Chapter 6
Chapter Six
KEANE
“Anything?” I ask Jax, coming into the room.
Jax grips the man’s blood-soaked hair and yanks his head back, smacking him a few times on the face. No response. He’s barely breathing now. Out of everyone Jax has interrogated in the past twenty-four hours, this guy held on the longest. He’s one of our men. Another traitor.
“Nothing. Not a damn thing,” Jax bites out.
I hope he decides to end this guy’s suffering. Not because I’m merciful, but because we have other people to track down and question, and we can’t waste more time on someone who isn’t going to provide us with answers.
Jax grabs both sides of the man’s head, giving it a sharp twist, severing his spinal cord. His already limp body dangles lifelessly from the chains shackled around his wrists.
“We’ll find her,” I tell him. A promise. One I’m going to make sure I keep.
God only knows what Levine is doing to Andie right now. Is she even alive? Fucking Rafe. I wish I knew why he did it.
Jax strips out of his clothes and grabs the hose to spray himself down. I watch as the water runs red and disappears into the drain in the middle of the room.
Knowing he needs it, I light up a joint, taking a few hits, then pass it to him, not giving one shit that he’s standing there naked and soaking wet. I know how on edge Jax is right now. He’s a powder keg ready to explode. We both are. Our best friend betrayed us and took our girl. Until we find Max, Dom, and several of the other capos that have gone missing, the families we are allied with are looking to me to take the mantle. We need to clean house and make sure to weed out any other Levine loyalists. How the hell he was able to plant so many in our organization just pisses me the fuck off. And now, Julio Ortiz is demanding a meeting. I don’t have time for this shit.
“I need you dressed and ready in five.”
Blowing out smoke, Jax looks over at me, brow arched. “Take Enzo. I have stuff to do.”
Stuff, meaning computer stuff. Given enough time, Jax will find Andie. There has to be a digital trail for where Rafe took her—traffic camera, security camera, eyewitness, his goddamn cell phone—something.
“I am taking Enzo, but you’re the one I trust with my life.”
He’s the only one I completely trust. And like it or not, he also got an impromptu promotion. With Dom’s whereabouts unknown like everyone else, Jax gets to take his place.
“Fuck,” he mumbles and puts the joint out on the dead guy’s face. Funny how I can’t even remember his name.
As soon as we walk into the foyer, Enzo is rushing toward me. He stops suddenly, scowling at Jax.
“Damn, man. I don’t need to see that. Go put on some fucking clothes.”
Jax grabs his dick and pumps it a few times, flicking his tongue rapidly at Enzo.
“Jax,” I warn him.
Blowing a kiss at Enzo, he heads up the stairs and into the east wing.
“That guy’s a psycho,” Enzo comments.
I’ve known Enzo for about five years. Good soldier. Loyal. Obeys orders without question. I need many more like him for what’s to come.
“Yeah, but he’s our psycho.” Thank fuck. “Are the men in position?”
I sent three men ahead of us to keep eyes on the warehouse where we’ll be meeting Julio. I don’t want any more surprises.
“All’s quiet so far.” Enzo checks his phone. “There is one other thing. Rita has been calling, demanding to know about Rafe. Dom’s men took her off-grid.”
Which means she’s been sequestered at one of the safehouses.
Jax comes back downstairs dressed in jeans and a black hoodie.
“Tell her to call you immediately if she hears from him. Let her know the consequences if she doesn’t,” I tell Enzo as we walk outside to the waiting SUV.
I won’t hesitate to kill that bitch if I find out she knows where Rafe is.
The drive to the warehouse takes about thirty minutes. It’s in the south side of the city located near the shipping canals. The Rossis control this part of town. All drugs and black-market guns that come into port, we know about it and get a cut of it. In the deal Max made with Julio, the Ortiz Cartel would be the only one allowed to funnel their drugs through our ports. Since we live in the fourth largest city in the United States, that made for one big fucking deal. Julio would be able to cement his power along the southern border and be under the Rossi’s protection. We would get thirty percent of everything Julio brought in, and we’d be aligned with one of the biggest cartels in Mexico. It was a win-win for everyone. Except for one thing: Andie.
The forced marriage to Alejandro, Julio’s oldest son, made no sense. Rafe had already agreed to marry Rita in order to solidify the deal with his father and tie the families together. Then, out of the blue, the day after we rescued Andie from Levine’s men, Max went behind everyone’s back and made a secret deal with Julio without consulting me, Dom, or anyone else. He fucking sold her to him. His own daughter.
