18. Sergio
CHAPTER 18
SERGIO
J aelyn’s eyes narrow after a few seconds. “Yeah, and why am I so not surprised that some random person tracked you here to shoot you in the head?”
I raise my hands up. “This isn’t a break-in.” I sneak a look over my shoulder, my stomach dropping when I realize who’s standing over me.
While I’m naked and mid-fuck.
Alek Severinov, boss of a very lethal Russian bratva that is part of our family syndicate.
I swallow a groan.
Matteo finding me would be so much better.
He sees me and rolls his eyes, dropping his hand with the gun. “Jesus Christ…” he mutters.
“Look, Alek?—”
“No,” he says, holding up a hand. “Just stop right there. Fucking put yourself together and then get outside. I can’t focus when I’m staring at your ass.”
I smirk. “I know. I hear that a lot.”
He glowers at me and puts the gun to my temple. “I won’t hesitate. You’re just a business partner, always remember that.”
I give a quick nod. “I’ll be right out.”
He slams the door shut and Jaelyn pushes me off of her while she scurries around to grab her clothes. “Seriously, Sergio? Where the hell did you bring me? And who is that guy who just saw me completely naked?”
“Relax,” I mumble, pulling on my pants. “We work together. I’ll take care of everything.”
“Don’t get shot in the process,” she hisses, pulling on her leggings. “Or I’ll have to ask your hot friend for a lift home.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “You think he’s hot?”
Her lips curl upward. “Oh yes . So hot. Does that bother you?”
“No,” I grunt, my lips twisting. Alek is happily married with kids, but that’s beside the point. Just the thought of another man’s hands on Jaelyn is enough to make me go all Incredible Hulk and pound the shit outta him.
“You have a lot of hot buttons, and damn, they are so easy to find, you know that?” she says with a smirk.
I grab her around the waist and pull her close. “It doesn’t mean I want you to stop pressing them, you got that? I just need a few minutes and then you can press them all you want.”
She sits on the bed, resting her head against the pillow. “I’ll be waiting.”
I pull on my shirt and run a hand through my sexed-up hair before opening the door and joining Alek in the kitchen. He holds up the bottle of vodka. “I guess you got hungry.”
“Listen, I know this looks bad, but let me explain?—”
“Quiet.” He glowers at me. “You do realize that anything you do isn’t just on behalf of your family anymore, right? This whole syndicate we’ve formed means that your business becomes my business and vice versa. And I don’t like it when your business fucks in the middle of my business. You get that?”
I nod, rubbing the back of my neck.
Alek folds his arms over his massive chest. He’s got about six inches on me height-wise and he’s broad and built like a brick shithouse.
The head of the brutal Severinov family.
The man who sat in a restaurant in Monaco and stabbed a drug lord in the chest with a fork and pretty much split him in two with it.
He’s a king among men in the underworld.
I do not want to be on his bad side.
We haven’t really spoken much since the families banded together months ago. He’s out here to help build up his family’s interests in Vegas, and Matteo is his counterpart, not me. So, I take a backseat most of the time. I’m looking for Alek’s approval, yeah, but I don’t want to get it with my head coming out of his mouth.
Anyway, the guy has created an international empire over the past years since he took over his family, and I know I could learn plenty from him…that is, if he doesn’t kick my ass for executing my latest brilliant plan without anyone’s knowledge or approval.
“You wanna tell me who she is?” He cocks an eyebrow and gulps down a shot of vodka. “From what little I know of you, it doesn’t seem like you lack places to screw women. And a guy in your position wouldn’t take one to a fucking construction zone.”
I lean my head into my hands. I may as well tell him the truth. It’s gonna get out soon enough that the Becerra Cartel is targeting me.
All of us, really.
“The Becerra Cartel tried to kill me and my guys the other night. But we’re not their only targets.” I nod toward the closed bedroom door. “Turns out she and her brother are on their radar, too. But we worked out an arrangement — controlling share of their nightclub business to take out the cartel leaders.”
“That’s a big plan coming from the guy who’s trying damn hard to get a seat at the table.” Alek shakes his head. “Matteo knows about this?”
“Only about us getting shot up. Nothing else.”
“So you made this decision on your own to take on the cartel?”
“To get the deal I wanted for the nightclubs, yeah.” I say.
“Did anyone give the approval to take over those clubs? Do we know anything about their operations and associates?”
“I checked out their operations. They look solid. Trust me, I got a good deal for us. It’ll make a shit ton of cash.
“At what cost, Sergio?” Alek grunts. “Matteo is your representative. He’s supposed to bring decisions like this to the group.”
