Page 118 of Corrupted Deception

One.

“You trust me?” she railed as she yanked herself out of my grip and spun on me.

“You think that’s what I care about right now? What the hell were you thinking?”

Her chest was heaving, and her eyes were narrowed. She put her hands on my chest and shoved hard.

“You son of a bitch,” she snapped. “Trust you? Be ready? Are you fucking insane? How was I supposed to be ready for this?”

I watched the storm rage; it was magnificent, so at odds with the cold detachment I felt so much of the time. And if loving this part of her made me a fucked-up son of a bitch, then so be it. I’d been called worse.

“I couldn’t tell you, Charlotte.”

“Really? You couldn’t? Because your mouth seems to be working just fine now.”

I almost laughed. Even caught up in blatant fury, she had one hell of a sarcastic mouth. I had a feeling I was done with gags; I wanted every moan, scream, and sarcastic word this woman had to give.

“I couldn’t know for sure what Val Rojas had bugged,” I continued rationally. “There are many listening devices that can’t be detected by a sweep. And she knows you; your response to finding her here needed to be authentic,” I said, nodding to where Val laid on the floor with Morales standing over her. He wore no expression on his face, but his eyes looked like they’d turned pure black.

Val’s eyes were just about bugging right out of her head. The woman had to know it would be no day at the park from here on out, not for her. I had a feeling the bullet in her shoulder would be the least of her worries soon.

Julio had wrapped up Aiden’s finger, the two of them now standing back quietly, leaving Morales to decide Val’s fate.

“So, I was what? Fucking bait?” Charlotte continued.

She had her hands balled into fists, but it wasn’t a grounding thing. I think she was just pissed. No part of her seemed to be trying to rein it in and regain control.

“What kind of an asshole move was that?”

I reached out a hand, but didn’t quite touch her.I’m here,it conveyed,when you’re ready.But for now…

“We weren’t going to take the chance of her catching you on your own when no one else was around to do something about it.”

“Ah,” she said with a deceptively agreeable nod. “So, this was all of you helping me?—taking care of the little woman?”

Julio was still standing quietly near Morales, and while fury was etched in hard lines across his face, his lips quirked for one brief moment as his gaze traveled back and forth between Charlotte and I.

“This was us making sure you’re still here tomorrow,tempesta.I knew you could handle yourself—there is no way in hell I would have left you here otherwise, even with Aiden close by.”

She might have had one hell of a temper when it got hold of her, but she was nobody’s “little woman”. Charlotte was competent and capable and just plain kickasslike no other woman I’d ever met.

“So, that’s why Aiden was here? Another fucking babysitter?” she ranted. “Was it your plan to get his fingers chopped off too?”

“He still has all his fingers, Charlotte.”

It was true, not that it did a damn thing to reassure her.

“And you did handle yourself, didn’t you? You held it together, and because you did, you learned more in the past twenty minutes than anyone in this room—including you—had learned in the past five years.”

“Go fuck yourself, Cielo,” she hissed. “You think I wanted to know any of that shit?”

Because that was what was truly fueling her rage here. Val and her lies and the evil shit she’d done. It pissed me off that Val had been right—not one of us had seen it, and perhaps for precisely the reason she’d said.

Charlotte turned to leave, but I grabbed her arm and pulled her back, slow and steady, no sudden, overwhelming movements.

“You now know your father is alive,” I said, my voice calm. I was prepared for this storm; I’d known it was coming. It would have been better if Val wasn’t weeping and whining in the background, but Charlotte would just have to learn to grab onto my voice, like a sturdy anchor no matter the storm.

She looked at me, lips pressed together, eyes still snapping with angry silver fire.

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