7. Parker
PARKER
F or the millionth time, I dialed Mia’s number. It rang seven long and irritating times. The generic voicemail picked up, and after the maddening beep, I did something I never did. I left a voicemail.
“Darling. You know I’ve missed you. It absolutely breaks my heart that you haven’t reached out to me. When you get this message, be a dear and dial back.” I injected false cheer into my voice just in case Mia’s phone had been confiscated.
Andre had been riding my ass about Mia, and while I was certain Vicente was behind her going dark, Andre wasn’t so sure. None of us were angels, not even Mia. There was a minuscule chance that she was taken by police or a rival company.
Although that was highly unlikely. If she had been taken by the police, Andre would have heard about it. If she were taken by a company, her father would have lost his head in a wild show of defiance to get her back.
Two of my men in his house confirmed with me not twenty minutes ago that he was alive and utterly unaware of his missing daughter.
My phone rang, and I jabbed the green icon on the screen. “Yes?”
Harsh breathing beat down the line, then a low groan. My stomach dropped. Sex could be on the other end, but more than likely, that had been a pained noise. “Who is this?”
“Parker. This is Jorge. We have a problem.”
“Fuck,” I muttered, pinching the bridge of my nose. “What’s the issue?”
“We were on the heist for the Naked Dancing Ladies painting, and we were made. They shot Benny, and Geo is down too. I called in a team for assistance, but this shouldn’t have happened.
” A crash came over the phone. “ Mierda . Something feels weird. I’ll get the men out as fast as I can, but this should have been a cakewalk.
The painting is stored in a small collection of climate-controlled storage units in an old warehouse. ”
I was familiar. There was a skeleton staff during the day and limited surveillance. For my men, that should have been practically a field trip instead of a challenge. Vicente had to be behind this.
Over the last week, he’d been silent. Hadn’t required our presence, hadn’t sent his soldiers to seek us out. It was a good strategy. Lure us into a sense of confused safety until we left the compound.
But this? Picking off my men, just because he could? That was an insult that couldn’t stand. Andre could be damned. Vicente was going down, whether I stayed or not.
“I can’t join you.” I resented the words. I wasn’t the most hands-on, like Andre, but I helped my men where I could.
“I don’t expect you to. I needed to update you in case something else happens—so you’d see the pattern.”
I ground my teeth. Jorge knew about Amorette’s abduction. It had spread through the different factions of the Institution that Vicente’s golden bastards weren’t so golden. Or untouchable. Now Jorge was afraid this would be the first of many strikes to throw us off balance.
He was right.
“Noted. Thanks, Jorge, and let me know if you need additional backup. I’ll call in some of Andre’s people if I need to.” If they were having a shootout in a fucking warehouse, these men were sent there as a hit. Andre’s people could work in that situation.
I left my apartment, needing to move. Restless energy pushed against my chest. Fuck this shit. I’d been sitting out, letting Andre do this his way, and look where that fucking got us.
The only reason he had this lead to Amorette was because Matías, of all fucking people, called him. I couldn’t wait to hear that story.
Without realizing it, I approached the gym. I was already in sneakers and gym shorts from my run this morning. I might as well go in and work up another sweat.
I could always leave the compound. Vicente wouldn’t know if I didn’t hit up one of my usual spots.
The rhythmic pounding of the punching bag echoed down the gym hallway. I perked up. Grey was here. Likely pissed he wasn’t allowed to go on the mission to retrieve Little Love.
Grey stopped when I came into view. He grabbed the towel hanging in the band of his shorts to wipe his sweat as he glared at me. Lovely to see you too, brother.
This wasn’t what I had in mind, but now that we were here, it would be nice to blow off a little steam.
“Taking your aggression out on the punching bag?” I quirked a brow.
“I don’t want to fucking hear it from you. You’re the reason Amorette was taken.” He went back to killing the punching bag. Was it just me, or were these hits a little harder than when I first walked in?
“That’s almost like victim-blaming, and I’m sure you know enough about society to know that’s not okay.” He threw the tape by the mirror as I walked over to the chair. I was in the mood for a real fight. I’d need the tape and Vaseline for that.
