Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 71949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
“You won’t be deported.”
I want to believe him, but there’s still a possibility the threat is real. I sigh. “Raven and Vinnie think it’s fabricated. Maybe to rattle us.”
He frowns. “I’m pretty sure they’re right. The timing is all too convenient.”
I only nod.
I hope he’s right.
I hope a lot of things.
7
HAWK
I don’t deserve her.
The thought lands like a punch to the sternum.
Raven’s upstairs, finally sleeping, because Vinnie bribed her with tea and a threat to sedate her if she didn’t close her eyes.
And I’m here. Breathing. Planning. Lying by omission.
Reyes.
I haven’t told Daniela. I haven’t told anyone that the son of a bitch is no longer where I left him. That the wrong safe code he fed me was bait and I took it, and everything after that spiraled. That whatever proof existed tying him to any of this is not in my reach, and even if it were, my blood is in his house.
I should tell Daniela I screwed up. I made it worse. And Reyes is loose.
But she’s looking at the door like she can pull Belinda back through it by force of will alone. She’s holding herself together with tape and glue. If I drop Reyes into that fragile balance, she’ll shatter.
No. Not now.
Later. When we have Belinda home, I’ll tell her everything and let her hate me if she needs to. I don’t want a pass. I want to be worthy.
I study the curve of her neck where the tendons stand out under her skin. I have to tell her she’s not coming with me. That I can’t have her in any danger.
“Dani,” I say.
She glances up. “Yeah?”
“We’re going to bring her home.”
“I know,” she says, though she doesn’t sound convinced.
“I need to step out,” I tell her.
She almost smiles. “I know. We’re going to find her.”
I draw in a deep breath. “No. I’m going alone.”
She lifts her chin. “If this is you going lone wolf and leaving me in the dark again—”
“It’s not,” I cut in. “I’ll be back soon, hopefully with something we can use.”
“What?”
“Leverage.”
It’s not a lie exactly. If I erase the last fingerprints Reyes has on me, he loses the only immediate card he can play. Every minute he spends scrambling for new leverage is a minute I can spend hunting him—or Brown—without a target on my back.
If she asks again, I’ll tell her a cleaner version. She just exhales and steps closer until I can smell her shampoo again.
I lean in and press my lips to her forehead, keeping it chaste. As much as I want to grab her, kiss her, haul her off to a bed somewhere, I can’t.
She closes her eyes for one second—one—and in that heartbeat I feel the old gravity between us, the force that made the rest of the world go quiet.
When I pull back, her eyes are open again and the world is loud.
“Bring me something real,” she whispers.
“I will.”
I step out and head to my truck.
I drive without the radio, only with my thoughts.
By the time I reach West Lake Hills, I’m rigid and tense.
I use my trick of idling a few car lengths back until a red Jaguar rolls up and punches in the code. When the gate starts to swing shut, I ease in behind like I belong and drive to Reyes’s.
I park two streets over, just close enough to keep an eye without drawing attention.
I walk over and check the perimeter. Same camera setup—three real, two fakes. I pick the lock and enter silently.
I move.
Straight to the safe, ready to wipe every trace of my blood and fingerprints.
“What the fuck?” I whisper harshly.
The safe is there, but it’s been meticulously cleaned. There’s no indication I was here at all.
Still, I wipe it down good anyway, using the cloth and tiny bottle of enzymatic cleanser I brought with me. I crouch, scan the floor. No indication that anyone else was here. No footprints through the carpeting, no marks on the floor.
Once I’m satisfied no one was here, I breathe in.
Time to check the rest of the place.
8
DANIELA
Disappointment is a small, petty thing compared to terror, but it still pinches.
Why didn’t Hawk stay? Or take me with him?
I breathe through it. He’s not running from me. At least that’s what I tell myself.
He’s running toward something he thinks will help. That’s who he is. Justice first. Always.
And what’s more just than bringing a child home?
I find Raven in the kitchen, clutching a mug she isn’t drinking, staring at the wall.
“I thought you went to bed,” I say.
“I tried.” She sighs. “But my husband-to-be now knows never to threaten me with a sedative again. Besides, I was on so many drugs when I was sick, I’m probably immune to the effects by now.”
Vinnie hovers at the island with his phone. “Sorry, babe. I’m just trying to—”