22. Elias
22
Elias
I stood over Carlos, the second lead I'd had in the last two weeks—aside from Grace—and sighed, my hands tucked in my pockets.
The long game…
Blood dripped from the hilt of the knife stuck in his jaw in long, thick strands.
Javier leaned over the metal table, rifling through Carlos' wallet. "Pretty little wife." He held up a picture of a young woman and a younger Carlos on their wedding day.
I snarled.
Grace shouldn't have seen that.
Where the hell are her guards?
Maybe I should have walked her to her room—made sure she made it.
"Are you listening? "
I ran a hand down my face. "Yes."
"We could see if she knows anything."
"If what Grace said is true, then she doesn't know any more than this worthless puta. " I cast a glare at him. "Besides, we still have the Rodriguez's."
"We're going to trust her word?"
"Truth be told, she hasn't lied, just mastered the art of keeping her lips sealed tighter than some of my own crew."
" Pfft ." His upper lip curled upward. "Well, either way, we're ready for them. You just give the word." He flung the wallet aside as my men dismantled the plastic wall they had just erected, moving to tidy up the mess I'd caused.
"Don't touch the woman."
"Because of—"
I dropped five silver coins on the table for the men and walked out.
"I need Grace's guards swapped out. If they can't watch her in a room with just one way in and out..." How are they going to protect her? I pinched the bridge of my nose. "She's too valuable to be left unattended."
"Is that the reason why?"
We reached the top of the steps and paused in the foyer. I tilted my head to the side, glancing up the spiral staircase. "What other motive would I have?"
Was she sleeping or crying?
What was she feeling at this very moment?
"I see the way you look at her."
I snapped my gaze back down to his. "And how is that?"
He swiped one finger over the cross tattoo beside his eye. "You're fascinated with her."
I chuckled and shook my head. "I envy her innocence. Nothing beyond that."
"And how innocent is a whore from Andrés?"
A deep growl emanated from my chest as I advanced toward my best friend, jabbing my finger at him. "Refer to her like that one more time..."
"I take it back." His smile deepened, causing the wrinkles in his inked face to crinkle. "You're not fascinated; you're stricken. She's got you wrapped around her finger, and all she's done is smile and keep her secrets locked up tight."
I moved away, consuming his absurdity with a masked smirk. "Well, imagine my surprise, assuming you had me all figured out."
"Do you deny it?"
I ambled over to the liquor tableau and poured a shot of tequila into the glass tumbler. "I do."
"Guess I'm left in the dark about who you're deceiving, me or the mirror."
I grumbled, my shoulders bouncing.
Grace sought the gentle touch I provided, something she hadn't been given during her captivity. She discovered solace in my embrace, confiding in me when she should have kept me an arm's distance away.
"Let's not confuse strategy for adoration." I raised the glass to my lips and sipped the smooth, clear liquor.
" Ah , I see. Your master plan entails stooping low enough to resort to begging?"
"No one here is begging for anything."
Yet.
I swallowed the tequila, baring my teeth as the scars on her back etched their egregious horror into my consciousness. I poured another drink, rubbed my hand over my jawline, and wagged my finger at him. "There's someone I need you to find."
"Nice change of subject, cabrón. "
My lips curled into a subtle smirk as I settled into the closest chair, my ankle resting on my knee. "Don't bring him here."
"Alright. I can take him to the warehouse." Javier lounged across from me, his lengthy arms sprawled along the armrests. "Now, who are we talking about?"
"Carter Patraeus."
Javier drew his gun, placed it on the table, and proceeded to disassemble it. "Let me guess…" He tipped his head. "He has something to do with Grace?"
I gave a sidelong nod. "In a way." I sighed, her pained eyes holding my mind hostage. "I want him…" My hand squeezed the tumbler, willing it to shatter.
Javier raised both brows as he glanced up from his pistol, then dug into his pocket as I stood.
A distant swish snapped my focus towards the patio, then back to Javier, who held his phone pressed to his ear. "Did you hear that?"
He frowned and shook his head, returning to the phone call made in the middle of the night.
Setting my cup on the table, I strode to the towering window, dividing the sitting area from the patio and pool.
Soft ripples lapped against the decorated walls with a subtle splash.
Odd.
Giving Javier a tap on the shoulder, I navigated around the corner and made my way through the double doors to the poolside—an area where the once-steaming water now settled into a quiet calm.
Strange.
No one entered the pool anymore.
Mamá used to swim when Papa was alive, but she hadn't stepped foot into it since his death. Nadia would dip her toes in, but that was the furthest she'd go, considering she couldn't swim.
Mamá was sleeping.
Nadia wasn't here .
Which left…
Grace.
