AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My brow rose in challenge. “He’s not called Carla since she’s been here, so I don’t believe that suddenly he just wanted her back, which means that Dad must have called.”
Sighing, my mother took a seat next to me, and from the way she nibbled on her thumb now, a bad habit that she’d always had, I knew I wasn’t going to like whatever it was she was going to say to me.
“He heard you and Carla.”
My stomach dropped. “Heard us?”
She released another heavy sigh and grimaced. “Please don’t make me say it. You’re my son, and you are eighteen. I’m not stupid, but I’d rather not think about it.”
Shit,I thought. I’d been so sure that Carla and I had been careful when we were together. Most of the time, we kept it out of the house, but there had been a few times when we lost ourselves in one another.
“From the look on your face, I’m assuming that we weren’t supposed to know.”
“Carla didn’t want to upset either of you,” I admitted. I looked over at my father’s study. The sound of the two men stopped. “Apparently, she was correct.”
I knew from the way that my mother looked at me that she was going to make excuses for my father, but I wasn’t in the mood to hear it. “He had no right to call Moreno.”
“Moreno is her father, and no matter what you think, she needs him.”
A snort escaped from me. “I’m sure that she needs someone who refuses to listen to her.”
Carla didn’t talk much about her family. It made sense considering most of them were dead, but I’d always wondered about her relationship with her father.
When I’d watched the disappointment on her face at his presence, it disgusted me the way that he talked to her, and it had taken every ounce of strength I possessed not to stand up and defend her honor.
“Carla and her father need to reconnect. They are all that they have now.”
I knew my mother meant well. Her heart was soft.
But Carla deserved to be heard, and despite everything that happened between the two of us, I was going to do whatever I could to ensure that that happened.
“Eli?”
I’d stood up and was making my way to my father’s office. My mother trailed after me.
“Eli! Don’t.”
I didn’t listen to her as I turned the handle and swung the door open. Both my father and Moreno turned to look at me. I shut the door, ignoring my mother’s upset face.
“Eli?” My father’s voice was stern as he talked to me. His lips thinned as he looked at me. “What are you doing in my office?”
Moreno’s eyes were so full of anger as he looked at me. Not that I gave a fuck. He didn’t scare me. Like Luca, I lacked that fear gene. The only difference is that I didn’t carry that on my sleeve the same way that my cousin did. I preferred to be like a snake. I struck only when necessary.
“Why do you believe that the cartel has something to do with the murder of your family.” The question was directed at Moreno. He seemed so sure, and though everything in my gut believed that Caleb Strong and his brother had something to do with the death of his family, I wanted to know what the other man knew.
“Eli…” There was a warning in my father’s voice. A warning to back down. But that wasn’t going to happen. Caleb already showed that he was dangerous. He needed to be dealt with.
“You wanted me to be involved in the family business,” I reminded my father. “Well, I’m involved.”
Moreno released a small snort. “Too involved from what your father says.”
Moreno’s dark eyes were fixed on me. If he thought that I was going to react, he was sorely mistaken.
“What do you know about Caleb and Callum Strong?”
Moreno was a veteran arm’s dealer, but he hadn’t expected the question, and I was watching him closely enough that I could see the twitch in his face.
I could see that this was my in, so I kept pushing. “Did you know that the two of them are in town? Caleb’s been stalking Carla.” Carla might argue against that, but I knew it was the truth. That asshole seemed to be everywhere she was.
