37. Chapter 37 #2
I wasn’t sure if she was. Not fully, not before she had a chance to process what happened today. But she was alive, and right now it was the only thing stopping me from painting the walls with what was left of every man in this building.
Outside, somewhere beyond the thick warehouse walls, the low rumble of an engine cut through the lingering echo of gunfire. It was deep and steady as it rolled closer.
Every head in the warehouse turned instinctively toward the massive metal door.
Without conscious thought, I slightly tightened my grip on Addy and angled my body a fraction in front of hers, placing myself between her and the entrance. Even as I did so, my gaze locked onto the widening shadow beyond it.
One of the men still left standing, their hands raised high in the air, went rigid and his friend looked like he might collapse.
“That’s him,” he said quietly. The words carried a sense of resignation not usually associated with men who thought they were going to survive.
The door shuddered as something heavy hit it from outside, and then it began to slide open with a grinding sound.
I kept one hand wrapped around Addy’s, her fingers still slightly unsteady against mine, and my other hand held the rifle loosely at my side, though there was nothing relaxed about the way my finger rested near the trigger.
My gaze stayed fixed on the widening gap as figures began to emerge from the harsh line of light spilling into the warehouse. A man stepped out first, moving unhurriedly but not theatrically. His calmness came not from authority, but from his familiarity with situations like this.
I recognized him immediately. Except this time, unlike when he showed up unbiddenly in my territory, it was clear he was the man sent to clean up when things went wrong.
Rafael paused just outside the vehicle, one hand still resting on the open door.
His gaze swept the warehouse in a single, efficient pass, and something in his expression tightened.
It wasn’t so much a surprise as the quiet irritation of someone who had expected a problem and had just discovered it was significantly worse than anticipated.
He glanced back into the car.
“You’re staying here,” he said firmly.
The answer was immediate. Flat, with not even a second of consideration.
“No.”
His jaw tightened. “Elena—”
“I’m not sitting in the car waiting for you to get fucking shot,” she volleyed back, already moving and pushing the door open wider before he could even attempt to stop her. “That’s not how this works.”
“That’s exactly how this works,” he muttered, stepping slightly into her path as if it might be enough to stop her. “You stay out of it, I go in, I fix it, and we leave.”
The woman stared at him for a full second, then she gave him the downright scariest smile I’d ever seen in my life.
“Move, Rafael.”
For half a second he held his ground, just long enough to prove he’d tried. Then, exhaling sharply through his nose, he stepped aside, the air of a man who knew he had lost the argument from the outset.
“Unbelievable,” he muttered under his breath. “You know Manuel will fucking gut me alive if anything happens to you, right?”
“You’re acting like this is something new,” she retorted.
Rafael followed a step behind her, close enough to intervene if necessary. His willingness to take responsibility told me everything I needed to know.
Then the woman caught sight of Addy, and her expression changed completely.
First came shock, sharp and immediate, followed by recognition so clear it almost felt physical. Then something else settled beneath it — something far more personal than the situation should have warranted.
“Addy?”
Addy, who was still half-pressed against me, lifted one hand in a small, almost sheepish wave.
“Hi!”
The cheerful sound felt out of place in this room.
Not with the bodies still cooling on the concrete, not with the guns still raised just slightly too high to count as relaxed, and definitely not with the man beside her now dragging a hand down his face like someone who had just realized this situation had officially left the realm of manageable.
“Javier?” the woman asked, barely restraining herself as she focused on one of the kidnappers. “Why is my friend in your warehouse, cousin?”
The kidnapper opened his mouth but quickly closed it. His companion looked like he might faint. The dots connected in my head. I’d seen the woman before. This was Addy’s friend from the grocery store: Elena, the one she’d been meeting for weeks.
“You know her?” Rafael asked finally, his voice controlled but just edgy enough to betray how much of a problem this had just become.
Elena gestured vaguely in Addy’s direction. “Yes!”
“Of fucking course you do.” Rafael closed his eyes briefly and muttered, “Seriously, could this situation get any worse?”
I didn’t share the sentiment. As far as I was concerned, it already had.
Then he inhaled slowly and turned back toward the two men with the calm, controlled demeanor of someone who was trying very hard to keep their shit together.
Kyrill’s voice murmured quietly through the comms, “Please tell me you’re recording this. No one will believe it otherwise.”
I ignored him, keeping my focus exactly where it belonged — on Rafael.
“What,” I said finally, my voice low and controlled but carrying far more threat than volume ever could, “is this?”
Rafael straightened slightly, his expression shifting into something more deliberate, more diplomatic, even as his gaze flicked once more toward the bodies on the ground.