I tried everything to get her to leave. I was cruel and relentless. I tested her and tried to break her. If Kellan were here, he would have packed her gorgeous, stubborn ass back on a plane to Europe. He never wanted Andie in this life. She deserved better. Alexandria was the only pure thing to come out of our dark, cruel world. Or so I thought.
When she told us what Max had done to her, it fucking gutted me. It also changed everything. The guys and I were prepared to start a civil war to take down Max. All for her. Looks like Levine beat us to it with Rafe’s help. Now I’m prepared to burn this entire city to the ground to find her. And God help anyone who gets in my way.
“We’re here, boss,” Dante says from the driver’s seat.
I’m not used to being called that.
Jax scans the area. It’s almost twilight now, the sun already setting. A set of headlights appears in the distance, its lights bouncing off the sheet metal of the warehouse.
“Don’t get out of the vehicle until I say so,” Jax tells me, stepping out of the SUV. With everything going on, we can’t take any chances.
He and Enzo walk around to the front of the car, guns hidden but at the ready.
A limo with blacked-out windows crawls to a stop. The back passenger side door opens, and a man exits. I’ve never met Alejandro, Rafe’s older brother. But I’ve definitely heard about him. And the guy who just got out of the limo looks too much like Rafe not to be him.
My fists clench when I think about my friend who is now my enemy. I’d already lost Kellan. His death changed me, and not in a good way. And even though Rafe is very much alive, I’ve lost him too. Two of my brothers, taken from me. One by a gun, the other through betrayal.
Alejandro walks into the beams of the headlights. They create a bright halo around him, allowing me to get a better look at the man. He’s thinner than Rafe, not as tall. Similar facial features to his younger brother. Shaved head covered with tattoos. That must have hurt like a bitch to have done. He’s got a jagged scar running along his left cheek up into his hairline. His fingers are full of rings, and he has casters in his earlobes. Just thinking about him touching Andie has me wanting to kill him where he stands.
Alejandro comes over and stops in front of Jax. I can’t see my friend’s face, but I can see his right hand twitching at his back pocket, like he’s about to pull his knife. The knife he doesn’t have because he gave it to Andie. Alejandro leans to the side, trying to get a look inside the SUV through the front windshield, but he won’t be able to see me. The tinting of the glass is too dark. It also has a reflective coating.
Alejandro says something to Jax, then he raises his hand. The back passenger door of the limo opens and out steps Julio Ortiz. Unlike his son, he’s dressed casually in a dark suit. Hair carefully styled and slicked back. Two men escort him over to the SUV. Jax comes around and opens my door for me to get out.
“Julio, always a pleasure,” I tell him, shaking his hand. I hate having to dispense pleasantries with this asshole.
“Keane Agosti,” he greets me in return. Without preamble, he says, “I’ll get right to the point. I heard some disturbing rumors.” His accent is thicker than Rafe’s, more cultured.
“Oh?” I casually reply.
He grins at that, his perfect teeth unnaturally white. He’s had some plastic surgery done. Up close, it’s easy to see. His face is frozen and unemotive. Too much Botox.
“Where’s the girl?”
The nerve of this motherfucker.
I watch Jax in my peripheral, his body taut and on alert. I silently send him a warning not to do anything stupid.
“Where’s your son?” I inquire back.
The slight pupil contraction gives him away. He doesn’t know about Rafe. He’s also smart enough not to ask about him. I’m sure he’ll have his men look into it as soon as he gets back inside the limo.
“I expect Rossi to keep his agreement. Tell him I want my property delivered as promised.”
His property? I hold on to my anger. He’ll pay for that remark soon enough.
“That sounds like a threat.”
He doesn’t confirm my observation. “We’ll talk again soon.”
Julio’s guards flank him on either side and escort him back to the limo. Alejandro mutters something in Spanish to Jax before joining his father, but I instantly pick it up. So does Jax. We’ve both lived around Rafe long enough to learn the rudiments of the language. Before Jax has a chance to rip out Alejandro’s throat, I check him.
“Get in the car. Now.”
Jax reluctantly does what I say. Enzo sidles up beside me, and we watch Julio’s limo drive off.
“Things just got worse, didn’t they?”
Sighing heavily, I pinch the bridge of my nose and close my eyes. That’s a huge fucking understatement.
“Set up a call with the other families. Secure line,” I tell him.
Not only are we up against Declan Levine, we’re about to go to war with Julio Ortiz. Fuck me.