Romero (33 page)

He logged back into the software and it went directly to the last records he’d looked up—Charles’s secret bank account. There were an awful lot of hefty deposits in the last few weeks and suspiciously large amount of transfers to another bank account. Romero clicked on the account the money was being transferred to. The account was registered to a Nicole Herrera in Miami, Florida. Interesting.

He got caught up snooping for about an hour. In that time he uncovered the hefty deposits to Charles’ account all matched the same amounts of withdrawals from another account Charles had only that account was registered under the LLC name Montenegro for Mayor Campaign. Could Charles be stupid enough to be taking campaign donations and funneling them to his girlfriend’s account? Didn’t he know all this shit could be traced? Unless he really thought that no one would ever suspect.

Romero remembered Pat bragging at the announcement dinner about how most of the donations to the campaign were coming from Charles’ connections. If that was the case, Charles could be reporting smaller donations than were actually being made and pocketing the rest. All he had to do was deposit the actual amount and withdraw the difference, but it was still a risk.

Deciding this was just too interesting to not look into further, Romero put in a few calls to some of his own connections.

Pissed that he’d wasted an hour on this, he got his stuff together and headed out to meet a client.

By the end of the day, he was anxious to see Isabel again. He called her on her way to her apartment but she hadn’t answered. As he drove in, he noticed more cars in the parking lot than usual. If he wasn’t mistaken, one of them was Pat’s car.
Fuck.
He hoped she wasn’t there.

Romero caught a glimpse of who was there. Both her parents, even Charles, and then he saw him—Jacob. Immediately it spiked his senses. Fucking Pat. She was never going to give up.

Then it hit him and he almost laughed, though he wasn’t amused at all. It was so stupid but it didn’t surprise him that Pat would do something like this. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“And what does bringing her ex-boyfriend along, have to do with me being dangerous, Pat?” He practically spit her name, feeling the anger begin to take over. Before she could answer, he turned to Isabel. “Are you seriously buying this shit? Do you really believe for a second that I could ever hurt you?”

“No!”

“Be reasonable, Bell,” Pat insisted. “He says he won’t now but look how quick he is to get violent. Believe me I know the signs.”

“You don’t know shit!” He turned back to Isabel. “Are you really gonna do this Isabel? Go back in there and listen to all her bullshit and have your fucking ex-boyfriend tell you why I’m no good for you? Don’t you see what she’s doing? ”

“I don’t think I like the tone you’re taking with either of my daughters.” Her father stepped in front of Pat. “This is why we’re concerned, honey. If he speaks to you this way now how can we trust that he won’t get worse?”

Charles stood behind Pat now. Romero smirked. “No disrespect, sir.” His eyes met Charles’. “But I’d say Isabel is not the daughter you should be worried about.”

“How dare you!” Pat moved herself in front of Charles.

“Romero!” Isabel finally spoke up.

“It’s okay,” her father said, putting his hand on Pat’s shoulder. “I think I know exactly who I need to be concerned for and it’s not Pat.”

Charles hadn’t stopped staring at Romero. “Go back to your little intervention, Isabel—back to Jacob.”

Isabel called out for him as he walked away. He had to, and he wasn’t looking back either. If he stayed there even a minute longer, he might help Pat prove at least one part of her points. Things could get violent very quickly and he wasn’t about to put on another show for her sister to use against him.

It didn’t even bother him so much that they think he wasn’t good enough for Isabel. What bothered him the most is that they would think he could ever hurt her. He’d throw himself in front of a bus for Isabel before he’d hurt her.

He’d only been at Moreno’s for about twenty minutes venting to Sal about Isabel’s intervention when his phone rang. It was her.

“Please come home.” Her voice broke as she continued. “I made them all leave. I didn’t want to have to choose but if they’re gonna make me then I choose you. I love you.”

Romero stood up and waved at Sal, walking back toward the exit. “Baby, don’t cry. You don’t have to choose. I’ll just… I’ll just stay away when they’re around.”

“No, if they won’t accept you then they lose me, too. I told them that.”

Damn it. This wasn’t what he wanted. As big a pain as her family was, he knew Isabel would be miserable if they were out of her life. He’d seen how excited she was about seeing Art this weekend. “I’m on my way, babe. We’ll talk when I get there.”

After hearing Romero speak to both Pat and Isabel the way he had, her father told her the family would never turn their back on her but they’d also never accept Romero and that was final. More than just his language, he was convinced that he one day would get the tragic news that Romero had unloaded all that anger he seemed to be carrying, on her.

For the first time, he brought up the fact that Romero’s father being in jail must have a lot to do with it. He’d seen the vicious cycle time and time again. A father convicted of a violent crime more than likely would have children who followed in their footsteps.

Isabel insisted Romero’s father had not been convicted for anything violent, but it was futile. Her father had already taken it upon himself to look into Romero’s dad’s case and knew that he’d nearly killed a man with his bare hands while incarcerated. He’d given Romero the benefit of the doubt, but after seeing what he’d done to Michael he was convinced that it was just a matter of time before he became violent with her, too.

No one was more adamant about it than Pat, and she’d taken great offense to Romero insinuating her father needed to worry about Charles. Isabel wasn’t sure what
that
had been about but she could only assume he was looking for any way to offend her, though smearing someone who had nothing to do with it was probably not the smartest thing to do.

