“Carlos—”
“No,” he cuts me off with the wave of a hand and shakes his head. “I know where you’re going with this. This is about El Diablo, and like I told you before, I wasn’t the one who betrayed you. It’s not me, but it fucking had to be an inside job.”
This is the first time he’s ever said that.
“So, you do agree it is?”
“Yes,” he says with regret I find myself believing. “I kept quiet on it before because I didn’t want to believe it could be that, but the more I’ve thought about it, the more truth I see, and I understand how it must look to you. You’re the one who lost a brother, and Eduardo felt like a brother to me. But then we all do. However, Criança, while I don’t want to cast blame on anyone else, I will do it to save my neck. Obviously, Cristiano is out of the line of suspects, unless he has a twisted way of proving his loyalty. But you have Lorenzo, Thiago, and Marcus to factor in.”
I sigh, deciding to breach the other matter. “I’m listening to you. I am. There’s another matter I need to ask you about, however.”
“What is it?”
“I’ve been informed that you, Thiago, and Lorenzo were hardly at the plantation last month. Where were you?”
He runs a hand through his head and looks guilty. “I… don’t know where the others were. They have their women. I have mine. One. She needed some help with her grandfather. He has Alzheimer’s. I should have taken the time off and done it properly, but Marcus said he would cover. The Academy of Neurology has a clinic in Bahia. He does clinical trials there. I signed in every day I was there, and my girl and I stayed in the hotel nearby. That’s where I was.”
We stare at each other for a prolonged moment. I believe him. I can’t refute hard evidence. I want to believe him about everything else, too, but that’s where I have to be careful.
“Okay.”
He pulls out a business card with the Academy of Neurology’s details on it.
“You can verify what I said. They paid for the hotel, too.” He slides the card over to me, and I take it.
“Alright, you can go.”
He stands. “I’d say keep your friends close and enemies even closer, but in this situation, you don’t know who is who. I hope we sort this out soon. Then you’ll know I’m not your traitor.”
He leaves, and I’m left staring at the back of the door, trying to figure things out.
This is frustrating me to no fucking end. Hopefully, Eric will have some explanation of what’s gone wrong with the trackers. He’s looking into it.
I can’t afford to lose sight more than I already have. Carlos’ tracker would have located him at the hotel and the clinic. So, what happened?
And if he’s not guilty, why is his not working? Unless the motherfucker screwing with me fucked up the trackers on everyone’s phone numbers and electronical devices to throw me off even more. It’s harder to pinpoint one bad apple when you have a bunch to search through.
The worry stays with me all day, and I leave the office late. I was tempted to skip seeing Lucia tonight, but every time I went to call Marcello, I stopped myself.
As I get home and see her finishing up at the dinner table with Mia and Estelle, I’m glad I didn’t say anything.
I stand in the doorway, unknown to Estelle and Mia because they have their backs turned. Lucia, on the other hand, saw me the moment I walked up and froze up with that deer-in-the-headlights expression on her doll-like face.
When I look at her and allow my gaze to settle on her breasts in an openly seductive way, those fuck-me lips part in a delicate O and the thick frame of lashes fanning her eyes flutter at me invitingly.
Yup, I need her tonight.
I need the stress relief that came with last night’s indulgence.
I want her again, and tonight I want her to submit to me and allow me to control her.
I don’t walk into the dining room. I just cock my head toward the hallway we went up last night.
She’ll know what I mean, that she’s to come to me when she’s done.
So, I’ll see her in a little while.