My Redemption

by Jane Henry

  “I am not a liability,” Diego told the other man, reciting the line Tomás would expect from him while allowing his very real anger at the whole fucked up situation to come through in his voice. “And the only person who’s gonna get you killed is you, coming into my office and talking out your ass like this!”

  Tomás took another drag from the cigarette and inspected the lit tip, patently unafraid. “I’m just expressing my concerns.” He turned his gaze on Diego again. “It’s an easy job for tomorrow, but I’d feel more confident about your ability to get this handled if I knew your plan and the girl’s location ahead of time. Remember, the other day you agreed to share information with me.”

  “And I did. I told you the basic plan.”

  “And I told you, that’s not good enough, Padre,” Tomás interrupted. “Not anymore. I want the girl’s address. I want the details.”

  Diego clenched his teeth, a picture of reluctance.

  “Now, Padre,” Tomás demanded.

  “Fine.” Diego huffed out a breath. He grabbed his phone, unlocked it, and typed out a quick message—a dummy address far from Lucas and Grace’s townhouse that he and Slay had devised the day before. A second later, Tomás’s phone dinged as the message arrived.

  “That’s the address my contact gave me for the foster home where the girl is staying,” Diego told him. “I cased the place yesterday. There’s a stand of trees on one side of the house with a clear view of the front walk, and I’ll wait there. House is pretty well secured. Hard to gain entry. Gotta get her in transit. Her schedule is pretty varied, but my contact assured me she had some follow-up meeting with a social worker at the house at six o’clock Friday night. That’s when I’ll take care of things. In plenty of time to meet El Jefe’s deadline.”

  “Tomorrow there’ll be one day left before the deadline. That isn’t plenty of time,” Tomás argued.

  “It’s enough.”

  Tomás nodded slowly. “If you say so. I assume you have a backup plan?”

  Diego let his face flush angrily. “What, you’re analyzing every decision I make now? Want me to alert you next time I need to take a piss? Remember who’s in charge here, Tomás.”

  Tomás held his gaze and waited.

  When Diego felt he’d stalled long enough to sell the lie, he continued grudgingly, “Big yellow house across the street two doors down is empty and has a clear view of the room where the girl is staying. I can go there after dark and take the shot if the first location isn’t viable.”

  He saw a considering light appear in Tomás’s eyes.

  Diego leaned forward and shoved the other man’s boots towards the edge of the desk, making it clear that his temper had been pushed too far. “And when this is done, Tomás? When I have taken care of the girl and saved our asses from El Jefe? You and I are going to have a reckoning. I’m going to make sure El Jefe knows about your insolence, and we’ll see how he suggests dealing with you.”

  Tomás smiled bitterly. “Oh, we’ll see all right, Padre. When El Jefe finds out, you’ll wish you had taken my advice the other day.”

  Diego glared, jaw locked. His anger was real and visible, but it wasn’t just anger riding him. Tomás was cocksure, bold, and oh-so-fucking-young, just like the rest of the crew. Even now, even knowing how easily Tomás had suggested killing Ricky and how sanguine all the guys had been about sanctioning the death of an innocent teenager like Camila, there was something inside Diego that wanted to protect the man. Years of camaraderie, sharing good memories and bad over bottles of tequila and aguardiente, were impossible for his heart to overlook, even as his head reminded him of his ultimate goal. Part of him wanted to save Tomás and all the guys from their own stupidity and bad choices…

  The way you couldn’t save Armando?

  Grief he’d buried for years stabbed through his chest and he looked away from Tomás. His little brother had been that young and cocky once, relishing the idea of challenging authority and living life on his own terms. He’d believed signing up with Chalo Salazar would bring him respect and wealth, never dreaming that he’d be left to bleed out in the middle of Meridian Street on a cold, January night while Diego did Salazar’s dirty work in another part of town.

  Better Tomás ends up in jail than dead when you’re not around to protect him, he reminded himself. In betraying him this way, you’ll be saving his life.

  Even so, he couldn’t stop himself from warning once more, “I still have a bad feeling. Maybe we could postpone...”

