The Vargas Cartel Trilogy (Vargas Cartel #1-3)(82)

“So you’re saying Senator Deveron is a puppet of the Vargas Cartel.”

“No, more like they have a symbiotic relationship. Senator Deveron uses his position to block the U.S. from interfering with the Vargas Cartel’s trafficking activities, and he blocks active prosecution of the cartel’s top officials.”

“Oh my God,” I whispered.

“The Vargas Cartel supplies ninety percent of the drugs that enter Nevada, and it has a significant presence in the western United States.”

Dazed, I stepped out of his embrace and walked to the window, my back facing him. “I didn’t realize that.” I stared at the lights flickering in the inky sky. “I don’t know why they need my dad or me. It sounds like Senator Deveron can take care of himself. He has all the power and connections he needs.”

“Rever leaked some information implicating Senator Deveron, but reports of his connection to the Vargas Cartel have been bubbling up for the last two years. He needs a way to stop the inevitable.”

His hands dropped on my shoulders, and part of me wanted to push him away. Push everyone away. I was utterly exhausted. My mind spun in circles as I struggled to unravel fiction and truth.

“What are you saying?”

“If you marry Evan, your dad would have a strong incentive to kill any investigation that landed on his desk.”

A shiver trickled down my spine, and I felt cold…so f*cking cold. Frost crawled through my body, numbing every cell in its path. I didn’t think I’d ever be warm again. “Ah, I see.” Avoiding Ryker’s heated stare, I crossed the room and snagged my purse off the chair.

“What do you see?”

“Evan strung me along all this time for what I could offer his family. You abducted me for money, and then you wanted me to get back together with Evan last week for what reason? More money? To help the Vargas Cartel smuggle more drugs?”

“Hattie.” He grabbed my hand, but I slapped it away. The sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed through the room.

“Don’t touch me,” I spat through clenched teeth. “All week, I had this internal debate running in my head whether we could actually make this work between us. I twisted reality. I distorted the facts, and somehow I convinced myself if we wanted it enough, we’d figure it out. We could be together.”

“We can.”

I scoffed. “No, you’re wrong. You were ready to let me go last week. Why should I believe you won’t change your mind when a better offer comes along?” I sucked in a deep breath, willing the tears to disappear from the corner of my eyes. Willing my heart to freeze over and become an impenetrable wall of icy disdain. Willing myself to evolve from the pathetically gullible pawn I’d become into someone stronger. Smarter. Braver.

“Because I choose you. I choose you over the safety of my family and over everything I’ve worked for. I refused to help him. Why do you think he came after me today?” I shrugged. “I told him to leave you alone.”

I blew my bangs out of my eyes. “Right. For now. For today.”

“I’m not letting you go again. I’m done fighting what’s happening between us. We’re in this together. To the end. This bullshit with Senator Deveron and the Vargas Cartel will fade away, but what I feel for you won’t. I realize that now.”

“I have to go. This is too much,” I said, taking a half step to the door, my head shaking back and forth, but I didn’t want to leave. I never wanted to leave him. A few pretty words and my anger disintegrated like a sandcastle in a windstorm. How did he do that? From the moment I saw him in that bar I was a goner. My body chose him over and over, even when my mind begged me to hate him.

His head whipped toward mine, his eyes blistering with passion. “Senator Deveron threatened to withdraw the protection of the U.S. government from the Vargas Cartel and align with the Alvarez Cartel.”

I rolled my eyes and leaned against the desk. “That doesn’t make sense. The U.S. government doesn’t protect or align with drug cartels.”

One of his dark eyebrows lifted ever so slightly. “Don’t be na?ve. Of course they do. The U.S. government, through the ICE, ATF, and DEA, have a record of providing benefits and immunity to cartels—particularly the Vargas Cartel—in exchange for receiving information against other cartels. What do you think the ‘Fast and Furious’ gun-running program to Mexican cartels paid for by the U.S. taxpayers was about?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I don’t get it. Why would the U.S. government do that?”

His mouth twisted, and his hand sliced through the air. “Because everything is never as simple as it seems on the surface. Nothing is black and white, especially when it comes to the government. Some insiders think the CIA actually orchestrates the global narcotics trade and facilitates laundering the profits.”

Tensing inwardly, I squeezed my purse until my knuckles whitened. “That’s crazy.”

Sighing, he said, “Maybe, maybe not, but do you realize what would happen to my family if the U.S. government threw its resources behind the Alvarez Cartel?”

“The Vargas Cartel would make less money,” I mocked.

Ryker slammed his open palm against the desk, frustration etched into every line of his face. “No. I wish that were all it meant. Wouldn’t that be simple?”