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“Everything.” I didn’t miss a beat. “After the attack on you, she wanted you to lay low, so the Canoses thought you were out of the picture. Maybe she thought the Canoses suspected you or something.” I went in for another dig at Esmerelda. “You know your mother, she hardly ever shares her plans. Anyway,” I waved and let that sink in, “not long afterward, Jerry started to suspect something between me and Talya, even though she’d worked hard to keep Grim as her cover. So that day, when the soldiers from the north showed up and attacked Martin’s house, your mom ordered me to fake my own death.” I cleared my throat and scowled to show I didn’t agree with it. “You know Esmerelda; you don’t say no.”
“Mm.”
“But there was so much shit from the explosion, it was logical to think I’d get killed in the process, and from what I know, no one since has questioned my death.”
His mouth sagged open. “My mother has known all along that you are alive?”
“Yes.” I lied so easily. “Talya found me a few months later. Distraught about her parents’ decisions and the direction they were taking their business.” I kept this part vague because fewer details were better with a lie. “She decided she was leaving but gave me a parting gift.” I wiggled my brows at him.
He leaned forward with interest. “Which was?”
I carefully reached for the USB stick in my shirt pocket. “Financial reports, drop-off and pick-up locations, and how the Canoses were using my fucking tunnel to transfer money. I didn’t come to you until now because I needed to see it for myself, and guess what? It’s true. I have the proof.”
“You have all this?”
“Yes, enough to set up the American soldiers and have them take out the Canoses, and just when they think they’ve won,” I looked excited, “we strike and end them!” I smacked my knee then set the USB stick down between us.
His eyes locked on it, like Gollum as he stared at the golden ring. I could practically see his obsession with ending Blackstone once and for all. His hand jerked forward, and he snatched it up and held it closer to his face. He flicked his wrist at his men. “Chili, give us a moment.” Armondo stepped forward and avoided eye contact with me as he motioned at Chili to leave.
“Of course.” Chili walked with Armondo across the patio, out of hearing range.
Bruno pocketed the USB. “Did Chili know any of this?”
“No. I didn’t think it was wise at the time, but he knows everything now. I filled him in yesterday and asked him to find a way for me to see you.”
“Chili stayed to work your tunnel after what happened with my uncle. Do you think he has any loyalty to the Canos family?”
“No,” I held his stare, “he’s loyal to a fault. I trust him with my life, as I do you.” Bruno loved when I played we were brothers. He hated his own, so I often used that angle on him.
Bruno let out a long breath. “You slept with Talya?”
I gave a sleezy smirk, channeling the darker part of Eric. “That was a product of too much tequila, an empty bar, and, well, a gorgeous woman who wanted it as badly as I did.”
“I understand that.” He gave a wide smile. “A man needs release, and why not with a beautiful woman, ah?” He patted his crotch and looked up. I followed his line of sight, and my stomach dropped as I spotted Nicole up on a balcony.
Fuck!
I turned to stone. Lungs, heart, stomach, and brain frozen in time. No. That isn’t happening. Not here, not now, it’s impossible. I knew I couldn’t let her see me, not as Eric. Even though I doubted she’d recognize me, I knew someday she’d have to find out. I didn’t want her to have the mental image in her head.
“So, the kid is yours?” I barely heard his words and had to replay them twice to form an answer. Focus.
“Not sure, but for the sake of letting the Canoses panic, yes.” I turned my back to the window with my mind still reeling. I had to ground myself to fight the panic. “If I am, then so be it. I’ll only believe it once I get tested.”
“Do you have the boy?”
“No,” I squinted as if confused, “the last I heard, you had won the bid with Rafael.”
Bruno looked up at the balcony again, and I dared a quick glance. She was gone. “Things did not go as they should have, but it won’t be long before I’ll have the child. In the meantime, I’m dealing with it.”
All I had to do was jerk forward, grab the gun he left so carelessly on the table, and drive a bullet through his sweaty forehead. The world would be such a better place.
“All right,” he pulled me from my murderous thoughts, “so, what do you propose to do?”
“I want to finish what we started.”
“I want to trust you, Eric. Give me something more.”
I pulled out a photo of Jerry Canos, courtesy of Mike’s Photoshop skills. The one thing about Bruno was he was dumber than dumb when it came to technology. “And?”
