by Cora Kenborn
“I’m—I’m sorry. I expected my brother to be here.”
My head knew that, but my heart ripped a little more with her confession. A small part of me wished it was me she looked for when she came in, and it was my arms where she sought solace. “It’s fine,” I said, forcing indifference in my voice. “Brody had to leave.”
“So he left you here instead?”
I smirked. “Lucky you, huh?”
Her slender fingers trembled against my chest, eventually sliding down my shirt until they dropped by her side. “Is he coming back soon?”
“I don’t know. It could be a few minutes, it could be a few hours.” The disappointment in her sigh was audible, and I stiffened. “Of course, you’re free to stay here by yourself. I have better things to do than hang—”
“No!” she screamed, bunching both hands around my shirt and pulling herself against me again.
“What happened to you?” I asked, sensing something had happened.
“Somebody rear-ended me. It was just a little accident, that’s all.”
“You seem pretty shaken up for just a little accident.”
“Let it go, Matty.”
No matter what she said, I couldn’t let it go. “You can tell me, or you can tell Brody. Your choice.”
I expected her to fight me. Instead, she drew in a ragged breath, and her shoulders sagged. “Fine, someone followed me from the cantina. I thought I imagined it at first, but every time I sped up, they did too. I tried to lose them, and they ran into the back of me.”
“Why would someone follow you?”
The familiarity in her eyes hardened a little. “Maybe because I’m consorting with known cartel members.”
Her words cut through me. Logically, I realized she might be right. She easily could’ve landed on someone’s shit list from her ties to Luis and Brody alone. However, the loathing in her voice when she spoke of the organization I’d pledged my life to stirred the darkness within me.
“That didn’t seem to stop you in San Marcos.”
The tension in her shoulders returned at my accusation, and she stepped backward. “I’ve already told you once that’s none of your business.”
I was a fool to think I could be civilized with her. I couldn’t pretend this was just a job when it was nothing more than a test of my willpower—fate’s way of seeing how far it could push me before I broke.
Well, fuck this. If she didn’t give a shit, two could play the same game.
“You’re right, Star,” I said, stalking toward her. “Whoever you fucked in the last four years is none of my business. However, it becomes my business when you try to fuck us all at once.”
“I—I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“No? Well, that’s understandable. I mean, you’ve been through a lot, putting a bullet in one of our men and all.” The more she moved away from me, the more I stalked forward. She paled, and my blood rushed. “So, how about I jog your memory a little.” I pulled out the bug and held it in front of her face while grabbing her wrist. “Care to explain what kind of shit you’re trying to pull?”
At first, she attempted to play dumb, shaking her head like she’d never seen it before. “I don’t know what that is.”
“You know exactly what it is, and you’re going to start talking, or I start calling people you don’t want me to call.”
“How do you know it was me who did it?” The contrast of the challenge in her voice and the red flush painting the skin above her tank top made my rage soar and my cock throb with savage need.
“Because everything was fine until your name was mentioned,” I hissed, jerking her against me. “Now everything has gone to shit, as usual.”
Her palms pushed against my chest once again. “I’d never intentionally hurt my brother.”
“Just sell him out, right? You spent time with the Muñoz Cartel then shacked up with a Carrera. Seems to me you know more about our life than anyone thinks.”
“What are you implying?”
Lifting the bug, I held it between us. “Who sent you? What really happened with Luis?”
“What?” she screeched, glaring up at me. “Nobody sent me. I’m the victim here.”
“No, the victim is dead, and if you keep pulling shit like this,” I yelled, tossing the bug across the room, “you and your brother will be too.”
Leighton’s eyes followed the bug as it bounced on the floor, her chin tilted away from me. “Is that a threat?”
“It’s a fact,” I answered, trying to shock some sense into her. When she continued to stare at the bug as if she didn’t hear me, I gripped her shoulders and gave them a firm shake. “You could cost Brody his life.”
“All right!” she screamed, covering her face with her hands. “I’m being blackmailed.”
“What? By who? How?”
She sighed in defeat, dropping her hands by her side. “The DEA. They know about Luis.”
The last three letters I ever wanted to hear.
“DEA? What the fuck?” I expected to have to pull the information out of her. However, it was as if the entire night had shaken her so much that once those three letters fell from her lips, the dam broke and the truth came rushing out of her.
“Agents caught me coming out of my apartment,” she admitted. “They’d been watching me and knew everything. They had me on tape calling Brody and threatened me with jail if I didn’t agree to become their informant.”
“Is that who was following you tonight?”
“No. Yes. No. I don’t know, Matty.” She frowned, moving out of my hold and crossing her arms over her chest. “I didn’t really see the person’s face. I don’t think so. I mean, why would the DEA try to run me off the road?” She glanced up at me with those sad brown eyes full of questions.
She had no idea what she’d done withholding this information. We were used to being on the DEA’s radar, but this was another level of ruthlessness. The one week that Val gave me just shortened.
“Damn it, why didn’t you just go to Brody?” I roared. “He could’ve protected you. We could’ve protected you.”
