Page 24 of Edge of Danger

“I know I do. And once my testimony against the cartel is delivered, I’ll have the emotional bandwidth to consider the rest of my life. I’ll start making those plans once that’s all wrapped up.”

“Do you think Tessa might fit into those plans?”

He only shrugged a shoulder and grinned before saying goodbye. There was only one word to answer that.

Yes.

With each passing day, she had worked her way deeper into his heart.

He already regretted his original attitude toward Walker, who now gave him reasons to smile, to relax and enjoy life. His heart had already changed.

What about having a woman to come home to? His woman. Not a nanny or babysitter. Somebody whose face lit up when he walked through the door.

The way Tessa’s did.

“No way,” he warned himself. Hadn’t he promised there wouldn’t be any funny business? The last thing that poor, haunted woman needed was to feel pressured. Like she had to sleep with him if she wanted to keep her job.

There were times when he wanted nothing more than to wrap her in his arms and beg her to tell him what was wrong. What she hid about herself. Why she sometimes averted her eyes when they touched on the topic of Robert or her life before meeting Brax.

Whenever that happened, he recalled the wounded bird who’d first walked into the office and given him the sense of somebody needing help. Protection. Safety.

His cell rang, the sound echoing through the car’s sound system. He imagined it was Tessa calling from the house asking him to pick up something on the way.

It wasn’t. The call came from a very different number. “District Attorney Morgan. I just mentioned the cartel case to my brother a few minutes ago. Your ears must be burning.”

He could normally charm just about any woman with little to no effort. It was a talent he chose to use for good instead of evil.

Janice Morgan didn’t so much as snicker, which was how he knew they had a problem even before her voice rang out. “Remember that shopkeeper? The main witness we have lined up for the trial?”

“Of course. Older guy, right?”

“Mr. Henderson is in his fifties, yes. And he just had a heart attack. I got word from the ICU just a few minutes ago.”

Brax muttered a curse under his breath. Of all the things...

“Did they give you an indication of an expected outcome?”

“No.” She sighed. “But I don’t think it matters much either way as far as the case is concerned. He’s set to testify in ten days, and he’s in the ICU this very minute. No way is he going to be strong enough for court. You don’t face down Prince Riviera and his entire gang when you’re at half strength.”

Prince Riviera. The name still made Brax roll his eyes, even knowing the sort of filth and degradation the man and his gang were capable of. The Riviera cartel practically owned the border between west Texas and Mexico and had since before any of the Patterson brothers had been born.

“Honest question—do you think the cartel is capable of this?”

“Giving the man a heart attack to keep him from testifying?” She sighed heavily, the sound of a woman completely run down by work. “I’ll just say I wouldn’t put it past them to inject him with something and leave it there. Let’s keep in mind that our witness is at an age when heart attacks are more common.”

“True.” It felt hollow, but what else was there to say?

“What about you? Are you still set on testifying?”

“Absolutely.”

“Even though it’s obvious you suspect the heart attack was cartel related?”

“Let me tell you something. The things I saw those scumbags do are seared into my memory. I want to take them down.”

The women in the box truck being herded like cattle into waiting vans. Filthy, covered in bruises, looking like they hadn’t eaten a decent meal in weeks. Chained together at the waist, one after another.

Not to mention the other items removed from the truck. Crates, one of which was opened to reveal plastic-wrapped bricks of white powder.

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