Page 84 of Corrupted Deception

I got out of my car and circled the Audi, looking for any sign of foul play.

Nothing.

The doors were closed, no keys in the ignition, and the area surrounding the car had seen minimal disturbance. She’d walked out of here of her own volition. There was no way Mendoza would have had her car dumped this close to his property.

I got back into my car and drove on, my mind racing, trying to figure out what she was doing out here, and more importantly, where the hell she was hiding.Ifshe was hiding. If Mendoza’s men hadn’t found her after she left the car…

I shut the thought down—and the corresponding painful clench in my chest—and scanned my surroundings because she was smarter than that. For some unknown reason, she was here, watching Mendoza’s estate.

Whatever the reason, I’m going to blister your ass when I find you, tempesta,I promised her silently.

Three hundred yards from the estate, I parked my car behind the wild overgrowth at the side of the road and got out. I was right on time, but I’d allotted no extra to searching for the stubborn woman.

I retrieved my gun from the glove box and shoved it into my boot. The sound of a gunshot would fuck with my plans to go in silently, but I was taking no chances, not whenshewas here. Somewhere.

Outside, there were no streetlamps, just the occasional dots of light from the windows of the sprawling estates that peppered the area. I threw on my night vision goggles and looked around, searching for Charlotte’s most likely hiding place.

There, up ahead, a hundred yards from the estate, was a large cluster of bushes, set five yards back from the road. With a decent pair of night vision binoculars, it was an ideal spot to keep an eye on Mendoza’s estate without drawing attention.

My gut said that was it, and I moved off the road and made my way toward the bushes, proceeding silently through the long grass.

Silently or not, it didn’t surprise me when I reached the bushes and peered inside to find her sitting in the dirt, staring right at me. She had good detection skills. I had to give her that much.

There was a light at her feet, just bright enough to turn the area all around her into a dark gray, but not bright enough to penetrate the shroud created by the leaves.

I opened my mouth to give her hell, but she beat me to it.

“I’m sorry,” she blurted out, confusing the hell out of me.

“What are you doing here?” I demanded.

“I said some things I shouldn’t have,” she replied, ignoring my question, “and I’m sorry. I didn’t mean them.” Her brow furrowed. “Well, not all of them. You do kind of give off ‘I’m organized to a fault here, and if you fuck with my plans, I’ll fuck you up without batting an eyelash’ vibes.” She shrugged unapologetically. “But that’s beside the point. I just wanted to say I was sorry.”

I sighed while the corners of my lips twitched. I still had every intention of paddling her ass, but she was making it difficult to stay angry with her. “Next time, a phone call would suffice.”

She smiled. “I don’t know your phone number.”

“Somehow, I don’t think that would have stopped you for long.”

“True. But there’s more.”

I cocked an eyebrow at her, waiting for her to continue.

“When you said that thing about Mendoza’s men being dead by morning, I figured that meant you and your family were going at them full force tonight. So, I looked deeper into them to see what you’d be up against.” She shrugged like delving into dangerous criminal organizations was no big deal. “When I found Luis Mendoza’s estate,” she said, nodding toward the stone mansion, surrounded by landscaped grounds, “I knewyouwould be here. And I’m guessing you already know Mendoza has been camping out here since we had a conversation with Carlos,” she said like we’d had a pleasant chat with the man.

“Because he thinks he’s untouchable here,” I said, filling in the obvious blank.

She nodded. “I think whatever research you managed to dig up on the estate is wrong. The blueprints, the security system, maybe even the guard detail. I think he changed it up when he moved in here. For starters, look,” she said, grabbing a scope off the ground and handing it to me.

I held it up and leaned forward to peer through the bushes.

“Half a dozen heat signatures surround the house on this side,” I said, which was about what I’d been expecting.

There were also three heat signatures on each floor inside the house, some pacing, some standing idle, most of them by the front and rear entrances. But something was missing.

Charlotte nodded. “Two girls were brought in about an hour and a half ago—Mendoza’s entertainment for the evening, no doubt—but I followed their heat signatures down that hallway,” she said, pointing to the general location on the second floor of the house, “until the signatures disappeared there.” She pointed to an area currently devoid of heat signatures. “According to the blueprint, that’s the master bedroom.”

I sighed and handed her back the scope. “He’s got it shielded,” I mused aloud.

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