“You’re a civilian.” Kyle hung his head. “You can’t get involved.”
“I’m already involved,” I snapped. “I’m coming with you. There’s no way in hell I’m just going to sit here.”
Kyle thought for a moment and then nodded his head. “Fine. No talking. No saying anything. Got it?”
It was my turn to nod my head as we walked over to an empty building. Following him inside, I wasn’t sure what to think. Walking into a condemned building didn’t make me feel any better about any of this. Checking out the basic structure and seeing the scorch marks running along the walls wasn’t helping how I felt either. The bums that were strewn about outside the door made me wonder where the hell Cory was, and how scared she had to be.
“Who has her?” I whispered as close as I could to Kyle. The only response I got was a glare. Were we walking in to where she was?
After a couple of turns down some dark hallways, we entered a room and I saw something I didn’t expect at all. It was a makeshift command center. Desks and computers lined the walls, with guys hunched over with earphones, like you’d see in some spy movie. Several guys were in the corner talking, their blue jackets marked FBI in white on the back. Scanning the room again, I noticed a monitor and took heavy strides toward it. It was Cory on the screen, her hands tied with something behind her back. Although the picture on the screen wasn’t clear, I still could notice the unmistakable streams of tears as they slid down her cheeks and the swelling from her face being hit. A man in front of her paced, and as I peered in closer, I noticed the gun he was waving around.
“What the—” Anger and fear waged war inside of me. Those assholes were just watching that shit happen to Cory? Why weren’t they in there saving her?
“Who’s this guy?” A balding man turned to stare at me. He was short and fat in stature, so I was positive I could take him if I needed to, but I cared more about killing the asshole with the gun pointed at Cory. “Who brought him in?”
Kyle cleared his throat, throwing a glare my way. “Sir, I did. He’s Cory’s boyfriend. I thought we might be able to use him for something, if needed.”
“Use him?” The guy stared at me like that was the stupidest thing he’d ever heard. “He’d probably fuck up the whole operation.”
“He’ll stay inside. He might be able to assist us with some information on Cory.”
The fat balding guy eyed me, not in a good way. He didn’t like me, and I couldn’t care less. My eyes roamed back to the monitor just in time to see the guy backhand her and my heart jumped. “No!” I turned back to the asshole. “What’s being done to get her out? She needs to get away from that guy.”
“No, she needs to keep him talking. We’re getting all the evidence we can on Eduardo Ramirez—finally take him down after over ten years now of surveillance and not being able to nail him. She’s the missing key we’ve been looking for. She’s the one that’ll help bring him down, and she doesn’t even know it.”
“Missing key for what?”
“For kidnapping, prostitution, and human trafficking. All of it. We’re finally going to be able to take down the largest ring on the West Coast. ”
My eyes widened as I tried to figure out what the hell he was talking about. “What—” From the corner of my eye, I watched the guy pacing in front of her, waving that gun around.
“Unless she dies in the process,” I murmured. I turned to Kyle. “We gotta get her out of there.”
“We’re not doing anything. You’re sitting here and waiting. They’ve got it under control.” Kyle eyed me, his jaw clenched, and I wasn’t sure if he wanted me to go do something or follow orders.
“Cause the red marks on her face look like you’ve got it under control,” I couldn’t help but add in.
“She’ll be okay, Alex. She’s been through much worse.” My eyes snapped back at him as I wondered what he meant by that comment. Just as I was about to ask, the commander—or who I presumed to be the guy in charge—called everyone over for a meeting. While just about all of them were preoccupied, I slid out the door. I wasn’t going to wait around for them to get her out of there. Especially if she had been through much worse, I wasn’t going to stand around and let her go through any more.
Twenty-Seven
Cory
I could feel the perspiration on my forehead, my teeth clenched as I waited to die. I made a silent prayer that it would be over quick, and thought of how I would be with my father again. Flashes of his smile blurred my vision as I squeezed my eyes shut so tight it hurt.
BAM!
