He narrowed his eyes. “Then maybe you should be at Caliente instead of here.”
Part of me already knew it, but hearing the words still sucked. Lowering the gun, I held it by my side. “Are you saying…”
“Yeah, genius. There’s been an unholy alliance for years, and it’s not in Mexico. A power play none of you saw coming.” A slow smile parted his lips. “Except maybe sweet Leighton. She always was a smart one—feisty too. I wonder if that trait was passed down?”
Images blackened my vision, and I aimed my gun at his forehead. “She’s mine. Both of them.”
“Wait!” he screamed, jerking in his chair. “You said you wouldn’t kill me if I told you.”
“I lied.” Just as I was about to pull the trigger, Brody grabbed my wrist. Glaring at him, I waved the gun in his face. “What the fuck is wrong with you, man? You know what this sick son of a bitch did to your sister.”
“I’ll never be able to forget,” he growled, kicking Finn’s chair and sending him crashing against the wall. “But we should use him as bait. Let’s let him hang himself and end this once and for all.”
Finn let out an audible sigh of relief, but I’d had enough.
“Fuck that.” Extending my arm, I aimed right between his eyes and pulled the trigger, exploding the back of Finn’s head against the wall.
Brody sighed behind me. “Maybe you didn’t hear me. I said we should let him hang himself. He could’ve been useful, Mateo.”
“And maybe you didn’t hear me.” Tucking the gun back in my waistband, I turned around and glared at him. “I said, fuck that. To be honest, the fact he doesn’t have two bullets in his brain makes me want to put one in yours.”
Shoving both arms into my chest, he knocked me backward. “Don’t ever question my love for Leighton. I’d die for her.”
I shoved him right back. Only mine was harder and came with a warning. “Yeah? I just killed for her. Now clean this shit up. We have work to do.”
Chapter Thirty
Leighton
Jackie paced the uneven asphalt outside the back door of Caliente, sucking on the end of a thin cigarette. As late as it was, she was still dressed to impress—a smart navy-blue pantsuit over a crisp white shirt and a simple necklace she held like a talisman. I leaned against the back of the building watching her crumble with every step.
“Since when did you take up smoking?”
Stopping, she crossed an arm over her chest and blew a heavy line of smoke. “Since when did you take to summoning me?” Shaking her head, she resumed her pacing. “Make this quick, Leighton. Your mother doesn’t know I’m gone.”
“It’s Saturday night.”
She chuckled. “Your point?” Spinning around, she peered around the corner. “Are you sure it’s safe to talk out here?”
I was way ahead of her. Before texting her to meet me during my break, I’d ensured Emilio was busy and none of his associates were anywhere near the building. I even kept a watch across the street to ensure Swenson and his buddy had taken the night off. I made mistakes, but I didn’t repeat them.
“Yes, everyone else is inside. No one’s listening.”
She rolled her eyes. “Someone’s always listening.”
After the last few days, I’d come to question everyone’s motives. There was no such thing as a selfless deed. While I didn’t want to alienate her, I didn’t have time to stand out here arguing with her.
“You were concerned about me being near Alex Atwood at the fundraiser. Why?”
The orange end of Jackie’s cigarette flickered. “I didn’t like the looks of him.”
“Right. Is that why you played a game of ‘riddle me this’ at my mother’s office? I did what you told me to.” Digging into my apron, I pulled out the picture of Alex from my father’s funeral and held it up. “I found this.”
She exhaled a cloud of smoke. “Yeah?”
Her blasé attitude irritated me. She’d presented the can of worms, and I dumped it out. She was sifting through them with me whether she liked it or not. “Why was Alex at my father’s funeral? You seem to know a lot about both of them, so I was hoping you could shed some light on this for me.”
Dropping her cigarette to the ground, she stomped it out with the toe of her shoe. “I’m sure you have access to a computer,” she mumbled. “Google Detective Alex Atwood and see what pops up.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she turned to walk away.
Moving quickly, I grabbed her arm. “Why are you doing this?”
“I told you, I do a lot of things not in my job description.” Her body tensed, and her shoulders drew toward her ears. “But I didn’t sign on for any of this shit.”
“Shit? What shit? And why do you care so much about my father?”
Jackie glanced over her shoulder, and I had to swallow my reaction. The earlier nervousness etched in her face deepened into a pain I knew all too well. It caused permanent lines carved by rivers of tears only cried by someone whose heart had shattered into a thousand pieces.
“Your father was a good man, Leighton,” she said, her tone hauntingly sad. “He cared about people and saw the good in them. Even people who did things they didn’t want to.” Her voice broke on her last words, her hand reaching for the necklace dangling just above the collar of her shirt. I caught a glimpse of it just before she wrapped it protectively in her hand.
A gold “J” on a dainty gold chain.
Just like mine.
My heart thundered in my chest. “Beautiful necklace.”
“It was a gift.” Her grip tightened, as if my acknowledgment would make it disappear.
I understood her possessiveness—her need to hold tightly to the only thing she had left. It was a lasting testament to the good part in all of us. I should’ve been jealous. It should’ve soiled my most sacred memories, tainting the infallible man I put on a pedestal.
But I wasn’t, and it didn’t.
It made him human, and instead of hating Jackie for having a private part of my father, I felt a strange kinship with her. James Harcourt wasn’t perfect. However, neither was I. I’d killed, lied, stolen, and given myself to a man who’d probably committed every sin there was.
Love wasn’t unflawed. It was ugly, damaged, imperfect, and at times tragic. But in the end, it was what kept us breathing. It was what woke us up and got us out of bed, hoping for another chance at making it better. It was what drove us to right the wrongs we carried with us far too long.
“I have to go,” she said, brushing her eye with the back of her hand.
I nodded as her heels clicked away into the darkness. “I’ll be in touch.”
I had no idea if she heard me or not, but it didn’t matter. Our business together wasn’t finished, and she knew it. However, I’d give her the space she needed to compose herself before approaching her again. Drying my damp palms on my apron, I opened the back door and went back into Caliente on a mission. There would be no more reporting back to Alex until I knew exactly who he was and what backdoor agenda he had. Whatever he wanted on the Carrera Cartel, I had a feeling it was a smoke screen for something much bigger, and I was tired of being a sacrificial lamb.