18. The Irs Is The Real Mafia
18
THE IRS IS THE REAL MAFIA
Dahlia
The Present
New York City
S pecial Agent Morales produces a lighter and I angle my head forward so the end of my cigarette catches fire. When it does, I lean against the wall behind me and inhale. Smoke fills my lungs and a burning, prickling sensation spreads throughout my chest and throat. I hold on as long as my body will let me before exhaling and repeating the process, wondering if this is what it feels like to die in a fire.
A burning sensation like the flames of Hell spreading across your lungs before eventually subsiding to a mind tingling numbness, almost dizzying and pleasant as it reaches your head and limbs. The urge to close one’s eyes and fall asleep takes over, not realizing the sleep they’re being pulled under is an eternal one.
“How bad is it?” I ask him.
He looks both ways but no one’s paying attention to us, especially not tonight. Li brought in a famous European DJ to play for the coming weeks and tonight’s his first event. Nearly a hundred bodies are all crammed onto the dance floor, jumping, screaming, and gyrating their hips against strangers while the waiters hand out champagne bottles at an alarming pace. A couple in a corner do lines off the back of a silver tray and a group of women somewhere in their late twenties and dressed for a bachelorette party hand out tiny, round pills.
Morales turns a blind eye to most of it. He knows how to pick and choose his battles. Amy’s death was personal and he won’t risk his investigation, which is technically being conducted without his supervisor’s knowledge. As for Li, he considers Morales a necessary evil; not quite crooked but not necessarily clean either. Someone he can use when the occasion calls for but is still kept at arm’s length. If I’m honest, I don’t quite understand their strange dynamic and doubt I ever well. Rian’s wary around Morales and doesn’t understand how Li can allow an FBI agent to come and go from his club like this.
For my part, I know how to mind my own business. Something tells me if I dig any further, I won’t like the answer.
“Worse than we thought but not as bad as it could be.”
I flick my cigarette to get rid of the building ash at the end. “All right. Hit me with it.”
“You were right—his operation goes much deeper than drug manufacturing. He’s been committing fraud for the last five years, inflating the worth of his legitimate enterprises in order to secure multi-million-dollar bank loans.”
“Cooking the books,” I blow smoke between my lips. “How original.”
“This is serious, Dahlia. He’s evaded the DEA because he’s good at covering his tracks but there’s a paper trail for the bank fraud. Not to mention the fact he hasn’t paid taxes in almost a decade.”
I’m not sure why but this draws a laugh from me. “Never fuck with the IRS. They’re the real mafia.”
Morales rolls his eyes but doesn’t say anything.
“I found a few things out too.” My cigarette is on its last life so I drop the bud at my feet and put it out with the tip of my Manolo Blahnik’s. “Alejandro’s selling his shares in Li’s company to Sasha Antonov.”
He frowns. “Rian’s brother, Sasha?”
“Half brother and yes. Something’s going on there. It makes me suspicious.”
“Has the sale gone through yet?”
“I don’t know. Why?”
“Narvaez Enterprises is a majority stakeholder in Li’s shipping company—the one he uses as a front to smuggle things from China. They were looking to buy him out last summer.”
“I remember. It’s how I got pulled into all of this in the first place. Li was setting up Narvaez Enterprises to take the fall in the event he got caught.”
Alejandro holds American citizenship which means under the principle of extraterritorial jurisdiction, he can be prosecuted here, regardless of where his crimes were committed—of which there are many. And if those crimes include Li’s drug trafficking ring, the federal government gets involved. The consequences of such are unfathomable. While I don’t doubt Alejandro’s ability to evade the law like a Teflon Don, no one can predict the outcome of a trial like that. If he goes down, he could potentially take the entire company with him.
Morales got close to me because I was close to Li’s social circle through my friendship with Damiano. His ultimate goal was to get to Li whom he blames for his former partner’s death. When I eventually put the pieces together myself and figured out how Alejandro’s family’s company was connected to Li, I knew I had to do something.
I got closer to Rian whom I’d previously paid little attention to, especially since I’d hooked up with his brother Sasha before and the two of them don’t get along. However, my getting close to find intel didn’t exactly work out the way I planned and what I developed with Rian became real.
“Here’s the thing…” Morales draws his bottom lip between his teeth, deep in thought. “I don’t think Huang’s trying to set up Narvaez. I think he’s going after O’Neil.”
My head whips around. A beat passes before I’m able to find my voice. “ What ?”
“Did you know Huang has almost everything under O’Neil’s name?”
