Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 153571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 768(@200wpm)___ 614(@250wpm)___ 512(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 153571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 768(@200wpm)___ 614(@250wpm)___ 512(@300wpm)
She doesn't deny it.
"Do you know where he is?"
"I…No." She shakes her head.
Brady glances at me. He doesn't say anything or change his expression, but I've worked with him for so long I can read him as easily as he reads me, and his bullshit meter is going off too. She may not know exactly where Guerrero is, but she knows enough. She knows how to contact him.
I watch her for a minute, taking in the way she clenches her hands tightly, trying to hide the way they tremble and shake.
"How far along are you?" I ask her, my voice quiet, conversational. I don't want to scare her any more than she already is, but she should be afraid. Hell, she should be terrified. She should run as far and fast as possible and not look back.
"Four and a half months," she whispers.
"He tried to kill my girl. Had his people burn down my house with her inside."
"Why…" She licks her lips. "Why are you telling me this, Agent Gregory?"
"My girl is pregnant, too. Because of your man, she's terrified that our baby might not make it." I jerk my chin at Brady. "One of Guerrero's people held a gun to his two-year-old son's head. They've been killing people all over this city for weeks, and it's only going to get worse. I think you know that."
She doesn't say anything, but recognition flares in her eyes again. She knows I'm right.
"I also think you know that being with Guerrero put a target on your back. Because of his little war, if anyone finds out about you, they'll come for you and they'll come for your baby."
"Like you have?" she asks, squaring her jaw.
"We didn't come to kill you," I tell her, holding my hands up, palms outward. "We aren't Guerrero. We aren't his men. We don't hurt innocent women."
"What do you want?"
"Guerrero," Brady says. "We want Guerrero."
She says nothing.
I watch her closely, noting the little chinks in her armor, the way she clenches her jaw to keep her bottom lip from trembling, and the way she keeps her hands in fists to hide the way they shake. Both are little signs that let me know she's not nearly as brave as she wants us to think.
"In about an hour," I say, "our boss is going to show up here and pull you out. Once that happens, everyone who has a grudge against him will know about you."
That's how shit in this world works. Once Guerrero and Francisco's rivals know that Selena Ortega exists, that he cares enough about her to have hidden her away, they'll come for her. Guerrero is a death sentence hanging over her head. Her life ended the day she hooked up with him. I think she knows it, too. I think she's terrified we're her reckoning.
"We can protect you and your baby," I tell her softly, following my gut feeling that she wants out. "We can help you disappear and stay that way if that's what you want."
She eyes me for a long, silent moment. "You want to know where he's at."
I nod.
"If I tell you, you'll get me out of here?" She sounds almost…hopeful.
"That's the deal," Brady says. "You tell us where to find him, we help you disappear."
"You'll kill him."
I just look at her levelly. I'm not going to lie and tell her that he'll be just fine because he won't be. If we find him, he's going to die. That's how this ends. His fate was sealed the minute he sent his men after Mila. He doesn't get to walk away from that. I think Selena knows it, too.
Something like relief flashes through her eyes before they fall closed. She exhales softly and then pops her eyes open again, pinning me with her gaze. Pity and sympathy swirl through the brown depths, throwing me off-balance.
I frown at the sight of that emotion in her eyes, unease twisting through me.
"He knows who you are, Agent Gregory," she tells me. "He's known for weeks."
"What are you saying?" Brady demands, wariness in his voice.
Her gaze never leaves my face. Never wavers. "I'm saying that he wants you out of the way. He's planning something, and he doesn't want you around when it goes down. He knows about your girl and your daughter. He's planning to use them to get to you."
"Where is he?" I ask, but I don't want to know the answer. I don't want to fucking know that he's—
"The last time I spoke with him, he was in Sacramento."
My heart stops beating, my blood freezing in my veins as her words rip through me. Guerrero is in Sacramento.
Mila. Tahani.
"I'm so sorry," she whispers.
"Jesus Christ," Brady breathes.
I sway, grasping at the wall to hold myself upright as a wave of terror slams into me like a brick wall. Everything in me wants to turn and run to the Rover, to get to Mila and Tahani before that motherfucker gets anywhere near them. But I'm hours away, and there's no way I can get there in time to protect them if he's already there.