“He didn’t think I could make the deal in the first place.”
“But you did.”
I yank my eyes away from his icy blue stare. “Not the first time I tried, but when I realized what they needed and how I could help, I knew we could land it. And we just did.”
“How’d you get them to change their minds? How’d you know about their issue with the cartel?”
“I, uh, kidnapped the girl.” Heat creeps up the sides of my neck because even as I say it, I know it’s grounds for Alek hitting me over the head with that glass jug of vodka.
His eyes darken and he takes another gulp of his drink. “I assume Matteo doesn’t know about that, either.” He claps an enormous hand on my shoulder and squeezes. “You know what, Sergio? I could put a bullet in your brain right here and now for opening us all up to your own personal shit.”
“I really don’t want you to do that,” I say. “I made some pretty stupid decisions over the past week, but I can fix everything. If you kill me now, I can’t take care of the problems I caused.”
He gives a swift nod. “You know, the static between you and Matteo…I’ve had the same thing with my own brothers. They were a lot like you, making stupid choices that didn’t get us very far, but caused a lot of headaches. Most of the time, it was because they were rebelling against me. They either didn’t like my plans, thought they could direct family business better, or they just didn’t appreciate my not-so-subtle way of telling them that they’re fucking morons when they screwed up.” He shrugs. “It’s not easy being the boss.”
I scrub a hand down the front of my face. “This isn’t on him. It’s all on me and I’ll accept the consequences.”
“That’s not how this works, Sergio. It’s like I said before, one person’s decisions impact all of us and our interests.”
“I’m going to fix this,” I repeat. “Tomorrow. It’ll be handled. I’ll do it by myself. I’ll swallow all the risk.”
“Again, not your call.” He rolls his eyes. “You really aren’t getting the whole syndicate concept, are you?”
“Look, Matteo can be a prick, but he and the others shouldn’t be punished for a bad move on my part.”
Alek stares at me for a long minute. “You want to know what I think you should do?”
“What?”
“Talk to Matteo. Tell him the truth about what you did and why. Level with him.”
“You at least spared my life before,” I grumble. “I don’t think he’d hesitate to shoot me if he knew all of this.”
“Maybe so, but if this syndicate is going to work, it requires each family to be united. That means no more petty bullshit. Christ, if I could reel in my own brothers, I’m sure you can fix things with Matteo.”
“This is feeling a lot like therapy,” I say with a snicker.
“I’m no stranger to family drama. And trust me, it doesn’t stop with my own immediate family. My in-laws, the Marcones, are worse.” He grins. “My wife included.”
I lean into the counter with a deep sigh. All for a goddamned seat at the table with the bosses.
But it’s what I want, so yeah, I’m going after it.
“Talk to Matteo. Take control of this. Own the dumbass moves you made. He’ll respect you for it. Eventually, maybe not tonight.” Another smirk. “Convince him that you made a smart move for the group and I’ll consider backing you up against the cartel. And if you ever think of fucking another woman in my safehouse, I will castrate you.”
“Thanks, Alek.” I stick out my hand and he pumps it hard.
“Now get the hell out of here. I’ve got work to do, and the images of you two are giving me a brain bleed. I don’t want to accidentally see or hear anything else out of you tonight, got it?”
A knock from inside of the room sounds and Jaelyn’s voice floats out into the hallway. “Is it safe to come out now?”
“Yeah,” I say.
She steps out, hugging her arms around herself but staring straight at Alek with a defiant look that tells him she doesn’t give a damn that he just saw her in a pretty compromising position. The bright pink spots in her cheeks tell me something different.
I want to get her back into that compromising position as quickly as possible.
After tonight, who knows how many more people are gonna want me dead?
And the more appropriate question is, will any of them actually achieve that goal?
“I’m going to leave you to the rest of your night, somewhere else,” Alek says with one final glare in my direction. He grabs the vodka and heads for the back of the apartment.
I grin at Jaelyn. “Pretty eventful day, huh?”
She sticks a hand on one hip and cocks her head to the side. “And it’s not even over. Do I want to ask what happens next?”
“I can tell you some of my ideas,” I say, nuzzling her neck. “But I don’t like spoilers.”
“Listen, I really think we need to find Nate. He’s pissed as hell and I don’t want him to do anything stupid, like try to blow up your hotel.”
“I’m a big boy and I can handle your brother. You, on the other hand,” I say, smacking her ass. “Still need to be tamed. And it’s gonna take a long time, lots of grueling hours. He’ll just have to sit tight while he waits for our meeting tomorrow.”