“I’m not surprised. The DEA almost took him down a few years ago. In order to start over, he needed to conduct business under someone else. Rian’s his childhood best friend and they’ve worked together for years.”
“Don’t you find it suspicious though? Why O’Neil?” he asks. “Huang has family whose identities he could’ve worked under. Two sisters and cousins in Shanghai. The Empress’s lease is under O’Neil’s name, all the warehouses and factories he owns are also under O’Neil?—”
“Well, Rian must’ve sold them to him.”
“A bunch of empty plots of land out in Midwestern states most Americans don’t even know exist?” Morales makes a face as if to shame my naivety. “I know you’re smarter than that.”
“Why would Li set up Rian? They’re like brothers.” I shake my head. “No. I can’t believe he’d do that. He’s a lot of things but Li’s loyal. Especially to Rian.”
“Answer me this then—why’s he allowing Narvaez to sell his shares to Antonov knowing the half brothers can’t stand each other?”
“Because Alejandro has a controlling stake in the company and he can?”
Morales cracks a smile. “He does in the shipping company. Not Huang’s LLC.”
“You lost me.”
“Huang owns the shipping company and has a separate LLC under which he conducts his legitimate business. Narvaez has a controlling stake in the shipping company but his shares in the LLC don’t hold as much weight as Huang’s. They would’ve had to put the sale up to a vote.”
Realization dawns on me. “There was a meeting—between Alex, Rian, Li, Sasha, and Damiano.”
Morales gives a nonchalant shrug. “Makes sense. They’re not the only shareholders but between them, they hold a majority of the voting power.”
“This is beginning to get a little more complicated than I can understand,” I say.
“It’s all right. Do me a favor, figure out how the vote went and where everyone stands. In the meantime, I’m going to find out what’s going on with Huang’s shipping business. If Narvaez is selling his stake in the LLC, I suspect it’s because he intends on severing all ties with Huang.”
Morales leaves and I debate lighting another cigarette to calm my nerves but decide against it.
No use smoking myself into a stupor. A fire wasn’t enough to kill me and it’s unlikely a bunch of herbal cigarettes will.
Alejandro
“ H ow long have you suspected Li was up to something?”
Sasha Antonov runs his tongue over his teeth as the muscles in his jaw tense. He finishes the last of his vodka and sets the empty glass down on the bar. “Since before the holidays.”
“And you think he’s setting up Rian to take the fall?”
“I’m not sure. What I do know is if my brother is at risk, I’m obligated to step in.”
“I wasn’t aware the two of you were close,” I quip.
“Blood is blood, is it not? Your father’s bastard is your righthand,” he replies smoothly. “Besides, there’s our mother to think about. I don’t want to see her in pain any more than Rian does which means we have to tolerate each other.” I quirk a brow at him. Sasha makes a flagrant gesture with his hand. “At least until she’s dead.”
“I’m deeply touched by such a warm display of brotherly love.” I finish my drink and leave the empty glass next to his on the counter. “I know Li’s reasons for approving the sale of my share in his LLC. Fifteen percent is still a considerate amount of control. What I don’t understand is why Vellucci was on board.”
“Vellucci is a family man. He thinks it’ll force Rian and me to play nice. I promise it wasn’t malicious on his part.”
“And Li?”
“Li decided to choose between the lesser of two evils. Narvaez Enterprises would’ve swallowed him whole last year if Rian hadn’t swooped in and bought you out of Li’s shipping company. He also knows you could take control of his legitimate enterprises if you were so inclined so he figures the half brother of his closest friend is safer than his competition.”
“What do you gain from the purchase?” I ask out of curiosity.
“I please my mother by protecting her son with the added bonus of pissing off brother dearest. Two birds, one stone.” Sasha examines me a moment as if something just occurred to him. “And you? What’s your motive to sell?”
This time it’s me who’s grinding their teeth. “Rian pissed me off.”
Sasha’s mouth splits into a razor-sharp smile. “Ah…malen’kiy tsvetok.”
“What?”
“The little flower who adorns my brother’s side. I’d heard rumors you and Dahlia Rosario were… previously involved .” He lifts his shoulder. “Personally, I don’t believe in fighting over women but even I can admit to having my hat in the ring at one point.”
I get up from the table and start for the exit. Sasha chuckles and follows close behind.
“Has she made it through all of fucking Manhattan in a year? Jesus.”
“It’s impressive,” Sasha remarks, his accent caressing each word. “I can’t help but admire her for it.”
