Rectify

by Laylah Roberts

  “We can really be a family?” she asked in amazement.

  “Yes. Are you okay with that? Are you all right with me adopting Mateo? I love him like he’s my own, but if you don’t think—”

  She grabbed his shoulders, pulling him down on top of her. “Shut up and kiss me you big hunk of spunk.”

  “I thought you’d never ask.”

  Epilogue

  Rogan entered the dark restaurant and made his way to booth in the far right corner, slipping in on one side.

  Colm wasn’t pleased that to be left outside in the car, but Rogan didn’t need help. And if he did, then he was in more trouble than Colm could assist him with.

  “MacGuire.” Diego Mota looked straight at him. The Fuerte Cartel lieutenant was a hard man. Rogan was used to dealing with dangerous men, but Diego Mota was in a league of his own. His soulless eyes held no mercy, no regard, for anyone or anything that stood in the way of what he wanted.

  Rogan nodded at him. “You wanted to see me?”

  Rogan didn’t know why Diego was in San Antonio, but it couldn’t be good. Part of him wondered if he’d make it out of this meeting alive. But refusing wasn’t an option. He might be one of the most influential men in the city, but that wouldn’t save him if Mota wanted him gone. He knew when he’d declined to push Fizz for the cartel, that he was putting a black mark next to his name.

  “You saved the boy. I owe you.” Diego’s English was flawless, his accent barely noticeable. Maybe those rumors that he’d been educated in the U.S. were true.

  Okay, he hadn’t expected that. Did Diego actually care about Mateo? Those dark eyes watched him coldly. It seemed unlikely.

  “With your help,” Rogan said carefully. Without his help, they wouldn’t have had a chance in hell.

  “My men took care of the cleanup.”

  Of that, Rogan had no doubt. He’d been instructed to leave the men restrained and alive. Their fate had been sealed the moment they’d taken Mateo, and he hadn’t had a qualm about leaving them for Diego and his men.

  “You know the man Natalya is marrying? The man adopting the boy?”

  The boy. Not Mateo or my son.

  He thought about lying, but Diego could easily find out the truth. “He’s my cousin.”

  “Good. The boy will have his name. The kid is his responsibility now. If my enemies come after him again, I can’t be seen to help.”

  “I understand.” He didn’t really. If he had children, he’d move heaven and earth to protect them.

  “It sets a precedent. It was a risk to get involved as much as I did. If anyone thought I cared about the boy, they’d try to use him against me. It’s best that very few know about his connection to me.”

  There was a warning in his voice and Rogan nodded. “What about your people? They know.”

  “They would never betray me.”

  And if they did their lives would be short-lived.

  “Everyone who knows will keep quiet.”

  “They better,” Diego said in a friendly voice that did nothing to put Rogan at ease. The warning was clear. Anyone who talked would pay the price. What Rogan couldn’t figure out was if Diego was warning him because he cared about Mateo, or because he simply didn’t want any complications.

  Things just didn’t add up. Rogan had been puzzled by Diego’s actions with Natalya and her brother’s debt. Taking her and her dying nana in wasn’t in keeping with his reputation. He wouldn’t have just waived Rio’s debt—not without extracting a much higher price. From what he’d learned from Natalya, Diego had basically left her alone.

  “Do you know where Natalya’s brother is?” he asked. Asking questions probably wasn’t his wisest move, but this would be his only chance to get some answers.

  “Rio is no longer a problem.”

  Which probably meant he was dead.

  “He owed a lot of dangerous people money he couldn’t pay back. I was indebted to Natalya’s nana. I could have fulfilled my obligation by wiping all of Rio’s debts. But in another year’s time he would have been in the same place. The people he owed money to wouldn’t have hesitated to use Natalya and her nana as leverage.”

  “So you made that deal with Natalya to protect her?” It still seemed implausible.

  Diego shrugged. “Everyone believed she was paying off her brother’s debts to me. While she lived with me, she was under my protection and her brother’s debtors didn’t dare touch her. I may not follow the law. But I pay my debts. Now that the debt is cleared I want nothing to do with her or the boy. Oh, and it was the cousin who told the ELO where to find Natalya and the boy.”

  “So you found her?”

  “Yes. Apparently she was involved with Luis—the man in the sketch. She met him on a trip home, a few months before Mateo was kidnapped. Luis believed that I killed his cousin. When he learned about Mateo, he came up with this plan to kidnap and ransom him. They never had any intentions of handing the boy over, of course. They were going to kill him then flee the country with the money.”

  Rogan didn’t need to ask if she was alive. He already knew the answer.

  Diego stood. “The cartel wasn’t happy when you refused their offer. I wouldn’t piss them off again,” he warned.

  Was that it? “Understood.”

  “I owe a debt. I won’t forget.”

  He left and Rogan sat back thoughtfully. Having Diego Mota owe you a favor was both a blessing and a curse. He just wondered which it was going to turn out to be.

  Redemption

  Laylah Roberts

  Coming November, 2015

  “You work too hard.”

  Rogan glanced up, unsurprised to see Miller sitting on the staircase, staring down at him.

  “And you should be in bed, not sitting alone in the dark.”

  “Couldn’t sleep.”

  He knew how that felt. Reaching over, he turned on a lamp, lighting the dark with a soft glow. He glanced up at her, knowing he should send her back to her bed but wanting just a few moments in her company.