“He’s not one for waiting,” she says, biting her lower lip. “If I were you, I’d be afraid. Very freaking afraid.”
“Look, right now there’s no shortage of people in Vegas who want to cut my wrists and throw me into a tank of man-eating sharks. I should be doing a lot of things to protect myself, but what I really want to do is you . So we’re going back to the Excelsior where I’ll come clean with my brother Matteo about what’s happening right now since he’s topping that list of people. Then I’m gonna take you up to my place and fuck you until you black out from coming so hard.”
“I should make you drive to Nate’s place,” she breathes as I nip at her ear. “So you can apologize for being an ass.”
“But?”
“But I’m a little afraid of what he might do to me after he takes care of you.” A teasing smile lifts her lips and she tightens her arms around me. “So I’m thinking that a blackout is a far superior option.”
I take her lower lip between my teeth and suck it gently before dipping my tongue into her hungry mouth. “Mm,” I mumble against her lips. “Let’s go because I’m starving, and the only food I want is you. ”
The car ride back to the Excelsior is fast, mainly because Jae’s hand was stuck down my pants, tag-teaming with her lips. My cock swells against my jeans, dying for release as we pull up to the hotel and hordes of people are crowded at the entrance.
I groan. Great, I love walking around with my dick ready to explode out of my pants.
A blue haze clouds my vision, and I decide the meeting with Matteo can wait until I can see clearly again.
I jump out of the car, drop the keys into one of the valet’s hands as he salutes me, and pull open Jaelyn’s door. I shift her around so that she’s in front of me as we walk since I have nothing else to hide what’s happening below my waist. I trail kisses along the back of her neck as we get into the revolving door and push into the ornate lobby.
It’s packed with people loitering, drinking, and generally enjoying their night at the hottest hotel on the Strip.
Sorry, Alek…
I snake an arm around Jaelyn’s waist as we make a path for ourselves.
“Private elevator is at the back of the casino,” I murmur. “Just a few more minutes and we’ll be?—”
“Jaelyn!”
A deep, angry voice yells her name from somewhere in the vast space. The harsh voice not only startles us, but everyone around us. I turn to the right to see where it’s coming from and I roll my eyes when I see Nate stomping across the polished marble tile floor.
I hold up a hand. “Listen, Nate, just calm down, okay? Let’s talk about this like?—”
Whack!
It happens so fast, I don’t even see it coming. I only hear the whizz in the air as his fist cracks against my jaw. I fly backward into a tall potted plant near the entrance and it tumbles over, the ceramic pot shattering as it hits the ground. I stagger around as I try to get my footing, finally swaying to my feet as he approaches.
I step left and right, not finding balance at all before he takes another swing. This time, I manage to duck under his fist, collapsing against one of the reception desks.
Hotel goers have formed a circle around us to watch the bullfight.
Except in this case, the fucking matador is the one who’s getting killed.
I blink fast to clear my vision, diving at Nate and tackling him to the ground. We roll around on the floor, grunting and swearing as Jae’s screams pierce the air. Bright flashes blind me as pretty much all of the spectators pull out their phones to take video of us grappling, with our limbs flailing and fists flying. My head slams back against the hard tile as Nate hurls himself over me again, my jaw on fire from where he repeatedly punches me.
“You didn’t really think I was gonna wait until tomorrow to do this, did you, you piece of shit?” he roars as I slide out from under him. His fist connects with the floor instead of my throat.
Score one for me.
I struggle to my feet, hunched over and panting from the repeated punches to my midsection. The guy has some serious pent-up rage. I wipe my upper lip, my fingers bright-red with blood.
Okay, maybe it isn’t so pent-up anymore.
He lunges for me again, but this time I’m ready for him and I land a shot right into his chest. He stumbles, caught off-guard, and crashes into a nearby slot machine. I leap at him and pound the shit out of his face. “My back’s not turned this time, Nate! I’m right here, so fucking give it to me!”
“Nate!” Jae yells running over to us. “Sergio!” She pulls me off of her brother whose face, I’m happy to say, is bruised and bleeding profusely. “Enough of this! You’re acting like animals!”
“Did you expect something different from this fucking guinea?” Nate roars, charging at me again. I ball up my fists at my sides, ready to attack until Jae shoves him backward.
“No!” she yells. “Not here! And no more fighting!”
Nate glares at her. “This is between me and the fucking incompetent godfather wannabe. I’ll deal with you later!”
“No,” she seethes, grimacing at him. “You’ll end this right now and then we can talk.”