She shook her head. “Not from this. You don’t understand what’s at stake. I had to do it this way.”
“By selling him out because you were too scared to face a self-defense charge?”
The frightened look morphed into a half-smirk. “It has nothing to do with that and everything to do with the fact I have family in politics and law. I know firsthand not everything is fair and just, Mateo. Look at what happened to you.”
Adrenaline pumped through my veins, and I wound a hand through her tangled hair, jerking her against me. “You don’t get to talk about what happened to me,” I ground out through clenched teeth. “You have no idea what I went through.”
I wanted her fear. I wanted her to feel every moment of hell I went through while I prayed she was safe and would wait for me while I rotted behind bars. But it wasn’t fear on her face as she gazed up at me. It was something far more disturbing.
A challenge.
“No, Matty,” she whispered. “You have no idea what I went through.”
“What do you mean?” I wasn’t sure I wanted the answer, but I asked anyway.
She took a deep breath, as if she were about to put me out of my misery. However, at the last minute, she puffed out her cheeks and exhaled, dropping her chin to her chest and slowly rolling her neck until she faced me again. This time the liquid honey-brown in her eyes had hardened and the armor she wore as a shield returned.
“Nothing,” she said finally. “It’s nothing.”
“Star—I mean, Leighton, come on. Obviously, it’s not—”
That was as far as I got before headlights flashed below the window then quickly extinguished. Glancing outside, I noticed a dark colored sedan sitting out front that I knew wasn’t there before.
Remembering she’d been followed, I grabbed her wrist. “Come on.”
She stumbled after me. “Where are w
e going?”
“Out the back.”
“The fire escape?”
“Unless you prefer to walk out the front door where we’re being watched. Personally, being run off the road once would be enough for me, but if that’s your thing, be my guest.”
Pulling Leighton behind me, we climbed out the window and down the fire escape outside of Brody’s apartment. Luckily, since I was always cautious about being seen, the Tahoe was parked out back. Flinging open the driver’s side door, I pushed her inside, quickly climbing in after her. Just as I turned the ignition, I saw her pull her phone out of her pocket.
“What the hell are you doing?” I yelled, knocking it out of her hand. “You can’t call anyone. You said the DEA is blackmailing you. You don’t know who you’re dealing with, Star, and you don’t know what you’re doing.”
She flattened her lips and swiped the floorboard for the phone. “I don’t need you.”
I suppressed a groan while weaving in and out of traffic. “Stop being so fucking stubborn. This isn’t just about you anymore.”
“I can handle this on my own,” she argued, attempting to dial again.
Fucking hell, it’s like arguing with a brick wall.
Reaching over the console, I took the phone out of her hand and tossed it in the backseat.
“We have to tell Brody!”
I didn’t have time for this shit.
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I called him. As soon as his voice mail picked up, I rushed through my message. “Hey, it’s me. Your apartment has been compromised, so you need to stay at a safehouse or RVC tonight. Don’t worry about your sister. She’s safe and with me.”
It took Leighton fifteen minutes to speak to me again. “You can’t just take me,” she hissed, her hands crossed over her chest. “This is kidnapping and it’s illegal.”
“Nothing is illegal in my world. I’m not who you think I am. I never have been.”
“Well, at least you got one thing right,” she muttered, staring out of the dark window. “You’re definitely not who I thought you were. You left me when I needed you most. You sacrificed me, and that’s not the person who told me he loved me.”
That’s it. That’s fucking it.
Jerking the wheel, I pulled off a darkened side street and threw the SUV into park. Bracing my forearm against her seat, I leaned in so close our noses touched. “Let’s get one thing straight. You don’t know the whole story. You never did.”
Chapter Twelve
Leighton
Some claimed silence was golden, but after sitting across from the fuming man beside me, it seemed more blood red. Mainly, because I was about to crawl out of my skin wanting to know what he meant by, “You don’t know the whole story.”
I didn’t dare ask, though. Eventually, Mateo gave up waiting for a response and pulled the Tahoe back into traffic, focusing on the road with a tightly clenched jaw until we reached our destination.
My mind had become a jumbled beehive of activity, and by the time Mateo unlocked the door to the familiar townhouse, I was a house of cards ready to crumble. All it took was one look inside, and I burst into tears.
“Hey.” Mateo’s hands covered my shoulders and turned me around as tears blurred my vision. Through the haze I saw him dip his knees to meet me at eye level. “What’s wrong?”
I managed a laugh. “What’s not wrong?” Still trapped in his hold, I motioned around us. “You’re staying at my brother’s ex-girlfriend’s place—who’s presumed to be dead, by the way. I’m being blackmailed to bring down an entire cartel, which includes my brother. Oh, and a few days ago, I shot and killed a man. But most of all, after all this I realize how much I miss—” catching myself, I bowed my head and sighed, “—how much I miss home.”
The corners of Mateo’s mouth turned down as he stood to his full height. Releasing one of my shoulders, he closed the door behind him. “Let’s try to put some of this in perspective. One, Eden isn’t dead. She’s alive and well and due in July with the son of the man you’re trying to bring down.” I opened my mouth for a rebuttal, but he held up his hand. “Your second problem is the one we have to focus on. As for killing Luis, did you fear for your life?”
I didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
“Then you’re justified in what you did.” Mateo caught my chin just as I lowered my eyes to the floor and gently lifted my face to meet his unwavering stare. “Do you feel guilty?”
I waited only seconds before answering. “For choosing my life over his? No.”
Regardless of what Alex told me, or what any of the Carrera Cartel had to say, no one but me looked down the barrel of Luis’s gun, and no one but me had a split second to make that call.
His large palm still gripped my shoulder, and my hand shook as I squeezed his fingers. Electric shocks jolted up my arm, but I forced myself to maintain the contact, lifting our entwined hands and settling them between us. He watched every movement, his eyes never straying. It was as if once he looked away, the moment would evaporate.
I wouldn’t let that happen. This moment meant everything.
For years, I’d held onto the belief that he’d walked away from me without a second thought. I’d tried my best to hate him for the events that led up to his abandonment and the mind games that plagued me afterward. However, what he’d said to me at Brody’s left me starving for the truth. I had to know, even if what I found out left me in more jagged pieces than before.
“What did you mean when you said I didn’t know the whole story?”
“Now’s not the time for this, Leighton.” Mateo let out a heavy sigh and pulled away from me, severing our brief connection.
He could pull away all he wanted, but I wasn’t backing down. “Really? Where else do we have to go?”
His eyes narrowed. “You want to hear the truth?”
The sudden predatory danger radiating off him shook me. I was honestly confused if I did or didn’t, but I stood my ground. “I think I deserve it.”
Mateo let out a sardonic laugh. “You think this is about what you deserve?” He stalked toward me, backing me up until my spine bumped against the hard marble of the kitchen island. “What exactly do you think happened that night, Star? You think I just didn’t feel like having the perfect life with the perfect girl and decided to piss it all away?”
“I—I don’t...” My words broke off and stuck to the inside of my throat like molasses. All I could breathe in was the scent of his leather jacket as he planted a hand on either side of me. We were so close that if he took a deep breath, his black T-shirt would rub against my tank top and judging from the outline of the six-pack hugging the fabric, I wouldn’t survive the impact.
My gaze still traced the lines indenting his shirt when his hands settled on my hips, and I found myself being lifted into the air. My lips had just started forming the word “no” when my ass landed on the cold marble of the island with a hard slap, and Mateo slid in between my open knees.
“Have a seat, Star,” he said as if I weren’t already in place. It didn’t matter that I couldn’t speak. The deadly look in his eyes would’ve been enough to silence me. “What I have to say may knock you off that pedestal you’ve put yourself on.”
My chest heaved as he wedged himself tightly in between my legs.
“You think I sacrificed you? You immediately thought the worst and damned me without knowing the hell I went through. Get ready, little lamb. You’re about to find out the meaning of real sacrifice.”
Chapter Thirteen
Mateo
Four Years Ago
I paced outside Emilio’s office, the loud laughter of the departing drunks in the cantina adding to my anxiety. I wished he’d get the hell off the phone and let me get this over with. A few minutes later, the smell of a freshly lit Cuban cigar wafted into the hallway letting me know my chance had arrived.
“Cortes,” he yelled, my name garbled around the cigar clenched in between his teeth. “Trae tu culo aqui.” Get your as
s in here.
Before he could change his mind, I pushed the door the rest of the way open and stepped inside. “Sí, boss.”
His thick mustache circled the overstuffed cigar as he puffed and stared at me, his dark eyes narrowed in curiosity. “I need you to do a run for me tonight.”
Shit. Emilio’s runs either involved putting a bullet in some asshole’s head or unloading a new shipment and distributing it to our street dealers. Thankfully, in the last four months, I’d risen up the ranks and no longer sold on the street. Still, I didn’t have time to follow an order tonight.
Or any night from this point forward.
“Can’t one of the other guys handle it?” I asked, making sure to keep my voice even.
“You got somethin’ better to do?”
I shoved my hands in my pockets so I didn’t take a swing at him. “I have an appointment I can’t cancel.”
“Mateo, when I found you stealing change on the street, how old were you—thirteen?” Emilio’s scarred face was expressionless, although a hint of smugness glimmered in his coal black eyes.
“Fourteen, boss.”
“The cops had already picked you up three times by the time I took you in. You were dirty, starving, and such an uncontrollable piece of shit, you would’ve been dead within a month if I hadn’t offered you a way out. Am I right?”
“A way out?” I lifted an eyebrow. “You beat the shit out of me.”
“I taught you respect. You tried to steal from me, you ungrateful culero.”
I sighed. I wasn’t getting out of this. “So, where is this run, and who do I need to meet?”
The corner of Emilio’s lip curled up as he bit into the cigar. Scissoring it between two fingers, he pointed the burning end toward me and pulled out something from inside his desk. “Here,” he said, handing me a Ziploc gallon bag filled with what had to be at least twelve small baggies of cocaine.
“What the hell am I supposed to do with this? I don’t sell this shit anymore.”
