37. The Cartel Princess
The Cartel Princess
Camila woke to the taste of blood.For several seconds, she didn’t move.Didn’t open her eyes.Didn’t make a sound.She listened.A low engine somewhere outside.Men talking.One voice closer than the others.Footsteps on concrete.Water dripping.Metal rattling whenever the wind pushed against something loose outside.Her head hurt.Her wrists hurt worse.
And then memory came rushing back.The safe house.The lights going out.Chris shouting.Hands grabbing her.Chris fighting his way toward her.Blood on his face.
The gunshot.Chris falling.Her screaming his name.Then darkness.Camila’s eyes opened.
Concrete floor.Concrete walls.One dirty window high above her.A rusted metal door.
Old shelving.An abandoned office in the corner.Her hands were bound in front of her with plastic restraints.Not rope.Not handcuffs.Zip ties.She tested them carefully.
Tight.Too tight.Her heart started pounding.Chris.Was he alive?She’d seen him fall.
Someone had hit him.She’d screamed.He hadn’t gotten back up.Camila closed her eyes.
No.She couldn’t do this.Not now.She forced herself to breathe.Chris is alive.She didn’t know that.But she needed to believe it.Her hand instinctively moved toward her stomach.
The restraints prevented her from reaching properly, so she curled forward until her fingers touched the fabric over her abdomen.The baby.Her baby.Chris’s baby.“You’re okay.”
She barely whispered it.“I’ve got you.”Footsteps approached.Camila straightened.The door opened.Diego Serrano walked inside.Every bit of fear inside her transformed into hatred.Diego looked considerably worse than the last time she’d seen him.Bruising along his face.A cut near his temple.One arm held slightly stiff.His shirt had been changed, but she could see the edge of a bandage beneath it.He looked tired.Angry.And dangerous.
Diego stopped several feet away.“Good morning.”Camila stared.“Go fuck yourself.”
Diego laughed.“Well.”He stepped inside.“There’s the Vargas attitude.”
“Untie me.”
“No.”
“Afraid of me?”
“Not particularly.”
“You should be.”Diego smiled.“Camila.”He pulled an old wooden chair across the concrete.
The scraping sound made her skin crawl.Then he sat backward on it.
“You know, I spent years thinking you were the harmless Vargas.”Camila said nothing.
“Mateo kept you away from everything.”Nothing.
“Protected you.”Nothing.“Made sure his little sister never got her hands dirty.”Camila looked around the room.Not obviously.Just enough.Door.One.Window.
Too high.Office.Possibly another exit inside.Two men outside.Maybe three.Diego was armed.Handgun at his right hip.His right hand stayed close to it.Left shoulder injured.He favored the right leg slightly when he’d walked in.Camila’s eyes returned to his face.
Diego smiled.“You’re watching me.”
“No.”
“You are.”He leaned closer.“You’re trying to figure out what I’m going to do.”Camila held his gaze.“I’m trying to figure out why Mateo ever trusted you.”Diego’s smile vanished.Good.
That one hurt.“You think Mateo’s the victim?”
“No.”Camila’s voice remained steady.“My brother made his choices.”Diego tilted his head.
“That’s surprisingly mature.”
“He’ll answer for them.”
“And Walker?”Her heart reacted before her face did.Diego saw it.Of course he did.“There.”
Camila said nothing.“That.”
“What?”
“The look.”Diego smiled again.“That’s how I knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That Roman wasn’t just fucking the boss’s sister.”Camila’s jaw tightened.Diego laughed softly.“He loved you.”Loved.Past tense.Fear cut through her.“Chris is alive.”Diego shrugged.
“Probably.”Her chest loosened by half an inch.Probably meant Diego hadn’t confirmed his death.That was enough.For now.Diego continued.“You really fell for the fed?”Camila looked at him.“Apparently.”
“That’s embarrassing.”
“You’d know.”His smile disappeared.Camila leaned back against the wall.
“At least I fell for somebody who was good at his job.”Diego stared.
“You think Walker won?”Camila looked around the abandoned building.
“You’re hiding in a dump while my brother is in federal custody and the FBI is hunting you.
”She shrugged.“Doesn’t exactly scream victory.
”Diego stood so quickly the chair crashed backward.Camila flinched.Barely.He saw it.But she didn’t look away.Diego walked toward her.
“You think because Walker fucked his way into the family, you’re protected?
”Camila’s expression turned cold.“No.”He stopped.She looked directly into his eyes.
“I think you’re going to regret touching me.
”Diego laughed.Actually laughed.“Mateo’s sister finally grew teeth.
”Camila shook her head.“No.”She leaned forward as far as the restraints allowed.
“Chris Walker’s girlfriend did.”Silence.Diego’s amusement disappeared.For a moment they simply stared at one another.Then Diego smiled.
“Girlfriend.”Camila didn’t answer.“That’s cute. ”He crouched in front of her.