Nate grumbles as he rises to his feet, pointing to me. “You have some fucking nerve talking to me like you did. You’re lucky I didn’t cut off your tongue. Or your dick.”
Jae’s eyes widen and she turns her back on us, addressing the rapt audience. “There’s nothing more to see here! Leave now!”
Her shrill scream is enough to make everyone scatter and once they do, she turns to us, her eyes blazing. “Nate,” she says, her voice shaking. “We have a lot to discuss. But you need to cool the hell off first!” She looks up at me, bringing a hand to my split lip. “Are you okay?”
I nod, and Nate lets out a thunderous, animal-like sound.
“Are you kidding me, Jae? You’re asking if he’s okay?” Nate shakes his head. “Is the gangster made of fucking glass or something?”
“You didn’t fight fair,” she says with a warning look. “And I was going to call you to talk like adults before you came in here like a bat out of hell.”
“Talk?” he snarls at her. “A replay of the conversation we had earlier? Because you see how well that one ended, right?” He lets out an incredulous laugh, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t believe it. You actually like this jerkoff, don’t you?”
She sneaks another look up at me and shrugs. “Maybe.”
“Jesus, Jaelyn!”
“What the hell is going on here?”
I bite back a groan as Matteo and Dante rush over from the casino. Anyone else gonna join in the ambush? Is my father waiting in the wings, too, looking to take his shot?
Matteo narrows his eyes at all of us while Dante hangs back, a smirk on his face. Must be nice to not be the guy who’s about to get leveled.
“Who are you people?” he says, looking at Nate.
“Nate and Jaelyn Torres,” I mumble.
He flips around to look at me and I can’t help but enjoy the shock seeping into his features. “Torres as in Sapphire Torres?”
“The one and only.”
“Why are they here?” he mutters, very aware of the people still hanging around us, pretending not to be eavesdropping on this very heated exchange. I’ll bet some are still filming.
Dante had better start confiscating some phones before this shit ends up on YouTube.
“I think we need to take that conversation somewhere private.”
“You’re really stretching my patience, Sergio,” he hisses, grabbing my arm. “Get in my office. Now .”
I shake off his arm. “Just so we’re clear, I’m only going because I have something to tell you, not because you ordered me to.”
“Yeah, he doesn’t take instruction very well,” Jaelyn snips, her arms folded over her chest.
I’m gonna punish her for that later.
I wink at her and flip off Nate before I follow Matteo into his office. He storms inside and slams the door shut so hard that the walls shake and one of the framed pictures clatters to the floor, the glass shattering into a million pieces.
Well, that’s good. He can’t stab me in the heart with a shard of glass.
He could stuff a handful of them in my eye, though…
“Are you fucking insane?” he shouts, pounding his fist against a wall. “Bringing them here and brawling with Nate Torres? I told you I’d handle him! Do you have a death wish? Because I’ll just kill you now! It’ll save me some goddamn grief!” He shoves me backward but I stand my ground, refusing to falter.
I shove him back harder. “This is my space. Don’t fucking invade it or I’ll cut off your hand, too.”
Matteo’s eyes glow with a demonic sheen, his lips turning up into a sneer. “You’ve got a lot of nerve making threats against me.”
“Who said it was a threat?”
We stare at each other, circling like predators and prey.
At this point, I’m not sure which roles we’re even playing, but still we skulk.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on, Sergio? Or do I have to beat it out of you with a tire iron?”
“I need you to chill the fuck out first. There are some things I have to tell you, and if we’re gonna take on the car?—”
“Whoa!” He holds up a hand. “Take on ? As in battle? Who are you to make that call?” he bellows. “I thought you were convinced that Torres was the one who was out to get you, not the cartel?”
“I might have gotten it wrong,” I say, stretching my lips together.
“Oh, those words!” Matteo grouses as he stalks around his desk. “You might have gotten it wrong? Might have ?”
His voice reverberates between my temples, making them throb louder and harder with each passing second. The punches I took to the head aren’t helping with the pounding in my skull, either.
“Listen—”
“No, you fucking listen!” he screams. “Do you know how long I’ve worked to get the respect of these other families, Sergio? While you were fucking around with cocktail waitresses and any other women who flashed their pussies at you, I was trying to make a name for us! I was working with these guys, convincing them that our backing, connections, and money would be worth their trust in us!”
“That was a good thing,” I say. “Nice work.”
“And then you come along with your big plans to take over a string of nightclubs when you can’t even run the one you have! You made yourself, as well as the rest of us, a target for the Becerra Cartel when you cut off Javier’s fucking hand, and you shit the bed with Torres! Do you know what that all means?”
