Chapter 19 – Mari
With the bullshit truce and the raid taking my focus, I’d put off thinking about Cameron as long as I could. It wasn’t that I was na?ve and praying things were different; I just needed time to process and space to readjust my thinking.
This was my cousin. The one man in my family I trusted above all else, and he’d taken that trust and pounded it into the dirt.
Still, I didn’t know how to handle him. Did I torture the information from his lips or kill him quickly? Did I string him up as a warning to the others in our family to toe the line or hide his indiscretions in case it made me look weak?
I needed outside opinions on the situation. I needed clarity.
I needed Shara.
That was the easiest part of the decision. My men weren’t pleased at my leaving the house with a target on my head, despite the fact that Shara’s apartment was as fortified as the Celestine. If it weren’t, I would’ve moved her ages ago. Still, they insisted on shadowing me to the apartment and searching it before I went in.
We’re not going to risk your life over something as small as checking a few rooms.
Well, when they put it that way.
The trek to Shara’s took no time at all, and I was still trying to piece together how I wanted to say things when the door opened. Only, Shara wasn’t the one answering it.
“Rafael?”
Getting caught off guard was the worst possible scenario, but I just couldn’t wrap my head around my uncle being in Shara’s apartment. Why was he here? Where was she? Had he hurt her? If so, there wasn’t a single thing he could do to save himself from my wrath.
“Come inside.”
Immediately, I bristled. “Pretty sure you can’t invite people into my space.”
Breathing came easier when Shara hip bumped him out of the way, her beaded braids clicking together as she did. She grinned at our shell-shocked faces, but her smile faded to apprehension and discomfort fast. Yeah, something had definitely happened.
“Are you okay?”
“Fine,” she whispered, glancing back at Rafael before turning resolutely to me. “Definitely hard, though.”
Fuck, I’d completely forgotten how much Rafael looked like Antoni. Shara had only met him once, and it had ended with her running away. I couldn’t imagine how she felt trapped in a room with him.
“Whatever happened, you don’t need to?—”
“Get away from the door,” a voice snapped. There was so much aggression there, I stepped closer, ready to put my body between Shara and whoever it was, yet all she did was roll her eyes.
“Don’t bark at me, Christian.”
“Who the fuck is Christian?” Dominic muttered. He’d plastered himself to my back the second Christian spoke, and I could feel the press of his gun against my ass. At least, I was pretty sure it was his gun.
“Querida. Listen to him. He’s trying to help.” From the living room, a man came toward us, hands up in surrender. I moved closer to Shara, but she shook her head. I’ve got this.
Okay, then.
“Helping doesn’t mean commanding, Adrien.”
“You’re right, amore, but Christian isn’t used to someone fighting him. He’ll get better, won’t you, hermano?” Adrien glared into the shadows of the room, and a low chuckle answered.
“Claro que sí.” Of course.
Smiling, Adrien turned back to Shara, stepping closer so he could coax her out of the doorway. “Now that’s settled, can you move away from the door, please, querida? Let us keep you safe.”
I’ll admit, I was distracted by the pet names. Hearing my brother’s fiancée called darling and love was beyond unexpected, but what came next was almost worse. Most people looked at Shara and saw a sweet, meek woman, but I knew she had a backbone of steel beneath her skin. She wouldn’t have lasted so long with Antoni otherwise. Needless to say, it was odd to watch her melt for this man I’d never met.
She let him take her hand and tow her to the other side of the room, waving us in once she was out of the way. Warily, I entered, though I never took my eye off the men I didn’t know.
My own men stayed close, no doubt with hands on their weapons. Well, all except Greyson, who stepped forward. “We need to clear the apartment.”
“It’s clear,” Adrien said.
“We’ll check for ourselves, thanks.”
The warmth with which he looked at Shara blinked out, and he frowned. Only when she tugged his hand—and attention—back to her did it return. “Let them do whatever they need.”
Adrien looked at her for another second before checking with the man still hiding in the shadows. When he got whatever confirmation he wanted, he nodded to us. “We’ll stay right here.”
He sat next to Shara and kept their hands together, fingers interlocked, while the other lay flat on his thigh. The position screamed I’m not a threat,and I didn’t believe it for one second.
Only when Dominic came back with a curt All clear did I finally ask, “Who are you?”