As much as I hate to admit it, he’s right. The relationships and connections she’s managed to acquire in just a year are impressive. Personally, I couldn’t care less about how many men a woman does or doesn’t sleep with. The concept of shaming women for sex has never made sense to me.
What gets under my fucking skin is knowing my Dahlia, who belongs with me , isn’t. Instead, she’s spent the last year conquering the city to get on my nerves. I don’t know what’s worse. Her being with other people to spite me or being with someone because she’s actually in love. Both thoughts make me murderous.
“Is Rian in tonight?”
Before Sasha can answer my question, we step out onto the main floor of The Empress, having just come from one of the downstairs conference rooms. The first thing our eyes land on is Dahlia—it’s impossible to miss her, seeing as how she’s the only one dancing on the bar .
Sasha says, “Ecstasy.”
I whip around. “ What ?”
“Ecstasy,” he repeats. “She only dances like that when she’s on something.”
“Wh—” I stop myself. “She?—”
I can’t formulate a sentence.
Dahlia’s standing on the bar in a strapless red mini dress and the fringes and sequin move with the sway of her hips. The bartender fills a shot glass with tequila and holds it by the bottom with his mouth. Tilting his head back, he waits for Dahlia to reach down and grab the rim by her teeth. She flicks her chin back and downs the shot before tossing the empty glass into the crowd of onlookers at her feet.
Her hair is wild and long, the waves tightening into loose curls past her shoulders. It’s been an adjustment seeing her without the red hair and while she isn’t any less striking without it, I’ve found it to be a distinctly different kind of beauty. Not my Dahlia; someone else entirely.
The dress clings to her body like a second skin, worshipping every dip and curve while the strapless design draws attention to her perfect cleavage and tan shoulders speckled with glitter. She dances and laughs and a man waves at her, gesturing for her to lean down. She does and he takes her hand to steady her while he whispers in her ear. They must know each other because she throws her head back and laughs before giving him a chaste peck on the cheek. Deciding she’s had her fill of bar top dancing, she sits on the edge while the man orders her another shot. They clank glasses and drink together.
Another man comes to join them and by the scrunch of Dahlia’s nose I can tell she isn’t in the mood to entertain him.
Dahlia hops off the bar and goes to leave but the man grabs her arm and spins her around. The second he lays a hand on her, I’m cutting through the crowd, struggling to make my way through such a dense mass of bodies. Once more, Dahlia tries to leave and the man, presumably drunk and slurring, stumbles into one of the bar chairs and gropes her from behind.
This time when Dahlia turns around, she grabs the man by the back of his neck and sends him face first through the glass countertop. All Hell breaks loose when the man lets out a bone chilling scream as he clutches his face, attempting and failing to pull the shards of glass out from his cheeks. By the time I finally reach the bar, Li and Dahlia are toe to toe, ready to come to blows. She yells something I can’t quite make out over the booming music and Li responds just as sharply. He lifts his hand as if to grab her, but I catch his wrist from behind and spin him around.
Li is ready to pounce but I pin him in place with a menacing stare.
“ Don’t .”
In rare form, Li’s cheeks are flushed with heat, his eyes wide and black, almost flustered. He tugs on his blazer in a last-minute attempt to adjust himself as he says, “Get her the fuck out of my club.”
“Gladly.”
“I’m not going anywhere!” Dahlia fires back and turns to Li. “If you ever lay a hand on me again, I swear to God!”
This woman .
“All right,” I grab her purse from off the bar and bend down, wrapping my arm around the backs of her thighs. “Let’s go.”
“I’ll kick your fucking ?—”
Dahlia yelps as I throw her over my shoulder.
“ Alex! ”
“Do yourself a favor, Dahlia, and shut up .”
Dahlia
“ I s this how you spend your time now?”
I simmer in my seat, arms crossed over my chest as Alejandro continues his rant.
“Getting high off your fucking ass with a bunch of degenerates at Li’s?” He glances at me but the light changes and he hits the gas, racing up Madison Avenue at a speed that’s sure to get us arrested. “Since when, Dahlia, quiero saber.”
I ignore him. There’s no use in arguing and my head is pounding.
“Li Huang isn’t someone to make an enemy of, and Rian most certainly isn’t going to protect you from him.”
Leave it up to Alejandro to know just where to poke.
“What the fuck do you know about it?” I snap at him. “Last time I checked, none of Rian’s cousins trapped me in a burning building ?—”
Alejandro stomps on the breaks, sending me flying into the dashboard. I extend my hands in time to catch myself but my finger burns. When I pull my hand back, I realize my pinky nail cracked.
