Chapter 46
Chapter Forty-Six
Once I’m in the car, I call Paz. “You on him?” I ask.
I know my men are good at what they do. I didn’t want to have to use Evie as bait, but I knew the second that asshole thought she was alone, he’d pop up.
She was never alone. I was watching her the entire time. She just didn’t know it. But I couldn’t have been more proud of her. She stood her ground, didn’t let the fucker intimidate her at all.
The moment I saw him reach for her was when I stepped out of the shadows, not that I needed to.
Evie poured an entire cup of coffee on his hand.
I heard what she said to him, what he said to her.
And, well, that tongue of his will make a great fucking trophy when I rip it out of his head and put it in a glass jar.
I’m not usually the collector type, but I think I might just become one. I will hunt down and collect a body part from every single person who tries to cross my wife,. Although I doubt many will be stupid enough to try. Not now that I’ve set the tone for what happens to those who do.
This cop thinks he’s untouchable because he’s a fed. Newsflash, the law can’t touch me. I don’t give a fuck who he is.
“Sending you the location now. He just walked into a house. Quiet street. My money is this is where Enrique’s hiding out,” Paz says.
“On my way.” I have three fucking hours before I’m picking up Evie and taking her home with me. I put the location into the car’s navigation system. “Fifteen minutes.”
“Fuck,” Paz hisses.
“What?”
“They’re leaving. The pig and Enrique both just walked out,” he says. “They’re getting into a car.”
“Follow them. Don’t fucking lose them,” I grunt.
“On it,” he says.
“Stop the car. I’m driving,” I call out to the front seat.
My driver pulls over and gets out. I jump out of the back and slide in behind the wheel. Then I slam my foot on the pedal. I don’t have time to wait for him to get back in.
I have three SUVs behind me, or at least they’re trying to catch up with me as I weave in and out of traffic.
“They’re turning onto Paradise Road. Just got off Hidden Well,” Paz says.
I throw the car left, heading towards Paradise. This little weasel is not fucking getting away from me. Fuck that. “They clocked you yet?” I ask Paz.
“No,” he says.
“Good.”
“They’re heading for the fucking airport. Gray Honda sedan.”
“Almost there,” I say.
They are not going to make it to the airport. There are fucking concrete barriers blocking me from getting onto the other side of the road. Fuck. But then I see an opening. I yank the steering wheel to the right and the car swerves, just missing the barrier as I guide it across the road.
“What the fuck?” Paz curses.
I don’t respond, because as the cars I’m heading towards honk and veer out of the way to avoid collision, I see my target. “I’m ramming the front. You got the back?” I ask Paz. I’m headed straight for the fucker.
“Got it,” he says right as the front of my SUV hits the Honda.
Paz rams the back seconds later. The car spins, and I accelerate and ram into the driver’s side, sandwiching them between two SUVs. They can’t fucking move.
The cop doesn’t quit, though. I see him draw his weapon. I climb out and walk behind the car. My own pistol rises and I fire a shot that goes through the windshield and then the back of his head.
Paz is pulling open the passenger side door and then dragging out an unconscious Enrique.
“Get him on the jet, in the back. I don’t want Evie knowing he’s there. We’re taking the fucker home,” I instruct.
“Got it.” Paz nods.
“Two hours,” I add as I walk away from the wreck. The sound of sirens can be heard in the distance as I climb into one of the waiting SUVs. “Get me back to the Royal,” I tell the driver.
“Sure thing, jefe.” He nods.
I can’t believe I’m finally taking her home. To Mexico. I’ve done everything I can to make sure her arrival is smooth and accepted. Anyone stupid enough to go against me doesn’t tend to keep breathing for long anyway.
“I’m excited to see where you live,” Evie says.
“I live wherever you are,” I tell her.
“You know what I mean.” She turns her attention back to the catalogues she’s got spread out on the table in front of us. “Do you have a pool?”
I chuckle. “We have a pool. Yes.”
“Is it bigger than the one at the Royal?” she asks me.
I nod. “Yes.”
“Good. I can’t wait to send Charlotte pictures. Will you swim with me again?”
“I’ll do whatever you want, Evie.” How does she not already know this?
“So, if I want to go shopping in the city, you’ll come with me?”
I turn to look at her. “I don’t want you leaving the house without me. So, yes, if you’re going shopping, I’m going to be with you.”
“Why can’t I leave without you?” She squints her eyes at me.
“Because it’s fucking Mexico, and you don’t speak Spanish. Also…” I lean in to whisper in her ear. “I hear the cartel is really bad. They like to kidnap pretty little girls like you and sell them.”
Evie’s eyes widen. “Please tell me you don’t actually do that.”
“Me? No. But it happens.” I shrug.
“Well, why don’t you stop it from happening?” she says.
“Because I can’t change how everything works overnight,” I explain. “I’ve been the boss for two years, Evie. I’m still working my way around everything. And my father, he wasn’t a good man. None of us are.”
