Chapter 36
I set my phone on the kitchen counter and buried my head in my hands, taking long, deep breaths. Adrenaline, anger, and something darker came to life deep in my chest. I had to stay in control. Had to think things through.
Juarez was watching our properties. Watching me. I was a liability in their twisted game of power they had decided they didn’t want to deal with anymore. The question was, was it because of my father or Gavriel?
After throwing some shorts on, I opened the small safe hidden behind a false panel in the kitchen wall, withdrawing the Beretta I kept there.
Its weight was reassuring in my hand as I checked the magazine and chamber.
I wasn't some helpless pawn to be sacrificed in their chess match.
Slipping the gun into my waistband at the small of my back, I pulled my shirt over it.
My phone buzzed with a text from Barry Hillabrand's number.
Hillabrand: Need to talk. Urgent. Meet at usual place.
I frowned. Barry was dead—Gavriel had confirmed it when he'd confronted me about feeding information to the FBI. Someone else had his phone, which meant someone was trying to trap me.
Elin: Who is this? Dead men don’t text.
The response came quickly.
Hillabrand: Your only chance. Juarez knows about your betrayal. Meet me or die.
My betrayal? Clever. Use my assumed guilt to lure me out. I deleted the conversation and blocked the number. Whatever game they were playing, I wouldn't make it easy for them.
The back door opened with a metallic scrape. I tensed, hand moving instinctively toward the Beretta, hoping it was Gavriel or Harley, but something felt off. The rhythm was wrong—too measured, too careful.
I stepped into the shadows beside the door just as it opened.
A man I didn't recognize entered, his hand reaching inside his jacket.
My blood turned molten. Without hesitation, I grabbed his wrist, twisting it backward until I felt the resistance of bone and tendon then pushing farther, until something snapped with a wet pop.
His scream died in his throat as I slammed my palm over his mouth and rammed his arm against the doorframe.
The gun clattered to the floor, and I kicked it under the refrigerator.
"Who sent you?" I hissed, digging my thumbnail into the pressure point between his thumb and forefinger. My father's lessons burned through my muscles: make them hurt, make them talk, make them regret.
“Fucking bitch. Who do you think you are touching?” He snarled it in Spanish, spittle hitting my face as he tried to twist free.
White-hot rage exploded behind my eyes. I drove my knee into his kidney with enough force to rupture something, then again into his groin.
He doubled over with a strangled gasp, face purpling.
Keeping his broken arm locked in my grip, I slammed his head against the wall, leaving a smear of crimson.
"I'll ask once more," I whispered, lips nearly touching his ear, tasting copper in the air. "Who. Sent. You?"
"Juarez sends his regards," he spat through bloodied teeth, his accent thick. "Says your boyfriend should choose more carefully who he fucks."
Rage flooded through me, hot and clarifying. I slammed his head against the wall, watching as he crumpled to the floor. Quickly, I secured his wrists with zip ties from my junk drawer and gagged him with a length of tea towel and rope.
I thought about dragging him toward the storage closet or over with his friend when the back door opened. This time, I recognized Gavriel's hurried, careful footsteps immediately.
My muscles sagged as I leaned on the counter.
While I was obviously able to take care of myself, having him here made it so much easier.
I took slow, calming breaths as he appeared in the doorway, gun already drawn, every inch the protector.
His eyes widened as he saw me sitting there against the counter. "Elin! Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine," I snapped, nudging the unconscious man with my foot. "Another one of Juarez's men. Came in right before you did."
Gavriel holstered his weapon and moved quickly to my side, his eyes scanning me for injuries. His gaze softened when he realized I was uninjured, but worry still shone back at me. “I’ll be sore tomorrow, but that’s so a tomorrow problem.”
Kissing my forehead, Gavriel held me close pulling me up to stand. "Jesus Christ, Elin. You could have been killed."
"But I wasn't." Pulling back, I met his gaze steadily, the feel of his hands on me slowing my heartrate. "I told you before. Dad made sure I could deal. I've been handling myself long before you came along."
