Chapter 21
Cash didn’t want to leave her. He wanted to show her around LittleLand and see her face light up. But his life wasn’t his own, and he had a job to do. So he walked back into the office where the others were waiting for him.
Titus scowled at him. “Why did you bring her?”
Cash frowned while Bonnie whacked the back of her hand against Titus’s chest. “Don’t be so rude. Cash can bring a friend with him, and she looks like she needs to be here. Poor thing seems exhausted and a bit lost. She doesn’t talk much, does she?”
“She suffers from bad anxiety,” Cash told her. “When she’s anxious, her throat closes up, and she can’t get the words out.”
Although he was wondering if her throat was also hurting her because she kept clearing it.
Bonnie nodded sympathetically. “Yeah, she needs this place. She’ll be all right back there.”
Cash still turned to the screen, which showed where Addie was sitting on the sofa. She looked all snuggly.
“You haven’t got any clients coming in?” Ralen asked.
“Not for another hour,” Bonnie told him. “Then we’re fully booked for the rest of the day. Thanks for moving those boxes for me.”
“Told you, Bon, you don’t have to thank us. We’re happy to do it.” Ralen gave her a cheerful smile.
“So what’s this all about?” Cash asked impatiently.
“Are we keeping you?” Titus asked. “You’ve got more important things to do?” Titus looked pointedly down at the screen where Addie was now lying down with her eyes closed and a small smile on her face.
She looked so peaceful. Her hand came up to her mouth, and she was rubbing the sleeve of her top under her nose.
Damn, that was adorable.
“Cash? Cash! Are you paying attention?” Ralen asked.
Fuck. He turned around and saw all three of them staring at him. Titus looked impatient, Ralen was grinning, and even Bonnie seemed to be smiling.
“Yeah, I’m listening. What’s the problem?”
“Dante’s got a problem,” Titus said.
“With what?” Cash asked
“Ortega. He’s gone . . . AWOL,” Titus told them.
Holy shit.
“What do you mean, he’s AWOL?” Cash asked. “He messaged me not that long ago.”
“What did he say?” Titus asked. “Show me.”
Jesus. Fucker was so bossy. But Cash got out his phone. “Ahh, it was three days ago. All he said was that he wanted to catch up soon. I mean, it was a weird thing for Ortega to message, but I figured he would let me know what he wanted.”
With Ortega, you could never be sure what was going on in his head. He was a bit of a wild card, to say the least.
Ortega was Dante’s half brother; he also worked for him when it suited him. Ortega was an assassin. He could get in and out of places quietly, taking someone out before anybody even knew that he was there.
The guy was deadly, and . . . unique, but he’d always been a good friend to Cash. When Cash wasn’t able to check on his sister after her attack, he’d sent Ortega to watch over her.
Sure, he’d taken liberty with what Cash had asked him to do. Cash had thought he would just stay in the background and watch over her. Instead, Ortega had decided to ‘help’ Greer. Sometimes his help was a bit out there, and for a while, Greer had thought she had a stalker.
A helpful stalker.
Cash owed him, and if Ortega ever needed him, he would be there.
No questions asked.
“So he could be in Billings,” Titus said, pacing back and forth.
“If he was in Billings, wouldn’t he have come to see us?” Ralen said. “How has he gone AWOL?”
“Apparently, he’s not answering any of Dante’s calls or messages, nor Alejandro’s,” Bonnie said, nibbling on her lower lip. “To say that Dante is upset is an understatement. If he doesn’t hear from Ortega soon, he’s threatening to come to the States to try and find him himself.”
What the fuck?
Ralen and Cash shared a look. “He can’t do that.”
“We know he can’t do that,” Titus said.
“He’d be in too much danger,” Bonnie added. “When I spoke to him last night, I could tell that he’s starting to get stressed. Ortega can go quiet when he’s on a job, but he’s not on any jobs. Dante has checked with all the usual people, but no one has seen him.”
“But he thinks he’s in the States?” Ralen asked.
“He told Dante that he was visiting Alejandro,” Bonnie explained worriedly.
Right. His other brother, Alejandro de Leon, was one of the most powerful men in the entire United States. Ortega just happened to be half brothers with two extremely powerful, deadly men.
Ralen walked over to Bonnie and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Hey, don’t worry so much. Ortega will be fine. There’s no one who can take him out.”
That was sort of true. Cash wouldn’t like to see the Fox and Ortega go up against each other.
“I know,” Bonnie said. “He’s probably fine. I just wish he would answer his phone.”
“He’ll be up to something,” Titus said, shaking his head. “Won’t have thought of contacting his brothers.”
Cash knew that Ortega could be very focused. To the point that he ignored everything else. So if he had a job to do, he might have forgotten to check in.
