Page 50 of Corrupted Deception

As Ray sauntered off, she rolled her eyes and the corners of her lips twitched in a ghost of the smile that had been there. “He met with Silva right before my dad was taken, but it had nothing to do with my dad, just some kind of distribution arrangement,” she said matter-of-factly, though I could hear the quaver in her voice. “The timing is too coincidental, but I can’t see the connection between my dad and this shipment. It wasn’t drugs and guns my dad found in that warehouse basement.”

The men were silent but attentive, waiting for her to continue.

She shrugged. “And according to Carlos, the shipment that was scheduled to arrive, didn’t.”

Morales exchanged a glance with Julio, then he shook his head slowly. “Silva has never dealt directly in the drug trade. What drugs could he have been offering?” he mused aloud.

Usually, I wasn’t prone to throw around information about family business, but for Charlotte, I found myself willing to make an exception.

“I think I can help with that,” I said, then filled Morales and Julio in on the job Daniel Marín had been doing for us and how he’d tipped off Silva about the drugs and guns—drugs and guns that had come into our possession thanks to a deal my family had made with Morales—and the attack on our shipment in Venezuela.

Morales’ brow was furrowed, but he nodded. “I’d been wondering why Val Rojas had been moving them back into Colombia.”

I cocked an eyebrow at him, not pleased he knew the name of my contact or what she’d been up to. Val Rojas loved money, but if she’d gotten sloppy in her pursuit of it, she was of little use to me.

Morales smiled, though it didn’t reach his dark eyes. “Few things go on in my country that I am not aware of, Cielo. Amadeo is well aware of this.”

Fair enough. For now.

Morales turned his attention back to Charlotte. “I have an… acquaintance who has confirmed Silva is not in possession of your father.”

“A reliable acquaintance?” she asked, her voice tinged with disbelief.

Morales nodded. “Silva is not auctioning off secrets either, which suggests he didn’t extract any,” he continued, the insinuation stark in the quiet tone of his voice. “I will keep looking, of course, but you must prepare yourself,cariño.”

“No,” she replied, shaking her head adamantly. “You know as well as I do he’s not an easy man to kill, Nacio.”

“I do know that. He has proven it many times before.”

“We won’t give up until we find him, Charlotte,” Julio said. “We will bring Declan home to you.”

There was something in the man’s voice, though; something that set me on edge. I couldn’t pinpoint what it was just yet, but he was hiding something.

Charlotte’s lips twitched in another ghost of a smile. “Gracias,” she replied, her voice quavering. “Val’s looking intoLos Cazadores Sangrientos,” she said, her gaze pointedly ignoring me at the moment.

She knew Val Rojas, I mused, mentally shaking my head. And Nacio Morales. Next, I was going to find out she’d been best friends with my sister, Freya, for the past decade.

“Maybe she’ll turn up something useful,” she continued.

“I’ll look into them as well,” Morales said as Ray returned and dropped a stick at Julio’s feet.

“You look tired, Charlotte,” Julio said, looking her over as he retrieved the stick and launched it across the lot.

Ray shot after it, moving so fast he was a black blur in the dark.

She smiled. “No rest for the wicked, right?”

“I’m sure Phoenix would like to see you,” Morales said, and that seemed to grab her attention.

“How are Phoenix and Nic?” she asked.

Morales smiled, a smile that almost lightened his dark eyes. “They’re good, closer than you might think.”

Her brow furrowed.

“They’re here in New York,” he explained. “She goes by Cait now.”

Charlotte’s lips parted, and her eyes widened. “How did that happen?”

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