Chapter Nineteen
Harlow opened her eyes and got a somewhat blurry vision of her man seated on the side of the bed in the early morning light, looking very concerned.
She groaned and covered her face with her hands.
“You have to stop doing this, Wilder. It’s been three days since the last middle-of-the-night chat, which, if you want to know the truth, wasn’t all that fun. ”
Wilder brushed his hand down the side of her face in one of those gestures that felt intimate and loving. “I’m sorry, mon rêve, I know it sucks to be woken up from a sound sleep. You know I wouldn’t if it weren’t important.”
“Important means bad news. It’s always bad news,” she complained, putting her hands over her ears like a child. “It isn’t as if you wake me up and joyfully say, ‘Let’s go climbing. I prepared a picnic and we want to catch the sunrise.’ It’s always the worst. This is the worst, isn’t it?”
“Yes, baby, I’m sorry, it is.”
It was his tone more than anything else that had her bringing her hands down, capturing his wrists and looking directly into his eyes. Yeah. It was bad. Very bad. She struggled to sit up. “Next time, a cup of coffee in hand would be appreciated.”
Wilder immediately helped her scoot so her back was resting against the headboard. He tucked blankets around her, and the way he did that made her feel cared for.
“I’m just going to come out and tell you, sweetheart. There isn’t any way to make this easier. Your parents were traveling from San Francisco to a spa on the coast in the early morning hours, and a car bomb killed them both.”
She registered the compassion, heard what he said, but her brain didn’t quite comprehend his meaning. “My parents?”
He nodded. “The senator and your mother were both killed instantly.”
“But that can’t have happened,” she protested. “Wilder, are you certain?”
“Very. We intercepted the chatter and confirmed it. And no, we had nothing to do with it. Not any of us. He had a lot of enemies. He had numerous death threats that neither the senator nor his security detail took seriously. So far, no one has taken credit for the hit.”
She remained silent, mostly because her brain was frozen. She didn’t know how to feel. What to feel. Confused. Sad. Scared. What was proper in such a horrifying situation?
“Do you have any idea who may have done this?”
“Baby, don’t ask me that kind of question.
I know it wasn’t one of ours. Car bombs are usually specific.
Identifiable to some extent. The parts used, how they’re made.
The FBI will certainly investigate, and they’ll determine if it is from a known source.
In the meantime, I think it’s best if we keep a low profile.
It wasn’t that long ago that there was a very public fight between us and your father. Certainly, we’ll be investigated.”
She hadn’t thought of that. “Someone might really think I would do that to my own parents?” She whispered it. She could barely wrap her mind around what had occurred, let alone the repercussions.
“Probably not you, Harlow. They’ll take a close look at Rainier and me. If you’re questioned, it is important to have a lawyer present. Don’t disclose to the lawyer or anyone else that your brother was here in the States.”
Her heart stopped and then began to pound.
Salvadore had slipped into and out of the country without detection.
She hadn’t told her other friends, but Zahra knew.
She hadn’t been able to talk to Zahra because she’d been working long hours at the hospital.
The implication she got from Wilder’s calm statement was that he believed Salvadore had been the one to plant the car bomb, or at least had ordered it.
There had been a terrible rage in Salvadore whenever the senator was mentioned.
She honestly couldn’t blame him, but had it been enough for Salvadore to kill her parents?
That was possible. Entirely possible. She doubted he would take credit for the killings.
He wouldn’t draw attention to the cartel, not with what amounted to a political assassination.
He was also skilled enough to cover his tracks.
“Zahra knows he was here.”
“Falcon made it clear to her that no one could ever know. That by revealing his visit, she would be harming you. Zahra won’t talk. She’s intensely loyal to you.”
That was true. Zahra would go to her grave without telling a soul if Harlow asked her not to.
There was no reason to tell anyone about Salvadore’s visit.
It was for her safety as well as his and Guadalupe’s.
There was no way to know if he was in any way involved with her parents’ assassinations.
In truth, she preferred not to know. Salvadore was far too clever to leave any trace behind that he had visited.
