Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Xander
I ’ve dragged Liam over a few rows, despite his insistence that he should battle it out alongside Cece. The cartel heir. Damn. I should have figured that out. One hell of a reveal for one hell of a woman.
“Listen, man, you heard Cece. She’s the heir, not Eddie. She beat out not just her brothers, but all of her cousins, too. I don’t think she needs your one-legged ass getting in her way.”
He slams the blood drenched knife in my hand, retrieved in the chaos of my girl swinging in like a silver screen commando wearing a destroyed prom dress and a manic grin. “Heir or not, I need her to be okay. Go. Keep her safe. It’s three against one, if you count the kid. Even the odds.”
I take the blade, looking down at one of my oldest friends. “I really like her.”
“Now’s not the time, Liu. Get your ass in gear.”
“She likes me too. Stranger still, she likes your grumpy ass.”
He drops his head back against the gravestone. “Once again, not the time.”
“I’m just saying, if you’re willing to share, I sure as shit am.”
His half-hooded eyes snap open, meeting mine where I’m crouched beside him. “Share?”
“I mean, yeah? I don’t know. But she’s into both of us, we’re both into her, so why not try and see what happens?”
He blinks at me, then closes his eyes. “I must have hit my head harder than I thought.”
“Nope. But I’ll go play watchdog. Thought I should clear the air, though, as we’ve both kissed her senseless tonight. And I’m not letting her go without shooting my best shot.”
“Same. But Liu...”
“I’m going, I’m going. Don’t get your panties in a bunch.”
I slip back through the gravestones, picking my way over until I have a clear, short jump at Morozov. If I could get closer without fucking everything up, I would just pop out and end this stand-off. It’s not like Nat is the kind of woman to carry a gun.
Oh no, all the big, strong men around her are supposed to keep her safe. The woman must have a brain in there somewhere, but it defaults to men taking charge in a way that diminishes women everywhere. That she found out a secret like the one the Rodriguez family is keeping and immediately tattled to her brother says everything I needed to know about her I hadn’t already figured out myself.
She’s a dinosaur in designer dresses.
Cece will just be the first of many female leaders, and a damn fine one at that. These stuffy old families are due for some shake-ups, and Cece can’t be the only girl raised in this world to want more than to look pretty and pop out piles of criminal children. I know my mom wanted more, even if she never got it.
No, Nat’s views belong dead and buried, left in those unmarked graves.
A shot has me bounding forward, my mind working furiously to figure out where I’m most needed.
Across the way stands Cece, gun arm steady, Morozov’s kid shaking as she clutches him against her front. Morozov, meanwhile, turns, his gun arm wavering, as a single shout of “Nat!” forces my attention to the last guest at the party.
And there, closer to me than Cece, close enough that little details lodge in my mind, I watch my best friend’s fiancée tumble sideways into a pre-dug grave, her eyes blank, a dribble of blood barely trickling from the bullet wound in her skull before she disappears from view, a soft thud sounding when she hits the bottom.
Turns out that Cece’s not just good at throwing knives. She’s one hell of a shot, as well. Makes me wonder if there’s such a thing as strip shooting. Because I’m suddenly game to give it a go.
Ears ringing, knowing that was Cece’s one and only bullet, I use my surprise attack as best I can—by throwing the knife at Mikhail Morozov’s heart before he can get his gun hand steady again and risk a headshot at Cece around his son.
Only the bullet wound in my arm has my aim wonky, and the knife lands with a thunk in his left arm. Whoops. No going back now, though. “Give up, Morozov. You’re outnumbered and outgunned,” I say, stepping toward Cece, wondering if I’m going to have to be a human shield.
I sure hope not. There’s one hell of a woman here that I can’t wait to get to know better, and that’d be impossible if one of us is dead.
He glares at his injured arm, but leaves the knife in like a smart man. “Give me my son and I’ll leave,” he says, more emotion in his voice than I would have expected for the underdog currently scrambling his way to the top of his organization.
Cece pushes the kid forward, and he sprints to his dad like the scared kid he should be. This shit isn’t for kids. I don’t know what the fuck Morozov was thinking, bringing an elementary schooler with him.
Morozov backs away, his kid in hand, his head bowing for a moment as he passes his sister’s grave, but his gun hand never straying from Cece.
And she keeps her empty weapon trained on him as well, her gaze intent to kill. Lack of bullets be damned.
She doesn’t relax until the rumble of an engine descends the mountain. “Well, that was messy,” she says, tucking the empty gun into the sash of her dress.
I inspect the graves, the dirt, the backhoe, and the woman now lining the bottom of one of them. “Why’d you kill Nat?”
“She cheated on Eddie. With Pinky, of all people.”
I spit into the hole. “Good riddance. That woman was an archaic toxin.”
She walks over to the unnamed guard and rolls him toward another unoccupied grave. I rush to help her, not because she can’t do this alone, but because she doesn’t need to.
“So, you’re heir, not Eddie.”
“Yeah. I am. What of it?” The fight in her voice has my cock twitching.
“It’s surprising, but after tonight, I’m all for it. You’re one hell of a woman, Cece Rodriguez. Your family will be lucky to have you as a leader.”
She dips her chin as we push the grunt into the hole, her cheeks pink in the spotlight. “Thanks.”
We drag Pinky to the last grave, tossing his tone-deaf ass in as well. “And Cece?”
“Yeah?”
“I’d be lucky to have you in my life, too.”
Leaving her to sort through my confession, I hop into Nat’s grave, rummaging until I find her phone and unlock it before tossing it up to Cece. “Why don’t you go check on Liam? Give Eddie a call and see if we can hitch a ride out of here. I’ll finish cleaning up.”
A barely audible shout from Liam cuts through the darkness. “There’s another piece dismantled by the weeping angel.”
“On it,” I shout back, before pressing a quick kiss on Cece’s lips, her warmth plastered against me like she needs a release from this adrenaline the same as I do. But business first. Fun, second. “Go. Kiss him better,” I say, pushing her toward my friend.
“We’ll see about that,” she says with a smirk, before sauntering away, muddy, bloodthirsty, and gorgeous.
Just the way I never knew I wanted. But I’ve gotten a taste, and I’m not letting that girl go.
She’ll have to kill me to get rid of me. Which wouldn’t be a problem for her, it seems.
Best point that energy at our enemies. She’ll have them if she’s planning on changing this old boys’ club. And I’m thrilled I might get to help her dispose of each and every one of them.