29. Cuffs
Cuffs
The sound of handcuffs closing around Mateo Vargas’s wrists should have felt like victory.Chris had spent months working toward that exact sound.Months pretending.
Months answering to Roman.Months driving Mateo.Laughing with him.Listening.
Watching.Memorizing.Lying.The FBI had spent years trying to get enough evidence to put Mateo Vargas in federal custody.Now he stood beneath the white warehouse lights with his hands restrained behind his back and federal agents surrounding him.And Chris felt almost nothing like victory.
“Clear the weapon.”An agent lifted Mateo’s handgun from the concrete where Chris had ordered him to leave it. “Clear.”
“Primary secure.”The words traveled across the radio.Primary secure.Mateo Vargas.
Cartel leader.Federal target.Camila’s brother.Chris stared at him.Mateo stared back.
Neither man looked away.For the first time since they’d met, there was nothing hidden between them.No Chris Roman.No cartel boss pretending his businesses were legitimate.
No careful questions.No tests.No games.Just Special Agent Chris Walker standing in an FBI vest across from the man he’d been sent inside to destroy.Mateo looked down at the handcuffs.Then around the warehouse.Federal agents moved everywhere.Men who’d worked for him were face down on the floor.Others sat against walls with their hands restrained.Evidence teams were beginning to photograph the tables.Stacks of wrapped narcotics remained exactly where Chris had seen them.Black duffel bags.Cash.
Vehicles.Phones.Documents.Years of power reduced to evidence tags and numbered photographs.Mateo’s eyes moved slowly across it all.When he looked back at Chris, something had changed.The fury was still there.But beneath it was loss.
“You destroyed everything.”Chris’s jaw tightened.
“You did that yourself.”Mateo laughed bitterly. “That’s what you’re going with?”
“It’s the truth.”
“You came into my life pretending to be somebody else.”
“Yes.”
“You worked your way into my businesses.”
“Yes.”
“You watched my people.”
“Yes.”
“Gathered evidence.”
“Yes.”
“Reported everything to them.”Mateo nodded toward the FBI agents filling his warehouse.Chris held his gaze.
“Yes.”Mateo shook his head.“And you stand there telling me I did this?”Chris stepped closer.
“You trafficked the drugs.”Mateo’s face hardened.
“You ordered the shipments.”Silence.“You moved the money.”More silence.
“You surrounded yourself with men willing to kill anybody who got too close.”Mateo’s nostrils flared.
Chris continued.“You sent men after me because you thought I was talking.”
“That turned out to be a pretty good instinct.”
“You almost got your sister killed doing it.”That landed.Mateo’s expression changed.
Chris lowered his voice.“So yeah.”He looked around the warehouse.“You did this yourself.”
For several seconds, Mateo said nothing.Then he laughed once.Quietly.“You really believe you’re the good guy here.”Chris’s eyes hardened.“This isn’t about me being good.”
“What is it about?”
“Evidence.”Chris gestured toward the narcotics.“That.”Then the vehicles.“That.”
The cash.“That.”He looked directly at Mateo.“And you being stupid enough to believe nobody would ever get close enough to see it.”Mateo almost smiled.“I let you get close.”
“Yes.”
“I trusted you.”Chris didn’t answer.That silence seemed to affect Mateo more than anything else.“You know the fucked-up part?”Chris waited.“I actually liked you.”
Something uncomfortable moved through Chris.He covered it.“Roman was charming.”
Mateo laughed.“No, he wasn’t.”Chris’s mouth twitched.“Fair.”
“You were an asshole.”
“Still am.”
“Apparently.”For one tiny second, there was something between them resembling the relationship they’d had before tonight.Then Mateo looked at the badge clipped to Chris’s waist.It disappeared.“Christopher Walker.”Chris said nothing.“That’s your real name.”
“Yes.”
“Everything else?”
“Some of it.”Mateo frowned.“The driving?”
“Real.”
“Street racing?”
“Not the way I told you.”Mateo gave a bitter laugh.“Federal training.”Chris nodded.“Yeah.”
“The guns.”
“Training.”
“The fighting.”
“Training.”
“The fucking paranoia.”Chris almost smiled.“Definitely training.”Mateo shook his head.“I should’ve known.”
“Maybe.”
“No.”He stared at Chris.“I should have.”His gaze dropped toward one of Chris’s old scars visible above the edge of the tactical shirt.
“The bullet wounds?”Chris went still.“Real.”Mateo studied him.
“Undercover?”Chris didn’t answer.Mateo understood anyway.
“Jesus.”Then his expression abruptly changed.As though one final piece had dropped into place.His sister.
“Does Camila know what you are?”Chris’s face went unreadable.Mateo saw it.“Walker.”
Chris glanced toward the agents around them.Then back.“Yes.”Mateo stared.“She knows you’re FBI.”
“Yes.”
“She knows Roman was fake.”
“Yes.”
“How?”Chris’s jaw tightened.“She found out.”
“Found out how?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.”Chris stepped closer.“Tonight, very little that matters to you is going to change anything.”Mateo’s eyes flashed.“That is my sister.”
