21. Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty
“ C amila? Camila!” Dina shrieked her daughter’s name. Overcome with panic and fear, she checked the phone’s screen to see if the call had dropped. It was still active. “Camila?”
She pressed the phone against her ear so hard that she could feel her earring post earring digging into her skin. In the background, she heard a familiar voice.
“You shouldn’t have come here, Camila. It would have been so much easier if you’d stayed home.”
The call ended, and Dina felt a surge of bile in her throat. Her stomach pitched, and she frantically fought against the terror threatening to paralyze her. “Steve.”
“Dina?” He had eased off the accelerator when it became clear she was talking to Camila. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s Jose.”
Steve frowned as he navigated around a deep pot hole in the muddy road. “What about him?”
“He’s there. With Camila.”
“There? At the ruins?” Steve glanced at her with obvious confusion. “How did he know she was there?”
“Why did Chavela target my daughter? How did those two men get onto our estate and take shots at you and Beto? How did the men Beverly hired know where to find Rafa and Sky that night?”
“Wait. You think your family’s oldest bodyguard, a man who has been taking care of you since you were a teenager, is working with Diego? Or for himself?”
“I don’t know what to think, Steve. All I know is that my daughter is in danger.”
“Yeah, she is.” Steve punched the accelerator, tearing up the road as the Jeep surged forward. “He must have left straight from your mother-in-law's place to get to the ruins before Camila and us.”
“He wasn’t with Mama?”
“I didn’t see. As soon as I heard her voice, Lola ran off to run interference and I headed straight to you.” Steve grimaced. “I should have checked. I should have made sure—.”
“Steve, you couldn’t have known.” But I should have. What had she missed? How could she have been so blind?
“Do you think Camila was working with him? Maybe they had a secret they were keeping from you?” Steve clearly didn’t want to ask that question. “The phone makes me worry. She lied to us both about it.”
Dina had never been one to physically discipline her daughter, but—God help her—in that moment, she wanted to smack her daughter for being so reckless. It was an awful thing to admit. A shameful thing, even.
I’m a failure as a mother.
I didn’t keep her safe.
Why wasn’t I a better mother?
Why didn’t I love her more? Give her more? Show her how much she meant to me?
Is my daughter going to die because of my mistakes?
Sick and furious with herself, Dina clutched her phone and the seat belt. She refused to cry, refused to let the hot sting of tears pass. Later, she would indulge weakness. Right now, she had to be cold.
I’ll do whatever it takes to save her.
Dina glanced at the roof of the Jeep and the weapons there. E ven if it means killing.
“Dina. Look.” Steve slowed down again and pointed to the right side of the road. There were deep gouges there and headlights shining at a strange angle.
“Stop!”
Steve was already stopping when she yelled. He’d barely put the Jeep in park before she bailed, running toward the obvious scene of a wreck. She skidded to a halt at the edge of a deep gully. Mud sloshed up her legs and covered her shoes.
Handprints. Footprints.
Small ones.
Camila sized.
The truck her daughter had stolen sat upside down at the bottom of the steep embankment. The hood was crushed, and there was glass everywhere. One of the front wheels was bent. Another was flat.
An invisible vise squeezed her chest as she imagined what had happened here. Camila driving off the road, sliding down this gully, flipping end over end until finally coming to a stop.
“Do you think she’s in there?” Steve balanced precariously next to her. Wind and rain battered them both, but neither flinched or paid it much mind.
“I don’t know. She didn’t say.” The short conversation replayed in her mind. Had Camila sounded hurt? Stuck?
“I don’t see any tracks that are big enough to belong to a man.” Steve traced Camila’s muddy prints away from the gully and back toward the road. “I think she went this way.”
Dina joined him on the roadway. In the distance, lightning lit up the sky. Thunder followed, rumbling across the landscape and warning that things were about to get much, much worse. “That way to the ruins.”
Steve followed her pointing finger and nodded. “All right. We’ll go that way.” He grabbed her hand and tugged her back to the Jeep. “Come on. Get in.”
Always a gentleman, even in the direst of circumstances, he helped her into the passenger seat and shut her door before hustling to the driver’s side. He drove slowly down the road, taking the turn with care. They both scanned the road for any sign of Camila.
“I don’t see her, Steve. Where is she?” Dina practically had her face plastered on the windshield. She perched on the edge of the seat, her hands on the dash and her seat belt unfastened. “What if she’s hurt from the wreck? What if Jose has hurt her?”
“We’ll deal with it,” Steve assured her. He reached across and grasped her hand. “It’s going to be okay.”
“You can’t promise that!” she snapped, hating herself immediately for being so waspish.
“No, I can’t.” Steve didn’t let go of her hand. Even when she was being an absolute bitch, he still supported her.
I will never deserve this man.
“There.” Steve braked suddenly, dropping her hand and flinging his arm out to restrain her. The sheer power in his muscled arm kept her from slamming into the dash or getting hurt.