  He was almost hoping, despite everything, that Tomás would hear the warning in his words, that he wouldn’t take the bait… that he wouldn’t attempt to cut Diego out by killing the girl himself tonight.

  That hope died the moment Tomás’s boots hit the floor with a resounding thud and he pushed himself to his feet with a smile. “Calm yourself, Padre. Everything’s under control,” he said as he walked towards the door. “Just don’t lose your nerve. Stick to the plan.”

  Diego smiled grimly and slid out his phone to send another text, this one to Slay. Op is in motion. He’s taking the bait.

  He would stick to the plan, for all their sakes.

  Diego sat straight up in bed, gasping, and his head swiveled toward each shadowed corner of the room in turn, instinctively searching for threats.

  Nothing. The only sound besides the frantic pounding of his heart was the quiet, steady breathing of the woman in bed next to him. Nora. Safe and sound.

  He sucked in a deep breath and pushed a hand through his long hair, noting that it was actually damp with sweat despite the chill in the air. Remnants of fear and anguish clawed at his chest. He couldn’t remember exactly what he’d been dreaming about—some crazy mash-up of Armando’s death, his betrayal of Tomás, and all the other sins on his conscience that would never fully be forgiven. He couldn’t believe he’d managed to fall asleep tonight at all.

  He reached for the phone on the nightstand and saw that it was just after midnight. Had Tomás taken the bait Diego had laid out? Had he made a play for the girl? Had he been apprehended? There was no update from Slay.

  “Everything okay, Daddy?” came a sleepy voice from beside him.

  He swallowed, forcing his voice to be calm and reassuring. “Yeah, baby. Everything’s fine.” He laid back down and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her so her head was pillowed on his shoulder.

  She burrowed against him with a contented murmur and lifted her hand to caress his cheek. A moment later, he could feel her eyes pop open as she felt his sweat-dampened skin.

  “Diego? Are you sick? Is something wrong?”

  “Nah. It’s just stuffy in here,” he lied. “I’m fine. Back to sleep, babe.”

  “Bad dream?” she murmured.

  He could feel his body tense beneath her. “What makes you ask that?”

  She shrugged. “Sometimes you twitch and moan when you’re sleeping. Like you’re trying to fight someone, or someone’s fighting you.”

  “Or maybe I’m trying to hold you across my lap in my dream,” he teased, hoping she couldn’t hear that his heart had picked up its pace again. This was another reason why he hadn’t shared a bed with anyone in years. He didn’t want to know what sorts of things he might have said in his sleep. He fought his demons at night—the one’s he couldn’t fully face in the daylight. “Maybe I’m sleep-spanking you.”

  She giggled. “You dream of spanking me? Why does this not surprise me?” But instead of burrowing in again, she braced her arm against his chest and lifted her head to stare down at him. “Want to talk about anything? Earlier tonight, you seemed kind of distracted.”

  He felt himself smiling in the darkness at her willingness to provide comfort even in the middle of the night. “Nothing to talk about,” he said softly.

  More like, nothing he would talk about. He wouldn’t burden her with the knowledge that he’d set up one of his top lieutenants to be arrested tonight, or that he was still fucking conflicted about it even though he knew it was ne
cessary. He wouldn’t express his increasing suspicions about Diana Consuelos, the woman Nora considered her mentor. And he definitely wouldn’t tell her how unreasonably annoyed he was that Slay, while agreeing to investigate Diana, refused to bar the woman from Centered while the investigation was pending based solely on Diego’s gut feeling.

  “Diego, man, I’m looking into her. I have Heidi and Paul going over her finances with a fine-toothed comb, and they’re working fast,” Slay had said when Diego had called for a status update earlier in the evening. “But Diana’s a big-ticket donor who’s promised a huge check Saturday night. I can’t tell Elena that I’m kicking the woman out on her ass—and potentially losing a donation that could save the lives of dozens of women—on the basis of your suspicions.”

