Page 10 of Faded Gray Lines
He can’t. He couldn’t.
“You’re bluffing.”
“Look, Leighton,” he said, watching me closely. “I’m going to do you a favor and spell this out for you. We’ve been watching since you, shall we say, began fraternizing with a known cartel member.”
“Luis was a student.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Leighton, Leighton, Leighton,” he groaned, drawing my name out like I was a child. “Delgado was never a student. The Carrera Cartel sent him here to keep you in line after the Muñoz Cartel stalked you.”
My world tilted and spun. I’d convinced myself I’d just been robbed, nothing more. I’d be damned if Alex Atwood would storm in and destroy my perfect lie.
“A cartel? No, I had a few break-ins, that’s all. As you can see, I don’t live in the best part of town.”
“You didn’t believe that any more than your brother did.”
My nails dug into already scratched wood. “My family is none of your business.”
“See, that’s where you’re wrong,” he corrected. “Everything you do is my business since you just committed a homicide.”
“No,” I whispered. “It was self-defense.”
Alex smirked. “It could be. Or it could be premeditated murder. That’s all up to you. Wake up, Leighton. You’re just a pawn in their game. I tried to warn you, but you wouldn’t listen. Now, because of you, the best shot I had of getting anything on the Carreras is in stage two rigor mortis.”
I shot him a disgusted look, and he sighed.
“I need you to tell me everything that happened tonight. Did you hear anything? Was there a conversation?”
“Why should I trust you?”
“I’m the only one offering you a way out.”
We stared at each other, a cold sweat breaking out across my forehead. With my back against the wall, I retold what the man in the hoodie had said from my hazy memory.
“No names?”
“No, we weren’t formally introduced, if that’s what you’re asking.” He rolled his eyes just before Luis’s voice raced through my head. “Hector,” I blurted out. “Before he saw me, he was talking to a guy named Hector.”
“And?”
“And nothing. That’s all I know.”
His icy blue eyes hardened, and he said nothing. My gaze caught on the bloody rag, and vomit gurgled in my throat. That was the moment I broke. The bravado shattered, and I went with it.
“Why are you torturing me?” I screamed, launching myself from the chair. Turning both wrists up, I pressed them together and shoved them under his nose. “Arrest me and get it over with!”
Alex stared at my wrists before lowering them to the table. “Personally, I don’t want to see you pay for ridding the world of scum.”
“Then what do you want from me?”
“I want you to help me bring down the Carrera Cartel.”
“Me? I only knew Luis, and obviously not well. I had no idea he was a criminal.”
His eyebrows furrowed. “I was sure you were covering for him, but you really don’t know, do you?”
“Stop talking in riddles and just tell me what you mean for fuck’s sake!”
“Your brother, Brody, is second in command of the Houston leg of the Carrera Cartel.”
