Dangerous Redemption: A Single Parent Forbidden Romance Novel (Paths To Love Book 4)

by Grahame Claire

  “I didn’t get it until I was already in the taxi. That’s why I called you.”

  “We stay on the phone until you arrive at the apartment.”

  I straightened, suddenly looking for a suspicious face in every person on the sidewalk.

  “What’s going on?” I’d been forced to lean on him, trusted he’d protect Gabriel. Had that been a mistake? “Carlos?” I asked when he didn’t answer.

  Only silence greeted me. I checked my phone. Great. No service. Every few seconds, I pushed the button on the side to check the signal. Nothing.

  I powered it off and then back on. Sometimes that worked. By the time the phone had rebooted I was in front of the apartment building.

  The kind doorman held open the door as my phone rang.

  “I’m home,” I answered, waving to Paul, who winked.

  “We’ll be there soon.”

  My face got hot as I stepped onto the elevator, recalling what we’d done in here. “Will you take Gabriel to play soccer?” I hated asking anything more of him, but my son would love it and I needed some time alone with Miss Jacobs. “Just while I talk to Miss Jacobs.”

  “Are you inside the apartment yet?”

  I pulled my keys out of my purse. “Almost. Carlos, I’m not asking again. What is going on?” I unlocked the door and closed it. “I’m in.”

  “We’ll be there soon.”

  This time it wasn’t bad phone service that ended our call. He’d hung up on me.

  * * *

  “You sure you cooked this?”

  Stone stretched in his chair at their kitchen table and looked at Carlos incredulously.

  “I’ve been sharpening my skills.”

  A sly smile graced Muriella’s lips when she exchanged glances with her brother. He’d come a long way from burnt French toast.

  When his gaze landed on me, there was affection behind all that intensity. I looked away, unable to stand it. He was a vision of everything right in front of my eyes and yet so far out of reach.

  And . . . I’d confessed to Mulaney that I hadn’t denied it when Easton had asked me if she and his father were having an affair. She’d taken the news far better than I’d thought she would, but she’d been quiet during dinner.

  I wasn’t sure if that had to do with me, if she was just tired, or because she couldn’t get a word in edgewise with everyone else here.

  “Are you gonna eat that?” Stone pointed at the barely touched food on my plate.

  “I’m finished,” I said quietly.

  He held out his hands, and Muriella appeared a cross between amused and appalled. “What?” he asked as I offered him the dish. “There’s nothing leftover, and I’m hungry. At least his version of cooking for three was enough for nine.”

  I couldn’t find it in me to laugh. My stomach had been in a knot since I’d decided to tell Mulaney the truth. She’d accepted my apology. Offered me a position in the new company she and Easton had formed. But my guilt was like salt air on metal, eroding away at me.

  “I hate to break up the party, but I’m beat.” Easton yawned, emphasizing the point.

  “Don’t worry about waiting for me to finish my supper,” Stone said as he shoveled pot roast into his mouth.

  “You did finish your supper,” Muriella said. “That’s Holly’s.”

  Stone paused, made a face like he couldn’t believe he’d been called out, and continued eating. A frown line creased Carlos’s forehead and that penetrating gaze was impossible to read as he focused on me.

  “I’m ready to go to bed too.” Mulaney stood and picked up her plate from the table.

  “I’m trying to eat,” Stone complained. “And y’all aren’t gonna do all that stuff you were doing at Grandmama and Granddaddy’s.”

  “What were you doing, Miss Jacobs?” Gabriel asked, his head cocked to the side.

  Mulaney’s cheeks actually turned pink. “Uh, we were playing hopscotch.”

  Stone smirked. “Is that what you call it?”

  “I want to play,” Gabriel said brightly.

  Easton squeezed his shoulder. “We’ll teach you how one day.”

