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The phone slipped from her hand.
“Hold on, Zach.” Dread slithered between Caleb’s ribs. “Gia, what is it, baby?”
“This is my fault.” She shot to her feet. “All my fault.” Her arms wrapped her waist. Her stare focused on something he couldn’t see.
Caleb picked up her phone.
Insurance, querida, that you will return to me.
Attached to thetext was a photo of Jennie Tsosie, one eye swollen shut, the other wide with terror.
Caleb held his own phone to his ear, grim. He steeled himself for what he had to tell his cousin.
“Lopez has Jennie.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
GuiltcoatedGia’sconscience—thick,ugly as tar.
Vincente hadn’t believed her when she told him she’d return to Miami. But kidnapping Jennie?
She hadn’t expected that.
She’d retreated to the bedroom after Vincente’s message. Caleb filled the doorway now, solid and steady.
“It’s not your fault.”
“Stop making excuses for me.”The words burst out before she could stop them. The anger felt sharp. Real. Almost…good.
Better than fear.
“Vincente tried to kill you because of me. They took Jennie because of me.”
“Lopez is responsible for his actions, not you.” Calm. Not a flicker of emotion in Caleb’s eyes.
Damn him.
All it did was make her angrier—not at him. At herself.
“Itison me. Because I’m a coward.”
His gaze narrowed. “How’s that?”
Later, she could mourn what might have been.
He stepped all the way into the room. “What aren’t you telling me?”
The composure she’d cultivated through med school and years spent treating patients had shattered the moment she’d learned of the attack on Caleb. She’d acted on impulse, ruled by fear.
“Vincente tried to have you killed.” She paced the bedroom, hands tangled in her hair. “I called him that afternoon—threatened to expose him if he didn’t back off.”
If he didn’t leave you alone.
But Vincente had found a loophole. He hadn’t gone after Caleb again. Instead, he’d seized an innocent woman to force both Gia’s silence and her return.
Caleb’s jaw hardened, a chill darkening his eyes. “Expose him how?”
Guilt stabbed deep. Her breath hitched. Words clawed their way up, but she forced them down.