Page 69 of Hart of Redemption
“You motherfucker.”
“I see you pacing like a madman,” he said.
I glanced around the city street—up then down several times. “Where are you? You want my attention? Take me. Hold me until Rosario comes in. Torture me. Do whatever the fuck you want with me. You said you wanted revenge against me.”
For all we knew, Mateo was setting up both Rosario and me to take the fall with the law. Eye for an eye and all that.
He clucked his tongue. “Tempting offer, Duke. I wouldn’t mind snipping off your balls, but I like your sister a lot better. Oh, the things I could do to her. The things I might do to her.”
I was gripping the phone so fucking hard that either I would crush it or break the bones in my fingers. “What’s your game, Mateo?”
I was still searching the immediate area but couldn’t spot a car or a van with people inside. Then again, the rage consuming me was probably blinding me.
“Grace is my safeguard,” he said. “To ensure you don’t bring the Feds to our meeting.”
“Stop with the Feds crap. If I wanted to throw you to them, I would’ve done that already.”
“Oh yeah,” he said. “Then why is Detective Ted Hughes walking out of the hotel?”
Sure as the moon was high in the sky, Ted strutted out in his tux, smoothing a hand over his mustache.
“He’s not FBI,” I told Mateo. “Let me talk to Grace.”
A moment of silence passed while Ted stared directly at me. I walked away from him.
“Duke,” Grace said over the phone, sounding fine.
“Are you okay?” My pulse rate lowered a notch.
“Nothing I can’t handle.” Her voice was soaked in confidence.
I hadn’t forgotten about her need to hurt Mateo. “Please don’t do anything stupid.”
Grace sighed. “I know what I’m doing. I guess I’ll see you on Friday.”
“Duke.” It was Mateo again. “I will text you a location where to meet once you give me confirmation Rosario is in Boston. Oh, and don’t forget the ransom.” Then the line went dead. After a moment, I started to walk back to the ballroom, passing Ted in the process.
“Was that Mateo?” Ted asked.
“Don’t get involved. This is not gang related.”
He clutched my arm as if he were about to arrest me. “It is if Mateo Alvarez is involved.”
“Then find him.” I shrugged out of his hold.
He would be doing me a favor if he found Mateo before Friday. Maybe then Mateo would be caught with the guns. That would get Rosario and me off the hook.
“I have no problem taking you into the station,” Ted said. “I also have no problem crossing lines with the Feds. Maggie would be distraught if something happened to Grace. I would be too. Grace is just as important to me as she is to you. I would do anything to protect her.”
I pinned him with a glare. “You have nothing on me to take me in. If you want to help, then drop your cop hat. Only then will I work with you.”
His dark eyes skated over my face as we stood glaring at each other. “You know I can’t do that. Let me help you, and I promise I will fight for a reduced sentence for you. Or would you rather end up in the morgue? How would that make Grace feel?”
The longtime detective was trying to fuck with me psychologically, and it was working. Grace would never recover if anything happened to me.
“You don’t even know if I’ve broken the law.” I couldn’t help but laugh.
A deep crease formed between his bushy eyebrows. “You think that I don’t know you work with Rosario Mendoza? I know these streets just as well as you do. I have informants. I know what goes on in this city.”
