The Last Husband (Forever Love #2)(36)
Author: J.S. Cooper

“This is Zane.”

“Zane. It’s Special Agent Waldron.”

“Hello.”

“Is it clear?”

“All clear.” My voice was tight. “Though we need to hurry. I have a guest who may come in the room soon.”

“We’re very close to linking Braydon to a cartel in Mexico. We think he’s trafficking a lot more than we thought.”

“Okay.” My heart thudded in anticipation.

“We think he has a partner.”

“Oh?” Evan!

“Someone who is brokering the deals, someone who has more connections.”

“I see.”

“We need both of them to make an arrest.” The Agent’s voice was firm. “We get both of them, and they implicate Sanchez for us, then we got him.”

“Do you know who the partner is?”

“We have some ideas, but we aren’t releasing any names yet.”

“But I’m helping you—you can’t tell me?” My voice was angry. “Look, I have a girlfriend now and I’m scared she may be targeted.”

“Get her out of town.”

“I can’t do that.” There was no way that I was sending Lucky anywhere, not when I couldn’t be sure she was safe. “She’s staying here with me.”

“We can’t guarantee her safety.”

“I’m getting a bodyguard.”

“Zane, I don’t suggest you bring anyone else into this situation right now. It’s very delicate.”

“I know that!” I shouted. “And she’s already involved. I didn’t want it to happen, but it did. If you won’t protect her, I will.”

“You need to be careful, Beaumont. You cannot share any privileged information with her.”

“She’s not a spy.”

“You don’t know that. You can’t trust anyone at this moment.”

“I trust her with my life.” I spoke the words and knew they were true.

“Zane, you cannot jeopardize this assignment. We have been working too long on bringing this cartel down. Do you want to bring Braydon down? The man responsible for the ending of your relationship with Noah?”

“Do I want to bring down the guy who murdered my brother? Of course I do, you f**king ass**le! Don’t you ever question me again! I am helping you!”

“Calm down, Beaumont. We can’t have you ruining this with your emotions.”

“I’m calm.” I wanted to throw the phone against the wall. “Does Braydon know you’re on to him?”

“That cocky bastard has no idea.” Special Agent Waldron laughed. “And he has no idea about you, so keep it that way.”

“I’m not about to let him know now.”

“Just let him think it’s about the revenge. Mention nothing about drugs.”

“I’m not dumb,” I hissed angrily.

“We know that, Beaumont, but we’re close to the end here. We just need to make sure we catch them both.”

“What do you want me to do if you won’t tell me who the other suspect is?”

“Just follow through with the plan we already have.” The Agent’s voice was rough. “Don’t f**k it up.”

“I won’t,” I sighed. Even if it f**ked up my relationship with Lucky, I wasn’t going to mess up this case.

“I’m sure you have an idea who Braydon’s partner may be.”

“Yes.” I thought back to all those nights hanging out with Evan and I couldn’t believe I had missed all the signs. He was such a kiss-ass with everyone, and now I knew why. My heart raced as I realized what Lucky had told me. Leeza was coming into town today – her best friend. Her best friend who had dated Evan. Oh shit! I had to make sure to tell Leo to keep an extra close eye on Lucky and Leeza. I didn’t want her going anywhere with that girl.

“Beaumont, are you there?” The Agent’s voice sounded tired. “Do what we asked and provide us with the information. That’s all we want from you, okay?”

“Okay,” I sighed.

“If all goes well, we may have enough evidence to make some arrests within the next week or so.”

“I sure hope so.”

“I gotta go, Beaumont.” And with that, the agent hung up.

I stared at the phone in my hand, my heart pounding. We were close to the end. I couldn’t believe it. I’d been a part of this case for so long and it was nearly over. I was close to seeing Braydon Eagle locked behind bars. I grimaced as I thought about him. While seeing him in jail would make me happy, it wouldn’t bring back Noah.

***

“So Leeza is your best friend?” I kept my voice light as we drove to the airport.

“Yeah, she’s one of my best friends. She was really there for me when my parents died.” Lucky looked out the window. “We’ve drifted apart recently, though.”

“Oh yeah? Why?”

“After I adopted my rules and stopped partying with her so much, we kind of grew apart. She kept going out and meeting guys and bringing them home, and well, I just worked a lot.”

“She’s like your family, now, then?”

“Family’s overrated.” She pursed her lips and cleared her throat.

“I take that as a no.”

“No, I don’t mean that. She’s a good friend of mine. Sometimes friends are better than family. Sometimes family lets you down and you just don’t know why.”

“You sound like me.” I looked at her, worried. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah.”

“You wouldn’t lie to me, right? It’s not the baby, right?” I reached over and squeezed her knee. “I know we’re both disappointed, but it’ll be okay. Everything happens for a reason.”

“How did you get to be so wise?” She half-smiled. “But it will be nice to see Leeza. Maybe we can have a girls’ day, and she can tell me what happened with Evan.”

“Are you sure they broke up?” I kept my face looking forward.

“Yeah, that’s what she said.” She played around with the radio and I resisted the urge to keep questioning her. Leeza had tried to cause trouble for Lucky and me, before. Maybe she knew that I had never been stalking Lucky. Maybe she wasn’t trying to be a good friend. Maybe she was just a bad friend, and Evan was using her to get to me.

“Remind me I need to talk to Leo before you all go to dinner tonight.”