Forever Yours (The Moreno Brothers 1.5)

“You’re not gonna tell your dad or Leo, are you?”

“No.” She was quiet for a moment then said, “What good would it do, right? My mom says the money’s gone.” She went quiet again then spoke again, sounding a little somber. “It’s why she started taking money from her boss. She’d blown through the first twenty thousand she’d found in those bags really fast and was afraid she’d be in that same bind soon. When her co-worker showed her how easy it was to slip a few hundred in her pocket every week and no one was ever the wiser, it just was too tempting, and little by little she started taking more.”

Angel didn’t comment. He knew this was a sore subject for Sarah—knew she felt people still judged her mom—and he didn’t want her to think she was judging now.

“Regardless,” she said with renewed conviction. “If that’s what Omar was after, it’s gone. She made it stretch for a long time, but then when she got into that trouble, a big chunk of what was left went to lawyers’ fees. She managed to hold on to the rest and used it for the down payment on this condo. Besides. . .” She exhaled softly. Angel didn’t miss the fact that she was back to calling her dad Omar, only this time he didn’t encourage her to refer to the ass**le as dad. “I still haven’t heard from Omar since the last time we spoke over two weeks ago, and I get the feeling Leonardo is upset with him. I’m not sure why, but he’s been pretty cold and short about it whenever I ask if he’s spoken to him. I don’t know,” she added. “Maybe I will ask Leonardo. The last couple of times we’ve spoken our conversations have gotten a little personal.”

Angel sat up a little straighter, tensing up instantly. “Personal?” He closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath. “Yeah? Like how?”

“He asked me about when I’d first moved out here. I’d already told him about how suddenly I’d moved out to California my senior year but never really got into the details of why. So I decided to just tell him. The conversation went on until I got to the part about Coach Rudy. He wanted to know more about it—more about how it affected me emotionally and how long it’d taken for me to get over it.”

“Why?” Angel asked, sitting up slowly.

“He said his stepsister recently went through something similar, only hers was a date rape. Like my situation, it was someone she trusted who she went out with, but then he took advantage of her and she kept it to herself for months. I told him how stupid I’d felt for trusting Coach Rudy and putting myself in that danger even after everyone had warned me, and that made him even more upset. He said I shouldn’t feel stupid because that’s what people like the coach and the guy who raped his sister are so good at—gaining your trust. And people like me and his sister with trusting hearts were susceptible—easy prey.” She paused for a moment. “In other words suckers.”

“He said that?” Angel asked, his tone a little less restrained.

“No, no,” she assured him. “That’s just what I was thinking. I’m just wondering now, given what happened to his sister and what happened to me in the past, if maybe Omar was only interested in finding out about that ring. Leonardo says he hasn’t heard from him either. Maybe Omar mentioned to Leonardo that his only interest was the ring, and that’s why Leonardo’s irritated with Omar. When all this first started, Leonardo seemed as excited about having Omar in his life as he was meeting me. Now anytime I happen to bring up Omar he changes the subject pretty quickly, not at all interested in finding out what’s going on with him and why we haven’t heard from him.”

If that were the case, if Leo were even a fraction as pissed as Angel was beginning to feel about her dad, then the guy may’ve just earned some points with him. “So are you gonna ask him?”

“Who? Omar?”

“No,” Angel said a little too strongly. “I wouldn’t even call that fu—” He caught himself and cleared his throat. “I’d wait for him to call or email you first. Even then it’s up to you. I personally wouldn’t say anything to him about it. I was talking about Leo. Are you gonna ask him if Omar mentioned the ring?”

She was quiet for a little too long, which had Angel clenching his teeth in annoyance with himself that he nearly snapped.

“I don’t know. I’ll just wait for now,” she said. “If the time comes for me to meet Leonardo and I still haven’t heard from Omar, I’ll ask him then.”

“About that,” Angel said, standing up. “Any mention of when he might wanna come down and meet with you?”

His interest in meeting Leo had just spiked tenfold. From the moment Sarah first told her about this whole thing, he’d been suspicious. Regardless of what exactly Omar intended to do if he’d found the jewelry, Angel was certain of one thing now. It was the sole reason behind his sudden interest in meeting her. Maybe once he figured he wouldn’t be getting anything out of her, he let it go—let her go. He’d gone back to same disinterest he’d had for Sarah her entire life. Fuck him.

But Leo was still talking to Sarah daily, and Angel wasn’t sold on him yet. He needed to make sure the guy—brother or not—wasn’t in cahoots with her dad in any way.

He sat back, feeling a bit aggravated, and thought about how his worries about Sydney seemed so insignificant now. At least with Sydney he knew the guy would never do anything to hurt her. As much as it irked him to think any other guy could care for Sarah as much as Angel did, he had to admit Syd genuinely did. Ironically, at that moment, he felt more comfortable with Sarah around Syd, the guy she loved like a brother, than with Leo, the guy who may in fact be her actual brother.