Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Liliana
I woke in my apartment to a commotion coming from down the hallway.
The alarm sounding in Renata’s voice as she called out to José sent a chill over my flesh.
Hurriedly, I wrapped my robe around myself and walked briskly toward the ruckus coming from inside their bedroom.
It had been about two weeks since José disappeared to run an errand for Renata.
What he hadn’t told me and didn’t want me to know was that he’d gone to the cartel doctor due to shortness of breath.
Renata shared that with me later, worried that there was more wrong with her husband.
My knuckles rapped on their door. “Renata, estás bien?”
The door opened. Renata was standing in her nightgown, her eyes wide. “It’s José.” Tears filled her eyes. “I called Lieutenant Ruiz.” She wrapped her arms around her midsection. “I’m afraid.”
“Lieutenant Ruiz?” There were many.
“Emiliano.”
I let out a breath. “Puedo pasar?” I asked, motioning toward the bed where José was lying.
“Sí, he’s breathing, but his pulse…it’s weak. He made a loud noise.” She shook her head. “No, he won’t wake.”
Tears prickled the back of my eyes as I stared down at José. The realization hit like a punch to the gut. Ever since I married Gerardo, they’d been there for me—both of them. Had I told them how much their constant presence meant to me?
I reached for Renata’s hand. “My madre would tell us to pray.”
She nodded. “I’ve been praying.”
“Maybe we could pray together,” I suggested.
Together, Renata and I knelt beside José’s bedside.
Her pleas were audible, calling out to Saint Raphael for complete healing.
While I’d given up on God during my marriage, I found myself remembering the faith I was raised to believe.
There were even times at the apartments when residents would ask me if I believed and if I’d pray with them.
Over time, I’d reasoned that perhaps a greater deity had heard my pleas. Instead of sending a heart attack to save me, he sent el Patrón and a gun along with his angel, Mia. Renata and I continued our prayers, startled when the doorbell rang.
She turned to me with puffy bloodshot eyes.
“I’ll go,” I said.
My heavy heart clenched in my chest as I stood and peered down at José—my bodyguard, my driver.
Tightening the sash of my robe and brushing my hair over my shoulders, I hurried toward the door.
A quick peek through the peephole revealed a small cartel army.
I opened the door and quickly scanned the faces of the men.
Em wasn’t alone. Nick was with him as well as two other soldiers who looked familiar, yet I couldn’t place their names.
Even though it was the middle of the night, they looked as alert as they did in the daytime.
Did these men ever sleep?
The four entered my apartment in a flurry of testosterone and purpose, men on a mission.
“Dónde está José?” Em asked.
“He’s back here,” I said, leading them through my apartment.
Renata stood back while one of the soldiers assessed her husband with a stethoscope and blood-pressure cuff. I didn’t know if this dangerous-looking man had medical training, but he seemed to know what he was doing. Pressing his lips together, he nodded to Em.
“We’re going to take him to the warehouse,” Em said.
Renata replied, “I want to go with him.”
“Of course.”
I reached for Nick’s arm. “Is he going to be okay?”
“I don’t know.” He looked around as the two soldiers lifted José. “Do you have another guard here?”
“No.”
“Grab some clothes. I’m taking you to the apartments.”
The apartments? I wasn’t thinking straight. It wasn’t morning yet, not time to go to work. “Why?”
“You can’t stay here without the Pérezes.”
What the heck? My neck stiffened. “I’m not leaving my apartment. This is my home. I have a security system.”
“How will you get to work tomorrow?”
“Uber.”
Nick’s forehead furrowed and his eyebrows quirked. “Liliana, I get it. You don’t want to leave, but your apartment isn’t safe without José.”
“Send one of the soldiers back up here. He can protect me until José is better.”
Nick shook his head. “There’s no way in hell I’m leaving you with one of the soldiers.”
“You don’t trust your own soldiers?”
He scanned from my bare feet to the top of my head. “With you, alone, while you sleep…no.”
What was this, brotherly concern?
I inhaled and looked at Renata’s bedside stand. The clock on the top told me it was after one in the morning. “Okay, fine. We have an empty apartment. Let me pack a few things.”
Nick nodded in agreement.
Despite not wanting to leave, I understood Nick’s reasoning.
It seemed there was always some battle, some war, or something happening with the cartel.
I may be disowned by my parents, but I wasn’t by el Patrón and the cartel.
I was still the widow of a lieutenant. If a member of the bratva or a rival cartel took me… I didn’t want to think about it.
I removed my robe, laying it on my bed, and pulled my nightgown over my head. I wasn’t being driven to the apartments in my nightclothes. As I reached for my bra, my bedroom door opened.
My breathing caught as Nick cursed.
“Fuck…” His eyes darkened as he scanned my body, only covered by panties. “I’m…I wasn’t…”
My core twisted as he stammered.
Instead of turning away, I turned toward him. The intensity and heat of his stare scattered goose bumps over my flesh, twisting my core and tightening my nipples.
“Liliana, I didn’t mean to...” He took a step closer. “I didn’t know you were…” His dark orbs roamed over me. “Renata and José are on their way to the warehouse.” Another step brought him even closer. “You’re fucking beautiful.”
I shook my head and turned, slipping on my bra. Once it was secured, Nick reached for my arm and gently turned me back toward him. Lifting my face, I met his gaze.
“You’re beautiful,” he repeated. “I wanted to be sure you heard me.”
“I heard you.” I took a breath. Warmth rippled from his wide chest, only inches from my breasts. “You don’t scare me.”
His hands came to my shoulders, running down my arms. “I don’t want to scare you.” He reached for my hair. “I’ve never seen your hair down, stunning.”
My mind was telling me to back away, but it was my body that was obviously confused.
The twisting deep within me was unfamiliar.
I had the sensation that my panties were damp.
The urge to lean into this man was almost too strong to resist. Never in my life had I recalled having such a visceral reaction to a man.
Was this the desire other women spoke about?
I took a step back, my cheeks filling with warmth.
Nick did the same, stepping back. “I’m sorry, Liliana.”
I looked down and back up. “It’s the same as a bathing suit.”
“I’ll…Let me know when you’re ready to go.”
Standing still, my focus lowered, noticing the bulge beneath Nick’s dark blue jeans. I nibbled on my lower lip, unsure how I was feeling. Finally, he turned and headed toward the bedroom door. As he walked, I scanned from his dark hair to his broad shoulders and down to his trim waist.
Nick was so much more of a man than his uncle had been. While he was half Gerardo’s age—still a decade older than me—his presence wasn’t only the existence of his toned muscles or handsome face. My body reacted because I wasn’t afraid of Nick Ruiz. Over the years, I’d grown to trust him.
The spark of yearning caught fire within me, smoldering beneath the surface, a foreign flame I didn’t know how to tend.
I’d never ached for a man before.
It didn’t matter. I’d taken my stand—to be a single widow for the rest of my life. Besides, my name was already Ruiz. And anyway, Nick Ruiz wasn’t interested in me, not like that.