The Vargas Cartel Trilogy (Vargas Cartel #1-3)(88)

I shrugged. “A technicality.”

He rubbed his hand back and forth over his lips. “I never wanted to hurt you. You make me sound like an *.”

“You did that all by yourself.”

“Dammit, Hattie. If I had any idea what would happen, I wouldn’t have agreed.”

“Then you’re a f*cking idiot. What did you expect when you used me as collateral in your father’s sick cover-up ploy?”

“That I’d find a way to make you love me again. That you’d see how much I love you and give me another chance. That you’d realize I’d always be there for you.”

“Yeah, and how did that work out for you?” I snarled through clenched teeth. Every word out of my mouth fed my anger. I felt like a wild animal about to sink my teeth into my prey.

He bowed his head. “Not as expected, but maybe with more time—”

“No,” I screamed. My hand itched to pull the trigger. Crazed thoughts rolled through my mind one after another. I was a lunatic and Evan was delusional. “Never. We’re done. The next time you f*ck with my life, I’ll kill you. I won’t even hesitate.”

He closed his hand over the barrel of the gun, and I jerked it away. Our eyes locked. Did he ever love me or care about me? Why couldn’t he understand how his selfishness nearly destroyed me? He said he didn’t mean to hurt me, but I didn’t believe him. I gawked at him, momentarily fooling myself into thinking if I looked hard enough, I’d be able to unravel his convoluted thoughts, or make sense of the madness, but I didn’t see anything.

“Let me earn your trust again,” he whispered, eyeing me carefully.

Bitterness whipped through my body. “I don’t trust you. I’ll never trust you. You don’t understand the difference between the truth and a lie. You’re a pathological liar and the son of a pathological liar. There’s no hope for you.”

“And you trust him?” he sneered.

“Who?”

He paused for a fraction, shifting his weight to his heels as he contemplated his answer. “Ryker Vargas.”

I gnawed on the inside of my cheek. “It’s none of your business. My life doesn’t concern you.”

“I don’t know what he did to you, Hattie, but you can’t trust him. I regret inviting that sick f*ck into our life. He changed you. You’re not the same anymore.”

I dropped my hand to my side, and the gun brushed against my leg. “No shit,” I mocked. “Imagine that. My boyfriend arranges to have me abducted by a drug cartel, and he questions why I’m not the same na?ve person when I return home.”

“He’ll destroy you.”

“He’s not going to hurt me.” I dropped my voice to a whisper, questioning the sanity of my words. “I trust him to keep me safe.”

“Safe?” His eyebrows scaled his forehead as he moved his head from side to side. “What do you really know about Ryker Vargas?”

I tipped up my chin and smirked. “A lot more than you do, and he wouldn’t lie to me, unlike you and your father.”

“Are you serious?” he countered, his voice dark, dripping with venom. “We’ve known each for a long time. You’re a smart girl. Think about what you’re saying. He’s the son of a drug lord. He has multiple identities. Do you know how he makes most of his money?”

“As a campaign bundler,” I answered with a smile, trying to cover the thread of unease in my voice.

He snorted. “No. That’s just his little side hobby to mask his real identity. He’s a political fixer.”

“A fixer,” I echoed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“He’s a backroom operator who cleans up inconvenient messes for the privileged people who can afford his services.”

“What kind of messes?”

Evan smirked, his brown eyes inky and narrowed in malice. “Dead bodies that need to disappear. Money transfers between criminal organizations and politicians. Bribing judges. Bribing lawmakers. All jobs a lawyer can’t handle without stepping over the line.”

Pain boomeranged through my body, and my upper eyelid twitched. “I don’t believe you.”

“How do you think my father found him? Why do you think he facilitated your abduction?”

“I don’t care,” I answered, stepping around him and walking to the door. I needed to get away from Evan and clear my head. “Just stay out my life. We’re done.”

My words didn’t come out as forceful as I had wanted, but I couldn’t find the energy to care. In the last few minutes, the anger had drained from my body. Undoubtedly, some amazing closing comments would float through my mind in a few hours, but at that instant, the right words eluded me.

“Wait,” he called after me. “I found a pregnancy test hidden in the bathroom cabinet.”

“So what?” I clutched the cold metal door handle in a death grip to steady my shaking hands. I had wondered if he found it, and I just got my answer.

“Are you pregnant?”

My shoulders sagged. Another blow and my battle-weary heart would shatter like glass. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

He moved closer to me, his footsteps a faint shuffle against the dark hardwood floors. “It wouldn’t matter to me. We’d figure it out. If that’s why you’re with him, you don’t have to—”