Stronger Than Sin (25 page)

“Yo, can I get this kind of exam?”

Jesse and Liliana jerked apart and faced the door where Bruno stood, mouth agape. Eyes wide as his mouth flopped up and down
while he struggled for what else to say.

“Whittaker here?” Jesse asked while at the same time wrapping his arm around her shoulders, presenting a calm and unified
front.

Liliana wasn’t feeling so peaceful. Her stomach was alive with nervous flutters, but she knew she had to tame them to handle
Whittaker.

“Yes, has Whittaker arrived? I’ve got news for him,” she said, hating the slight quaver in her voice.

“He’s here, and yeah, I can see you’ve got something to tell him,” Bruno advised cynically and left.

Jesse patted her arm. “You did fine, Lil.”

The shakes she had been controlling intensified, so much so that Jesse must have felt them.

He embraced her tightly, steadying her. She wrapped her arms around him, used him as her anchor, and peace flooded her body.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Ready.”

W
hittaker waited in the middle of the kitchen, arms across his chest. Bruno and Howard flanking him.

Bruno had a goofy look on his face. Howard had a towel around his neck, hands wrapped around the ends of it. The pose made
his muscles look even larger and more menacing.

“You wanted to see me,” Whittaker said, his composure even although she could sense the annoyance beneath the seeming calm.

“She wants to tell you she and Bradford are an item, boss,” Bruno said, earning an elbow from Howard and a rebuke.

“Shut your mouth, you baboon.”

Whittaker arched a brow. “Is that true, Dr. Carrera?”

“Frank Lambert died several hours ago.”

“Since you found out his name, I guess you can notify his family,” Whittaker replied with a careless shrug.

Liliana continued, but beside her Jesse’s body tensed with anger.

She covered his hand with hers, and Whittaker’s gaze flickered down for a moment, then returned to her face.

“I believe Lambert died as a result of the administration of an inhibitor complex.”

Another cavalier shrug preceded his reply. “Wardwell has had that medication for some time.”

Liliana advanced on him and pointed at his chest. “It wasn’t Wardwell’s formula that destroyed a substantial portion of Lambert’s
bone marrow cells.”

“What are you suggesting, Dr. Carrera?” Whittaker asked, as calm as could be.

“I’m suggesting you administered
our
version of the medication. Lambert’s dead cells, together with his depressed immune system, resulted in a systemwide septicemia
that killed him.”

“Shame, don’t you think, Mr. Bradford?” Whittaker replied and peered past her to Jesse.

“Lambert was no longer valuable, but you need Liliana to help with the remaining patients,” Jesse said and twined his fingers
with hers in a show of support.

Whittaker narrowed his eyes and considered them. “So you’re a team now? And you think I need you?”

Howard chuckled ruthlessly, until Liliana said, “Howard needs us unless you want him to end up like Lambert.”

Whittaker smiled, but it didn’t register in his flat, cold eyes. “So you think you know?”

“I know you’re felons and not the FBI. I know you need me and my team to help you.”

His smile flickered, and Howard took a step toward them, but Whittaker snapped up his arm to hold back his associate.

“How can you help?” Whittaker asked with a desultory jerk of his head.

Liliana glanced upward at Jesse from the corner of her eye. There was no going back now. No retreat.

She plowed forward, nearly strangling Jesse’s hand with the force of her grip.

“We’ve got the capabilities to adapt the inhibitor. Develop different strategies to control the gene replication.”

Whittaker jammed his hands into his pants pockets and jingled the change there. “And you’d help me? Fully aware of what I
am? What I do?”

She nodded and waited for him to continue.

The change jingling stopped while Whittaker shot a sidewise glance at Howard. “And in exchange? What do you want, because
no one ever does anything for free.”

“Jesse leaves with me. Right now. You stay away from Jesse’s family and mine. My lab people. And you provide me whatever information
I need about the genes implanted in Jesse.”

The words left her mouth in a rush, and Jesse’s hand tightened on hers, urging caution and restraint.

She paused after the stream of words, waiting for a read on Whittaker.

