“I don’t know about the company. To my father it was just a job. They provide chemicals to landscapers. That’s all my father would tell me.”
“And he was their accountant.”
“One of them. You don’t believe me.” The lies were getting more difficult to maintain.
“I have reason to believe you’re keeping secrets, Fallon. While I do understand your hesitation in trusting me, as I’ve told you before, if you’re on the radar of the man my organization considers our greatest enemy, you may be nothing but collateral to try and lure me into a trap. But with all lures, useful or not, once their usefulness has dried up, the person becomes expendable.”
“Who is this person?”
He was obviously agitated by the thought of this enemy alone. “Farid Fassi, a Moroccan Cartel leader specializing in the harvesting of diamonds. He is brutal, treating the people who work in the mines like slaves. He is a formidable enemy.”
“Do you think he has something to do with what’s going on with my family?”
“Does it?”
“I live a normal life, Navarro, completely unlike yours.”
“Don’t forget that we’re all alike inside whether or not the life we’ve chosen to lead is different. If Fassi is behind destroyingyour family, there is a reason. And it has everything to do with your past.” His eyes continued exploring, searching for answers. I was no fool. If I was a man, his interrogation would be as brutal as he claimed Farid Fassi was.
I’d need to make a choice whether to trust him sooner versus later. There were no other options.
I held my phone close, returning to the picture that had been taken of my sister and me at her last birthday. “You want to hear a secret, Navarro?”
“Yes, Fallon. I do.”
“Brooke was sick as a kid a lot. She was frail and always fatigued. It took doctors almost two years to diagnose her diabetes. By that point, she’d almost lost her fight, in and out of the hospital. Her heart was damaged in the time it took for the bastards to figure out what was wrong with her. She’s on insulin. She’s on heart medication. She’s on blood pressure medication.” I waited to see if he’d say anything.
He didn’t, just continued staring at me with blank eyes.
“I don’t know if she was allowed to take her medicine with her or not. I didn’t see it in her apartment. If she wasn’t, at some point she’ll go into a diabetic coma. And she’ll die. That’s another reason why I rushed to Mexico like some crazy fool. She doesn’t have much time if she’s not already dead because of a disease that almost destroyed her life and her dreams. Maybe you don’t care and have never needed to deal with anyone being tragically sick in your life. I get it. I’m sorry about your parents, but when you watch someone you love slowly fading and can’t do anything, you realize that you’ll do anything in your power to protect them.”
This time he blinked, but nothing more.
“Fine. You don’t care. I feel sorry for you that you can’t seem to care about anyone. It’s obvious my father doesn’t care either. Do you know how horrible it is to know your father just doesn’t give a damn about anyone but himself? It’s the worst feeling in the world, a realization that the loving man who picked you up when you scraped your knee and sat with you while you tried to finish a project suddenly decided his life was more important than that of his child that he’d sworn to protect. If it appears I’m angry and unable to trust anyone, including you, then you’re right. My sister is all I have. No aunts. No uncles. No grandparents. Do you have any idea what that’s like?”
He rose to his feet without saying a damn thing and I was furious all over again. I noticed his shirt on the floor, the one with the buttons ripped off. Reaching down, I grabbed it, sliding my arms through the sleeves. I crawled out of bed and yanked the two sides around me.
Navarro headed for the door.
“You’re not going to say anything to me after what I just told you?” I demanded quite forcefully.
Only after opening the door did he tip his head in my direction. This time, there was extreme sadness in his eyes that I’d been allowed to see once before. “I do understand your pain, Fallon. I have a sister as well.”
“You do?” I instantly walked closer but stopped myself from getting too near to him.
There was something so agonizing about the way he took several deep breaths. “Her name is Maya. She’s beautiful much like your sister is, but also frail, her life entirely different than it shouldbe. She’s much younger, just about your age.” A slight smile twitched across his face as he remembered.
“Oh. She’s in Barcelona?” I’d had no idea, my father whisking us out of Spain within a single day of me learning about my mother’s death.
“Yes, in a protected environment.”
Protected. I took a step closer.
He lingered in the doorway and I sensed he wanted to share whatever burden he had on his strong shoulders.
“Are you close with her?”
“I’m all she has left. I’m all she understands.”