“That’s not true. You are a good man, E. You just… do some bad things sometimes.”
“Whatever helps you sleep at night, mi alma.” I lean forward again and kiss her forehead. “But I’m serious. I don’t want you going out without me.”
“Okay, I won’t. Besides, your translation skills might be useful. I should learn to speak Spanish,” she says.
“We will work on it. Besides, our kids will be bilingual. You’re going to have to know the language,” I tell her.
“I don’t think I can have kids, E,” she whispers.
“What do you mean? Is there something wrong with your… uterus?” I ask. “Because it’s the twenty-first century, and we can afford whatever medical intervention we need.”
“No. Well, I don’t think there is. It’s me. I’m not a good mother.”
“How would you know that? You’ve never been a mother.”
“I was.” Evie looks down, and I feel like an ass. Of course she’s talking about when she was sixteen. That choice was taken away from her, though.
“Evie, would you have kept it?”
“No… I don’t know… Probably not. I mean, what kind of child wants to live knowing they’re here because their mother was raped? But it was still my fault they took it. I should have protected it more. I could have given it to a family who wanted a child,” she says.
“That was not your fault. That choice was stolen from you. There is nothing you could have done, Evie. You were fucking sixteen.” My jaw ticks. Hearing her say that she was raped so bluntly…
I know that’s what happened. I wish I could bring all the fuckers back alive. They got off way too fucking easy.
“What if I don’t want to, E? What if I don’t want kids?”
“Then we won’t have any.” I want kids. I’m expected to have an heir. But fuck expectations, because I’m not going to make the woman I love give me a child out of obligation or expectation.
“Will you hate me for that, though?”
“There is nothing in this world that could ever make me hate you, Evie.” I pull her against me. “We don’t need to decide right now. We have so much time.”
“Yeah.”
I hold the door open, waiting for Evie to climb into the car before I follow her. “What are they doing?” she asks, looking out the windshield.
“Fucking hell,” I curse and jump back out. “What the fuck are you doing? I said to wait until we were gone before you brought him out!” I yell at the two fucking soldiers dragging Enrique from the jet.
“Sorry, jefe. We thought you left,” one of them says as they back up and retreat into the jet.
“I’ll deal with them.” Paz follows after them. I hear the sound of two gunshots before he comes back out and nods at me. “I’ll meet you at the compound.”
“You good?” I ask him.
“I get to play butcher. I’ve never been better,” he says.
“She cannot see any of this shit,” I tell him.
“I know.” Paz nods. “She won’t.”
I jump back into the car. Evie stares at me. “I don’t want to know,” she says.
“Good, because I wasn’t going to tell you.” The car pulls away, and I slide up the black divider that separates us from the driver. “You weren’t supposed to see that.”
“I figured. Was that Enrique?”
“It was,” I tell her.
“I’m not going to pretend to be okay with everything you do, E. That’s not me. But I will find a way to not let every little thing bother me,” she says. “I want this to work. I love you.”
“I love you, and this is working, mi alma. There’s no other possible scenario. Now, are you ready to see your new home?”
“Part-time home. I already have a home, and I need to find a place in Vegas too. Shit… I have so much to do to organize a store opening,” she mutters under her breath.
“You should hire an assistant,” I tell her. “Delegate the shit you don’t want to do.”
Evie laughs. “My business isn’t as lucrative as yours, E. I can’t just hire people.”
“I’ll hire one for you, then.” I shrug. “We also have a wedding to plan.”
“We do.” Evie smiles. “I spoke to Rachel. She has a week off before moving to Seattle, so she could make Milan if that’s what you want still.”
“I want whatever you want. Where did you dream about getting married?”
“I never let myself dream about getting married because I didn’t think anyone could love me.”
I’m shocked by her confession. “Evie, you are the easiest person in the world to love,” I tell her. “Why wouldn’t anyone love you?”
“Because I’m not whole.”
“You are. You are fucking beautiful inside and out. There’s nothing about you that I don’t love.” I lean in and press my lips to hers. “I love you.”
“I know you do,” she says.
“Good. Don’t ever forget it.”
As the car pulls into the estate, the gates open and Evie’s attention fixates on the view outside her window. “Oh my gosh, it’s gorgeous!” she exclaims.
“Beyond words,” I agree. When she turns around to look back at me, I’m holding out a small black box. “This is for you.” I open it to reveal the four-carat, oval-shaped solitaire diamond.
Evie’s eyes widen. “E… really? That’s… huge.”
“I’ve heard that before.” I smirk. I take the ring out of the box and slide it onto her finger. “I never want to see this hand without this ring on it.”
“Are you kidding? I’m going to be buried with this rock. It’s so beautiful. Thank you.” She throws her arms around me.
“Let’s not talk about you being buried, Evie. I don’t like the thought,” I grunt.
“I really do love it. Thank you,” she says, pressing her lips to mine.