Among the Echoes(77)

Just as quickly as he pulled her against him, he pushes her away and walks out the door. Tears are streaming down her face as she screams his name, but Leo never once looks back. She rushes into the hall after him, but I loop her around the waist to stop her from following him any farther. He’s right—she can’t go out there making a scene in the middle of the streets, and I sure as hell can’t go down to stop her. She fights against my grip, but I hold her tight and carry her back into the apartment.

"You have to stop him," she says between sobs.

But what I only recognize now is that Leo was already gone before he ever even walked into the bedroom.





The day Leo left, Erica alternated between crying, pacing, calling his phone, and searching his room for clues about where he could be going. I had no idea what to do, and finally, I cornered her and gave her no other option but to lean on me. I didn’t restrain her, but I made it clear that she’s not in this alone. She finally relented and spent the night in my arms. She didn’t sleep, but she curled in tight and allowed me to at least share her emotional burden. She loves Leo, and by all accounts, he loves her too. Which is why his sudden departure makes absolutely no sense.

Leo left all the credit cards I had given him when he took off. And while I wasn’t really keeping up with the cash he spent, it doesn’t appear as though he took any money either. Which, to me, means he went back into the program or knew he wouldn’t live long enough to need money. Either way, it makes me really f*cking nervous. However, right now, Erica has to be my main focus. He would have told me if there was any immediate danger. I refuse to believe that he would ever turn his back on Erica without being absolutely certain she was safe, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t beefed up security.

Johnson hired three new guards within twelve hours of when Leo left. I made him the new head of security, but I’m definitely keeping my finger on the pulse now more than I did when Leo was running the show. Erica has never really snapped out of her walking trance. She mostly just moves between our bedroom and the rec room. Her nose stays stuck to her Kindle or she just stares into space. Gone is my Erica, the funny one who laughs and jokes around. She isn’t even the scared and timid Riley I originally met. She’s just lost.

We haven’t talked much in the three days since Leo’s been gone, but every night, as she crawls into bed, she slides up beside me, holding me closer than ever before. I try to give her space to grieve, but it’s killing me to watch. So the moments when she leans on me mean the world.

The minute Leo left, I locked the file he gave me away in the fireproof safe. I am the only person who has the combination, but it still needs to be housed somewhere else for safekeeping. Should anything happen to me—or, God forbid, Erica—I want there to be undeniable proof about where to point the finger. Today, I’m scanning it and emailing a copy to the only person I trust not to read it, Jimmy Douglas.

While Erica is lying on the couch in the rec room, mindlessly staring at some TV show that I know she has absolutely no interest in watching, I head to the office to send it out. I have no idea what’s inside. I only know that Leo told me that he’d documented his time with Erica. Before now, I had no intention of actually taking the time to read it, but seeing her name on the very first page changes my mind completely.

For over an hour, I scour through Leo’s notes from when he was working undercover with Rodriguez. Not having a strong firsthand knowledge of the underbellies of the drug world, I just assumed these guys were big-time dealers with even bigger connections. But to read Leo telling it, they are hardcore, whatever-it-takes murderers as well. They thrive on innocent lives to get them ahead and have no compunction in taking them out when their services are no longer required. Case in point—Erica.

I read through his notes, engrossed in the world he embraced as Marcus Torres. I told Erica I would never ask, and this is probably the roundabout way of breaking that promise, but I can’t stop my hands from turning the pages. Then I read the one sentence I wish I could unsee. But no matter how hard I try, I can’t erase the words written in Leo’s handwriting scrawled across the page.





"What the f*ck!" I shout, jumping away from the paper and shooting to my feet.

My mind whirls while I try to regain control. I knew he was there the night everything happened. He killed three men to rescue her, but what the f*cking hell is this about him standing guard? Why in all my conversations with Erica and Leo has this topic never been broached? The only thing I can figure is that they are both hiding from the facts. My blood boils, but I know I have to finish. It’s obvious I’m missing quite a few of the details from that night.