“ Asshole !” I tell him. “I broke a fucking nail.”
Alejandro puts the car in park and only now do I realize we’re right outside my house. A miracle there’s parking at this time, then again, there’s a fire hydrant where I am and most people give this spot a wide berth. The traffic cop in our area hands out tickets like free money.
“If Li had laid a hand on you tonight, I would’ve had to kill him. And if I killed him, you’d have gotten me into a world of shit so please, for my sanity, stay away from The Empress.”
“What were you doing there anyway? Stalking me?”
“First of all, I own part of The Empress. So if anyone has any business being there, it’s me .”
I clamp my mouth shut.
“Second, you shouldn’t have been there in the first place.”
“And where exactly should I be, according to you? Back in Barcelona being a little housewife?” I retort. “I’m twenty-four years old, Alejandro. I belong in the club !”
“Unchaperoned, surrounded by a bunch of criminals?”
I can’t take it anymore. I start screaming . “ What the fuck is wrong with you ?”
He startles at my outburst and blinks, staring silently as if I’ve grown a second head.
“Do you listen to half the shit that comes out of your mouth? Do you realize how asinine you sound?” Desperation claws its way up my throat. My ears are ringing and my lungs expand beyond the capacity of my ribcage and my bones crack in an effort to contain them. “I’m an adult. An adult . I don’t need a babysitter or a chaperone and I sure as Hell don’t need you to look after me. Especially considering the fact that the only times my life has ever been in danger were the years I spent with you .”
I jab my finger into his shoulder and it feels so good that I punch him instead.
“Leave me alone. I don’t want you. I don’t love you. I want you to disappear and never come back, do you understand? We’re done! It’s over between us. How many times do I have to repeat myself before you finally get it? It’s driving me fucking crazy. I sound like a God damned broken record. This is my life now, Alejandro. Look around you; I have a new home and a new boyfriend and new friends. An entire life you aren’t a part of. Don’t you see? You’re in the past for me. I’ve moved on.”
He studies me for so long, time loses all meaning.
When he finally manages to speak, all the air gets sucked out of the small space between us.
“This isn’t over. It’ll never be over.”
“You’re delusional.”
“I’m not,” he says and the finality with which he speaks contrasts with the heavy sorrow turning his otherwise hazel eyes nearly black. “Your hand.”
I frown and before I can ask what he means, he touches my wrist and I realize my hand is on his arm. I try to yank it away but he takes hold, intertwining his fingers with mine until the scars on his palms brush against mine.
“You don’t even realize it, do you? All the times you touch me and the way your hand lingers when you do.” His brows furrow slightly as his eyes sweep over my features and a blush creeps its way up my neck. This time when I pull away he lets me but only because his freehand skims over my arm and across my shoulder. His fingers glide up the column of my neck where his thumb grazes my chin. “I enter a room and I feel the weight of your gaze. It burns into me, through me, until I can’t help but look back. Do you think I can’t hear how quickly your heart is racing? Think I can’t feel the heat under your skin when I touch you?”
This time his hand moves across my collarbone before his open palm spreads across my chest. My heart trips and stammers in response and I hold my breath, praying my body won’t betray me anymore than it already has. But his hand moves again, traveling up, up, up, wrapping around my neck and cupping my jaw.
“Keep telling yourself it’s over, Dahlia. And I’ll show you all the ways in which it’s not.”
Traitor , I think.
His grip around my neck tightens as he pulls me forward and I follow.
Traitor .
He kisses the corner of my mouth. Along my jaw.
Traitor, traitor, traitor .
My own body is a traitor.
I clench my hands into fists and keep them on my lap. My nails dig into my palms and no matter how badly they sting I don’t stop. He continues to leave a trail of feather like kisses around my face and I don’t move, don’t breathe. When he’s done, I’ll send him to Hell and run into my house where I can lock all the doors and finally, hopefully, keep him out for good.
But then he pulls away and his lips brush against mine as he speaks.
“ Dahlia .”
It’s my undoing.
He says it without burden or weight, as if it is the lightest, loveliest sound to have ever caressed a person’s lips. I linger on every letter, every syllable. The word melts into my skin, past flesh and bone, and fills all the cracks and holes our separation left behind.
He says my name the way he did when he still loved me. He says my name in the way I’ve yearned to hear for so long I almost forgot what it sounded like.
