Disguised Affection Chapter 20

Troy woke up, feeling something crawl across his foot. After shaking his foot to no avail, he cracked open his eye and peered down at his foot. Seeing the large cockroach moving across his foot, Troy kicked his foot up in the air and attempted to roll onto his side, only to bang his head on a hard surface. Groaning, he pushed himself up out of the tub, cursing Gabriella for making him sleep there before grabbing his shoe and killing the offending bug.

Still rubbing his throbbing head, Troy picked up his jeans that were sitting on the edge of the tub and slipped them on over his green plaid boxers. After putting on his white v-neck shirt, Troy opened the bathroom door quietly, his eyes scanning the room before landing on a sleeping Gabriella.

He still couldn't believe everything that had happened. Never had he thought he would be telling Gabriella the truth, trying to get her to help him take down the Montez family from the inside. And now, with the two of them headed back to the Montez estate, he had no idea what she was going to do. Would she stay quiet and not blow his cover? Would she wake up and decide she wanted to help him out? How long would it take for her to make her decision? Troy wondered, watching as she stirred slightly.

Troy stepped cautiously closer to the bed, not wanting her to angrily flip out on him. He watched as she rubbed her eyes tiredly before sitting up against the headrest.

"What time is it?" She yawned.

"9:00," Troy said, glancing at the clock. "We need to get back. Your family is expecting a report from last night."

Gabriella nodded her head, the reality of Troy's last sentence hitting them both. Troy needed to hand over the paperwork and report back about what had happened, including what led up to Gabriella getting taken, Raul being shot, and what happened to Hernandez and his men among other things.

Troy cleared his throat, bringing them both out of their thoughts.

"We'd better leave soon. It's a bit of a drive back." Gabriella nodded, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. "I'll be in the car."

Troy walked towards the door, stepping outside before shutting it behind him. Leaning on the hood of his car outside, Troy's thoughts returned to the possible outcomes of later that day. He knew full well that Gabriella could easily betray him at this point, even though she had said she wouldn't say anything to her family.

Troy was brought out of his thoughts as he heard the motel room door shut. Glancing up, he saw Gabriella walking towards him with an unreadable expression on her face. Troy sighed and unlocked the car before hopping in. A few minutes later, the two were on their way back to the Montez estate.

The ride was one long awkward silence. Troy was dying to know her answer, but he didn't want to make her angry again by asking. Thirty minutes later, they pulled into the driveway. Troy's nerves were definitely getting the best of him. In a few minutes, he and Gabriella would be inside sharing a report from the night before. All it took was for her to mention Chad's name once and he was done for.

Troy put the car in park, and took a deep breath before reaching for the door handle.

"Tomas?" Troy released the handle and looked over at Gabriella. "I meant what I said last night. As pissed off as I am about all of this, I'm not going to blow your cover right now. Just go in there, and we'll give our report to my dad like we're supposed to. I promise you can trust me on this."

Troy nodded his head. "Thanks."

Gabriella nodded back before stepping out of the car. Troy grabbed the papers from the back leaving the money and drugs he had gathered at the warehouse in the trunk before the two walked inside towards Gregorio's office, Troy working on fabricating his story the whole time.

The two stopped outside of the office door. Gabriella cocked her head to the side to look at Troy. Troy took a deep breath and nodded his head prompting Gabriella to knock gently on the door.

"Enter."

Troy pushed the door open and walked through after Gabriella, both looking up to see Gregorio finishing up a phone call. Troy quietly shut the door and took a few steps forward, thoughts continued to race through his mind as he waited patiently for Gregorio to finish his phone call.

"Yes…No…Two weeks? Okay. We'll be in contact." Gregorio put the phone back on the hook and looked at the two. "Take a seat," he said, ushering to the chairs in front of his desk.

Troy pulled both of the chairs out slightly taking a seat after Gabriella had sat down.

"So what happened?" Gregorio asked with no emotion on his face.

Troy cleared his throat. "Well sir, while I was down in Jersey, I got a call from Hernandez saying he didn't get his shipment, and he was holding Gabriella hostage until he got it."

"Why didn't he get his shipment?" Gregorio interrupted. His voice was calm, but Troy could sense the anger behind it.

"Sir, I left things with Raul. This was the second time he was supposed to make this drop. The first time only half of the drop was made, and this last time it was forgotten all together."

"When I talked to Raul yesterday after the workers had called to inform us you shot him, he said that you never told him to make that drop." Troy noticed the bit of skepticism in Gregorio's eyes, suddenly feeling anger race through his veins knowing Raul was trying to pinpoint this on him.

"That lying bastard," Troy muttered. "Sir, I told Raul both times to make that drop." Seeing he wasn't convinced, Troy continued. "I know it's my word against his right now, but I can prove to you that Raul is lying."

Troy's eyes landed on the file cabinet in the corner of the room. "If I could see the copy of the records for Sunset over the past few months, I can show you."

