Chapter 30

The knock camewhile Teresa and Angelo were sitting on the couch.

He’d kept his word, and all he’d done was wash her while they were in the shower.

She hadn’t missed how much Angelo was enjoying touching her again, and she couldn’t deny she loved having his hands on her body, but Teresa was still sore. Her heart was telling her to let him possess her, her mind was saying otherwise.

He opened the door. The sound of voices drifted toward her, and she couldn’t help but smile. It grew wider when Astrid trooped in, along with Eveline, Growler, Ox, Cass, and Irish.

Growler held a large basket which could only mean one thing—Astrid had cooked for them.

Teresa’s stomach grumbled in anticipation of the culinary delights her friend had conjured up.

She limped over to hug everyone. “Hey, did someone arrange a party without telling me?”

“Surprise,” Angelo said and slung an arm around her shoulder. “I figured after all that lovely hospital food, you’d want something ordinary.”

“Hey, my food is anything but ordinary.” Astrid punched his arm.

Teresa didn’t protest—he’d deserved that.

Angelo smirked.

“Come on, I’m starving, and you don’t want to make the injured lady wait, do you?” Teresa batted her eyelids.

Everyone laughed, and Teresa was so happy to hear the sounds, something she been curious if she’d ever hear again while she’d been traveling in the car with Phillip.

A shudder rippled through her just thinking about her close call.

She hadn’t had nightmares, but she suspected they’d come and she wouldn’t have to deal with them alone. Angelo would be by her side and help her through it.

“You good?” the man she loved asked as the others drifted toward the kitchen, and it was just the two of them in the living room. “If it’s too much, I can send them home, but you know we need to…”

“Need to talk to me about what happened, right?” They’d given her time to recover. Not to mention she’d told Angelo she only wanted to tell the story once. Today was that day. Although there were parts of the episode which were still a little hazy.

“Yeah, are you up for it?” Angelo brushed his hand over her head and down her hair, tangling his fingers in the fine strands.

She loved it when he touched her so gently. “I am. And I’m starving. Come on, let’s get the food before everyone eats it.”

He chuckled and gave her a side hug before pulling her toward the kitchen.

More laughter greeted them when she and Angelo joined their friends, and the happiness swirled around Teresa, giving her the confidence to share her story.

These people were her friends. From the little that Angelo had told her, Cass had worked herself ragged trying to find her. The guilt that she hadn’t noticed Teresa had been gone a lot longer than she said she’d be. Not to mention that she’d missed Phillip’s connection to the cartel, had eaten away at her until Cass had heard Teresa had been found.

When Cass had visited her in the hospital, Teresa had assured her she didn’t blame the other woman at all for what happened to her. It’d happened, but she was safe because of everything Cass had done to locate her.

Everyone dug in, and the conversation mainly centered around the delicious breakfast casserole Astrid had made, along with the fluffy and buttery croissants.

With every mouthful of food and every sip of juice or coffee, the time for Teresa to speak about her ordeal drew nearer.

“Phillip ambushed me the second I stepped out of the building,” she blurted, instead of waiting for the questions to start, needing to be in control of it all.

Silence descended around the table, and Angelo’s hand landed on top of hers. “You okay to do this now?”

“Yes. The sooner I get it out, the sooner we can all move on.”

“Okay.”

Teresa spent the next few minutes explaining how Phillip had dragged her to the car. Taunted her and had seen her fiddling with her earrings and how he demanded she hand them over. “If I hadn’t have touched them, Phillip would’ve never noticed them. I don’t believe he knew they were tracking devices. I think he thought maybe Angelo gave them to me and wanted to get rid of them because he was jealous. I’m sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry for,” Ox said. “We were able to follow you for as far as we did, then we used what other avenues were available to us to find you.”

“I didn’t even know he’d thrown them out the window. I thought he kept them in his pocket or something. He’d slammed my head against the window after I handed them to him and knocked me out.”

Beside her, Angelo growled, and Teresa didn’t miss the way his fingers curled into a fist as if he wanted to punch Phillip. He probably did, but the guy was dead so he wouldn’t be able to.

“What about when you got to the cabin? What happened then?” Growler asked, his brown eyes dark and intense.

“When I came to, I was blindfolded and bound to a chair. I had no idea where we were. Then this guy turned up and shot the driver of the car. He had an argument with Phillip before shooting him, too.” Her body began to shake as she remembered what came next. The way she believed that it was the end for her.

Angelo’s hold on her tightened. He shifted his chair back while pulling her onto his lap. The second his arms closed around her and she was held securely against his chest, the shaking subsided a little, and she was ready to go on with her story.

“I’m sure he said ‘forgive me’ before he shot me. My head was swimming because he’d pushed the chair over, and my head slammed against the ground, aggravating my injury from when Phillip hit me. I couldn’t see him, of course. I just heard him.”

“What did he sound like?” Astrid whispered.

Growler was holding her just as tightly as Angelo was holding Teresa.

She closed her eyes and thought back to that time in the cabin, trying to recall the voice. “I think he had a slight accent. He said he was sorry for what he had to do, or something like that. I asked to see his face, but he said he couldn’t do that.”

“It has to be him,” Astrid said to Growler. “It has to be the same guy.”

“What do you mean by that?” Teresa asked.

Astrid’s fingers dug into Growler’s arm. “When I was taken. Like you, I’d been hit over the head so everything was blurry, but a man came into the place Pedro was holding me and he hit me over the head. Before he did it, he said that it was for my own good. When I came to, Callum was there, and Pedro was gone.”

“When we broke into the cabin, you were alone, Tre. There was blood spatter, so we knew something had happened, but my focus was on making sure you were okay.”

