“Fine. If you won’t help me, at least do me one small favor.”
My jaw tightened. “And what would that be?”
“There’s a woman I need to get a hold of. Her name is Valentina, last name De La Vega.” He paused. “212-555—” He went off, reciting the phone number that belonged tomy wife.
“Why exactly,” I asked slowly, forcing my voice despite the anger tightening in my chest, “do you have her number memorized?”
“She’s an important contact.”
“For bail?” I asked.
He smirked. “Among other things.”
“That number’s not going to help you. Trust me. She’ll screen your calls.”
“She’ll make an exception. She always has.”
“Not anymore,” I added. “Things changed when she took my name.”
“She married you?” Sebastian’s brows raised. “How did you convince her to get over what you did to Cillian?”
When I didn’t give him an answer, he was able to figure it out.
“Oh . . . She doesn’t know?”
I clenched my jaw slightly, forcing myself to stay composed. It was true. She didn’t know. Not yet anyway. And if I had my way, she never would. Some truths were better left untouched, buried beneath layers of lies and silence. If that made me morally questionable, so be it. I’d been called worse by better men.
“What do you think she’d do,” he mused, “if she knew you were the reason she ended up here in the first place?”
Valentina had been fighting to survive her entire life. She didn’t have the luxury of grief—of mourning the men who’d left her behind. Cillian had made his choice. I’d made mine.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” I asked.
“I think we both know she’d like it even less.”
I let my fingers curl slightly, just enough for my nails to press into my palms. Just enough to keep myself from reaching across the table and wiping that smirk off his face.
“You think she’d still be warming your bed if she knew?” he mused, tapping his fingers against the table. “Or would she run like hell?”
“You sure you want to push this?”
“Maybe I should. Could be fun to see the fallout.”
I smiled. “So would calling your brother.”
Sebastian’s smile faded enough for me to know I’d hit the mark. Good. He’d always been protective when it came to Cade. Everyone knew his brother’s political aspirations weren’t just important, they were everything. Even to a man like Sebastian Callahan.
“My brother isn’t involved in this.”
“Isn’t he?” I asked. “It’d be a shame if your latest business ended up staining those clean hands of his.”
“You’d really risk everything just to prove a point?”
“Keep my wife’s name out of your mouth, Callahan. Better yet, don’t even let yourself think it.”
That was the last thing I said before I headed for the door.
When I stepped outside, I got a phone call. It wasn’t unexpected. The number was. The same one Sebastian had told me, number by number.