Our mouths collide with force and urgency and somehow, I manage to unbuckle my seat belt and climb across the console. He pushes my coat off my shoulders as I settle onto his lap. He kisses down the length of my neck while I reach forward to recline the seat. It’s messy and uncoordinated, trying to undress in a space so small with a man so big. My dress is short enough for him to push it up my thighs with ease but I struggle with his coat and suit jacket, so many layers making it nearly impossible for me to reach his belt.
He brings his mouth to mine again and my lips part to let him in. I kiss him deeply, so deeply, until we’re dizzy and breathless. He cups the back of my neck and holds me against him, fighting for dominance, but the insistent thrust of my tongue forces him to cede control. Being touched by him is the high I’ve been chasing for the last year but never been able to recreate. It’s as sweet and intoxicating as I remember; more so when his rough palms glide across the smooth skin of my thighs. With the tip of his finger, he touches the apex of my thigh, tracing soft, maddening circles, always remaining within centimeters of where I really want him.
His touches are careful and delicate, meanwhile I’m clawing at him like a woman possessed. I lift my hips and he manages to push my panties to the side. The initial touch is so soft it sends a shiver down my spine; he drags his thumb down the length of me before rolling the tip of his thumb in perfect circles around my clit. I’d be embarrassed by the sound that leaves my lips but I’m so blinded by lust I leave my pride at the threshold.
“ Move ,” I order, pushing down on his shoulders. “Sit back.”
He does as I ask and I yank on the seat lever, sending us barreling several inches backward. Alejandro catches me with a tight arm around my waist. “ Dahlia ?—”
If he keeps saying my name like that, I’m going to lose my fucking mind .
With a bit more access than before, I manage to lift my body enough to free his belt from around his waist and unzip his pants. I can’t wait any longer; I grip him by the base and guide him inside me and he thrusts his hips forward—I swear to God, I see stars on the car ceiling.
He pulls out inch by inch before sliding home and my entire body trembles with the impact. I’m tingling, shaking, absolutely burning from the inside out but it isn’t enough. Not like this. Why the fuck did I think the car was a good idea? I want a bed and pillows and blankets and to be completely naked so I can feel him everywhere at once. It’s impossible to ride him like this, at least the way I want to.
“Focus,” he tells me.
I’m too dizzy to come up with a proper response. “I…I am.”
His fingers dig into the flesh of my hip as he drags me further up his body and my clit grinds against his pelvis. The friction is so good it makes my blood sing. “You aren’t.”
“I—wait,” I grab the headrest behind him and try to straddle him properly. “ Move .”
“Where?”
“ Down , Alejandro, Jesus Christ .” He moves further down the seat and I can finally straddle his hips with my knees. He grips me by the backside and thrusts upward, a series of quick, harsh movements that send him so deep inside me it hurts. “Oh my God?—”
“I miss those sounds.” He leans down and kisses the tops of my breasts before sinking his teeth into my flesh. “Do it again.”
I meet him thrust for thrust and each plunge inside me sends my body reeling. I use his body to anchor me, making the rise and fall of my hips easier, and gravity works in my favor. The air in the car grows thick, the sound of flesh against flesh so vulgar and explicit it makes my cheeks heat with a blush. When I grind against him, guiding my hips with smooth, easy movements I know send his eyes rolling to the back of his head, the sounds he makes set fire to the blood in my veins. It’s deep, guttural, primal. I love the way he moans, the way he kisses my neck and exhales against my skin, the shaky hitch in his breath when he gets closer to climax.
We kiss and it’s like no time has passed. My nails dig into his scalp, long strands of hair wrapping around my fingers as I tug and force his head back so I can explore him more thoroughly with my tongue. He fits so well inside me, the perfect length and width so that the fullness stings because I’ve always enjoyed a bit of pleasure with the pain. He pulses inside me and he’s so close to release that I almost give it to him. But then his hands are all over me—touching, grabbing, groping. He touches my waist, squeezes my hips, then cups my breasts, pinching so hard that my nipples harden and ache. Alejandro does this as he fucks me, ramming to the hilt, his thrusts inside me in tandem with the pinch of his fingers.
The last time he does, I move with him, and orgasm rips through me. He moves faster, harder, building up to an impossible high and a second climax that sends my soul out of my fucking body.
I think we’re screaming. We have to be. My ears are ringing.
Minutes pass. So many minutes. He’s still kissing me and I’m kissing back, gathering his bottom lip between my teeth as the aftershocks move through me and he holds me against him. Finally, when it feels as though an eternity has passed, we collapse.
And as soon as we do, it takes all of sixty seconds for me to regret it.
A shiver bolts down my spine.
Fuck .