I let out a sigh of frustration. “Why don’t you just tell me?”
“Fine,” he seethes. “It means all of my work is fucking destroyed! You crapped all over it with your dumbass ideas and plans. You wanted to prove yourself, right? Well, what you’ve proven is that you’re an incompetent jackass.”
“Fuck you!” I roar, kicking over a chair. “You know, maybe I’m tired of being stuck in a no-win spot. You have me working on shit that isn’t worth my time or effort! I have ideas, ideas that I want to put in play. You hang this seat over my head like a set of tits, for Christ’s sake. ‘You almost have them. Almost, Sergio. Just reach a little higher…higher…higher, and get ready to motorboat those fuckers!’” I snip. “Well, guess what? I’m gonna get them, okay? And they will feel fucking amazing!”
“All talk,” he grumbles. “No action.”
“I kidnapped Jaelyn Torres this morning,” I blurt out, biting back a smile when I see Matteo’s jaw drop. “I found out that the Becerra Cartel has them on their radar, too. So got on a call with Nate and volunteered to pop the heads of the cartel in exchange for controlling interest of his nightclubs.”
“Jesus…” he groans. “I think I’m gonna have a stroke.”
“No, but hold that thought. There’s more.”
He rolls his eyes. “Why is Torres so pissed off at you that he needed to come here and tear you apart in my lobby?”
“Because I fucked his sister like a prisoner on death row and I told him so.”
Matteo’s head falls into his hand. “Is there anything else you want to pile onto this shit sandwich?”
“Just one more little thing.” I take a deep breath. “I brought her to the Severinov safehouse because I didn’t know where else to go. Alek walked in on us, ah, well, you know.”
Matteo’s eyes have bulged to the point where I could probably just pluck them out of their sockets.
“But don’t worry. I smoothed everything over,” I say, hurrying to finish before Matteo grabs the spear next to his desk and impales me with it. “I told him everything.”
Matteo presses his fingers together and watches me for the longest minute of my life. I’m convinced when he opens the desk drawer, it’s to grab a gun but instead, he pulls out a joint and lights up.
“Can I have a?—?”
“No!” he rasps, sending out a thin stream of smoke. “You can’t.”
He takes a few more drags and I know he is furious right now because he only lights up when he is so far beyond anger that it becomes the only way to make sure he doesn’t murder someone.
That someone being me in this scenario.
“What did Alek say?”
I shrug. “He told me to talk to you. He knows I fucked up. I know I fucked up.”
Matteo nods. “And what should we do about that? I have ideas.”
“Look,” I say, sitting in front of him. “Things between us haven’t been great, but I’m not trying to mess this up for you or for us as a family. But I want a voice. I’ve earned a fucking voice!”
“You’ve earned a butt-fucking by one of the trannies upstairs at the bar,” he grumbles.
“Yeah, probably.” I snicker. “Although I don’t plan on collecting that punishment.”
“What do you want, Sergio?”
“I want to fix things with the Becerra Cartel. They almost killed Enrico and they tried to kill me and Bruno. Those guys are toxic to our organization. I want to run them the hell outta Vegas, but I can’t do it alone. If they stay here, they’re gonna come after us. It’ll be a bloody war that we don’t need right now. We have our own backup with the other families, but the cartel will try as hard as they can to destroy us. You know it and I know it.”
“And why should I trust you after all of the shit you just caused? How do we know that Torres isn’t going to come after us out of revenge for your snatching his sister? Or for trying to soak him for more than half of his worth?”
“He needs us,” I say. “And we need him, too. But I need you behind it. You’re always telling me to earn my seat at the table. Let me do it, Matteo. Give me a fucking break for once.”
He takes one more drag before snuffing out the joint. “There’s a lot on the line here. A lot of money, a lot of people, and a lot of potential death.”
“I know.”
“You’ve got a plan?”
I nod. “Sure do.”
“You’d better.” Matteo pushes the chair back and stands up. “You get one chance, Sergio. Don’t make me regret this or I’ll be the one cutting shit off next.”
He flings open the office door and stalks back out to the lobby. I follow, a smile tugging at my lips. A small part of me expected to walk out of there with either a black eye or a broken nose. I’m pleasantly surprised to find out that the whole conversing thing actually works, even with two people as stubborn and self-righteous as me and my brother.
But there’s still a nagging feeling in my gut that tells me this isn’t even close to being over. I have to figure out a way to get to the cartel under the guise of some bullshit meeting. They have to be expecting it after their failed attempt to bury us last week on our way back from Sapphire.
