As stupid as it sounded, I wanted to see Maverick. Angry or happy. Sad or frustrated. I wanted to see him. I didn’t want him to see me with a weapon in my hand, either. And it was that thought alone that caused me to open the door and gaze up into his eyes.
But his stone-cold glare froze me to my spot.
He took a step toward me, and I instantly backed up. He crossed the threshold into my home, and I knew there was no going back. All sorts of things ran through my mind. A swing kick to the back of his legs. My hand reaching for the gun I knew he had situated against his back. If I gained enough leverage, I could reach out for his arm and dislocate his shoulder, rendering his shooting arm useless.
But, all I did was shut the door and lock it.
“Maverick?” I asked.
“When were you going to tell me?”
His voice was stoic. Empty. Harsh and cold. Tears crested my eyes for unknown reasons as my forehead pressed into the dense wood of the front door. There was the slightest tinge of defeat in his voice. And it was enough to shatter my world. I didn’t want that in his voice. I wanted him to be happy around me. To be smiling. To be the playful Maverick, I had come to know and enjoy.
The playful Maverick I had come to love.
“You’re going to have to be more specific than that,” I said breathlessly.
I heard Maverick scoff. “About your family, Gabriela.”
I turned around and saw his eyes staring at a family portrait on the wall. My father had it commissioned a few years back. Me, my sisters, him, and my mother. Still for hours while a tried-and-true artist painted us in our likeness. Maverick’s eyes danced along the portrait as his legs carried him towards it. I watched him reach out for the picture. I stood there, watching his movements. Wondering what he’d do. And when his fingertips caressed the cheek of my form in the picture, tears unleashed. Silent tears I’d perfected crying late at night rushed down my skin, trickling down my cheek and finding their death as they dropped from my chin.
“Who are you?” he asked.
He turned back to look at me and, for a moment, I thought I saw shock in his features. But the emotion came and went so quickly in his icy cold glare that I thought I had imagined it.
At least, I convinced myself I did. It was more comfortable that way.
“How do you know?” I asked.
“Does it matter?” Maverick asked.
“It does. Especially if you’re here to kill me.”
He scoffed. “Kill you. That’s a good one.”
“It’s an honest one. Considering what you do for a living.”
I should have been panicked. I should have been worried about how he knew about my family. But, it didn’t matter. Not in the long run. He knew, which meant if his club didn’t know now, they’d know soon. I wasn’t an idiot. I all knew they had their unique skills. Jace with his paramedic background and his ability to hack. Maverick with his mind for numbers. With his strength. All of them had specialties. It’s what made them good at what they did.
“Maverick, I’m so sorry,” I whispered.
His eyes turned to meet mine. “What was that?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Forgive me, I could have sworn you were apologizing for infiltrating my family.”
My lip trembled. “Maverick, this isn’t what it looks like anymore. The things I’ve found--.”
“Save it, Gabriela.”
“Maverick, please,” I whispered.
“I don’t want to hear it.”
The harshness of his voice threatened to buckle my knees, but I kept myself upright. I willed myself to stay strong. To not lose my dignity falling to the feet of this man and begging for his forgiveness. I held his gaze, even though tears fell from mine. I rolled my shoulders back and accepted my punishment, just as I had growing up. My father had been strict, but fair. And his punishments always left a lasting impression. But through it all, the one thing he always made perfectly clear was that we needed to take our disciplines with pride. With dignity. If we knew we had fucked up, then there was no shying away from the consequences.
If you’re going to screw up with pride, take your punishment with that same pride.
I grimaced at the thought of that life lesson.
“Gabriela, I don’t like threatening women. It’s not in my nature. It’s not in any of my club’s nature to mess with women. But, I want you to know that I will do anything to protect my club. Including taking you and your family on.”
I nodded. “I know. It’s why you’re such a good man.”
“You don’t get to tell me those kinds of things. All you get to do is stand there, shut up, and listen.”
“Okay,” I said breathlessly.
“I will do anything to protect those men. Anything to protect what is in their best interests. I don’t know what kind of information you have on us, but what I’m banking on is you taking me at my word.”
I cocked my head at him as my brow furrowed.
“Are you listening?” he asked.
“I am,” I said plainly.
“If you don’t keep your mouth shut on the information you’ve found on us, there will be consequences. My family has a much more at stake now, and we will do anything to protect our own. You think you know the game you’re playing, but you’ve got no idea. Look around you, Gabriela.”
He held out his hands and gave a little twirl before bringing his eyes back to mine.
“What about it?” I asked.
“You’ve been sheltered all your life. You think you know about your father and you think you know about what’s going on, but you’ve got no idea. There’s a war coming, and you’re standing on the wrong side of it.”
His words sent a shiver down to my toes.
