Page 41 of Don't Trust Him

Rafe heads to the door of the office I’m sitting in still chuckling.

“Oh, before I forget,” he says as he stops and that’s when I know he came in for something else. “I know you and Eliza are…close.”

“Yeah,” I say, not sure again what to say to this man who thinks he’s her father.

“I also know this month has been hard,” he says and I look at him.

“So I just wanted to give you this, so you can have her on nights when you guys are separated,” he says and drops something on my desk.

It’s a photograph. Old and worn. Eliza as a girl. I’d know that face anywhere.

But the face next to it is what freezes me.

It’s the woman from the diner.

She has aged pretty well. Kept her looks, just added some lines.

And that’s when it all clicks.

A woman like that whose supposed to be dead isn’t here for any benign reason if she’s here right now so close to us at this point in Eliza’s life.

Rafe has already left the office, getting out of my way. And it’s a good fucking thing. I grab my gun.

I need to get to her motel room.

She’s in trouble.

Twenty-Four

Eliza

As I drive back to the seedy motel I’m staying in San Diego—never stay in the same place twice, not when shit is going down—I can’t stop thinking about the mess I’m in. Maybe if I were staying at the InterContinental I could relax and think. No such luck this time around.

Changing the drug game with a secret formula would be crazy enough for a day’s work, but add to that the fact that I’m plotting to overthrow two of the most dangerous cartels in the world, and my mother’s return from the dead...and you have a total shitstorm.

Oh, and to make matters worse, I’m falling in love with the man I should be killing. Yes, there, I said it...I’m falling in love with Grayson Teague, and I don’t give two shits about what you think. The way he said he was willing to give his life for mine, the way he swore to protect me no matter that...how can I stop myself from falling in love with a man like that?

Fuck my mother.

I’ll put a bullet in her head if I have to, but there’s no way in hell I’m turning Grayson in. I’m not going to follow in her footsteps and turn myself into a crazy bitch willing to sacrifice those she loves to the gods of power and money.

Fuck that.

Shit. My life is going up in flames, isn’t it? God, I just wish I could spend the night with Grayson. Too bad that the way things are right now, it’s better we’re not seen together. Makes us harder to track down.

As I bring my car to a stop in the motel’s parking lot, I kill the the engine and remain sitting inside it for a long time, my hands gripping the steering wheel tight. No matter how hard I try to think of a solution, it’s as if my brain refuses to cooperate. Sure, Grayson and I are more than willing to go to war—but to do that without a plan would be pure suicide.

Sighing, I get out of the car and start making way toward the room I rented for the night. I’m pushing the key into its hole when I feel footsteps right behind me. Before I have the time to turn around, I feel the cold barrel of a gun pressed against my neck.

“Don’t move, bitch,” a man whispers, and then I hear the soft click of high heels drawing close. I hold my breath as the seconds tick, and I close my eyes as I accept the inevitable.

This is the end of the line for me.

“Oh, Eliza, you just don’t have it in you, do you?” My mother says as she stops at my side, looking at me with a an expression of fake pity covering her face. “Why is Grayson Teague still alive?”

“I...I need time.” I’m just trying to buy some time here, but I know that I’m screwed. No doubt about that.

“Oh, poor child,” my mother whispers, caressing my cheek with the back of her hand. “Lying for love, are we now?”

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