AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Leeri shrugged. “It wasn’t the plan, but yeah, I do.”
“You’re a federal agent in love with a criminal?” I asked, fighting the urge to fly off to Mexico and pound the asshole into the ground.
She dug her teeth into her bottom lip and shook her head. “Not exactly.”
Greta was smiling. I wasn’t sure what the hell she was smiling about.
“I’m not exactly a fed,” Leeri said. “Actually, I’m not anything… not anymore.”
Greta took a drink and shifted, turning to face Leeri like she was settling in to hear more.
I sighed and sat down next to Greta, settling in for a story I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear.
Leeri shrugged. “After I left, I was recruited—CIA,” she said with a sly smile. “But I left the agency two years ago,” she continued. The glint in her eyes remained, but the smile had fallen away. “Cara Miller and I… do you remember her?” she asked me.
I nodded, though only because the name rang a distant bell.
“She and I were recruited together, went to the farm together. We both spent most of the next several years in Mexico. Until she was murdered… by Javier Domínguez.”
“But you couldn’t prove it,” Greta ventured.
Leeri nodded. “No proof, not even a body,” she said, and Greta shivered because we both knew why there’d been no body.
I sighed and tossed the rest of my drink back. “So, you resigned and went after this asshole on your own,” I said, imagining my baby sister in that asshole’s hands, her body in those goddamned drums.
She nodded. “I knew the man posing as Domínguez wasn’t him, and through research and reconnaissance, I knew he wasn’t happy about it. When Domínguez’s father died—at Domínguez’s hand—he also killed everyone who could identify him and Mateo, including Mateo’s entire family. Mateo didn’t know that at first. The two of them grew up together; they were best friends, for God’s sake. Domínguez made it seem like he was doing Mateo an enormous favor, making him his front man.” Leeri paused, shook her head. “He’s as evil as they come, but you’ll never get to him.”
“I will.” Greta shot to her feet. Her hands were clenched in fists. She crossed the room and left without a backward glance.
And I got a very bad feeling.
Chapter Thirty-One
Greta
I headed down the stairs, turned, and hightailed it to the Costas’ office. Nico was still in bed with Raven, but Gabe had sauntered down the stairs when Rafael had let Brute and me in.
I knocked and walked right in without waiting for a response. Gabe was sitting on the sofa by the window, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes with a drink in his other hand. It looked like water. Really?
I looked pointedly at the glass and cocked a questioning brow at him.
He shrugged. “My son puts a damper in my being able to drink around the clock like some people,” he joked.
I expected to feel relief, to revel in my freedom, in the ties that didn’t bind me.
I didn’t feel relief. I felt… not empty, exactly. That wasn’t the right word. I wasn’t hollow, but not quite as full as I’d expected. Like something was missing, maybe. Missing…? Or sitting with his sister in the room upstairs?
“You seem to have been spending a lot of time with Brute lately,” Gabe mused.
“Do I have a glass face now?” I asked, really hoping that wasn’t the case.
He shrugged. “Just a general observation.”
“It’s… different,” I said. I wasn’t hedging. What I felt for Brute was complicated. Except… it wasn’t complicated. It was painfully, disgustingly clear, if I was being honest with myself. Now wasn’t really the time for a conversation about it. “How long?” I asked, switching subjects.
He set his glass down on the table and sat back against the sofa. “I’m still not certain about this, Greta.”
I shook my head. “First my apartment, then following me from Onyx. I don’t know why Domínguez has honed in on me, but unless you know something I don’t, then using that is the only way in.”
