Page 108 of Forbidden Fate

“Yes. I thought you knew that.”

“Maybe I did.” She rubs at her forehead. “I guess I haven’t put it all together in my head yet. I’ve had other shit on my mind. I mean, I knew you were my captor. I knew you were guarding me. I knew you were working for them. I knew you were part of it. But I didn’t know it was all you, with no one helping.” She gazes at me. “So you were the one who drugged me at that house.”

“It was all me,” I say, still determined to own it.

She sinks into the couch. “Okay. What were you doing before that?”

“One of my first assignments was to retrieve something for Vega.”

“What?”

“A body.”

Robin freezes. “A body,” she repeats.

“Yes.”

“Where did you dig him up?”

I hold her gaze. “An old barn on Bellamy Ranch.”

She swallows. “You exhumed a body from my family’s ranch.”

“Yes.”

Her hand drops from her throat. “How?”

“With shovels and a lot of muscle. How do you think?”

Her jaw flexes.

“The body had been buried beneath or near the old barn. Vega requested it back specifically. Not as evidence to destroy. Not as a loose end to erase. He wanted the body returned.”

“To him?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I was just following orders.”

“Please.” She scoffs. “Do not say that. I was just”—air quotes—“following orders.”

“Well…I was.”

“So were the people who worked for Hitler.” She tents her fingers in front of her face. “Fuck, Cruz.”

She’s not wrong. But what the hell does she think? That I’m some saint dressed in criminal’s clothing? “You asked, Robin. You wanted the truth. This is me. I’m owning it. Am I proud of it? Fuck, no. But this is me.”

She crosses her arms. “Cruz.”

“I’m telling you what you want to know. If you can’t handle it, tell me now.”

She swallows. “I can handle it.”

“I believe you can. And yes, I had my orders. This is the life I led until… Well, until yesterday.”

She nods. “I understand. Go on.”