Page 4 of Deception

How would I be able to save my brother if I couldn’t even save myself?

Chapter2

Lucius

All I could seewhen I closed my eyes was her mahogany hair that hung in a silky waterfall down her back. All I could smell was vanilla and strawberries. A scent I’d usually avoid, but with her, I wanted to bury my nose in it. She could destroy everything.

Fuck. She was a complication I didn’t need. I had a plan. A mission. One that didn’t include a naïve American. If she knew what she’d stumbled into, she’d be running away screaming instead of watching everything as if this were the Discovery Channel.

And why was I so drawn to her? The nosy little waif currently staring at Santino with big blue eyes was nothing to me. Maybe the humidity and lack of sleep were getting to me. I’d been here nearly a year, and the strain was showing.

We went out to the waiting cars, and I watched her ass sway in her tight shorts. She wouldn’t make it long. She was too soft. Too innocent. And had no idea of the viper’s den she’d entered. And I didn’t know how I felt about that. Even though all I should have felt was emptiness.

Once she’d appeared on the boss’s radar, there was nothing I could do but bring her in. An American asking questions around these parts set off all sorts of warning bells.

I stepped up next to Santino, who watched the guys manhandle her into the car. He nodded at me with a frown. “She’s as good as dead. Might as well get rid of her now and save ourselves the trouble and her the torture.”

In this world—the one I’d done everything to escape—a human life didn’t matter. But one line I hadn’t crossed yet was killing an innocent. I’d ordered executions, I’d cheated, I’d betrayed, and felt no remorse. After all, I deserved the hell I was currently living in.

What I couldn’t figure out was why she was different.

I trusted Santino, had known him for most of my life. But he was deeply entrenched in the cartel. His loyalty would always be with them. Something I was painfully aware of and had to navigate around.

I’d never find the redemption I so desperately longed for if I screwed up now. I was getting so close to being able to go back home.

My eyes were on the car she’d been put into, even though I was still talking to Santino. “She’s asking a lot of questions, and we need to know why. Let’s find out before we do anything.”

Santino sighed. It was the most he’d ever do to let me know he didn’t agree with me. “You’ve gotten too soft.”

I climbed into the passenger seat of one of the cars, careful not to pick the one the girl was in. Showing interest in her would get noticed, and I couldn’t screw up now that I’d almost found what I came here for. If I could keep it together for a little longer, I’d have a chance of getting out. And this time it would be for good.

My phone had been blowing up with messages, the person on the other end the last one I wanted to speak to. Unable to put it off any longer, I called him back.

“You lost your phone? Because that’s the only reason you should have to take so long to get back to me.”

I ground my molars together, knowing that responding to him would invite further reprimand. He had to finish his lecture first.

“You’re going to take over one day, and a boss can never ignore his phone. Or go off on an errand that he should have sent someone else to do. What are you doing leaving while we’re in the middle of negotiations?”

Indeed, what had I been thinking? But when I’d seen the latest report on the American, I knew I had to come myself or she was as good as dead.

Guess I must still have some of my humanity left.

I gritted my teeth. “I apologize, but something important came up.”

“It better be more important than this.”

His comment made me irrationally angry. But at the same time, he’d given me the perfect excuse for why I was here. “It is. You’ll be pleased to see what I found.”

“Fine. Now get your ass back here so we can finish this.”

By “this” he meant the negotiations with the Cartenas. We wanted to expand distribution, and they wanted a way in.

I’d worked on getting a meeting with them for nearly a year. But when Santino told me they were picking up the girl, I had to come along. There was only one thing saving her now, and I had to make sure she stayed in one piece until I spoke to Maurizio.

“I’ll be there in a few hours.”

Chapter3

---