Page 14

Chapter

Thirteen

TARA

S hutting my eyes, I transport myself back in time, and then I open them back up.

“I met Hannah almost seven months ago. I was following a lead and was in a town six hours away from here, Sparrow Ridge. It was the middle of the night on a dark, gravel road outside of the town. I was headed to a farm that someone told me Dean’s girlfriend’s uncle owned. Hannah was literally crawling out of a cornfield and onto the road.

“I slammed on my breaks and just barely avoided her.

She was a mess, physically and emotionally.

Thankfully, on this trip, Elio came with me because he was doing business with someone there.

I put Hannah in my truck and sped back to the house we were staying in.

On the way, the only thing I got out of her was her name.

Once we made it back to the house, Hannah freaked out at the sight of Elio.

” I stop and take a breath, having to push the sound of Hannah’s screams and sobs away.

A large hand comes down my shoulders, and I almost jump out of my skin.

Looking over, I find that Gabe has squatted down next to the chair and is watching me.

I give him a reassuring smile before turning back to Carlos.

“It took me hours to calm her enough to let me clean her up. I couldn’t tell where the blood was coming from at first, but I soon found out. She had multiple cuts on her back that I quickly identified as the result of someone using a knife on her.

“But there were also little scrapes that I guessed came from the environment.

When Hannah wouldn’t allow me to remove any clothing, I knew what happened to her.

I shared my story with her, which made her open up to me.

She broke down and told me about her stepfather and what he had been doing to her for years.

She told me that, that night, she had enough and started to fight with all her might.

She didn’t care if she was killed; in fact, she wanted to die if that meant the abuse stopped.

”

Carlos’s eyes turn cold.

His face hasn’t given much away about his emotional state, but now it’s easy to see his anger.

His body is starting to vibrate with what I assume is the effort it is taking not to lose his cool.

“Do you want me to continue?” I ask, not wanting to push this man over the edge—not because I’m scared of him, but because I don’t want to have to try to get blood out of my brother’s carpet.

“Yes,” Carlos says, his voice just as strained as his muscles.

“Hannah finally agreed to allow Elio in the room to check out her wounds. He patched her up, determining that she didn’t need to go to the hospital. He had to stitch a couple of the wounds up, but he had everything he needed. He started her on some antibiotics, gave her the morning-after pill, and gave her something for her nerves. I stayed with her until she fell asleep.

“That night, something inside of me changed.

I decided that I was going to start helping people like Hannah and me.

I spoke with Elio about it, and he said he would back me up with whatever I wanted.

The next morning, I started asking Hannah all about Peter.

I never lied to her, not once.

I told her what I planned on doing.

I also asked her what she wanted to do now that she was free of his control over her.

She explained that she just wanted to disappear for a little while.

Elio told her he would help her do that.

”

“So far, your story is the same as what Elio and Hannah told me. Now tell me where Peter is.” Carlos runs his hands down his face and briefly closes his eyes.

“I’ve asked Hannah, but she?—”

“She never wanted to know what happened in the end. All she asked me was if he was ever coming back, and when I told her no, she cried in my arms.” I look over my shoulder toward Reed and ask, “Can you get me a glass of water, please?”

Reed nods and exits the room.

“It was easy to find Peter Harold. It was even easier to get him to meet me,” I say, then pause to accept the water from Reed when he returns.

After getting a drink, I set the cup on the coffee table.

“I did have help setting everything up, seeing as that was the first time I had ever done something like that. Vance was the one who helped me. I followed Peter for a week, learning his schedule and the types of women he liked to cheat on Hannah’s mother with.

“I changed my appearance and inserted myself right into his path.

Within seconds, he started to hit on me.

It was easy to slip something into his food the night my plan came together.

Once Peter was nice and relaxed, I tied him up.

I waited until he came too and told him exactly why he was in this situation.

After a few broken bones and knives stuck in the right places, Peter confessed to everything.

From abusing Hannah for the past two years to the videos he made of the assaults.

”

“Videos,” Carlos yells right before he jumps up.

Reed, Jessie, and Gabe move instantly, but I hold up my hands to stop them because Carlos isn’t about to come after me.

“Hannah never said anything about videos.”