We’ve both taken shots.
We’re both at risk.
But somehow, I need to make them feel comfortable getting into a room with me. That way, I can build trust and then extinguish it with a knife blade to the jugular.
That’s what I do.
I see Jaelyn talking to Nate in the corner of the lobby. He turns toward us, his eyes skipping past Matteo and landing squarely on me. There’s a lot of rage in that gaze, and I have no doubt he’d try to pummel me again if we were anywhere else.
But right now, it looks like Jaelyn has talked him off the ledge.
He might let me live…tonight.
And tomorrow?
Well, like I said. There are plenty of people who want me dead, so he can just join those ranks and take his chances.
I’m still standing, so that says something.
I don’t hesitate to snake an arm around Jaelyn’s waist and Nate’s eyes narrow to slits as she snuggles into me. I’m tempted to grab one of her tits, but that would just be begging for trouble.
And my goal tonight is to not end up in the hospital. I have plans, very carnal ones that include only one Torres, and it’s not the fucking brute who’s still bleeding all over the lobby floor.
Nate’s jaw tightens as Jae lays her head against me. “So, you’ve got a plan for how all of this is gonna go down, Villani?”
I nod. “I’ll share it as soon as you have that partnership paperwork drawn up. I wanna be solid on our business agreement before I do anything with the cartel.”
His eyes skate to Jaelyn’s and she nods at him, grasping his hand. “This is for the best. It’s what we need to do.”
Nate snorts. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this. I expected more from you, Jae. You know what we’re trying to protect.”
“Look,” she says in a low voice. “We all win this way, and you get to keep part of your business. It may not be exactly the way we wanted it, but at least we’ll finally be free and safe.”
Nate looks at me. “You make sure that not a single hair on her head is damaged or I will come after you and torture you in ways you’ve never imagined.”
“Sounds like something Jaelyn said to me earlier today.” I chuckle. “Guess it’s in the blood.”
Jaelyn tentatively pulls away from me and wraps her arms around Nate, giving him a hug. It takes him a second, but he pulls her tight. He’s so large that her tiny body almost disappears into him. She whispers to him and he nods with one final glare in my direction.
“Tomorrow morning,” he grunts. “You come by the club and we’ll sign the papers. Then you execute your part of the deal.”
“That’s the plan,” I say.
Nate straightens up and Jaelyn laces her fingers with his as we walk toward the exit. “Come on. You need to get some sleep.”
He looks down at her. “And what about you?” he asks with a raised eyebrow.
“Oh, she’s not gonna be getting much sleep,” I say.
Matteo rolls his eyes and gives me a shove, and Jaelyn levels me with one of her icy stares.
We walk out into the dry heat, weaving our way around Ubers and cabs pulling up to the hotel as endless streams of people file into the famed revolving doors. Nate drops a kiss onto his sister’s head before looking back at me.
“Just so we’re clear, Villani. I fucking hate you. None of this changes that .”
I flash a half-smile. “You’re in good company, Torres.”
He lets out a snort and pulls open his car door as we turn to head back inside.
“Your list of enemies is so damn long, how do you even keep track of who wants you dead anymore?” Matteo gripes.
I shrug. “I just assume everyone does. Keeps me on my toes.”
“You’ll be lucky if you can?—”
But three loud gunshots, and the piercing screams that follow, swallow up Matteo’s next words.
I flip around, searching the circular driveway as people either scatter or dive to the ground in sheer panic.
“What the fu?—?”
And then I see it.
The booted foot peeking out from the side of Nate’s truck.
Attached to his jean-clad leg.
“Nate!” I bellow, running over to his truck as a blacked-out Range Rover peels out of the driveway and loses itself in the traffic running up and down the Strip.
Jaelyn shrieks and dashes past me, crumbling next to Nate who is face-down on the cobblestones. “No, no, no! Nate, wake up!”
I press my head against his chest, listening for his heart. Using two fingers, I find a pulse, albeit a weak one. I look up at Matteo. “We need to get him to the hospital now! Help me get him up. We’ll take his truck.”
Jaelyn’s body quakes with sobs, tears streaming down her face. It’s the first time I’ve really seen her crack and it shatters me. Nate is her world and I have to do anything I can to keep him in it.
Between me, Matteo, and one of the valets, we manage to get him into the back of the truck with Jaelyn. I jump into the driver’s seat and Matteo slides in next to me. Minutes later, we pull up to the Emergency Room, and a couple of orderlies rush out with a gurney. After loading him onto it, they take him inside with Jaelyn grasping his limp hand.
