Into the Lair (Falcon Mercenary Group #2)(27)

She swallowed and then swallowed again, determined not to let emotion overrun her control. Gabe was still trying to look out for her even in death.

“Talk to me,” Ian whispered. “I’m not here to judge you. If he was anything like his bastard brother, I can see why you’d kill him.”

Her eyes watered and stung. She retreated, the backs of her knees bumping into the bed. Her hands flew to her face to cover the surge of tears as she slowly sank down.

“I’ve made so many mistakes,” she whispered.

A gentle hand crept over her shoulder, and she realized it was Braden. He’d scooted up beside her and sat mere inches away.

“We’ve all made mistakes, Katie.”

“And what if trusting you is yet another mistake?” she asked. “My instincts never lead me right.”

“And what are your instincts saying about us?” Ian prompted.

She glanced up to see him towering over her. “Not to trust you.”

“Well then if you can’t trust your instincts, and they’re telling you not to trust us, then I’d say maybe you need to do just that.”

“That’s twisted,” she muttered.

“Yeah, it is,” Braden agreed. “I like it.”

“Look at us as the lesser of two evils then,” Ian said patiently. “Whether you trust us or not, we need the whole story, Katie. You owe us that much at least.”

She went back and forth, the panic of her decision buzzing in her head like bees on speed. She swallowed back the edge of fear and took a deep breath.

“You didn’t know about me—no one knew about me—because Gabe didn’t know about me until I was a teenager. We had different fathers, and our mother wasn’t stellar parent material. She ditched Gabe when he was young. She ditched me when I was ten.

“I got into trouble when I was sixteen, and the cops tracked Gabe down. I’m still not sure how. He was just about to enter the service, so he didn’t have a whole hell of a lot of time to play big brother or try to straighten my ass out.

“He took me home, told me I could stay or leave but he wouldn’t be around to drag me back or bail me out of jail.”

“Sounds like Gabe,” Braden said dryly. “Not a very warm and fuzzy guy.”

“He was fine,” she said fiercely. “I didn’t need or want warm and fuzzy.”

“So he joined up. What then?” Ian asked impatiently.

“I stuck around his apartment. He arranged for the bills to be paid and left just enough money that I could eat, and not enough that I could get into trouble.

“We spent his leave together when he could get back. He didn’t pressure me or make demands. Just gave me a place to live and a way to survive. When I was twenty, I met Paulo de la Cruz and fell madly in love as only someone that young and stupid does.”

Braden made a sound that resembled a cross between a snort and a guffaw.

“You’re not very hard on yourself, are you?” Ian said.

“I’m aware of my faults.”

She rolled one shoulder as she prepared for the rest of the sorry tale.

“I was high on love and lust. Paulo was wealthy and came from a good family. He was everything I’d spent my life dreaming about. Roots. A big family. Security.

“When he took me to meet his family, Ricardo immediately put the moves on me. He made it clear he thought I was a whore for the taking. When I turned him down, it pissed him off. From then on out, he took every opportunity to convince Paulo that I was unfaithful.

“Paulo grew increasingly unstable. He got angry and started knocking me around. No matter what I said or did to prove my innocence, it only pissed him off more.

“And one night I fought back,” she said quietly.

“So you killed him in self-defense,” Braden said.

“I meant to kill him. I had a chance to escape after fending him off. I chose not to,” she said with steel in her voice.

“If you’re looking for reproach, you’re not going to find it here,” Ian said. “Bastard deserved what he got.”

Katie didn’t respond, but she expelled a sigh of relief. Somehow it felt good not to be judged. Ricardo had judged her a whore and then a murderer.

“I panicked and called Gabe. He got there a day later and helped me clean up the mess.”

Braden lifted an eyebrow. “Mess? You make it sound so domestic.”

“The body,” she said dully. “Gabe helped me get rid of the body.”

Ian whistled. “Why on earth didn’t you go to the police?”

Katie trembled and twisted her hands in front of her. “I know how stupid it sounds, but I’m not an idiot. I knew damn well that Ricardo had half the police department in his back pocket. I knew that just from things Paulo had said. I couldn’t risk going to them and having a fifty-fifty chance of picking the wrong cop to confide in. When I told Gabe everything, he agreed the best thing to do was get rid of the evidence and for me to haul ass out of there and start over somewhere else.”

“So how did Ricardo figure out you killed his brother?” Braden asked.

Katie sighed. “He doesn’t know for sure. What I mean by that is he didn’t see a body or anything, but he’s not stupid. He knew Paulo was knocking me around, and he also knows Gabe showed up, and I disappeared right after. He caught up to me in Vegas a year ago, and I didn’t deny it. Paulo would never disappear off the face of the earth. He was too tied to Ricardo’s will and completely under his thumb.”