Chapter 40
Chapter Forty
Ireach for Evie and shove her behind me. “Where the fuck have you been?” I ask Paz. No one has seen him for days.
“I got picked up.” Paz drops his gun onto the table. I don’t lower mine. Not even when he falls back onto the sofa with a pained grunt.
“Picked up by who?” I press him.
“Feds,” he says.
“Did you talk to them?”
“Does it look like I fucking talked? I am not a goddamn rat,” he says that last part in Spanish.
“Why’d you come here?”
“Followed your GPS location to the casino,” he says. “Figured you’d eventually show up to your usual room.”
“The police did that to you? They’re not allowed to touch you. You need a doctor.” Evie steps in front of me.
I lower my gun but I don’t let go of it. “Evie, can you go into the bedroom? Call Charlotte and have Louie send his doc up.” I need to get her as far away from Paz as I can right now.
It’s not that I don’t trust him, but I didn’t get as far as I have by letting my guard down. I’m not going to start now.
“Sure. Here, wait.” She digs around in her purse. “It’s not much but it’s all I have,” she says, handing Paz a small packet of Tylenol. I don’t have it in me to tell her that’s not going to help him.
“Thanks.” Paz accepts the pills from her.
I watch as she walks into the bedroom. Then I sit on the coffee table, moving Paz’s gun out of reach. He doesn’t miss the action.
“If you’re going to kill me, do it. I didn’t fucking talk, jefe,” he says.
“What’d they say to you?” I ask him.
“They were talking about things they shouldn’t know. About drops, about Giuliani.” Paz nods towards the bedroom. “And they mentioned Evie.”
“What the fuck would they want with her?” I grunt. I know Evie said an agent talked to her, but I figured they’d seen her with me and took a shot.
“Someone is talking to them, jefe,” Paz says. “There is no other way for them to know the things they know.”
“They have no concrete proof of anything. Otherwise I’d already be in cuffs.”
“We need to flush out the fucking rat,” Paz says.
“Anyone heard from Enrique?” My money is on that little fucking weasel. I never should have trusted him with Evie’s security.
“No. You think it’s him?” Paz raises a brow. “Makes sense.”
“If he’s gone rat, they’re hiding him somewhere.” I stand and walk to the small kitchen area. I pull down a glass, fill it with water, and hand it to Paz. “I’d take those before she comes back out and forces them down your throat,” I tell him, nodding towards the pills.
Paz’s one eye widens. But he doesn’t say anything, just pops the Tylenol into his mouth and sips at the water.
“What was the agent’s name?”
“Agent Shawn Jerrerys,” Paz sneers. “Fucker cuffed me to a chair so I couldn’t fight back.”
“He approached Evie yesterday.”
“What she do?”
“Asked me to marry her.” I smirk at the memory.
“That’s… Really?” Paz asks.
“Why is that so hard to believe?” I counter.
“It’s not. It’s just… not what I expected.” He shakes his head before dropping it onto the back of the sofa. “I hope you said yes.”
“I’m not an idiot.” There’s a knock at the door, and Paz tries to stand. “Stay there,” I tell him. I have no idea who it is yet. “You see the two men I stationed on this floor when you came in?”
“No one was there,” Paz says.
The knock sounds out again. I stick my head into the bedroom. “Evie, were there two men on this level when you came in?” I ask her.
“Yeah, they were waiting by the elevator. Why?”
“No reason. Stay here,” I tell her, closing her inside the room as I make my way to the front door of the suite.
Stepping to the side, I pull it open, my gun raised and my finger ready to pull the trigger.
“Fucking hell,” Louie grunts as he shoves past me. “That’s one way to welcome friends.”
Sammie laughs as he follows Louie inside.
“You look like shit,” Louie says to Paz.
“Yeah, feel it too,” Paz groans.
When Louie goes to say something, I place my finger to my lips and nod towards the still-closed bedroom door. “Evie?” he says, and I nod. Then he looks to Paz. “What the fuck happened?”
He doesn’t say anything, just lets his head fall back onto the sofa again. “You should see the other guy.”
“You call a doc?” I ask Louie.
“He’s on his way.”
“Take her home,” Paz tells me.
“Don’t move.” I walk into the bedroom and close the door. Then I turn around and look to Evie.
“What happened? Did the cops really do that to him? Oh my god, E, what if they pick me up for questioning?” She’s panicking.
“That’s not going to happen,” I assure her.
“You can’t control that.”
“I’m going to take you home,” I tell her. “Louie and Sammie are here. They’ll stay with Paz.”
“I don’t need you to take me anywhere.” Evie shakes her head. “Help your friend. I can find my own way home.”
“Like fuck, you can. You are not walking out of this room alone.”