Rafael stepped up to make introductions. “Mari, this is my son Christian. Your cousin. Adrien is his second. Boys, this is Marianna Marcosa and her men, Dominic, Greyson, and Nate Marcosa.”
Nate, who had taken Dominic’s position at my back, preened at the name, and I made a note to ask if he wanted to take it permanently. It was something I’d already planned to do but hadn’t had the time to check with him about. With the final battle coming closer every day, we needed to take the wins we could, and if Nate wanted my name, I’d give it to him.
Christian stepped out of the shadows, and I twisted to keep him and Adrien in sight. He saw my adjustment and smirked just a little. “?Qué tal, prima?”
How are things, cousin? I honestly didn’t know how to answer that anymore and only partially because I wasn’t sure if I liked him.
This day’s gone to hell in a handbasket, thanks for asking. That would be a greeting to remember.
“I wasn’t aware your son was in town,” I said carefully, making sure I didn’t reveal Two-Bit to Christian. We didn’t need the family drama.
Christian answered. “We’ve been keeping an eye on your girls. Good thing too, considering that cabrón nearly snatched them.”
I twisted just enough to look between him and Rafael, but I couldn’t see many similarities between them. Christian was a few inches taller than me, dark hair and deeply tanned skin, yet he had the strangest eyes. Almost colorless. The longer I looked, the more I realized they were similar to Two-Bit’s. I nearly said as much, but remembering what Rafael had said about his son’s opinion of his younger brother, I kept my mouth shut.
Then what he said registered.
“Did you say them?”
Footsteps padded from the hallway where I knew Shara’s spare room sat unused. Except it obviously had a new tenant. Aislynn’s face was drawn, arms wrapped around herself as a shadow deepened along her jaw. Someone had hit her. Rage flared through me as the light winked against her wedding ring.
If Cameron had hit her, he was going to die slowly and painfully. He’d be begging for me to end him before it was over.
A soft hand settled on my clenched ones, and Dominic’s whisper trailed over my neck. “It wasn’t him. We have eyes on him.”
Relief hit me straight in the solar plexus, only for dread to follow just behind. I’d come to talk to Shara because I wasn’t ready to see Ash yet. How was I going to explain that her husband was a liar and a traitor? How could I destroy her happiness when I was the one who pushed them together in the first place?
Fuck.
“What happened?”
Shara huffed. “We were out getting lunch when they cornered us. Clocked Ash good before I even knew they were there. They were about to stick us with something when these two swooped in.”
She rolled her eyes at Christian, but I could see her fondness for Adrien a mile away, and I didn’t understand where it came from. She’d mentioned dating again but never followed up with anymore information. Had she downloaded an app and landed on him? No, that was too coincidental. It had to be something else. “You’ve met before?”
“He was a dancer at my bachelorette party.” Ash waggled her eyebrows, and mine rose to the ceiling even as my breaths tightened at the way she grinned. She won’t be smiling like that for long.
“I assume that was planned.” I narrowed my eyes on Adrien. There was no chance in hell I believed he’d been there by coincidence.
Shockingly, Shara answered. “It was, but he told me before anything happened.”
“What?” Christian and I said at the same time, though he was obviously more irritated than shocked.
Adrien shrugged, keeping Shara’s hand tight in his grasp. “I didn’t want to lie to her.”
“So you outed us to?—”
Christian was going to say an enemy, but we weren’t really adversaries. We weren’t allies either.
“No, I outed us to Shara. Just her.” The haughty tip of his chin screamed I don’t regret it,and I had to say, it was nice to see someone fight for Shara again. The faintest color in her cheeks meant she agreed.
A part of me hated seeing her move on because it meant that Antoni was really gone, but she deserved happiness. If my brother had had one last wish, it would’ve been that. So, I took the grief that tried to swallow me and let it go.
It was time to live again, and if Adrien made Shara happy—and the glimmer in her eye said he did—then who was I to stand in the way of that?
“Where are the men who attacked them?”
“Dead.”
“Where were you?” Grey asked Aislynn, and I knew he’d send our own men to make sure the scene was clear and the girls had gotten out fully unscathed. I didn’t want either of them to end up in jail again.
Only when we verified with one of our men patrolling the area that everything was sorted did we move on.