I whimpered at the sound that actually sounded like it came from outside the room. Feeling no pain, I opened my eyes to see Remy staring at me, his expression both sorrowful and angry. Was he angry that he hadn’t pulled the trigger sooner?
I gasped as the door burst open, unsure if I wished it had been over with or relieved my brains weren’t splattered all over the floor. At that point, what was the harm in getting it over with? My heart felt like a ping-pong ball and my body was exhausted from the spikes in my adrenaline.
I peered up from under my lashes just as Remy pulled his gun away from my head. I fluttered my eyes in relief but turned my head hoping to see who or what had saved me from being killed.
“Boss, we caught this guy lurking around outside. He was asking the bums outside about Cory.”
Immediately I was torn between getting my hopes up that it was Alex and praying that it wasn’t him. I wanted Alex nowhere near any of my past life. Then again, the guy liked to follow me around—like a puppy or a lovesick fool.
Marco shoved Alex into the room and my heart flipped. While excited to see him, I was terrified for him. Alex gained his footing and stood up quickly bringing him face to face with Remy. I watched Alex look my way, trying not to let his expression falter, and turn completely stone-faced when he returned his gaze to Remy.
Seeing Alex and Remy face to face was an odd feeling. They both were similar in height and stature, yet their features were so different. Remy’s skin was dark, and his brown eyes looked worn and conflicted. Alex looked young, healthy, and his emerald eyes blazed with anger.
The sneer on Remy’s face was enough to make my blood boil and my heart take a nosedive that both Alex and I would meet our fate in that room. My only consolation was that we’d die together. Why couldn’t he just stay away from me?
“This guy?” Remy took a step toward Alex. “This is who you wanted to be with instead of me?”
Alex’s eyes met mine, and I watched his mouth as he tried to tell me something. Trust me.
I shut my eyes as I returned to Remy and his question. “I couldn’t go back to you, you know that. You wouldn’t have let me live.”
“You didn’t give me a chance—” Remy started, but I wouldn’t let him finish.
“Look how pissed off you were with me when I first walked into the room. And now? You just paced the floor trying to reason things out. You know I did what I did because I had to. Alejandro would’ve held that over my head—”
“Enough!” Remy pointed the gun to my face and Alex struggled against Marco’s hold. I watched the confusion sweep over Remy’s face. He wasn’t sure what to do. All of a sudden, he was the boy who had helped me leave town. He was the boy who had sworn he’d bring me to safety. The boy who had rescued me from another night of torment and promised to me that no harm would ever come to me again. Until Alejandro.
Unsure whether what I was saying was really the truth or not. The gun moved away from me and all breath left my body.
“No!” I cried and Remy’s eyes snapped to mine. “Take me. Just kill me, but please don’t hurt—”
“You’re really in love with him, aren’t you? Fuck, Cory. That wasn’t a good move.” He snickered as he shook the gun and then waved it in Alex’s face. I had to hand it to Alex: he didn’t flinch. He didn’t move. That wasn’t the same for me. I struggled against the strain of my handcuffs, crying and praying for Remy to take me instead.
“What’s your name?” Remy asked.
“Alex,” he proudly said. “You need to let Cory go. Do whatever you want with me, but Cory’s had a shitty life, no thanks to you.”
That wasn’t what Remy wanted to hear, and I cringed. Remy wasn’t going to let words like that go unchallenged.
“Me?” Remy took a step toward Alex. “You think I gave her a shitty life? I took her away from that asshole stepfather of hers. I gave her a new life, a new identity a new—”
“Into a crappy life of kidnapping and prostitution?” My eyes widened, and I wondered how much more Alex knew as he asked, “did you turn—”
That was all Remy could take. In one quick motion, he hit Alex across the cheekbone with the gun—and at the same exact moment, Alex slammed his head as hard as he could backwards into Marco’s forehead. Alex then used him as something to shove against. Alex’s legs went flying into Remy’s chest, knocking him backward, yet he was still holding the gun. Alex lunged forward, tackling Remy to the ground while they wrestled for control of the weapon.
