Page 33 of Into the Fire

“If you’re in prison—and that’s where you’re going as soon as you agree to a plea deal—Javier has no one to stop him from going after your sister. You see that, don’t you?”

He squeezed his eyes shut.

I saw how this may have played out. Sometime last week, Sergio was faced with an ultimatum—confess or Sophia would be hurt. Or maybe he didn’t intend to confess until confronted by the police with the information that the shooter wore his sweatshirt. Perhaps he thought his brother was responsible, until he saw the video and recognized Javier and the threat Javier posed to Sophia. It was a knee-jerk decision that put him here, and it would take hard evidence to get him out.

But there was no evidence that Javier killed Greg Rodriguez.

Except Henry, if he made a statement.

“Your brother can go to the police and tell them Javier killed the clerk.”

“He won’t. Javier has him so twisted up, as if he cares more for Henry than I do!”

“I can talk to him.”

“He won’t listen! If he won’t listen to me, he won’t listen to a woman he doesn’t know.”

“What do you think is going to happen from here?”

Sergio shrugged, didn’t look at me.

“Call your lawyer, right now, and recant. That’ll get the ball rolling. There will be a hearing on Monday and I hope to have hard evidence of your innocence by then.”

“I do that, and Javier will get to her before I get out. I have no rights! I have nothing. Why do you even care?”

“I hate bullies and Javier Escobar is a bully. You made a mistake, but I understand why. Don’t make another one. Call your lawyer.”

Sergio shook his head. “Not until Sophia is safe. And you can’t promise me that.”

“I can—”

“Don’t lie to me, Ms. Angelhart. You don’t know me, you don’t know my family. Sophia was in danger. I made this deal. I have to believe that Henry will make sure Javier lives up to his end of it and not touch our sister.”

“What if I can find a safe place for Sophia until the police arrest Javier?”

“You can’t just take her away.”

Maybe not, but I had some ideas—starting with talking to her foster mom.

“If I can get her to safety and convince Henry to tell the truth, will you recant? His statement will go a long way.”

Sergio squeezed his eyes shut. “None of this would have happened if they were with me. I’ve been fighting for over a year to have them.”

“Stop feeling sorry for yourself,” I snapped, irritated. “You made a deal with the devil. I’ll help you fix it. But if you don’t recant and tell the police what you know, you’ll never be able to protect your sister.”

“If I do recant, I won’t be able to protect her either!”

We were at a standstill. Dammit, Sergio was stubborn.

But I was more stubborn.

“I’ll prove your innocence.”

“If anything happens to my sister, I will hunt you down,” he said.

I didn’t believe it. Sergio didn’t have a violent bone in his body, which is why he confessed to murder instead of pummeling sense into his little brother and dragging Javier Escobar over to the nearest cop.

Sergio didn’t want my help, but he was going to get it.

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