At first, she attempted to play dumb, shaking her head like she’d never seen it before. “I don’t know what that is.”
“You know exactly what it is, and you’re going to start talking, or I start calling people you don’t want me to call.”
“How do you know it was me who did it?” The contrast of the challenge in her voice and the red flush painting the skin above her tank top made my rage soar and my cock throb with savage need.
“Because everything was fine until your name was mentioned,” I hissed, jerking her against me. “Now everything has gone to shit, as usual.”
Her palms pushed against my chest once again. “I’d never intentionally hurt my brother.”
“Just sell him out, right? You spent time with the Muñoz Cartel then shacked up with a Carrera. Seems to me you know more about our life than anyone thinks.”
“What are you implying?”
Lifting the bug, I held it between us. “Who sent you? What really happened with Luis?”
“What?” she screeched, glaring up at me. “Nobody sent me. I’m the victim here.”
“No, the victim is dead, and if you keep pulling shit like this,” I yelled, tossing the bug across the room, “you and your brother will be too.”
Leighton’s eyes followed the bug as it bounced on the floor, her chin tilted away from me. “Is that a threat?”
“It’s a fact,” I answered, trying to shock some sense into her. When she continued to stare at the bug as if she didn’t hear me, I gripped her shoulders and gave them a firm shake. “You could cost Brody his life.”
“All right!” she screamed, covering her face with her hands. “I’m being blackmailed.”
“What? By who? How?”
She sighed in defeat, dropping her hands by her side. “The DEA. They know about Luis.”
The last three letters I ever wanted to hear.
“DEA? What the fuck?” I expected to have to pull the information out of her. However, it was as if the entire night had shaken her so much that once those three letters fell from her lips, the dam broke and the truth came rushing out of her.
“Agents caught me coming out of my apartment,” she admitted. “They’d been watching me and knew everything. They had me on tape calling Brody and threatened me with jail if I didn’t agree to become their informant.”
“Is that who was following you tonight?”
“No. Yes. No. I don’t know, Matty.” She frowned, moving out of my hold and crossing her arms over her chest. “I didn’t really see the person’s face. I don’t think so. I mean, why would the DEA try to run me off the road?” She glanced up at me with those sad brown eyes full of questions.
She had no idea what she’d done withholding this information. We were used to being on the DEA’s radar, but this was another level of ruthlessness. The one week that Val gave me just shortened.
“Damn it, why didn’t you just go to Brody?” I roared. “He could’ve protected you. We could’ve protected you.”
She shook her head. “Not from this. You don’t understand what’s at stake. I had to do it this way.”
“By selling him out because you were too scared to face a self-defense charge?”
The frightened look morphed into a half-smirk. “It has nothing to do with that and everything to do with the fact I have family in politics and law. I know firsthand not everything is fair and just, Mateo. Look at what happened to you.”
Adrenaline pumped through my veins, and I wound a hand through her tangled hair, jerking her against me. “You don’t get to talk about what happened to me,” I ground out through clenched teeth. “You have no idea what I went through.”
I wanted her fear. I wanted her to feel every moment of hell I went through while I prayed she was safe and would wait for me while I rotted behind bars. But it wasn’t fear on her face as she gazed up at me. It was something far more disturbing.
A challenge.
“No, Matty,” she whispered. “You have no idea what I went through.”
“What do you mean?” I wasn’t sure I wanted the answer, but I asked anyway.
She took a deep breath, as if she were about to put me out of my misery. However, at the last minute, she puffed out her cheeks and exhaled, dropping her chin to her chest and slowly rolling her neck until she faced me again. This time the liquid honey-brown in her eyes had hardened and the armor she wore as a shield returned.
“Nothing,” she said finally. “It’s nothing.”
“Star—I mean, Leighton, come on. Obviously, it’s not—”
That was as far as I got before headlights flashed below the window then quickly extinguished. Glancing outside, I noticed a dark colored sedan sitting out front that I knew wasn’t there before.
Remembering she’d been followed, I grabbed her wrist. “Come on.”
She stumbled after me. “Where are we going?”
“Out the back.”
“The fire escape?”
“Unless you prefer to walk out the front door where we’re being watched. Personally, being run off the road once would be enough for me, but if that’s your thing, be my guest.”
Pulling Leighton behind me, we climbed out the window and down the fire escape outside of Brody’s apartment. Luckily, since I was always cautious about being seen, the Tahoe was parked out back. Flinging open the driver’s side door, I pushed her inside, quickly climbing in after her. Just as I turned the ignition, I saw her pull her phone out of her pocket.
“What the hell are you doing?” I yelled, knocking it out of her hand. “You can’t call anyone. You said the DEA is blackmailing you. You don’t know who you’re dealing with, Star, and you don’t know what you’re doing.”
She flattened her lips and swiped the floorboard for the phone. “I don’t need you.”
I suppressed a groan while weaving in and out of traffic. “Stop being so fucking stubborn. This isn’t just about you anymore.”
“I can handle this on my own,” she argued, attempting to dial again.
Fucking hell, it’s like arguing with a brick wall.
Reaching over the console, I took the phone out of her hand and tossed it in the backseat.
“We have to tell Brody!”
I didn’t have time for this shit.
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I called him. As soon as his voice mail picked up, I rushed through my message. “Hey, it’s me. Your apartment has been compromised, so you need to stay at a safehouse or RVC tonight. Don’t worry about your sister. She’s safe and with me.”
It took Leighton fifteen minutes to speak to me again. “You can’t just take me,” she hissed, her hands crossed over her chest. “This is kidnapping and it’s illegal.”
“Nothing is illegal in my world. I’m not who you think I am. I never have been.”
“Well, at least you got one thing right,” she muttered, staring out of the dark window. “You’re definitely not who I thought you were. You left me when I needed you most. You sacrificed me, and that’s not the person who told me he loved me.”