Page 62 of For The Days We Can't Forget

“Even ifyouwere the one who came up with a lie?” Aaron countered in anger, a vein pulsing in his temple.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked at the same time Mia questioned, “What’s the matter with you two?”

I was having enough of their encrypted conversation. “Look, we don’t have time for your petty bickering, so whatever your issues are, deal with them on your time.”

Ben deflated, with a regretful look on his face. Aaron closed his eyes in defeat. “You’re right, you’re right. I’m sorry.” He rubbed his mouth and took in a deep breath. “I have something else to tell you.” He pulled some photos from his briefcase and handed them to us. “I shouldn’t show you this, and Ethan only agreed to it because you’re in it, Danny. He’s still undercover and believes he knows someone who’s connected to the cartel in this area.”

I recalled our last conversation. “Yeah, he mentioned something about it being a woman.”

“That’s right. His...CI has been helping him, and he believes he’s getting somewhere soon. But that’s not all. I can’t tell you where he is, but he’s been going around the state. In one of his travels, he was able to confirm Bryan Keyes is involved in human trafficking, and we believe he’s one of the people behind Santiago Cruz’s murder. He’s trying to take over Cruz’s side of the business.”

“It just keeps getting better,” Ben muttered.

Mia was quiet as she inspected one of the pictures. Her brows frowned into a “V” right before she gasped, her eyes rounded in revelation. “We know this woman. Damn it, I can’t believe it’s her!”

We all sat straighter, and Aaron leaned closer to Mia to see the photo as well. “Who? The one working with the cartel?”

“No. One of the victims. We’ve all seen her before.” She turned to Ben. “She was the one at Picadilly the night you met Izzie.”

A while back, we were working undercover, trying to gather information on both Keyes and Cruz. Mia and Ben went to Picadilly, a fancy restaurant a few towns over, and pretended to be a couple, while Zach and I stayed outside, dealing with surveillance. That night, Ben met Izzie, and his life forever changed.

There was a young woman with the two men we were investigating (Bryan Keyes and Santiago Cruz), and according to Mia, she was fearful and uncomfortable. Since that night, she claimed she knew the woman from somewhere.

She looked at me in agitation. “You also know her. She’s the one we were trying to rescue that night when the DEA screwed our assignment. She’s been a victim for all these years.” She stood up from the couch, taking off her glasses to rub her eyes. “My God, this is so messed up. All this time she’s been living through hell because the freaking agency jeopardized everything. And we didnothing!”

As she headed for the door, Aaron stood up. “Where are you going?”

“To work on the case your agency told me to drop.” Then she stormed out of my office.

Knowing she’d been working after hours to collect info on theAlacránsto bring them down, I was positive she wouldn’t spend that night at her place again. But out of loyalty, and because I trusted her, I kept that information to myself. I highly doubted Ben and Aaron would be okay with it.

We wrapped up our meeting, and to no one’s surprise, Mia was already buried in files about the cartel. Aaron said his goodbyes, and Ben and I went back to work.

Dealing with private clients here and there, we handled our business the best we could. We were doing a nice job based on the money coming in, although sometimes it didn’t feel like it.

Every new piece of information we learned about the organization seemed to prove to us we were on the right path, just like it slammed in our face that there was a lot more for us to accomplish.

We couldn’t catch a break, and the fear, stress, and threats were taking a toll on us. Yet we never stopped. Because that was what we did, what we thrived on.

But what started niggling me was that I walked into that kind of life of my own volition. I chose to become a SEAL, I opted into the work at the DEA, I decided to join the guys at the company. So, the setbacks I endured were the consequences of my choices.

Andrea always blamed me for the demise of our relationship. I wasn’t the one who cheated and emotionally abused (and kidnapped) my daughter. But could I say I worked as hard as I should have on our marriage? Did my job get in the way?

If choosing a dangerous job harmed my marriage, would it spoil my relationship with Lisa?

It’d already put her in danger. She was attacked by someone who wanted to get back at me because of my job. A job I chose to do. She could be partying, working on her business dream, yet she was taking care of my baby—I paid her to do that, but I knew it wasn’t her dream job—and fighting for her life because a man twelve years older brought danger to her life.

Was it fair that Lisa was facing so many risks because of me?

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

The chilly weather was already souring my mood. I was a summer girl through and through, and watching fall settle was upsetting me. Maybe it wasn’t the weather, so much as Danny’s distance.

I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, I wasn’t even sure if it was my paranoia or something real. During the days that followed Fee’s abduction, Danny seemed distracted, and maybe a little distant. We still spent almost every night together, we saw each other every day, even on the days I wasn’t babysitting. Yet there was something different about his behavior.

And if I was being honest with myself, there was something different about mine as well. Besides my nagging guilt, my wondering about being enough came back full force. Andrea was still incarcerated, and after everything she did, I highly doubted Danny would accept her back, or that she’d be free any time soon.

But was I just a rebound? Was that why he was distancing himself? Maybe he was looking for a way to end things between us, but being the sweetie he was, he didn’t want to hurt my feelings. And lose a babysitter in the process.

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