Page 166 of Altered

So G did what he had to do to keep Maria safe, making sure Noah was there to witness my 'death' so there would be no fallback on his daughter if it came to David's attention that I wasn’t actually dead as agreed.

He needed me to be a ghost.

And that's exactly what I became.

Gonzalez revealed that he had kept up his end of the deal we made all those months ago.

Without them knowing, he had protected the entire Carter family in my absence, had his men trail them, and kept a constant flow of twenty-four-hour supervision on Hope the entire time, even when she left the state for several months.

He also revealed that he'd been watching David for months as he continued to 'work' with him and gain his trust, all while scoping him out and waiting for him to get careless.

According to Gonzalez, the lung cancer that won him his early release from prison was taking its toll on David's body, making him desperate and reckless.

When I asked him why he hadn't just taken David out himself for threatening his daughter, Gonzalez told me that I hadearnedthe kill.

He had been waiting for the perfect moment to bring meback.

Tonight.

David Henderson might have thought he'd been in control tonight, coming here and attacking my woman and her mother, but he'd walked into a well laid trap.

Just outside the walls of this cottage were fifteen of Gonzalez's men, all armed, all waiting for a signal.

David had thought the men were there for him.

They weren't.

He had thought the black Defender with tinted-out windows parked down the road from the front gates was there for him as a getaway.

It wasn’t.

It was mylair –the car that had transported me back through the border.

He'd been led here by Gonzalez, tricked by the obnoxious attitude that money could buy loyalty, and killed because of his reckless notions of being untouchable.

250k was the price David had put on Hope's life – onmychild's life.

He paid Gonzalez for protection and guns and it led him to his death.

For six long months, I thought I had been double crossed.

But it had all been a plan.

Formybenefit.

So I could seek myrevenge.

I guess I could appreciate the effort G had put into keeping me alive, but the bastard riddled my body with lead, and tossed me to an aggressive motherfucking pack of wolves for six months, so it was still a touchy subject for me.

Being here now, though, after everything I'd been through to get home, made every fucking minute worth it.

Hope was still clinging to Lee, wide-eyed and making these tiny grunting noises.

Every time she looked at my face, a pained sob tore from her throat.

My heart was racing so hard as I stood up and tossed the knife away and looked at her.

She looked so fucking beautiful, it hurt.

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