AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“He was the one who sent me the first traces and evidence for what I’m working on.” She leaned her head to the side. “I think.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well...I kind of...stumbled upon some documents. They were sent to me privately, and since we’re not broadcasting what we know and what we’ve gathered so far, I assumed he was the sender.”
I rubbed my hands over my face, using that moment to control myself and not put her on time out. Not even Sofia gave me so much trouble.
“So, you almost got killed—more than once, I might add—by a dangerous cartel, and then you received anonymous information about them. Instead of burning it all the way through hell, you decided to jump into theAlacráns’ den, all alone, not caring that it could be, I don’t know,a trap?”
“When you say it like that, it doesn’t sound like a good idea,” she argued, albeit weakly.
“How would you phrase it to sound like a smart plan?” It was getting hard keeping my indignance at bay.
“Someone out there loves me—or needs me—and sent me precious info so I could dismantle that disgraceful cartel before it keeps destroying us.” The good mood in which Lisa had put me was starting to evaporate, and a distant throb announced itself in my temple. “Look, I know it doesn’t sound that good—”
“Do you, though?” Maybe I should consider leaving her without electronics and chocolate for two days. It worked with Sofia.
Ignoring me, she kept going. “But the fact that we’ve been getting ahead proves that the information was solid. And so was the person who sent me.”
“So how come you haven’t reached Aaron to confirm?” She fidgeted in her seat and bit her lips, making me realize the truth. “Because you never really thought he had anything to do with it, and he’d be pissed at you if he knew.Damn it.” Even though Ben was a jerk the night before, he was right about a couple of things, like how she seemed intent on risking her life to end it all.
Just like I did when I was disappointed in Sofia for doing something she shouldn’t, I took in a deep breath, counting backward from ten to calm myself. I signaled April to bring me another cup of coffee and whatever sweet pastry she had.
Mia and I stayed silent as I went from angry father to stern dad. It was hard dissociating her from my daughter at that moment. But as I looked at her again, I realized I had every right to worry about her—she was, after all, one of my best friends—just like I had every reason to trust her judgment.
Mia was reckless sometimes, there was no denying that, and it became worse after Zach was gone. But she was still a professional. A grieving professional, but a professional, nonetheless.
She was the one who commanded our task forces at the DEA. She was the one who came up with the best strategies for our assignments at the company. She was the one who arrested Pablo “El Segador” Salazar, one of the most dangerous men alive and who was wanted internationally. She was the one who saved Izzie’s life, and who made the call to get those girls out of the cartel.
She did so by putting herself at risk, but also by relying on her knowledge and ability. I followed her on every single assignment we worked on together because I trusted her as well, and I wasn’t about to stop doing that.
“What do you need?”
She squinted her eyes and raised a scarred brow at me. “What do you mean? Why the change? What’s the catch?”
I shook my head. “No catch.” I considered her questions, trying to choose the best words. “I know all too well the importance of trust. Sometimes life throws some...curveballs our way, and we don’t know how to deal with them at first. We have to choose between ignoring or embracing them. If we ignore them, we can live a riskless life, but it’ll also be a boring, purposeless one. If we embrace them, we’ll make ourselves vulnerable, but we can also achieve way more than we ever dreamed. It’s unfair of us to deny ourselves the satisfaction of accomplishing those ventures.” I sipped my coffee to organize my thoughts. “I think what I’m trying to say is that I trust you and I’ll take whatever risk you think it’s worth taking.”
She stared at me with her little nose scrunched up under the glasses and scarred brow still up. Then her eyes rounded like saucers as she whisper-yelled, “You had sex with Lisa.”
My breath caught in my throat, and I looked around to see if anyone had heard her, noticing only Mr. Cross and Izzie staring at us with confused expressions.
“Where the hell did that come from?”
“You know the importance of trust, meaning how Andrea wronged you.The curveballs life throws?Lisa’s one hell of a ball full of curves I know you’ve been lusting after.Embracing risks instead of ignoring themmeant how hard you tried to stay away from her, but now you’re all about thesatisfaction of new ventures to have a purposeful life. By the way, I loved that euphemism for getting some from the young nanny.” She grinned mischievously at me. “Atta boy.”
“Madre mía, how do you do that?”
She giggled for the first time in what felt like forever, and I was happy to know my night with Lisa had made another person happy. If that was a cunning thought to convince people sleeping with her was a good idea, so be it.
“I’m happy for you, Danny. You deserve someone like her, she’s wonderful for you and Fee.”
A big smile formed on my lips on its own accord.Why deny it?“Sheiswonderful. And last night—”
She raised one of her hands. “I don’t need the details.” I chuckled and noticed it had been a while since she looked content. “Are you happy?”
Before I could answer, Mr. Cross approached us, making me jump in my seat. “Is everything okay, Ms. Mia?”
Still in shock by his sudden accosting, and afraid people might’ve heard us, I blurted out, “Mia might be pregnant.”
