Twisted Lies 2

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Twisted Lies

Breaking the Storm

When Lightning Strikes

Infinity

Infinity Unleashed

Coming Late 2015

Twisted Lies 3

Reason to Love (Credence Curse, Book 3)

TWISTED LIES 2

A Dirty Secrets Novel

SEDONA VENEZ

www.sedonavenez.com

One Wish Publishing

Copyright © 2015 by T.L. Clarke

All rights reserved.

First Edition: May 2015

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual
persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely
coincidental.

No part of this work may be reproduced, scanned, or
distributed in any printed or electronic form.

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave. When first we
practice to deceive!”

—Sir Walter Scott

Pushing aside the contracts on my desk, I
absently traced the scar across my brow while staring at the
Manhattan skyline. My mother’s killer was New York City’s mayoral
hopeful Bigsby Calhoune—and I wanted him dead. But killing him fast
would be too easy. I planned to ruin him, stripping away everything
he held dear—his wealth, his trophy fiancée, his political career,
and his freedom.

Bigsby was a dirty criminal underneath his
slick, cleaned-up politician veneer. He might have a new identity
and life, but he was still the power-hungry thug who had killed my
mother and left me to die.

“He’s going to pay for what he did,” I
hissed.

Bigsby was unfinished business, business I’d
been waiting to resolve for far too many years. I had thought of
nothing but revenge. It’d consumed me. Just thinking about the
night when the unknown assailant wearing a ruby and
diamond-encrusted horseshoe gold ring had shot my mother and left
me choking on my own blood fueled my hate fire. My mother had died,
but I survived.

I’d finally found the owner of the
ring—Bigsby.
What are the odds of that?
I had been searching
for that ring for years, and it was right under my nose.

But what’s Sinthia’s connection to
Bigsby?

It was something I was determined to find
out. It hadn’t taken Kevin long to do a thorough investigation, but
he hadn’t found anything linking Bigsby to her. However, Kevin had
dug up some interesting intel about Bigsby looking into Sinthia
Michaels’s business. If Bigsby was interested in Sinthia, there had
to be a sinister motive, which was why I needed to acquire her
business fast. Kevin had searched through her background again,
looking for anything that could be used as leverage. Surprisingly,
Sinthia was squeaky clean and free of scandal. Frustrated and
running out of time and options, I had found a chink in her
armor—money.

She required money, and I had lots of
it.

That was when I’d swooped in with the
assistance of her friend Tabitha Thorp, who had helped me get close
to Sinthia. Tabitha had convinced Sinthia of the value of getting
an investor—specifically, me—to help her expand her business.

I leaned back in my chair, smiling coldly.
Now Bigsby would have to deal directly with me.

My jaw tightened as I glanced impatiently at
the watch adorning my wrist.
What the hell is taking her so damn
long?
Sinthia should have arrived fifteen minutes ago.

I’d give her five more minutes before
hopping into my car and driving over to her house to lay down my
number one ground rule. When I called, she’d drop what the fuck she
was doing and haul her sexy ass to my designated destination or
there would be hell to pay.

Ram, my business partner and friend, opened
my door and stepped into the office. “Security just informed Fiona
that Sinthia Michaels is on her way up.” He strode in, closing the
door behind him.

I sat forward. “She was supposed to be here
fifteen minutes ago!” The words rushed from my mouth like an angry
roar.

Ram arched one dark eyebrow. “What the fuck
is up with you?” Sitting down in a chair, he propped his feet on my
desk, much to my chagrin. “You need to relax, Core. If you bark at
her like that, you’ll send her ass running out of here, fucking up
our plans.”

“Do I look like I give a shit?” I retorted,
eyeing him coolly.

Ram looked at me as if hinting at something.
“Yes, you do,” he replied so calmly it raised my ire.

My temper flared. “I don’t give a shit about
her!” I snarled.

Ram grinned like the idiot he was. “Yeah,
okay.”

I pressed on the bridge of my nose and took
a deep breath, pissed that I’d been intrigued by her since the
night we met at my club. I’d spent the last couple of days
semi-aroused, and it was fucking with my head. The nights were
fucking worse, and more than once, I’d woken to a raging hard-on
with her name on my damn lips.

It was a real fucked-up predicament. I had
no business thinking that way about a woman I was using as
bait.

Sinthia was an addictive distraction.

Ram loudly cleared his throat. “Kevin showed
me a photo of her. Damn, she’s smoking hot.” He grinned, leaning
back in the chair. “Tell you what. I’m more than willing to take
her into my office and show her we mean business… kinky business.”
He suggestively wiggled his brows. “I wonder if she’s into
handcuffs.” He pursed his lips. “Shit, I would love to bend her
over my desk, cuff her, and frisk that ass like she’s under—”

I put my hand over my face, sighing loudly,
and Ram stopped.

But when I looked up again, I had a wicked
smile on my face. “You’re fucking crazy.” I laughed. “But you
always know how to calm me down.”

“That’s what friends do,” Ram said.

Ram was more than my best friend. He was the
brother I never had and the only one I trusted besides Max and
Rocco, my enforcers, who roughed up my enemies and kept my business
associates in line. And Kevin, who handled the financing and
accounting for all of my businesses and my private intelligence
gathering efforts. Ram and I had been through hell and back
together. Rising quickly in the world of organized crime, we’d
built our empire from the bottom. There were times when I’d thought
we’d never make it out alive, but we had. We’d decriminalized our
business and turned our lives around.

