Page 94 of Sin With Me

A little bit surprised, Lola tilted her head to the side. I knew my brother had dipped his fingers in her life, if not more. Truthfully, I couldn’t blame him. She was a gorgeous woman, but she wasn’tKate.

“She’s still in North Carolina. Xavier hired me to look after Hope and get her to safety when needed. He told me to get in touch with you, and that’s how I found Brook.”

“Why is she in North Carolina?”

Lola’s gaze flew to Kate, who bit her lip. I could tell she was struggling on the inside. Whatever she had to say, it must have been a big secret, and it was important to her. My mother sat down beside Kate. She took her hands into her own and rubbed them. Kate seemed to trust her. A lot of peopledid.

“What happened?” she asked.

“She fucked us over, that’s what happened.” I saw Brook step through the frontdoor.

“Brook, watch your mouth,” my mother scolded.

“There were a half dozen unscheduled surgeries that night in all of New York. One of them was to remove a cancerous mass from the lungs. Now, why would such surgery be unscheduled? I found that odd, and what do you know? Joanna Black was listed as a patient. Except there were no other documents. No follow-up appointments, no record of chemo or radiation, and no doctor name who performed the surgery. Whatever happened in that operating room was illegal, or… did your mother have cancer removed, Hope?” The sarcasm on my brother’s voice could have made the Pope’s eyesroll.

“No, I… I was goingto—”

“Wait until Cortez found us and killed us? Guess what, now that you pulled off that little stunt, it’s only a matter of time before he comes for me and my family. Aaron Cortez will find us, and he’ll kill usall.”

I wished my brother was exaggerating, but when I saw the somber look on Kate’s face, I knew he was telling the truth. What stunt had Kate pulled? Her lip trembled and eyes glossedover.

Was she the woman we’ve been lookingfor?

“This can’t be true. Please tell me it’s not true,” I said toher.

Kate lowered her head, and that’s when truth dawned on me. It washer.

“My mother’s heart was failing, and she needed a transplant. We were on the list, but she just didn’t have a lot of time. I made a deal with Aaron Cortez for a heart. I sold our house to get the money, and we went away for one last trip together. When we came back, the house burnt down and the insurance company wouldn’t pay out right away. We didn’t have time to wait for the money.”

Jesus Christ!

I shut my eyes and said a quick prayer. I asked God for Kate’s story to change. I asked him to stop her from talking and saying what I thought she was saying, but my prayer wasn’t answered.

“I ambushed the exchange and stole the heart from Cortez without paying.”

My parent’s eyes grew wide and so did mine. The only person who didn’t seem surprised wasLola.

Kate took a deep breath and continued. “It all went wrong. I stole the heart, but a truck full of other organs and millions in narcotics blew up. I got away, my mother received her transplant, and… the transplant went well, but the only two words she’s said since the house burnt down are ‘Jack Pace.’ I had no choice but to flee with her, and I knew I couldn’t look for Jack Pace with her under my care. I took a leave of absence from my job in New York, left my mother under care in North Carolina, and went toPace.”

She looked up at me with her beautifully golden eyes. The woman I’d been looking for was sitting in my living room. She’d been under my nose the entire time and I didn’t know it. Brook would never let me live this down. Hell, I wasn’t sure I could.

“You know the rest,” she said to me. “I didn’t know my mother knew Cortez. I never told her about the illegal heart. She didn’t know anything.”

My father didn’t get his heart because ofher.

My family was forced into hiding because ofher.

My house was blown up because of her, and I had to pretend to be a priest because ofher.

Everything was her fault.

“You’re the one who stole my father’s heart? You’re the one we’ve been hunting.”

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