  She sat halfway down the stairs, her arms around her drawn-up knees. She’d cut her hair recently into one of those modern, edgy cuts, and it stood up at all angles on her head.

  “You changed your hair color,” he commented.

  She shrugged. “Got sick of red.”

  It was dark now, which suited her better. Although she always looked beautiful. Even when she’d decided to go gray. Why a twenty-four-year-old would want to die her hair gray, he’d never know. Luckily, she’d changed it again a few days later.

  “Looks good,” he told her gruffly.

  She smiled. “Thanks. You know anyone would think you were trying to avoid me.”

  “What are you talking about?” he asked, making his voice cold enough to stop her from questioning him further.

  “Well, you’re out to the small hours of the morning, and you leave again before I get up. I figured you didn’t want to see me. I’m kind of wondering why you were so insistent that I move in with you if you don’t actually want me around.”

  He kind of wondered that too. He’d been unable to take the thought of her unprotected and alone. So he’d insisted she move in here with him. A stupid move. It was only a matter of time until this attraction he had for her boiled over into something more. But any other option wasn’t going to work. Not if he wanted to keep his sanity.

  Although he could feel that disappearing day by day.

  “I’m busy. Got nothing to do with you.”

  He saw the flash of pain on her face from the corner of his eye and felt a stab of shame. But he needed this space between them. Needed it if he was going to have any hope of keeping his hands off her.

  “Come into the kitchen, sweetheart.”

  Damn it. Now, why had he gone and called her that? He swore silently at himself as he strode into the kitchen. He was shocked when she actually followed him, taking a seat on one of the bar stools.

  Her small frame was dwarfed by a large t-shirt
that reached down to her knees. Large brown eyes watched him with a hint of wariness. Her lush, full lips featured heavily in his fantasies. He imagined them wrapped around his cock, sucking him deep into the warm confines of her mouth.

  Rogan filled the kettle and turned it on. He moved around the kitchen, searching for something to keep him occupied, so he didn’t have to look at her. Not like he didn’t have her every feature memorized, from her pert, upturned nose to her stubborn chin and those long, thick eyelashes that were the perfect frame for her chocolate-brown eyes.

  She’d slowly started to gain some much-needed weight. Her face no longer had that gaunt, starved look. She’d only spent a few weeks in the hands of the Vipers, but it had been long enough to get her hooked on Fizz, the new drug they were pushing on the streets of San Antonio.

  “Here, drink this.” He placed a cup of tea in front of her.

  She took a sip and wrinkled her nose. “Camomile?”

  “It will help you sleep.”

  “So will a shot of scotch and it doesn’t taste like flowers.”

  “This is better for you,” he countered.

  “Thanks, Dad.”

  He sent her a stern look and with a sigh of exasperation, she took another sip.

  “No, now why are you having trouble sleeping?” If someone told him a year ago that he’d be standing in his kitchen with a beautiful woman, just talking, he’d have laughed. His only involvement with the opposite sex took place in the bedroom. And not in his house. He had an apartment in the city for that.

  He’d only ever had one real relationship in his life and that had ended years ago. Alicia had been using him, and it had taken him a long time to realize that. Longer than it should have he was ashamed to say.

  “No particular reason,” she said, looking uncomfortable.

  “Miller, the therapist said talking would help.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m sick of talking,” she muttered. “All I do is talk, and that damn therapist can kiss my ass.”

  It was a hell of an ass.

  Rogan cleared his throat. “That damn therapist costs fifty dollars an hour.”

  She paled then glanced down at her cup of tea. “I know. Sorry, I sound ungrateful.”

  He sighed. He was tired, and it was making him slow.

  “I didn’t mean that. All I meant was is she’s paid to help you. If she’s not helping you, then you need to tell me.”

  “Like you don’t have enough problems,” she told him, running her finger around the top of her cup.

  “What does that mean?”

  “I know I’m just another thing on your list to worry about. You’ve already got enough on your plate.”

  He frowned, pondering that over. Did she want him to tell her she was important to him? That she was slowly coming to mean more to him than everything else and that was the reason he was avoiding her?

  No, that would be a bad idea.

  “Miller, look at me.” He waited patiently, sipping on his tea as she met his gaze. “If there is something going on with you then I expect you to tell me.”

  She let out an exasperated breath. “Me? I’m fine. You’re the one who’s out all hours, working. Don’t you have men you can delegate to? You need your sleep as well. You’re going to get ill.”

  She was scolding him? When was the last time someone had actually cared about him? He warmed under her caring and realized she was drawing him further under her spell.

  Having her live with him was hell on his peace of mind.

  Books by Laylah Roberts

  Doms of Decadence

  Just for You, Sir

  Forever Yours, Sir

  For the Love of Sir

  Sinfully Yours, Sir

  Men of Orion

  Worlds Apart

  Old-Fashioned Series

  An Old-Fashioned Man

  Two Old-Fashioned Men

  Her Old-Fashioned Husband

  Her Old-Fashioned Boss

  His Old-Fashioned Love

  Haven, Texas Series

  Lila’s Loves

  Laken’s Surrender

  Rayshod Series

  Taken: Risa’s Story

  Held: Alia’s Story

  Set Free: Kylie’s Story

  Other Titles

  Trouble Comes in Threes

  A Cowboy to Call her Own

  Unforgettable

  Laying Down the Law

  Haley Chronicles

  Firecracker

  Ally and Jake