Seeing Valentina up close, even briefly, had only fueled his drive to keep on pursuing her no matter the cost. The view hadn’t been as clear as he would have liked—the car window separating them was an inconvenience, but at least he had seen her. That was all that mattered.
The blonde in the driver’s seat had given him the stink-eye, dismissing him like he was a bug on the windshield. Well, fuck her, she was nobody. She couldn’t see through the tinted windows anyway. And was that really how she looked at people? Talk about ‘resting bitch face’. He’d just as soon bash her face in with a baseball bat than to deal with her.
All that mattered was that he save his beautiful muñeca -- his pretty little doll he could keep for his own once he got her away from the Ramirez family. And that needed to happen sooner rather than later; he needed to act before those Colombian killers got any deeper inside her head and turned her against him.
An unsettlingly visceral rage simmered within him at the knowledge that he couldn’t get his hands on her. If only she knew how much he loved her, she would let him take her away from the prison they’d put her in. He was just glad he had the resources to follow her and make things right.
If he didn’t help her she would surely die and he couldn’t let that happen. Love took effort and sacrifice. If he had to kill everyone around her to save her—to save their love -- then that’s what he would do. It wasn’t her fault she couldn’t see the light of truth yet. Her vision was obscured by Victor Ramirez’s deceit and manipulation.
His conscience was clear. He wasn’t doing this just for him; the world needed her talent, needed her beauty. Yes, he was employing the same underhanded tactics Victor Ramirez had used, but this time the result would be good and not evil.
“Fuck getting license plate numbers. I know exactly who this is,” Juanita hissed. She had realized who it was after pulling up to a light and getting a better look at the two passengers.
After Juanita parked the SUV and got out, Valentina had to run to keep up with her as she powerwalked back to the black SUV that had been following them. “I wasn’t planning on working out today,” she gasped as she caught up to Juanita just in time to see her confronting the driver, who had lowered his window as Juanita approached and started jabbing her finger into the air in front of his face.
“Don’t you have something better to do, Agent Turner, than follow women around? Shouldn’t you be catching criminals or something?”
“Now, Juanita, you know--” Agent Turner gave up, knowing better than to try to get a word in while Ricardo Ramirez’s wife was in a roll.
“And you…” she seethed, her finger now pointed at his passenger.
Rene Murphy watched the exchange impassively, giving nothing away as she idly clicked open and shut the vintage lighter she held in her hand. It was her only ‘tell’, a habit she’d picked up because it helped her handle stress. She was adept at maintaining a poker face and right now she was in top form.
Valentina interrupted Juanita’s indignant rant before she could stop herself. “Mom, come on and let’s go shopping, the sales are waiting.” She had to keep this situation from escalating. Not only would the Ramirez men lose their minds over such a disaster, but a night in jail would mean tabloid headlines that she would never live down. She had learned early on in her career that being in the public eye was a double-edged sword that must be respected.
“Find something else to do with taxpayer money besides following innocent people around, ‘kay?” Juanita huffed, glaring back at Turner as Valentina led her by the elbow to the mall entrance. It wasn’t until they got inside that she turned and smiled broadly at Valentina. “You’re calling me Mom now? Really? You know, if it was anyone else I’d feel old, but coming from you that makes me feel all warm and gooey inside.”
“Holy fuck, do you know who that was?” Rene’s voice shook slightly, betraying a nervous excitement that her partner had never heard before concerning a civilian.
“What’s going on with you? I’ve never seen you act like this over a criminal, Rene. That wasn’t the first time you’ve seen Juanita Ramirez.”
“Not her, the other one. She’s not a criminal, David. That was Valentina Vargas. She’s an actress. And the Ramirez boys are supposedly going straight, you know. That right there, the fact that they have Valentina Vargas working for them adds credence to the rumors. Shit, maybe they’re really serious about going legit.”
Turner’s eyes widened and his shoulders shook with laughter. “What. The. Fuck. I can’t believe it, you’re a fangirl.” He wasn’t used to his partner ever taking the side of any criminal organization and yet here she was, sticking up for the Ramirez family because of her love for a TV show.
“Look,” Rene said, “ever since you started talking about retiring you’ve been on a rampage against Glazov, Bratva and the Colombians. What, do you want one last bust before you ride off into the sunset? If this is some kind of ego trip for you, that’s how people get killed and I don’t want any part of it.”
“I’m not on an ego trip, Rene, I just don’t believe anyone involved in organized crime can ever truly go straight. Corruption hangs onto you like static cling. As far as Valentina Vargas is concerned, I know how the Ramirez men operate and I can promise you that Victor Ramirez probably held her captive and made her go to work for them. One thing’s for sure: she’ll never escape the stranglehold that family has on her—never.”
She was only halfway listening to him, she was utterly distracted by the fact that Valentina Vargas was living in Louisville. Rene was typically the epitome of professional objectivity and decorum, but this encounter had really hit a nerve. No way was she going to let her partner cause Valentina any problems that weren’t absolutely necessary. After all, that would mean not being able to watch her story every day and she was too addicted to it to ever let that shit happen.
She needed to figure out what her partner was up to and that might not be so easy. Agent Turner could be a closed book when he wanted to be.