Page 96 of No Questions Asked

“He reminds me so much of his father,” Lilith said softly. “I didn’t expect it to hit me this hard. Being in such close proximity to him is both exhilarating and exhausting. Every time he talks or gestures, I see his father. I am beyond proud of the man he’s become, and his single-minded dedication and loyalty to those he loves, including you. I’m proud of the small part I played in bringing him into this world.”

I had a million more questions, but one seemed more important than the others. “You never contacted him, never tried to reach him once in thirty-four years. Why?”

I studied her, curious what her answer would be. I expected her to look away or avoid eye contact entirely, but her light blue eyes met mine without flinching. For a startling moment, her expression reminded me of Slash.

Her voice shook a little as she spoke. “I didn’t contact him because I wasn’t sure I could take it if he hated me, which he has every right to do. This way, I could watch from afar and love him without him ever knowing.” She paused. “Are you going to tell him about me?”

I didn’t have to think it over because I already knew the answer. “Yes. I’m sorry, Lilith, but we don’t keep secrets from each other anymore.”

Her expression crumbled for a brief moment, a deep sadness and vulnerability in her eyes. Then the strong, capable CEO of Vaccitex emerged and her expression toughened, hiding what was surely pain and regret. “I understand.”

“However, if you want to tell him first, I’ll give you the opportunity to do that.” I’m not sure why I extended that branch, but I had. I didn’t know if Slash would thank me or be angry at me for doing it, but I’d deal with that later.

She seemed surprised I offered. “Thank you, Lexi. I appreciate you letting me do this on my own terms.”

“Good luck.” I couldn’t think of anything else to say except the obvious.

She nodded, closing her eyes for a moment before speaking again. “May I ask one more thing of you? Will you take care of him?”

“That’s a given,” I promised.

“Good. You know, I used to imagine the girl he’d marry, and although I never could see her clearly, I knew she’d be smart, strong and capable. You’re all of that and much more. He’s met his match in you and I couldn’t be more delighted.”

I looked down at the little circle on my wrist and my engagement ring. A circle had been a symbol of love for centuries—no beginning, no end, just unbreakable eternity. Now I had two circles, both with a hole in the center that to me represented a portal to a future that held events both known and unknown.

Life is the sum of all your choices and the choices others made on your behalf. There was no way to predict that Lilith’s choices and my choices would one day intersect, but here we were, standing in the crossroads, brought together by our love for one man.

There really wasn’t any more I could say to her. I’d made my choice to stand beside Slash, and long ago, she’d made her choice to leave him. Now it washischoice to decide how he wanted to deal with that.

Chapter Fifty-Six

Martim Alves

There was a click, but no shot.

Panicked, he pulled the trigger again and again with the same results. He stared at the gun in disbelief, and when he finally looked up, Slash stood right in front of him, holding a small piece of metal between his fingers.

“Won’t fire without a firing pin,” he said in Spanish. “But since you didn’t know that when you pulled the trigger, it’s still attempted murder under the Brazilian criminal code.”

Martim glanced behind Slash and saw the man who had given him the pat down emerge from the entryway behind Slash and approach him quietly. A smile crept on Martim’s face.

Thank God. About time the backup arrived.

But instead of taking down or shooting Slash, the man stopped beside him. Bewildered, Martim looked between them.

“Let me introduce you to Police Sergeant Alberto Santos,” Slash said. “He made sure the firing pin I removed was still missing from the gun when he inspected it earlier.”

What was happening? Had he been set up? A million thoughts ran through his head. What exactly had he said? What had he confessed to? Could he claim it was all made up and that he was just saying that because he was in fear of his life fromEl Esqueleto?

Before he could say anything in his own defense, Slash motioned to the door. “Let me introduce another police officer you already know.”

Vicente Lopes walked in the door, a deep scowl on his face. Martim felt as if he’d been punched in the gut. This was going from bad to worse.

Vicente approached Martim with a pair of handcuffs dangling from his fingers. Panic gripped in his throat.

“You may have thought I was nothing more than a lowly translator helping out on the vaccine trial,” Vicente said. “I am, and I’m proud to be associated with the group because it’s going to save lives and help preserve an important cultural and social piece of Brazil’s history. However, I’m also a federal narcotics agent specifically assigned to watch you, Martim Alves. We suspected you of being involved in government corruption and taking bribes from the drug cartels. We knew you were abusing your position and figured you wanted to be assigned here to protect the drug cartel’s expansion in this area, but we really had no idea to what extent. Thank you for not only implicating yourself, but for so graciously listing all the other government and police officials on your payroll. We really appreciate that. And, in some perverse way, I’m impressed. After what I heard and saw you do today, you’ve brought the wordcorruptionto a new level in Brazil.”

Martim couldn’t breathe. Vicente Lopes was a federal narcotics agent? He’d been under investigation? There had to be some way to fix this. His mind scrambled to think of something until he had a sudden moment of an inspiration. He just had to be confident enough to pull it off.

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