His Paris Affair (The Albury Affairs) (29 page)

“Are you sure?” she found herself asking.

“Of course she’s sure! I saw him with my own two eyes…just
like I saw him die. What the hell is going on!” The torment in Allan’s eyes
made her want to cry.

“It’s a full moon and all the monsters have come out from
the closet to haunt us,” Ruiz commented dryly next to her.

She looked up at him. “What?”

But he went on talking like he hadn’t heard her. “Anthony,
was he the man who was…”

He didn’t need to finish. He didn’t have to. Melody got a
sickening feeling at the pit of her stomach. “Anthony is…Antonio?”

Ruiz sighed heavily. “And we didn’t even know it.”

“How could you not?” Allan accused still pacing.

“Melody wouldn’t look at the pictures or anything to do with
the explosion,” Matthew defended her and Reno backed him by saying, “It was
before Ruiz joined the family.”

“I knew the story, I just couldn’t bring myself to get too
interested.” He turned to Riana with a sad smile, pain in his eyes. “I didn’t
want to know what I’d lost moments after I’d found it. It would have hurt too
much. But Clarissa was all too happy to tell me about my dead sister.”

Melody hugged his arm to her chest, cursing the woman. All
she seemed to do was hurt Ruiz and today she’d topped it all. Melody could feel
it from Ruiz’s shaking body next to her when Clarissa and her date walked up to
them. That man, Angelo, was bad news if he managed to scare Ruiz so bad he was
shaking. She suspected that fear was the same reason he ran up here to check on
Esme.

“Ruiz, who was that man and why was he with Anthony?” Reno
demanded.

Ruiz’s grip on her hand tightened as he stared silently at
his brother. He didn’t want to talk about it. He wasn’t ready.

“Antonio—Anthony must have been using Red Roses Paris to
launder Angelo’s money,” Melody piped up.

“Drug money,” Jackie added drawing the attention of the
room. She lifted a number of papers off the couch and held them out to Reno.
“We got these from Antonio—Anthony a month back. Right after he booked a few
scary men into the hotel. It’s all there, details on the deals he was making
and information on Angelo Cruz.”

Ruiz flinched at the sound of his name as if he’d been hit.
That worried her.

“Ruiz, who is this man?” Reno repeated, passing the papers
to Matthew without so much as a glance.

Ruiz stood stoically for a moment before he let go of
Melody’s hand and pulled away from her. She wanted to claim his hand back, need
to, but stopped herself when he pulled his jacket off and handed it to her. She
took it and hugged it to her chest. He unbuttoned his shirt to his mid-section
then shrugged the shirt off his left shoulder and turned to show it to the
room. She held her breath and waited for the room’s reaction to the gang
tattoo. She knew Loraine had seen it and probably Reno too when they were in
the Bahamas, but she didn’t know about the rest.

“His name is Angelo Cruz and he’s the leader of one of the
most notorious gangs in Argentina called
Fuego
del Infierno
, meaning Hell’s Fire. I was one of them until I turned
sixteen.”

The room was quiet, all staring wide eyes at Ruiz. Melody
was scared they would judge him, that Allan would try to separate them now that
he knew Ruiz’s shady past. She stepped closer to him just to show them where
her solidarity lay.

“This was before juvie?” Reno asked casually, surprising
Melody.

“Y-yes,” Ruiz answered clearly as surprised as she was.

“Never after?” Matthew asked.

Ruiz shook his head. “I was done when I was out at
twenty—once I hit eighteen they transferred me to a low security prison to
finish my sentence.”

Melody was taken aback. Prison? He spent two years in
prison? He never told her that part.

Allan smiled wearily. “There is very little that can be
hidden from me,” he looked at the two men at his side, “us when we go looking.
Reno wanted to wait for you to volunteer the information, but once you started
making googoo eyes at my sister and she made up a merger just to follow you to
the Bahamas, you gave up your rights to privacy. I needed to trust you,
especially after Anthony Torino.” He looked at Riana, who seemed to be coming
back to the here and now, with worry in his eyes.

“Jeb was the straw that broke my resolve.” Reno stepped
towards them. “I’ll apologize. You’re my brother and I should have trusted
you’d tell me when you were ready to completely open up to me.”

