Chapter 39
Claire's POV
The silence stretched between us, louder than the gunshot still ringing in my ears.
Antonio didn’t look like a monster.
That was the worst part.
He looked like himself—calm, steady, eyes full of guilt as he stepped closer, like he was the one hurting.
“Claire,” he said quietly, “get back in the car.”
I took a shaky step back. “You just shot him. One of Vera’s men. Juan—he trusted you. She trusted you.”
“I didn’t want to,” he muttered. “But if I didn’t kill him, we wouldn’t have made it five minutes down the road.”
I shook my head, heart hammering in my chest. “What the hell does that mean?”
He looked down, exhaled, then finally said it.
“Leo has my sister.”
The world tilted beneath my feet.
“What?”
“He’s had her for months,” Antonio said, his voice brittle, the guilt cracking through. “Says she’s safe. Says she’s fine. But I know what that means. I know what he’ll do if I don’t give him what he wants.”
“Me,” I whispered.
Antonio nodded. “He wants you alive. He knows you’re the only thing that shakes Vera.”
I stared at him, trying to find something human left in his face. “So you’re just going to deliver me to him? Like a package?”
His throat bobbed, and he looked away. “I tried to fight it. I kept delaying, holding back, trying to protect you from a distance. But after today? After Vera made it clear what you are to her—he’s not going to wait anymore.”
“You could’ve told her,” I said, voice cracking. “You could’ve told me. We could’ve helped—”
He stepped forward, gently, like I was glass and he hated breaking me.
“I’m sorry, Claire,” he said again. “I really do care about you.”
Then he reached for me.
I flinched.
But he didn’t raise the gun again.
Instead, he opened the passenger door and looked at me—pleading.
“Please. Just get in the car.”
And for the first time since I walked into Vera’s world, I had no idea what to do.
Because this wasn’t just betrayal.
It was a cage with someone else’s name on the lock.
I stared at Juan’s body, but not because I knew him. I didn’t. Not really. He was just one of Vera’s men—quiet, loyal, nothing more than a face in the background until now.
But it wasn’t his blood that made my stomach turn.
It was what this meant.
Leo had me now. Not in chains, not in a basement. Not yet. But he had me.
And he’d use me to hurt her.
I looked at Antonio like I didn’t recognize him anymore.
“You killed him,” I said, my voice barely audible. “He trusted you. She trusted you.”
“I didn’t have a choice.”
“Bullshit,” I snapped. “You made one. You chose Leo. You chose to help him take me.”
He flinched, like he wanted to argue—but didn’t.
My heart was hammering, panic rising fast. Not because I was afraid of what Leo would do to me.
But because I couldn’t bear being the reason Vera got hurt.
“I can’t be the thing he uses to break her,” I whispered. “You don’t understand. She just started letting herself care. She just let me in. And now you’re handing me over like a loaded gun.”
“I’m trying to keep my sister alive,” he said, almost pleading.
“And I’m trying to keep Vera whole,” I shot back. “Do you even know what you’ve done?”
He was quiet.
I shook my head, breath catching in my throat. “If Leo touches her because of me… I’ll never forgive you. And I’ll never forgive myself.”
“Claire—”
“Just shut up,” I said, stepping toward the car. “You want me alive? You’ve got it. But know this…”
I turned, looking him dead in the eye.
“She’s going to come for me.”
Antonio didn’t speak.
He just looked away.
Because he knew I was right.
The car door shut with a hollow thud, sealing me in.
I didn’t speak. Didn’t look at Antonio as he got behind the wheel and started the engine like this was any other drive. It wasn’t. The road blurred outside the window, sunlight flickering through the trees like it had no idea what was unraveling inside me.
My mind was already spinning.
How long until Vera notices I’m gone?
Will she think I ran?
Will she be pissed?
Will she care?
No. That last part was stupid. Of course she would. She made that clear yesterday—claimed me in front of everyone. Her crew, Arturo, the entire city would feel the aftershock of that move.
And now, Leo had his hand wrapped around her weak spot.
Me.
My throat tightened.
I didn’t care what Leo wanted to do to me. Torture me, lock me up, threaten me with everything he had—it didn’t scare me the way one thought did:
That Vera would blame herself.
That Vera would unravel.
Because I’d seen what she looked like when she lost someone.
I couldn’t let that happen again.
“You don’t have to do this,” I said quietly, eyes still locked on the road. “We could turn around. Vera could help you. She has resources. She could find your sister. She would—if you just told her.”
Antonio gripped the wheel tighter. “It’s too late. I made my move. There’s no undoing it.”
“There’s always a choice,” I snapped, voice sharper than I intended. “And you made yours.”
He didn’t respond. Just kept driving.
