Page 51 of Temptation and Treachery
“Does he?” her father asked. “Have you back?”
She faced her father and studied him for a moment. His life choices had limited hers, and at least one of his decisions had nearly cost her life. But she knew he loved her. Compassion and loss mingled in her face. She hoped he would see and understand it all.
“Yes.” She reached up and took Rio’s hand. “I’m in love with him.”
As his hand tightened imperceptibly on hers, she glanced up. He was looking at her, his lips quirked in that sideways grin she’d come to adore. His gaze offered the promise of countless nights together. She decided to forgive him for telling her father he loved her before telling her.
“Good.” Her father sat back, losing some of the stiffness in his shoulders. “You’re going to need a strong man to keep you safe.” Her spirits dampened. “I won’t see you again after today.”
A cold sheet wrapped around her, and the world fell away. “But—”
“It’s safer this way,” he assured her. “I don’t know where I’ll be, and I don’t want your identity to end up in the wrong hands. Or my grandchild’s.”
Rio squeezed her hand. “Your father’s right.”
The world around her clouded. He was going to spend the rest of his life in jail. And she would never see him again. She’d never thought much about his choices. Never wanted anyone to know who he was or what he did. Yet, at this moment she realized just how much she was losing. A parent. The only one she had left. The one she’d taken for granted.
“Guerrero is the most dangerous,” her father warned.
Celeste snapped back, focusing on their conversation as soon as she heard Pablo Guerrero’s name. During her conversations with Gatlin she learned about Guerrero, her father’s biggest rival. And the deadliest.
“You’re going to have to scale back your feud,” Rio warned. “I don’t want Celeste getting caught up in the problems your son caused.”
Her father scoffed. “I’m not the one causing trouble. Pablo had settled down, then something set him off. I don’t know what happened a few months ago, but he’s back to wanting me dead.”
Rio didn’t offer an explanation. “So this is more than a war for trafficking lanes. Why does he want you dead?”
Her father hesitated, and Celeste held her breath. Did she really want to know what these men may have done to each other?
“We were friends once,” he said with a note of sadness. “Raising hell. Getting in trouble. We grew up. I got married and started a family. He started spending a lot of time with Sonia, the woman he eventually married. A few years later we met up, quite by chance. Things weren’t going well for either one of us. We started talking and discovered we had the potential for a partnership. So we devised a plan.” He took a breath, wetting his lips before he continued. “During that time, I met your mother, and he met Paloma Santana. The love of his life.”
“Neither woman has ever come up in our research.”
“They wouldn’t. Though we were nobody back then, I made sure to destroy any records leading back to our families.” That explained why they’d had such a hard time finding anything. “Paloma worked overnight at a cafe. That’s where they’d see each other. Her grandmother, who raised her, didn’t approve. Even when she turned up pregnant, right alongside his wife.” He winced. “Pablo planned to get out. Just one more trip. One more score. Then he’d have enough to give Paloma the life she deserved.” He went silent, lost in a memory.
Though she didn’t know the story, Celeste felt a sadness born of tragedy. She didn’t need to hear the details to know it would end badly. Yet she still needed him to keep going. “What happened?”
“Paloma was killed in a hit and run. She was in the final weeks of her pregnancy,” he added.
Celeste gasped, her stomach tensing. Her heart went out to the man. Losing both his love and their child to an accident.
“He went crazy, determined to find whoever left her to die on the side of the road. I’d never seen him so out of control.”
Rio released a breath. “So he made enemies for both of you.”
“I’m sure he did.” He paused, and she wondered if there was more he wasn’t sharing.
“Did they ever catch whoever killed her?” Celeste asked, her brows gathered in regret.
“No.” Again her father looked at Rio, and they seemed to communicate without words. “But I suspected his wife.”
Celeste’s eyes went wide.
“I confronted her about it several years later.” He tilted his head, pressing his lips together. “That’s when the trouble started between us.”
Rio raised a brow. “He didn’t like you accusing her.”
“He thought I killed Paloma, likely no thanks to Sonia.”
