“Good morning, sweetheart. Have a nice nap?”
I checked the windows; it was still night out. My eyes found his.
“What the hell happened?” I asked groggily, thinking back to how I wound up here. I felt like I had a hangover—slightly nauseous, my brain foggy.
My stomach dropped to the floor.
“Wait…you gave me something. What did you give me?”
Carlos studied me, leaning back in his chair and bringing a glass of liquor to his lips. “A little truth serum. Granted, it doesn’t make it impossible for you to lie, just makes it harder for you to do so. I had to make sure you were going to be loyal, that we didn’t have another snitch on our hands.”
I blinked. “You asked me about Javi?”
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes, desperate for the memory to suddenly appear, but I couldn’t recall any of the conversation. I jumped when Carlos suddenly spoke again several moments later.
“And now I know that you were not involved with whatever it was Javier was attempting to do.”
“And what was that?” I asked hesitantly.
“Well, from the digital data we gathered, it seems your brother was taking payments for information. Using a cloud drive to share minor details, nothing of severe consequence from what we can tell. But we don’t knowwhohe was selling secrets too.”
My brows furrowed. “But you called him a soplón, an informant for the police.”
Carlos shrugged. “Semantics. It could have been FBI, or a disloyal cop in Granby, or it could have been a rival family. I guess he took that information with him to the grave. Unfortunately, my little truth serum method didn’t work on him, nor did any pain tactics.” Carlos paused staring blankly ahead before shaking his head and returning his eyes to my face. “He had your name on the bank account he was using to store his money, which was why I needed to see if you were involved.Seems like Javier kept you in the dark about a lot of things. You didn’t even know what his job was.”
A bank account? In my name? Fuck. If only I had access to it. Is there a lot of money? There must be with how angry Carlos was with Javier.
I swallowed, my throat uncomfortably dry.Wait, what did he just say?
“What do you mean I didn’t know what his job was?”
Carlos moved from behind his desk and approached me. I leaned back into the couch as he perched on the edge of the coffee table in front of me. The smell of his cologne reminded me of Javier’s and my stomach knotted.
“I’m a supplier. I don’t change hands with individuals. I work with other groups who have a vested interest in a large supply of particular pharmaceuticals and substances. We’ve been the sole supplier of various substances to every gang in Austin, San Antonio, and DFW for years now. And soon, Houston will join that list. Your brother never once dealt drugs for me, because that would be impossible. I simply do not handle that type of business.”
I shook my head, eyes narrowed with disbelief. “You’re lying.”
“I wish I was, Shiloh. Your brother was very good at keeping secrets and I suppose this was one of many he chose to keep from you. I can only assume he chose to lie to you because you weren’t aware of the person your brother really was. It doesn’t surprise me, though. That he kept secrets from you.”
“What do you mean? He’s my brother. I’ve known him my entire life. He must have lied to protect me. For this very reason. If I didn’t know anything you wouldn’t have a reason to torture me for answers.”
“Sweetheart, I’m sorry to say this, but I think he’s been doing a lot more than lying to you. I only wish I had realized sooner the dire situation that you were living in.”
My hackles rose and I forced myself to lean into Carlos’s personal space. “Fuck. You.”
Carlos gave me a sad smile. “I’d been telling your brother for years to get you out of that house. I gave him the means to do so. He was…stubborn. I offered to let you live here with my wife and children even. But he was possessive when it came to you. I know you don’t trust me, and maybe I haven’t given you reason to, but I have only ever wanted what’s best for you and your brother.”
“What’s best?” I scoffed. I struggled to find my words as anger seemed to be pouring out of every cell of my body. “You force a child to join your gang! You force me to watch my brother’s murder! You fucking kidnap me and drug me with a ‘truth serum’! And you think I should trust you? Are you fucking stupid?! I willnevertrust you. And I willneverforgive you for what you’ve done!”
Carlos sighed heavily, smoothing his hands down his thighs as he let me shout at him.
“I never forced your brother to do anything. If you’d just let me explain, you might realize that I truly have been looking out for the both of you for over a decade now.”
I stared in shock. He was mentally insane. He was a fucking idiot. There was no way in hell he actually believed that.
“It was…hm, thirteen years ago now. Things were different back then. The economy was going through a recession, and I was a new-to-the-job low-level city official. A job which my predecessor had placed me in with the purpose of building up our empire. It was unfortunate timing for me, being that the recession had completely stalled our development projects.”
