Destroy For Her - R.B. Hilliard Page 0,51
together on South Congress a few years later, and how he then followed them and came up with his plan to take her from him.
She knew Carlos was crazy but . . . “He told you that? That’s insane. No, it’s beyond insane. How did the DEA find out?”
“You know that meeting yesterday morning? It was about Luca. He’s DEA and has been trying to take down the cartel for years now. Carlos was his mark.”
Sage couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She tried to picture Luca as anything but Carlos’s guard, and couldn’t. “My Luca?” she asked. Alex scowled, and she rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean.”
“Apparently, your Luca was planning a sting. He knew you were innocent and didn’t want you and Petal to get swept up in the takedown, so he got you both out. The sting never happened.”
“Why?”
He crawled to where she was sitting and pulled her onto his lap. Her stomach instantly knotted.
“Luca said that when Carlos discovered you were gone, he went ballistic. I’m sorry, baby, but he killed everyone at the compound.”
Her head twisted, her eyes clashing with his, the pain of his words radiating through her. “He did what?”
“He killed everyone in the house. Luca was calling to warn us that he might be heading our way. When Steele told him the douchebag was already here, Luca asked for the club’s help in taking him down.”
She gave him a look of disbelief. “Are you sure he killed everyone?” Her heart twisted painfully at the thought of Rosa, Almea, and Alon. They were only trying to help her.
“Everyone but his bodyguards and Luca.”
“You’ve known since yesterday? Why didn’t you tell me?” The thought that he’d kept it from her hurt.
“Steele put a gag on it, babe. I couldn’t.”
The excuse sat like a bitter pill on her tongue. She flashed back to Gibbs, to the secrets and lies, the cheating and the endless heartache—all of which Alex knew about. Heart racing, she scrambled from his lap. “Is this how it’s going to be? You lie and blame it on Steele? I lived that life and barely survived it the first time. I can’t do it again.”
He leveled her with a flat stare. “I didn’t lie, Sage. I withheld information until it was safe to tell you.”
She swiped at her tears while at the same time trying to get ahold of her anger. “Withholding is the same as lying. I said no more secrets.”
“And I said, Steele put a gag on it. I knew it would upset you. You were finally happy. Why would I ruin that until I absolutely had to?”
She drew in a sharp breath. Happy? Was he serious? “Last night, before the bonfire, I had a panic attack. A full-blown freak-out, Alex. I cry every day and have nightmares every night about being back in that place. I wouldn’t exactly call that happy, would you?”
Hurt flashed across his face. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you get angry every time I bring him up. Because you want to pretend it didn’t happen. Because I’m broken!” she shouted.
“You are not broken,” he growled back at her.
“I said no more secrets!”
His brows shot to the ceiling. “Yeah? Well, it looks like I’m not the only one keeping secrets, now, does it?”
Anger punched through her. “Get out.”
“Fuck no.”
Hot tears spilled down her face. “I can’t do this right now, Alex. Please, just . . . go.”
“Sage—”
He reached for her and she lost it. “Fucking leave!” she screeched.
“Fine. You want me gone? I’m gone.”
He stalked from the room, the door slamming behind him with a loud bang.
Sage dropped onto her side and cried—for Rosa, Almea, and Alon—but also for the woman she once was.
Chapter Nineteen
AX WAS IN no mood to party. Angry with Sage and beyond exhausted, he bypassed the game room and headed out the front door.
On the ride home, he thought about his dad and how different his life would be, had he lived. He’d probably be living in Arizona and working at his old man’s construction company. Who knows, he might even own it by now. They would have stayed in Arizona instead of moving to Austin. His mom wouldn’t have chosen the bottle over raising her own son, and Grizz wouldn’t have been forced to intervene. He owed everything to his uncle. If not for Grizz and the club, he would have ended up like his mom, or even worse. It was a debt he could never repay. As much as