Grey snorted, yet there was no humor in it. Not surprising. Grey wasn’t a funny guy.
“How are you the victim here? Your shitty actions landed us on Vicente’s radar.
Vicente, qué cabrón, decided to play cat and mouse with us by taking Amorette.
You’re lucky she’s been with Matías this whole time and not gang raped.
” He paused, his shoulders scrunching up to his ears.
“Although, if he touched her, he’s dead. ”
“Mmmm.” I flipped the top of the small tub lying next to the chair. “And you don’t think that will catch Vicente’s attention? Taking out his only legitimate son?”
Grey shrugged and started working the bag in a pattern. “Not my problem. He should have kept mamí out of it. It’s not like Matías wants to be his heir, anyway. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have called Andre.”
I moved closer after smearing the Vaseline on, propping my hip on one of the posts for the ring.
“And you don’t think that’s suspicious?” I still ached for a good fight, but this conversation was just getting interesting.
Everyone up until this point had been pussyfooting around the issue, choosing to avoid each other than to actually figure out a way to take Vicente down.
Andre was on board, until he wasn’t.
“Everything anyone does outside of us four is suspicious.” He switched up his combination.
“Fair,” I agreed. “But Matías isn’t likely to want to help us. There has to be something in this for him. Maybe he’s angling to take over Vicente’s seat now.” He’d never publicly shown his ambition, but nothing was as it seemed in our world.
Grey stiffened as he thought that over. “If it’s a trap, he’s dead.
” Then he shook his head and reached for the water on the floor.
He squirted a long stream in his mouth, then over his head.
“Why the fuck would Andre take Lafe instead of me? Lafe hates those kinds of jobs, and he’s not as strong as I am. ”
I chuckled. “Are you jealous?”
He snapped his head in my direction, and his brows dropped over his eyes. “Do you think I’m fucking jealous?”
“I don’t know. Maybe you should be. You know Lafe was the one that saved Little Love in the first place.
” I push away from the post, then bend down to slide between the ropes.
“I’ve seen the way he looks at her. If you hadn’t snatched her up when you did, it would only have been a matter of time before he took her to his bed. ”
Grey sneered. “What, and overdosed? He was so uneasy around her he had to stay coked out of his brain to deal with her in his space.”
A grin tickled my lips. “You know his history. There’s no other way our dear, sensitive brother would be. But the longer she sticks around—”
“She’s not going any fucking where,” he growled and approached the ring.
“The longer she sticks around, the more he’ll see she can be trusted and that she’s not going to fucking die.
” I paused. “Vicente taking her was a setback, I’m sure.
However, he’s already beginning to trust that Andre’s not going to get her killed.
Not again. What are you going to do when Lafe takes what he thinks is rightfully his? ”
I curled my fingers into fists as he growled and jumped over the ropes, slamming his shoulder into my stomach. I laughed and wailed on his back until he flipped me onto my back.
Then it was on.
We traded punches, kicks, knees to the ribs. At one point, we grappled on the mat, each trying to get the upper hand. I had so much pent-up rage and anger from the last week; I wasn’t the easy target Grey usually found me to be.
He caught my arm in an arm bar, but I dug my thumb into his inner thigh just above the knee.
“Fuck!” He yelled and let go. “I hate when you fucking do that.” I laughed again as he cursed and jumped to his feet. He was ticklish in his inner legs, and when pressure was applied, it caused a sort of tickling pain.
That was what I loved about our fights—they were never clean. We fought with every advantage we could find, which was how Grey landed a left uppercut to my chin. I was fucking slow on that side.
Stumbling back two steps, I quickly caught myself and launched at Grey, hooking my left arm around his neck and punching his head.
He swept my feet out from under me, and I landed hard on my back. I groaned and tried to catch my breath. Waving a hand, I stopped his next assault.