I pulled my hands from my pockets and stepped closer, scanning the rippling water, then stopped dead in my visual tracks—the storm in my mind surfacing like a Category 5 hurricane.
Her butt bobbed on the bottom, her limbs floating at her sides. A tranquil serenity painted her face, her eyes sealed shut.
A surge of panic gripped my chest as I sprinted over, pulling my shoes off.
"Javier, ven rápido ." I yelled before diving into the deep pool headfirst, my hands clasped before me, carving my path through the water.
I kicked my legs, pumping them as fast as they'd go, my arms moving water out of my way as though it were fallen pieces of rubble blocking my path towards her.
The moment my fingertips touched her wrinkled skin, her eyes snapped open, her mouth gaped as she expelled a gargled scream, her knees pulled up, and she pushed away.
My arms encircled her waist, and I propelled us off the bottom. Our heads emerged from the surface, and I exhaled while she coughed, her arms coiling around my neck as I guided us closer to the edge.
Javier loomed above us as I transferred her to him. He pulled her out of the water, and I hoisted myself over the edge, my clothes clinging to me like a load of bricks tethered around my ankles, Luca Moreno style.
He kneeled beside her, her body heaving the water from her lungs as he patted her on the back, then moved out of the way as I picked her up.
I carried her to the sitting area, her limbs turbulent.
"Javier, grab some towels and blankets."
He moved as instructed, vanishing through the pool house doors while I settled onto the two-seater couch, Grace in my lap, my arms enveloping her.
"Are you okay?" I pushed the sticky hair off her face. "Let me look at you?"
"I'm fine." She coughed, moving her hands over mine as if to calm me. "What were you thinking?"
"What were you thinking?" I frowned. "What if I hadn't gotten there in time? Do you even know how to swim?"
The chill of the night air cut through my skin as I cradled Grace's trembling form in my lap, her wet clothes clinging to every luscious curve.
It was the second time I was certain I had lost her, and with it, a prime opportunity to capture Andrés. A disconcerting sensation settled in my gut, but I pushed it away, unwilling to entertain the forbidden feeling.
"I wasn't drowning." She gripped my wrist and halted my hasty movements. "I just needed to clear my head."
Clear her head… because I killed a man in front of her?
Our gazes collided as I scrutinized her face, water droplets trickling down as though she had shed a myriad of tears long before I reached her.
I did that to her.
I'd caused so much grief within her that she needed the weight of seventy-five thousand liters of water to press against her.
Just to make her forget.
Javier appeared at my side, plopping the bundle of towels and blankets onto the seating area table with a soft thud. She wrapped the largest around her shivering form. He snatched a blanket next, laying it on top of her.
Grace moaned as the warmth seeped into our chilled skin. The night enveloped us, the heated pool casting an eerie, daunting glow.
"It wasn't this cold before I got wet." Her teeth chattered as she nuzzled into my chest. "It's much warmer in the pool."
I chuckled as her arms wound around my neck. "You'll warm up quickly."
Pressing my lips to the top of her head, I squeezed her a little tighter and took in her scent contaminated with chlorine.
It was too close.
No matter what she claimed, it was too much.
Too close.
"You'll never go into the pool again. Do you understand?"
"I know how to swim." She pushed away, but my arms held her to my chest. "You're overreacting."
Javier's gaze lingered on Grace as he sucked air in through his teeth, then exhaled with puffed-out cheeks. "I'm going to finish up my call."
Grace coughed into her elbow—her eyes closed tight as his footsteps trailed away.
"I'm well aware of your swimming ability, which is why you were drowning at the bottom of the pool."
"I told you I wasn 't drowning." She sat upright as I eased my grip on her, her trembling hands pulling the towel and blanket closer around her chest. "I was thinking."
"Thinking requires oxygen to the brain."
A laugh escaped her, triggering a bout of hoarse coughs that wracked her fragile frame.
"It's something I've done since I learned to swim. My parents would encourage me to find another way, but…"
Tears shimmered in her eyes before she glanced away. Moving off my lap, her heat vanished like an extinguished flame.
What happened?
What caused her to withdraw?
"Did something happen to your parents?"
"They um…" Inhaling a shaky breath, she cinched the double layers closer to her neck. I rose and closed the distance between us, the muscles in her face quivering as she forced a counterfeit smile onto her lips. "They died in a car accident before my seventeenth birthday."
I nodded, the knot in my gut winding its way toward my chest as her dewy gaze locked onto mine.
"So, if I were to fly you home, who would you go back to?"
She gave an exasperated huff with a subtle dismissive head shake. "You wouldn't, so why play the hypothetical game?" She shrugged her shoulders.