  On paper, Slay was right, and Diego knew it. There was zero hard evidence tying Diana to any criminal activity. His friends Heidi Angelico and her business partner Paul Lozano, a dominant who often visited The Club with his boyfriend John, were widely regarded as the best financial analysts and forensic accountants in the business, so Diego knew they’d uncover any scrap of evidence there was to be found. He should be able to wait it out, be patient and logical.

  But Diego’s gut instinct had been honed for situations just like this—situations where recognizing the difference between a coincidence and a red flag could mean the difference between life and death—and it was pissing him off that no one else seemed to be taking the danger seriously.

  No, he wasn’t going to tell Nora any of that, either.

  “Nothing to say,” he continued, pulling her down against his chest once more. “Besides, I’m not sure I appreciate the suggestion that I was distracted earlier. Did you not feel that I gave you one hundred percent of my attention?”

  She smirked until he reached a hand beneath the sheet and caressed her naked ass, causing her to squirm.

  “N-no, Daddy, I definitely felt that,” she breathed, and he grinned.

  Earlier that night, he’d spanked her—not hard, since there was no punishment involved, but just enough to remind her that he was in charge and that she’d agreed to submit to his authority. It had been incredibly arousing for them both and had helped him to quiet his own worries about keeping her safe, at least temporarily.

  “Good,” he said firmly. “I need to make sure you never forget that I’m your daddy. That I’ll take care of you and keep you safe, no matter what.” He traced patterns along the smooth skin of her back, and he allowed himself to breathe in the perfection of that moment.

  She swallowed hard. “You know… I’m a pretty lucky girl.”

  He blinked down at her in the darkness. Between her self-centered bitch of a mother and the shit she’d been forced to endure as a child, Diego didn’t generally think of Nora as lucky. “I think it’s strength more than luck,” he told her. “Not one woman in a thousand could live through what you’ve lived through and still be the loving, generous person you are.”

  He could feel her smile against his chest, and it thrilled him. But then she shook her head. “See, that’s what I mean, though. It was shitty. But, I’ve had people looking out for me along the way. Tess and Tony, who pretty much became my parents after I moved out of my mom’s. Slay, who took a bullet for me when you guys rescued me from Roger. Elena and Allie, who’ve always reminded me of the gifts I have to offer the world. And you…”

  “Me?” he repeated.

  “Mm-hmm. Looking out for me, like my personal guardian angel, even when I didn’t want you to be, and coming back into my life to be my daddy when I didn’t know I needed it.”

  He pressed his lips to her forehead. “That makes you feel lucky?”

  “Of course. Recently, that’s the thing I’m most thankful for,” she said simply, as though the words weren’t bittersweet barbs that landed in his heart. Then she went on, “Oh, and I’m super lucky to have Centered. I know I’ve talked about it a billion times, but I love working there, knowing I’m making a difference.”

  “That’s important,” Diego agreed. “Sometimes knowing you’re making a difference is the most important thing.”

  “Oh, and there’s Diana,” Nora said. “God, I’m so lucky to have that woman in my life.”

  Diego sucked in a breath and felt tension coil in his body. He knew Nora felt it too when she sighed. “We’re not going to start this again, are we? This thing where you tell me I need to be suspicious of everyone’s motives, and I remind you that Diana is a good person who’s only ever helped me?”

  It was on the tip of Diego’s tongue to open up to her, to tell her all about the pending investigation, but he knew that, without proof, Nora would tell him he was crazy and utterly wrong. He sent up a quick prayer that Heidi and Paul finished their financial analysis ASAP, and that Nora would let the matter drop.

  “No,” he gritted out. “We don’t need to discuss it.”

  “Good,” Nora said softly. “Because Diana suggested something to me today, and I almost didn’t want to tell you about it because I thought you might overreact. You have to…” She paused, then rephrased, “I mean, I would like it if you would please… listen to the whole thing before you say anything, Daddy.”

  “I’m listening,” he told her, mentally vowing that no matter what she told him, he would do his best not to speak before thinking through his response.

