Confessed (Vargas Cartel #3)(56)

I glanced to the side, unable to maintain eye contact with him. It hurt too much. I had begged him to come over and discuss everything that happened with Senator Deveron after the story broke, but he rejected my invitation.

“I don’t have anything to say to you or Mom.” My voice trembled, and I choked back a sob.

His nostrils flared. “Can I come in?”

“Is Mom with you?”

“No,” he answered, shaking his head. “I thought it’d be better if I came alone.”

“You can come in.” I opened the door wider and closed it behind him. “Do you want anything to drink?” I asked as we moved through the apartment.

“No. I’m good.” He settled onto the sofa in the living room.

I sat on the chair across from him. “What did you want to talk about?”

He ran his hands along the tops of his thighs. “Mostly, I want to apologize for not coming over after the story about Senator Deveron came to light.”

I raised one eyebrow, already feeling drained by this conversation. “An apology. That’s it?”

He pursed his lips. “This is hard for me, Hattie.”

I leaned back in the chair and folded my arms across my chest. “Yeah, I can imagine how hard it is for parents to support their child and believe them. I’d always thought it was something that came naturally, but apparently not,” I said, my voice laced with sarcasm.

My dad held up his hand. “To be fair, your mom didn’t tell me anything about your suspicions of Senator Deveron.”

“Really? I find that hard to believe.” I’d told my mom Senator Deveron had orchestrated my abduction by the Vargas Cartel, but she believed Evan over me and dismissed my accusation as a sign of Stockholm syndrome.

He exhaled and squared his shoulders, staring out the window. “She didn’t say anything right away. She mentioned it during your road trip when we couldn’t get in touch with you for a few weeks.”

“And you didn’t bother to talk to me about it.” The words tasted like ash on my tongue.

“For the most part.”

My brows scrunched together. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I did some digging into a possible connection between the Vargas Cartel and Senator Deveron.”

I unfolded my arms, and tapped my fingers on the armrests. “Did you find anything?”

“Nothing concrete. I found curious coincidences, though.”

“But you didn’t do anything about it.”

“I didn’t have the chance to decide one way or another before the whole story landed on the front page of a trashy grocery store tabloid. Did you have anything to do with that? The identity of the source is protected.”

My gaze darted to the side as I contemplated how much to tell him. “Yes.” I sighed. “I gave them the story along with the backup documentation.”

“Where’d you get the information?”

I rubbed my hands over my lips. “I lied. I didn’t go on a road trip a few weeks ago. I went to Mexico. I ended up at the Vargas compound. I got the information when I was there, and a friend helped me shop the information around. That trashy grocery store tabloid was the only place with enough guts to print the story.”

He opened, then closed his mouth in quick succession. “Jesus, Hattie. I don’t know what to say.”

I rolled back my shoulders. “I did what I had to do. I couldn’t let him get away with what he did to me.”

“Do you have any idea what the Vargas Cartel will do to you if they realize you are the source behind that article?” He tugged on the ends of his hair. “They will come after you and they will kill you.”

I smiled condescendingly. “You’re wrong. You don’t know what you’re talking about. They aren’t going to do anything to me.”

He jumped to his feet, his eyes wild. “Maybe you think they won’t hurt you because they let you walk away unharmed once, but you’re wrong. Those people are animals. They will hunt you down and…and…”

“Tie me to a lamppost and cut my head off,” I said without emotion, and his eyes bulged. “Because I’ve seen them do that. Or maybe they’ll brand me like a farm animal.” I slid up the sleeve of my shirt and exposed the burn marks on my arm. “There are so many options, I don’t know where to start.”

His faced paled, and he looked like he might be sick. “Why the hell did you go back there? I can’t believe you broke into the compound and put yourself in danger again.”

“I didn’t break into the compound. I was a guest.” I shrugged as though I didn’t have a care in the world. “In fact, one of them gave me all those documents. He even arranged my first meeting with a newspaper.”