Page 23 of Dark Reunion

It was Dean’s turn to smirk as he lifted the glass in a mock salute. “The funny thing about theft, old man…you can’t have something stolen from you when it was never yours to begin with.”

Carlos’s grin faltered. The reaction he’d hunted for slipped through his fingers. His gaze hardened, but he only chuckled, shaking his head.

“Careful, hijo. Even masks crack if worn too long.”

“Only if the mask is fake. It has been many years, and I do not care what you do to the girl. Keep her, kill her, fuck her, she is nothing more than a pawn. Unless I’m wrong?”

His father’s nostrils flared in obvious frustration. “No, you are not wrong.”

With that, his father left the office, irritation leaking from every step.

Dean let the smirk drop the second the door shut. He set the glass down, his hand trembling despite the ice in his veins.

Pulling out the phone Ricco had gotten for him, Dean slid open the encrypted app he’d hidden weeks ago on his father’s phone. Every text Carlos sent, every call he made, Dean saw it all. And there it was, the call from California.

His chest tightened.

There were only two people in California he could trust. Sandman and Crosshairs, if they were still there. He did a quick search for Trevor Anderson and found him instantly, but trying to fine Maeve would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

Dean looked over Trev’s profile, he was a fancy ass lawyer and in the heart of Cali.

Good.

Dean really didn’t know how the two brothers would take to him calling out of the blue. It had been a long time, but they didn’t exactly see eye-to-eye, and now Dean needed to confess to them both that it was his fault that people they loved were dead. Shit, he couldn’t do that yet. He might need their help to rescue Maeve and wouldn’t chance them saying no.

Dean closed his eyes and shook his head, needing a moment to compose himself. Even if they hated him once they learned the truth, Trev would always do what was right.

Fuck.

He hoped Trev was still the same man who had been his commanding officer.

Dean slipped the phone back into his pocket, his expression giving nothing away once more. Timing mattered. He couldn’t move too soon, couldn’t risk drawing Carlos’s eye. Especially, since the caller didn’t have Maeve yet, and she could still escape. If Dean acted too quickly, then he’d tip his hand.

But one truth carved itself deep into his bones. Maeve…Isabella…could never come back here. If Carlos touched her again, if he dragged her into this cage…God only knew what he would do with her this time.

There was no way in hell Dean was letting his father get his hands on her again.