Chapter 3
“I need your car keys,” Cormac snapped at his sister.
Krystal stared at him. “Corm—”
“I can’t explain but I desperately need them,” he said as he pulled his cell out and called his brother Micah. He’d never expected to see Daniela again. Coming face-to-face with her just now, seeing her expression of betrayal when she learned he’d lied to her about his name…
He felt sick.
“You’re lucky I’m driving Mike’s truck today,” she muttered as she tossed him a set of keys.
He didn’t even think he said thank you, wasn’t sure of anything as he raced for the dark blue truck.
“Hey,” Micah answered. “What’s up?”
“I placed one of your mini trackers on a vehicle. I need you to track it now.” He knew he sounded manic—he felt it.
“Hold on.” His brother didn’t ask questions. He was quiet for a long moment as Cormac pulled out of the parking spot.
He ordered himself to drive normally, to not act like an irrational asshole on the road. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt someone. But he had to follow Daniela Ruiz.
“I’m in Mike’s truck,” Cormac said when Micah still hadn’t spoken. “In case you need that information.” His youngest brother had trackers on all their vehicles.
Cormac had stopped fighting his brother’s paranoia long ago.
“I see that,” Micah murmured. “Okay, just pull up the company’s tracking app and you’ll see the little dot moving. You’re not too far behind whoever you’re tailing.”
“Thanks.” His brother had created an app—well, multiple apps—for their company that only they had access to. As Cormac stopped at a light, he pulled up the app and set his phone on the dash holder. The little dot was moving at a steady pace.
For the first time since he’d seen Daniela walking toward him in that parking lot, he could breathe. He needed to find out what she’d been doing at the Sanctuary Falls sheriff’s station of all places, but that could wait.
He needed to talk to her in person. She’d just found out his real name, had seen his sister.
She might not put it together now but she would eventually be able to figure out he lived in Sanctuary Falls and had a sister who was a detective.
And if she told her family his real identity… the consequences could be deadly.
In the last few years her brother had taken over the family business and he was by far more level-headed than their father, but that wouldn’t matter.
“So who are you tracking, and do you need backup?” Micah asked.
For a moment he thought about saying nothing, but he wasn’t sure he could handle the potential fallout from this on his own.
And there was no reason to risk going solo when he had solid backup.
Especially since he now worked with Micah and their older brother Apollo.
For years he’d worked for the DEA, gotten burned out, then job hopped.
Construction hadn’t been too bad—he’d loved how physical it was—but working with his brothers, making a difference in people’s lives, filled a hole inside him.
It didn’t matter that they worked in shades of gray. They got shit done.
“When I was undercover I was involved with a woman. I just ran into her at Krystal’s work. The woman, Daniela, found out my real name.”
“Yeah, Krystal’s texted six times.”
“Seriously?”
“She said you ran from her after seeing some knockout, acted like you’d seen a ghost and coopted Mike’s truck.”
“She gave me the keys,” he muttered. “And why the hell is she narcing on me?”
“She’s not. It’s in the family group text. She said we’re not keeping secrets.”
Oh right. He’d muted the group thread when a message from their sister Berkley had popped up about a jambalaya recipe, because he didn’t want any distractions. Just as well he couldn’t read anyone’s texts right now. All his focus was on Daniela.
Seeing her in person after so many years… He was off-balance. It had always been like that with her, but he hadn’t been mentally prepared to see her. He wasn’t certain he could have prepared anyway.
How do you prepare to see the woman who made the world better simply by being in it—the woman you absolutely couldn’t be with, but had never stopped wanting?
The tracker showed her getting on the highway and heading south. “Look, if I need you, I’ll call you, but I’ve got to focus now.” Mostly he just didn’t want to talk to anyone.
He wanted to obsess about all the things that could go wrong. Apparently that was the way his anxiety brain worked. Which was a lot of fun. Especially at a time like now.
It had also kept him alive more times than he wanted to think about. He liked to mess with Micah about being paranoid, but he had similar tendencies.
“You know how to reach me.” Micah ended the call.
Cormac let out a long breath as he followed the little dot on his phone. He couldn’t get the image of Daniela out of his head. Her long dark hair had been blowing in the breeze as she’d stared at him, her dark eyes wide. They’d been full of shock and anger…all expected.
