Page 93 of LA Reign

The sonographer starts the printing process, and my mind drifts back to our argument last night. I outright asked Alejandro if he regretted marrying me. He just sat there, as though he didn’t want to admit it. And then I made the whole situation worse by suggesting that I regretted our marriage when that couldn’t be further from the truth. This marriage brought me to life, and even if it ended right now, I would never regret it.

I’ve checked my phone a dozen times this morning, hoping for a text or a call, but I’ve heard nothing from him.

I contemplate calling him, but I don’t. I’m too scared that he’ll reject my call. If I don’t reach out, he can’t push me away. I can carry on pretending this is just a silly argument. A blip that we will get over in no time at all.

A short time later, Lucia and I are climbing into the armored SUV with Hugo and Hank, as well as our new driver, George. Alejandro now insists that if we must leave the house, we do so with armed guards and in the safest vehicle possible. It does not suit the mood that Lucia is in, bright and bubbly, filled with happiness and excitement.

I sit next to her, both of us looking at the printouts of that adorable peanut shaped blob of a human. I always imagined I would have one of my own one day, but I’m trying to come to terms with reality. As everybody keeps pointing out to me, there is more than one way to have a family.

We’re just pulling out of the parking lot and toward the intersection when Hugo begins to shout to George in Spanish. I can’t understand what he’s saying, but I can tell it’s not good.

Before I have time to ask, or react, the whole car shakes and shudders. There’s a horrible grinding noise, and I’m thrown violently forward, my seatbelt cutting into my neck as the sound of crunching metal and smashed glass fills my ears.

I grab hold of Lucia’s hand as the car skids along the road, holding her tight. My ears are ringing and my head spins. Her baby photos fly from her grip, floating in the air. I hear more shouting and more gunshots, and then the door is tugged open. Lucia screams as we’re dragged out of the car. And I fight. I fight as hard and as nasty as I can. But one of them punches me in back of the head, and the world goes black.

Chapter

Forty

ALEJANDRO

Ilook at my watch and see it’s just before eleven am. I was awakened by Jax at six because he had a lead for me to chase.

Almost five hours later, we’re at yet another dead end. I can’t understand how nobody seems to know who was responsible for my father’s shooting. It doesn’t make any sense that at least one person hasn’t cracked by now. Do I need to spread the net even wider? I don’t fucking know, and that’s what’s killing me.

I’m in a bad enough mood already. I’d intended to go home as soon as I woke up and apologize to Alana. Beg her to forgive me for the things I said. That plan didn’t work though, and I haven’t even had a chance to call her yet. I know she’s accompanying Lucia to her doctor’s appointment this morning, so I decide I’ll head home now. I can be waiting for her as soon as she gets back. Fuck the dead-end leads I keep chasing. They’re getting me nowhere. I grin as I come up with a different plan. One that involves me taking Alana to bed for the rest of the day and showing her how much I need her.

I’m walking to my car when I feel a hand on my shoulder. “Alejandro,” I hear Jax’s familiar voice in my ear. He sounds serious. “Something’s happened.”

I spin on my heel and glare at him. “Whatever it is, it can wait”

“Alana and Lucia have been taken,” he says. Six words that change everything. My worst nightmares have come true.

I stare at him as my heart threatens to explode out of my chest. “No.” I shake my head. “It’s a mistake. That can’t have happened.”

“I’m sorry, amigo. Another SUV plowed into theirs while they were on their way back from the doctor’s office. Hank and George…they’re dead. They fought back, but they’re dead. Hugo has been taken to County General with injuries from the crash and gunshot wounds. They’re not sure if he’ll pull through. But the girls were taken alive, we’re sure of it.”

“How? How do you know that?” I ask, panic like a fist around my heart. Jax places a calming hand on my shoulder. As if anything could calm me right now.

“There’s some footage from the CCTV. Nothing that IDs them, including plates, but enough to see what went down. Lucia and Alana were alive when they were bundled into a different car and driven away. They look shocked, but they were on their feet. Our friends in the LAPD are keeping a lid on it for us for now. It was a well-planned and orchestrated hit, Alejandro. There was nothing the men could have done.”

Fuck! George and Hank gave their lives to protect them, but still, I’m furious. Furious, and terrified. The blood is thundering in my ears, drowning out everything around me. I have felt fear many times in my life, but this is nothing like I have ever experienced before. I am paralyzed. My future flashes before my eyes—a future without her.

It is incomprehensible.

I have to get a grip on myself. I have to focus on the only emotion that will get me through this. The only emotion I can control.

My anger.

“Speak to our friends in LAPD again and get me everything on the incident, and I mean everything, Jax. Pull every man off every single job we have and get them on this. I don’t care how many people we have to step on to get information, just find out who has them.” I swallow the overwhelming emotion down and concentrate instead on the rage. I make myself cold on the outside, but I’m an inferno on the inside.

“I’m already on it, amigo. Look, I know this is awful, but if they’d wanted them dead, they’d be dead. They kept them alive for a reason. We’ll get them back. I promise.”

“We’d better, Jax. Because if we don’t, I will burn this city and everyone in it to the ground!”

Chapter

Forty-One