“Does Special Agent Walker know his girlfriend is sitting on the floor of a Vargas property right now?”Vargas property.Camila stored that immediately.Not one of Diego’s.
One of Mateo’s.Good.Chris knew Mateo’s properties.Maybe he’d know this one.
She kept her expression blank.Diego continued.“You know what I think?”
“No, but I assume you’re going to tell me.”
“I think Walker is losing his fucking mind right now.”Camila hoped so.Not because she wanted Chris hurting.Because Chris angry meant Chris moving.Chris moving meant he was coming.Diego leaned closer.“I watched him.”Camila’s stomach tightened.“For weeks.”
There it was.The photograph.Outside the mansion.Diego had been watching.“He thought he was good.”
“He is.”
“He wasn’t good enough.”
“You’re the one hiding.”Diego’s eyes hardened.Camila smiled.She was learning.Angry men talked.Chris had shown her that without ever saying it.Mateo too.Make someone emotional and they stop thinking carefully.So she pushed.“Chris fooled you for months.”
Diego’s jaw tightened.“He fooled Mateo.”
“You too.”
“I suspected him.”
“Yet here we are.”Diego stared.Camila shrugged.“Warehouse gone.”Nothing.“Drugs seized.”His face darkened.“Mateo arrested.”His hand moved closer to his weapon.“FBI hunting you.”
“Careful.”Camila’s heart hammered.But her voice stayed steady.“And Chris is still alive.”
Diego smiled coldly.“You really believe he’s coming.”
“I know he is.”
“How?”Camila remembered the attack.You came back.The hotel.The warehouse.The safe house.Every time she’d looked at Chris and asked the same thing.Every time he’d given her the same answer.
“Because he always comes back.”Diego studied her.Then his expression changed.
“Oh, sweetheart.”Camila hated the pity immediately. “You misunderstand.”
“What?”
“He isn’t coming back to you.”Diego stood.“He’s coming to me.”Camila went still.
There it was.The real plan.She wasn’t the target.She was bait.Diego walked toward the door.Camila called after him.“Chris knows that.”Diego stopped.“Does he?”
“Yes.”He turned.“Then why would he come?”Camila smiled.“Because you still don’t understand him.”Diego stared.“He knows it’s a trap.”Her smile disappeared.“He’ll come anyway.”For the first time—Diego looked uncertain.Only for a second.But Camila saw it.
She filed that away too.Diego opened the door.“Get comfortable.”
“How long?”He looked back.“Until your boyfriend gets here.”The door slammed.Camila listened.Lock.Footsteps.Voices outside.She closed her eyes.Then opened them.No crying.
Not yet.She needed to think.Chris would think.So would she.Camila waited.Five minutes.
Maybe ten.She couldn’t tell.Then she began cataloging.One door.One window.An office.
Three sets of footsteps she’d heard so far.Diego.Heavy boots outside.A second man who dragged one foot slightly.Possibly injured.Vehicles.She’d heard at least two engines when she woke.One had left.One remained.Maybe more farther away.She looked toward the dirty window.Sunlight.Low angle.Morning?
No.It couldn’t be morning.She hadn’t been unconscious that long.Exterior floodlights.That meant the property had power.Or generators.She listened again.Generator.There.A low mechanical hum.Camila almost smiled.Chris had taught her to hear things she’d never noticed before.Not intentionally.
He’d simply spent months doing it around her.Entering restaurants and immediately checking exits.Watching mirrors while driving.Noticing cars that appeared twice.Looking at hands instead of faces when strangers approached.Sitting where he could see doors.
Knowing when a room felt wrong.She’d teased him.Called him paranoid.You are one strange criminal, Roman.Camila almost laughed.
“Federal agent,” she whispered.She looked toward the door.Hands.Chris always watched hands.Why?
Because hands revealed intent before faces did.Diego kept his right hand near his weapon.One guard outside carried a rifle based on the silhouette she’d seen when the door opened.The second—she hadn’t seen yet.She needed more information.So she waited.Eventually the door opened.A man entered carrying a bottle of water.Not Diego.Camila recognized him vaguely.Vargas security.
Not from the mansion.Warehouse maybe.His right hand carried the bottle.Left side—
gun.He placed the water beside her.“Drink.”
“Untie me.”
“No.”
“How am I supposed to drink?”He looked at her bound hands.“Figure it out.”Camila stared.He turned.“Wait.”He stopped.“I need the bathroom.”
“Too bad.”
“I’m going to throw up.”
“Not my problem.”
“It will be when I do it all over your floor.”He looked irritated.Good.Camila covered her mouth.Didn’t have to fake the nausea much.Her stomach had been threatening another round since she’d woken.
“I mean it.”The guard swore.“Stay.”Camila looked around.
“Where exactly am I going?”He left.Door closed.She listened.Conversation outside.Muted.Then footsteps.The door reopened.Same man.He grabbed her arm.Camila immediately jerked away. “Don’t touch me.”