I stood as Marco shook his head trying to regain composure and slammed my body straight into him, knocking him to the ground. I couldn’t do much, but my legs were free and I kneed him as hard as I could in his balls.
A shot fired and I screamed, unable to see who was shot. I sat up, trying to walk over on my knees as I noticed Remy lying flat on his back, blood pooling near his head, yet Alex lay still beside him. Terrified I screamed out, “Alex!”
Mass confusion happened after that. A huge burst of men blasted into the room. I thought for sure this was it again. Remy’s gang wasn’t going to let another leader die from my hand. When someone grabbed me from under my arms and wrenched me up, only then did I notice most of the guys in the room were wearing navy blue jackets with FBI in large white letters on the back.
“You had to go be a hero, didn’t you?” Kyle asked Alex as he offered a hand to pull him up.
“Don’t give me your bullshit. You’d have done the same for Lana.”
Kyle scoffed as both turned toward me. Alex started to walk to me as an agent was helping me up firmly in his grasp. Both our eyes widened as he began to read me my rights.
“What the hell is going on?” Alex’s voice was shocked, and I realized he didn’t know everything. “She was the one being held—”
Kyle rested a hand on Alex’s shoulder as he told him, “Cory needs to be taken into custody for murder, and also for aiding in prostitution and human trafficking. She’s been wanted by both federal and by the state of California.”
Alex’s mouth dropped open as he stared at me in disbelief. I closed my eyes and couldn’t say anything. It was true. I had brought girls to both Remy and Alejandro, thinking I was helping them. I hadn’t. I had lured all those girls to their own hell.
I hung my head as Kyle whispered in my ear, “We’re gonna figure all this out. Now that we heard what happened with Alejandro and we know it was self-defense, you won’t be facing charges for murder.”
While I was relieved to hear that, I knew what I had done to those girls and that I had to pay the price. I also had the hidden fear that the rest of Remy and Alejandro’s gang would still come after me for what I’d done. I’d always be looking over my shoulder. Nothing could save me now—not even Alex.
Alex and Kyle walked with me to the unmarked car. As the agent pulled the door open, Alex peered in at me.
“I’m sorry, Alex. I’m so sorry I lied to you.”
He didn’t have time to answer, nor did I really want one. The car door closed and we quickly pulled away.
It was time I came clean with everything, and I probably would never see Alex again—either because he hated me or because I’d be in prison, or both—at least I’d gotten a taste of a life I could have had with him.
Twenty-Eight
Cory
“Yes, your honor,” I said, leaning forward, speaking into the mic.
“You may step down, Ms. Whyte,” he told me. With shaky legs, I trembled as I had to pass by all ten men I had just testified against to leave. I pulled my shoulders back and held my head high as I was escorted out of the courtroom.
They’d told me to keep my eyes averted and not to look at any of the spectators. The leading prosecutor had warned me that there would be family of the gang members there—that I might even be threatened. Knowing that, I couldn’t help but flick my eyes over at some sort of movement to my left.
I gasped as my stomach flipped. Seeing Fernan, now grown, as he gave me a slit throat gesture across his neck shot terror through me. The FBI had promised me safety if I would testify against the gang members, reassuring me they had gotten all of them in custody. It was obvious they had missed one of the main players, and my knees felt like they were about to buckle.
Tears pricked my eyes as the door opened for me. Agents Fleming and Rodriguez pushed themselves off the wall opposite where I had come from. Agent Fleming was the first to notice my expression and quickly walked to me as he looked around.
“What is it?” he whispered.
“You missed one.” My voice shook as the tears threatened to spill. My stomach churned as I glanced back at the door, panicked that it would burst open and Fernan would come after me.
“Who?”
“Fernan. He was ten when I last saw him. I’m not sure how I missed him from the books.” There had been so many pictures to go through and hours upon hours of testimony to go over that I knew something had been missed.
“What’s he wearing?” He kept his voice low while still looking around. He began taking me toward the back of the building as I continued to look around.
