Romero

  She knew meeting with Michael alone would be bad enough in Romero’s eyes. Meeting him in his hotel room might be the final straw, but she had no choice. She’d never be able to live with herself if Romero had ruined his life because of her stupidity. She had to at least try to fix this.

  When she got to his room, she realized why he hadn’t wanted to be seen in public. She wondered why he would even want her to see him this way. His face was one giant raw wound. Her heart sunk. How in the world would she convince him to drop the charges? Every time he looks in the mirror, he must be cursing Romero.

  She couldn’t help herself and she brought her hands to her mouth. “Oh my God, Michael.”

  He smiled. That alone had to hurt. “I told you, it looks a lot worse than it really is.” He took a step back, opening the door even wider for her. “Come on in.”

  She walked into his room. The room service he told her he’d be ordering had already arrived. His suite had a front room and a small kitchenette. There was a tray of cheese and crackers on the coffee table. A bottle of champagne and two empty glasses sat on the counter of the kitchenette.

  Michael poured them each a glass and asked her to have a seat on the small sofa in the front room. He sat next to her but not too close. “So did you have anything in particular you wanted to talk to me about?”

  She couldn’t help staring at his banged up face. Both eyes were swollen and purple. The blood vessels in one of them had popped making the whites of that eye completely red and the other one had a big gash under it. His lip was ripped on one side and there was a knot on his forehead the size of a golf ball. As egotistical as he was, she still couldn’t understand why he would be okay with her seeing what her boyfriend had done to him. “Michael, I’m really sorry about last night.”

  “Oh no. I already told you. You didn’t do anything. He did, and he’ll get what’s coming to him.”

  Isabel bit her lip. “Did you see the paper this morning? They made a pretty big deal about it. And I saw it on the news. They were talking about how badly he’d beaten you.” So the last part was a lie. It hadn’t actually made the television news. Not that she knew of anyway. But it was working. She had his attention and he was frowning.

  “Really? I saw the paper but didn’t see the television reports.”

  “Yeah, and it wasn’t just the local news either. I guess because my father was there and someone got wind that it was his daughter’s boyfriend who had been arrested. I felt terrible when they kept repeating how bad your injuries were.” She took a sip of her champagne taking in his how rigid his expression had become. “The worst thing is my sister was telling me this will probably be all over the news at least until the election. My dad’s opponents will no doubt take the story and run with it. Making the Mayor’s daughter’s boyfriend out to be a monster who tore a poor Navy commander to shreds.”

  The rigid expression was now an all out scowl. “Is that what they said? The paramedics weren’t even called. I wonder where they’re getting their facts from.”

  “Probably the police report. I don’t know, or witnesses,” she sighed. “I can just see it now. The cameras and news crews will be there at every court appearance repeating the story over and over. This is a nightmare. My family is so upset with me about this.”

  He sat up straighter, visibly disconcerted. “They shouldn’t be angry with you, Isabel. You didn’t do anything.”

  “But they are, especially Pat. This may cost my dad the election. I only wish there was some way to fix this.”

  Michael stood up and brought the champagne bottle from the counter. He filled his glass and refreshed hers. She could see his mind was working then he changed the subject. “Can I ask you something?”

  She nodded cautiously. “Yes.”

  “Where’d you meet this guy?”

  “At a wedding shower.” She’d give him as little information about Romero as possible.

  “I don’t mean to be out of line here, but I don’t understand how someone as obviously intelligent as you could get involved with the likes of him.”

  Tempted to defend Romero, but knowing she was there to convince Michael she was now having second thoughts about him, she refrained. Instead she lied. “I really don’t know.” But she did throw in a jab. “I think maybe I was just taken in by his good looks and his tough guy persona. A lot of women are attracted to that.”

  Immediately, his face turned to stone. “Fighting dirty isn’t tough. It’s what cowards do.”

  “Fighting dirty?” Anger almost overtook Isabel but she caught herself. Even though she didn’t understand how a one-on-one fight with no weapons and no one else jumping in could be construed as dirty, she nodded. “You’re right. He is a coward.” It almost hurt to say it. Romero might be a lot of things, but a coward certainly wasn’t one of them.

  Seemingly content with her response, Michael’s expression morphed into a smile. “So does that mean you’ve made up your mind? You said you were considering breaking things off.”

  Isabel sipped her champagne. “I need to talk to him. I haven’t today at all. I’m still too upset about it.”

  “What’s there to talk about? The man is a raging monster. You saw him last night. He had no self-control. Don’t you ever worry that…” He stopped and his eyes opened a bit wider. “Has he ever gotten that way with you?”

  Isabel shook her head, but she was purposely unconvincing. “No.”

  “You sure? You aren’t lying to protect him. Are you Isabel?”

  “Can we talk about something else? I’m trying not to think about him today. That’s why I’m here.”

  Even with his face so messed up, Isabel was able to see the satisfied undertone of his smile. “I thought we’d made a connection on that first date your sister set up for us. That’s why I was so surprised when you didn’t call me back.”

