Page 56 of Royal Desire

Payne

Ruby lifts her hand and motions for another. “One more.”

I pour her another shot of tequila.

Her fourth.

I haven’t touched my bourbon since she changed her mind about the tequila. Ruby was right, I rarely drink. That shit has poisoned my life enough during my time on earth. What she doesn’t know is it almost got me after she left. I have Dean to thank for kicking my ass one dark night when he was home on leave. It was exactly what I needed. I was too wasted to fight back, though it wasn’t for a lack of effort. He said he’d never seen anyone who was set up for life be so miserable. Then he told me to get my head out of my ass and deal.

Deal.

Dean was right. And I fucking hate it when Dean is right.

“No more.” I put the top shelf tequila away as Ruby’s face screws up when she sucks on a lime. “At least not until you tell me everything.”

She leans forward, and her head falls to her hands. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

I move around the coffee table, slide the tea set to the side, and plant my ass in front of her. “Start by telling me who this Enzo fuckwad is. Then move on to why you’re so desperate to get away from him that you did the unthinkable and returned to a place you’ve been desperate to avoid for over a decade.”

She sits up and glares at me through swollen blue eyes. “Not everything is about you.”

“When it comes to you not being anywhere near here, it is about me, and you know it.”

She rolls her eyes and huffs an exhausted breath. “Well, this time it’s not. It’s about me and doing everything I can to stay alive.”

I narrow my eyes. “Give it to me straight—is that you being dramatic or is that true?”

My question doesn’t faze her. “Oh, this is as dramatic as it comes, but it’s not me blowing anything out of proportion. I wasn’t living the high life in New York, but I did have a life. When I found myself thrust into the scariest situation possible, I had no choice but to leave. And now you’re telling me Enzo Caruso knows where I am.” She sits back on the sofa and tucks her bare feet under her, not caring how far it hikes up her dress. “You’re the one demanding information, but I want to know how you know about the Carusos in the first place.”

“We’ll get to that after you tell me how you got involved with the New York Mafia.” There’s no way I can tell her I hired a private investigator to look into her. I’ll save that for another day ... or decade.

Her defenses go up in an instant. “I didn’t get involved with the Mafia. They got involved with me. When I took a job singing at the club, I had no idea it had ties to them. It had a good reputation for paying well, and I heard the clientele were big tippers. I was trying to make a living. I never asked for that kind of attention—especially from Enzo. When I realized what was going on and who he was, I did everything I could to cut ties. But apparently, you don’t just cut ties when it comes to the Carusos.”

Ruby isn’t unlike any of my clients who found themselves in need of a defense attorney, but she still hasn’t told me anything I don’t already know. I know how to pry information from people.

Even though the thought of her with anyone but me makes me fucking crazy, I put the assumption out there to see how she reacts. “So you were dating Enzo Caruso but didn’t know he was in the Mafia?”

“No.” She throws her defenses up and gives me the palm of her hand. “No way. I never dated him.”

I breathe an internal sigh of relief. Thank God for that. “Are you going to make me guess or beg?”

She slumps back into the sofa again and pulls a pillow to her chest. “I sang at his bar for a few months. Like I said, I had no idea who he was, but he started talking to me between sets. Then he asked me out. I did my best to put him off. I gave him the old it’s not you, it’s me line. That I don’t mix work and pleasure. I even lied and told him I had a boyfriend. Then do you know what he did? He had someone investigate me. How creepy is that?”

“Yeah, creepy,” I mutter and vow to put aside the conversation of paying Pettit to dig into Ruby’s past forever. I’m officially taking that bit of information to the grave. “No wonder you hate him.”

“When Enzo found out I was single, he wouldn’t take no for an answer. It didn’t matter what I did, he wouldn’t stop. His advances became frightening. Then he made sure I couldn’t relent. He blackmailed me. But I don’t care what he held over my head or what he thought he could force me to do—there is no way on this earth I am going to marry Enzo Caruso.”

Every muscle in my body constricts. “He blackmailed you into marrying him?”

“He tried.” Her eyes fall shut, and she drags her hands through her hair. She shakes her head like she’s trying to ward off a nightmare that returns in her dreams over and over again. Her tone becomes hushed when she opens her eyes. I’ve never seen her like this. Not even after her mom left and she fell into a depression I had no idea how to deal with as a thirteen-year-old. “He framed me for something awful. And he’s really good at what he does—scary good. When he laid out my options, it was to marry him and accept his protection for life or go to prison for something I did not do.”

Pettit’s investigation didn’t uncover any of this.

“How bad can it be? If you didn’t do it, you didn’t do it. Hell, I spent years as a defense attorney. Despite what most people think, most of my clients were innocent. I made sure the judge and jury knew it.”

I wonder if the tequila is starting to take effect. Her words flow free and clear. “I wish it were that simple. Since I met him, I’ve learned that Enzo doesn’t cut corners. When he does something, it’s solid. When I realized what he did, I thought I had an out of body experience and really was guilty. That’s how solid his evidence looked.”

I give in to every urge in my body and shift to the sofa next to her. I pluck the pillow she’s gripping like a lifeline, toss it to the side, and pull her across my lap. She comes willingly, which makes my heart swell. When I take her hand in mine and lean into her space so close, I could easily kiss her again. “What could he have on you that’s so bad that you can’t defend yourself? Or even better, have me defend you?”