I turned my head, biting the inside of my cheek to keep the panic down.
Vera was going to come for me. I knew it like I knew how to breathe.
But how long would it take?
And how much damage would Leo manage to do before she got there?
I rested my forehead against the glass, eyes burning, whispering to myself more than anyone else.
“Please find me, Vera.”
I kept my eyes fixed on the trees rushing past outside the window, trying to think. Trying to breathe.
I could feel the pressure building in my chest—panic creeping in with every mile that took me further from Vera.
I had to stall. Had to do something.
Maybe I could text her. Drop a pin. Anything.
I shifted slightly in my seat, slipping my hand toward my jacket pocket.
I barely got my fingers on my phone before Antonio’s voice cut through the silence.
“Don’t.”
I froze.
Slowly, I looked over at him. “Don’t what?”
He glanced at me, eyes cold now, all trace of apology gone. “You don’t get to warn her.”
My heart kicked harder.
“I wasn’t—”
He reached across me before I could finish, yanked the phone out of my pocket.
“Antonio—”
I lunged for it, but he already rolled down the window and, without a second thought, tossed the phone into the trees.
It was gone in seconds.
I stared at him, mouth open, fury and disbelief crashing into each other in my chest.
“You didn’t have to do that,” I said, my voice low, shaking. “You already have me. I’m not going to jump out of a moving car.”
“No,” he said. “You’re not. But I know you. And I know her. And if she got so much as a text from you, she’d be here before we crossed the next mile.”
That part wasn’t wrong.
But hearing it made my blood run cold.
He was afraid of Vera.
Good.
He should be.
“Enjoy this drive, Antonio,” I muttered, glaring out the window. “It’s the last bit of peace you’ll ever have.”
He didn’t respond.
He just drove faster.
Vera's POV
The war room was quiet, too quiet. Gabriel sat across from me, flipping through a list of shipment schedules like the day wasn’t dragging its nails down my spine. I checked the time again. Claire should’ve been back by now.
Thirty minutes for coffee, maybe forty if the line was long. It had been over an hour.
I pulled out my phone and dialed her.
No answer.
Tried again. Still nothing.
By the fourth call, the silence felt like a noose. Then someone picked up.
“Claire?” I snapped.
“Uh, no,” a man said, confused. “Found this phone off the road. Looked like it was tossed from a car. It was near the woods.”
I stood up, heart slamming. “What road?”
He gave me the name, and my stomach twisted. That road wasn’t anywhere near the route to the café. It led east—out of city bounds, near the perimeter of Leo’s territory.
I hung up and walked over to the map on the table, my hand moving fast. Gabriel followed, already sensing the shift in my tone.
“What is it?” he asked.
“They were supposed to get coffee. Antonio and Juan took Claire. I told them where to go, how far to stay. This road is nowhere near it.”
I traced the line on the map, jaw clenched. The road curved out and looped toward a known safehouse Leo used—one we hadn’t hit yet because we thought it was just a backup site.
My hand stilled. My eyes locked on Gabriel.
“Juan must’ve taken her.”
Gabriel raised a brow. “Juan?”
“Think about it,” I snapped, already grabbing my jacket. “Antonio wouldn’t do this. He’s the one I trust. If Claire didn’t come back, it’s because Juan turned. Leo probably got to him. He took her—and Antonio.”
Gabriel opened his mouth to argue, but I was already out the door.
The bike engine screamed as I tore down the road, trees blurring past, gravel spitting up behind me. Every turn tightened around my throat. My fingers gripped the throttle like I could outrun what I was thinking.
Juan took her. Juan betrayed me.
Antonio probably tried to fight him off. Maybe he was injured. Maybe he was—
Then I saw the body.
Up ahead, crumpled at the side of the road.
I slammed the brakes, the bike skidding as I jumped off and ran toward it.
Juan.
Dead. Gunshot to the chest. Blood soaking into the dirt.
I froze.
No Antonio in sight.
No tire tracks heading back.
No sign of a struggle.
Just Juan. And a bullet.
I took a slow step back. My pulse roared in my ears.
If Juan was dead… if he wasn’t the traitor…
Where the fuck was Antonio?
I turned in a circle, scanning the road, the trees, the horizon—but there was no trace of them.
Then the truth slid in, slow and sickening.
It wasn’t Juan.
It was Antonio.
Antonio killed Juan.
Antonio took Claire.
And I handed her to him. I told him to take her. I trusted him. I put her in his hands like a goddamn gift.
My stomach dropped.
My legs locked.
Gabriel’s voice in my head—She’s your weak spot.
He was right.
And now Leo had her. Because of me.
I stood there, staring down at Juan’s body, every breath colder than the last.
Antonio was still alive.
And Claire was gone.