  Isabel resisted rolling her eyes. So surprised. Really? Instead, she decided to stroke his ego. “When my sister started the whole set up, I still hadn’t met Romero. By the time it finally happened I was already seeing him. But believe me.” She lowered her eyes and smiled. “I was really tempted.”

  That puffed his chest a little. “I’m glad to hear it. When I saw you last night, my jaw nearly hit the floor. You looked even more amazing than I remembered. And trust me, you left quite an impression.”

  He told her about how he’d watched her most the night and how by the time she’d walked over to talk to Pat and Charles he was convinced that boyfriend or not, he should make a move. “Even though things turned out the way they did. I think I made a good call, because look who’s come to pay me a visit already?” He reached over and clinked his glass to hers. “Let’s eat. I put the shrimp cocktail in the fridge.”

  He stood up and went to fetch them. Isabel walked over to the small table by the kitchen. She used the time they ate to ask about his work and threw in a few questions about what his colleagues would think when they saw how badly he’d been injured. Each time she noticed how it irked him and he attempted to change the subject.

  Casually, she’d come back to the subject of his horrendous injuries, at times wincing when he spoke and she’d stare at the rip on the corner of his lip. A couple of times she asked if it hurt to eat or chew.

  Eventually she brought the conversation back to her father’s campaign. She hoped to plant the idea that dropping the charges would lessen the amount of airtime the story of her boyfriend beating him to a pulp got. But by her being so concerned about her father’s campaign, he could use the excuse that he was doing a noble thing for her and her father by letting it go. “I just hope the trial is a speedy one. Because you know, these campaigns can get vicious. And the media loves to milk these kinds of stories.” She shook her head. “My brother called this morning to tell me it’s already made the local news in Los Angeles.” Another white lie but she had her fingers crossed under the table.

  Michael wanted them to head back to the sofa in the living room for some more champag
ne after dinner, but she declined, saying she still had papers to grade and an early meeting in the morning. She was getting pretty good at lying. It was easy when the person didn’t know you well at all. She would never be able to look in Romero’s face and lie.

  He walked her to the door and thanked her for coming by, then touched her arm. “I really hope you decide to do the right thing and drop that loser. Your sister mentioned she was worried about you being with him, and after last night, I have to agree with her completely.” He came close to her face. “But that’s not my only reason, Isabel. I really would love to give us a chance.” He lowered his lips to hers but she turned her face and he kissed the corner of her mouth.

  “I’m technically still with him, Michael. It just doesn’t feel right.” She touched his lip with her finger. “Besides I wouldn’t want to hurt your lip. It’s ripped so bad.”

  He pressed his lips together and he saw the annoyance in his eyes. “I’m fine. I promise.” He ran a finger down her cheek. “But I really hope you do make that decision and soon.”

  She nodded. “I will. Good night, Michael. I’ll call you.”

  “I’ll be waiting.”

  Isabel smiled and turned away. Even though he hadn’t offered to drop the charges, she’d definitely been right about him hating the idea of the story being reported that he’d gotten his ass kicked. She felt evil giggling. How could he look in the mirror and still keep saying he hadn’t?

  It was late and she knew the mall closed early on Sundays but she was driving right by it and it was still ten minutes before they closed. She couldn’t help herself and turned in, parking by the entrance she knew was closest to Dan’s Jewels. Chances were Cici wasn’t even there, but Isabel just had to check.

  Her stomach churned as she walked in the mall entrance. She could see the jewelry store from the entrance. There was only one person behind the counter. She was young and blonde and busy arranging something on the counter so she didn’t look up. Though she couldn’t see her face one thing was for sure, she was well endowed. Certainly something that would garner extra tips at a topless bar.

  Isabel got closer but she didn’t plan on going in. She just wanted a good look. She wasn’t even sure this was Cici or not.

  A little boy ran past Isabel and into the jewelry store. “Mommy!”

  The girl looked up and Isabel could see she was young and damn it—attractive. Still, the little boy gave her hope that maybe this woman was married.

  “Cici!”

  Isabel’s head jerked to see tht another girl, a brunette just behind her was who had called out for Cici. She turned back to see that the blonde in the jewelry store was in fact Cici. She was looking straight at the brunette, but still running her fingers through her son’s hair.

  “I’m gonna run into Sears real quick before they close,” the brunette said. “Moe, come with me. Let Mommy finish up her work.”

  Isabel froze feeling the strangest numbness overtake her. Moe? Cici had a son named Moe? What were the odds? Is this what made her so different? She’d had his baby? But why wouldn’t he tell her he had a child? Romero had no secrets. It was one of the things she loved most about him most. He put it all out there. Like it or not—this is who I am. Moments passed before she realized she’d stopped in the middle of the mall and stood there as people walked around her.

  She began her slow walk back to the exit of the mall. Last night she’d decided to give Romero at least a week to cool down. If he hadn’t called or attempted to reach her by then, she’d call him. Now she wasn’t sure she’d be calling him at all. If in fact he did have a son with Cici, she wasn’t sure she could deal with him needing to continue his relationship with her. It was obviously a close one if it involved embraces that left her scent lingering on him for hours.

