Mateo slammed his hand against the steering wheel and made another sharp turn. “Keep her down!”
“What the hell happened?” I demanded, watching the dark funnel cloud fade into the distance. I’d had enough reactionary shit. I hadn’t ruled most of the United States as the top importer, forcing any rival cartel that dared challenge me back to Mexico with an empty bank account and skeleton crew because I sat back and allowed myself to be challenged.
I’d been enthralled with a woman and let business get out of hand long enough. It stopped right now.
Mateo’s jaw ticked as he casted a side-eye at Emilio. “They lit the safe house.”
Fighting under my hold, Eden popped up, her wild hair wrapped across her chin. “What do you mean lit?”
Closing my eyes, I drew a long breath, knowing the blast was only phase one. “He means the safe house is gone.”
“Gone?”
“Gone. As in blown to hell and back.”
Disbelief coated her widened eyes. “But…we were just there.”
“Cereza…” Raking my palm down my face, I willed her to stop talking.
“Oh, God,” she stammered, her voice catching with understanding. “We almost…they tried…oh, God!”
I wanted to touch her and reassure her we’d be okay. Instead, I stared at her blankly then turned my head away in frustration. I couldn’t tell her something that might be a lie.
“Are you sure? Jesus, you’re sure?” Letting out a string of curses, Emilio punched the dashboard in front of him as he gripped the phone tightly against his face. “Is she all right? What hospital? Yes, take care of all the bills and make sure you talk to her. She knows not to say anything, but I want it reinforced, understand? Bien. Update in fifteen minutes, or I’ll have someone’s ass.” Cursing again, he slammed his phone against the window, punctuating each hit with a new expletive.
I steeled my jaw. “What now?”
“They got RVC too. About twenty minutes ago. My men don’t know much—only that the bomb originated from the giant hole that used to be your office.”
She.
“Janine? Is she…?”
Emilio shook his head. “No, she’d just punched in the code to open it up for a client who’d put in a call for a Saturday appointment. The blast knocked her out, and she’s cut up pretty bad from the glass, but she’s going to be all right.”
We spent the rest of the ride in silence, the hard reality of the situation weighing on all four of us.
The Muñoz cartel just made a decisive move in a war I had to finish.
Something told me not all of us would make it through to the other side.
The last thing I wanted was for Eden to be sucked into my world.
Out of safe houses and places to go, we’d driven for forty-five minutes before making the reluctant decision to return to my own house. Miraculously, it still stood, unscathed from Muñoz artillery.
For now.
Mateo paced the floor, convinced we were all sitting targets. He was right. But I’d argued it didn’t matter where we went. Unless we drove until the wheels fell off the SUV, eventually they’d find us. I’d be damned if I’d run like a little bitch. No Carrera backed down from a fight, and this would be no different. Fucking with me was one thing, but those bastards made it personal when they killed my men, put an innocent employee in the hospital, and endangered the life of a woman who confused the hell out of me.
She sat curled up in the corner of my oversized, black leather couch, her knees hugged to her chest, staring off into the open kitchen. With her brows drawn and her lips pulled tight, I had no idea what she thought, but I had a feeling she hated me. With good reason.
I brought her into this against her will. She still associated me with the death of her brother, and now, there stood a very good chance, we’d all die before the end of the day. Not exactly the kind of guy every girl dreamed of bringing home to meet the family.
Then again, background info told me Eden’s mom had split when she was born, her father took one of my biggest unpaid drug debts and left town, and my best cleaner did God knows what with her brother’s body. There was no family left to meet.
But as much as I wanted her, as much as my body craved her, and her presence calmed the chaos, I knew the only safe place for her would be far away from me. The Muñoz cartel would take what they knew would hurt me the most. They wouldn’t take pleasure in torturing me with physical pain. We’d all grown up with the same code and creed—endure until death, but divulge nothing.
No, they’d never inflict direct pain on me. They’d do it through her. The longer I kept her, the higher the price on her head became.
Ensuring Mateo’s attention remained on his phone and his incessant pacing, and Emilio remained outside talking with lower ranking men, I stole the moment to ruin the only good thing that’d ever been mine.
Taking a seat beside her, I clasped my hands in front of me to stop myself from touching her. “Are you all right?”
“Do I look all right?”
Attempting to lighten the heaviness in the air, I picked up a lock of her shocking flame-colored hair and rolled it between my fingers. Nodding to her white shorts and blue top, I somewhat managed a smirk. “You look like an extremely fuckable flag.”
She rolled her eyes, dropping her head back against the cushion. “God, you’re crude.”
“What do you want me to say, Eden? I’m doing the best I can here.”
“I want you to say we’re going to be okay,” she answered, rolling her chin toward me.
“I can’t.”
She remained quiet for a moment, and I didn’t know whether to break the silence or let it ride as long as I could before I made her hate me. The decision was made for me when she abruptly sat up, rubbing her palms roughly down the length of her thighs.
“These are the men that killed my brother?”
“Yes.”
“Fine. Then let’s stop fucking around,” she said balling her fists, her body taut. “Let’s take the fight to them instead.”
While on some sadistic level, the monster in me would love to see those Muñoz shits on the receiving end of Eden Lachey’s barbed tongue, the suggestion made me laugh out loud. When she turned her icy stare my way, I choked on my own amusement. “You’re fucking serious?”
“Do I look like I’m joking? Why do you keep asking me stupid questions?”
“Because you keep saying stupid shit.” I raked my hand through my hair. “No way, Cereza. You have no idea who these men are or what they’re capable of.”
Calm, almost too calm for my liking, she crossed her legs and sat back into the arm of the sofa, her elbows supporting her. “Oh, I think I know exactly what they’re capable of, Danger. I watched it with my own eyes while hiding in a pantry. I saw them put a gun to the back of my brother’s head and pull the trigger. I had to watch it all, because if I moved—if I screamed—if I said one goddamn word out of place, I’d be next.”
Without a word, she wrapped an arm around my waist, resting her small hand above my lower back. My gut twisted at the images she created in my head. I hadn’t stopped to think of what she’d been through. My entire life had been lived in a pantry. By the time I was sixteen, I had no idea how to ride a bicycle, but I could blow a man’s head off from twenty yards away.