“Is that what you’re looking for with me? Proof I’m some sort of traitor so you can kill me, too?”

“I don’t want to kill you.” He lowered his mouth to her ear. “But make no mistake. If you give me a reason to, I will and so will they. Get out while you can. Go and never look back.”

“I can’t,” she whispered, no hesitation. Two simple words etched with a world of pain and desperation.

He pulled back to look at her, trying to read her expression through the shadows in the dimly lit garage. “Why? What does the cartel have on you?”

She turned away, giving him her profile. Still holding her hands over her head, he reached up and framed her face with his free hand, pulling her eyes back to his. “What does he have on you?”

“Nothing. He has nothing.”

She was lying. He heard it in the quiver of her voice and he suddenly didn’t want to know the truth. He didn’t want her to be the enemy. He released her and sat up, sliding behind the wheel and running a rough hand through his hair, his nerves so on edge his skin was twitching. He cut her a sideways look. “No matter how good you think you are at keeping a secret, I’m ten times better at uncovering them. I’m going to find out what you’re hiding. You can count on it.”

***

Kara slid into a booth at Shivers, a Chili's-style restaurant that drew big crowds, while Ignacio claimed the seat directly in front of her. Blake eased in beside her, settling his leg intimately against hers, and she tried not to think about his confident promise to unveil her secrets. She had to stay focused on the here and now, and hope they might get a tour of the back warehouses she’d been unable to find a reason to get inside. If she could locate the cameras, and the various entrances, then she could enter again without being seen and get a closer look.

“What can I get you to drink?” a waiter asked, stopping at their table with supreme speed.