  Stone nodded in agreement, and I was pretty sure Daniel gave a chin flick in agreement. I swallowed hard. These people had taken my son under their wings, and even if he was too young to talk about the birds and the bees, the fact that they were planning on being in our lives long enough to commit to it . . . I’d never known what that was like. It was a better feeling than I imagined.

  “Not until way down the road,” I said when I found my voice.

  “How come?”

  “Why don’t we start the dishes?” Carlos suggested, effectively saving me from having to answer.

  Gabriel popped up, eager to help. “Okay.”

  I stood and hurried to catch up with Mulaney and Easton. “Mr. Carter.” He turned, his expression concerned. I’d done the unforgivable to this man, yet he treated my son as his own. I wouldn’t make the same mistake. “May I speak with you?”

  “We can talk in the living room.”

  I followed him and Mulaney, who sat on the sofa and waited while I decided if I wanted to sit or stand. Laughter floated into the room from the kitchen. This was family. What I’d wanted my whole life. And I’d risked it for my fear. I was so tired of living scared.

  “I owe you an apology.”

  He appeared surprised while Mulaney seemed satisfied with my words.

  “Not for anything I recall,” he said. Easton Carter was such a good man. I hated what I’d done.

  “I—Remember when you asked me if Miss Jacobs and your father . . .” I darted my gaze to her, unable to finish the sentence.

  “Yes?” His brows dipped, almost as if he didn’t want to believe what he knew was about to come out of my mouth.

  “I didn’t confirm it, but I should’ve denied it. They would never—I’m sorry. It was wrong of me to lead you to believe otherwise.”

  He stared at me for the longest time with confusion on his face. “It was inappropriate for me to have asked you in the first place.”

  “No—”

  “It was. I shouldn’t have put you in that position. Clearly, my head wasn’t in the right place.” He rested his hand on Mulaney’s leg.

  “I almost ruined your relationship,” I cried. If I had, I’d have never forgiven myself. I’d seen the way he’d looked at her for years when he thought no one was paying attention.

  “We did a fine enough job of that on our own.” He gave me a kind smile before he turned to Mulaney. “You’re awfully quiet.”

  “We’ve already discussed it.” She let out a long sigh. “I’m not happy about it, but you’re right. You shouldn’t have put her in an awkward position.”

  “Can we all agree to be more respectful of each other’s personal space while being honest with one another?”

  My lips parted. I’d lied. Well, not exactly, but I’d led him to believe something that wasn’t true. That was a lie. I’d be so disappointed in my friends if they’d done that to me. Friends? I worked for them, but it seemed in my mind we’d crossed an invisible barrier where I’d begun to see them as more than colleagues.

  “Yes, but—”

  “No buts,” Mulaney said. “Let’s put this behind us.”

  “Agreed.” Easton patted her thigh. I wanted to argue, tell them they didn’t have to forgive me. Then I realized I’d been stupid enough. If they were willing to let it go, I should too. “Did you ask her?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And you’re joining us?” Easton was hopeful as he looked at me.

  “Of course. I’m thrilled to be part of your new company. Thank you. For everything.” And I was excited for the time we could move away from SPE. Hopefully it would be just the three of us.

  “Glad to hear it.” He stood and offered a hand to Mulaney. “Let’s go play hopscotch.”

  When he winked at her, I melted a little. The two of them had done more for Gabriel and me than anyone. They’d f
orgiven the unforgivable. With that login and password I’d finally taken, I just might be able to help them get to the bottom of what had happened to Carter Energy. If I got caught, the consequences were unthinkable.

  I was just going to have to make sure I didn’t.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Carlos

  “I’d like to continue escorting Gabriel to and from school.”

  I hadn’t given Holly a choice after dinner of whether she wanted me to see the two of them back to their apartment. She hadn’t spoken a word to me since our phone conversation, not even as we’d gone through Gabriel’s bedtime routine.

  “I think you’d better explain what’s with the attitude. You can start with our phone conversation.”

