Page 125 of Corrupted Deception

She scoffed. “Is that so? Because when I wanted to deal with Sylvie dying in Africa by going BASE jumping in Thailand, none of you thought it would be best to letmedeal with shit the way I saw fit.”

“But that was not you dealing with it, that was you escaping it, was it not?”

She looked at him for a moment then nodded once in concession.

“Snuffing out the vile lives and influence of men like Miguel Silva and Fernando Alvarez is why your father does what he does,” Morales explained. “It is the reason he can withstand all he has been through and go back and do it again. Don’t try to take that from him.”

She pressed her lips together, glaring but silent. She sighed after a moment like she was accepting defeat, but she didn’t budge. She stayed blocking that door.

“He’s hurt, Nacio. He needs medical attention.”

Morales nodded. “I agree. That is why I have the best doctors money can buy, ready and waiting for him… for when he is finished.”

She was silent again, looking at him. Morales seemed to be in no hurry, letting her look.

“He’s right, Charlotte,” I said, stepping into the standoff.

“I know he is,” she snapped without looking away. “That doesn’t mean I’m fine and dandy with this.”

She pushed off the car, spun around, and looked through the window at her father who was looking back at her, a flicker of amusement shining through all the swelling and bruises.

She shook her head slowly and stepped back to open the door, but she continued to block her father from getting out.

“That foot is infected,” she said, nodding in the direction of the festering gash along the bottom of Declan’s foot. “If you spend too much time ‘having a conversation’ down there and Nacio’s doctors end up having to cut the damn thing off, I’m telling them to do it with no anesthetic,” she threatened. I couldn’t imagine her actually going through with it, but she looked damned serious at the moment.

Declan smiled. “Message received, Char. Anything else?” he asked as she stepped back and let Morales and I help him up.

“Yeah,” she snapped like she was getting ready for another rant. “I love you,” she spat out. “I never got to tell you that, and it has eaten at me ever since. Don’t do that to me again.”

He nodded and pulled her close in a one-armed hug despite the bruises that showed above the ratty neckline of his shirt. She was a grown woman, nothing childlike about her appearance at all, nothing but for the protective way Declan held her, like she was the most precious thing in this world and he would guard her with his life.

I could understand the feeling.

Two Mercedes turned into the top of the long driveway, slowly approaching. I could see Vito in the driver’s seat of the first car, then Deo and Aurelio in the second.

Declan smiled as they parked and got out, and he shifted to stand up a little straighter.

“She’s one hell of a girl,” Aurelio said as he stopped in front of him and shook his hand, then winked at Charlotte.

She rolled her eyes. “I’m right here, you know?” she said, but she was smiling.

Vito’s gaze grazed over Charlotte. ‘Sex on stiletto heels’ he’d called her. I couldn’t blame him—that was precisely what she looked like. But when his eyes met mine, we had a silent conversation about precisely what I would do to him if he ever laid a hand on her. It felt like a productive conversation to me.

“It looks like your boy turned out all right too,” Declan said, nodding in my direction.

Hisboy?

Aurelio laughed. “Of course, he’s notmine,Signor Ryan, but I am proud of him,sì.”

I had a feeling Charlotte and I had been the topic of more than one conversation between the two men over the years.

“You did one hell of a job back in New York, runaway,” Deo commented, smiling at Charlotte.

“If we’re handing out nicknames based on way back in high school, then I suppose I should start calling you ‘chuckles’,” she replied without missing a beat, waggling her eyebrows.

Chuckles?

Deo’s smile fell like it had just discovered gravity, which was very intriguing. “Well played,Charlotte,” he said, emphasizing her name as his smile found its way back.

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