“That’s enough. I need a breather. The way you’ve sucker punched me this last week has my head dizzy.” I saw his smug grin before I closed my eyes to stop the room from spinning. It wasn’t bad, and it would settle in a minute, even though this fight had done precisely what I needed it to.
It wore out the wildness threatening to break out of my skin. From the slump in his shoulders and lowered lids, he was exhausted too.
“You’re a motherfucker. You know that?” He lightly kicked my already bruising thigh. “You baited me on purpose.”
I grinned, the copper tang of blood coating my tongue. I was sure it was on my teeth too. The last time he caught my mouth, I cut my lip on my front teeth. Even now, I could feel the sting and swelling.
He didn’t look any better, with a darkening eye and swelling on his jaw. At least his bruises from his fight with Bruno were mostly faded to the ugly yellow of old bruises.
“Who said I was baiting you? Lafe did save her. He doesn’t do that shit. Ask yourself why he saved her.”
He pursed his lips and looked out the windows to the sunny sky.
“How are the injuries from Bruno?” I pushed myself up to a seated position and pointed at his hip. Out of all the hits he took, that one had been the hardest.
“Sore. Aching. Doc said nothing was broken, and our doctor here confirmed it. You’re lucky I’ve been out of commission, or I would have wiped the floor with your ass.”
He would have, but that wasn’t our reality, and we only ever focused on the now. What pussies would we be if we constantly thought about how things might have been.
“You hear from Mia?” He cut his gaze to me as he fell into the metal chair. It creaked under his weight, but that old fucking chair was sturdy.
I sighed. None of them had asked about her after that initial day.
I doubted they cared if she lived or died.
Maybe I wouldn’t either if she hadn’t been my childhood friend.
Once something was mine, in any way it was mine, I never let it go.
It grated that Grey had a fling with her, and I had to share her with him.
Not that I wanted to fuck her. I didn’t and never had the desire to. Her fling with Grey notwithstanding, I wasn’t convinced that she liked men at all.
But Mia had been my friend, and in a world where true friends were a commodity, why did he have to take mine? Bastard.
“No. The tracker is off. Her phone rings and then goes to voicemail. So she’s either purposely hiding, or someone is being very kind to charge her burner.”
Grabbing his phone and water, Grey returned and dropped next to me. This was different.
When was the last time I sat with any of my brothers for any length of time, if it wasn’t to talk business or beat the shit out of each other?
“I’m sorry. I don’t want Mia caught up in this shit with Vicente.” He took a drink while keeping his gaze on me.
I shrugged. I didn’t want her to be hurt. Although, as much as it made me an asshole, I wasn’t losing sleep over it either.
The only thing keeping me constantly miserable was the knowledge that I had potentially put my brothers on the chopping block. And sweet Little Love. She wasn’t like Mia. She didn’t grow up in this world, and she didn’t understand it.
A savage joy filled my chest when Matías called. Vicente hadn’t killed her, and now she was almost back in our grasp. Which, thank fuck. Her absence had made my brothers like bears to live with.
Now we’d get her back, and we could focus on bringing Vicente down in style.
Our phones chimed, and I scooted over a few feet to grab mine. It had fallen out of my pocket at some point. Probably when he hurtled me through the air.
Lafe: We caught the little bird.
That was it. Nothing else was needed to convey his message. “Those bastards got her.”
Grey started to dial someone on his phone, but I slapped the phone out of his hand. “Chill the fuck out. They would be on their way back and in the air if Lafe texted us. You’re not going to be able to talk to them.”
He scowled at me and grabbed his phone. Stuffing it back in his pocket, he jumped up and started racing around the gym to close it down for the day. Grey was nothing if not meticulous in his gym cleaning rituals.
Excited energy was nearly bursting at the seams as he turned off the lights and left me sitting on the mat.
“Fucking asshole.” I hopped up too. We were about to get Little Love back, and I couldn’t wait to hear all about her stay with our estranged half-brother. That was probably too kind of a description. Matías had never been one of us, and he never would be.
Already, I was salivating over the information she could have gained and how I could use it to our advantage.
Yes, Little Love, I can’t wait to see you.