“Keep your mouth shut on the information you’ve found on us, and you might end up on the right side of things. But if you run with the information you’ve found, there will be nothing I can do to protect you. Nothing I can do to help you. You’ll be collateral damage in a war. Dying for a side that doesn’t give a fucking shit about you.”
I sniffled as my hands went numb with shock.
“Destroy the information you have on us, or my club will come for you, and there will be nothing I can do to stop it,” Maverick said.
He looked one last time around the massive foyer of my childhood home, then started for the front door. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak. Couldn’t breathe. I felt like I was falling and being pulled apart all at the same time. Were his words true? Was there something I didn’t know about? Was there something brewing in the shadows of my hometown? I didn’t know who to believe. I didn’t know what words were true. But I did know one thing. One concrete fact that made my lunge for Maverick’s arm as he pulled open the front door.
My father was a liar.
“Maverick! Wait!”
My hand came down around his wrist, and I grabbed onto him with all my might.
“Let me go, Gabriela,” he said.
“Not until you listen,” I said.
“I’m not listening to you or anything you have to say.”
“Then at least give me the courtesy of telling you what I found so you can take it back to your guys.”
That caught his attention.
“What are you talking about?” he asked.
“Close the door and turn around.”
“What are you talking about, Gabriela?”
“Close the door, Maverick. And turn the fuck around.”
He slammed my door shut and whipped around faster than I could have ever dreamt of. In less than a heartbeat, he had closed the door, locked it, ripped his arm from my grasp, and sent himself looming over me. His shadows draped over my body. His icy stare burned a hole into my forehead. I saw his fists clench at his sides in my purview, but I stood my ground with him. I didn’t back up, I didn’t move away, and I didn’t give in.
I knew he wouldn’t hurt me. No matter how angry he was at the situation.
“
Speak,” he said.
But, his voice wasn’t as harsh that time.
“Will you come sit with me?” I asked.
“No.”
“Please, Maverick?”
“No, Gabriela.”
I reached for his hand and threaded our fingers together, trying to tap into the softer side of him. The playful Maverick I knew was still in there somewhere. I smoothed my thumb over his skin. Stroked him carefully. Deftly. And little by little, I watched his icy side melt away. I watched warmth slowly flood his vision again. I felt his body slowly unravel from the barbed-wire stance he had taken the second he entered my home.
“My parents will be gone for a while. There’s no use in having this conversation on our feet. Please. It’s obviously been a long day for you, but it’s been just as long for me. Let’s at least make ourselves comfortable,” I said.
“Is this a trick?”
The ache in his voice made me sick to my stomach. And if I had any other contents to eject from it, I might have done so on his boots.
“No. It isn’t a trick. And in some ways with you, Maverick, it never has been.”
Chapter 17
Maverick
I tried my best to contain my anger. When she touched me and ripped me around, I had to swallow down my gut reaction and keep my cool. I respected women. I treated them with kindness. But not when they came after my club. My family. My friends. However, there was something in her voice. In the way, her grab oozed desperation. In the way, she gazed up at me with her beautiful gray eyes. Stormy. Like a clouded night.
“No. It isn’t a trick. And in some ways with you, Maverick, it never has been.”
I don’t know what her words meant, but they slapped me across my face. The tone of her voice completely disarmed me, and I felt myself relaxing. I felt my anger melting away. I drew in a deep breath through my nose and sighed, then nodded my head. Relief flooded her stare. I felt her hand relaxing against my skin. And even though I was upset with her and even though I was confused, I didn’t want her to stop touching me.
Her hand slipped to mine and our fingers threaded together, sending a shockwave of electricity surging through my veins. And at that moment, I knew I was in trouble.
I knew I had begun to care for Gabby, and that put me in a precarious situation. A situation that could leave me at odds with my club.
“Can we go sit down, Maverick? I really need to speak with you,” she said.
“Where do you want to sit?” I asked.
“The kitchen? I can get us something to drink.”
I narrowed my eyes. “I’ll stick with an unopened bottle of water, thanks.”
“Seriously?”
“Very.”
She sighed. “Fine. That’s fine. You can rummage around and get your own drink. But I really want to talk with you, okay?”
“Okay,” I said.
She led me into the kitchen and released me to the fridge. I opened it up and saw a plethora of drinks, but the only ones I deemed same enough were the bottles of water in the back. I still had to be on my guard. Even if she was trying to drop her walls to me like it felt she was attempting to do, I was in the house of someone who worked for the cartel. Whose entire family was somehow involved. I couldn’t be too careful. I grabbed two bottles of water and turned around, heading to the kitchen table where Gabby took a seat.
I sat down beside her without a second thought, our knees touching underneath the table.
Yet another action that sent fire surging through my veins.
I cracked open my bottle of water and sniffed it before I drank. Gabby shook her head and giggled at me, but I wasn’t going to take my chances. She lied to me. The two of us sipped on our water and sat there in silence, the tension between us so thick and tangible I could have licked it up with my tongue.
