Page 43 of Deadly Scandals

I had to laugh. “Are you asking as an agent or as Mitch’s side piece? You don’t actually think Mitch is going to be faithful to you.”

The second those words left my mouth, I regretted saying them. I didn’t want to be snarky. I had once liked Ashley when I’d known her as Autumn. She had been the only stripper to show me kindness when I’d been undercover. And I’d never once suspected she had also been undercover. She’d seemed to care about me as a person. Saw me as more than just a poor immigrant stripper. But, of course, that had been an act. And I had been acting too.

With our masks off, I wondered if we could get to know each other and find some commonality.

And Mitch was a good man. Well, I believed he could be. He had been loyal and protective of me during my full nightmare with my brother. And I knew he had been faithful to April back in the early days of their marriage. But they had both cheated. Being married to a SEAL was a hard job.

“Sorry, that was uncalled for. Mitch is a great man. And Grant says he’s already fully sprung on you. I hope it works out. So, back to April. No, I didn’t know she’d been fucking Paul, and it’s actually really hard for me to believe that’s true. April and Dara are best friends. And I know Dara and Paul had a decent marriage. Well, I know Paul had cheated, but Dara was clueless, and Paul would always kiss her ass.” Rule one of being a SEAL wife. We will lie to protect each other. I trust Grant, I really do. But sometimes I wondered if even he could be lying to me.

After all, as he’d once told me, Joaquín is a killer, and so am I.

“I went to April’s house in Vegas with Mitch. Hell, I just got back from a trip to Disney with Mitch and his kids.”

I stifled a laugh. I couldn’t imagine Ashley walking around an amusement park with children. Even when she had brought me to meet Julián, when he was still with Tiffany’s mother, she had acted like she’d had no clue what to do with kids.

“What does Mitch think?”

“He’s pissed, of course. No one wants their friend fucking their ex.”

“Right.” The silence was awkward, because I had once kissed Mitch and Ashley had kissed my husband.

“But more importantly, he’s confused. I mean, why would April try to kill herself? Just because she’d been involved with Paul and was distraught over his death? Or…” Ashley’s face contorted.

“Or what?”

“Or does she know something? Did she cover something up? Is she involved with something with the SEALs? The possibilities are endless.”

My breath hitched. I would not tell Ashley my insane suspicions that Joaquín was innocent. That he’d been lying to me. That he was in prison as part of a huge SEAL conspiracy. I was aware of my delusions. I wanted Ashley to trust me. I wanted her to like me. Hell, I needed a friend.

So, I decided to offer up a truth. Something I could bring to the case. “I have a confession to make.”

Ashley’s brow cocked? “What?”

“Well, I thought nothing of it at the time. But a few months before I became an agent, I went to Paul’s parents’ house for one of those stupid SEAL family parties. You know, the ones where they all try to pretend they’re not psychopaths?”

Ashley laughed. “And?”

“And I’m a nosy bitch. So, I locked myself in his father’s office and went through his dad’s photo albums. And I found this picture. It’s of my father.”

Ashley grabbed the picture from my hand, and as she studied it, I noticed her face turned pale.

“What, Ash? What do you see?”

Her voice dropped, and her hand began to shake. “My father is in this picture, too.”