Gregorio nodded his head and made his way over to the cabinet, sliding open the second drawer down and thumbing through the files. Finding what he wanted, he pulled out the large file, handing it to Troy.

Troy quickly flipped through the hundreds of pieces of paper, finally coming across the ones he wanted. Pulling them out, he flipped them around and set them side by side in front of Gregorio. "A few weeks ago, I told you that I suspected someone was stealing from the inside. If you look at these records, you'll see a small amount of money missing from each drop Raul has done. Now it's a small amount, but it's also consistent as you can see."

Troy took a deep breath as he watched Gregorio study the papers in front of him, obviously working the figures out in his head.

"How long has this been going on?"

"From what I can tell, it's been at least a year."

Troy nervously watched Gregorio, hoping that he'd believe him and that Raul would be the only person Gregorio was suspicious of. He glanced towards Gabriella and saw she was watching her dad with interest as well.

After a few minutes of silence, Gregorio spoke up. "Have you confronted him on this?" He asked, holding up the papers.

Troy nodded.

"Is that why he came back here with a bullet in his arm?"

Gabriella's jaw dropped slightly as she whipped her head around towards Troy. "Not really Sir."

"Why then?"

Troy felt his heart speed up, feeling his nerves. He knew that by admitting the true reason why, Gregorio would learn of some deeper feelings he had for Gabriella. "I'd rather not say," Troy told him nervously. "Just know Cruz got shot because he couldn't keep his fat mouth shut."

"Tomas, I'm running a business here. A business involving family. Now I've brought you in and we've made you a part of our family here, just like Raul. Don't keep secrets from me and abuse my trust. I need to know why two of my men were at each others' throats and one came away with a bullet in him."

Troy couldn't fight the urge to look out of the corner of his eye at Gabriella, who was watching him intently. Letting out a frustrated sigh, he continued. "Sir, I knew it was his fault Gabriella was in danger. I was angry beyond words at Raul, so I used some force to punish him for the pain and danger he had caused this family, especially Gabriella. Then I threatened him to stay away from me and from Gabriella, and he said some inappropriate things about her." Troy found his eyes drifting to look at Gabriella who was still staring at him. "That's when I shot him," he finished, his eyes still connected with Gabriella's.

For the first time since the night before, Troy saw Gabriella's face soften, a sense of understanding radiating beneath her brown eyes.

"After everything he's done, I guess he deserved that," Gregorio said, gaining their attention back. "He risked our operation here, and Gabriella's life. Gabriella, when did Hernandez grab you?"

Gabriella tore her eyes away, looking at her father. "I don't really remember. I was walking to my car after class, and the next thing I know, I wake up with my hands tied to a chair with Hernandez' ugly face in front of me."

Troy smirked at the end, chuckling to himself at her words.

"What happened with Hernandez, Tomas?"

"I got there and scouted out the place, seeing he had four men there besides himself. I found Gabriella tied up in his office. When I got a chance, I made sure she was okay before planning how I would get her out. We both decided that Hernandez had screwed this family over enough times that it was time to take him out. After a few minutes, I came through the side door and took out his four men. When I got to the office, Hernandez had a gun to Gabriella's head. Once I saw him slip up enough so that I could get a clear shot, I took it, and then took him out."

"And the bodies?" Gregorio asked.

"Taken care of. No one will find them."

"Good." Gregorio nodded in approval.

"And here's the paperwork I collected from his office." Troy grabbed the file folder from his side and placed it on the desk. "The money we found is in the trunk of the car, and the drugs we were supposed to drop off are in there as well."

Gregorio flipped open the folder, flipping through the pages momentarily. "Okay, thank you both, especially you Tomas." Gregorio stood up along with Troy and Gabriella, grasping Troy's hand to shake it firmly.

Gregorio then shifted his focus to Gabriella. "Glad you're safe." Gabriella let a small smile form on her face at her father's rare moment of showing emotion.

Troy held his hand out to lead Gabriella out of the room. The two stepped towards the door, only to be halted by Gregorio's voice.

"Tomas?"

"Yes sir?" Troy asked turning around while holding the door open for Gabriella.

"Send Raul in here." Gregorio ordered, taking his seat and studying the papers from Hernandez.

Troy nodded and shut the door behind him after he and Gabriella had stepped through.

"Gladly." Troy smirked while walking towards the voices in the family room.

Erin & Corri AN: Thanks everyone for all the reviews last chapter! We hope you liked this one just as much. We've been getting some reviews asking for us to update more often and asking why some of the recent chapters are shorter. We just wanted to say that the chapters will always vary in length. Some will be shorter and others longer. But the shorter chapters aren't a result of us trying to rush anything, so no worries. We both love this story and love writing these chapters for all of you. And as far as the updating, we said from the beginning we'd update once a week, every Saturday. Sorry we can't post more frequently, but hopefully the consistent updates make up for that.

Sorry for the long rant. Thanks again for all the support! Let us know what you thought about this chapter. Your reviews mean a lot to us.