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To save me.
“You were there,” I whispered. “In that basement. You’re the one who…” I trailed off, unable to put my roiling emotions into words. He’d killed for me, but he’d also saved my life.
“Yes,” he replied, firm and unrepentant. “I will always protect you, Evelyn.”
He’d protected me from the man who’d tried to roofie me in the bar.
He’d jumped in front of a bullet for me tonight.
But he was associated with the cartel somehow.
Maybe he was a good man. Maybe…
“Are you working undercover?” I asked, grasping at straws. “Is George?” I already knew the truth in my heart, but I had to ask, a tiny spark of hope still flickering in my chest.
His beautiful features twisted into a scowl. “Your fiancé,” he spat the word like it was poison on his tongue, “isn’t working undercover. He’s corrupt, Evelyn. He’s a dirty agent. The coward ran. He abandoned you. I saved you. I will always do what’s necessary to protect you.”
“You don’t even know me,” I protested, thoughts tangling as my heart was crushed beneath the weight of the awful truth.
I didn’t understand why Massimo was so committed to ensuring my safety if he didn’t work with Interpol. If he wasn’t one of the good guys, why would he care?
“I know you’re innocent. I know you’re a good woman. That’s reason enough.”
But how could he know that?
Is she innocent? he’d asked in that basement, during my nightmarish ordeal with the cartel.
He’d been in the market last weekend, watching me.
He’d been in the bar at precisely the right time to scare away that creep.
And he’d been in the alley tonight, as though he’d been waiting to rescue me.
My blood ran cold. “You’ve been stalking me.”
His jaw ticked with something like irritation, and his arms tensed around me ever so slightly. “I’ve been stalking Crawford. He’s working with Los Zetas. I’m just doing a favor for a friend.” He shook his head, glossy black curls swaying around his sculpted face. “At least, that’s how it started. I won’t lie to you, Evelyn. I’ve been after Crawford, but you’re the one I care about. You’re in danger because of him—because of his negligence and selfishness. I’ll do anything to keep you safe. He’s not worthy of you.”
My stomach churned at the implication. “And you are?” I shot back, fear finally surging to the fore along with my defiance. “You’re a criminal. You work for the cartel, don’t you? Let me go!”
I wriggled in his arms, but he didn’t budge an inch. He simply held me, fixing me with a shining glower, until I stopped struggling. I crossed my arms over my chest and tipped my chin back, making my outrage apparent even though I couldn’t physically fight him off.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he said. It was a decree, a vow.
I swallowed hard, my stomach dropping.
“I don’t work for the cartel,” he countered. “But Stefano Duarte is my friend. Your fiancé,” his lip curled in disgust, “is working for his rivals. I’m doing Duarte a favor.”
George’s awful conversation in the alley played through my mind in a sickening loop.
“All he cares about is power and money,” Massimo growled. “I know men like him. He would sacrifice anything for it, even you. I won’t allow that to happen.”
My insides quaked at his formidable frown, but I managed to hold my ground, my defiant stare clashing with his. No matter what was happening with George, the man who held me so gently had just admitted that he was friends with a drug lord.
“Let me go.”
“No.” It was a low, firm refusal. There was no room for negotiation in that hard tone. “It’s not safe for you out there.”
“I’m not safe in here!” I shot back, my voice a bit too high pitched. I took a quick breath to quell my mounting panic and hurried on. “You’re a criminal. I don’t know where you’ve brought me, but it’s not a safe house. I want to leave. Now.”