“Okay, so how do you want to handle this
meeting? Good cop/bad cop scenario?” Ram asked quietly.

I took a deep breath and let it out. “No,
I’m going solo with this meeting.”

Ram gaped at me. “What the fuck do you mean,
solo
?”

For the first time in my life, I opened my
mouth and nothing came out.

Ram’s eyes widened. “You want to fuck her?”
he asked, shaking his head. “I can’t believe it.”

I grimaced as the knots in my stomach grew.
It took me a good minute or two before I finally managed to get my
thoughts together. I gritted my teeth. “Sinthia Michaels is all
business, and I’m willing to destroy her business in order to take
down Bigsby,” I retorted.

I needed Sinthia Michaels as bait, and if
that meant she might become a casualty in my war against Bigsby,
then so be it.

“Uh-huh.” Ram’s gaze held a hint of
amusement. “We’ve been friends for a long time. I’ve learned to
read you like a book. You want her.”

I leaned back. “I don’t need the
complication.” My life was difficult enough, and I didn’t need any
distractions, especially now that I’d found my mother’s killer.
Besides, I wasn’t relationship material and I never would be. I’d
fuck women and then show them the door.

Ram’s lips twitched. “Yeah, well, that’s a
damn relief.” He pointedly looked at me. “I would hate to have you
complicate this mission by fucking her.”

Damn.
Little did Ram know, shit was
already complicated between Sinthia and me.

The phone on my desk rang twice, signaling
that Sinthia was waiting to be guided into my office. Excitement
raced through my veins as if I were some high schooler waiting for
my prom date.

Damn. What the hell is wrong with me?

Annoyed, I glared at him, my patience gone.
“Just escort her in.”

Shooting to his feet, Ram gave me a mock
salute. “Aye-aye, fearless leader. Let me get my game face on,
showing Ms. Michaels that I—” He grinned slightly. “I mean
we
mean business.”

I snorted before turning my swivel chair
around to face the window. I stood up and clasped my hands behind
my back, staring at the Manhattan skyline.

I heard the huge office door open.

Ram coldly greeted Sinthia. “Please come in,
Ms. Michaels. Mr. McKay is waiting.”

“What’s going on?” she asked.

There was utter silence.

“I asked you a question, Mr. Steele,” she
snapped.

Ram heaved a long-suffering sigh. “Ms.
Michaels, a word of advice—if I were you, I would play nice with
him. He’s in a real fucked-up mood today,” he said, his voice
clipped, before closing the door with a decisive click.

The soft tapping of heels against the
Carrera marble floor alerted me to her approach.

“Sinthia Michaels,” I said in a low-pitched
voice, “have you brought my money?”

There was a slight pause before she
responded, “Money? What money?”

I turned from the window and looked straight
at her. My mouth went dry. Lust slithered through my body. Sinthia
Michaels was sexy as hell, wearing skintight leather leggings that
accentuated her voluptuous curves and a body-hugging black T-shirt
that dipped in the front to reveal her tempting full cleavage. My
hands could probably span her tiny waist.

Sinthia squared her shoulders as if daring
me to say something negative about her attire. She wouldn’t get any
flak from me. I thought she looked smoking hot.

“You’re Core McKay?” She took a step
forward, her stare blazing with rage.

My stare was unrelenting. Sinthia was
absolutely gorgeous. She wore her hair pulled back into a tight
ponytail, emphasizing her high cheekbones, bow-shaped full lips,
and tip-tilted nose. I felt a strange stab of longing deep inside,
a strong magnetic pull I hadn’t felt about anyone since Maya’s
death. That loss had devastated me both mentally and emotionally,
and it was the reason I’d stayed single and kept my relationships
brief with no strings attached.

“Good to see you again, Ms. Michaels.” My
booming deep voice resonated throughout the office. “Have a seat.
We have a lot to discuss.” I pointed to the chair nestled in front
of my desk.

She bit her lip as my eyes traveled from the
top of her head down her curvy body. Sinthia hesitated, her gaze
locking with mine. For a moment, I believed she’d stand her ground,
but in an abrupt movement, she conceded, taking a seat.

“Fine.” She lifted her shoulders in a shrug.
“Listen, I’m going to cut to the fucking chase,” she said. “Why the
fuck am I here?”

I regarded her for a long time and then sat
in the chair behind my mammoth desk. Sinthia shifted, and her
jasmine scent wafted into my nostrils, making me want to bury my
face against her neck. My cock stirred and stiffened against my
pants.

Shit.
I had to get over my undeniable
attraction to her and fast.

I smoothed the sleeves of my tailored shirt
before running a hand through my hair. “Unfortunately, some
disturbing information has recently come to my attention, and it
makes me question your ability to make me a profit.” My words were
civil, but my eyes were hard as granite, letting her know right
away that I was in charge.

In a gesture of defiance, she raised her
chin and met my eyes. “No offense, Mr. McKay, but my business deal
is with MK Partners.” Fire flashed from the depths of her hazel
eyes.

If looks could kill, I was sure I’d be
dead.

I smirked. Just like I’d thought, Sinthia
was a fighter, but she was sadly mistaken if she thought she’d win
against me. No one did.

Her eyes widened, her mouth forming a
perfect O, when the reality of the situation dawned on her.

“Yes, Ms. Michaels, MK Partners is my
investment company,” I drawled.

She shook her head. “While that might be
true, our agreement was not a loan. I would never take a loan from
a man like you.”