coffee shop, thinking it would be easier to wrestle her agitation if she were surrounded by distraction. She sat on a stool by the window and watched people strolling over damp sidewalks sheened with oil, walking their dogs, laughing with each other. They existed in a different world than she did. A cleaner, more organized world. She felt like she was free-falling, gazing enviously at the people standing on solid ground, and wondered, as she had so many times before, what it would have been like to grow up in a safe home with loving parents. To be one of these happy people with a “normal” life. To not have to worry about her next meal, or going to jail, or getting shot.

She clutched her coffee mug, her short fingernails bending against the smooth porcelain. It was no use railing against life’s unfairness. She had to do the best she could with what she had, so that maybe, someday, she could be one of those carefree people with a house, a loving family, and a cat.

As evening began to fall, clouds billowing in over the rosy sunset, Riel tromped back to the apartment. She sat with her back against the wall of the bedroom and called Evan.

“I told Lizette to call you if something happens to me, so that you can send her fake documents in the name of Nora Mejia,” Riel said, picking at the carpet. “That way she’ll be able to access the money herself. I know you’ll help her change the info on there, you know, put her picture.”

Evan huffed so loudly that it hurt Riel’s ear. “That’s too dangerous, you calling her and telling her that, Riel. What if Isaias figures this out?”

“He won’t,” Riel said. “Lizette won’t tell him.”

“Yeah, but if he’s watching her closely, keeping tabs on her phone calls and texts…”

“I don’t think he’d do that. He doesn’t even respect her enough to think she’d double-cross him, you know? He’s an idiot.”

“Isaias isn’t really an idiot. He’s not the most observant, but he’s not dumb. I think you have the wrong impression because of the way he acts around you.”

“Whatever. He’s an idiot.”

Evan sighed heavily. “Jesus, Riel, this thing is just…I can’t stand it. It just seems too messy, and I have a bad feeling.”

“Don’t worry,” she said. “This time tomorrow, it’ll all be over, and we’ll be home free.”

There was a short silence, and she thought she heard him sniffing. “I hope you’re right,” he said.

I hope I am too
. “I
am
right,” she said. “You’ll see.”

After she hung up, she sat there, staring blankly at the wall, aching everywhere from the constant tension in her muscles. She was exhausted, but didn’t feel like she could sleep. There were too many questions, too many worries.

Riel was anxious. Everything could go wrong tomorrow. The FBI might not be able to stop the hit on Mishmash. She could end up hurt, or worse. The feds could renege on their deal, and she’d end up back in prison.

But strangely enough, her biggest worry was that Isaias wouldn’t actually give Lizette any money. He could easily lie about it, and then she wouldn’t be able to do anything until it was too late. She sat tapping the screen of her phone, itching to call her sister.

She checked the time. Eight forty-two. Usually by this time Isaias had eaten dinner and gone out for the evening. Would it be safe to call?

Riel cursed. She knew she’d never sleep if she didn’t. Forcing her heart out of her throat, she picked up her phone and dialed.

Lizette answered on the second ring. “Riel?”

“Is Isaias gone?”

“Yeah, he’s out.”

Riel let out a breath. “Thank God. I just wanted to make sure he’d talked to you about the money.”

There was an excited note in Lizette’s voice. “He did. I actually saw the account balance sheets. He gave me almost two million dollars, Riel.”

Riel laughed. “Oh, my God. That’s so good.”

Lizette gave a nervous giggle. “Yeah, I never really knew how much money he has. It must be a lot. I’m going to do what you said, first thing tomorrow, and transfer it to that account.”

“Good. It’ll be safe there, and after this is all over, I’ll transfer it back to you.” Riel would have to figure out how that could work without getting the feds involved, but there would be plenty of time for that after Isaias was in prison. “Lizette, thank you for everything you’ve done for me,” Riel said. “You know, keeping me safe after Dad and Mama died. I know it wasn’t easy for you.”

“You’re my sister. I’d do anything for you. And it hasn’t exactly been easy for you, either.”

“You didn’t know things would turn out the way they did,” Riel said, her mouth suddenly sour. “And it could have ended up a lot worse if we’d been on the streets or I’d ended up in foster care. You did a good job, Lizzy. You took care of us.”

Lizette’s voice shook. “I feel horrible about it, you know, how Isaias treated you. I always have. I tried to tell him to leave you out of it, but you know how he and Mama Maria can get. I just felt like…”

“Yeah, I know,” Riel said.

They were silent for a moment, and Riel felt the old camaraderie growing between them, like it had been in the old days. Just them, together, against the world. “I love you, Lizzy,” she said.

“I love you too,
hermanita.
”

Riel hung up, then crawled into bed, finally feeling drowsy.
Whatever happens, at least Lizette and the kids are taken care of. The rest of it, I can’t control. I’ll just have to deal with it as it happens.

She hugged her pillow and fell asleep.

***

Riel came awake with a start when she heard the door to the apartment open. Adrenaline brought her up out of bed before Isaias could crawl in with her.

He strode into the room as she pulled a sweatshirt on over her pajamas. He was smiling, but something about his look made Riel freeze.

“Good morning, Rielita,” he said. “You sleep good?”