Ruiz shook his head. “No worries. I’m so glad you know. It
means I don’t have to go through telling it.”

“We don’t!” Loraine blurted out. “What? Oh come on! You’re
not the least bit curious about what makes him so dark, broody and sexy?”

“No,” the guys responded in unison.

Loraine rolled her eyes. “And we as your wives are happy to
hear that. But I was speaking to the ladies in the room—except Riana. Ruiz
featuring in your fantasies would just be wrong on so many levels. He’s Zorro
in mine. Mask, hat, cape and nothing else,” she finished with a wink at Ruiz.

Ruiz turned red as he stared at her wide eyed.

“Really, Loraine!” Riana rebuked.

“In mine he’s a soccer player with a mean samba. His hair as
long as it is now and not jelled back, he’s shirtless with a rose between his
teeth seducing me with his moves on the dance floor,” Amy said with a whimsical
sigh before she quickly turned to her husband and said. “No offense. If it
makes you feel better, I’ve fantasized about all of them, but never when we’re
having sex.”

His eyes narrowed till the crinkles at the sides stood out. “Thanks
for the reassurance love, I feel so much better.”

Melody had to bit her lips shut to keep from laughing.

“He’s a painter in mine, one who loves to paint on the roof
top during sunset and in the nude,” Jackie said, causing a few giggles and
laughs. “I may be old, but that doesn’t mean I’m dead.”

Ruiz only grew redder. He quickly shrugged his shirt back
over his shoulder hurriedly buttoning it up. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so
uncomfortable and under dressed in my life. I feel like I should be covering my
junk or something.”

That made everyone laugh even more. Melody was glad the
tension in room had reduced. It had become stifling. She took Ruiz’s hand in
hers and said, “He’s plain sexy Ruiz Albury to me.”

He looked at her with a wide grin. “Thanks babe.”

“That’s
because he’s the real deal to you, not a fantasy.” Then with a little
seriousness Loraine added, “What I’m trying to say is no one will judge you for
the person you used to be as a teenager because you’re not that man right now.
Otherwise you would already be in that shallow grave and I would have an
alibi.” She pointed to Allan with her thumb, shielding her mouth with her other
hand so that only Melody and Ruiz could see and pretended to whisper, “Now him,
not so much. Well, yes, but it would have been paid for.”

“Most
definitely!” Allan added with a smile.

Now that
everyone was a little relaxed thanks to Loraine, Melody asked the question that
she was sure was in everyone’s mind. “What do we do now?”

“Wait,”
Ruiz answered. “Angelo will be here soon. Allan, where’s your pose?”

Allan stretched his hand out to Riana. She went quickly to
him, tucking herself into his side. Allan wrapped his arms around her and said,
“Not mine. Dante’s. And they are picking off Angel’s men one by one right now.”

“Picking off? What do you mean?” Melody asked cautiously,
not sure she even wanted to know the answer.

“Restraining them…or more if need be.”

“I need to sit down,” Loraine muttered waddling slowly
towards the couch. Reno rushed to her, taking her arm and lowering her down on
the soft cushion. “This stress isn’t good for you.”

She glowered at him. “Nor is the porcelain doll treatment.
Now pay attention, Ruiz has a plan to get us all out of this mess.”

“And how would you know that?”

Loraine turned to look at Ruiz with pity. “Everyone who has
a living breathing ghost always has some kind of plan.”

She would know. Loraine’s plan had been to run as far as she
could get and she ran into Reno’s arms, but her ghosts found her and the end
wasn’t pretty. Melody was scared this particular ghost was going to make Ruiz’s
life hell before they were rid of him.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to drag any of you into my mess,”
Ruiz apologized with regret.

“Don’t apologize. It’s not just your past that has come to
haunt us,” Riana spoke, looking up to meet Allan’s gaze.

Their past, my present
,
Melody thought.

“So what’s the plan?” Matthew asked, taking Amy’s hand in
his as she hugged his arm to her chest.

“Find out what he wants then take it from there,” Ruiz
answered.

“That’s it? Zorro, I expected more from you.” Loraine
complained.

Melody smiled at that, but it froze on her lips when she
caught the meaningful looks Reno and Allan were exchanging before they both
turned to look at Ruiz. Something else was going on, something they weren’t
sharing.