The only thing Jacob had said was that he would always be there for her if she ever needed an ear and for her not to hesitate to call him.

In the end, none of them were able to convince her that Romero could ever hurt her. Not once in all the times she’d seen him angry had she ever felt threatened. She was tired of them trying to demean him. If any of them would just take the time to get to know him they’d understand why she was so in love with him.

Romero tried to convince her Friday evening when he got back after they left that she should be there with her family on Sunday for Art’s announcement. He said he didn’t mind not being there, he’d use the time to work out, something he’d been neglecting lately. At first, she refused but he was able to convince her when he pointed out that Art had nothing to do with the intervention and he could probably use her support, since Pat would more than likely do or say something to sour his big announcement.

They’d made love for hours after that, with Isabel wanting to show him how little influence her family’s worries had on her. Even if they didn’t, she believed in him—in them—categorically.

Saturday, Romero told her he had to work most of the day. He’d cut down significantly on the weekends but she knew in his line of work, weekends had to be busy for him. She was a little disappointed she’d looked forward to spending the entire day with him since part of Sunday she’d be busy with Art’s brunch, but she didn’t complain. How could she?

On her way to meet Valerie at the mall for lunch she got a call from Jacob. She sighed, remembering the intervention and wondered if he had more to say.

“Listen I just wanted you to know, that yesterday I didn’t feel real comfortable about the whole intervention thing. Your sister sort of caught me off guard when she asked me to be part of it.” He was quiet for a moment. “I don’t want you to think for even a second that I don’t think you smart enough to come to your own conclusions, especially one as big as this one. Your family made a lot of good points yesterday but bottom line is the guy has a short fuse, and from what it sounds like, mostly when it comes to anyone coming between the two of you. Who could blame him right? So he blew up and he has, as your sister put it, a filthy mouth.” He chuckled a little, making Isabel smile. “Being in the Navy, I’m around a lot of guys like that. And I know it doesn’t mean they’re bad. I know you, Bell. If you feel it in your heart—you truly believe he would never hurt you. Then go with your gut. Forget what everybody else says. I wanted to say this last night but I had a feeling I’d be mauled by your family. So I just wanted you to know I wish you only the best, and I know you don’t need anyone helping you make these kinds of decision for you. Least of all me.”

Isabel’s felt her heart swell. Despite things not having worked out between her and Jacob, she remembered now why she’d been with him for such a long time. He was a good guy through and through with a heart to match. “Thank you, Jacob. That means a lot to me. I had a feeling my sister’s persuasiveness had more to do with you being there yesterday than you thinking you needed to convince me Romero was bad. Thanks for this. It’s nice to know someone has faith in my ability to make a judgment call.”

“I
know
you do. That’s why I wanted to make sure you didn’t think I didn’t.”

She wished him the very best as well before hanging up and felt even better about standing her ground against her family’s wishes.

*

Isabel reached across the table at lunch and squeezed Valerie’s hand. “I’m glad you’re better; the last couple of days have been so crazy for me I’d forgotten to call you.”

Valerie called Isabel Friday morning letting her know she was feeling better but wasn’t up to talking. With the stupid intervention waiting for her when she got home, she hadn’t had a chance to talk to her. But last night Valerie called her and invited her to lunch today. “I
was
feeling better last night. That’s why I called you, but I almost cancelled because I woke up feeling like total crap this morning again.”

Still eyeing her menu for anything that sounded good, Isabel didn’t look up. “What do you think it is?” The Crab Shack wasn’t one of Isabel’s favorites but Valerie really liked it.

“Hmm, I dunno.” It was odd to hear Valerie sound playful about being sick. “For the past few days I’ve been throwing up my guts every morning.”

Isabel lowered her menu to see Valerie smiling. “Oh my God. Are you…”

Valerie laughed. “I’m not sure yet but it’s a definite possibility. I’ve been off the pill for almost a month now. Only problem is my period’s been all screwy because of it.” She put her menu down and grinned. “The best part about it is Alex is totally clueless. He really thinks I have some kind of stomach virus. I wanna keep it that way so I can surprise him.”

Isabel couldn’t help but smile giddily then stopped. “You’re not upset about it are you? I know you said you wanted to wait a little longer.”

“I did but now that I might be, I’m actually getting excited about it. I just don’t wanna say anything to Alex until I know for sure. He’s been pushing for this for a while now. I’d hate for him to get his hopes up and then have it be a false alarm.”

“I won’t say anything to Romero until it’s a sure thing and Alex knows.” Isabel reached across the table and a squeezed Isabel’s hand. “I’m excited for you. I really am.”

Isabel filled Valerie in on everything that happened the last couple of days and everything she’d cleared up with Romero, including his relationship with Cici and her son, Moe. Valerie nearly swooned when she saw the ring he’d bought her and said she didn’t care what anyone said. It was definitely an engagement ring.

They’d almost made it through their entire meal when Valerie had to leave the table suddenly, feeling sick. Isabel was about to get up and check on her when she saw a very pale looking Valerie walking back to the table. Isabel felt so bad for her.

“Maybe it
is
a virus. This is the first time it’s hit me in the afternoon.”

Isabel smiled, tilting her head. “It’s only called morning sickness but it can hit at any time of the day. I’m even more convinced now that you are pregnant. I’m only sorry you didn’t get to keep your lunch down. You were in there for a while. You probably threw it all up.”