She had the kind of body artists dreamed about.
And fine, that was the first thing that had drawn him to her.
She was gorgeous in that old Hollywood way.
But she was a hell of a lot more than her looks.
She was funny, sarcastic, and when she didn’t think anyone was looking, she let down her armor to reveal a soft side.
Knowing who her family was, having seen them operate, he understood why she had that armor.
Why she couldn’t be vulnerable to just anyone.
And he was honored that she’d shown that side of herself to him.
Then he’d destroyed her trust. It had been to keep her safe, but it didn’t change the way things had ended between them.
He’d left her because he had no choice. To keep them both alive. If he’d had a choice, if they’d both been different people, he’d have never walked away. He still dreamed about her even though he’d tried to block out those memories. That was impossible, however.
She was part of his past, embedded in his psyche.
Now…he had decisions to make. Big ones. But he couldn’t figure anything out until he actually talked to her. If she was going to out him to her family as former DEA, tell them she’d seen him and that he’d been going by a different name, it would put him and his own family in serious danger.
There was no way he was jeopardizing anyone he loved.
Since leaving the DEA he’d been so damn careful to have a bare-bones existence online. Mostly thanks to Micah, who kept their whole family insulated. But life could be a real asshole sometimes. The last place he ever would have expected to see her was at the sheriff’s station.
The little dot started moving off the highway onto an exit ramp about a mile ahead of him.
Okay, hopefully she was close to stopping now. He knew where she lived—that’s right, he kept very loose tabs on her and he wasn’t sorry about it—and this wasn’t anywhere close to her home or her gallery. Not even in the same city, which was why he’d been so shocked to see her here.
Fifteen minutes later, the dot stopped. He cruised past where her car was parked underneath a giant overhanging oak draped in moss, saw the vehicle was empty.
Slowly, he drove down the quiet street with brick townhomes and small ranchers in an older, quieter part of town.
The streets were wide enough for curbside parking but he kept going past her car.
As he made his way down the street, looking at the various homes, a couple streetlights flickered on. The sun was setting and he only spotted one person out with their dog, a man on his phone while his Frenchie took care of business.
Still no Daniela anywhere, and most of the homes had their blinds drawn, given the time of evening.
As he contemplated just parking and waiting for her to go on the move again, his phone buzzed. When he saw it was Krystal he answered, still scanning for any sign of Daniela. “Hey.” She must be visiting someone. Maybe a boyfriend?
Nope. Not going there.
Feeling only a little psycho, he knew he should approach her later, not ambush her like this, but he needed to talk to her about what she’d heard. He wouldn’t put his family in danger. She might not know his last name or that he’d been DEA, but she had enough information that she could dig.
“You planning on returning Mike’s truck anytime soon?” Krystal’s tone was dry.
“Tonight. Probably.” It was already twilight but only a little after five—even if the darkness made it feel much later. Stupid daylight savings.
“So…Micah filled me in a little. And so did Apollo.”
He winced at the second name. His oldest brother actually knew everything. Or damn near close to everything that had gone down with him and Daniela. He’d confessed what had happened in a moment of weakness—mostly because of tequila. So. Much. Tequila. “Okay.”
“The woman from the parking lot. The one you’re apparently following…she’s part of the Hill family.”
“I know.”
“She goes by Daniela Ruiz,” Krystal continued.
“Ruiz was her mother’s maiden name.”
A taut silence followed. “So we apparently have a lot to talk about.”
“Yeah maybe.” Wait, was that Daniela rushing out of a two-story townhome? He didn’t want to stop in the middle of the road, so he pulled over behind a Kia Sorento and turned off his lights.
It was definitely her.
Her cream-colored coat was bright in the growing darkness. Even though her hair was tucked into a toque and she had a thick scarf around her neck, he knew it was Daniela.
And she was practically running away from the townhome with a little flag out front that said Save Our National Parks.
The back of his neck prickled. Daniela didn’t run from anything. And her body language was off.
“Are you listening to anything I’m saying?” Krystal sounded exasperated.
“Uh, what? No, I have no idea what you just said. I’ll call you back.”
“Damn it—”
He ended the call and slipped his phone into his pocket. Then he slid out of his truck, but not before grabbing a ball cap, scarf and gloves.