"Grace," my lip curled as I advanced, approaching her like a skittish wild creature. "I made it clear I'd send you home the moment you disclosed his whereabouts."
She turned her side to me with another rueful shake. Her lashes fluttered as though a thought flitted through them. "Would you care if I died?" she whispered. Her gaze clashed with mine like a hammer on hot iron. "Because no one cares about them except me."
Heat surged through my body in raging ripples. "Yes," I admitted. My lips dried, and I licked them. "But…"
Her brows raised, and her breaths faltered.
Had no one told her she meant something to them?
Grace's eyes widened as she stepped into me, her lips crashing into mine.
Fire prickled down my spine, pooling in my groin as I wrapped my arm around her, fingers threading through soaked tendrils, water dripping down my brow. Our tongues danced in a fervent exchange, bodies pressing together, sealing a moment destined to linger in the recesses of my consciousness.
What was this?
I deepened the kiss, a rush of desire flooding me like a rising tide.
A low groan escaped her as she nipped at my lip, a metallic hint spreading across my tongue.
Shit.
I pulled away. "Wait. Wait."
Horror crept into her glassy emerald eyes, her hand covering her mouth as she drew in small, hurried breaths. "I'm sorry. I…" She retreated, letting the towel and blankets fall to the ground, her cheeks as red as her plush, swollen lips. "I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry."
"No, Grace…" I reached for her as she brushed her fingertips over her mouth.
"It… it won't happen again."
Her darkened, peaked nipples pressed against the now translucent white nightgown as she rushed through the double doors, a pang gripping my chest.
Shit.
I seized a towel and rubbed it over my drenched clothes as I made my way inside, her bedroom door closing with a resonating thud.
"Is this the strategy you were talking about?" Javier placed his phone on the table and folded his hands across his stomach. He kicked back in his seat, his feet propped on the table.
"It's nothing."
"That didn't look like nothing."
"I'm going to change. See that they're quieter when bringing out that body."
He nodded, and I darted into my room. Stripping off my clothes, I slid into a pair of comfortable jeans and donned a simple black T-shirt.
What the hell was she thinking?
What the hell was I thinking?
My cock swelled, her lips imprinted on mine, her taste resting on my tongue.
Two steps forward and three steps back.
With clenched teeth and aching jaw, I stopped before Javier, his feet kicked up on the center table, an exhaustive expression.
"Carter's in Mexico. It'll take a few hours to bring him to the warehouse."
The perfect distraction…
I slapped his boots off the furniture. "No. We'll go to him." A burst of heat roiled through my gut. My jaw clenched. "Did you change her guards?"
"One thing at a time…"
My fists clenched as I turned on a dime and marched up the stairs, Javier at my back.
Antonio stood " Jefe ."
Eduardo glanced at him with tight lips.
"I warned you." I kept my voice low and clipped. "Didn't I?"
"She must have—"
I seized his arm and whirled him towards the banister, his back colliding with the unforgiving metal railing. "Not good enough."
Gathering the back of his jeans in my fist, I heaved him over the edge.
Antonio collided with the last step, landing face-first, his spine audibly cracking in two, leaving him sprawled in a mangled heap.
I pivoted back to Eduardo, my chest heaving, a red haze clouding my vision.
"Please," he raised his hands in defense. "She must have slipped away while I was in the bathroom."
My hand coiled around his throat as I shoved him against the wall, my finger pressing against his temple. "Step away from your post again, even for a piss, and you'll face a fate far worse than Antonio's."
His eyes widened, his throat constricting under my grip. Eduardo nodded, and I released him, my jaw solid and tight as I stepped back.
Grace's door swung open, her head peeking out between the crack. Her eyes widened as her gaze locked onto mine. "Is everything okay?"
I tucked my hands into my pockets.
Her damp hair cascaded around her shoulders. The collar of her fresh shirt nestled just below the hollow of her throat, her nipples pressed against the fabric.
"We're just taking out the trash." I gave her a soft smile. "Mandar al diablo."
She cast a fleeting glance toward Antonio's previous station, her lower lip captured between her teeth.
"Go to bed, Grace. It's late."
Her cheeks flushed as her doe eyes flitted to each man standing in the hall. She nodded and disappeared behind the closing door.
I turned my focus to the useless guard. "I hope I've made myself clear, Eduardo."
"Si, Jefe. "
Javier and I descended the steps, my bare toe skimming through the crimson debris oozing from Antonio's nose. "Tell the men to tidy up this mess before she wakes."
He chuckled, and I dismissed him with a wave before striding towards my bedroom. “Not taken by her at all…"
Harsh discipline had nothing to do with Grace. I'd killed men for less. She just happened to be entangled in it all.
At least, that's what I'll keep telling myself.