Page 58 of Scarred Souls

Vaughn and I whipped our heads toward the screen, which displayed two people sitting at a mahogany table.

I recognized the beautiful brunette as Sage, whom I’d spoken to this morning. Since then, she’d released her long locks from a ponytail and changed out of her ranch work wear into a cozy gray knit sweater.

The broad-shouldered, dark-haired hottie beside her must be her husband, Brandon. I wasn’t sure what I’d expected of Vaughn’s hacker teammate, but he was rocking a rancher-geek vibe, like if Clark Kent became a mountain man. No doubt about it, Brandon made a red flannel shirt paired with thick-rimmed glasses look mighty fine. The fact that he had the most amazing pair of ocean-blue eyes didn’t hurt, either.

Sage wriggled her fingers in greeting, and Brandon asked, “Brother, how are you?”

“Peachy,” Vaughn replied with his usual snark.

“Fantastic.” Brandon grinned as if he’d expected his teammate’s response. “Elena, I’m Brandon. Thanks for meeting with?—”

“Don’t call her that,” Vaughn grumbled.

Brandon recoiled. “Excuse me?”

“She hates that name and goes by Hope now. I thought Sage would’ve explained that.”

Sage’s mouth opened and closed. “Sorry. I’ve been busy today, and it slipped my mind.”

Beside me, Vaughn bristled in his seat. I should probably tell him I could speak up for myself, but his bout of protectiveness surprised me so much that I kept quiet.

“Apologies, Hope.” Brandon nodded. “I won’t make that mistake again. God forbid your rabid attack dog hunt me down if I do.”

“It’s okay.” I shrugged. “But Vaughn’s right. I don’t want anything to do with that name and what it represents.”

“Understood.” Brandon leaned back in his chair. “It’s late, and everyone’s probably tired, so we’ll get straight to business. Hope, you believe your father’s compound is in Acapulco. Vaughn told us you had video calls with him?”

I took a sip of hot cocoa and returned the mug to the counter. “Yeah. Carlos insisted on calling once a week to check on me.”

Brandon typed something into a tablet. “If you don’t mind me asking, what types of conversations would you have?”

I snorted. “Short ones when possible. He wanted to know about my life, my studies, if I had everything I needed. But I had nothing to say to Carlos.” With my hands in my lap, I picked at a fingernail. “He liked to pretend that he was a doting father and that he loved me, but that man is incapable of caring about anyone other than himself. He didn’t give a damn what I wanted, only that I obeyed his orders and followed in his footsteps. Every day, I was grateful to live thousands of miles away in a place he was too scared to visit.”

“But Jorge Ortega wasn’t too scared to visit,” Vaughn chipped in. The sneer on his face told me we shared the same opinion of my barbaric ex-fiancé.

A sour taste pooled in my mouth, the same way it always did at the mention of that name. “That’s because Jorge isn’t scared of anything.”

Every time he’d come to Jersey, I’d had to take extra precautions. I skipped classes. I didn’t call or message friends. I didn’t so much as acknowledge another man for fear of putting him on Jorge’s radar. I’d learned the hard way that it was safer for everyone if I kept to myself.

“How would you describe your relationship with Ortega?” Brandon asked.

“One-sided. Jorge wanted to marry me, and since he’s always been Carlos’s golden boy, my father agreed. The two of them orchestrated a succession plan, and I had no say in the matter. As far as I’m concerned, Jorge can go straight to hell along with Carlos.”

Brandon tapped his fingers on the table. “Let’s focus on narrowing down your father’s location. Now, you’re sure his calls were made from Acapulco?”

I nodded. “About ten years ago, he moved to a new compound somewhere in the city. At least that’s what he told me, and I have no reason to think it was a lie.”

“Did he buy an established property or build a new one?” Sage asked.

“He had it built. The construction took over two years to complete.”

Brandon nodded and made another note in the tablet. “And where were the video calls made from? Inside? Outside?”

“Both.”

“Tell us about the outside ones. And describe the property as best you can.”

“Carlos would talk while walking through the garden, which was surrounded by a high wall. The exterior of the house was Spanish colonial—white stucco walls with archway features, terra-cotta tiled roof, black iron balconies. There were date palms and other tropical plants in the yard, and a pond with a concrete statue of a woman in the center.”

---