“I know.”
“You’ve said that from the beginning.”
“And it was true every time.”Mateo looked at him for a long moment.Then asked:“And she’s still with you?
”Chris didn’t answer.He didn’t have to.Mateo watched his face.The silence.The shift in Chris’s eyes.And understood.His expression slowly became colder.
“She is.”Chris said nothing.Mateo laughed.Not because anything was funny. “Jesus Christ, Camila.”
“Leave her alone.”
“Oh, now you’re protecting her from me?”
“I’ve been protecting her from everyone.”
“Including yourself?”That one struck exactly where Mateo intended.Chris’s jaw tightened.Mateo saw it.“Didn’t think so.”
“I never wanted her involved.”
“You fucked her.”
“I know.”
“You fell into her bed while collecting evidence against me.”
“This case was never about her.”
“But you were.”Chris went silent.Mateo stared.And then he saw it.Not attraction.Not guilt.Not simply protectiveness.Something much bigger.Mateo’s face changed.“You love her.”Chris looked at him.No lie this time.No reason for one.“Yes.”One word.Mateo stared.
Chris didn’t look away.“Yes,” he repeated.“I love her.”Mateo’s expression became unreadable.“You’re serious.”
“Completely.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I don’t care whether you believe it.”
“My sister fell in love with an FBI agent who infiltrated my organization.”Chris almost laughed at the absurdity of hearing it summarized.“Apparently.”
“That’s your answer?”
“I don’t exactly have time to unpack the psychology of it with you.”Mateo stared at him.
Then something almost protective entered his expression.Brother.Not cartel king.“Did you use her?”Chris’s amusement disappeared immediately.“No.”
“Did the FBI tell you to get close to her?”
“No.”
“Did you fuck her for this case?”
“No.”
“Did she ever give you information about me?”
“No.”
“Did you ever ask her to?”
“No.”
“Chris.”Mateo used his real first name.Chris held his eyes.“No.”Firm.Certain.
“Camila was never an asset. She wasn’t leverage. She wasn’t an informant. She wasn’t part of the investigation.”Mateo studied him.“She was specifically off-limits from the beginning.”That almost made Mateo laugh.“Worked out well.”Chris exhaled.“Yeah.”
“You don’t follow instructions very well.”
“You have no fucking idea.”Mateo’s mouth twitched.Then the humor disappeared.
“You hurt her.”Chris swallowed.“I know.”
“She trusted you.”
“I know.”
“She probably told you things she’d never tell anybody.”Chris didn’t answer.Mateo leaned toward him as much as the agent holding his arm allowed.“You better understand something.”Chris stared.“If she stays with you after this, it isn’t because what you did was okay.”
“I know.”
“It’s because that girl loves harder than she should.”Chris’s throat tightened.“I know that too.”Mateo’s eyes narrowed.“Do you?”
“Yes.”Chris’s voice softened.“That’s exactly why I’m scared to death of what I’ve done to her.”For the first time, Mateo had no immediate response.Chris looked away.Just for a second.Camila at headquarters.Safe.Hopefully.Waiting.He wondered what she was thinking.
Whether she was watching the operation.Whether she’d heard Mateo was in custody.
Whether she hated Chris right now.Whether she’d meant it when she’d said:I love you.
He closed his eyes briefly.Of course she’d meant it.That was Camila’s problem.She meant everything.When Chris looked back, Mateo was studying him.“What?”
“You really do love her.”
“I already told you that.”
“I thought you might still be lying.”Chris smiled bitterly.“I’m trying to cut back.”Mateo laughed once.Then an agent approached.“Walker.”Chris turned.“Yeah?”
“We need primary transported.”
“Copy.”The agent reached for Mateo.Mateo didn’t move.His attention remained fixed on Chris.“Then God help you.”Chris frowned.“What?”
“When Diego figures that out.”Every muscle in Chris’s body went still.The warehouse noise seemed to fade around him.“What did you say?”Mateo saw the reaction.
“Diego.”Chris stepped closer.“What about him?”
“He never trusted you.”
“I know.”
“He’s been digging into Roman since before the hotel.”
“I know that too.”
“No.”Mateo’s voice changed.“You don’t.”Chris stared.Mateo leaned closer.
“Diego wasn’t just investigating you.”Cold moved down Chris’s spine.
“He was watching Camila.”Chris’s expression transformed.Completely.Mateo saw it immediately.There.The weakness.The exact thing Diego had apparently already discovered. “Why?”
“Because he noticed what I noticed.”Chris’s voice became low.“What?”
“The way you looked at her.”Chris said nothing.“The way she looked at you.”
Mateo continued.“You were too careful around everybody else.”His eyes narrowed.“Not around Camila.”Chris’s heartbeat accelerated.“What does Diego know?”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t fuck with me.”
“I’m in handcuffs inside a warehouse full of federal agents, Walker. Do I look like I’m enjoying myself?”
“What does he know?”
“He suspected you were leaking information.”
“Yes.”