Page 10 of Nemesis
He looked over my unkempt living room before his gaze landed back on me.
I decided to ignore his snide remark. “Besides, why do you want me for this job? I left the bureau months ago, remember?” I pointed out. “Can’t you give this to one of your newbies?”
His shoulders tensed, while his body straightened, his expression turning serious. He hesitated for a second before letting out a heavy sigh. “You’re the only one I can trust for this job.”
Confused, my brows pinched together. “To watch over the wife of a billionaire?”
He avoided my gaze before reluctantly adding, “It’s more complicated than that.”
“Please, do elaborate,” I retorted sarcastically. Leaning forward, I rested my elbows on the cold granite while waiting for his explanation.
“I can’t,” he snapped.
What the fuck?He was asking me for a favor and getting mad when I requested more details.
I stood up, frustration flaring up my insides. My jaw clenched and I closed the file, then handed it back to him, preparing to walk away. “Then you can count me out. You know where the door is. You can see yourself out.”
He went quiet for a moment. Running his hands through his disheveled hair, he blew out a deep breath. “Listen, Victor Morales isn’t who people think he is. I can’t have my people dig into it, so I’m asking you this as a favor,” he confessed, sounding defeated.
I searched his gaze, his tone perplexing me. Noah had always been so assured, so seeing him this tired and defeated over something like this didn’t make sense.
There was a pause. “And you owe me.”
Groaning, I ran my hands over my face and down my beard. I’d always been loyal to a fault, and Noah had covered for me so many times while I was out looking for her, desperate to find her during the months following her disappearance.
Disappearance,the little voice in my head scoffed, mocking me.
The look on his face combined with our past was what made me finally accept. “Fine,” I breathed out.
This wasn't how I thought this would go.
A week later, I was on my way to their estate. Noah hadn’t told me much about this assignment, only that I would be spending the next few weeks watching over Morales’s wife until they caught the perpetrator.
Apparently, everything had already been set up before Noah even brought the offer to my attention; he'd only stopped by my place as a mere formality since he’d already discussed myinterestwith Victor’s head of security, Jaxon Valdez. Someone who also happened to be one of his informants.
Noah had mentioned to him that I used to work for a private security company with the government before I branched out to work independently as a private investigator.
That was my story. No one really knew what I did for a living, not even my family, which was what happened when you worked in organized crime.
Before leaving that night, Noah had ended up revealing that he was in the middle of investigating a drug cartel and had found out that Morales might be one of their close associates.
He’d kept his explanations vague and I wasn’t sure what Noah was up to or why he didn’t want his team at the bureau involved, but I knew Noah better than anyone. If he was being secretive, then he was probably trying to protect them.
A few hours after he’d left, I’d received an encrypted link with more information on the Moraleses. I’d then spent the remainder of the week learning about Victor’s work and most importantly, his wife. Her digital footprint was practically nonexistent and there was barely any information about her life prior to marrying Morales, only that she’d been involved in an accident and had lost her husband.
Almost like she was a ghost.
What did I get myself into? Me and my stupid sense of loyalty.
I clenched my fingers around the steering wheel, pushing the notion aside right as I turned onto their street. As their house came into view, my eyes caught a glimpse of it.
The memento permanently etched on my skin, weighing heavily against my ring finger.
CHAPTER5
SOFIA
It had been exactly a week since thepackagewas delivered and I had Morales exactly where I wanted him.
