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Twenty-Seven
Abby was foldingclothes in the bedroom, trying in vain to work off her nervous energy while the men loaded themselves up with weapons and equipment that may or may not save their lives when it came time to confront Jason and his guards, when a knock sounded from the opendoor.
She looked up to see Carlos standing in thedoorframe.
She stood. “Hey.”
“I hope I didn’t startle you — or overstep by coming uphere.”
“What can I do for you?” sheasked.
He rubbed at his chiseled jawline. “We haven’t known each other verylong.”
“No.”
In any other context the visit would have set off alarm bells in her head: why was Carlos standing outside the bedroom she shared with Max on the second floor, a place Max held apart as belonging to him and Abbyalone?
But she’d always felt comfortable around Carlos, and his nervous expression spoke more of confession than ill-intent.
“It’s not ideal,” he admitted, “going into a situation like this with an underboss you don’t have history with. These things usually happen more…organically.”
She smiled. “There’s a first time for everything, isn’tthere?”
“There is, but you usually have time to build to something this big, to a scenario where you’re putting your life in someone else’s hands — or putting the life of the person you love in someone else’shands.”
She sighed. “I’d be at his back myself if I thought I’d do him anygood.”
“I don’t doubtit.”
She sat back down on the bed and looked at her hands. “It’s not ideal for you either, Iguess.”
“In what way?” heasked.
“You’re risking your life for someone you don’t have a historywith.”
“When DeLuca was running things, I was risking my life for people I didn’t trust, people I didn’t believe in,” he said. “This isbetter.”
“Because you believe in Max?” she asked, looking up athim.
He nodded slowly, like he’d been considering the answer for a long time. “Ido.”
“That’s something,” she said. “That’s alot.”
His dark eyes found hers through the dim light of the table lamp next to the bed. “I guess I just wanted you to know that you can trust me. I can’t promise nothing will go wrong, but if it goes bad, it won’t because I didn’t have hisback.”
She suddenly believed it. Knew it to be true. Felt it in the lightening of the weight she’d been carrying on her shoulders, the lessening of the vise that had been gripping her heart since Max started planning the assault on theTangier.
“Thankyou.”
“I don’t know if it helps,but…”
“It helps,” shesaid.
He gave her a ghost of a smile just as a shadow moved behind him in thehall.
“What’s going on?” Maxasked.
Abby smiled at the suspicion in his voice. Some things neverchanged.