“I don’t think she ever knew,” I say, watching Carlos angrily run his hands through his hair.

“Why didn’t she come to me?”

I sit forward in the chair and reach out my hand toward Carlos.

“That I don’t know. All I can do is speak from my own personal experience. If Elio and Ava hadn’t found me, I’m not sure I would have ever told anyone what happened to me that night.”

Carlos paces for a few more minutes, but no one says anything while he does it.

Finally, he sits back down and nods for me to continue.

“Once I had all the information I needed from Peter, I put a bullet in between his eyes. This is where Vance comes into the story. I called him once it was done, and he came over to help me dispose of the body. We loaded Peter into Vance’s SUV and drove to a place Vance picked out. We dumped him into a grave and poured a mixture of chemicals over his body.”

“I want the location,” Carlos says, and I shrug.

“Vance might be able to tell you where it is, but I can assure you that nothing of Peter is left behind. You will be surprised what the right mixture of chemicals will do to the human body. Bones and all,” I say.

“What about the videos?” Carlos asks.

“Peter kept them hidden in his remote cabin in the woods. I found them and destroyed them.” I finally sit back and relax in the chair.

Carlos sits forward, clasping his hands together between his spread knees.

“I’ve been looking for that fucker for months now.”

“Why?” I grab Gabe’s hand and lace my fingers with his.

“Because my wife finally told me what he did to her when she was sixteen. My wife is older than Hannah and was worried that something was happening to her after a visit to their family home. I started looking for Hannah but couldn’t find much information on her. It was like she fell off the face of the earth. Then, three days ago, she popped back up, and the man I had hired to find her called me.”

“So, that’s how you found Hannah, but what I want to know is how you found me?”

“Yeah, I’d like to know that as well,” Reed says for the first time.

“Hannah told me about you and what you did for her. She was in the process of showing me how to contact you when I got a phone call. I was surprised to hear Elio Altobelli on the other end talking about someone throwing a Molotov cocktail into the back of his adoptive daughter’s truck. I asked him why he thought it was me or my men?—”

“Are you saying that it wasn’t you?” Gabe asks, moving to sit on the arm of the chair without letting go of my hand.

Carlos cuts his eyes toward Gabe.

“It was not.”

“But—” Carlos raises his hand, cutting me off.

“Elio told me all about Dean and what he did to you,” Carlos says, his eyes coming back to rest on me.

They turn soft and fill with concern.

“Tara, please believe me when I say that I’m deeply sorry for what happened to you at the hands of Dean.”

“So you’re not here because?—”

Carlos looks toward Reed and shakes his head.

“I’m not here for anything other than the fact that Tara helped Hannah. I know what happened to Dean. Elio filled me in this morning. I jumped on my plane and came straight here to talk to Tara in person.”

“I take it you didn’t have a good relationship with Dean then?” Jessie asks, finally moving from behind me to sit in the other chair.

Carlos leans back and crosses his arms. “I’ve had no relationship with him for almost three years. Don Bianchi reached out to me three years ago and offered an alliance, which I took. I left my wife, Dean, and my kids in Mexico for a few months to iron out all the details with Bianchi. Until my wife called me one night saying that Dean had come onto her, and when she refused, he got violent. I ordered my men to handle him, but he got away. I let him go when my men contacted a company that helped move my family to Chicago for me.”

“Can I ask why I found nothing about this alliance while looking into you?” I ask, shocked that something like that would be kept a secret.

“You can ask, but I’m not going to answer,” Carlos says.

“Understandable. So, you had no idea Dean was back in the States?”

Carlos sighs before saying, “None and that is something I will regret for the rest of my life. When he never once contacted me for help, I assumed he knew that was best for him and left it be. When Elio told me what he did to you and what he tried to do to your Ali, Reed…”

“Don’t tell me you felt responsible because, as I’ve told everyone here, what Dean did does not fall on anyone but him,” I say, cutting Carlos off.

Carlos nods and says, “That is true, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t have prevented this from happening. However, Dean paid the ultimate price, and I instructed Elio to get rid of his body. While he is blood I feel nothing in the wake of his death. Now, enough about people who don’t matter anymore, and onto why I’m here.” Carlos leans forward and pins his gaze solely on me once again.