“That’s not all you want, though, is it?” he said, obviously sure of her intentions.

He wasn’t wrong. “I want you to let me treat the Wardwell patients and the others you’ve taken.”

Whittaker laughed out loud, the sound booming across the tiles in the kitchen. Then he began that maddening jingle of the
change again.

“You think that’s funny?” Jesse confronted, pushing her back toward the man.

Liliana restrained him, then turned and cupped his
cheek. “It’s what we have to do, Jesse. I hate it as much as you do, but it’s what we have to do.”

Facing Whittaker again, he was examining her freshly, as if ready to believe her offer. When he gave a controlled, almost
methodical bob of his head, she realized he had accepted it.

But before she could react, he raised his forefinger. “Understand this, Dr. Carrera.
No one
fucks with me. Break the deal and you’ll all be slowly and painfully dead.”

She didn’t doubt he’d make good on his threat. Which only strengthened her resolve that they would not fail.

“Jesse is leaving with me.
Now,
” she repeated, and although Howard made another threatening move in their direction, Whittaker restrained him.

“Bradford is free to go. I know where to find you.”

And your loved ones.

He didn’t say it, maybe because he didn’t need to. Both she and Jesse understood the stakes of this game, as did the others
helping them with their plan.

“I’ll wait to hear when we can treat the other patients,” she said, and Whittaker confirmed her request with a sharp nod.

Her one hope as she tugged on Jesse’s hand and led him toward the front door was that the players on their team would be stronger.
Faster. Wiser.

The lives of so many depended on them.

And on her and Jesse, she thought, braving a smile as she looked over her shoulder at him.

“It’ll be okay,” he urged, a determined look on his face. His blue gaze bright with hope and love.

She wanted to believe. Wanted to hope as he hoped but
averted her gaze so he wouldn’t see the doubt there. The fear that whatever emotion they shared could not survive this challenge.

Instead, she tightened her grasp on his hand. When he asked where they were going, she said, “Somewhere safe.”

S
ome sought refuge in church.

Others with friends.

Still others found it in a bottle or drugs.

To Liliana, her refuge was her home and family.

Home first,
she thought as she unlocked the door to her condo and ushered Jesse inside.

“This is nice,” he said as he entered and strolled to the sliding glass doors.

She met him there, staring out at the views of Asbury Park and the crosses along the beach in Ocean Grove.

“Not quite like your home—”

“Home isn’t about the size or location.” Jesse clasped her to him and brought his forehead to hers. “It’s about the heart
in the home. The love.”

Liliana moved, brushing her cheek along his. The rasp of his early evening beard chafed her skin, yet she welcomed it. “Love
makes all things possible,” she whispered close to the shell of his ear.

The movement of his smile caressed her cheek a second before his lips covered hers.

She welcomed his kiss. Welcomed him into her home and heart as she deepened the intimacy, opening her
mouth to his. Pressing her body tight until they were almost melded into one.

An unexpected knock at the door, loud and relentless, tore them apart.

Shooting him a quizzical glance, she grasped his hand and led him to the door. With a deep breath, she called out, “Who is
it?”

“
Mi’ja.
We wanted to surprise you,” her mother said past the boundary of the door.

“I’ll say it’s a surprise,” she muttered before opening the door.

As soon as she did so, her family plowed through. Mother, father, and brother trudged in, arms filled with bags that soon
flavored the air with enticing aromas.

Tony was the first to react to Jesse’s presence. He stopped before him awkwardly and said, “It’s really you. I mean, you’re—”

“Jesse Bradford,” he said and held out his hand.

Tony took it in his, pumping it up and down enthusiastically.

“You’ll have to pardon, Tony. He’s a big fan,” Liliana explained, failing to contain the smile on her face at her brother’s
exuberance.

“And you’re not?” Jesse teased, enjoying the immediate calm he had felt wash over her as soon as her family had entered her
condo.

Tony guffawed. “Liliana? She can barely tell a football from a hockey puck.”

A becoming flush spread over Liliana’s face. She stammered, obviously embarrassed. “You’re exaggerating,
hermanito.
”

Luckily her parents approached, sparing Liliana from
further sibling commentary. “
Mi’ja.
We’re so glad you’re safe,” her mother said.

