Free Betrayed by REBECCA YORK

help me,” he answered, surprising her with his bluntness.
    Elena put down her spoon. “What’s wrong, and how can I help?”
    He gave her a look that said he wasn’t happy about providing an explanation, but he knew she wasn’t going to cooperate unless he did.
    â€œI’ve gotten into some stuff I can’t handle,” he clipped out.
    â€œLike what, exactly?” she asked, feeling as though she were prying a piece of hardened gum off the bottom of her shoe.
    â€œI was making a delivery.”
    â€œAt the rental car agency? What does that have to do with anything?”
    â€œNot the car agency.” He stopped and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “It’s better if you don’t know.”
    She waited for more information.
    â€œSomeone’s got the goods on me. They can have me arrested big time if they want. But they told me there’s a way out. If you can get me some information from S&D.”
    â€œWhat are you trying to say?” she asked in a voice that hardly sounded like her own.
    He leaned across the table toward her. “There was a guy who died. Arnold Blake.”
    There was the name again. She hadn’t thought about Arnold Blake in months, and now both Shane and her brother had brought him up.
    â€œWhat about him?” she managed to ask.
    â€œHe took some information from S&D. He was supposed to turn it over to a guy, but he didn’t do it. That’s how he ended up dead.”
    â€œI don’t understand. What do you want me to do—exactly?”
    â€œFind out where he hid the material, and bring it to me.”

Chapter 8
    Elena moistened her dry lips. “What information? What are you talking about?”
    â€œI don’t know what it is. I only know it’s my ticket to freedom.”
    She tried to take in the reality of what he was saying. “You’re asking me to steal something that belongs to S&D?”
    He waved his hand dismissively. “No.”
    â€œThen what?”
    She heard the exasperation in his voice. “Just find where Blake put it, and give it to me.”
    â€œAlesandro, you know I can’t do that.”
    â€œYou want me to get beat up real bad? Maybe killed?”
    â€œNo. Of course not. But I thought this was about not getting arrested.”
    â€œIt is. It was.” He made a low sound. “The bastards set me up. They can turn me in to the cops, or they can make me wish I was in protective custody.”
    She gasped, trying to understand but not really getting it.
    â€œThink about helping me. But don’t think about it too long because I don’t have much time.”
    â€œWhat if I get caught?” she blurted out.
    â€œBlake took the information months ago. They won’t link you to him.”
    â€œWhat you’re asking could get me fired.”
    â€œThey won’t know you did anything.”
    She couldn’t believe he’d said that so casually. He was asking her to do something immoral, and he wasn’t worried about it at all.
    â€œI’d better go,” he said, standing up abruptly.
    She jumped out of her chair. “Wait, you can’t just drop something like that on me and leave.”
    â€œI have to go. They could be tracking me. I have to keep moving.”
    He strode out of the dining area, down the hall, and out of her apartment, where he carefully closed the door behind himself.
    She stood, rubbing her hands up and down her arms to try and ward off the sudden chill that had gripped her body.
    When she looked at the food still on the table, she knew she couldn’t choke down another bite. Mechanically, she picked up the dish, carried it to the sink and scraped the rest of the meal into the sink, then ran the disposal and washed the mess away. Looking back at the table, she saw the glass of ginger ale she’d set in front of Alesandro and poured that down the sink, too, then stood with her fists