Page 21 of Scarred Souls

She was the enemy. Cartel scum. The epitome of everything our team worked to eliminate. Elena Espinoza would’ve grown up spoiled by the riches of her father’s drug- and human-trafficking business, her luxury lifestyle funded by people’s misery.

“Interesting,” Brandon said with a surprised tone. “She does look a lot like Elena. Let me run the photo through my facial-recognition program. I can select the unscarred side of her face for the comparison.”

I paced in front of the hood while I waited. Finding Espinoza’s daughter was a good thing, right? It meant we’d finally cornered someone with valuable information about the cartel and the whereabouts of their compound. Truthfully, we’d hit the mother lode. Being a cartel princess, she’d have deep loyalty, so it would be hard to get her to talk, but not impossible.

Shit. I’d have to question her. My methods were…not gentle.

Then I recalled how my stomach had twisted when Gonzo had hurt her, and how helpless she’d looked unconscious on the floor of the restaurant. Even if she was the offspring of the devil, I didn’t like the idea of having to practice my brand of enhanced-interrogation techniques on her.

She didn’t seem dangerous or evil. She was gutsy as fuck, and I kind of liked that about her. Women were usually intimidated by me, so it was refreshing that she’d held her own when I’d been my usual douchey self. All that feistiness wrapped up in one sexy-as-sin curvy little body.

And that ass. That ass would bring any red-blooded man to his knees in a pool of his own saliva. At the very least it would make them do a whole pile of dumb shit just to get her attention.

I shook my head and smacked my skull with my fist.

Enemy, remember?

Maybe I had it all wrong. Maybe she was just some girl living in a tiny fishing village in the middle of nowhere who happened to look a lot like the dead daughter of our target. Then I wouldn’t have to?—

“It’s her,” Brandon said. “Facial recognition is giving me a 99.8 percent match.”

Fuck.

“I don’t believe it,” he added. “Tell me everything.”

So I told him all about the strange initial conversation with Hope where she’d been coy about her past. I told him about the brawl at Javi’s, and the tense car ride to her house. I didn’t mention how her gorgeous body and smart mouth had turned me on, because if I’d known she was a fucking cartel heiress, there was no way those thoughts would’ve entered my head.

I leaned against the hood. “I went through her phone while she was out cold. Didn’t find anything strange. Just regular girl stuff. And when those cartel assholes came into the restaurant, she treated them like they were her enemy. None of it adds up. Why would a woman from one of the wealthiest families on the planet be living in a fishing village and using a fake name while everyone thinks she’s dead?”

Brandon blew out a loud breath. “I don’t know what to make of it. Did you ever read her file?”

“Only the part about her being kidnapped and killed by the Alvarez Cartel. It was what started the war between them and the PCC.”

“Yeah. That’s about all I can recall, too. Let me do some digging. I’ll gather what intel I can and call you back.”

“Copy that.”

I jammed my phone into my back pocket and stared at the stars above me.

“What game are you playing at, Gatita?”

8

VAUGHN

Unable to get Elena Espinoza out of my thoughts, I was still wide-awake when Brandon returned with a video call a few hours later.

“What have you got for me?” I asked.

Sitting behind a computer desk, Brandon adjusted his black-framed glasses. “The good news is I’ve been able to find out a lot more about Elena from before her abduction. The bad news is I don’t have much intel after her supposed death. Her alter ego, Hope Garcia, surfaced in Playa de la Palmera three years ago and has had little to do with the outside world since then.”

“No contact with her father?”

Brandon braced his elbows on the swivel chair’s armrests. “I can’t find any evidence of it, which might mean he thinks she’s dead, just like everyone else in the world.”

How had the daughter of Carlos Espinoza remained hidden? Then again, no one was looking for a dead girl.

“Are you ready to hear the CliffsNotes for Elena’s life story?” Brandon asked.

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