A Beautiful Lie (Playing with Fire #1)(100)

“I’m sorry, sir,” Milo replied.

“I permitted another man to raise you in the hopes that it would make you stronger so when the day came and I needed to call on you, you would be ready. Maybe I made a mistake eight years ago in telling you about your heritage and bringing you into the fold. Maybe you weren’t ready,” his father said pensively.

Milo bristled at his father thinking he couldn’t do the job at hand. He’d been preparing for this for years. He was ready.

“Sir, I’m sorry, sir. I will not show any weakness again. I am ready to finish this and make you proud. I will not let anything stand in my way,” Milo promised with firm resolve.

His father removed a small square of white cloth from the breast pocket of his suit coat and handed it to Milo.

“I have rewarded you with all of the riches and beautiful, young girls you could imagine. I have brought you into my family and my business in the hopes that one day soon you will take over and lead. I have shown you a life you never knew existed. I expect never to regret this decision. Are we clear?”

Milo had pressed the cloth to his busted lip and nodded solemnly.

“I will do what needs to be done. I will make you proud.”

Confident in Milo’s promise, his father had nodded and turned to leave the room, pausing with his hand on the doorknob.

“Take care of the problem. They’ve gotten too close. It’s time for you to show them who you really are. The whore’s father arrived in the Dominican today. That man knows too much. Lucky for us, he decided to step foot on my land. End him before he tells them everything. After that I’m sure you will enjoy executing the two lovers.”

Milo had watched his father leave the room and had mentally prepared himself for what was to come.



Milo’s cell phone buzzed in his pocket. Pressing Parker firmly against him with one arm, he reached into his pants with the other and flipped open the phone.

“Status?” Milo questioned.

“All clear, sir. Three SEALS are dead, two are incapacitated,” came the reply.

“Why aren’t they all dead?” Milo questioned angrily.

“No time, sir. We need to leave now. The car is waiting out front.”

“What about McCarthy?” Milo asked.

“He wasn’t with the others. He went off on his own and we haven’t seen him since. Castillo and his men have the place surrounded. They’ll kill him on site.”

“No!” Milo shouted into the phone. “No. Leave him for me.”

Milo hung up the phone and shoved it back in his pocket. He bent down and slid his arm behind Parker’s knees, scooping her up into his arms easily and walking towards the lobby. He smiled at several guests and a few resort employees, laughing about how his wife had a little bit too much to drink, easily explaining her unconsciousness.

His father would be angry since he hadn’t killed Parker immediately, but Milo had other plans for her.



<> ~ <>



Garrett had been on hold waiting for Risner to come on the line the entire time he walked to the villa Marshall, Conrad, and Vargas shared. He stopped in his tracks as he came up the walkway, pulling the phone slowly away from his ear.

“Hello, Mr. McCarthy,” the woman greeted him nervously as she stood up from the chair next to the door.

“Margarita Fernandez?” Garrett replied in shock as he stared at the wife of Fernandez standing in front of him.

“I’m sorry I didn’t make our meeting earlier. I believed I was being followed, so I had to turn around and go back to the palace,” she told him.

Garrett looked at her in confusion, having absolutely no idea why this woman, who supposedly didn’t speak a lick of English, was standing there at the resort talking to him like it was no big deal and speaking his real name instead of the undercover one he’d been introduced to her with.

On instinct he quickly reached into his waistband and pulled out his gun, leveling it at her chest. It made no sense to Garrett why she was here unless it was some sort of set-up.

“You have thirty seconds to explain your business here before I put a bullet through your heart,” Garrett told her menacingly.

Margarita quickly raised her hands in the air and a look of panic washed over her face.

“Please, I’m not here to harm you. I left a note at the front desk for you this morning saying I needed to talk to you and would be here this evening at ten. Did you receive the note?” she asked hurriedly.

Garrett recalled the note in question, the note they assumed was from Joe since he was the one who knocked on their door around that time. Now that he thought about it, Joe showed up thirty minutes before the note stated.

“You’re the one who wrote that note?” Garrett asked.

Margarita nodded her head and Garrett slowly lowered his gun. He still didn’t trust her, but there had to be a very important reason for her showing up. Fernandez would kill her just for thinking about talking to him.

“I thought you didn’t speak English?” Garrett asked.

Margarita looked around nervously and began to wring her hands.

“Could we go inside please? I don’t feel safe out here.”

Garrett looked around as well but didn’t see anything amiss. Against his better judgment, he walked past her and unlocked the door to the villa, holding it open for her to enter. As she walked into the room, Garrett made a quick call to Brady and got his voicemail. He left him a message to have one of the men meet him at his villa immediately