“This isn’t the first time Ortega has done this,” he pointed out. “And Dante never threatens to come to the States to find him.”
“No, but usually if he goes silent it’s during a job,” Bonnie said. “Dante wants him found.”
“How the hell can anyone find an assassin who’s used to staying hidden?” Ralen asked. “He could be anywhere. He could still be in Mexico for all we know.”
“Dante tracked Ortega’s phone before he blocked him or turned his phone off. His last known location pinged as being here in the US,” Bonnie explained.
Cash raised his eyebrows and stared over at Ralen, who shrugged. He’d tracked him? Ortega was a grown man who could do what he liked.
However, Dante was controlling. He was ruthless, dangerous, and the man that Cash had signed his life over to in order to protect himself and his family.
“Where was his last known location?” Ralen asked, giving Bonnie a strange look.
“Chicago,” she said.
“Chicago?” Cash questioned. “Nowhere near here.”
“Does he know anyone in Chicago, maybe?” Ralen suggested.
“Dante doesn’t think so. That was yesterday,” Bonnie said. “So he could still be there. Alejandro is sending some guys to ask around and see if they can find him. Dante also wondered if he was on his way here.”
“That’s a stretch,” Cash said. “He could have gone anywhere. He could still be in Chicago. What does Dante want from us?”
“He wants you guys to try and contact him. If Alejandro’s men aren’t successful, he might need the two of you to go hunting for him.”
What the hell could they do that Alejandro’s men couldn’t? Well, he guessed they did know Ortega better.
Bonnie glanced over at the screen where they could see Addie sleeping. “I understand why you don’t want to go searching for him, Cash. You want to stay here and look after Addie.”
Yeah, he did, but Addie was also leaving soon.
“She’ll be heading back home to Las Vegas soon,” Cash said as Ralen shot him a warning look. “We can look for Dante if we need to.”
“I think that I should go to Chicago,” Bonnie said. “I really think I could find him.”
All three of them stared at her.
“Not happening,” Titus said.
“No way,” Ralen added.
Cash just shook his head.
“The three of you are real party poopers,” she told them.
“Better we be party poopers than you get hurt,” Ralen told her.
“Dante would fucking kill us,” Cash said. “And it would be long and painful.”
Bonnie had a hurt look on her face before she glanced away, and for a moment he wasn’t sure what it was that he’d said. Then it came to him and he nearly groaned. Bonnie probably thought they only cared about her because of her scary-ass stepbrother.
“But mostly we just don’t want anything bad happening to you, Bon,” Cash told her as he wrapped his arm around her. “Where would we be without you cheering up our lives?”
“I’m sure you’d survive,” Bonnie said in a low voice.
Titus shot him a nasty look, and he didn’t blame the other man. He felt terrible.
“I still think it’s unfair,” Bonnie said. “I’ve got the perfect detective outfit. It’s got this really cute hat and everything, and I think the right pair of boots would really set it off. I need to go shopping for some boots. Do you think Addie would like going boot shopping?”
It wasn’t until that moment that he realized Bonnie was probably a bit lonely. She didn’t really spend time with anyone else other than the three of them.
“I don’t know if she likes boot shopping, Bon, but remember, she’s leaving soon.”
“Oh.” Her shoulders slumped. “Of course. Oh, well. I can go shopping online. There’s better selection anyway.”
Should he offer to ask Greer or Livvy if they wanted to go shopping with her?
He’d once warned his sister off becoming friends with Bonnie because of who Dante was and what might happen to Greer if she hung around the other woman.
But that was unfair to Bonnie. She was lonely, and so far she hadn’t been in any danger, thanks to Dante.
Very few people actually knew who she was, and Titus watched her like a hawk. Bonnie deserved to have friends.
“Back to what we’re meant to be discussing,” Titus said with a disapproving look at them all. “You need to be ready to leave at any time if Dante wants you to go searching for Ortega.”
Both Cash and Ralen nodded.
“You can tell Dante that we’ll wait for his call,” Cash said.
“Good,” Titus replied. “Because I wouldn’t like to tell him that your loyalty was being split.”
“Cash and Ralen are still loyal to Dante,” Bonnie said to Titus. “They’re allowed to show interest in a girl.”
“Right, we will get going. We need to go get Addie some period supplies,” Cash said.
Both Titus and Bonnie looked surprised. Titus quickly shut that emotion off his face, but Bonnie just smiled. “That’s so sweet.”
Cash didn’t understand what was so sweet about getting period supplies, but he nodded.
“I’ve actually got some things in stock here,” Bonnie said. “If you want to take her down aisle ten, right at the end, she might find some things she likes there.”
“Addie, Addie, wake up.”