“She’s lying. She’s trying to protect her family.” Then he realized Laila had thrown herself into Victor’s path moments ago, and that had nothing to do with saving Valeria. “And me. She means to shield me. She’s got some scheme…”
“Fucking listen to yourself, man,” Matt growled in his ear. “I know you want to believe she’s good and noble, but it’s possible that after years with a cartel, she’s warped, she’s getting what she wants, and she played you.”
The words went in Trees’s ears…and right back out. “You don’t know her.”
“Maybe it’s time to consider that you don’t really, either. You spent a few days with her. And you…what? Spent a few nights with her, too, I guess. None of that makes you an expert.”
“You trying to figure out this situation on the fly doesn’t make you an expert, either. Why don’t you do us both a favor? Shut the fuck up and let me handle this.”
“No. You’re in too deep. You’re not thinking straight.”
“You don’t know me.”
“I know what being compromised looks like. I’m staring at it.”
Suddenly, Victor grabbed her neck in one hand, her jaw with the other and yanked her against him, looking furious as hell. Then he snarled something in her face that made her tremble.
Trees was done. Matt and his caution could go fuck themselves.
He elbowed the other operator, then twisted from his grip and shoved him back. “You don’t make my decisions. If you’re afraid, stay the fuck out of this.”
Then he emerged onto the street, gun drawn. “Get your fucking hands off her. Now!”
Victor sent him a nasty smile, like he had something horrible planned he would thoroughly enjoy. Suddenly, he whirled Laila around, flattening her back against his chest to use her as a human shield. Then he raised his gun to her temple. “Or what, Scott? Whatever you’re planning, I’ll shoot her, and her death will be on your hands.”
Trees risked a glance at her. Her body went tense. For a moment, she looked terrified. Then she breathed, and the expression disappeared.
Like she wasn’t afraid of him anymore? Or as if she enjoyed the way the danger made her heart race? Did Laila actually get some sexual thrill from the adrenaline rush?
He couldn’t address that now. He had to defuse this standoff first, make sure the motherfucker didn’t hurt her.
“I don’t care about Laila, except that I’ve been hired to bring her back. Hand her over and I’ll let you live,” Trees told Victor.
The thug scoffed, then gave him a condescending laugh—right before he jerked the gun from Laila’s temple and aimed it directly at him. “Fuck off and die.”
Then he pulled the trigger.