  He felt Nora’s tongue sneak out to wet her lips, inadvertently touching his chest in the process. His cock stirred to life, distracting him from his good intentions.

  “Nora,” he gritted out. “Spill.”

  “Well… Diana sat down with me earlier today and we chatted about my future. Sort of a ‘where do you see yourself in five or ten years?’ kind of thing. She says she sees loads of potential in me. She was really pleased with the job I did on the fundraiser, and how I’ve really helped Centered grow from a small, local clinic to a shelter and outreach center for women and children around Boston.”

  “Right.” He commended himself on his even tone. He did not like the woman and there was no other reason for it than his instincts.

  Nora pushed up further and he could feel her stare through the darkness. She took a deep breath, then said in an excited rush, “Turns out she has a position in her company for someone young and bright, like me. She wants me to be her communications director. I’d be doing a million different things—which is exactly what I like, having all that variety! I’d be working with the charities she endows, doing some fundraising, plus making some determinations about new charities to fund. I’d be able to have a huge, global impact, far beyond what I’m able to do at Centered. A broader platform! And the best part is, the job is in Miami! Miami, Diego! You could leave your undercover work and…”

  Her words were still coming out at a mile a minute, but at a certain point he’d stopped listening. “She offered you a job?” he interrupted, setting his broad palm against her cheek.

  Nora stacked her hands on his chest and rested her chin on them. “Well, basically, yes. There’s an opening and she could fast-track the interview process, make it just a formality. And, well, I mean, I know it’s early for us to really be thinking about the future…” He could feel her hot blush against his hand. “But maybe starting over together would be a good thing.”

  “Nora… you…” His gut was churning. “You cannot go to work for Diana.”

  So much for that vow to think before speaking.

  He felt, more than saw, her eyes narrow. “Daddy… Diego… there are some things you can tell me to do and I’ll do them, but… You can’t just lay down the law about something like this. We have to discuss it, don’t we? I get a say in my own life.”

  Her voice sounded so hesitant, and he wanted to reassure her, to tell her that yes, of course, that’s exactly how things should work, but he couldn’t. His heart was beating in his throat, and he could only imagine the worst-case scenarios—a sick, twisted asshole like El Jefe gaining even closer access to his woman, and Nora somehow injured or
killed as a result. Instinctive, absolute denial roared in his chest.

  “No, Nora, that’s not how this works,” he told her flatly. “You can’t make a decision about this when you don’t have all the facts.”

  “All the facts?” she cried, pushing off his chest to sit up straight. “You’re saying I don’t have all the facts? You’ve never even met Diana, but you’ve decided that you don’t like her because… why? Because it’s weird to you that a rich woman would want to help other women? Because she gives me time and attention, and reminds me that I can do bigger and better things than I’m doing right now? Because you go through life thinking every single person is a serial killer who’s out to get you, and you want me to become paranoid like you? God!”

  She swung her legs over the edge of the bed. A moment later, the soft, yellow light of the lamp on her nightstand filled the room.

  “Enough!” Diego said, leaning up on one elbow. He could hear the fury vibrating in his own voice and fought to temper it. “That’s more than enough. It’s the middle of the night, Nora. Get your ass back into bed and we can discuss this like reasonable people in the morning.”

  But Nora shook her head and began pacing the room in her sleeveless nightshirt, her arms wrapped around herself. “No, we’ll do this now. Diana is an amazing person, and if you just gave her a shot…”

  Diego sat up, bracing his back against the headboard, and pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes. He wanted to order her back to bed, to force her to abandon this whole conversation until he had the evidence he needed. If he insisted, reminded her that he was her daddy, he knew she’d do it. But one look at her eyes—wide, questioning, hurting—had him reversing his position. This relationship would never be about what was easiest or most convenient for him, but about giving her what she needed, even when it was hard.

  “I’m sure she seems like a lovely person, but appearances can be deceiving,” he said. “I just want you to be cautious, little girl.”

  “Daddy, you don’t get it! Diana sees my potential, she tells me I’m talented and capable. She believes in me! My whole life, I’ve wanted someone to see me that way!”