“Alright, fine. I can see you’re all business. Since you’re holding that sawed-off, I’ll be nice. He said it was only right I do the job because the bastard killed my parents.” Now it was Tad with a grim glare in his eyes.
Bounce looked around at the men, and his eyes settled on Mano. “Maybe he was testing you.”
Mano shook his head, not able to wrap his brain around it. “Well, I’m damn sure not going to ask him. The fucker’s crazy. I’m still not convinced he won’t put a bullet between Page’s eyes for pulling this newbie shit.”
Demente’ turned his head and spat on the ground, “I don’t think he’ll kill her because you grew up with the Ramirez brothers. You’re gonna hear about it, though.”
“Thanks, dick wod, I feel so much better.”
“Let’s get this job done right, so nobody gets killed,” Tad said. The men would have Mano’s back, so things didn’t go south for him. They all knew under the right conditions any cartel member was expendable—it was the nature of the beast—or in this case, the nature of the Ramirez brothers.
“You’re the lead man on this, Tad.” Mano patted his back.
Tad looked at the old farmhouse that could be seen in the distance. “Bounce and Demente’ take the front of the house, and Mano and I will take them back.”
“Let’s do it,” Mano said. “Today is the day you put your ghosts to rest, my man. The fucking day of reckoning.”
“I damn sure hope so, brother. It’s been years in the making.”
Chapter Thirty Nine
Hours of talking to Page would be El Loco’s downfall. His guard was down as if he was talking to an old friend. Interviews and research had a way of causing people to bond with the author. When Page interviewed people, they were the center of her world. El Loco believed no one else existed for the woman but him. His ego would be his undoing.
“You started killing fixers because you believed they were revealing things about the cartel the public shouldn’t know.”
“I like to kill people. I started out as a Sicario, and now I just like to kill.”
“So…you’re admitting to being a serial killer, and you want me to write your story?” She shook her head in disbelief.
“People will never sympathize with you. They will hate you.”
“I wanted to kill you.”
“What am I supposed to say to that, Loco?”
When he hung his head in shame, he never saw it coming.
This time it would be him feeling the sting of pain. In one smooth move, Page’s hand was in the pocket of his hoodie, and a syringe of succinylcholine was in his neck.
She watched as he slumped over, and his body melted from the chair and onto the concrete flooring. A big puddle of shit.
“You stupid fuck! You never should have said you’d kill my cat.”
The flashbangs and thundering of footsteps alerted her—the cartel was here. She looked up to see the four men looking at her in disbelief.
“He’s not dead, but whatever you’re going to do, you better go ahead and do it. I don’t know how long that shit lasts. I’ll be in the van.” She crawled down onto the floor and grabbed Mickey from where he was hiding under the bed. She looked at Mano, and all she said was: “He never should have said he’d kill my cat.”
Mano waited until her footsteps no longer sounded on the upstairs wooden floor. “It’s your call, Tad.”
Tadias looked down on the man crumbling on the concrete flooring. He walked over and stood above him. He stuck a Glock in his mouth and blew the back of his head off. “Burn the house down. My parents didn’t get a proper burial, and he damn sure doesn’t deserve one.”
With his hand holding a gun limply at his side, he walked upstairs and outside. The sky was clear and full of stars. He knew when he saw a shooting star, it was the universe’s way of telling him his ghosts were dead.
Chapter Forty
Mano sat in the bathtub with his woman. He dipped the sponge in water and squeezed it over her back. She hadn’t said anything. He knew there was part of her that was still in shock.
When she leaned her head back and looked at him, her wet hair cascading over his shoulder, he knew he was exactly where he wanted to be.
“I know what I did was stupid.”
“Why did you do it?” He needed to understand why she would put her life in danger.
“To be honest, there was a part of me that wanted to fit in. Part of me was pissed. He killed my neighbor. He came into my house, and I felt violated. Judy had to go stay with her parents to be safe. And the biggest part of me felt like people were dying, and it was my fault. After everything I’ve been through, I’m more scared to go see Antonio Wayne tomorrow. I just know he’s going to put a bullet in my brain. You’re going to have to sit there and act like you’re okay with it. This shit is better than fiction—you couldn’t make it up if you tried to.”
“Maybe you should write fiction. It would be easier.”
“And who would speak up for families forced to farm drugs? I’m not an easy kind of girl. You know that.”
He twirled a piece of her long blonde hair between his fingers, fascinated by the way it felt. When she wiggled her ass against him from where she was seated between his legs, his cock instantly hardened. She smiled when she heard a faint growl in his throat. Sex with Mano was terrific, but the kidnapping had bonded them in a much deeper way.
“Sit on my cock. I missed you.”
His breath on her wet skin felt like a gentle breeze of need. She turned around and eased down on him. Just feeling connected to the man she loved was what she needed right now.
The water sluiced over their bodies. He fisted a handful of her hair and forced her to look at him.
“No, Mano, he didn’t touch me,” she said, reading his thoughts.
She could feel the wave of relief as it washed over him. “Tomorrow is another day, Mano. Let’s love each other while we still can.”
Chapter Forty One
The worst part of sitting in Antonio Wayne’s office was the silence he subjected you to. Page felt the moments drag into what felt like hours before he finally spoke. She looked up through long lashes as the boss of the Colombian cartel addressed her. His hands were folded on the desk, and though his demeanor was calm, the storm in his eyes was something she couldn’t bear to look at. The intrusive thoughts of all the different ways he was going to kill her made her feel like she was going to puke on his office floor. He’d probably shoot her as quick for that as he would getting kidnapped—after he made her clean it up.
“Would you like to tell me why you did something that stupid?”
When she attempted answering, his hand sliced through the air, and the words got stuck in her throat.
“You put my men in a very dangerous position. It was selfish. If you’re going to be part of this organization, you have to think about the team.” He nodded his head and sneered at her with contempt. “You can speak now.”
Page’s voice shook with fear as she attempted answering the man who held her life in his hands. She made sure she didn’t look at Mano. She wasn’t going to pull him into this. It was her mistake, and she was going to have to put on her big girl panties and own it.