  I gripped the back of the barstool with both hands. This was a conversation I’d rather not have. Rightly so, she’d be furious when I told her what had happened today. That I’d let danger get so close to her son.

  I shuddered. Nicanor Rosca had been too close to him. We were fortunate the man still needed me. If not, we could’ve both been dead. I couldn’t live with that.

  “It seems the life I wish to leave behind has other intentions.”

  Her features darkened. All I could think about was how I’d done the very thing I’d never wanted to do. Put them in harm’s way.

  “Your partner found you?” She put air quotes around the word “partner”.

  Yet another person bound to catch up with me. I sighed. “No. Worse.”

  Her hand automatically touched her necklace. I loved the gesture and hated it at once. This nervousness wasn’t the kind I ever wanted to cause.

  “While you were with Gabriel?” she whispered, leaning against the center island. “You promised.”

  Briefly, I closed my eyes. I would keep them safe. Whatever it took.

  “Carlos. Oh my God.” She wrapped her fist around the cross.

  “I’ve put extra security in place, but you’ll understand why I won’t be leaving the two of you alone.” I’d spoken with Donato and Daniel about security and how best to handle the Rosca situation. While I trusted their security detail, Holly and Gabriel were my responsibility.

  When her eyes met mine, it was as if she were seeing her worst nightmare come to life. “I don’t know if we’re safer with you or without you.”

  I’d been stabbed. Shot. Punched. Kicked. None of it had held the impact those words did. Because the truth was, I wasn’t sure either.

  “You’ll work from home. I’ll have eyes on Gabriel at school at all times.” Logistics. Those I could do. It was normal and made me feel like I wasn’t a sitting duck doing nothing.

  “Excuse me?”

  “This isn’t the time to argue. If it’s a necessity you go to the office, I’ll take you.” This was one battle she wouldn’t win.

  She nodded once. And then something snapped. She rounded the counter and pummeled me in the chest. “You promised. You promised.” I let her hit me until she grew tired.

  “You promised.”

  One last blow to my heart before I caught her wrists. There were no tears in those green eyes. The anguish swimming in her pools was worse.

  She sagged against me, and even though it was wrong, I felt whole again with her in my arms. I stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head. Her angel scent eased me in a way nothing else could. She wasn’t mine, and yet, she always would be. She’d given me a reason to fight, a reason to live, when I’d otherwise had none.

  After she’d calmed, she sat on a barstool. She was still visibly shaken, but she’d collected herself. How often did she have to put up this brave front? How did she get so strong?

  “Who is this man? What are we up against and how do we fight him?”

  I blanched. Those words were the last I’d expected. I knew she was doing this for Gabriel, but it felt like she was fighting for me too.

  I didn’t want to tell her who he was. It was ugly and painful, something I didn’t care to think about, yet it constantly haunted me.

  “The only way I know how to make you understand exactly who he is means telling you things I never want to taint your beautiful mind.”

  “I can’t fight what I don’t know. Isn’t that what you told me?” There was no bitterness or anger behind the statement, just courage.

  I waited until our eyes locked. She needed to see the truth of everything I was. “I needed to earn Nicanor Rosca’s trust. To do that meant going through his initiation.” The wooden back of the barstool cracked under my grip. “I tortured and killed a man to get into his fold.”

  She paled. This was it. The moment she’d never look at me the same. Being a cartel prince was one thing. Willingly killing another human being was on another level. No one could know what it was like to torture another human being without experiencing it for themselves. I regretted she had to have the image in her mind.

  She twisted her fingers in her lap, staring at them. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking, but I knew it was some mix of horror and disgust.

  “Why?”

  It was a question I’d never given much thought to, just something that had to be done as a means to an end. “My father wanted to do business with him.” She didn’t appear impressed with that. “I wanted to take him down.”

  She seemed to consider that a moment. “He wasn’t the first that you . . .”

  “No.”

  “Or the last?”

