Page 124 of Corrupted Deception

I stumbled back a step.

“Keep the light on him,tempesta,” Cielo said, his voice calm, the only bit of calm I could grab onto. My quiet place that I was still fairly certain I was going to completely fuck up.

He squeezed past me, dropped down to his knees right beside my dad, and pressed two fingers against his throat. He put his other hand in front of his nose and mouth.

It felt like my heart stopped.

I stopped breathing, like I could will my breath into him.

You can’t be dead. You can’t be dead. No. Please.

My insides felt like they were coming apart, or maybe breaking into a thousand pieces, all rough with jagged edges.

“He’s got a pulse. He’s breathing,” Cielo said, glancing up at me like he was letting me see the truth plain as day in his eyes.

The pressure in my chest erupted, and a choked sob slipped out with so much force, I stumbled back a step.

“He’s alive, Charlotte,” Cielo said as he rolled my father onto his back.

At least, I was fairly certain it was my father. His face was swollen, covered in bruises so dark they were black in the dim light.

Then his eyes fluttered, just a little at first and then more until they were completely open. And they found me right away, silver and wolf-like, just like mine.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Cielo Luciano

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Charlotte exclaimed as I parked at the top of Nacio Morales’ long, hibiscus-lined driveway.

“What’s wrong,tempesta?” I asked as Morales stepped out of the side entrance to the grand, sprawling estate.

She huffed and turned to glare, but that glare was not directed at me.

“There is only one reason Nacio would be coming out of that door, Dad, and it isn’t a ‘cozy, feel good, help my father to heal’ kind of reason, is it?” she asked her father who was reclining uncomfortably in the back seat. The man had certainly seen better days.

“Don’t you think that maybe seeing a doctor ranks higher priority at the moment?” Charlotte continued without waiting for an answer.

“The doctor can wait, Char,” he replied, his voice hoarse thanks to the deep purple bruising around his throat. “I’m much more interested in a conversation with Miguel Silva at the moment.”

They’d caught Silva—my family’s and Morales’ men had. And they’d managed to round up Fernando Alvarez,el jefeofLos Cazadores Sangrientostoo, thanks to a disgruntled ‘employee’ who felt he was underpaid and overworked. They’d obliteratedLos Cazadores Sangrientos; no more cartel assholes waiting for our shipments at the docks in Venezuela.

And I’d missed it.

It felt like an act that had taken place backstage.

I should have felt more disappointment, but what I hadn’t missed was the look of utter relief and joy on Charlotte’s face when I’d told her that her father was alive. That shit was priceless, maybe something that only came along once in a lifetime. Asshole scumbags who deserved a slow and brutal death?—there were always plenty of those.

Charlotte huffed and got out of the car.

“You do realize your code talk isn’t as stealthy as you think it is, right?” she said to her surroundings in general as she circled around to get to the rear passenger door before Morales could open it. “Everyone knows what you mean by a ‘conversation’.”

As I followed her out slowly, watching on, she leaned her back against the car door and crossed her arms over her chest, looking up at Morales like she was ready to go to war.

She should have looked like a chihuahua going up against a pit bull, but she didn’t. She looked… fierce, like a mother wolf protecting her cubs, primal and beautiful.

“He doesn’t need this right now, Nacio,” she said matter-of-factly.

“Declan is a grown man,cariño. He needs to deal with this how he sees fit.”

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