I didn’t say anything because I had a feeling what was coming.
“Cristiano Vergara doesn’t exist.”
And that wasn’t it.
“I’m sorry, what?”
Sounds of glass clinking cut through the silence, and I glanced over to see Val casually filling his glass. “Doesn’t exist. No birth certificate, no records, nothing. Un fantasma en el viento. A ghost in the wind. Innocent men don’t run, but if Ignacio and Cristiano are related, I can’t prove it yet.”
“But you will.”
His lips peeled back in a confident smirk. “I always do.”
Questions flew through my mind, none of which had answers. All I knew was that I needed to talk to Carlos and compare notes.
“Also, there was nothing on the car’s GPS history.”
“You’re kidding.”
He shook his head. “Someone knew which wires to cut.”
I ground my teeth. Not just any someone.
Adriana.
Val stared at me in silence for a few moments, a curious gaze in his eye. “Let’s hear your debrief.”
My mind still reeled from his bombshell, so I stalled with a generous drink from my glass. Every lawyer’s instinct roared at me to question him, but I liked breathing and would prefer to keep doing it. “I was right when I said I thought something about Ignacio Vergara’s revival of the Muñoz Cartel connected to Adriana. Ignacio was the man who kidnapped her as a baby.”
Val stilled, his hand gripping the glass so hard, I expected it to shatter in his hand. “Are you telling me this is the hijo de su puta madre who killed my mother and my aunt?”
“Apparently, another missing birth certificate, only this one we recovered.” I recounted the story Adriana told me, standing my ground when his head snapped up once I got to the part where Adriana stole the car to go meet him.
“You let her go alone? Dios mío, I sent you with her to make sure she didn’t do something stupid, Harcourt! Meeting a killer alone in an abandoned warehouse qualifies as pretty goddamn stupid!”
“She’s not stupid, Val! She’s determined to protect this family! And I didn’t let her go,” I growled, between clenched teeth. “She snuck out of bed before I could…”
Fuuuuuck.
Val’s eyes flashed pitched black. Not a speck of gold flickered in a dead sea of dark rage. “She. Snuck. Out. Of. Bed. Before. You. Could. What?” He bit out each word, his nostrils flaring.
“Stop her,” I finished.
“What happened between you and Adriana?”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t play dumb with me. You left here warning me that trusting her was a mistake. You swore she had an agenda. Now, you’re defending her like…” His voice trailed off, his eyes narrowing.
“Like what?”
“Like I would Eden.”
I laughed. “Right.”
“Did you fuck my sister?” His voice lowered to a thin rumble, and there it was.
The snap threat.
Lunging forward, he fisted my shirt. “I asked you a question.”
I calmly lifted my drink and took a sip, staring him right in the eye. “Are you done?”
“I asked you to do one thing. Keep your dick away from her.”
The way he spoke like we were some drunken bar fuck in a dirty bathroom stall pissed me off. “It’s not like that.”
“Then tell me, Harcourt.” He smirked, an unbidden mocking in his eyes. “What’s it like?”
It was like getting hit in the head with a brick. It was a frustrating back-and-forth with a woman I was never supposed to want. It was a dead calm stirred up in a tornado of smart mouth and brazen wit. It was fear of falling and the rush of the plunge.
“I love her, all right?” I shouted, shoving him away from me.
Val blinked. Then he blinked again. Then again. “What did you just say?”
I pressed my fingers against my forehead, rubbing against the headache brewing behind my eyes. Exhaling hard, I dropped my hand and held his gaze. “I said I’m in love with Adriana.”
“It’s been a week.”
“About the length of time you knew Eden, I believe.”
All the tendons in Val’s neck pulled tight with tension, but he kept his lips pressed tightly together, tamping down his anger. It was because I was right, and he knew it.
At least I didn’t have to kidnap Adriana to get her in my bed.
Gritting his teeth, he turned toward the bar again, filling his glass until it nearly overflowed. “Does she feel the same way about you?”
“I think so.” I didn’t elaborate. Val didn’t need to know about Adriana’s rules or what that kiss meant. I didn’t give a damn if he stomped around threatening to cut off every protruding part of my body. This conversation was over.
But there was still one thing left I needed to say.
One thing I couldn’t leave hanging over my head if I wanted to remain a permanent part of Adriana’s life. She promised it would die with her, but secrets had a way of coming out one way or another, and if I wanted to open a door to the future, I had to close the one to the past.
“Look, Val, I need to tell you something.”
Val’s face tightened, and draining the glass, he slammed it on the table. “I’m not in the mood for any more confessions, Harcourt.”
“This one you need to hear. It has to do with Adriana, and why I agreed so quickly to bring her here.” Clearing my throat, I spoke slowly, making sure he heard every word. “When I took proof of Adriana’s identity to Eden, it wasn’t to drive her to you. It was to drive you apart.”
Snap.
Val’s glass shattered against the wall moments before he swung.
After tucking her sleeping daughter into her car seat, Leighton leaned against the door, her lips flattening into a smug smirk.
I folded my arms across my chest. “What?”
“That’s a nice shiner you got there.”
“Yep.”
“I see you told Val.”
“Told Val what?”
“That you’re in love with his sister.”
My eyes snapped back to find Leighton grinning like she’d just won the lottery. “Jesus, what’s with everyone in this house?” I dragged my finger in a horizontal line above my eyebrows. “Do I have this shit stamped across my forehead?”
Leighton laughed, batting my hand away from my face. “A sister knows these things.”
“Great.”
“So, what are you going to do about it?”
“I don’t know.”
I didn’t, and that was the thing that bothered me the most. I’d cleared the air with Val, my face taking the brunt of his wrath. Once we took Ignacio Vergara down, and whatever progeny he may or may not have, I was free to do anything I wanted to do.
The thing was, I had no idea what Adriana wanted.
I guess my silence spoke for me because Leighton wrapped an arm around my waist. “She acts tough, but she needs a hero,” she said, leaning her head against my arm. “I don’t know anyone who fills those shoes better than my big brother.”
I snorted. “Don’t let your husband hear you say that.”