His expression softened slightly, but his touch was still tense as he reached out to brush a strand of hair from my face. "You're right."
"Don't forget again." I leaned into his touch briefly before stepping back. "Harley is on his way.”
“Why didn’t you call me?” His eyebrows pinched together in confusion.
“You were with your father. I figured Harley would be the only other person I could trust that wouldn’t turn me in for”—I waved my hand between the two asshats in my house—“this. Once Harley answered, I texted you. So don’t get butthurt. Now, you need to tell me exactly what happened with Juarez."
While Gavriel took the dead fucker out, I sat back down in my chair. Curling my knees up to my chest, I could hear my father’s voice. “Stay calm. Calm people make smart decisions. If you can push off the panic and fear, you’ll do so much better.”
Gods, I hadn’t been more than six when he’d first said that. All the training he’d put me through, the bruises, the broken bones, the stitches I’d had to give myself . . . it had all been for a day just like this. When I leaned my head on the back of my chair, the last of the tension left my body.
“Thank you, Dad,” I whispered. Gavriel gave me a questioning look. “Was just thanking him all over again for his training.”
“Again?”
I nodded and let out a deep breath. “I’ve had to protect myself a few times in my life.
” I lifted my chin to where blood was getting sticky on the floor.
“Also, not the first time I didn’t hesitate to kill someone.
I may not have a list as long as yours, but It’s longer than a lot of those on death row for multiple murders. ”
Kneeling before me, he wrapped his hands around my calves, rubbing his thumbs back and forth. Sadness flashed for a moment as he said, “I’m sorry you’ve had to defend yourself. I—”
“If you dare to sit there and tell me that I’ll never have to do it again, you are a dumb ass.”
His mouth opened and closed before he tilted his head in agreement. “As long as I am by your side, I will do my best to protect you.” Then he smiled and huffed out a small laugh. “I do love that my Goddess is a kick ass bitch who can protect herself though.”
Moving my legs to wrap around his torso, I pulled him close and kissed him softly. Then I said smugly, “And don’t you fucking forget it, Pretty Boy.”
“Yes, Goddess.”
“Good, now, what happened at the meeting?”
With a heavy sigh, he ran his hand through his hair as he filled me in on the meeting with Juarez and his father's warnings. The more he spoke, the hotter my anger became, crystallizing into resolve.
"Your father wants you to break your habit of me?" I said when he finished. "What does that mean, exactly?"
Gavriel's jaw tightened. "He wants me to end things with you. Or worse."
"Like he ended things with my father?" The words hung between us, sharp and dangerous.
"Yes." His voice was barely audible.
I moved to stand directly in front of him, my hands coming up to frame his face. "Listen to me, Gavriel Azzaro. I am not going anywhere. I'm not afraid of your father, or Juarez, or anyone else who thinks they can control us."
His hands covered mine, warm but full of tension. "Elin, they're dangerous. My father—"
"Your father is a monster who murdered my father and forced you to cut out his heart," I interrupted, my voice steady despite the rage simmering beneath.
"He's trying to sell your sister to a cartel leader.
He threatens to kill you for failures that aren't yours.
" I leaned closer, our foreheads almost touching.
"I'm done running from monsters. It's time they ran from me. "
Something shifted in Gavriel's eyes—a dawning realization, perhaps, or the recognition of the determination in mine. "What are you suggesting?"
"That we stop playing defense." I stepped back, pacing the living room in tight circles. The Beretta pressed against my lower back with each step, a constant reminder of what was at stake. My mind raced through possibilities, consequences, the faces of those who’d underestimated me. Starting with Don Azzaro and ending with Juarez. The blood of the two who had come into my home had dried and was flaking off my knuckles, but I didn’t bother washing it.
Let it stay there for now. Let it remind me of what I was capable of.
Show even Gavriel and Harley just how strong I was.
"Your father thinks I'm your weakness. Let's show him how wrong he is. "
"Elin—"
"Don Azzaro killed my father," I continued, turning to face him. "He's threatening you. He's sacrificing Rhea. Tell me, pretty boy—how long before he decides one of us is too much of a liability? Before he tells you to cut out my heart . . . or your sister’s?"
