Page 115 of Corrupted Deception

Val sighed, shaking her head. “Theimbécilwasn’t supposed to touch Emilio.”

Oh god, I was going to be sick.

Don’t show it. Don’t you fucking show it, Char.It was my dad’s voice, so loud and clear in my head, it was like he was talking right into an earpiece.

I forced it all back, the raw ache in my chest, the scorched feeling in my throat.

I shook my head, tsking her. “All that time we spent searching for their killer, it was you. I have toadmit, I never saw it.”

“Of course, you didn’t. You learned from men,amiga. Men who always seem to have blinders on when it comes to the women.”

She looked at the human tank, then Aiden, and my heart skipped a beat. I had limited options here if she gave the tank the signal to fire.

But then she turned back to me.

“They pursue whatever they want, use any means to get it, but think we’re too stupid to do the same.”

She was getting angrier, and I had enough personal experience with anger to know ‘loose cannon territory’ wasn’t a far leap from it. I needed to keep the conversation focused. I needed answers.

“That was years ago. So, what does any of this have to do with my dad, Val? You’re the one who set him up, right?” But did she kill him? Ten minutes ago, I would have said no. But now?

She scoffed. “He should have told me.”

“Told you what?”

“That he wasn’t just investigating Miguel Silva, that he was looking into all the men Silva dealt with.”

I grappled for a moment, trying to figure out why it would have mattered to her, but then it dawned on me.

“Los Cazadores Sangrientos. He saw you with the cartel—in that warehouse’s basement.”

She pressed her lips together, but confirmation shone in her eyes.

“Why the hell would you work withthem?” I asked, but once again, the answer came, vile and pathetic.

“Los Cazadores Sangrientoswas going after the Lucianos’ merchandise—the share ofEl víbora’sbusiness that Nacio had given them for their assistance. You wanted it,” I said, answering my own question.

She shrugged. “El víboraruined everything for me, stole my business, threatened to out me to Nacio if I crossed him. All those years, I couldn’t lead Nacio to him—there was too much risk. All I could do was wait for you to find him and then take fromEl víborawhat he’d stolen from me. I deserved it.”

“For murdering Nacio’ s family?”

She opened her mouth, then closed it and stood up straighter. “What happened to Emilio was a mistake. But I didn’t come here for old mistakes,amiga.I came here to correct a recent one.”

Was I the mistake? Because, with the gun in her hand, I was kind of feeling like all spotlights were on me at the moment.

“Where is he?” she asked, blowing my theory out of the water.

“Where’s who?”

“You cannot play dumb with me,chica. Iknowyou. I’m not taking it.”

I had a feeling she meant she wasn’t ‘buying’ it. But whatever. I still had no clue who she was talking about—not that I’d be handing over that piece of intel anytime soon. If she was looking for intel, then she needed me—alive. The minute she realized I was useless to her… well..

Let’s just make ourself useful, shall we?

“You know I’ll never tell you,” I said with a flirtatious smile.

I could feel the seductress trying to come out, to take control of the situation the way I’d learned to do. The routine, the habit was comforting. My fingers even itched to reach for the paralytic in the back of my garter, but there was no garter, no syringe. And unless the human tankandVal were down for a three-way here, I wouldn’t have been able to get close to her with it anyway.

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