  I never thought I’d have to atone for my sins. There was no heaven for me, and I didn’t know what to expect in hell, though I suspected an eternity next to my father. I didn’t want to tell her of the terrible things I’d done, but if it was what was needed to move forward, it was what I’d do.

  “No.”

  Her gaze remained focused on her fingers, which were working furiously, knotting and unknotting in her lap. I wanted her to look at me. Then again, I was afraid to see what she thought. Every chance I’d had to keep her and Gabriel was completely obliterated.

  Desperation kept me talking. “The people I’ve killed, they were dangerous, evil people who’d destroyed lives. Maybe that doesn’t make it right, and it doesn’t justify how much I enjoyed metering out justice, but they weren’t innocent.”

  “You liked it?” The horror in her voice was unbearable.

  “Sometimes.” I reached for Mama’s rosary. “It was the only way I had a chance to do something right.”

  She blanched, and whatever hope I’d had for a future with her shattered. I didn’t blame her. I was ugly.

  “You belong to a monster who can’t let you go.”

  Her eyes snapped to mine, her expression guarded.

  Bzzz. Bzzz. Bzzz.

  Her phone vibrated against the countertop, but she made no move to answer. She continued to stare as if she were searching for something. What I didn’t know.

  The noise ceased and immediately started again. She scowled but answered.

  Even though she didn’t have the phone on speaker, I heard every word.

  “It’s me. If you don’t pay them, they’ll kill me.”

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Holly

  Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.

  Relief and fear streaked through me at the sound of my brother’s voice. I was already reeling from everything Carlos had told me. As if a man who was a killer knowing about Gabriel wasn’t bad enough, Jason had surfaced.

  I was happy he wasn’t dead but furious with him for worrying me. For being so stupid. For putting me in this position.

  “The police are looking for you.” Not very hard. After a day or so, they’d backed off the search. Jason wasn’t important enough to continue to spend valuable resources.

  “They’ll never find me.” He sounded cocky. I recognized that tone all too well.

  “Are you high?”

  “Are you going to help me?”

  Carlos looked ready to yank the phone from my hand. I almost wished he would. This was too much.

  “That’s aiding and a
betting, Jason.” I pressed my lips together. Damn it. Why did he always put me in these positions? And why did I feel obligated to help him?

  “THEY. WILL. KILL. ME.”

  I held the phone away from my ear at his shout, tempted to hang up. Carlos clenched his jaw and tapped out a text message on his own phone.

  “You should’ve thought about that before you got involved.” I tried and failed to keep my voice even and in control.

  “If you don’t, they’ll come after you and Gabriel.”

  Whatever held me together snapped. “You put yourself in this position. Not me. You exposed my son to these people. He’s your nephew. I’m your sister. You should’ve cared enough to keep us out of it.”

  Carlos offered his hand and I took it, grateful for the support. He squeezed, opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it.

  “I need eighty grand tomorrow. In cash. I’ll let you know where to meet us.”

  Had he not heard a word I said?

  “I don’t have eighty thousand dollars,” I shouted. And even if I did, would I use it to save him at the expense of Gabriel?

  “You’re so greedy. You’ve got that fancy job and make all that money, and you won’t even help me out.”

  “Tell him you’ll meet him,” Carlos said in a low rumble. My eyes bulged, and he nodded. I shook my head. “Trust me.”

  I tightened my grip on his hand. He’d told me things he could’ve kept hidden. And even though they were horrible things, I had no doubt they were the truth. The one thing Carlos had proved over and over again was I could trust him.

  “What time?”

  “You’ll do it?” His exuberance was contagious, but he’d end up disappointed. I didn’t have the money, and I wouldn’t let Carlos pay these people either. Why? Why had my brother led whoever had him under their thumb to believe I had the money? Who does that to their sister and nephew? Carlos was wrong. He wasn’t a monster. My brother was.

  “When will I hear from you?”

  “Tomorrow afternoon. I’ll call you.” He hung up, and I dropped my chin to my chest.