He hadn’t even brought guards with him. Clearly, he hadn’t wanted anyone in the cartel to know that he had come to visit his mother or his sister.
“I want you to stay close to the house. If you go to the studio and I’m not with you, don’t go until Larado is available. Rainier’s lawyer is on standby.”
“Is going to the café and meeting the girls out? I think I’m making a little progress with this venom puzzle. I could use their help.” She knew she was deflecting, trying not to think about the death of her parents. Her brain was trying to shield her, and she allowed it to give her time to process.
“How about we host them here? Or out in the studio. That’s your private space, so here would be better, but I’m sure we could arrange something.”
Harlow rubbed at her temples. “I’d like that, Wilder. Thank you.” She sighed, looking up at him. “Salvadore twice said he wished he’d known the trouble I was in. He claimed he would have done something to help, that he’d always wanted a sibling.”
“I’m certain he was very sincere, that he meant it, but he grew up in the cartel and has had to abide by their rules. Even if he knew your situation and he could have gotten to you, what life could he have given you? He couldn’t save his mother from her fate.”
It was true. There had been a wealth of regret in her brother’s voice. He hadn’t chosen his life. It was the only way he could survive. The only way Guadalupe could survive and keep her son. Fate—or the senator—had condemned them to a life of violence.
Harlow studied Wilder’s beloved face, inch by inch.
He didn’t flinch away from her scrutiny.
He had been condemned to that same life of violence.
Was he a bad man? She didn’t believe he was.
He had a strict code of honor, and he kept to it.
He believed in it so much he’d made a bargain with Rainier, the only man he believed might best him in a hunt.
That bargain had been to kill him if he ever imploded.
What man did that? What man believed in honor to the point that he would ensure his own demise if he ever crossed a line?
“I love the way you look at me, Harlow,” Wilder murmured. “I’ve never had anyone ever look at me the way you do.”
“I love you,” Harlow murmured, meaning it. Deep down. Knowing it was the truth. He was it for her. “You’ll always be the one.”
“Marry me. My last name started out stained with blood, but I’ve spent a lifetime doing my best to remove that and replace it with honor. Marry me, mon rêve. Make me the happiest, proudest man in the world.”
She hadn’t expected a proposal. She’d never even dreamt of a proposal, but then, in her wildest fantasies, she had never imagined she would end up with Hawkin Wilder.
On some level, she was aware his proposal in that moment was not just to secure their future, but to give her an anchor to hold on to when once again her life was slipping out of control.
Her parents…She would never have a chance to reconcile anything with them.
“Yes. Yes, a thousand times.” She didn’t take time to think about it because she always overthought everything. This man stood with her in the worst moments. Sometimes in front of her. But always with her.
His smile lit up her world. He was beautiful to her.
She knew he would forever steal her breath, just with the sight of him.
With that smile. He made her laugh. Made her feel safe when all around her the world was imploding.
This should have been one of the worst moments of her life, but he’d turned it into something beautiful.
Years earlier, she’d lost all hope of the senator and her mother changing their way of life.
She had lost her family. She had given up hope of finding her brother or his mother.
Somehow Wilder had brought those things into her life.
She would never be able to see her mother and talk with her, try to understand her.
She had always thought she didn’t feel anything for the senator, but she felt sorrow at his passing.
She knew she wouldn’t have Salvadore or her parents, but at least she knew Salvadore was alive somewhere in the world. And she had Wilder.
“Salvadore told me he would never be able to have a woman. A family. It would be too dangerous for them. And for him. Even after Enrique Delgotto dies. He said more than anything he had wished for a family. He had Enrique growing up, and as long as he did as Enrique wanted and Guadalupe did as well, he could see his mother. They’re very close, but they can’t really see one another anymore. ”
“Every child wants to have parents who love them. They want a safe environment. I have to admit I sympathize with your brother. I never believed I would have what you’ve given me.
Believe me, more than anything, I intend to provide our children and you with a loving, healthy, very safe home.
I know how privileged I am for the opportunity.
As sad as it is, as much as I would want that for him, I don’t see a family in Salvadore’s future. ”