Chapter Eighteen
I turned on the oven , then yanked shit out of the fridge as I called Luna.
He answered on the first ring. “Still no updates. We haven’t found the SUV, the serial number on the gun you gave me was scrubbed, and none of my contacts know anything.”
Shit . “Did you try her cell phone?”
“Yeah, nada. Goes straight to voice mail, and I can’t track it.”
Damn it. “We still don’t know how they disabled the tracking on the Escalade?” I threw two potatoes in the oven.
“Anyone with half a brain can disable the system that comes with the vehicle, but my secondary system? I still don’t know how they managed it. They would’ve had to look hard for it. So they either destroyed the vehicle, or maybe….” Luna trailed off.
André Luna never trailed off. “Or maybe what?”
“They’re using a signal jammer.”
“Those are illegal.”
“I know. Which doesn’t make me happy thinking someone has one and is using it. That makes my job a hell of a lot harder.”
Maybe that was the point. “The Escalade could’ve been the target. What better way to test out a signal jammer than to try it on one of your company vehicles?” The gangs all knew who Luna was. Hell, he’d grown up with half of the members. They usually steered clear of us, as we did them, but they all knew our vehicles.
I heard him pound away on his computer keys. “GPS is still offline. Same with her cell phone. So yeah, those fuckers could be messing with me.”
“What’s the range on one of those things?”
“Depends on the signal strength.”
“Create a larger perimeter around the last known location in northwest Miami and let’s do another search.” They had to return to their home turf eventually.
“We already did that twice. I did a third run myself. At this point, even if we did find the vehicle, do you know how many gang members are in that area? Toss a coin, you’ll hit a hundred of them.”
“I don’t need a hundred. I just need one.”
Luna scoffed. “You think the threat will stop if you take out the one pendejo whose mask she ripped off?”
He was starting to sound like Preston, and I didn’t like it. “It’ll be a start.”
“And then what? We both know how this goes.”
“She didn’t witness a murder.”
“You think in their eyes that matters?”
So I take out all fucking four of them. “I’ll handle it,” I ground out.
“No,” Luna clipped. “You won’t. I will.”
My nostrils flared with an inhale. “I’m not letting this drag on.”
“What are you gonna do, Savatier?” he asked, purposely using my last name. “Go on a killing spree?”
“If I have to.”
Luna sighed. And when he spoke again, his tone wasn’t the tone of my boss. “All right, look. We had this conversation when I hired you. We both know what comes with your last name. I’m fucking lucky, hell, I’m honored to have you at my six, but we agreed. If the day ever came where the tables were reversed and I needed to protect your interests, there wasn’t gonna be any question. I make the hard decisions. You have more to protect. We both know no matter how much you dislike your padre, one day it’s gonna be your name behind that empire. As much as you think you want to play bodyguard forever and walk away from that, as your friend and your brother, I’m not gonna let that happen. And I’m sure as hell not gonna let some gangbangers destroy a good man’s name. You hear me?”
My back teeth ground. “I’m not going to run his company.” My sister could have it.
“If you think he’s gonna leave it all to your sister, you’re dead wrong, amigo.”
I didn’t give a shit what my father did. “Are you done?”
“No.” He took a deep breath and let it out slow. “I’m making you a promise that I’ll handle this. You’re not getting your hands dirty. Period. That said, in the bigger scheme of things, I’ve got thirty-seven active jobs running right now. I’m on this, I want my vehicle back too, and I want those pendejos to know they can’t fuck with me. I will make an example out of who did this, but I’m doing it my way. Hang tight. Take care of the chica. I got it on this end.”
“How long?”
Luna chuckled. “You’re on paid leave with a beautiful lady, amigo. Fucking relax .”
“I’m not on paid leave.” I wasn’t taking his money for doing nothing.
“Yes, you are. Medical leave. I saw the size of the welt on the back of your neck. Can’t feel good.”
“I’m not injured. I’m fine,” I ground out.
“Glad to hear it, but enjoy your time off anyway. And FYI, Ty is outside while Preston handles something for me tonight.”
“Preston is a loose cannon. You shouldn’t have hired him.”
“I do a lot of things I shouldn’t.”
“What’s his deal? I don’t want him around Genevieve.”
“He has a particular skill set I need.”
“Which is what? Besides cataloguing shit like a professional criminal?”
Luna hesitated, then evaded. “He served with Ty. Ty vouches for him.”
I was pissed off enough not to filter my response. “Ty’s trigger happy with zero loyalty.”
Luna chuckled. “He’s loyal to his bank account, and that I can trust.”
“Ever wonder what he needs money for?” I was being a dick. Luna vetted all his employees.
“Every one of my men needs money except you. That’s why they work, amigo.”
“Fine. Point taken.”
Luna exhaled. “All right, bro, listen. I know you’re used to being in the driver’s seat, it’s why I hired you. But trust me, I got your back. Take the time, stop with the fucking guilt, and take care of the chica. I’ll be in touch.”
“Copy.”
“Later.” He hung up.
I tossed my phone on the counter.
“You’re injured?”
I spun to see the look of alarm spread across her features. “No.” Goddamn it, how long had she been standing there?
Her eyebrows drew together. “Did you get hurt bad last night?”
Her hair wet, still wearing my clothes, she was beautiful. And married, I reminded myself.