“What happens next?” Shara knew things with Cash were getting bad. I’d been begging her for ages to leave the city. She had family in another state she could visit, places that Antoni had set up for her to be safe, and that was what I needed—for her to be safe while I took out the threat to our existence. I couldn’t handle it if he went after her or Ash to get to me. Not again.
“We should put them in a safe house.” It didn’t escape my notice that Christian said we or that he hadn’t moved his eyes off Shara once. Rafael had mentioned she was Christian’s type at Ash’s wedding, but I hadn’t really thought much about it. Now it was glaringly obvious that my cousin was interested, and I didn’t know what to think about that.
Greyson, focused as usual, nodded. “We have plenty of places to hide them.”
Adrien cleared his throat. “It would be better if they were somewhere even you couldn’t find.”
My laugh sounded on edge even to me. “You’re out of your mind.”
Christian shrugged. “Maybe, but I wouldn’t scoff at the offer outright.”
“What exactly are you offering?”
“Safety for both of them.”
I waited for him to continue, but there was nothing. No stipulations, no rewards for him. Christian was prepared to give them sanctuary indefinitely with no payoff for himself.
“Why?”
He stared me straight in the eye and refused to answer, but I had a good idea of what—or who—had influenced the decision.
Christian wanted Shara, and from the surreptitious glances she was giving him, she was just as interested. When I peeked at Adrien, he looked between them and gave me a big grin. Yep, Shara was going to end up with a little family of her own, just like I had.
Shaking my head, I looked at my friends. “What do you think?”
“I’m fine.” Shara shrugged, trying to play it cool like she wasn’t drooling over the men, but Ash shook her head.
“I’m not going anywhere without Cameron.”
Fuck. My heart squeezed, and I knew there was no avoiding it now. Aislynn had to know.
Turning to Shara, I gave her my blessing. “If you’re okay with it, get your stuff packed. I want you out of the city by dark.”
She nodded, sweeping me up into a hug. “I’ll be okay.”
But would I be when it was over?
I clung to her, stealing her strength to get me through this talk. “Love you.”
“Love you too.”
Twisting to Rafael, I pinned him with a glare. “I’m trusting Christian because I still trust you to a point. I expect you to make sure that trust isn’t misplaced.”
Translation, if your son or his second hurts my friend, I’ll kill you, them, and everyone you love.
“They’ll both be perfect gentlemen,” he promised with a hard look toward them. Adrien laughed, but I saw Christian bristle, and I filed it away for later.
The three men stepped into the hallway where the bedrooms were, leaving Ash and Shara with us.
“I just have to grab my bag, and then you can take me home.”
“Aislynn…” I grabbed her hand, stopping her from leaving too. “We need to talk.”
“What is it? Is something wrong with Cameron? I knew I shouldn’t have left him?—”
“It’s not that.” I sighed, running a hand through my hair and realizing I just had to come out with it. Spill the secret into the air and hope to hell it didn’t blow up in my face. “Cameron’s working with Cash.”
Ash froze like I’d pressed pause on her before she pursed her lips. “Did he tell you that?”
“No. Ace did.”
“Ace?”
“Nate’s father.”
She frowned. “Who’s to say he wasn’t messing with you? Lying to get you to kill the only person left in your corner?”
Nate cleared his throat, dragging our attention his way. “I saw him. All the nights he went to see Cash, I was there.”
“Prove it.”
He pulled out one of his phones and dropped it on the table. “Check the photos.”
Aislynn’s hand shook when she grabbed it, though her brow was an angry slash that slackened with every swipe. By the time the phone slipped from her fingers, she had tears in her eyes.
“I don’t believe you,” she whispered, but it was a lie. I could see the devastation in her expression. She believed it; she just didn’t want to.
“Ash.” My voice broke, agony invading my chest when I reached for her, and she slapped my hand away.
“No! I don’t believe him. There’s no way Cameron would do this to us.” She turned away, breathing deeply. When she faced me again, the faint shimmer of tears in her eyes was gone, replaced by fierce determination. “He loves you. He loves me. I can’t—I won’t believe this.”
I reached for her again, but she was already sinking down on the couch, dropping her head in her hands and whispering to herself over and over, “It can’t be true. It can’t.”
