“Nero!” she slurred around the split and puffy state of her lips. “Davien! No…”
She jerked forward as if trying to get to us, but Cortez clamped a hand on her shoulder and shoved her back into the chair. Whether it was from the force of the motion or her injuries, she cried out and slumped forward.
“Stop it!” Dav growled.
“Don’t touch her!” I snarled at the same time.
“Then give me my money and you can take her home,” Cortez supplied simply.
“What fucking money?” I hissed.
“The shipment!” he snarled, spittle flying in white ropes of saliva down his chin. “The extra twenty mil in the cargo that you had confiscated.”
Davien and I exchanged glances. I was relieved to see he was as confused as I was.
“Okay, look,” Davien shifted as if struggling not to give in to the urge, stalk over and just snatch Mia away from the fucker. “We don’t have any shipment, at least, nothing of yours. I don’t know who told you we did, but they lied—”
“Liar!” The gun shook in his grasp. My stomach clinched at how close it was hovering next to Mia’s skull. “I know you assholes took it. How else could two low lives like you possibly have crawled out from under your rocks to take a seat at the table? Eduardo would never have allowed it … unless you had something big to offer. You were the moles. You reported the shipment. You set me up and took my cut to pay your way into my territory.” He paused to suck in a breath. His free hand scrubbed shakily at the sweat clinging to his upper lip. He gave the hard snort of a coke head and shifted his weight. “I don’t know how you found out what I was doing, but I need that money to get the fuck out of here. So, you bring it to me, and I’ll give you Mia.”
“If you think we gave it to Eduardo, what makes you think we can get it back? You know he won’t just hand it over,” Dav pointed out, offering logic to a man beyond its capabilities.
“I don’t care how you do it. That was my money. I earned it. That sector was my life. I built it from nothing. I put my whole life into it. I gave Eduardo everything. Then, one shipment gets seized and suddenly, I’m expendable. One fucking shipment. One!”
“Okay, take it easy,” I soothed, eyes fixed on the hard tremor of his white knuckled grip on the cold piece of metal in his sweaty grasp. “Take the gun off Mia. Please.” I raised both hands, even the one holding my own weapon. “Point it at me.”
“No…” Mia rasped. “Nero, stop…”
I ignored her, adamant now in my decision. “If you have to shoot anyone, shoot me.”
“Stop!” Mia sobbed. “Don’t listen to him.”
“Shut up both of you!” Cortez barked. “I will shoot you both. I only need one of you to actually do the job.”
“Then take me,” Davien stepped up. “Let Mia go. I’ll stay. Nero can get your money.”
“Please no,” Mia whined.
“It’s okay, baby,” he soothed gently, gaze never wavering off Cortez. “We won’t let anything happen to you.”
Mia looked on the verge of responding, but I needed to keep Cortez’s attention on us, needed him to forget she was there.
“We were told you were dead,” I blurted. “How did you get away from Joseph?”
“Joseph is an idiot. I ran when he wasn’t looking. I’ve been hiding here in this shit hole for months. It’s the only place Alejandro hasn’t looked for me, but it’s only a matter of time before he finds me. Joaquin was bringing me food and clothes, but I can’t stay here. I need to get out of the country and that twenty mil is a nice start to a new life in Bora Bora.”
Joaquin.
I would have rolled my eyes if I wasn’t afraid any sudden movements might startle him.
“Did Joaquin tell you we have men looking for him?” I asked.
Cortez nodded. “He really hated you. Kept going on about how he was going to take you out and claim the seat for me, but I’m not an idiot. I knew the only reason he wanted it was to have it for himself. He looked so surprised when killed him.”
The confession was so casual, I wasn’t expecting it, but I probably should have given no one had been able to find the guy in months. No one was that good at hiding, not even Cortez. Everyone assumed he’d been dealt with, a fact we were all made to believe by Eduardo. That train of thought pulled along other thoughts I didn’t have time to think over when I needed to focus. It was a matter for later.
“Why would you kill the only person on your side?”
“Because he was sleeping with my wife. They thought I didn’t know, but I’ve known for months. They were making plans to get rid of me and take over the sector together. When Eduardo came for me, that bitch took my kids, my money, my car—.”
“Your dog?” Mia garbled sarcastically. “You should write a country song.”
Any other day, under any other circumstance, I would have laughed. I would have pulled her to me and kissed her smart mouth. But I could do nothing but stand there like a giant tool as Cortez fisted her hair and yanked her head back.
“Hey!” Dav and I shouted in unison.
“Put your hands on her again and I will fucking rip them off,” Davien growled. “I don’t give a fuck how pathetic you are, or who your wife was boning. You are a dead man. One way or another. You have no idea the shit hole you’ve dug yourself into taking what belongs to us.”
“Fuck you! Fuck you both.” His fingers uncoiled from Mia’s hair and joined the ones curled around the handle of his gun. “Maybe if I put a new hole in her, you’ll—”
I opened my mouth to speak, to say anything to keep him from pulling the trigger when Mia inexplicably doubled with a guttural groan.
Everyone froze.
Even Cortez seemed puzzled as he took a step back, gun lowering a notch.
“Mia?” I started forward. The heels of my shoes lifted.
It happened in the blink of an eye. Mia twisted her fingers around the armrests, planted her feet and flung herself backwards, sending herself and the chair crashing into the man standing directly behind her. The momentum and gravity pulled them under. Cortez hit the ground with Mia slamming on top of him. The gun went clattering out of his grip and that was all the opening I needed.
I lunged at him. My fist closed around the fabric of his dress shirt while the other one raised the Glock and slammed it into his face.
Once.
Twice.
Over and over until his blood sprayed across my face and over my hands, hot and sticky. I was vaguely aware of Dav pulling Mia and the chair up. I could hear her crying softly, but there was nothing but a wall dividing my madness from them. All I saw was my bloodthirsty hunger to destroy the man in my clutches.
“Nero!” Dav’s voice jarred me just long enough for me to lift my head.
Mia sat small and shivering in the chair with Dav kneeling in front of her. He was saying something; his mouth kept moving in time to the hand he kept waving at me.
“Knife!” he was saying when I registered his words.
My gaze went from him to the white strap of plastic around Mia’s raw wrists. I reached under the hem of my pant leg and freed the switchblade I kept there. Dav caught it with both hands and turned back to Mia.