The Vargas Cartel Trilogy (Vargas Cartel #1-3)(81)

“Five years.”

My eyebrows jumped up my forehead. “Wow.”

“I know.” He chuckled. “Come with me. We can talk in my office.”

We reached the end of the hall, and he pulled his keys out of his pocket, unlocking a dark-walnut paneled door.

“Why the secrecy?” I asked, stepping into the room.

“I don’t like anyone going through my papers. Sit.” He motioned to a chair in front of his desk.

“So formal,” I said. As I settled into the chair, a giggle escaped out of my mouth, more from nerves than the situation. The rich smell of worn leather enveloped me.

He pulled a file folder out of a desk drawer and settled into lounge chair behind the desk. “Did you tell Evan anything about us?”

“No. I haven’t talked to him since that night at the restaurant.” His eyes narrowed. “I know I promised to call him, but I haven’t done it. I didn’t know what to say to him.”

He opened the file folder, but I couldn’t see anything. “What about Vera?”

“Nothing. I swear. Except—”

“Except what?”

Blood flooded my cheeks. “I told her I was seeing someone, but I refused to tell her any details about you or us.”

“You didn’t tell anyone else? A therapist? Maybe you wrote something in a diary or a journal.”

“No.” Then, I remembered the pregnancy test I never removed from cabinet underneath the sink. My stomach dropped. “Well, I took a pregnancy test. I hid it under the bathroom sink at Evan’s apartment. I didn’t want to put it in the trash, but then I forgot about it.”

Ryker leaned back in his chair. “He’d think it was his.”

“No, he wouldn’t. We haven’t…” My voice trailed off. I didn’t want to have this conversation with him. “Just no.”

“What I tell you right now cannot go anywhere. You can’t tell your family. You can’t tell Vera, and you certainly can’t confront Evan or his family.”

I nodded, and he slid a piece of paper across the desk. “What’s this?”

“A wire transfer from Senator Deveron to me.”

I scanned the paper. “Five hundred thousand dollars? What’s this for?”

“Check the date?”

“March 1.”

“What happened around then?”

I shifted closer, leaning my elbows on his desk as I shook my head, laboring to remember every detail. “Nothing.” I cocked my head to the side. “I broke up with Evan right around that time, and you know what happened after that. I went to Mexico with Vera for Spring Break, then you…” My heart sputtered as pieces of the puzzle shifted in my mind.

Ryker stood up and walked around the corner of the desk, pausing in front of me with his hands shoved deep into his pockets. “Then I found you in that bar in Mexico.”

The air exploded out of my lungs like I’d been kicked in the gut, and the room tilted. I clutched the edge of the desk, suffocating on the noxious fumes of betrayal. “Did…” I blinked, stalling for time.

Please don’t be true.

With deadened hands, I rubbed my temples. “Did Senator Deveron pay you to abduct me?”

“Yes.”

One simple word. By itself, it was innocuous, innocent even, but it felt like he had pulled the safety pin on a grenade and fractured my life into a million pieces. I jumped out of the chair like a jack in the box.

“No,” I yelled. “It’s not true. He wouldn’t do that. It doesn’t make sense. Evan would never let him.” Ryker shook his head, his face lined with pity. I felt sick. My hands shook. My heart pounded against my chest like a battering ram. Then, my knees buckled like a folding chair.

Ryker caught me, his fingers digging into my upper arms. “Breathe, Hattie. Breathe.”

I didn’t want to breathe. I didn’t want to open my eyes. I wanted it all to go away. I wanted to disappear. Fade away. “Why? Tell me why, Ryker.” I swallowed against the surge of nausea, contorting my stomach into a pretzel. God, I f*cking hurt everywhere.

His hand moved up and down my back, and he kissed the top of my head. “They need you. They need your dad, but I think you already know this part. I told you all of this in Mexico, but I omitted the names of the parties involved.”

Squeezing my eyes shut, I skimmed through the murky conversations with Ryker and Ignacio. Then, it hit me. According to Ignacio, Rever had offered information about politicians and businessmen affiliated with the Vargas Cartel in exchange for prosecutorial immunity. He needed leverage to stop it from happening. So did Senator Deveron. I tilted up my head, searching Ryker’s face.

“Senator Deveron has connections to the Vargas Cartel.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement, but the minute I said it, I realized it was the absolute truth. Deep down maybe I knew all along. Ignacio and Ryker had given me enough hints, but I refused to see the truth. The truth butchered me.

Ryker nodded. “It started fifteen years ago. Senator Deveron’s Las Vegas casino was on the verge of bankruptcy. Ignacio propositioned him. Ignacio needed a way to launder drug money, and Senator Deveron needed a quick cash infusion. It made sense for both of them. When President Felipe Calderón took power in 2006, he declared war on the drug cartels. The Vargas Cartel experienced significant losses. Senator Deveron needed the Vargas Cartel’s money to keep his casino afloat, but he also wanted more power and influence, so he ran for Senate. The Vargas Cartel funneled money to his campaign through dummy corporations, campaign bundlers, and non-profits with the understanding that he’d use his power to help the cartel.”