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Allowing my dick to take charge again will make everything worse than it already is.
“I should head out. Can I get you anything before I go?”
A twinge of disappointment flashes in her eyes. “Just some ice for my face would be great.”
“I’ll go grab that for you.”
I dip my head and go downstairs, where I grab some ice and put it in a cloth, then make my way back up to the room. But Gwen is fast asleep.
I saw it coming, so I’m not surprised.
I walk to the nightstand to set the ice down in case she wakes up and can still use it.
Sebastian wags his tail and knocks Gwen’s handbag to the floor. Most of the contents fall out, rolling underneath the bed, so I kneel to pick them up.
When I reach under the bed to grab her lipstick, I notice the floorboards feel different. Like the ground beneath is hollow. A light tap confirms I’m right, and my curiosity piques.
This would be the only place in the house where I haven’t been able to look because I didn’t know about it.
I feel around the area for an opening, and when I find it, I lift the board and find a box inside.
I take it out and open it, finding a photo album.
When I open it, my hands still as I see a picture of Santiago Navarro posing with a blonde-haired baby on his lap. Scribbled on the side of the photo are the words. Daddy and Gwen.
Jesus. This is it. My God, this is it.
Fucking hell, I found what I was looking for.
It’s her. Santiago Navarro’s daughter is Gwen.
The evidence here speaks for itself.
I look at Gwen asleep on the bed and the sight of her innocence instills something in me I never expected to feel.Guilt.
I feel guilt as tangible as if it had taken form and slapped me in the face.
Sebastian is looking back at me. They both trust me. Dogs try to protect their masters, but this one will never see me as a threat. The same as Gwen didn’t.
Falling asleep is the most vulnerable thing a person can ever do. She drifted off without worry because she doesn’t fear me that way.
I keep my gaze trained on her, and I almost, almost wish I didn’t find this box.
If I were a better man—the man she thinks I am, who she probably sees as her protector—I’d pack this album back up, return to the beach house and tell Zakh the mission’s over. We failed.
But I can’t do that.
The reasons I’m doing this are never far from my mind.
The dead can never avenge themselves. Taking over the cartel is the only way I will ever avenge myself.
Not only that, the dangerous, selfish part of me that was hoping my target was her just found a way to keep her.
The problem with that is, everything I do next will make us enemies.
I saved her from her monsters tonight, but there’s no one who can save her from me.
Not even I can do that.
