Page 110 of Corrupted Deception

Ray had clearly had enough; he nudged Charlotte’s hand then disappeared down the hallway and into the kitchen.

“You ‘had’?” Morales pressed.

“Sì,” he replied. “Cielo called to suggest we release him last night.” He shrugged. “We did.”

“Why would you do that?” Julio asked, his gaze swinging back and forth between Deo and I.

And this was why I’d had no qualms with my brother taking the helm. I wanted to watch from the outside, like Charlotte, observing responses. And Julio’s responses were off. Not his words, but the way he looked at Charlotte, like he was just a little uncomfortable in her presence.

“We equipped him with a tracker, of course, and a microphone,” Deo went on unperturbed. “Of course, he’s not aware of it.”

Morales nodded. Julio seemed to be reserving his judgment for the time being.

“This is the ‘conversation’ Cielo had with Pablo when we first apprehended him—minus the screaming bits,” Deo said, then nodded to Aurelio who pressed play on the recording device, filling the quiet room with my voice, then Pablo’s.

I turned to watch Charlotte as the recording played on, but though she didn’t move, didn’t speak, her brow furrowed just a little more with every bit of dialect that was out of place, every wrong word. Words like ‘parce’and ‘hijueputa’,which were used commonly throughout Colombia, but were not so prevalent in Venezuela.

When the recording finished, Aurelio turned it off and set the device aside.

“If Pablo were one of Luis Mendoza’s men,” Deo continued, “he should have made his way into what had been their territory when we released him—he might have been in need of a Band-Aid or two.”

Nacio cracked a smile.

“But he didn’t,” Deo said. “He took a cab to a rundown apartment in the Bronx, stayed there for fifteen minutes and made one phone call during that time. He talked about travel arrangements—a flight—but the mic wasn’t close enough to the phone to pick up the voice on the other end of the line. He then took a cab to the airport and boarded a plane.”

“To where?” Charlotte asked, speaking up for the first time.

“Cúcuta,” Deo responded. “He landed twenty minutes ago.”

Aiden’s gaze shot to Morales, who stood up straighter, his black eyes wary. But before either of them could say a word, my phone rang.

I pulled it out, prepared to silence it, but it was Val Rojas’ number flashing on my screen.

I swiped the screen to answer the call and put it to my ear.

“Cielo?” Val rasped before I could speak.

“Sì. What’s wrong?”

All eyes swiveled in my direction.

“I’m sorry, Cielo,” she replied, her voice hoarse and weak.

“Val? What’s wrong?”

I heard Charlotte gasp as Aiden shot to his feet and Morales and Julio shoved off the wall.

“They… they came, Cielo. My men couldn’t… stop them. They’re dead. They’re all dead, and I…”

The call disconnected.

Every man in the room was moving. Voices colliding.

But I looked at Charlotte. She’d lost so much, and now, she’d lost even more.

Chapter Thirty-One

Charlotte Santoro

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