She finished talking to Sydney then told Angel everything Sydney had told her. Apparently, Angel wasn’t the only one suspicious of Leo. Sydney had done some investigating himself. He hadn’t been able to find anything on Leo either, but he’d looked into Sarah’s dad and tracked him down. He was still doing time in an Arizona state pen.

The million-dollar questions now were who was this man who had come looking for her and was Leo even her brother. Angel wouldn’t say it outright because she was already too upset, but he pretty much knew the answer to the second question.

It had been over a month since Sarah had told Angel about Leo leaving, and it’d been just as long since he’d had to worry about him because they hadn’t heard from him since. He knew Sarah was a little bummed about him being gone so long. She’d finally admitted it when he’d asked her why she’d been so moody. He wanted to believe that her disappointment was nothing more than how she explained it. She said she had the feeling that like her dad had so unceremoniously bowed out of her life, Leo too had now done the same.

The last thing he wanted was to see Sarah hurt. This was exactly what he’d been afraid of when she first told him about having a long lost brother. Like Sydney, his efforts to come up with anything more about Leo had proved to be in vain. It was almost as if the guy didn’t exist. Aside from his Facebook profile that had been so recently established, Angel hadn’t been able to find even one match to another Leonardo or even just Leo Ortiz that was tied to her brother. He’d even begun to wonder if maybe like Sarah he’d taken his mother’s surname and not his dad’s, but Sarah assured Angel that Leo had told her that his last name was Ortiz. Now it made sense. Leo probably wasn’t even his name.

He never told Sal he’d given up on digging into Leo because he knew his brother would never give up so easily and he’d likely think Angel’s efforts had been half assed. But Sarah seemed so convinced that she’d heard the last from Leo, and unlike the first time he’d taken off to Mexico, she hadn’t heard a peep from him this time. Angel figured it was safe to assume if the guy wasn’t coming back there’d be no sense in trying to turn up every nook and cranny to find him. Now if he ever showed up again, he’d have to go through Angel to get even a word in with Sarah.

Angel held Sarah as she fell exhausted against his chest. She wasn’t crying, but Angel got the feeling she was holding it in. “I feel so stupid,” she whispered.

“Don’t,” he said, pulling away from her to look at her. “We all got conned, Sarah. Even with all our reservations, all of us gave them the benefit of the doubt. Not just you. I did. Your mom did. Syd too. Because it’s what honest people do. We expect others to be honest too. The dishonest people who do these kinds of things are professionals, okay? They know how to fool others. They’d probably been planning this for a while. They knew exactly what to say.” He shook his head as she stared at him, her eyes still full of the very confusion he was feeling. “I just don’t get why they did this? They never asked you for anything? Money? Personal information about your dad or mom?”

“Only what I told you Omar . . .” She frowned, pressing her lips together. “What that man asked about the past and the jewelry, but I can’t imagine anything I told him was of any use because I knew so little. And Leonardo . . .” The hurt flashed in her eyes as her brows pulled together suddenly. “He never asked me for anything. Nothing personal, just about me in general, but nothing I can think of that would warrant all these lies. Everything he said felt so sincere . . . a little weird maybe but sincere.” She glanced away, lowering her voice. “God, I feel stupid.”

“You shouldn’t, babe.” He held her tightly. “How the hell were you supposed to know?”

“You did,” she said, looking up at him, the hurt in her eyes turning into anger. “You knew something wasn’t right from the very beginning, and, of course, I ignored your warnings because I was so desperate to believe it was all true.”

“You knew too,” he reminded her. “You said didn’t trust him either.”

“But I wanted to.”

“And that’s normal. Of course you’d want to believe. Sarah, you know me. I’m suspicious of everyone.” He lifted her chin and kissed her lips. “When it comes to any guy—man—trying to get close to you, that suspicion is even worse. But we both know that doesn’t make me a better judge of character. It just means I’m cynical. That’s not something you wanna strive to be.”

She shook her head adamantly. “I’d rather be cynical than stupid.”

“Stop saying that. You are not stupid.” He looked into those beautiful hurt eyes, wishing he could magically make her feel better and knowing that if those two motherfuckers ever came around her again there’d be hell to pay. “You’re heart is sweet and untainted, even having gone through some of the things you have. You still wanna believe the best of people. That’s a good thing.” He smiled.

“Yeah, but what does it do me?” She pulled away from his hold, looking around. “Even Leonardo said it himself. His stepsister and I, if he even has a stepsister, are easy targets.”

“You did nothing wrong, babe,” Angel assured her as he watched her pick up her phone. “You gave them the benefit of the doubt, but you were careful. It’s all you could’ve done.”