“Hell, Harcourt. Are you drunk already?”
I dropped my hand and stepped away from the glass. “No, not drunk. In fact, I think I’m going to stop drinking for a while.”
He stared at me, his face deceptively neutral. “Casual clothes? Sobriety? Who the fuck are you, and what have you done with my lieutenant?”
“Cupid shoved an arrow straight up his asshole.” Both of us turned to see Mateo, not even trying to hide his arrogant smirk.
I folded my arms across my chest and glared at Val’s second-in-command. “Are we going to discuss business any time soon, or is he planning to toss out shitty one-liners all morning?”
Val set down the untouched scotch and lifted his tequila to his mouth. “Shut up, Mateo. That fucker shoved his arrow so far up your ass, I had to bail it out of jail. You have no room to talk.”
Mateo shot me a scowl, which I returned with a pleasant smirk and another middle finger.
“I have no intention of talking about this here,” Val said, pacing the room. “I’m tired of being one step behind this pinche pendejo. My men have searched the address Adriana gave you but found nothing. He’s on the move again. I’ve called a meeting with all my lieutenants in an hour. I want every top soldier we have on this. Ignacio Vergara will be stopped today if I have to track him down myself and send what’s left of him in a box to his mother.”
Mateo nodded. “So, we’re invading Guadalajara.”
Val’s hand clenched around his glass. “We’re invading Mexico. No one is safe until I have this asshole hanging by his feet.”
Blood pumped through my veins, and a rush of adrenaline awoke a dark craving inside me. “What are we waiting for?” I asked, running my hand over my gun holster. “Let’s go get this fucker.”
Six determined eyes, six heavy feet, and six clenched fists all moved toward the hallway when an ear-piercing scream drew three loaded guns. I rushed toward the front door, and Mateo sprinted toward the back while Val ran up the stairs, colliding halfway with a hysterical and crying Eden.
“Cereza! What the hell?” Val tried to take her in his arms, but she fought him like a rabid animal, fists flying at his arms, chest, and one even landing across his jaw. “Cereza! Calm down and tell me what’s wrong.” However, there were only more screams, more crying, and more fists until Val had enough. “Eden!” he yelled, pinning her arms by her side. “Talk to me!”
She glanced up at him, and the moment she looked in his eyes, the life drained out of her. Her body went limp, and she collapsed, her knees hitting the stairs with a sickening thud.
“Fuck,” Val growled, sinking onto his knees with her. Twisting around, he cradled her onto his lap, and wrapped his hand around her jaw, forcing her glassy-eyed stare on him. “Cereza, tell me who did this to you, and I swear he will die by my hand tonight.”
That was when time stopped. Eden’s lifeless gaze shifted toward me, tears spilling down her cheek. “It’s not a he. It’s a she.”
My pulse roared in my ears, and Val stiffened. “She, who?”
“Adriana.” Turning her watery eyes back to her husband, Eden ripped my world apart. “Santiago is gone. His crib is empty, Val. I—I looked everywhere. He’s gone, and so is Adriana. She took our son. I told you.” Pain turned to rage, and she screamed, driving her fists into Val’s chest. “I fucking told you not to let her come here! I told you this would happen! She murdered my brother, and now she’s taken our son! I hate you for this! I hate you! I-I…” She never finished. She collapsed again in hysterical tears, her pain so raw I grabbed my own chest.
No. She was wrong. Adriana wouldn’t harm Santiago. He was Val’s son. He was her family. I didn’t care what it looked like. Eden had it wrong.
I cleared my throat. “Val—”
Val’s face blanked. It was as if he went on autopilot. Scooping Eden into his arms, he barked out orders while climbing the stairs. “Cortes, search the grounds and look for any signs of forced entry. I want every staff member questioned and don’t hold back any method needed. Call the lieutenants and reroute the search from Vergara to my missing son and sister. Also, notify the doctor he’s to bring over sedatives. Not later; I want it done now. And get your wife over here. Eden isn’t to be left alone.”
I ran my hand across my mouth. “What can I do?”
Pausing with his wife cradled in his arms at the top of the stairs, Val turned a hard stare over his shoulder. “I think you’ve done enough.”
An hour later, Mateo had done all that Val asked, and we were still no closer to an answer.
All doors and windows were intact, and there were no signs of forced entry. Val insisted on interrogating every staff member himself, and they swore under the threat of bodily harm, or during bodily harm they saw no one on the grounds or near the house.
Now Mateo and I sat in the Carrera estate kitchen, my unwanted presence a thorn in his side. Sighing, he rubbed his palm across his goatee, flipping his phone in his hand. “I wouldn’t if I were you.”
I knew he thought defying Val’s orders and sticking around was either insane or suicidal, but I didn’t care.
“Good thing you’re not me.”
“Val just needed to lash out at someone. He’ll realize it’s not your fault. It’s not like you had any idea what she planned to do.” He stopped flipping his phone and glanced up at me out of the corner of his eye. “Did you?”
“Fuck you.”
Dropping his phone, he reared back, raising his palms in the air. “I had to ask.”
“She didn’t do this.” I still believed that. With every piece of my soul, I believed that. However, the longer both of them were gone, the harder it would be to convince anyone else. Every tick of the clock caused my stomach to plummet.
“Brody…”
“No!” I yelled. “She didn’t do this. Eden is confused. Adriana hurt her before, and she doesn’t trust her. I get that, but she doesn’t know her like I do. She didn’t hurt that baby.”
“I don’t want to believe it either, all right? But there isn’t any other explanation. If she didn’t do it, then why is she gone?”
I flinched at the question because I had no answer. That was what made me stay despite Val’s warning. It was why Mateo thought I’d lost my mind. Because anyone who valued his life would’ve been on a plane to Houston by now.
Brody Harcourt, the assistant district attorney, would have left immediately. But Brody Harcourt, the first lieutenant, wasn’t backing down.
Not even for Valentin Carrera.
“I don’t know,” I said, clenching my teeth.
“You don’t know what?”
Mateo and I both turned to see Val standing in the entryway to the kitchen, shirt half untucked, his dark hair standing straight up, deep lines etched around the corners of his eyes, and shoulders hunched.
Never, in the years I’d known Valentin Carrera, had I seen him appear anything less than formidable. He always stood tall and proud, his shoulders pushed back to terrorize and intimidate. Even when Manuel Muñoz kidnapped Eden, he still never lost his commanding presence.