Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 77126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
I regret the words as soon as I say them. My brother’s not like that. He’s never been like that. But he does take his big-brother responsibilities a little far sometimes. Not so much with Robin and me, but definitely with Hawk and Eagle.
“Fine,” I relent. “But I just met with an awesome attorney. She really understands my vision.”
“Savannah and Robin understand your vision. They’ll take care of all of this, get the gala ready.”
“You are not keeping me from the gala,” I say.
“I don’t want to,” he says.
“You’re not going to.” I grab Falcon’s hands. “I will go to your safe house. I will lie low. I will do what I can from there, and let Savannah and Robin do the legwork. But I will be at that gala, Falcon. I will be there. And you will be there. Our parents will be there. Robin and the rest of our family will be there. I want everyone there. I don’t care how much security we have to have. But I will be at that gala.”
10
VINNIE
“You’re kidding,” I say.
Though I already know he’s not. Austin Bellamy may be the Cooper Steel heir and a successful rancher, but there’s something crooked about him.
Something crooked about how his oldest son went to prison for a crime he didn’t commit.
And something very crooked about whoever is buried on his property.
Plus, I already know he had Brick Latham killed because he thought he was a threat to Raven.
But it makes me wonder…
Was Latham truly a threat to Raven? Or was he a threat to Bellamy himself?
“Does he know anything else?” I ask.
“No,” Elmo says. “I’ve got all the information we need to take back to Agudelo.”
I raise an eyebrow. “But we won’t be taking all of it back to Agudelo, right?”
“Right.”
Elmo speaks again to the informants in Spanish. Then we all shake hands. The informants slink away.
“Now what?” I ask.
“We get the hell out of here,” Elmo says.
Sounds good to me. This place makes my skin crawl. I’m on high alert the entire time, hyper aware of anything and everything that is a threat. I don’t trust these men as far as I can throw them. Especially since I can’t understand what they’re saying. I suppose I should take some Spanish lessons.
But who the hell has time for that? I took Spanish back in high school, and of course spent some time traveling through Spain when I was in the EU, but not enough apparently. Most of my time in Spain was spent in Barcelona, and they speak Catalan there. Similar to Spanish, but just different enough for my ears to have a hard time understanding.
My knowledge of Italian has helped a little. I can pick out words and phrases from what they’re saying. But damn, they speak so quickly.
I hurry out of the warehouse to the car that’s waiting.
“I wish we weren’t staying at the Agudelo house,” I say.
“Yeah, I agree. We can’t speak freely there.”
I press my lips together. “On the other hand, keep your friends close and your enemies closer. He needs to think I’m a friend. I need to make this deal happen so my grandfather will trust me enough to take over.”
I say no more.
Though I do believe our driver is trustworthy, and I doubt he can hear us, I don’t know for sure. For all I know, he could be an enemy. He could have surveillance equipment in the backseat.
Mario could be having us watched at this moment.
So could Agudelo.
It’s doubtful, as we put a lot of our own surveillance in place, but I still can’t be a hundred percent sure that we haven’t been followed.
I can’t be a hundred percent sure of anything at this point.
Damn. Bellamy.
What the hell is his role in all of this?
That Texas rancher who wears jeans and cowboy boots and bolo ties. Blond and blue-eyed, with his all-American good looks. Married to a Mexican beauty queen, Starling Esparza.
Father to five beautiful children… One of whom is an ex-con.
Fuck.
It all must come together in some way.
Mario thought I would be here for a month. After reading through all of the documents, and my meeting with Agudelo—which included Vega as well—I think I can be out of here in two weeks. I can get this deal made. The sooner I get out of here, the sooner I can get back on my home turf where I have the advantage.
Another big lunch tomorrow at the Agudelo home.
I need to find out what I can about Bellamy before then. Though I doubt there’s a way to access the dark web from the Agudelo home. Everything probably goes through a huge network that he keeps track of.
My only chance is to get this deal settled as quickly as I can and get back home where I can research Bellamy more thoroughly.