Chapter 6

Teresa rolledover and stared at the floral-patterned wall, lit by the early light of dawn. Her bedroom wall didn’t look like that. Her wall was boring beige.

Angelo’s house.

She’d spent the night at Angelo’s house. In his guest room.

Had he decorated the room himself, or had he had some help?

The wallpaper didn’t seem the type of decorating choice he’d make. There was very much a definite feminine feel to the area.

The walls on either side of the wallpapered one were a warm cream color, which enhanced the featured wallpapered wall.

Even the cream bedspread had a floral pattern embroidered on it with gold thread. It was elegant. When Teresa had come into the room the previous evening, she’d given her surroundings a cursory glance before collapsing in bed. The events of the night had caught up with her. Not to mention she was angry with the way Angelo hadn’t budged on letting her out of his sight.

Now, in the clear light of day, it hit her how screwed up her life had become.

Had Angelo been right?

Should Teresa have found a reason not to turn up to Arturo after she’d met with her boss to let him know what she’d discovered?

Possibly, but the horse had already bolted out of the gate, so she’d had to take the ride and see it out.

Lazing about in bed wasn’t the way she was going to get anything completed. There was still the matter of deciphering more of the information Teresa had taken from her job.

Over the past couple of weeks, she’d been discretely slipping printouts of what she’d found in between legitimate work and putting it in her purse.

No way was she an accountant. She was a journalist, but over time, she’d picked up a few extra skills—not enough to get her employed as an accountant, but enough to get her hired as an assistant to an accountant.

Her job had been to sort through the information clients had brought in to get their taxes and other accounting needs met.

It really had been pure luck that Teresa had come across the information she had. Her manager had dumped a load of files on her desk, and amongst them were files associated with Ramirez Cartel, only they weren’t labeled as such. No, they were connected to a couple of vaping stores, which she’d suspected were a front for drug deals. There was no proof of those type of deals happening, but her journalistic instincts had tingled that a vape store was the perfect cover for dealing drugs.

That was what she was trying to figure out before she’d left for the day and had hoped to go over it at home. Only, well, shit had happened, and here she was, lying in bed in Angelo’s house.

A soft knock on the door was a welcome distraction from thinking about her problems and where she currently was.

“Come in,” she called.

Angelo’s head popped around the corner. Yesterday, his eyes had been open, friendly, and welcoming. Today they were cool and closed off.

Teresa didn’t like the change it. She’d rather see his browns warm with humor, not cold with indifference.

“I wanted to let you know that I’ve cooked some bacon and eggs if you’re hungry. We need to leave in about an hour. Will that give you enough time to shower and eat?”

Yep, talk about being straight to the point. No did you sleep well? Or are you okay this morning?

Well, if that was how he was going to play it, then she could be professional and indifferent too.

“Should be plenty of time,” Teresa said, although the idea of putting the clothes she’d had on the previous day wasn’t appealing.

Could she talk him into taking her to her apartment to shower? If he was worried about it being dangerous, she could reassure him that she wouldn’t take that long to get ready.

She’d even forgo doing her makeup, although that would only add an extra fifteen minutes to the trip. She didn’t need hours to dress.

“Good. I’ll see you in the kitchen. You should eat while it’s hot.”

When the door shut softly, Teresa flopped back on the mattress. This change in Angelo’s attitude confused her. All last night, he’d been patient and understanding. Of course, he’d gotten angry when she’d told him what she’d found, but even then, he hadn’t been this closed off. Perhaps in the cold light of day, Angelo regretted his offer to help.

God, if he did that, what would she do then? Who could she turn to?

No way could she go to the police because she’d found evidence of payments to names she recognized as being local law enforcement—officers she’d worked with on occasions when she’d been in between undercover assignments and was covering other news stories.

If Angelo had changed his mind, Teresa would figure out what to do next. Could she go to the FBI or DEA?

Again, there was a chance that there were dirty agents working for both of those places. Ramirez would’ve had people placed everywhere to cover keep his ass covered. His reputation was well known as one of the biggest drug suppliers, but while he remained in Mexico, he was safe—well, as safe as he could be because there were other cartels waiting to take over his territory.

If she stayed in bed, nothing would happen, so she needed to get moving—and if Angelo announced he wouldn’t be taking her to his company to discuss what she’d told him, then she’d deal with it.

The aroma of the food he’d cooked assailed her nostrils the moment she opened her door. She went to the kitchen and found him leaning against the counter, one leg crossed over the other as he scrolled through his phone.

Like the previous day, he wore a suit. Her mouth watered at the sight, and she blamed it on the food and not how handsome and sexy he looked in his dark blue slacks and jacket. His hair was slicked back, and there was a slight sheen to his beard as if he’d used some oil on it.

Would it be soft if she touched it?

Her fingers tingled, and she clenched them together to stop herself from reaching out.

“Something smells good,” she said instead, and Angelo straightened from his pose, his expression still blank.

What the hell happened in the time I went to bed to now? Did he find out something bad and doesn’t want to tell me?

“I left your plate in the warming tray. Take a seat, and I’ll get it out for you.” There was a hint of warmth in his tone, but not much.

“Thanks.” Teresa sat at the table they’d sat at the previous evening.

Would he join her?

Angelo set the plate in front of her. “I’ve got to grab a couple of things from my home office. You should find everything you need in the guest bathroom.” He turned to leave.

“Angelo, I want to go back to my apartment to shower and change. It won’t take long.”

He stopped at her words. “I don’t think that’d be a good idea. You don’t know who’ll be watching your place. I’d prefer to take you to Alliez. Then I can go and pick up everything you need so you can stay here for the foreseeable future.”

No.

Teresa wasn’t losing all the control of her life because of one story. She wasn’t going to be banished from her home. Never before had she had a gun in her place, but she’d go get one now. She had her license and had done all the training necessary to use a weapon.

She most definitely wasn’t staying with Angelo, not with the way he was treating her.

“That’s not happening. I’m not staying here. Last night was fine, but tonight I’ll be staying at my place.”

Angelo closed the distance, and Teresa stood taller.

No way was she going to let him intimidate her.

“If you want to do that, then I’m staying with you, but you’ll be safer here.”

“Nope, not happening. You are not staying with me, especially when you’re acting like an ass.”

He quirked an eyebrow, and one corner of his lip turned up in half a smile. “We’ll see. Now, how about you finish breakfast? Then you can shower. The longer we delay, the longer it’ll take us to get to Alliez because traffic will be a bitch.”

Without waiting for her to respond, he walked away.

Teresa watched him go—part frustrated and part turned on because his ass was damn fine in his trousers.

“Ugh!” The urge to stomp her foot was a demand, but she controlled it and sat back down to eat. Her stomach grumbled in appreciation of the food. She scooped up some of the scrambled eggs and shoved them in her mouth—hated eating them but really loving their soft fluffy texture.

By the time Angelo came back into the kitchen, her plate was clean, and she’d drunk a glass of orange juice.

“You ready to leave now and take me back to my apartment?”

Was she pushing it? Probably, but she wasn’t being railroaded into conforming to what he wanted. It’d taken her years for her peers to respect her abilities as a journalist and more importantly, as an investigative journalist. She’d worked damn hard, and while her current situation wasn’t ideal, she wasn’t going to cower in a corner.

Arturo Associates needed to be shut down so Ramirez didn’t have an avenue to clean his dirty money. The vaping shops would be shut, and it would be because of Teresa and what she’d uncovered.

Somehow, some way, she was going to break the story, and while it wouldn’t rid the streets or the world of drugs, it would, hopefully, stop one avenue.