Then, she drew in a deep breath.
“For as long as I can remember, I’ve been groomed and molded to take over my father’s position in the family business,” she said.
I sat back into the chair, my eyes heavy on her face.
“He had told me he was the head of operations for a Mexican company. I was told that their main business was revitalizing failing businesses. That they would purchase a business that was about to hit bankruptcy and completely turn it around. With that, he always needed to know information about the businesses that they were purchasing. So, my main job was always to dig for that information.”
I nodded to let her know I was listening, but I didn’t attempt to stop her. She was giving me more than I could have ever wanted, and I needed to commit every single word to memory.
“I also grew up believing that my father had nothing to do with the cartel,” she said.
“You what now?” I asked.
She snickered. “Yeah. I mean I heard the rumors growing up. But my father always convinced us otherwise. That the company was just getting bad press, and that because it was a Mexican company that was doing well, it had to be involved with the cartel according to the media. I mean, people my father worked with came around all the time. Birthdays. Christmases. They babysat us, for crying out loud. And not once did I ever see anything violent. No weapons. No blood. No… nothing.”
“That’s impressive your father was able to pull that off.”
“I swear to you, Maverick, the violence of my father’s business wasn’t something I understood until today. Hell, I didn’t even understand until today that it really all was connected to the cartel.”
I furrowed my brow. “What are you talking about?”
I watched tears rise in her eyes as she took another sip of her water.
“Gabby, what’s happened?” I asked.
She drew in another deep breath. “I came home to do research on you guys. After the first night we spent together, I found your little closet-desk in the hallway and started digging through the trash in there. I found some things to bring back to my place to research.”
I stiffened, as anger coursed through my veins again. “What did you take?”
“Just some bank records. Tracing account names. Things like that. My job with my father was to compile information on you guys in order to figure out why you’re so interested in the company.”
“What does this information contain?”
“Everything. Names and basic information of you and the other guys in the club. Though, Colt really doesn’t seem to exist.”
“Trust me, there’s a reason for that,” I said.
She looked over at me. “Why?”
“I’m not at liberty to discuss it.”
“Oh.”
“What else do you have on us?”
“Nothing I’m going to hand over to my father if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“Can you hand it over to me then?” I asked.
“I’ll get it to you before you leave, sure.”
I nodded slowly. “Why the change of heart?”
Tears rose in Gabby’s eyes. “Just… some things I found out is all. I wanted to be upfront with you about what was happening. That’s all.”
“What did you find?”
She shook her head quickly and worry pooled in my gut.
“Gabby, what did you find?”
Her eyes slowly panned over to mine as a tear dripped down her cheek. And for a moment, the only thing I saw was a scared little girl. A frightened young woman who had just discovered everything she had really gotten herself into.
“I started feeling so guilty about the information I was gathering on you guys, so I figured I could do myself some good by re-focusing. Re-grouping. So, I went into my father’s office to sit there and explore and remind myself that I was doing a good thing. That I was helping my family. That I was on the right side of this,” she said.
“What did you find?” I asked.
“So much,” she whispered.
Another tear dripped down her cheek, and I reached out to take her hand. She gripped me tightly like she was afraid that if
I let go, she’d spiral off into darkness threatening to swallow her whole. Her sadness broke my heart. I saw her world shattering in her eyes. I wanted to gather her up into my arms and hold her close, but I also needed her to continue talking.
To continue opening up to me.
“What did you find?” I asked.
She drew in a shuddering breath. “Leti Rodriguez is involved with Jace, right?”
My eyebrows rose. “You really have been doing your research.”
She nodded. “I found out that her brother was killed the second he was picked up off the street.”
I leaned back into my chair, taking her hand with me.
“Are you familiar with a man named Sebastian?” she asked.
“Very much so, yes,” I said.
“Well, I grew up calling him ‘Uncle.’”
“You did?”
“Yes. I also found out that he was the one who gave the kill order for Leti’s brother.”
“Good thing she shot him in the head, then,” I murmured.
“What was that?” she asked.
“Nothing.”
Gabby nodded slowly. “I found file after file where my father had documented kidnappings. Deaths. Blackmail plans and hit lists. He didn’t just keep records of who they manipulated and whose lives they took, but all of the employees of the business he manages on this side. He has their kill lists.”
She pulled her hand away from mine and placed it over her mouth. Her shoulders started to shake with her sobs, and I leaned up to reach out for her, but she pushed away. Her chair slid across the kitchen floor, putting distance between us. The ache she felt was real. The truth that had been dumped in her lap was sending her reeling. And if I didn’t find a way to pull it back in, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get her to calm down.
“My father has the murder weapons, Maverick.”
Maverick (The Black Hornets MC Book 2) Page 10