  CHAPTER 23

  Broken

  Four days—that’s how long it’d been since Romero had seen or talked to Isabel, and he was going crazy. Monday, Alex and Valerie had dropped by to pick up his laptop. He’d changed his mind about making things so final after only one day without her so he’d told Alex to only pick up his laptop—nothing else. But Valerie had called Isabel ahead of time, and she had all his things packed and ready for them when they got there. She asked Alex to come back when he had time to take down his plasma T.V. There was no question about it. She was done with him.

  Romero sat miserably, staking out a house where a client’s husband had entered over an hour earlier. The guy’s car still sat in the driveway. The house was being rented by two women. He knew that much from running the records on the house. He already had pictures of this guy with one of the women that lived here in all kinds of compromising situations. Ever since he’d picked up more employees, he usually left this work to them, choosing instead to be home with Isabel but all week he’d been out here every night. He had enough pictures of this guy to hang him dead with his wife. But still, he was out there getting more.

  He thought of Charles and the woman he saw him with at the restaurant. Was he really that stupid? His wife had been right upstairs. If Romero didn’t do this kind of shit for a living he might question that what he’d seen, maybe it wasn’t what it looked like. He’d forgotten all about it since then.

  It had been a hell of a week so far. Getting little to no sleep at all, mindlessly going about his days. Nothing mattered anymore. Not even when he got the call that morning from Nick to tell him the charges against him had been dropped. It should’ve been uplifting news—his uncles were happy enough. Yet, it didn’t even feel like it mattered. His life was still wretched.

  The only thing constantly on his mind was how the hell he was he going to survive without Isabel. It was just a matter of time before her fucking sister finally set her up with someone who interested her. Maybe she’d even give Jacob another shot—or worse—he squeezed the camera he held—she’d go out with Michael again.

  Sitting up straight, he felt that familiar heat inundate him. That same heat he had so little control over, especially when it involved Isabel. He took deep breaths and closed his eyes, counting down from ten. Just one of the stupid tips he’d read on the internet the other night on calming techniques. He’d learned from trying it earlier that he had to count super slow or he’d get down to one way before he was even remotely calm. He did what the article said. Identified what was causing the tension and removed it from his thoughts so that he could diffuse the issue.

  He smirked when he realized it was actually working. Finally, after several minutes of this, he felt calm enough to open his eyes. He opened them slowly, smiling triumphantly, then glanced over to the driveway only to see the car he’d been watching was gone. “Aww fuck!”

  Well, hell. He’d wasted all that time sitting there for nothing. He turned the car on and decided he had no choice but to call it a night.

  On the drive back to his uncles’ house, he got to thinking about Charles again. Maybe he could do a little digging and find out what he was up to. If anything, it would give him the satisfaction to know Pat’s husband was cheating on her. Who could blame the sap? He was stuck with her. Pat wasn’t ugly. In fact, irritatingly enough, she looked a lot like Isabel only she had shorter hair. But it was like in that movie Shallow Hal. Her personality was so nasty it made her ugly.

  His uncles were both still at the bar when he got home. Aida was in the kitchen cleaning up and closing it down, as she put it. Anyone who ate after she closed it down had better put their shit away or there would be hell to pay.

  He said hello to her as he walked through the kitchen into the hallway. He grabbed the laptop from his room and brought it out into the dining room. Some of the software he had should be illegal. It dug so deep into peoples’ private lives it was scary. He didn’t even need to know Charles’ last name. He typed in Isabel’s name taking a deep calming breath from just seeing her name. It immediately brought up all her next of kin, her extended family, even employers. He clicked on Pat’s name bringing up all her info and there it was.
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  Romero laughed when he saw Charles’ given name was actually Carlos Castro. He’d changed it to Charles years ago, no doubt because he thought it sounded more sophisticated. “Alright Carlos Castro, lets see what you’re up to.”

  He sat back to wait the few minutes to bring up Charles’ latest credit card activity. He had several but there was one in his name only from the same bank where he had an account in his name only as well. Always a revealing sign.

  Aida answered her phone in the kitchen and it immediately caught Romero’s attention. “What? Slow down, Manny. I can barely understand you.”

  Romero turned away from the laptop to listen.

  “Oh my God!” She shrieked. “Who shot him?”

  Romero jumped from his chair and rushed into the kitchen. Aida was already crying. She shoved the phone at Romero. “Max was shot!”

  “What?” Romero took the phone feeling his heart drop. “What happened?”

  “The bastards shot my little brother, Moe!” Manny sobbed.

  Hearing his uncle sob had Romero choking up. “Who did? Where? Is he still alive?”

  “I don’t know! I don’t know! The ambulance took him. I’m on my way to the hospital now.”

  Romero managed to get the hospital information from his hysterical uncle. He and Aida ran out the door and into his car. Aida tried to make some sense out of what Manny was still trying to tell her on the phone. “Tell him to just wait ‘til we get there. He’s hysterical enough, he shouldn’t be on the phone while he drives, too.”

  “Honey, we’re almost there. You can tell us when we get there. Okay? Just try to calm down.”