32. Diego’s Revenge #2
“That we’re together.”Her hand instinctively moved toward her stomach.Chris didn’t notice.“That you matter to me.”He paused.“And that if he wanted to hurt me…”Camila finished it.“He’d use me.”Chris’s face hardened.“I hate that word.”
“It’s true.”
“No.”
“Chris.”
“You are not leverage.”
“To him I am.”Chris stepped closer.“To me, you’re the woman I love.”Camila swallowed.“And that makes me a weakness.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Why are we arguing semantics?”
“Because you’re not a fucking weakness.”His voice rose.Then softened immediately.“You’re the reason I want to make it through this.”Camila stared at him.Her eyes filled.Damn him.“That’s annoyingly romantic.”Chris smiled.“I have moments.”
“Rare ones.”
“Very.”She touched his face.Then her expression became serious.“What happens now?”
“You stay under federal protection.”
“For how long?”
“Until Diego is caught.”
“And if that takes months?”Chris didn’t answer.Camila’s eyes widened.“Chris.”
“We’ll reassess.”
“That’s FBI for yes.”
“Probably.”
“Can I go home?”
“No.”
“The mansion?”
“Absolutely fucking not.”
“Your apartment?”Chris hesitated.
“No.”That one hurt.“Why?”
“Because Diego may know where it is.”Camila went quiet.Of course.She’d found the badge there.Made love to Chris there.Slept beside him there.It had felt like the only place that belonged to them instead of Mateo.Now Diego might know about that too.“So where do I go?”
“Safe location.”
“Safe house?”Chris nodded.“Yes.”
“With people watching me constantly?”
“Yes.”She folded her arms.“I hate this.”
“I know.”
“I hate your job.”Chris smiled faintly.“You liked the driving.”
“I liked the criminal version of the driving.”
“Same driver.”
“Unfortunately.”He laughed.Camila stared at him.Then she realized something.“You.”
“What?”
“Where are you going?”Chris’s expression answered before his mouth did.“No.”
“Camila—”
“No.”
“You’ll be protected.”
“Where will you be?”
“Working.”
“Looking for Diego.”
“Yes.”
“While every surviving cartel member has your face?”Chris didn’t answer.She stepped closer.“That’s what you just came in here to tell me, isn’t it?”
“Partly.”
“They know what you look like.”
“Yes.”
“They know your real name.”
“Yes.”
“They know you’re FBI.”
“Yes.”
“And you’re going out there?”
“I have a job.”Camila laughed bitterly.“Of course you do.”
“Camila.”
“No. I understand now.”She walked away.“You run toward everything.”Chris stared.“Gunfire.”She turned.“Car chases.”
“That’s not—”
“Warehouses full of armed men.”
“Occupational hazard.”
“Cartel fugitives who want to kill you.”Chris tried:“Technically—”
“Do not technically me.”He shut up.Camila’s eyes filled.“Do you have any idea how terrifying it is to love you?”That erased every trace of humor from his face.Chris approached slowly.“Yes.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I do now.”She looked at him.Chris took her hand.“I spent months thinking the dangerous part was lying to Mateo.”His thumb moved across her knuckles.“I was wrong.”
“What was the dangerous part?”
“Falling in love with you.”Camila swallowed.“Because now you have something to lose.”
Chris nodded.“Everything.”Her eyes filled.And suddenly she wanted to tell him.Now.
Forget perfect timing.Forget quiet.Forget waiting.Her hand moved into the pocket.
Her fingers closed around one pregnancy test.Chris watched.“What?”Camila pulled it halfway out.Then—Chris’s phone rang.She froze.Chris looked at the screen.Mercer.
Of course.Camila slowly pushed the test back into the pocket.Chris answered.“Walker.”
He listened.His expression changed.“How long ago?”Pause.“Send it to me.”He ended the call.Camila stared.“What now?”Chris looked at her.“Diego sent something.”
“To who?”
“Us.”
“What?”
“A photograph.”Chris’s phone vibrated.He opened it.And went completely still.Camila saw the blood leave his face.“Chris?”He didn’t answer.She stepped closer.“What is it?”
Chris turned the phone slightly away.Too late.Camila saw.A photograph of her.
Taken outside Mateo’s mansion weeks earlier.She was standing beside Chris’s SUV.
Laughing.Chris was behind her.Watching her.Neither of them had known they were being photographed.Across the bottom was a single message.EVERY MAN HAS A WEAKNESS, I FOUND YOURS.Camila stopped breathing.Chris stared at the photograph.No panic.No visible fear.Something colder.Far more dangerous.
“He was watching us.”Camila whispered it.Chris locked the phone. “Yes.”
“For how long?”
“I don’t know.”She looked at him.“Chris.”His jaw flexed.“I don’t know.”The door opened.
Mercer entered with Sloan.“Protective detail is being upgraded.”Chris nodded.“She doesn’t leave federal custody.”Camila stared at him.“Chris—”He turned.“No arguments.”
She almost fought him.Then she remembered the photograph.Someone had been close enough to take it.Close enough to watch them.Close enough to know.Her hand moved protectively over her stomach.This time Chris saw.His eyes dropped.Camila immediately moved her hand.But something flickered across his face. “What?”
“Nothing.”Chris narrowed his eyes.“Camila.”She shook her head.Not now.Not while Diego’s photograph was still glowing on Chris’s phone.Not while federal agents were discussing safe houses.Not while Chris had just learned his face was being passed around to cartel associates.She forced a smile.
“I’m tired.”Chris didn’t believe her.Not completely.
But Mercer was already speaking.“We move her within the hour.”Chris looked at him.
“I’m going.”
“No.”Chris’s eyes hardened.“What?”
“You are currently one of the most recognizable federal agents to every remaining Vargas associate.”
“Exactly why I’m going.”
“Exactly why you’re not.”Camila watched them.The FBI was protecting her from Diego.
And apparently protecting Chris from himself.Mercer looked toward Sloan.“Finalize transport.”Sloan nodded.Chris turned back toward Camila.“Wherever they take you, you listen to them.”She lifted an eyebrow.“You’ve met me.”
“Unfortunately.”
“Chris.”He smiled.Then kissed her forehead.His hand rested against the side of her face.
“I’ll find Diego.”Camila closed her eyes.“That’s what I’m afraid of.”He kissed her.Soft.
Lingering.Then pulled away.Camila caught his hand before he could leave.“Come back to me.”Chris looked at her.The teasing disappeared.“I will.”
“You keep saying that.”
“And I keep doing it.”Her eyes filled.Chris squeezed her hand.Then walked toward the door.Camila watched him leave.Only after the door closed did she reach into his sweatshirt.
She pulled out both pregnancy tests.Sloan looked at her.Camila stared at the two pink lines.Diego knew she was Chris Walker’s weakness.But Diego didn’t know everything.
Not yet.He didn’t know there was another person Chris would soon love just as fiercely.
Camila placed a trembling hand over her stomach.And suddenly federal protection wasn’t only about keeping her alive.It was about keeping their baby alive too.