Or at least Jesse assumed it was her mother, since there was no mistaking the obvious resemblance between the two, although
her mother was a bit shorter and plumper. Before he could react, her mother’s doughy arms were around him, hugging him tight.

“
Mi’jo. Bienvenido,
” she said.

His college Spanish was rusty, but he gave it a try anyway. “
Muchas gracias, Señora Carrera.
”

Liliana’s mother stepped back and raked him with a motherly eyeball as she said, “
Hablas español?
”

He raised his hand, gestured with his thumb and forefinger. “
Muy poquito.
”

The older man that Jesse assumed was Liliana’s dad, because they shared eyes of a similar color and shape, stuck out his hand,
his demeanor entirely serious. “Mr. Bradford.”

“
Señor Carrera.
I wish we were meeting under different circumstances,” he said as he shook the man’s hand and shot an uneasy glance at Liliana.

“As do I,” the man replied but then swept his arm wide in the direction of the table. The bags with the intriguing smells
sat on its surface.

“Sit. Eat. It has been a difficult day,” her father said.

“My family’s solution to everything—food,” Liliana explained, but there was no condemnation in her tones. Just love and possibly
pride.

“We’ll go now so that the two of you…” Her mother didn’t finish, clearly at a loss as she glanced from one to the other, obviously
aware that danger was close.

“It’ll be okay,
Mami.
Would you like to join us?”
Liliana said, although for safety’s sake she wished they would go.

Her family seemed to comprehend the situation.

“We should leave,
mi’ja.
I’m sure you and your young man have a lot to discuss,” her father said in a peaceful tone.

“
Gracias, Señor Carrera,
” Jesse responded and once again shook his hand and Tony’s, returned her mother’s almost tearful embrace.

As her family walked to the door, her mother handed Liliana another bag.

“Your brother Mick wanted to be here, only… He sent this. He thought it might help,” her
mami
said and pressed the bundle into her hands.

Once they had departed, Liliana leaned against the door and faced him. “I think you just survived the first challenge. My
parents.”

“What’s the second challenge?” he asked, and she glanced down at the package in her hands.

“
Mi hermano,
Mick,” she said, but as she opened the parcel, she smiled and passed it over to Jesse.

“You’re about the same size. He must have suspected that we would have to leave your house in a hurry.”

Jesse peered inside, and when he looked up, she detected the glint in his eyes.

Walking up to him, she laid her hand on his cheek, aware of where his thoughts were traveling. “You’re family now. You won’t
ever be alone again.”

The groan that erupted from his body shook her to the core. She stepped into his arms and grabbed him tight, rocking to and
fro with him as he bent his head and pressed it to the top of hers.

“I don’t deserve this. I don’t deserve you,” he muttered, his voice thick with emotion.

She raised her head until her lips were barely an inch from his. “Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?”

His groan rumbled through her body this time, close as they were. Pressing herself to him, she made their embrace even more
intimate until she knew she had to break away or take it to the next level.

Slightly breathless as she stood before him, she said, “Let’s eat, then get some rest. What we have to do will be difficult,
and we’ll need to be strong.”

Jesse agreed, and together they emptied the takeout dishes from the bags and sat down at the table.

As he sat beside Liliana, eating and discussing their plans, Jesse wondered if it had only been one night since they had come
together. Was it possible to feel this way in so short a time? So part of another human being?

While he ate, the aromas of the meal enveloped him, as did the lingering warmth of her family’s visit. As he picked up his
fork and took a bite of the shredded meat swimming in a tasty tomato sauce, he recalled Liliana’s story. Imagined her and
her mother sitting together, talking and shredding the meat. Sharing as families should do.

Unlike his family had done.

“It will be okay, won’t it?” Liliana asked from across the narrow width of the table, almost seemingly picking up on his disquiet.

He hadn’t realized that he had stopped with the fork halfway to his mouth, prompting her attention. Finishing the motion,
he forked up some more and, as he chewed, said, “It has to be.”