Gavriel was silent, his expression unreadable.
I knew I was asking him to consider something unthinkable—betraying his father, breaking the most sacred rule of family loyalty.
But I also knew that the man before me was more than the Owl’s Talon.
He was Gavriel, my pretty boy, a man with his own moral compass that had been twisted and buried under years of his father's manipulation.
"We'd need a plan," he said finally, his voice low. "A perfect one."
Hope flared in my chest. "Then we'll make one."
The back door opened again, and my hand immediately reached for the gun at my back when it registered it was Harley, his eyes immediately going to the bound man on the floor. "Making friends without me?"
I smirked at him. “Well, if you weren’t being such a slacker, you could have been part of the welcome party.”
“Well, gods forbid I take a walk about the property to make sure it's safe like I was asked.” The roll of his eyes had me chuckling.
"Juarez's men," Gavriel explained. "Can you handle it?"
Harley nodded, his expression grim. "Consider it done. But boss—this changes things. If they're making moves this bold..."
"I know." Gavriel ran a hand through his hair. "We need to accelerate our timeline."
"Timeline for what?" I asked.
The two men exchanged a look that I'd seen before—that silent communication between two people who knew each other inside and out and excluded everyone else.
But this time I caught the subtle shift in Gavriel's jaw, the slight nod from Harley.
In their eyes, I saw determination hardening into something colder, more dangerous.
This was the look of men who'd made peace with violence, who'd accepted that blood would need to be spilled.
Whatever they'd been planning without me, it had just become inevitable.
Finally, Gavriel turned to me. "Rhea's extraction. We've been planning to get her out of the state before the wedding to Juarez. But after today, we need to move faster."
My attention flicked between the two of them as I held my breath. "How much faster?"
"I’ll make the calls." Harley said, already pulling out his phone.
As Harley dragged the unconscious man out, Gavriel turned to me, his expression grave. "This is going to be dangerous, Elin. If you want out—"
I silenced him with a kiss, fierce and claiming. When I pulled back, I held his gaze. "Not sure how many times I have to say this, but I'm in. All the way."
He nodded, a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth. "Then let's get to work, Goddess."
"First things first," I said, moving to my office to retrieve my laptop. "We need to warn Rhea."
“I called her on the way over. She is secure at the moment.”
I’d spoken to her too, but a cold suspicion was forming. "Is her place really all that secure? Or is it just where your father wants her to be?"
The color drained from Gavriel's face. "Fuck. Call her. Now."
I was already dialing, my heart pounding as the phone rang once, twice, three times. On the fourth ring, Rhea's voice came through, breathless and low.
"Elin? Is Gav with you?"
"He's right here. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine—”
Gavriel took the phone. "Rhea, listen carefully. Grab the go-bag in the wine cellar and use that tunnel out. There's a car in the garage at the end, right where the blind spot is in the security cameras. Take it and go to the penthouse.”
"Understood. Love you, Gav."
"Love you too, sis."
As he hung up, our eyes met, a silent understanding passing between us. The game had changed; the stakes raised. Don Azzaro had made his choice, aligning with Juarez against his own children.
Now we would make ours.
"Go." I opened the coat closet door, pushing the clothes to the side, and pushing on the back wall right at the corner. The secret door opened, I reached in and grabbed the two duffle bags that were there and always ready for me to go.
Harley’s muffled chuckle reached my ears as he said to Gavriel, “Damn. She’s got secrets all over the place, doesn’t she?”
If he only knew that there were three ways to leave this house without ever going for the kitchen or front doors. Only one of which was for me to crawl into this cubby and push a button to send me down a shoot to where a motorcycle and more awaited me.
I crawled back to where they were, hauling the bags over my shoulders and moving toward the door. "And Gavriel?" I paused, looking back at him with a smile. "You have a filet set in the car? We might need them."
His smile was as cold and sharp as the blades he carried as he said, "Yes, Goddess."