Beneath the Secrets, Part Two (Tall, Dark & Deadly) by Lisa Renée Jones

Part 2:
    ***Begins where Part 1 leaves
off***
     
    Chapter One
     
     
     
     
    “She’s with me and if you don’t
drop the gun, I’ll take you to visit my pops.”
    Relief washed over Kara at the
sound of Blake’s voice and the sight of him holding a gun on
Ignacio, though she had no idea what the heck he meant by visiting
his “pops”. Maybe it was some sort of slang term Ignacio understood
but, truly, she didn’t care. Only seconds before she’d thought she
was dead, about to be shot to death in a dark corner, squatting
behind a brick wall. Turned out the retail strip she’d thought a
perfect spot to spy on the pier, where the Alvarez Cartel shipped
off insane amounts of illicit drugs under Ignacio’s supervision
wasn’t so perfect at all.
    “Your pops?” Ignacio snapped. “What
the hell does that mean?”
    Okay, so apparently Ignacio didn’t
understand Blake’s slang either, but it was distracting him from
firing the gun so it worked for her. Kara used the opportunity to
ease her hand inside her purse, and close it around the base of her
Glock.
    “Pops,” Blake said with a snort.
“My father. The man who donated sperm to birth me so I could hold
this gun I’m pointing at your head. Comprende?”
    Ignacio chuckled, but it sounded
strained. He wasn’t amused at Blake’s arrogant, nonchalant
smart-ass remarks. Kara was, or she would be if Ignacio wasn’t
still pointing the damn gun at her. “So our new head of security
needs his father to do his dirty work?” Ignacio asked.
    Blake shrugged. “What can I say? My
pops gets pretty lonely. I hear being dead does that to a guy,
though. Would you like to find out for yourself?”
    Despite her obviously dire
situation, Kara had to choke back laughter that would surely get
her a bullet in the head. Oh my God, Blake was crazy and she loved
it.
    “Do you know who I am?” Ignacio
challenged indignantly. He was all about being the boss man’s
nephew, but didn’t seem to mind stealing from the drug shipments
behind his uncle’s back. Of course, he didn’t know they knew that
yet.
    “Yep,” Blake confirmed. “I know who
you are. Now ask me if I care.”
    Kara’s lips twitched. Oh yes. Blake
was a piece of work all right. It was almost like he was daring
Ignacio to shoot him. Oh God. Her stomach knotted with realization.
Blake did want
Ignacio to try and shoot him. He was taunting Ignacio into turning
the gun on him. Blake was risking his own life for her; a man she
was sure would kill her if he knew the truth of who she was and
what she was after. Could she get any more confused or conflicted
over this man than she was now? Because damn it, she knew he was
aligned with the cartel and was easily someone who would kill her
if he knew her secret, but still, she couldn’t bear the idea of him
dying to protect her.
    The cold steel of her weapon
comforted her only slightly, considering she couldn’t see Ignacio’s
face through the drape of his long, dark hair to gauge his
reaction. The barely lit corridor of the building they were in
front of didn’t help either, nor did the late hour, but she didn’t
miss the way his shoulders bunched and his spine stiffened before
he added, “My uncle—”
    “Won’t care if I kill you,” Blake
assured him. “Not if I give him a good reason for doing it. And I’m
real damn good at justifying why I kill people. Put the gun away,
or I’ll prove just how good. Of course, you won’t be around to be
impressed, but I’m sure your replacement will be.”
    “Not until you explain how our
meeting ended twenty minutes ago and you’re still here.”
    “The devil is in the details, man,”
Blake replied, “and I intend to know them all. Consider me the
devil in your uncle’s pocket. I want to know everything you do and
not just what you say you do.”
    “Mendez is my uncle,” Ignacio all
but growled. “Check up on someone else.”
    “He wants me to check up on
everyone. You included.”
    Ignacio stared at Blake.