“I didn’t say anything before because you have to understand, Mateo, I’ll do anything to protect my family.”
“You ask me to make a choice to blindly follow you, but you won’t even own up to your own choices.”
“If you want to be with me, you’re going to have to learn to accept all of me. You can’t ignore it anymore.”
“Things could’ve been so different for all of us.”
I was wrong. Her anger had been completely justified. She thought I knew and didn’t care. She thought I’d turned my back on my own child.
My child.
My hands clenched into fists. “Where did these originate?”
“That’s the thing. I can’t trace the original file.”
It didn’t matter. The truth had been lying to my face for years. Only one person had my phone. If these messages existed, only one person could’ve kept them from me this whole time. The same person who’d already lied to me about talking with the DEA.
I took a breath, trying to control the vicious anger roiling inside me. “Get out.”
Bright loosened the tie knotted around his neck. “There’s more.” Clicking a few more keys, he turned the screen around as another black box popped up. “This one isn’t so pleasant.”
“911 dispatch, what’s your emergency?”
“There’s a drug deal going down on Gray and Elgin. I think it involves one of those Carrera Cartel guys.”
“We have an undercover officer in the area already on it. What’s your name, sir?”
“That’s all,” Bright said. “The caller hung up after that.” Closing his laptop, he dropped it in his bag and secured the latch.
“I’ll need a copy of these.”
“Already have it.” Pulling another flash drive out of his pocket, he dropped it into the cupholder as he quickly climbed out of the Tahoe.
Brody was waiting by the curb outside the DA’s office when I pulled up. He’d barely closed the door before I hit the gas.
“Do you mind telling me what the hell was so urgent I had to postpone a very important meeting?”
I didn’t even glance at him. “Your stepfather killed Hector Diaz.”
“What?” I expected the shock in his voice, but it still irritated me. “Are you insane? Finn is the CEO of an oil company, not a sicario. Turn this fucking car around. You’ve lost your damn mind.”
“I don’t give a shit if you believe me or not. You can ask him yourself.”
“Oh, sure, when he turns up, I’ll just—” His voice trailed off as everything clicked. Dropping his head against the headrest, he groaned. “Oh fuck, Mateo, you didn’t.”
“You’re damn right I did, and I’d do it again.” I jerked the wheel, my tone harsh. “But that isn’t what has him in one of our holding tanks.” Turning my head, I held his stare for a moment. “Brody, I have to tell you something, and I need you to keep as calm as possible.”
He let out a breath. “If it’s about you and my sister being together when she was a teenager, I already know.”
What? Fuck, I didn’t expect that.
“No. It’s about Finn and your sister.”
Brody’s voice got deathly low. “What the fuck did you just say?”
He listened quietly as I recounted the story Leighton had told me. Brody sat motionless, gripping the door handle until his arm shook. When I finished, he just stared at me, his face chalk white.
“Brody? Say something.”
“Pull over,” he rasped.
I pulled off the shoulder of the road, and he ripped off his seat belt. Flinging the door open, he retched onto the asphalt until I was sure he’d pass out. Finally wiping his mouth on the back of his hand, he climbed back into the truck.
“Take me to him.”
Putting the Tahoe in drive, I pulled back into traffic. “With pleasure.”
After I unlocked the heavy steel door, Brody didn’t bother opening it. He just kicked it in. The black tarp crunched under his expensive dress shoes as he stormed across the room.
“Oh, thank God, Brody! You have to get me out of—” Finn’s head snapped back as Brody barreled straight into him, landing one hell of an impressive right hook across his face. Blood poured from his already broken nose as he let out a strangled howl. “You hit me!”
“I trusted you. I stood up for you,” Brody roared, wrapping his hand around Finn’s throat. “I should rip your throat out.”
I stood against the wall, watching what was left of the cultured lawyer in Brody Harcourt be replaced by a ruthless killer. While I couldn’t say the transformation wasn’t overdue, this wasn’t his show.
“Not until I get some answers first,” I interrupted, moving in between them. Reaching into my waistband, I pulled out my gun and waved it in Donovan’s face. “Finley, you fucked up.”
“Oh? What offense did I commit this time?”
“I just found out something very interesting. Why did you have me busted four years ago?” I tapped my gun against his nose. “I know you called in the tip that got me arrested.”
Finn wisely kept his mouth shut for a few minutes, probably weighing his options. When he came to the conclusion that he had none, he glared at me through swollen eyes and smirked. “You think this was all my idea? Wake up, asshole, your own cartel members have done others’ bidding long before the almighty Val Carrera.”
My finger twitched against the trigger. “It was your voice on the dispatch call.”
“Getting rid of you was a fringe benefit. You took up too much of her time.”
I slammed the side of my gun against his face, my control breaking.
Finn spat out a mouthful of blood and laughed. “How do you think you got sent away without so much as a fair trial? If you think you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, you’re an even bigger dumbass than I am.”
“Our members wouldn’t rig the system against our own.”
He grinned through bloodstained teeth. “Are you sure about that?”
I knew his game, and I couldn’t let him knock me off mine. So instead of letting him rattle me, I pressed the barrel of my gun against his cheek. “Leighton said you lost your six iron.”
“So?”
“One of our men’s head was turned into cream cheese with a six iron.” Using my free hand, I pointed to my temple. “Left an imprint right in his skin.”
“Oh, and I did it because I belong to a country club and like to hit the links?”
“No, because you’re a fucking rapist who isn’t smart enough to cover his own crime.” I increased the gun’s pressure on his cheek. “You’re too stupid to do this on your own, so tell me who gave the order, and I might let you go.”
“Are you fucking serious?” Brody yelled behind me. “You’re going to let him go?”
“Shut up,” I growled.
Finn watched our back-and-forth with interest. “If I tell you, you’ll let me go?”
Stepping back, I crossed my arms over my chest and tapped the barrel of the gun against my bicep. “I’ll consider it.”