Chapter 39
CHAPTER 39
MARIA
“ C ome on, Bella, this way,” I tell her gently, guiding her up the stairs and into the safe room that Beast showed me earlier in the day.
“I’m coming,” Bella replies, but I can hear her voice shaking. I put a hand on the small of her back, helping steer her up the last couple of steps into the small room where we’re going to be keeping cover while the guys deal with whoever has just arrived at the compound.
My heart is drumming against my ribcage, and I can feel the pressure of the gun Beast gave me in the holster at my hip. I know how serious this is. Beast is trusting me, and I can’t let him down. Can’t let any of them down. It strikes me, as Bella sinks into a large chair opposite the security desk, how vulnerable she looks.
“We can keep an eye on everything that’s happening from up here,” I explain to her, nodding to the stack of screens in front of us. They’re connected to all the security cameras hooked up around the compound, giving us a view of everything that’s going on. It’s dark out, and I can’t see much, but there seems to be a single figure standing outside of the main building. Did the cartel just send one person? That doesn’t seem right.
“Oh, God,” Bella groans, and I glance over at her in a panic.
“Hey, are you all right?” I ask her urgently, dropping to my knees in front of her, trying to get a good look at her. “Everything okay?”
“I’m fine,” she sighs, planting her hands on her stomach. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you. I just… all this stress has me feeling sick.”
I grab a bottle of water from the small mini fridge below the desk. I insisted it was stocked with food and supplies for Bella and me if we were going to be stuck in here for any length of time. The last thing I wanted was to be caught without enough for her to eat or drink.
“Here, sip on this, slowly,” I tell her. “It’ll help settle your stomach.”
“Thanks,” she murmurs, cracking open the bottle and taking a few small sips. She closes her eyes and leans back in the seat, her hands on the growing bump at her stomach.
“It’s going to be okay,” I soothe, and she nods. I don’t know if she believes me. She’s probably wondering why I’m the one who seems to have been assigned to take care of her when we don’t know each other very well. I don’t want to explain the real reason, that I’m a good shot, in case it makes her panic even more. Stress is bad for the baby.
“I know,” she replies, though I’m not sure, judging by the tone in her voice, that I believe her. I sink down into the chair next to her, watching through the security cameras as the Kings and their allies rush around to gather themselves. I can tell a few of them are nervous. Even on this grainy footage, I can make out shaky hands, nervous tics, or maybe it’s excitement in Blue’s case.
“I’ve been through stuff like this before,” she admits, and I turn to her, surprised. I know it shouldn’t shock me, given her involvement in this world, but Bella seems so… delicate to me. It’s hard for me to believe that she’s seen something like this before, let alone survived it.
“You have?” I reply.
She nods, with a slightly sad smile. “Yeah. But last time, my father was the one on the other side of all this.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “Your father?” I ask.
Her shoulders slump slightly. “Trust me, you wouldn’t be surprised if you knew what kind of man he was,” she replies, shaking her head. “He… he was a monster. The cruelest person I’ve ever known. The way he treated me, the way he treated everyone around him, it was…”
She trails off. For a moment, I see tears shining in her eyes.
She blinks them back quickly, shaking her head. “I’m sorry, you don’t need to hear all of this,” she remarks, plastering a smile on her face. My mind drifts back to what Beast told me before about her mother still not being in a good enough state to help her out with everything. My heart twists, thinking of how alone she is in the world right now.
No, not alone. She’s got me. She’s got Beast. She’s got Harley, and she’s got all of the Kings around her, willing to do whatever it takes to help her get through this pregnancy in one piece. I need to remember that, no matter how tempting it might be to let my emotions get the better of me.
“It’s okay,” I reply. “You can talk to me, if you want. It’s better to get this stuff out than try to keep it in.”
“Are you close with your father?” she asks, and I smile.
I can’t help myself. Even in the midst of everything that’s happening, I’m so glad that I have the father I do. He’s such a strong, decent man, and he’s gone out of his way to show me just how much of a world there is out there to explore. Whether it was encouraging me to pursue my studies in the UK or letting me focus on my career when so many dads would have been trying to get me married off, I’m so grateful for him.
“Yeah, I am,” I reply. “Especially since I lost my mother.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she says.
“I miss her, don’t get me wrong,” I reply. “I wish she was still around, more than anything, sometimes. But my father… he’s done everything he can to make sure I never missed out on anything since she passed. He’s been both parents to me.”
“He sounds amazing,” she replies.
“He really is,” I agree. “I hope you’ll get to meet him, soon enough.”
“That would be nice,” she murmurs, almost wistful, like she couldn’t quite imagine it happening. I have to cling on to the hope that it will; I need to believe he’s going to be okay, that he’s going to walk out of all of this in one piece, even if it sometimes feels impossible.
My heart pangs when I think of how far he is from me—God, so far, it sometimes feels like I’m never going to get a chance to see him again. I know he must be feeling the same way right about now, feeling the weight of the doubt hitting him hard. After everything we’ve been through, I need him to keep his faith in me—need him to put his faith in me just like I have been able to put my faith in him my entire life. It might not be easy to believe that there is a way through this, but there has to be.
There has to be.
“You’re from Mexico, right?” Bella asks.
“Yeah, I am.”
“Tell me about that place,” she tells me, smiling, shifting the conversation to something a little more positive. “I want to hear about what it was like growing up there. It’s supposed to be beautiful.”
“Oh, it is,” I gush at once. “And where I grew up, especially. It’s like something out of a fairytale.”
The two of us get talking, sharing stories of our childhoods, both of us skipping over the rough parts, focusing on the warm, happy memories instead. She lays her hands on her belly as we speak, as though she’s making sure that her little one can hear all of this. I hope they’re taking it all in somewhat, listening to all this goodness, knowing there’s so much for them to look forward to when they eventually come out into the world.
I keep checking the cameras, almost compulsively. I just need to know what’s going on out there. It takes a while for everyone to gather themselves, but eventually, there’s a contingent of Kings ready behind the front door.
And still only one man waiting outside. It feels… off, somehow. Shouldn’t there be more people by now? Shouldn’t the cartel have sent more in the way of men to start this war off? I check all the cameras, trying to keep my face neutral so Bella can’t see the doubt that was beginning to nag at the back of my mind.
“What is it?” she asks.
She must be able to tell as well as I can that there’s something off here, something strange going on. I’m not entirely sure what it is, but I feel as though every part of my body is on high alert, responding to any perceived threat before it has a chance to get hold of me. I know I need to hold myself together. Beast is relying on me to keep Bella safe, after all, and that’s not going to happen if I start freaking out on her like this, but my gut is telling me there is something wrong. Something really, really wrong.
“Is it just one guy?” Bella asks, and I nod.
About ten of the Kings, including Malo, have stepped out into the entrance of the compound, where this single man is waiting. He’s just standing there, arms crossed over his chest. It doesn’t even look as though he’s armed, but it’s hard to get a good view from where we are. I peer at the grainy screen, scanning the background for any sign that there is something else going on here. It just doesn’t sit right with me.
It feels like a trap.
I force myself to breathe. I’m not going to panic, I’m not going to turn this into some freakout when I don’t actually know what’s happening. The main thing is that we have more men out there than the cartel seems to have sent. But whatever he’s there to tell us, I get the feeling it’s not going to be good.
I glance at Bella, who is speaking softly to her bump, and I remind myself what I’m here to do. I’m looking out for her, protecting her. And I’m not going to let anything distract me from that.
Even if every part of me is screaming that this is a trap, and we’re walking right into it.