I work to keep my face impassive as I take a seat across from him and Cora.
“I may have a way to help her, but she might not like it,” Mr. Nash says. “I have a friend in the FBI who would be very interested in what she has to say about this sex-trafficking ring. It could mean federal protection. Possibly a new life, a new identity. She’d have to leave everyone and everything behind, including her sister, and start over. She’d have to testify in Sam French’s hearing and the case against the asshole who trafficked her. It would mean months of isolation, followed by being set up in a new city with a new identity. Most people don’t get what that means.”
“She would,” I answer. She’s already done it once. She could do it again.
He studies me for a moment. “You couldn’t go with her,” he says quietly.
I glare at Cora. How could she fucking tell him?
“Your sister didn’t betray you. You betrayed yourself.” He holds up a hand. “I don’t want to know about it. I’m not happy about it, but I understand how these things can happen.” He glances at Cora. “I watched my son go through the same thing with your sister.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Like I said. I understand. Why don’t you have Vera come in here so we can talk about our next steps?”
I go back to the office half expecting it to be empty when I walk in. Vera sits in my office chair, her hands folded over her bag on her lap. She looks up when I walk in. There’s a resigned set to her jaw. She did something to her face, some makeup or something. She’s always pretty, but to me, in this moment, she’s breathtaking. The back of my eyes sting and my throat feels like I tried to swallow a bite that wouldn’t go down. I want to say something to her, something meaningful and memorable. My mind is blank. Even if I could think of what to say, I’m not sure I could actually say it.
“You say the most when you don’t speak,” she tells me, as though reading my thoughts. “You have a very expressive face if you know how to read it.” She stands. “If I don’t get the chance to tell you, I want you to know that you’re the most remarkable person I’ve ever met.”
“Thank you.”
She draws her bag over her shoulder. “Well?”
“Mr. Nash wants to see you in the conference room.”
“Okay.”
As she walks past me, I whisper, “I’ll never forget you.”
Her steps falter, but she keeps moving. I follow her down the hall and close the door behind us. I wait for her to take her seat, and then I choose a chair two down from hers. I can’t be next to her right now. Just being in the same room is damn near killing me.
Cora makes the introductions, her gaze flickering to me, then away. I’m not sure yet how I feel about how she forced Vera to tell me the truth. I honestly didn’t want to know. I guess somewhere deep down inside I knew it would end Vera and me. Even those few times I tried to pressure her into telling me, I didn’t really have my heart in it. I’ll deal with Cora and what she did later. Right now I’m anxious to see how Vera takes what Mr. Nash has to say. What would I do in her place? Take the deal. Easy answer for me, but not so easy for Vera. She doesn’t have any faith that the police or even the FBI can protect her. I have to admit after learning what that fucker’s capable of, I have my doubts too.
Mr. Nash extends the offer he told me about to Vera—to talk to his FBI friend. He lays it all out for her, including the real possibility she might not walk away from the crimes she committed when she stole that car and property. He makes no promises.
“I’ll see about talking to your friend when Marie is safe.”
“What about your safety?” I ask.
She makes a noise that’s half laugh, half scoff. “I’m not safe. I’ll never be safe. I’m already dead.”
Chapter 28
Vera
Mr. Nash is a nice man—I’ve gotten good at telling decent men from sadistic sons of bitches—but he’s na?ve. As soon as I talk to his friend, I’m dead.
The thing about being a high-end prostitute is that you service high-end clients. I’ve fucked some of the most powerful men in the state and some very influential visiting dignitaries, including an FBI agent or three. Unless Mr. Nash’s friend has an extremely high level of authority, he can’t keep my identity completely secret from the entire FBI. Javier will know—probably within a day or two—that I intend to bury him. The one thing Javier cannot stand is betrayal. I’ve already betrayed him, but if I take it to the next level he won’t care about making the kill himself. He’ll get whoever he can get to do it.
This is the decision I made in that hallway when I told Beau the truth—suicide.
I can tell by the looks on their faces that none of them get what I’m saying. Even after everything Beau’s been through, he, his sister, and Mr. Nash still believe that good will always prevail. It doesn’t. Sometimes evil wins and there’s nothing you can do about it.