“Your woman,” he said carefully, “was brought here by men who wrongly believed they were doing me a favor.”
“That’s true,” Addy chimed in helpfully. “They were very enthusiastic about the gift concept.”
Kyrill let out a strangled noise suspiciously sounding like laughter in my ear.
Rafael ignored it.
“They acted without instruction,” he continued, gesturing toward Javier and his companion, who now looked like they were reconsidering every life choice they had ever made.
“You kidnapped her,” I said quietly.
“They did,” Rafael corrected. “Not me. I only found out about this nonsense after it was all over.”
Damn. He was really throwing them under the bus, wasn’t he?
Before I could respond, Elena stepped forward, visibly irritated, folding her arms tightly across her chest.
“Our cousin,” she said sharply, throwing a scathing look at the man who’d kidnapped Addy, “made a colossal mistake. But luckily we got here before any real harm was done.”
Addy raised a hand and pointed at the two men standing there sweating bullets. “In their defense, they treated me nicely. Well, aside from the whole kidnapping thing.”
I closed my eyes briefly, exhaling through my nose, because only Addy would try to soften the situation for the men who had just put a gun to her head.
Elena’s gaze flicked back to Addy, scanning her quickly, checking, and then her attention shifted to me.
“Right,” she said slowly, her eyes narrowing just slightly. “And you are…”
Addy suddenly brightened. “Oh right,” she said, turning toward me. “I forgot you two haven’t met yet.”
There was something ominous about that sentence.
“This is Elena,” Addy continued cheerfully, nodding toward the woman. “My friend from the market. The one I’ve been meeting up with, remember?”
When I didn’t react, she added, helpfully, “The one I told you about.”
I blinked in utter disbelief, then gestured between them. “You … know her.”
Addy nodded enthusiastically. “We have lunch together every Thursday.”
One of the kidnappers made a faint choking sound behind Rafael. Kyrill snorted and muttered “Unbelievable” in Russian.
“And for the record,” Elena added dryly, glancing at me again, “I did not realize who Addy was until about two minutes ago.”
“In my defense,” Addy said quickly, “you never asked.”
“That’s because ‘are you secretly involved with a Russian crime boss?’ is not a normal follow-up question over coffee,” Elena shot back.
Addy nodded sagely. “Fair enough. I mean, I didn’t ask you ‘are you secretly involved with a Puerto Rican crime boss?’ either.”
Elena threw her hands up. “How could I have missed that?”
Rafael turned to her. “Yes, how could you have missed the fact that you were fraternizing with the enemy, sister?”
“The enemy?” Addy asked, just as Elena scoffed.
“Don’t sister me, Rafael. Ask your little soldiers how they could’ve missed that, not me.”
Rafael exhaled through his nose, clearly deciding not to pursue this line of questioning any further.
“Elena. This isn’t the place.”
“Well, from where I’m standing,” Elena mused, her gaze cutting briefly toward me before settling back on her brother, “this whole situation gives us a very convenient opportunity.”
Javier, who had been doing his best impression of a man trying to disappear into the wall, perked up immediately.
“Exactly what I was thinking,” he rushed out, far too eager. “That’s why I—”
“Don’t pretend like this was your plan all along.” Elena turned to glare at Javier, her eyes blazing. “This was the worst idea you’ve ever had, and that’s saying something.”
“What are you talking about?” Rafael asked her.
“I’ll explain in a minute. But first I want to clear something up…” Elena folded her arms, shifted her weight onto one hip, and looked at the two men with a cool, unimpressed expression.
“You kidnapped my friend,” she repeated.
Javier stared straight ahead. “Yes.”
“Trying to accomplish what exactly?”
The other kidnapper scoffed. “Because we thought you’d be happy. Weaken the enemy and gain leverage over them. Win-win.”
Rafael narrowed his eyes. “And you were doing this out of the goodness of your hearts?”
Javier’s jaw clenched as he nodded briskly.
“This is not the way to impress Manuel, Javier,” Rafael continued. “I understand you want to have a bigger role in the organization, but this was reckless and just plain stupid. There was no need for all this.” He gestured in Addy’s direction.
“Understood,” Javier ground out.
Elena exhaled, then turned slightly, her focus shifting back toward us.
“See … I think there might be a much easier way to handle the problem everyone’s been dealing with …
that doesn’t involve whatever the fuck this is.
” She gestured vaguely around the warehouse, the bodies, the guns, the absolute mess of it all, then added dryly, “Because clearly, leaving it to the men isn’t working. ”
Kyrill huffed a quiet laugh in my ear. “I like her.”