“What do you want?”

“I want to help you find all the answers you are looking for, but I am also here to offer you a place in my family.”

“Over my dead body,” Reed says.

At the same time, Gabe says, “I think the fuck not.”

Carlos doesn’t look at either one of them, and neither do I.

“While I appreciate your offer to become a member of your family, I’m going to have to pass.”

Carlos doesn’t look shocked to hear my answer.

Instead, he slowly smiles and shakes his head.

“I figured that would be your answer, but I had to try anyway. What you do for women is inspiring, and I’m sad that you will not be joining me. Elio is a lucky man to have someone like you in his family.”

“She’s my family,” Gabe growls.

I pat his leg hoping to calm him down.

I raise an eyebrow and narrow my eyes on Carlos.

“Are you telling me that as not only a leading member of the Mexican Cartel but an ally to the Italian Mafia, you don’t?—”

“I’m not a saint. Drugs, guns, illegal gambling… You name it, and I’ve got my hands in it, but the abuse of women or selling of women… Yeah, that will never happen under my watch. We might own sex clubs but our girls are always treated with the utmost respect and have the control to shut anything down. No woman or child will ever be hurt under my watch. Now, about helping you,” Carlos says.

“Once again, I’m going to have to?—”

“Princess,” Gabe says, reaching over to turn my head toward him.

“Why don’t you let Carlos help us?”

“Because I’m not?—”

“Going to sit in the shadows. I know that, but baby, we’ve run out of leads. Maybe there is something he can find that we can’t,” Gabe says.

While he is making sense, I don’t care.

I’m not going to hand this over.

“I’ve been thinking about that all afternoon. Now that we know that Carlos isn’t behind the fire at Elio’s, I’m certain the plan that has been forming in my mind will work. The people who did that have to be connected to Ned. They are pissed that I’m coming out of hiding. So, I think that I should fully come out of hiding. I think it’s time I go to the media?—”

“Fuck no,” Gabe yells, pushing up off the chair arm.

“You do that, and you are basically signing your own death certificate.”

I also stand to my feet in anger because fuck him if he doesn’t think I can handle myself.

“I’m not a weak little girl that can’t handle stuff. I know what I’m doing and the consequences of my actions. I’ve thought through every angle of this, and it’s the right thing. It will bring not only Ned out of hiding but whoever is helping him.”

“I said no,” Gabe says, stepping into my personal space.

“And I don’t fucking care what you say.”

Carlos clears his throat, pulling my attention to him.

“Tara, look, I understand the need for you to do this all on your own. But from what I’ve heard, this is getting deeper and even more dangerous than you thought. Your idea isn’t bad, but give us twenty-four hours.” He holds up his hand when I open my mouth.

“When I say us, I mean me, Soto, and Elio. If we can’t find Ned and whoever is helping him, then we will go with your plan. If we do find them, we will?—”

“Bring me to them because I’m going to be the one that ends their lives,” I say.

“Are you agreeing?” Carlos asks, standing up.

“Y’all have twenty-four hours,” I say, looking down at my watch.

“Starting now.”

Carlos pulls out his phone and starts typing at a fast pace.

Jessie steps forward and clears his throat.

“I want to help as well.”

Carlos looks at him and then at Reed.

“I’ve got two men waiting at a rental house. If you want in on this, you better be ready in the next sixty seconds.”

“I’m ready now,” Jessie says.

Carlos walks across the room and stops right in front of me.

“I’ll find them and get you the justice you deserve. Just like you did for Hannah.” He holds his hand out, and I place my palm in his.

He and his men leave, with Jessie following behind him.

“Tara,” Reed says, and I turn around to face my big brother.

I don’t want him going with Carlos, which is the exact opposite of what I’m wanting to do.

Carlos is right; this has turned dangerous, and I want to keep Reed and Gabe away from it, but I don’t want to stay away.

“Be careful,” I say, hating the stinging in my eyes.

Reed nods and pulls me in for a hug before leaving out the front door with his phone to his ear.

Once the door shuts, the guilt that I’ve been having difficulty fighting slams into me.

I wrap my arms around myself, shut my eyes, and let the tears fall.