The unexpected knock on the door made her jump.

“Show time.” Ruiz released her hand, took his jacket from
her and slid it on. “Jackie, please go sit with the children and lock the door.
If any one of them wakes up don’t let them out. Take the files with you and
make sure Jon Luc gets them when this is all over,” Ruiz ordered gently and
Jackie did as he asked.

She stopped at Melody’s side for a moment, kissed her cheek
and whispered “
Bon chance
,” before
she disappeared into the room behind them, the resounding click of the lock in
her aftermath.

“Ladies, sit down and act calm even though you don’t feel
it. Don’t sit together—Amy and Riana take the couch behind you, Melody join
Loraine on this one. Matthew, why don’t you pour them a drink, something
strong?”

Ruiz didn’t even look at her when he led her to the couch
and sat her down. His voice was calm and direct, absent of emotion. She’d never
heard him speak with complete and total detachment of emotion before and she
had to look at his face a few times to make sure it was him talking.

“Allan, Reno get yourselves a drink then stand by the
couches, your backs to the dining area but close enough that your legs are
partially shielded by the couches. Allan, make sure to stand in clear view of
the window.”

“Why?” Riana asked taking the shot glass Matthew handed her.

“Swallow it,” Matthew ordered. Riana looked at him
skeptically before she did and immediately winced. Then he handed her a flute
of champagne. Melody had had an open bottle sent up to celebrate the success of
the launch, now it felt like the last meal. Matthew repeated the process with
Amy and Melody. The whiskey was to settle their nerves she realized, but why
were they holding the flutes of champagne?

“Why?” Riana repeated.

“To give the illusion that Reno has a gun at his feet, ready
to pull it out if necessary. And since Allan is
the
Allan Sinclair ruthless international businessman billionaire, Angelo
won’t expect him to lower himself by getting his hands dirty. He has people for
that. So having Allan stand there with nothing between him and the floor to
ceiling window will have Angelo searching for a red dot.”

“What?” Amy echoed Melody’s confusion.

“Sniper,” Loraine answered. “He’s going to assume Allan has
a sniper looking over his shoulder, watching the room, especially if Angelo
knows the story with Anthony Torino and notices his men are missing.”

Ruiz nodded with a slight dangerous smile. “Been watching a
lot of gangster movies Loraine?”

“No, I just notice things faster than the normal human.
Years of being very observant about my surroundings.”

“And you Ruiz?” Melody blurted out.

He turned his hard gaze on her. For just a second, his eyes
softened before they were hard again. “I played gangster long enough to know
the ins and outs.” He turned away from her then. “Matthew, behind the couch,
but close to the liquor tray.”

“You’re staging us. All this is to provoke a certain
perception. And us, the wives sitting in the line of danger, is that supposed
to show your confidence that this will go down your way?” Amy asked anxiously.

Ruiz shook his head. “Only a fool would do that.”

“Then what is the point?” Matthew asked sounding agitated.
Melody didn’t blame him. He had cover to jump behind of, his wife didn’t.

“To tell him he’ll leave in a body bag if he tried anything
stupid tonight. The same reason he has my mother on his arm.”

“It’s a warning?”

“Or a sign of peace, it all depends on him. He won’t even
pay them much attention. I can assure you that he doesn’t believe in hurting
women—physically that is. It wouldn’t be an even fight because he sees them as
weaker. He just uses them as chess pieces and in the process—I won’t lie to
you—some of them end up severely traumatized.”

The knock came again, this time impatient.

Ruiz went to open the door, “Whatever you do, don’t show him
any weakness more than what we’ve already displayed—our wives.”

“Or you’re dead,” Melody finished the phrase she’d heard him
say to his image in the mirror a few weeks ago.

 
Showing weakness gets you dead.

He turned to her again, but this time the hardness didn’t
leave his eyes. He turned away from her and Melody moved to stand, but Loraine
pulled her back down and held her hand tight. She was beginning to wonder if
she was the only one scared out of her mind until Loraine’s tremulous smile
told her otherwise.

“Jon Luc, Dante. You’re late to the party. Mother, Angelo
and Anthony, I don’t remember inviting you up.” But even as he said the words,
he stepped aside and let them all in.