Wicked and True (Wicked & Devoted 4)

“She’s had a really rough life.”

Since they’d only make her worry about Hallie more, he spared Tessa the grittier details about the terrible things Emilo Montilla’s men had done to Laila as a child. “Hopefully, now that she’s free of that asshole, she can finally take her first steps to a new future.”

Tessa scowled. “You don’t have to sugarcoat this for me. I know Laila isn’t home free. No one tangled up in this mess is because it’s obvious there are different sides warring for the power vacuum left after his death.”

Clearly, she was also smart. “You’re right. We think Emilo’s father, Geraldo Montilla—a legendary drug lord for decades—has Kimber and that he wants revenge on the colonel and the bosses for helping Valeria escape a couple years back. Kane has been asking the woman questions about all the players, but nothing so far. After Laila’s revelations today, I’m thinking maybe a group of Emilo’s old compadres have banded together to seize control of the territory Emilo used to rule.”

“Then why kidnap Hallie? I don’t know anything useful.”

“But you work for the people who have all the information.”

“Not for much longer.” Then she shook her head like she couldn’t think about that reality now. “But until they fire me, the kidnapper thinks I’m able to learn our next moves. And do what with the information?”

Zy frowned. Trees had never gotten to finish the deep dive on her computer or phone. “I don’t know. What did they ask you?”

Tessa filled him in, and that reinforced most of his suspicions—except one thing didn’t make sense. “Hmm. I don’t know why Hallie’s abductor would want to know how Valeria and Laila’s safe houses kept getting hit. If he or his buddies wanted her location, why didn’t they just ask for that? It’s what Emilo himself tortured One-Mile to learn. He wanted that one piece of information every fucking time he had someone spy on us.”

“But Hector Johnson only wants to know how it’s happening.” She frowned. “I didn’t ask why he wanted the information.”

Of course not. That hadn’t been her concern or her role. They wouldn’t have told her anyway. “Trying to assess our vulnerabilities, see if they could further exploit them? That’s my only guess right now.”

“This might be a war for a drug cartel, but it’s seemingly an information battle.”

“Yeah.” Later, Zy would see if Valeria could shed any light. It might also be time to move her elsewhere, rotate out her bodyguard. He’d left the new guy with a lot of responsibility, and Kane had handled it well, but the arrangement was starting to make Zy uneasy.

“How much longer?” She fidgeted.

“We’re about to turn in. Recognize this part of town?”

“No. I’ve never come this way.”

Zy hadn’t, either, and he didn’t like flying in blind. Normally, he and Trees would case the place, get schematics, do hours and hours of legwork, and make sure they knew what to expect. Then they would go in, using whatever tactic made the most sense. This shit was a wing and a prayer, and he hoped like hell for a miracle, that Hallie would come out of this unscathed.

Just then, his phone buzzed. He scooped up the device. “Talk to me, buddy.”

“Why don’t you cruise past the entrance? This is a mobile home park. A small one apparently. I’ll call you as soon as I’ve gone in and scoped around. Hang tight.”

“You got it.” He overshot the entrance to the neighborhood full of newish mobile homes and modest cars, then pulled under a big tree to wait, rolling down the window and pretending to look at his phone as if he was lost.

As they waited, Zy thought Tessa would crawl out of her skin with each moment that ticked by. He wasn’t faring much better, gut churning with nerves. He knew how much this meant to her because it meant everything to him, too. He couldn’t tell Tessa that she might never see Hallie again or that her daughter might already be dead. He didn’t want her crossing that bridge unless Hector Johnson pushed her off of it. But he couldn’t pretend the likelihood that this ended in heartbreak wasn’t high.

“Baby…” He took her hands. “About what happened…what I did in the bunker, I’m sorry.”

“We don’t have to talk about that now.”

“At least let me apologize.”

“For telling me how you felt? You can’t change that, and we both know I’m not without blame. I don’t expect you to forgive and forget anything.”

“I love you.”

Tessa frowned. “Why would you say that now? You didn’t love me in the bunker.”

“Yeah, I did. I was mad that I still loved you even when you knew you were sending me to my death.”

She bowed her head, looking near tears. “That ripped me up inside. It was the most painful thing I’ve ever done.”