Page 17 of Tainted Obsession 1
“The boss isn’t happy,” a stranger’s voice replies, cooler than George’s heated tone. “You’re not delivering on your end of the agreement.”
“Your rivals almost killed my fiancée. If I’d tried to save her, they would’ve killed me too. You’re lucky I’m still willing to work with you at all. I’m risking my neck to do you favors. You owe me.”
My stomach churns as my thoughts slow, sticky like honey. I can’t process what he’s saying.
“We don’t owe you shit,” another man spits.
“I arrested three of Duarte’s men for you,” George insists, terse and impatient.
“That’s just doing your fucking job with the feds,” the first stranger bites out. “Your boss is still investigating us. Half a dozen of us were killed in a raid last week. Where were you then?”
“I was in the hospital with my fiancée,” George shoots back. “I could’ve been in the ground if Duarte’s men had managed to get to me too. I’m still willing to do business with you. We can still have a profitable relationship.”
My throat constricts with horror, the meaning of his words finally sinking in. George is working with these men, these criminals. They’re talking about the monsters who kidnapped me: theirrivals.And George had known who took me all along. He’d said he needed me to tell him that information so that he could arrest the men responsible, but he knew they were Duarte’s associates.
If I’d tried to save her, they would’ve killed me too.
Now, he’s demanding money from these men—these cartel members, Duarte’s rivals. He’s demanding a bribe.
I shake my head, as though I can toss away all knowledge of this awful conversation.
No.This isn’t right. George is a good man. He must be working undercover.
He must be. The alternative is too terrible to bear.
I take a step back, reeling. The shoelaces I hadn’t bothered to tie properly tangle around my feet, and a shocked squeak escapes my tight chest as I fall.
A hulking stranger whips around the corner, his eyes narrowing on me where I lay sprawled on the warm pavement. George appears beside him, and a third man lurks at their backs.
My fiancé’s eyes widen as he takes me in, his mouth going slack with horror for a moment. Then, his lips press into a thin, disapproving line that I recognize all too well. My stomach sinks at the sight of it, a familiar dread that accompanies his censure.
“You shouldn’t be out here, Evie,” he rebukes.
He doesn’t make a move to help me up; he simply glowers down at me.
I lick my dry lips, and my attention flicks to the two dangerous men who are half-hidden in the shadow of the alley.
“What’s happening?” I ask in a fearful whisper. “Who are they?”
But I know. They work for a cartel. And George had said…
One of the cartel members trains a gun on my heart. It doesn’t have time to skip a beat before a massive shadow slams into him. A gunshot cracks through the night air like a whip, and I try to scramble back, instinctively seeking cover. My palms scrape on the concrete, but I don’t manage to shuffle more than a few inches before the shadowy form of a beastly man blocks my view, looming over me.
I can’t force the necessary air into my chest to release a scream.
Sprinting footfalls slap against the ground, making a quick retreat.
The shadow above me shifts, moving with swift, brutal grace. The man who’d turned the gun on me is no longer visible, but there’s another gunshot. My protective shadow lets out an animal snarl, and in the blink of an eye, he disappears into the dark alley.
A choked sound of protest catches in my throat, and I reach out as though I can somehow drag him away from the danger.
A sharp scream emanates from the alley before it’s cut short.
Another set of sprinting footsteps, and I glimpse a second shadowy form running away from the fight.
For a few fleeting seconds, all I can hear is a tinny ringing in my ears and the heavy, sawing sound of my gasping breaths.
Deep in my bones, I know who fought off the man who’d tried to kill me. I’d recognized that massive, shadowy form, even from behind. The streetlights had shined on the glossy black curls that was dreaming about.
