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“And for Thorn’s murder on top of it all,” Portia said. “But he knew the cops had Thorn for going after you, and they had me from your ID. He was the only one with a Get Out of Jail Free card. After everything he’d done to me, leaving me with our step-father for all those years, knowing full well the man beat the shit out of me and worse? Then he was going to use my loyalty and throwmeto the cops to rot for his crimes?”
The rest of the story fell together with a sickening snap. “So, you waited until he came up with the final plan to kidnap me, and you killed him, then did it yourself.”
“You know, in another life, I think I’d have liked you. You’re a pretty smart person,” Portia said. “Kind of a shame I’ve got to kill you. But here we are.”
Camila’s brain raced. Roman had to be close. She only needed another minute. “Wait. How did you know where I’d be tonight?”
“You made it tough,” Portia said. “Archer was pissed, actually. We couldn’t grab you from school. Too many cameras. He wasn’t about to touch you at that FBI guy’s house. Good for you, by the way—that man isfine. Also, smart. Archer knew we couldn’t risk taking both of you. But he overheard you talking on the phone about going out tonight, and the plan just made itself.”
Wait… “Oh, my God,” Camila breathed. The landscaping guy at the school. Ithadto have been him.
“Now you’re catching on,” Portia said. “Archer was excellent at blending in. He told me his plan to snatch you, I killed him to cover my ass, snatched you myself with the same ruse—he knew you’d fall for the dog thing—and the rest is history.”
“Not quite yet, it isn’t.”
Camila’s heart exploded against her rib cage at the sound of Roman’s voice and the sight of him prowling from the shadows, his gun pointed right at Portia’s chest. “Agent Roman, FBI. Lower your weapon and get on the ground.”
Portia swung her weapon at him for a split second—no, no, no, NO—before returning it to Camila. “If you take another step closer, and I do meanone, I will blow her fucking head off.”
“I’ll drop you less than a second later,” he promised, but Portia smiled.
“She’ll still die. And we both know you won’t take the risk.”
Roman stopped moving, but didn’t lower his gun. “It’s over, Portia. Put down your weapon.”
“So I can spend the rest of my life in jail?” she asked. “My brother deserved what he got. I was only twelve years old, and he left me with a fucking monster. He used me to steal millions of dollars. I was loyal. I dideverythinghe told me to. Then he thinks he can just double-cross me and get away with it? No. Uh-uh. I’m not going to jail for that asshole.”
“Put down your weapon and we can talk about it,” Roman said.
Portia’s laugh hit funhouse levels, sending ice water down Camila’s spine. “Nice try. But no.”
“Last chance,” Roman said, but Portia didn’t blink.
“I’d rather die,” she said. “And I’m going to take Camila with me.”
Time slowed to a crawl as Camila gave in to her survival instinct, dropping to a ball on the floor. She heard shouting, felt Roman’s body cover hers, then the pop of shock that followed as her brother’s voice sliced through the din.
“RPD! Drop your weapon. Drop it,right now.”
A clatter of metal on concrete sounded off, followed by a curse. Then, “Clear! Suspect is in custody.”
Roman dragged her to her feet, but thankfully, he still held on to both of her arms, because yeah, Camila’s legs were useless. “Are you okay? Jesus, are you hurt?”
“No,” she managed. “Is she…is she…”
“Absolutely handcuffed and toooootally going to jail,” Hale called out, just as blue and white lights came streaming in past the gaps in the boarded-up windows.
Camila tried to replay the last two minutes in her head, but none of them made any sense. “Did you act as a distraction so my brother could sneak up on Portia and take her down?”
“Sort of,” Roman said as Matteo passed a handcuffed and furious Portia off to Hale, Maxwell, and Isabella, who had just burst in through the front door. “But we thought there were two of them—Archer and Portia. The original plan was for me to take both of them down with your brother and Hale as backup. We didn’t change anything once we realized it was just her, but as soon as she kept her gun on you and wouldn’t budge, I knew I couldn’t take the risk. So, I kept her talking long enough for them to close in and take her down.”
“Pretty sound strategy,” Matteo said, smiling at her before arching a brow at Roman. “You must’ve learned it from a badass.”
Camila’s face heated at her brother’s acknowledgment of her tactic to keep Portia talking so they could locate her, but she let a small smile escape. “I knew you’d know something was wrong when I didn’t show up and follow the tracker. All I did was buy time.”
“Well, that time saved your life,” Matteo said, pulling her into a hard, fast hug. “I’m glad you’re okay,mija. But maybe let’s keep this one between all of us, yeah? Ifmamiandpapifind out—”
“Done!” she said, letting Matteo ruffle her head (hehadjust helped save her life) before watching him join his unit-mates.
