Page 65 of Vow

“What’s this?”

She waved the folder.

Andino shrugged one broad shoulder. “You mentioned your friend … Valeria … and I figured it must have been weighing on you that she up and went without a word. You’re that type of person, aren’t you? You give entirely too much of a shit about everybody else, and not nearly enough about yourself.”

He knew her too well.

“You looked into Valeria?”

“As much as I could,” he replied. “This might help to get you started if you want to look elsewhere, or try to find her. I didn’t want to give this to you.”

Haven’s gaze narrowed, but Andino was quick to shake his head.

“Not for the reasons you probably think,” he was fast to add, “but because there are things that came up about Valeria Gomez that quickly turned dangerous, and murky. And if you go looking in those places … not even I could keep you safe, I don’t think.”

She stiffened, and looked down at the folder in her shaking hand. “Oh.”

“But here it is,” Andino said, “whether I want you to look or not isn’t my choice. I didn’t even have any business looking into her history to begin with but the idea that something was bothering you killed me. So, I made a few calls, and pulled what I could. That’s what I came here for—I hope it helps.”

Haven blinked, unsure of what to say.

Andino didn’t really give her the time to figure it out before he moved to pass by her, but not before he stopped, and gave her a soft kiss on her temple. That gentle press of his lips was enough to send a blaze lighting up over her skin. He really hadn’t come to upset her life again, or to get in the way. He hadn’t shown up to cause problems, or drag her to bed for yet another round.

He came because he cared.

He still cared.

And that just fucked her up more than ever.

“Could I replace your flowers again?” he asked, his lips still grazing her skin.

She wanted to ask if he would bring them himself this time, but she held back. He’d been the one who said he was trying to be discreet, after all. She was sure there were things happening that she wasn’t privy to, and maybe that was for the best.

Right now, Haven had a lot of things to figure out.

“You should,” she said quietly, “the others are wilting.”

Andino nodded. “Will do. And, if you want to chat about what you find in that folder … you know where to find me.”

“Thank you.”

He kissed her temple once more, and brushed his knuckles against her cheekbone before he left the private room altogether. Haven felt like her feet had suddenly turned into cement right there on the spot.

It took entirely too long for her to break from the daze and open the folder. Maybe she should have waited until she was back home again.

She couldn’t.

She had to know what Valeria had never told her.

The second she opened the folder, she wished she would have waited until she was home alone so that she could absorb the information staring back at her on just the first page. It looked to be a newspaper clipping of some sort. She scanned the words, and the ones that seemed important jumped out at her.

Gomez Cartel.

Fifteen-year-old Valeria Lòpez marries the oldest son of Martín Gomez in a ceremony at Saint Basile Chapel only two weeks after her father’s arrest for embezzlement.

Blackmail. Bribery.

Haven kept reading, and the information only became worse with each page. Who knew Mexico was so goddamn corrupt?