Teresa nodded. “It does sound like the same guy. So, is he a good guy or a bad guy?”

Ox shrugged. “A combination of both. But we got some information before we narrowed in on your location that is starting to make sense to all of us now.”

She looked around the room. The men were glancing at each other in silent communication. Even Eveline and Cass were having a silent conversation. “This information, can it be shared with me?”

Ox gave a slight nod, but it was Angelo who spoke. “We had a call from the DEA. They have a man on the inside of the cartel. We don’t know if the person who helped you and Astrid is him or not. We have no description of him from either one of you, and the DEA wouldn’t elaborate.”

“Understandable, considering they want to keep him safe,” Teresa said. “In my job, I’ve worked with agencies who didn’t come out and say it to my face, but I figured they had men infiltrate the organizations I was investigating. Maybe there’s another guy in the cartel who has a conscience when it comes to harming women.”

Angelo scoffed. “Unlikely, but I guess stranger things have happened.”

“So what now? Does the cartel think I’m dead? Am I able to go about my life as normal or do I have to go into hiding?” It was a thought that had been swimming in the back of her mind, but she hadn’t allowed herself to think too much about it, as she didn’t want to leave Angelo behind. The thought of never being with him was something Teresa couldn’t tolerate.

“From what I’ve found out on the dark web, the cartel is laying low again. They tend to do this when things go sideways for them,” Cass said. “Arturo and Associates are being investigated for money laundering. The trafficking ring Ramirez was involved with has been busted wide open with the rescue of Steff and Cynthia and the others. Their focus is on keeping the heat off them. And didn’t the DEA guy say he would ensure that if we destroy the information Teresa found, they’d leave her alone?”

“You did what?” If she could’ve, Teresa would’ve jumped up from her seat. This was the first time she’d heard about her work being destroyed.

How could they do this to her?

“Saying and doing are two separate things,” Cass said with a wink.

It dawned on her—they’d told the DEA they would destroy the article, but they hadn’t.

“They believe we have, and that’s all that matters. Although I suspect they’re not that stupid, but if they can get the cartel off our backs, then that’s all that matters to me,” Ox said quietly.

As much as Teresa wanted to protest more, she couldn’t deny she didn’t want anything to do with or even hear anything more about the Ramirez Cartel. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me. I didn’t expect any of this when I called Angelo.”

Ox smiled. “Life has been an adventure for all of us over the last year. But hopefully, from now on, things will settle down.”

“Here’s hoping, and I’m glad Steff and Cynthia were found. Are they doing okay?” she asked, relieved that her former co-workers were safe. Along with a lot of other people who’d been taken against their will.

“It’s been tough for them, but they’re getting the help they need. And we will keep an eye on them,” Ox said.

“Did you find any information on why my childhood panda was taken from my mom’s place and left at mine. Or if it was mine at all.”

“Deal and Hound went to your mom’s place,” Angelo said. “They got in and looked around. Nothing appeared to be disturbed but the toy was missing from your mom’s room. Our assumption is, Phillip, or another person from the cartel, knew where your mom lived and arranged for someone to get into the house and get something that could be used to warn you that the cartel could get to her. Probably wanted to use it as a bargaining chip for the information you had.”

The food Teresa had consumed congealed in her belly and she took a sip of water. “Is my mom always going to be in danger?”

Ox shook his head. “Not with what went down with you being taken. Your mom is safe.”

Teresa nodded, believing Ox, he had no reason to lie to her. There was one final thing she needed an answer to and then she could put everything behind her—maybe. “Phillip said he listened to me and so I’m guessing he put some of the listening devices in my place, but would he have really put in over twenty?”

“It’s possible or another person from the cartel did it as well because they weren’t happy with what he was reporting. Which tracks with what you told us about what you overheard in the cabin,” Ox replied.

A shudder rippled down her spine. “I can’t believe he was listening in on everything I did.”

Angelo kissed the top of her head. “It’s all over now. You’re safe.”

The more he said it, the more she believed it. “I know.”

Ox stood and pulled Eveline up with him. “I think it’s time we go so you can rest. Don’t push yourself, and when you’re ready, we can always use another person to help us dig up information on clients and help out at Alliez.”

Angelo’s boss had just offered her a job.

Her life had taken a serious U-turn in the last few weeks, but she had some savings so for the next few months she might sit back and just let life happen. Visit her mom and appreciate being alive.

However, Ox’s offer was tempting. “I’ll consider it.”

There was a flurry of activity as everyone got ready to leave.

Astrid collected all the dirty dishes and put them in the dishwasher, waving off Teresa’s attempts to help her.

The last person to leave was Irish. He studied her, as if needing to reassure himself she was okay, which was weird seeing as she hadn’t had that much to do with him, and when she’d relayed her story, he’d been eerily quiet.

“Good to see you up and about. Take care of Angelo. He’d be lost without you.” Irish nodded and walked out the door, closing it softly behind him.

She was still standing there when Angelo came up behind her, slipping his arms around her. “He’s intense, isn’t he?” Teresa said, as she leaned back against his hard body, loving being in his arms.

“That’s Irish for you. But I’d have him at my back any day of the week.”

She turned in his arms and looped her arms around his neck. “I’m glad he was there for you that night you found me.”

Angelo had told her what he’d gone through when he’d seen her on the ground, thinking she was dead.

“Yeah, me, too.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “I love you, Teresa Carter, and I’m so glad you called me asking for help.”

Teresa’s heart swelled, and she didn’t think she’d ever tire of her hearing him say he loved her. “I love you too.”

As his lips found hers, she sank into the kiss, not believing that she had her high school crush in her arms.

Dreams do come true.