“Back off, Tony,” Hunt warned, feeling the adrenaline flowing through his body. He was getting mad too. He was here so that they could come up with a plan to find their daughters. If Tony needed to be knocked on his ass to realize they had to work together, Hunt was happy to oblige. But before this could happen, he had to let them know Leila was his daughter. He had no idea how they would react.
Tony’s face was red with anger, the veins in his neck bulging. His fists were clenched, and Hunt guessed he wasn’t about to back off despite his warning.
“How dare you talk about my father?” Tony roared. “He’s dead because of you.”
Tony telegraphed his next move and swung his fist toward Hunt’s chin. Hunt stepped back, and the fist missed by a couple of inches.
“Stop it, Tony!” Anna yelled, but to no avail. Tony grunted and threw a hook that Hunt parried with his forearm and countered with a pistonlike jab, catching Tony flush on the chin; he followed with a right hook that slammed into Tony’s cheek. The sound of bone against bone, with flesh caught in the middle, echoed off the living room’s windows. Tony took three steps back, a dazed look on his face.
“Goddamn it! Stop it, you two!” Anna screamed.
The commotion prompted Tasis to barge into the room with his MP5 swinging. Hunt raised his hands.
“We’re fine, Mauricio,” Anna said.
Tasis looked at Tony. For a moment, Hunt wondered if Tony was about to ask Tasis to execute him. But a subtle nod from Tony sent his enforcer back into the corridor with a loud sigh. It was obvious to Hunt that this wasn’t the outcome Tasis had hoped for.
“Have a seat, Tony, please,” Hunt pleaded. “Can we focus on the reason why I’m here?”
“This thing between us,” Tony replied as he sat, his eyes glinting with a fury Hunt had rarely seen, “it isn’t over.”
Anna questioned whether she’d done the right thing contacting Pierce. Clearly her brother wasn’t ready to see him; she wasn’t sure she was ready either. What she truly wanted to do was hide in a corner. The humiliation she had suffered at the hands of this man, especially at the trial, continued to weigh heavily on her shoulders.
Terrance Davis, the man she had fallen in love with, was ruthless but tender and compassionate at the same time. Pierce Hunt, on the other hand, was a mystery to her. She didn’t know him at all, and certainly anything resembling trust between them had gone out the window when he betrayed her. For months after his treachery, she had been a total emotional wreck. Her appetite gone, she had lost ten pounds within a few short weeks. She thought all this was behind her, but seeing him again, here in her brother’s house, brought back painful memories. A ton of questions popped into her head. Was any of the intimacy they had once shared genuine? Did he really love her? If so, how could he have been so cruel? For her, it would have been impossible to fake the craving she had felt for him.
Good God, I was such a fool.
She wished, in a quieter, more secret part of her mind, that he had truly loved her. That would mean that he would have at least suffered a little when everything fell apart. Not that any of that mattered. Anna took a deep breath and pushed aside her needs and uncertainties. “Can we talk?” she asked.
“I’d like to say something,” Hunt said, “but you’ll have to keep your cool. Especially you, Tony.”
Tony opened his mouth, but Anna beat him to it.
“We’re listening.”
“I was with your father when he died.”
“How—” Tony barked but stopped when Hunt raised his hand.
“Let me finish, then I’ll answer your questions.”
That shut Tony up, but Anna knew there was a fight raging inside him.
“Your father was being transferred to a safe house when his motorcade got ambushed this morning. I was part of his protective detail.”
“The newspapers said you were suspended after what happened in Chicago,” Anna said. She didn’t know what to think anymore.
“Today was my first official day back on duty.”
“You’re DEA scum,” Tony hissed. “Why were you part of his protection detail?”
“Vicente agreed to testify against Valentina Mieles, also known as the—”
“We know who she is,” Tony cut in. “She’s the bitch who kidnapped my daughter—”
“And mine,” Hunt said softly.
“What are you talking about?” Anna asked, confused.
“Leila’s my daughter.”
Anna felt a massive jolt of electricity shoot through her body. For a moment, she forgot how to inhale. Hunt’s words were so shocking that they froze her frame but thawed her heart. Could it be true?
She studied his face for any sign of deceit but didn’t find any. His jaw was set, but his eyes revealed his vulnerability.
I’ll be damned. He’s telling the truth.
Hunt watched the color drain from Anna’s cheeks.
“Un-fucking-believable,” Tony said from the sofa, even though his tone betrayed the fact that he did believe it.
“So, as unreal as it sounds, Leila is Sophia’s best friend,” Anna said.
Everybody fell silent as they realized how awkward this was.
“I was supposed to bake them blueberry muffins, for God’s sake,” Tony said, his voice choked with tears as he raked his fingers through his thick black hair.