Page 203 of Lethal Obsession

“I’m sorry—” I begin.

“You already said that.” Lourdes’s face is no longer soft. “I’m devastated about what has happened to Lars. And I don’t want to leave Benny. But at least Benny actually knew what Alexei is. What Lars, and all your family, are involved in. The . . . bratva.” She says the word with visible distaste, as if it’s something dirty in her mouth. “I’d never even heard the word before he said it. But last night, I sat up googling for most of the night.”

Oh, fuck.

“Suddenly it all made sense,” she says. “Why Mickey never wanted me to meet his friends, except for Lars. Why he always leaves the room when his phone rings. Why he trains in martial arts like his life depends on it, and doesn’t have social media, and is always paranoid about security.”

She meets my eyes, not trying to hide the anger in her own. “Why you always seem to be hiding something,” she says. “I thought you and Benny were my best friends, Ofelia. I thought Mickey was the love of my life. And now Lars is lying in a hospital bed with half his head missing, and none of you were even going to tell me what kind of danger I was in.”

When she says it like that, there’s not much I can think of to defend myself, even if I wanted to. “You have every right to be mad, Lourdes. But you are our best friend—”

“Gilipolleces,” she says bluntly, using the Spanish word for bullshit. “Best friends don’t lie to each other for years. And if your brother really did love me the way he claimed to, he wouldn’t have lied to me either.”

“He would have told you eventually.” Even I realize how pathetic I sound. “He was just trying to keep you safe—”

“Oh,” she says, her eyes gleaming angrily, “like you were, Ofelia, right? Do you know what your brother told me when he left here?”

More lies, I’m guessing.

“He told me he had a tech project overseas that couldn’t wait and that he might be out of touch for a while.”

I flinch. Oh, Mickey.

“But last night, when Benny got drunk, I suddenly discovered that my so-called boyfriend has jumped a flight to Miami, where he, along with your fiancé, your father, and God knows who else, are probably planning to blow up half the city as payback for the bomb on the yacht.” She shakes her head. “He didn’t trust me. You didn’t trust me. None of you did, not even Benny. And now, I’m sorry, but I don’t trust you, either.”

We stare at each other across the table.

I drop my eyes first. The truth is that I’m just too shattered to try to argue with her. I don’t know what I’d say even if I could. In her place, I’d feel exactly the same.

But Mickey is my brother, so I at least have to try.

“I understand that you can’t forgive me. But none of this is Benny’s fault. He needs you, Lourdes. And maybe you could, at least, let Mickey try to explain when he comes back? I know he will be horrified to know how hurt you are—”

“He should have thought of that before he lied his way into a relationship with me.” Her eyes burn straight through me. “You all should.”

I guess that’s fair enough. “Would you like me to organize a flight for you?”

“I already booked one.” She glares at me. “I’m leaving this afternoon.”

“At least let Jack take you to the airport. We don’t know who is watching.”

“Oh, for goodness’ sake.” She tosses her head. “Fine,” she says eventually, her voice tight. “But only because I don’t want to risk anything happening that might keep me here.” She stands up. “Goodbye, Ofelia,” she says stiffly.

I go to hug her, but she pulls away.

I nod resignedly. “I understand,” I say, trying to smile as she turns away.

But Mickey won’t.

41

Alexei

“About this fundraising dinner,” Dimitry says several days later. “You really want to use Roman and me as bait?”

“Not bait.” I pick up one of the guns currently decorating the long table in the salon and check its sights. “You’re the prize. The whale everyone at that overpriced dinner will want to catch.” I put the gun down and survey the array of weapons and ammunition spread over the table, along with various other tools men use to inflict pain and cause chaos. If I’d imagined my crew would be upset by the sudden arrival of Roman and his men, plus a few add-ons sent by Luke Macarthur, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Some of them know one another from various visits, or simply by reputation.

All of them, to a man, seem indecently happy about the prospect of blood and violence.