“I said I’m fine.” I turned back to the stove and put the heat on under the grill section.
“Who were you talking to?”
“Luna.”
“Did he find the SUV?”
I hated the hope in her voice. “No.”
“Oh.” She blew out a breath.
“He will.” He better.
“And my purse?”
“I don’t know.” I opened the fridge and scoured the fruit drawer. I grabbed two lemons.
“Oh shoot, I need to cancel my credit card and bank card. I can’t believe I didn’t do that last night.”
“You had a lot on your plate.” I picked up my phone and slid it across the counter toward her. “Call them now.”
She took my phone and looked at it for a moment. “Are these your friends from the Marines?”
I’d forgotten about the picture on my lock screen. “Yes.” They were more than my friends. They were my brothers.
She walked over to me, holding the phone out. “Who are they?”
I looked at the picture, and my chest tightened like it always did. “Left to right, André Luna, Jared Brandt, Alex Vega, me, Matt Folsom, Reggie Parker and the guy looking over his shoulder is Talon Talerco.”
A shy smile touched her lips. “He looks like he’s laughing.”
“He usually is.”
She pointed at Luna. “And that’s who you work for?”
“Yes.”
She smiled shyly again. “Tell me about the others.”
Her innocence was disarming, and I was about to crush it. “Folsom and Parker didn’t make it home. Brandt was medically discharged, and him, Vega and Talerco live in Florida.”
“Oh.” Sorrow etched across her face. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”
I was sorry Parker left behind a wife and a newborn, and Folsom an aging parent who needed him. I tipped my chin at the phone. “Make your calls.”
She took my phone and started toward the living room, but then paused. “You, um, have a text.” She handed my phone back.
Savina: Where the hell are you? I’ve been texting you for days.
I fired off a response to my sister.
Me: Working
She replied almost instantly.
Savina: That’s such bullshit. You have the time to call me back.
I didn’t respond, but she texted again before I could hand my phone back to Genevieve.
Savina: I have papers for you to sign. Don’t make me come over there.
She always had shit for me to sign. Since I was on the board of my father’s company, she needed my signature every time they made legal changes, but I was over it. I didn’t need the money. The quarterly payments I’d been receiving for over a decade that were sitting in a bank account I hadn’t touched yet would more than carry me if I never worked again. I didn’t give a shit about my father’s company and I’d never wanted anything to do with it. Savina knew this.
I texted her back.
Me: Simple solution. Take me off the board.
Savina: Don’t be an ass. Come sign the shit and take me to lunch.
I wasn’t going to lunch with her. She was a mini version of my father. She’d harangue me for an hour about my life choices before telling me to grow up. Then she’d remind me I had an office at Savatier headquarters waiting for my ass to sit down behind a desk and rot for the next forty years.
That was never going to happening.
I texted her back.
Me: Not happening. Courier the papers. I’m tied up for the next couple of weeks.
“Everything okay?” Genevieve asked.
Savina: You’re a pain in the ass. I’ll wait two weeks, but only because you’re my brother. We’ll have lunch and you can sign the paperwork then. Call Mom, she misses you.
“Yeah, just my sister,” I answered Genevieve as I fired off one more text to Savina.
Me: No on lunch. Courier the papers. Mom knows my number.
My sister being the person she was, didn’t take the hint.
Savina: See you in two weeks.
I deleted the texts and handed my phone to Genevieve. “Make your calls. You can ignore any more texts that come in.”
She looked at me for a beat. “Are you okay?”
I frowned. “I’m fine.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. You were frowning, and I just thought….” She trailed off.
It hit me like a freight train. No woman had ever asked me if I was okay. Not even my own mother. But this woman, who had no family of her own, who had staples in her head and a gang after her, was standing in my kitchen asking if I was okay.
My head spun, shit hit my chest, and I had to stop myself from reaching for her.
“My sister’s agenda is not mine,” I admitted.
Her head dipped as she studied the floor. “Oh.”
I realized my mistake too late. “I’m not ungrateful I have a sister, we’re just two very different people.” If we weren’t related, we’d never be friends. “Everything’s fine. Make your calls.”
“Okay.” She made her way into the living room.
I cut a lemon, squeezed it into a glass, fished out a couple seeds, then added honey because I didn’t have any sugar. Some water and ice later, I stirred it and left it on the island.
I was grilling peppers when she came back.
“Well, I got lucky.” She set my phone on the counter. “No charges appeared on the bank card, and the credit card only had one charge at a gas station but the credit card company reversed the charges.”
I glanced at her. “What gas station?”
“They said it was some station downtown on Third Street.” Her eyes went wide. “Oh! Do you think that will help find them?”
“Not sure.” I picked up my phone and texted Luna the information. “Luna will follow it up.” I tipped my chin at the glass. “That’s for you. Dinner will be ready shortly.” I went back to grilling.
She didn’t say anything.
I turned the peppers, then glanced at her.
She was staring at the lemonade.
“What’s wrong?”
She didn’t look up. “There’s a cut lemon on the counter.”
I didn’t deny it.
She looked up at me with innocence and trust. “You made me lemonade.”
She’d said it was her favorite. “Let me know if it’s sweet enough.”
“It’s perfect,” she whispered, her eyes welling.