“You’re not my father, Emmanuel. You cannot boss me around.” She folds her arms over her chest defiantly.
“No, I’m your fiancé. And right now, I am telling you what to do because it’s for your own goddamn good, Evie.
You can hate me all you want. I don’t care.
I’m not letting you put yourself at risk.
” My hand runs through my hair. I’m fucking frustrated.
“Seriously, why do you feel the need to fight me on everything?”
“Why do you feel the need to control every aspect of my life?” she fires back.
“Because I’m trying to fucking keep you alive!” I yell.
“You do know you’re not God, right? I’m going to die one day, and there’s not going to be a thing you can do to stop it.”
“Watch me,” I seethe. “You are not fucking dying.”
“You need to sort your shit out, E. I don’t know how many times I need to say it.
I’m not her. I’m not going to hurt myself.
I’m not going to be the cause of my own death.
You need to figure that out. You can’t use me to undo the past if that’s what this is,” she says.
“I’m going home. Don’t you dare follow me! ”
Before Evie reaches the door, I grab hold of her arm and pull her back towards me. My hand cups her jaw, tilting her head upwards. I slam my lips onto hers. Pushing my tongue through her closed lips until she willingly opens for me. My tongue delves into her mouth, swirling around. Hard, fast.
When we pull apart, I don’t let go of her.
“You’re right. You’re not her. I’m not worried about you being her, Evie.
Because I never loved her the way I love you.
I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you.
With you, it’s different. It’s more. It’s fucking everything,” I admit.
“So forgive me for wanting to fucking hold on to that for as long as I possibly can.”
There’s a knock at the door. “E, we gotta get back up to Carlo’s. Antonia’s sick,” Louie says.
“I’ll meet you up there,” I call back without letting go of Evie.
“Go. I’ll wait here,” she says.
I laugh. “Yeah, that’s not fucking happening.” I step back and then take hold of her hand and drag her out of the bedroom behind me. Paz is on the sofa. There’s an older doctor looking him over. “You good?” I ask.
Paz gives me a thumbs-up. “Never been better, jefe.”
“I’ll be back. Stay here,” I tell him. When I walk out into the hall, the two guys I had stationed outside the door are actually fucking there. “Where the fuck were you two?” I grunt in Spanish.
“We went for coffee,” one of them says.
“You went for fucking coffee. You had orders. Do not let anyone in that fucking room, got me?” I growl.
“Yes, jefe.” They nod at the same time.
If I didn’t have Evie with me, they’d both already have holes in their heads.
But I’m trying to shield her from the reality of who she’s stuck with for life.
Although I’m almost certain that she’s not going to try to run.
She would have done that already, or she would have talked to that fucking fed.
Evie doesn’t say a word as we make our way back up to Carlo’s. When we get there, I find Charlotte in the living room. I pull Evie back out to the foyer and hold her against me. I don’t care who the fuck sees her with me anymore. She needs to get used to us being public.
“Don’t leave without me,” I tell her.
“Sure thing, Daddy.” Evie rolls her eyes at me, and then looks down when she feels my cock twitch at her words. “Don’t get any ideas. I’m not role-playing that with you.”
I smirk. “We’ll see.” I kiss her on the forehead before I leave to go in search of Carlo. He’s in his bedroom freaking out. I mean, I get it. His wife was poisoned when she ate that fucking soup.
Sammie clears his throat. “I’m going to take Jazzy to my place for the night. Lailani is there.”
“She’s already asleep. Someone needs to sit in her room. She’s going to wake up. She has nightmares, and she can’t wake up alone,” Carlo says.
“I’ll go,” I tell him and walk out.
I step into Jazzy’s bedroom and sit on the floor, resting my back against the wall. I’ve heard about her nightmares. Lailani says they happen daily.
Not even ten minutes later, the sweetest little girl I’ve ever met wakes up screaming. I jump to my feet. “Shh, princesa, it’s okay. Tío E is right here,” I tell her.
She looks over, jumps out of bed, and runs for me. I catch her as she wraps her tiny arms around my neck and sobs onto my shoulder. “I thought they found him,” she cries.
My hand rubs at her back. “You thought who found who?”
“The bad men, the ones that were looking for daddy,” she whispers.
“Princesa, I’m not going to let anyone hurt your daddy or you. I promise,” I tell her. “Whoever these bad men are, I will find them and I will make sure they can never hurt anyone.”
“I love you, Tío E. Don’t tell Uncle Louie, but you are my favorite.” She hugs me tighter.
I smile. I knew I was the favorite, and as much as I want to rub it in Louie’s face, I’d never break Jazzy’s trust like that. “I won’t tell anyone. I love you, princesa. Now, tell me everything you know about these men? Did they hurt you?”
I already have a long-ass list of names I’m hunting down. What’s a few more?