The Stronghold. Lisa Carter

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СКАЧАТЬ the serial be the monster who destroyed her life? Pilar fought to steady herself. Was this a chance to, once and for all, end the nightmare she’d been living? To make sure he never hurt anyone else the way he’d hurt her?

      She schooled her features. “Okay. I’m in.”

      “Good.” His brow creased, Alex examined her a moment before glancing away. “Team meeting at the tribal station at eight a.m. sharp. Then I need to interview the canyonland neighbor.”

      He leaned across her and threw open the door. “Tell Manny we’ll finish the game we started soon as I get a chance.”

      The door dinging, she inched past him. His overwhelming physical presence as usual weakened whatever resolve she ever drummed up concerning him.

      “And Pilar?”

      One foot on the running board, she paused, clutching the folder to her chest.

      “I’ve always believed you and I make a great team.”

      ***

      Alex drove a further twenty-odd miles southeast toward his grandmother’s ranch. Passing under the crossbars of the bull and the T for Torres, he reckoned his abuela counted him first and foremost among the bullheaded.

      The headlights swept the sprawling adobe ranch.

      He’d spent time in a multitude of countries, yet here’s where he considered home.

      Because here he first met Pilar.

      Parking in the circle drive, Alex laid his forehead on the steering wheel.

      God, how he loved her. How he’d always loved her. And seeing her again after all these years?

      She reduced him to feeling like the same gawky teenager he’d been when he dared to reach for barely understood dreams and failed so miserably. His stomach knotted—when he’d failed her so miserably.

      He’d lived the last decade and a half in a sort of sensory deprivation. Only today had the colors of the sky and desert sprung to life once more for him. And with his nerve endings no longer numb, he felt a raw, searing hurt every time he looked at her.

      Every time she glared at him with such icy hatred, his gut clenched at what his irreparable mistakes cost them. Cost her.

      The front door opened, spilling light onto the wooden planks of the veranda. And the diminutive form of his grandmother stepped into the night air.

      She motioned. “Come, mi nieto. Tell me about this long-awaited reunion between you and your Pilar.”

      If only she were still his . . .in every way that mattered.

      His grandmother sat down in a rocker at the corner of the porch. She patted the rocker’s twin and he sank down.

      “Knowing Pilar, I’m going to hazard a guess she’s livid with me for not warning her you were taking this case.”

      He scrubbed his face. “Livid’s not the half of it. Although, most of her rage is rightly aimed at me.”

      Isabel Torres sighed. “Despite my best efforts over the years, I’m afraid our Pilar doesn’t do forgiveness. Only revenge.”

      “Don’t know why we’d expect anything different.” He dropped his chin. “Vengeance, after all, is the Apache Way, isn’t it?”

      “It is the human way.” Abuela wrapped the fringed shawl closer around her shoulders. “It will be good for Pilar to have you here. But her anger’s far better than the state she was in when she first returned. After . . .”

      He gripped the rocker. “I pursued this case because it’s a chance to put things right, Abuela.” He grimaced. “As right as they can ever be between Pilar and me.”

      She rested her blue-veined hand on his. “It is good this thing you do. You will bring justice and healing to Pilar. It is long past time for the both of you to move forward with your lives.”

      And what if moving forward involved someone with Pilar other than him?

      His heart squeezed.

      Alex had blown his chance with her. Pilar deserved closure and so much more. A chance at happiness.

      His grandmother stilled. “I was so worried about Pilar then. She’d gone inside herself somewhere, and no one could reach her. Not Byron, nor I. We were so afraid . . .” Abuela’s voice trembled. “I’m fairly certain she was hurting herself. To release the inner pain.”

      Shrinking inside himself, he closed his eyes.

      “Having Manny in her life has been her salvation. He kept her from the brink of the abyss. And I don’t think she’s . . .” Again, his grandmother faltered. “I don’t think she’s done those things to herself in a long while. Manny gave her a reason to live, to get up in the morning. A purpose greater than herself.”

      Alex set the rocker in motion. “When Byron called me, he said Manny was in trouble.”

      “She and Manny need your help. Manny may be the only way to get through to Pilar. Though our rather-take-a-fist-in-the-mouth Pilar is never going to admit to that.”

      “I think fist-in-my-face is the way Pilar’s leaning right now, Abuela.”

      Isabel laughed and sounded younger than her years. “That’s the Pilar we know and love, isn’t it, Nieto.”

      “She’s determined to keep me at arm’s length for the duration of this investigation.”

      “After losing both parents early, she’s spent a lifetime erecting barricades.” Abuela rose, her joints creaking. “You’ll find a way to breach her defenses. You always do.”

      She smiled. Her teeth flashed white in the darkness of the night. “You’ve always been the chink in her armor.”

      “Her downfall, too.”

      “You must stop punishing yourself. Not everything was your fault.”

      She planted a quick kiss on his forehead. “Your parents and I were equally afraid we’d lost you, too, back then. Afraid your self-flagellating penance would bring you home in a body bag.”

      Alex would never tell Abuela or his parents how close he’d come to dying on a dusty battlefield in the Helmand Province. Later after his Quantico training, he’d poured himself into his undercover work in Mexico, battling not only the insidious evil of the cartels but also his own despair and self-loathing.

      But he’d not understood why he’d survived when so many good men hadn’t, until Byron called him a month ago with an opportunity for absolution.

      Absolution was all Alex dared to imagine.

      “God has a plan for you and Pilar, Alex.” His grandmother placed her cool, dry hand against his cheek. “Plans for a future and a hope. He’s not done with either of you yet. Hang on to your faith. Don’t let go of it or her.”

      Faith—hard СКАЧАТЬ