Page 19 of Fast Vengeance

The mere sound of her godfather’s name scraped over her nerve endings like barbed wire. He’d been dispatched to find and bring her back to her father. And while he’d been doing that, his sicarios had raped and butchered her mother.

Remembering the things she’d seen that day was like swallowing shards of broken glass, slicing her up inside. Without Gabe to lean on that day, she would have shattered into a thousand pieces. He had seen things, knew things about her that no one else did and didn’t judge her for them. Did he know how much that meant to her? She couldn’t bear the thought of never seeing him again once she left the city.

“No. They still think he’s back in Mexico somewhere,” she said.

“Any possibility he’s hiding out with your father, wherever he is?”

“Doubt it.” She’d been doing everything she could to help investigators track the men down. But she couldn’t tell them what she didn’t know, and since her parents had deliberately kept her ignorant of her absentee-father’s true business involvement, it wasn’t much.

It was still so hard to believe everything she had learned since escaping to the States. Until the night armed gunmen had stormed the gated mansion where she and her mother lived in Veracruz, she hadn’t fully believed that he was involved with a drug cartel. And certainly not that he’d become one of the Veneno bosses.

The man had even gone so far as to pay off her dentist to have a tracking device implanted in a filling. The FBI had removed it the same afternoon they’d found it. Someone within her father’s network had taken her mother’s body back home and allowed her family to give her a proper burial in the plot her mother had purchased years before. The feds had shown Oceane pictures to confirm it.

Her father, of course, had not attended the funeral, and none of the guests agents had questioned seemed to know where he was. Only that they had heard rumors that he and his wife Elena had separated. Word had it that the funeral and reception had been paid for by an anonymous source. The U.S. authorities were trying to trace it back to the owner, hoping they could link it to her father.

Oceane knew in her heart it was a futile effort. Her father was simply too good at covering his tracks and burying his money.

She and Gabe reached the SUV waiting under the building. She paused, looking at him. He was impossible to read. But he had been good to her in the hour of her greatest need, and she trusted him. Felt something real and powerful for him.

Did he feel anything for her at all beyond obligation and a sense of duty? She had no idea and didn’t want to fall for him any more than she already had, in case it was all one-sided. Because it probably was.

“So I guess… I won’t be seeing you much now,” she said softly, her chest aching.

His pale blue eyes gazed down at her steadily. “I’ll be around.”

She couldn’t think what for, or what might allow their paths to cross again, unless something big came up with her father or Montoya. “Well. I’m glad you’re back. It’s good to see you.”

His lips curved a little. Not exactly a grin, but close. “Good to see you too. You take care of yourself.” He opened the back door for her.

When he shut it behind her, the ache in her heart increased tenfold. An overwhelming sense of loneliness crashed over her. Followed immediately by the knowledge that when Victoria left, Oceane would truly be all alone in this world. She would miss her friend terribly.

She blew out an unsteady breath and struggled to get hold of her emotions. She wasn’t useless. And she was still here when her mother was not. No matter how bad the guilt got, no matter how heavy the burden she carried became, she couldn’t forget that she still had an important purpose to fulfill.

Oceane would find justice for her mother. Her life only had meaning now if she made sure her father paid for what he’d done to them both.

So no matter how long it took, she would do everything in her power to help the DEA capture him.

Chapter Six

All things considered, for the most part Victoria had held it together pretty well until now. But there was something about Brock that reached past all her hard-won defenses and left her a quivering mass of emotion, exposing her tender insides like a raw nerve. Now that they were alone, the yearning to let down the walls she’d erected for the sake of self-preservation grew with each passing second.

The understanding in his eyes as he’d walked toward her just now, the way he pulled her to him and wrapped those solid arms around her, broke something inside her. Resting her cheek to his chest, holding onto him tight, she swallowed and just…felt. Allowed herself to accept the silent comfort he offered.

Hitching in a shaky breath, she held on tight. God, she’d missed this. The simple embrace of someone who gave a shit about her. A gesture of comfort and protection when she’d been alone for so long. Her entire extended family had been physically affectionate. She’d been starving for this for almost a year, and worse whenever she was around Brock. But him holding her now made the wait a thousand times sweeter.

“You okay?” he murmured.

“Much better now.” He was a good man, committed to serving his country and looking out for the people who counted on him. It had been a long time since she’d known someone like that.

Her heart twisted as she breathed in his scent and savored the feel of his strength surrounding her. Today marked the beginning of the end of their time together unless something important came up that she had insider knowledge about with the Veneno cartel in the next few days. She was going to miss Brock like hell when things ended, which of course they had to.

He continued to hold her close for another minute, then held his hand out for her to take. When she did, he led her into the living room. He sank onto the leather couch, drawing her sideways into his lap.

There was no mistaking the feel of his erection growing against her bottom, but thankfully it sparked no fear or dread, only a mild anxiety at the thought of him seeing her body for the first time. Though the scars she bore inside were far worse than the ones marking her skin.

She half expected him to pounce now that he’d moved them here but he merely cradled her to him for a while, seeming in no rush to take things to the next level. Victoria rested her head on his sturdy shoulder, allowing her body to relax. He ran his fingers through her hair, combing through it from her nape to the ends at her shoulder blades in a soothing motion.

It was bliss. She was like a wilted, drought-stricken flower, soaking up every bit of affection and reassurance he offered like rain.

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