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“Wait,” the security guy called out to Chuck, who halted instantly. “Did you check them for trackers?”
Shit, shit.
“No.” Chuck dropped the Fed’s body and started back for the helicopter. That had me moving and I jumped out, then turned, waiting for Lucy to do the same.
Erik went over to the Fed, searched his pockets, then came over to me. “Turn around.”
“What are you doing?” Security Asshole asked.
“Brant won’t want to see her cuffed,” Erik said in a biting tone.
Once he freed me, I kept my hands behind my back long enough to unclasp the bracelet, allowing it to fall, hoping the grass would hide it from sight. “You were my mother’s friend,” I said to distract them from what I’d done, stepping away from the bracelet in preparation for Chuck to check me for trackers. “Why are you doing this? I’ve never opened my mouth about what happened. It’s been eleven years. You didn’t need to come for us.”
“You shouldn’t have been on that show,” Erik said, and I thought I detected a tinge of regret in his eyes. Why did it feel like he truly didn’t want to find me? What was really going on?
“Pretty sure it was lucky for us they were.” Security Asshole motioned to Chuck with another twirl of his finger, instructing him to check us.
“You’re not going to get what you want,” Erik said as Chuck waved some baton thing down my body. I was too distracted by Face-Off 2.0 to be thankful the nearby bracelet didn’t set off the alarm.
Security Asshole looked my way and hissed, “You’re wrong about that. When he’s done thinking she’s Claudia, I won’t be bringing her here with the others. I’ll finally get my revenge for this bitch shooting me.”
“Brant’s going to think I’m my mom?” Shit, and also . . . oh God, that made sense. Sort of. But wait, what?
After Chuck cleared my sister, he chucked the baton-thing back into the helicopter and went about his business of casually dragging away the dead body.
“He will.” Erik sounded as if the idea stressed him out as much as it did me.
But Erik put us in this situation, so why was he so upset about it? It didn’t add up.
“Bring Lucy with the others. We’ll board the helo and wait,” Erik said a few seconds later.
Security Asshole peered my way as if unsure he’d be following that order. And it was just long enough for me to realize what his words also implied.
“We’re being separated?” I clutched my chest, forgetting the pain in my jaw. This is why I . . . don’t make it. But Lucy does. The tracker is here, and I’m pretty sure I’m leaving.
“No,” Lucy cried, then lunged for me, hooking her arm with mine with fierce intensity.
I didn’t want to cry, but this was our goodbye, and my fate was already predetermined. I wasn’t sure who’d be the one to kill me, but it was inevitable. “I love you, sis.” I untangled her arm from mine so I could pull her in for a hug, and she broke into a violent sob against my chest.
“You knew this, didn’t you?” she whispered through her cries. “Camila told you.”
“I love you,” I repeated, doing my best to stay strong for her. “It’ll be okay.”
“He’ll come for you. He won’t let this happen,” Lucy bellowed as the asshole began pulling her away from me.
I knew the “he” of the story was Jack. But I also knew he wouldn’t be able to save us both, and he knew what I wanted. My sister to live.
“I love you, Charley.” She tried to get to me, but the asshole hauled her into his arms, pinning her to his muscular chest, and I fell to my knees as I watched her being taken away from me.
Once she was gone from my sight, taken into the mansion in the distance, Erik crouched alongside me. “I never wanted to find you two. This wasn’t supposed to happen.”
I braced my hands on the ground as I struggled to find my breath. “You sent the cartel after us. You made this happen. Baited us here. You’re lying.” I lifted my chin to look at him, feeling strangely unthreatened by a man who’d done those things.
“I didn’t have a choice. My brother’s head of security, who he trusts even more than me, recognized you on camera at the show. He wanted to take you straight from the lodge, and his idea would’ve been an outright massacre. Getting you into the jungle with your . . . friends . . . and hiring the cartel to try and take you was the only way I could give you a chance.”
“What?” I pushed away from the ground only to fall back onto my heels.
“When I realized your teammates weren’t who they said they were, I hoped they’d . . .” He shook his head and stood, and with trembling legs and a shocked mind, I did the same. “Those cartel thugs were never supposed to hurt you. And the men who tried to at the border, well, I dispatched a team there to take out any survivors. They’re all dead.”