I lean my head back against the seat. “Fuck,” I breathe out. “This is bad fucking news, Matteo.”
“Yeah, no shit,” he grunts, rubbing the back of his head. “This is hitting too close, Sergio. If we wait to handle the cartel, Christ only knows who else we’ll lose? Hell, we might have just lost Torres.”
“Don’t say that,” I grunt, scrubbing a hand down the front of my face. “She can’t lose him,” I murmur.
“Since when did you become so sentimental?”
“Fuck me if I know.” I sigh. “Okay, so my plan was to have a meeting with the head of the cartel and surprise! Ambush his ass.”
“We can’t wait,” Matteo says.
“No,” I agree. “It has to be tonight. They’re tracking us and they know we’re aligned to Torres. If we don’t make a move now, we’re going to be sitting ducks.”
“What about Jaelyn?”
“I’ll talk to her. She has to stay here with Nate, so at least she’ll be safe.” I look at Matteo as I pull the truck into a parking spot. “Can you give the guys a call? We’ll meet here and figure out what to do next.”
“I’ve got it. You go inside and see how Nate is doing. I’ll get a location on Becerra.” He claps a hand on my shoulder. “You shit the bed with this one, Serge, but lucky for you, I’m used to cleaning up your messes.”
“Just don’t slip and fall into it. That stench is damn hard to wash off.” I hop out of the truck and jog into the hospital to find Jaelyn. I find her hunched over in a chair, quietly sobbing into her hands. I run over to her and drop to my knees in front of her. “Jae, what happened?”
“H-he’s back there now,” she whispers. “They took him right in, but nobody has come out to talk to me yet.”
“It’s only been a few minutes.” I squeeze her hands. “You have to stay positive.”
“I c-can’t lose him, Sergio. He needs to come out of this. Oh, God! I knew this was going to happen eventually. I knew they’d find us and come after us.” Her shoulders shake as she covers her tear-streaked face with her hands.
“Look, I promise you I will take care of them, Jae. They’re gonna pay for what they did to Nate, do you hear me? And they will never get close to either of you again.”
“He lost so much blood,” she weeps, as if she didn’t even hear what I just said. “I saw the looks on the doctors’ faces when they wheeled him back. I could see it in their eyes!”
“Hey,” I say, giving her a gentle shake. “This isn’t you, Jae. You don’t give up on anything, so why are you so ready to give up on Nate? He’s a strong sonofabitch, and I know he’s sure as hell not gonna give up on himself, not if he knows you’re by his side rooting for him.”
She nods. “You’re right. I know you’re right. It’s just that everything with my parents…and now Nate…these people have taken s-so much from me,” she murmurs, her teeth chattering. “They can’t have him. They can’t!”
I pull her up and drag her to a corner of the waiting room, which is surprisingly empty, even for a weeknight. “Listen to me,” I say in a low voice as we sink into two empty chairs. “You’re one of the strongest people I’ve ever fucking met. You don’t crumble, you fight with everything in you. And Nate is the same way. Don’t ever doubt that he won’t fight like hell to stay here with you.” I tilt her head toward me. “If for no other reason than to pound my face in the next chance he gets.”
She lets out a little chuckle. “Oh yeah, there will be plenty more where that came from.”
“Right. So let’s focus on my getting the shit kicked out of me by your brother. There’s a hell of a lot of rage inside of him, too. Must be the genetics.” I pull Jaelyn close and she buries her head in my shirt, letting out a deep, shuddering sigh.
“I know I need to stay positive,” she says. “And I know he’s a fighter. He never takes things lying down. It’s why he’s here in the first place. And why we’re being hunted by those assholes.” Jaelyn raises her face up to mine. “I know I never told you the full story. But now you need to hear it.” She takes a deep breath. “They killed my parents…slaughtered them…all because Nate refused to work with the cartel, and Becerra doesn’t like to hear the word ‘no’. It was their way of saying our loss .” She sniffs and swipes at the tears under her eyes. “The men they used to kill my parents got off without so much as a few hours of community service,” she murmurs. “They walked out of the courtroom smiling when the verdict was delivered. They murdered my parents, shattered my world, and they got off scot-free because Becerra’s attorney managed to get all evidence disregarded. Fucking slimeball bastards,” she says in a dark voice.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I can’t imagine how hard it was to deal with all of that.”