“Black shirt, facing the exit, he was on my left. Bald and fat. Gold earring in his left ear. He sat next to two women dressed in skimpy dresses,” I whispered as we continued walking.
Detective Fleming pulled out his radio and described what I had to the other person. “Let’s get you out of here.” He pointed his hand toward the back door of the building. “This way.”
I nodded, and even though my legs were Jell-O, I managed to go exactly as he told me. Seeing Alex again was my main focus. Alex had been with me every step of the way he could. Wherever I was, Alex was waiting for me. Going against his whole family’s wishes, he left their company to stay in California until all my arraignments and court dates were over. I’d agreed to testify against the remaining members of Remy and Alejandro’s gang in exchange for not being charged for all the girls I had unknowingly brought to them for human trafficking. All murder charges were dropped, seeing as it was in self-defense.
That day was supposed to be the last day I had to be in California. After that, the Feds just wanted me to stay in contact in case anything further happened with the case. I assumed now, if they caught Fernan, I’d be there for another case. Another hope bubble burst.
Alex was probably back at the hotel, packed up and excited to get back to Atlanta. We’d been planning for the day ever since the charges for murder against me were dropped and the trial for the gang members had started. We’d been stuck there while helping the Feds build their case. Alex had even missed his nephew’s birth to be there with me. Pictures and videos were sent, but I knew it hurt Alex to not be there for such a huge moment in his brother’s life. It hurt even more when I found out they had actually used the name Alex had suggested—Pappy’s name, Tobias.
Motioning to the police officer who stood guard at the door, Agent Rodriguez reached for the handle and ushered me outside. People walked aimlessly around the open courtyard as we rushed toward the car waiting for me. Another agent stood ready with the door opened as I watched Alex hop out from the back seat. As he rushed over to me, I noticed from the corner of my eye the approach of a small, red vehicle. Darting my eyes, I saw a couple of men walking across the courtyard. Alex’s eyes followed my same sightline and he immediately jumped at me as one man pulled something from his waistband. I screamed “No!” as my body hit the ground with such fo
rce I couldn’t breathe. A huge commotion of gunfire and yelling surrounded us as Alex continued to cover my body with his.
Warm liquid seeped onto my blouse as more shots were fired. Knowing only the wind was knocked out of me and feeling no other pain, I knew Alex must have been shot. I pulled Alex’s body to mine and hugged him, whispering, “You can’t die. Please don’t die.” My voice wavered as my heart plunged.
“Ahh,” he screamed out as his body was pulled from mine by Agent Rodriguez. Rolling Alex onto his back, I leaned over him and stared at the blood pouring out of his left shoulder.
“He’s been shot! Someone, please help!” I yelled, even though Agent Rodriguez was kneeling next to him.
“I’ve called an ambulance, hang in there,” he told me.
It all happened so fast, and in moments we were in an ambulance. A paramedic was working on Alex, who was lying on the gurney as I held his hand tightly in my grasp.
His head rolled to face me and his eyes fluttered open.
“Why were you there?” I asked as I sniffled. Tears stung my eyes and my lip quivered. “You were supposed to be at the hotel.”
“I told you I’d be there for you. Don’t you trust me?” He gave a small smile.
“That’s not the point. You weren’t where you said you’d be.” I swiped at a tear that trickled down my cheek.
“I wanted to come for you, just like I’d promised. I had our bags packed and ready for the airport. I cleared it with your guys.”
Your guys. He had teased me constantly that I was always surrounded by men. I always asked him if he trusted me. It was our running joke.
“Then you went and got shot,” I admonished.
“I saw the thugs outside, and that red car kept circling. It looked sketchy. I remembered how scared you were in parking lots, then when I saw you running across the courtyard, I didn’t want anything to happen to you. I had to take a bullet for my girl. Isn’t that what they do in all the romance books? Oh wait. Shit,” he said as he coughed and the paramedic pressed against the gunshot wound to his shoulder. “You read murder mysteries. Then I really shouldn’t have taken a bullet for you.”
Trust Me Forever (Forever Happens Series Book 2) Page 17