Page 73 of Danger Close

“I’ve been too scared to reach out to her and ask. If I did, he might hurt her again, somehow.” She swallowed again when the phlegm caught in her throat. High pitched, pained, and sad, she whimpered. “She was the first person who got hurt because of me.”

She ran the back of her hand over her cheeks to finally wipe those tears away, but they were too soon replaced by more.

“He told me that the next one to be hurt would be Trinity. He put a gun to my head. He said that if I wasn’t his to play with then… then… he’d make Trinity…” She tensed with absolute fear. “I couldn’t let that happen!”

Her trembling fingers went over heart, as if she was afraid that it would beat right out of her chest.

“He could hurt Trinity’s wedding if I go. He could hurt my child!” She coughed, straining her voice too much with her frantic words. Then, quieter, she continued, “I can’t… I’d rather shehateme. I’d rather she never see me again than have that mad man place a target on her back.”

“Alright, baby,” I whispered, taking a strand of hair that fell over her forehead, and tucking it behind her ear. “That’s enough for now.”

I planted a kiss on her forehead. It was more of a touch, than a kiss. Something soft to end this part of our conversation.

“We’ll talk more,” I promised. Though, to her, it probably sounded like a threat. “After we go to the wedding.”

“No!” She protested, but her voice broke. “It’s not safe! It’s not safe for Trinity. You understand, yes?”

She reached for my sleeve, clutching on to it with all her strength. It was impressive, considering all that she’d been through. I admired the hell out of her.

“Yes.” I stepped back, came to my feet, and looked down at her sullen figure.

I didn’t want to do this. But it was for her own good.

“Darling, I want to be very, very clear about something.” I hardened myself against the pleading in her eyes. A plea that I would not succumb to. Not this time.

“Tomorrow, we are going to a small, but high profile wedding. It will be swarming with Secret Service and protection, which is why I’ve been busting my ass on Mack McClanahan’s farm, getting it ready to be overtaken by the groom’s godfather.” Her brows knit together, confused, probably not quite understanding the kind of echelon she now found herself in. “But if that weren’t the case, you are the mother of Trinity Blaze Guerro, a formerGreen Beret, and fighter in her own right. You are the wife of Joaquin ‘Cobra’ Guerro. You might not know who I really am, but you will by tomorrow.”

I crossed my arms, squared my shoulders, stared her down so that she would know that I meant every fucking word.

“I am far more dangerous than some cheese dick with a pistol, who needs his buddies to beat unarmed women.” I leaned forward, a smirk on my lips. “Idare himto do his worst.”

Chapter 32

A Liar

Teri

The day of the wedding

He wasn’t listening.No one was listening. Anytime I tried, Joe dismissed me with a wave of his hand.

It was like those times I went to the police and was informed that I could ruin a good man’s career if I pressed charges. It was clear, no matter what I did, he’d be exonerated. They didn’t need a trial to rule he was innocent. He had a badge, a uniform. Hewasinnocent, and I was a liar.

The world conspired to make me obedient to these men. I had no will of my own.

Even as I shook with terror, I would be thrown. I would be pushed.

I would be broken.

History would repeat itself, and it would always end the same.

Me. My skin raw from rug burns, my body aching, my core bleeding as Raymond Clark did whatever he wanted with histoy.

Except this time, it would not be Annie in an ER. It would be Trinity, or Cobra, or Charlotte. A dozen different people who made the mistake of letting me in, of trying to shield me from the fate that I was born with.

My birth trapped my mother to my father. For the sin of being born, I had trapped myself in this hell. There was no way out.

Chapter 33