“Are you okay?” she asked when he put the Jeep in park. She worried he’d broken his elbow by using brute force to hold her in place.
“I’m fine.”
She didn’t believe him, especially seeing the way he slowly pulled his arm back. She wanted to question him further, but she finally noticed what had made him stop—Jose's truck.
Steve reached under his thin jacket and retrieved his handgun. “Take this. Safety is on.” He pressed it into her hand. “You know how to use it?”
She nodded. “I go to the range every month.”
“Then you won’t miss.” He unlatched the rifle and grabbed the extra ammunition stored in the rack. “If you see a chance to grab Camila, you take it and you run. You get in this Jeep and you leave.”
“I’m not leaving you behind, Steve!”
Steve brushed his scarred knuckles along her cheek in the tenderest way. “Camila is the only priority. You and her getting back to the estate safely is all that matters.”
“Steve...” She tried to argue, but he silenced her with a loving kiss.
“Let’s go.”
She stared at him, frozen in place as he climbed out of the Jeep and disappeared into the haze of heavy rain. He was truly willing to die to protect her and Camila. He was willing to risk everything for them.
For me.
For my daughter.
She touched her tingling lips as her heart swelled and thumped madly in her chest.
I love him.
And I can’t lose him .
Refusing to let Diego or Jose or anyone else take her daughter or Steve, she hastened out of the Jeep. Steve had disappeared into the dense vegetation along the road. She could barely make the shape of him out up ahead and off to the left.
Not wanting to draw attention to him or to the gun she carried, she slipped it into the tight waistband of her jeans at the small of her back. She kept her gaze focused forward and away from Steve, hoping she could make it look as if she had come alone.
And then what?
What do I do if I find Camila?
What if I find Diego first?
Kill him. End him. Never let him threaten us again.
The thought of taking his life no longer bothered her. She’d always been so conflicted about it. Even after all the terrible things he had done, she’d been unable to let her brothers kill him.
Another mistake.
If she’d let Rafa handle things his way, none of this would be happening now.
But that also meant Steve wouldn’t be here in Mexico.
No second chance for them to connect.
No second chance for something more than a one-night stand.
A bloodcurdling scream tore through the rainstorm. Dina’s heart sank. It was a young girl’s scream. Camila.
No longer caring about stealth, she raced toward the sound. Lightning arced across the sky. Thunder clapped. Raindrops fell so fast and hard she could hardly see in front of her.
None of it mattered. None of it slowed her down. She was laser focused on saving her daughter.
Her lungs burned, and her legs shook as she ran toward the ruins. They came into view, but she didn’t see Camila or Jose or Diego. Not at first.
Camila screamed again, and Dina finally located her. She stood near the main pile of ruins, her hands over her face. Jose was right behind her, the gun trained on her back.
Dina followed Camila’s horrified gaze and sucked in a shocked breath. Mirta’s lifeless body was slumped on the ground. The whole back of her head was bloody and red. She’d been executed by gun.
A few feet away, Diego had suffered the same fate. His death hadn’t been as quick as his mother’s. His pale hands rested on his thighs, his stomach a bloody mess. There was another splotch of blood on his chest and more dripping from his hanging head.
Jose killed them.
He killed them both.
And now he has a gun on my daughter.
Dina didn’t hesitate. She didn’t try to call out or negotiate. She snatched the gun from the back of her pants, flicked off the safety and aimed at the man who had once been her trusted bodyguard.
Breathe. Aim. Squeeze.
The pistol fired, and the bullet struck Jose right in the side, just under his armpit. He shouted in pain and whirled in her direction, pointing his gun right at her face.
She lifted her hand to shoot again but never got a chance.
The crack of a rifle ricocheted off the trees and ruins. Jose jerked backward, blood spraying behind him in a macabre cloud. The gun fell from his hand, and he dropped to his knees, scratching at the hole that had been blown in his chest.
Another rifle shot blasted from behind her, this one striking Jose in the head. He crumpled like wet paper, folding to the side and then straight onto his face.
Heavy footsteps advanced from behind, each one accompanied by the splash of water. Steve appeared at her side, rifle still on his shoulder and ready to fire again. “Put the safety on that gun. Now.”
Dina reacted like a robot. Adrenaline saturated her bloodstream. She flicked the safety switch into place and handed the gun to Steve who held out his hand.
“Ama!” Camila shouted and ran toward her on legs as wobbly as a newborn colt’s.
“Camila!” Dina raced to her daughter, intercepting her halfway and crushing her in an embrace. “Oh, God. Camila!” She kissed her daughter’s cheek. “Camila!”
“Ama! Ama!” Camila cried, clearly overcome with shock. “Ama, I want to go home!”
“We will,” Dina promised, smoothing her hands over her daughter’s soaking wet hair. “We’ll go home. We’re safe now.”
Steve calmly walked from body to body, crouching down to check for a pulse before moving to the next one. He collected Jose’s weapon and rendered it safe.
Because of him.
He saved us both.