17. Chapter 17
Cruz
That whiny little fuck threatening me almost shattered every last thread of my cover.
I could’ve lodged a bullet in his skull before he had time to blink.
Better yet, I could’ve snapped his scrawny neck with my bare hands before his next breath.
The only thing that stopped me was my loyalty to Nico and his father, Francisco.
They’d saved me from the streets and honed me into the weapon I was now.
Nico had a habit of picking up strays, useful strays, like Oliver.
I couldn’t blow this job. It was personal for the family, and I was trusted to get it done.
I’d never failed the Morenos, and I wasn’t going to start now.
The more people I encountered, the greater the chance there was that I would be recognized.
The only thing I could do was keep my head down and hope Lorenzo was too stupid to realize who I was.
Something in my gut told me he knew, but short of killing him, which was extremely tempting, there was nothing I could do about that now.
Rosa was a test sent straight from heaven, or maybe hell.
Her rounded hips swung just right, showing off her perfect figure as she hurried down the hall in front of me.
Plenty of soft curves to sink into. Fuck that blind jackal for suggesting she go to the gym.
She was fucking exceptional. The perfect petite omega with thick thighs and juicy tits.
I palmed the growing bulge inside my slacks as she shut her bedroom door in my face.
Spicy little hellcat.
This had to be difficult for her, but I wasn’t above admitting I liked to watch her squirm.
She had fight in her, which made her even more attractive.
The way she pushed me away after she’d choked on broccoli was cute, and then she pouted like she thought I’d stop noticing the way she clumsily tried to tease me.
I chuckled under my breath. As if something so mundane would ever put me off her.
I wasn’t sure what I would’ve done if she’d delivered the blow she was so obviously winding up for in Rafael’s office. Probably laughed. But Lorenzo might have retaliated, and then I would’ve had to kill him. And that would’ve been an issue.
Better to defuse the situation for now. I needed Rosalina at her wedding so we could scoop her up and finish this fucking assignment. That meant no murdering her fiancé before then. Unfortunate.
I’d heard of Lorenzo Vasco from my time in the fighting pits.
He was a mediocre thug at best then and was punching way above his weight class now.
He had a decent-sized following of untrained, unskilled drug dealers and prostitutes, but he’d never handled a business like this.
The logistics were no small feat. He didn’t deserve her, and he couldn’t handle what he was being given, either.
None of this made sense. Rafael handing over his entire empire right after murdering his rival’s wife? There was nothing to gain. No angle that I could see. It could’ve been revenge for his son’s death, maybe, but why had he waited so long?
Seven years ago, Francisco ordered a raid on what he thought was a drug den just across the border of his territory.
It turned out to be one of Rafael’s warehouses.
So many people died unnecessarily that day, including the heir to the Reyes empire, Rosa’s brother.
Only one of Francisco’s men made it out, bleeding and barely hanging on to life, to deliver the message that we’d lost the fight.
Only a handful of Rafael’s men survived. Francisco would never admit it, but that raid had been a mistake and started a war no one wanted.
I knocked on Rosa’s door. What was she doing that was taking so long? “Rosa, you can’t make them wait all day.” As much as I would’ve preferred it.
That bloody day, so many years ago, had put me here in the air-conditioned hallway of a tropical villa, waiting on a spoiled princess with a chip on her shoulder and the sexiest body I’d ever seen.
Shitty intel had set the Morenos back and made a powerful enemy in the Reyes family.
Which may have led to the torture and assassination of Nico’s mom, Mariposa Moreno, earlier this year. And now I was stuck behind enemy lines.
It was an eye for an eye in this business, always had been. This slight was personal and couldn’t go unanswered.
I nearly choked on my tongue when Rosa finally emerged. Smoky black eyeshadow, blood-red lipstick, and that same little black dress she’d worn to Nico’s club.
Ever so faintly under her floral perfume, I picked up on his clove and bourbon pheromones, and I shuddered.
That dress hadn’t been washed since he fucked her in it.
My dick swelled as I breathed in their combined scent.
They were both on heavy suppressants that night, and if I didn’t know his smell almost as well as my own, I might’ve missed it, but it was there, and it was making it very hard to concentrate.
Her silent rebellion made me want to smile, but I schooled my expression before she could catch it. Something about this girl had me fighting back a grin every time I turned around. It was too bad Francisco wanted her dead.
Rosa’s blue eyes met mine for an instant before she dropped them to the floor and headed back in the direction of her father’s office.
Was she trying to hide her own smile at her secret protest?
The one she thought no one but her knew about.
I wanted to tell her that I saw what she was doing, but couldn’t. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
I followed her back through the halls, my dick uncomfortably hard, and my hands fisted at my sides.
The thought of bending her over the desk in the library we just passed was almost too much to deny.
We couldn’t get back to that office fast enough because, despite seeing her anger and vulnerability in the short time I’ve known her, it all just made me want her more.