Slipping onto the couch beside her, I wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”
Again, my voice broke, and this time, she broke with me. My heart cracked at the gut-wrenching sobs, but I didn’t move a muscle. Ash had just had the ground ripped out from under her. I’d be her rock until she could stand on her own two feet again.
Her teary eyes lifted, focusing on Nate. “Did he—was he cheating? At the parties, I mean.”
“No. He never touched anyone else.”
She shuddered in my arms, and I could feel her sad relief. It killed me that she was worried about that, but then again, why wouldn’t she be? If he could lie to and deceive me, was cheating all that unfathomable? Was it really so farfetched to wonder?
“I’ll take you for an STI test, if you want.”
“Now?”
“Dr. Grant will meet us at home.”
Her nod was hesitant, but she seemed steadier with the news that she’d get what she needed soon. After one more hug, Ash stood, wiping her cheeks with angry swipes. “I need to hear it.”
“Hear what?”
“Everything. I need to hear it all from his lips.”
I winced. “We can record?—”
“No. Use me.” She glared down at me, but I knew her anger wasn’t directed at me. “We both have things we need to hear from him, so use me to get his confession. I’ll play along however you need until we get what we want. Then I’m done.”
I felt the finality, her desperation to leave this world behind and start over. Living with O’Bannon hadn’t broken her, but loving a liar had, and it killed me. I never should’ve asked her to do this. Knowing that I’d caused one of my best friends to suffer was agony. I didn’t know if it was possible, but if I could grant her a normal life, I would. She’d more than earned it.
“That could work,” Nate said, sitting next to me and rubbing a hand along my back. “He won’t be expecting Ash to work against him.”
“It may take a few days,” I warned. “Can you handle being around him until then?”
“You know the house I grew up in. I’m a very skilled actor.”
I hadn’t; I just hated that she was falling back on who she was then to survive in my family. It wasn’t supposed to be this way, but it was, and we had to make peace with it or suffer worse. “Okay. We’ll get him.”
With another nod, Aislynn left to get her bag and recenter herself before walking back into the lion’s den. The only reason I was okay with her going was because Cameron was injured and she was on guard. If he went for her, I had no doubt she’d shoot to kill.
I was still staring down the hallway she’d disappeared into when Rafael came back out to the living room. He seemed older than he had before, wearier too. “Are you okay, Uncle?”
He smiled, but it was a little lost. “As much as I can be.”
“And the Wolf?”
His mouth tightened. “The same.”
So, no help there. Walking to the windows, I gazed down on the city I loved, wondering if I had to make a deal with the devil to save it. The reminder of my newest not-quite ally, not-quite enemy sent my thoughts whirling.
I had a cartel expert in front of me. It was time to use him.
“What do you think of Paez?”
I appreciated that Rafael took the time to consider the question before answering. “He’s ruthless, but aren’t we all? If you’re asking if he’s a good man, I’m not really sure anyone with the power we have is, but he’s certainly not the worst. Why?”
“He offered me an alliance.”
Again, Rafael thought about it. “Maybe it’s a good thing.”
“Why?”
“The Wolf won’t help you, Mari. Not unless you back him into a corner, and I wouldn’t suggest that. Regardless of his motives, Paez would be a good ally to have.”
“Will it make more problems for you if I do align with him?”
“I’m not sure it matters. You’re not an Osorio. Right now, that’s a blessing.”
Again, I got the sense that he was fighting more battles than one. Two-Bit’s warning flashed in my mind, and I decided to repeat it. “Careful, Uncle. That sounds a lot like treason to me.”
“Maybe that could be a good thing, too.”
Hope and caution warred inside me. I wanted to believe that Rafael was changing his mind, but I knew I couldn’t count on him. Not yet.
Aislynn came back with her purse and a blank face that made my chest tight. Turning back to Rafael, I smiled grimly. “Let me know what you decide. In the meantime, I expect your son to keep Shara safe.”
“She’ll be well cared for with Christian and Adrien,” he promised.
“Good. We’ll speak soon.”
“Sí, tesorita. We’ll speak soon.”
With Dominic and Greyson guarding Ash, Nate took his place at my side. Just like Kosas, he was steering clear in case Ash placed Cash’s sins at his feet, and I appreciated it, even if it killed me to see him do it.
“Where are we going now?” he asked.
“We’ve got a rat trap to construct.”