“We went after them, Sergio,” she whispers. “Later that night. Just me and Nate. We found the guys who killed my parents.” She stops, her hands shaking in mine. “It was our message back to Becerra. I’d never killed anyone before that night. And I don’t think I ever really got over it, even though they deserved it. Making them suffer didn’t make me feel better. It didn’t help me move past the death of my parents. It just created more of a void. A hole I was hoping to fill with vengeance.”
“That never works,” I murmur. “I know from experience.”
“I found that out the hard way. And for three years, we’ve been looking over our shoulders, waiting for the other shoe to drop because we made it clear that night was about retaliation. We almost didn’t make it out of Miami, either. Becerra’s guys came after us and…” Her voice catches. “One of them grabbed me just as I was making a run for our car and threw me down, his hand tight around my throat to hold me down. I fought like crazy, kicking and punching and screaming. But he had one knee pinning me to the ground. I couldn’t land a shot with him on top of me. Then he pulled out a machete, and just as he was about to swing it into my chest, Nate shot him in the throat.” Her voice catches. “I thought I was going to die in that second, Sergio. When I saw that blade coming at me, I was sure it was the end.” Her eyes flash. “But Nate took care of me, just like he always has. The whole plan to bait you was my way of helping him for once.” She takes a few deep breaths and pushes her hair back, squaring her shoulders. “They can’t get away with this,” she hisses. “We need to find them and make them suffer.”
“I’m not gonna sit here and pretend I know how you feel because I don’t. I get that you want revenge, but your brother needs you here, with him. You need to focus on him right now.”
She grips my shoulders. “They will keep coming back until they finish the job if I don’t destroy them first.”
“Jaelyn,” I say. “You’re fucking brutal, and I have no doubt that you could wreak your own brand of havoc on those guys. But this war is bigger than you. Becerra won’t get away with what he’s done. He’s hit us, too. And now he knows we’re aligned. So you need to stand down and let me do what I do best.”
“You can’t take him on by yourself!”
“Who said I’d be by myself?” I grin. “I have a whole fucking army, sweetheart. And it’s time to lead the troops into battle.” I tilt her chin upward. “You need to stay here with Nate where you’ll both be safe.”
“I don’t like to take orders.”
“Yeah, I’m well aware of that.” I roll my eyes. “But this isn’t up for negotiation. You can unleash all of that sexy, dark fury on me later for grabbing the reins. Right now, I need to make sure you’re protected.” I wave my hands around. “And what better place than a hospital?”
“You do realize I’m probably better equipped to go up against those cartel thugs than your own guys, right?”
“Trust me, gorgeous. Nobody on my crew has the fight that you do. But they have guns, so that gives me hope.” I wink at her.
Jaelyn sits back in the chair, expelling a deep breath. “I can’t believe this is happening.” Her eyes flick over to me. “And I can’t believe that you, the guy I despised up until a couple of hours ago, is now my partner in taking down our mortal enemy.”
“You despised me?” I say in a joking voice. “I didn’t get that vibe at all.”
“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll do something to piss me off again. And then I’ll make sure you feel it.”
“I can’t wait,” I murmur.
A tall man in a white coat walks toward us, his eyebrows knitted. Jaelyn springs out of the chair and rushes over to him. “Miss Torres?” he asks.
“Yes,” she says in a breathless voice. “My brother Nate…is he okay?”
The doctor’s shoulders sag slightly. “He’s in critical condition. One of the bullets is lodged in his spinal column and it needs to be removed as soon as possible. He has internal damage to his heart and lung from another bullet. He’s being prepped for surgery right now.”
She claps a hand over her mouth. “Oh no…”
“Can she see him?” I ask.
The doctor nods. “Yes, you have a few minutes before he goes into the operating room. I’ll bring you back.”
She gives my hand a squeeze before following the doctor through the heavy red doors.
I hear the swish of the revolving door and see Matteo rushing into the waiting room. “Hey, how is he?”
“Bad,” I mutter. “They’re taking him into surgery. Jaelyn is back there with him now.”
“Shit,” he grumbles. “The guys are on their way now, but I don’t have a read on Becerra. He didn’t go back to his compound after the shooting.”
“Okay.” I let out a frustrated sigh. “That can only mean one thing, Matteo.”
He nods. “I know.”
“Once the guys get here, we’ll split up. Let’s alert the families, too. See if they can get any information for us to go on.”
“I’ll see what I can do. Stay out of sight with Jaelyn until we’re ready to go.” He claps a hand on my shoulder. “We’re gonna comb the fucking city until we find those bastards. We’re shutting them down tonight.”
“We sure as fuck are,” I grunt, raking a hand through my hair. “They’re gonna pay a serious debt tonight. And the interest is gonna choke them. Hard.”