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Realization dawned on her face like she’d forgotten the picture I snapped of what my idiot crew had done to her. Luckily the cut was healing and there was hardly a hint of the bruising left. “Yeah. I hit my head when they kidnapped me but it’s better now.”
Hit her head. Like it was an accident. She was trying not to let him worry– trying to minimize her pain as if to cool her father, as if to show him just how strong she was.
But she was strong. She didn’t need to fake it.
“Listen,” he lowered his voice. “You do whatever you need to do to survive, okay?”
“Okay.”
“I mean it. If they want to use you…” his voice trailed off.
“What?” Her voice pulled up at the end, her eyes beginning to glaze over as if she already understood exactly what her father was saying. I, however, was holding out in the hopes that the man wasn’t as worthless as I had previously thought.
“If you need to,” he cleared his throat and let the words trail off, “let them touch you… to save yourself, I won’t judge you.”
I surged forward and plucked the phone from her hands, crushing the end button and saving her from having to listen to another word. She stood still, in shock, processing exactly what her father had just told her to do.
A rage I wasn’t prepared for coursed through my veins and I reached out my hands, circling her shoulders and bringing her into my chest. He was more fucking concerned about himself, his own reputation, and his career, than the fact that his daughter was a captive to one of the most lethal organizations in the area. What an absolute piece of fucking shit.
She was rigid, breathing in and out slowly against me. I bent and inhaled the clean rain smell of her hair, my body unintentionally reacting to her closeness. But I didn’t want to hold her for that reason and I prayed she knew that.
When her arms finally moved, they snaked around my waist and she sighed against me.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered against her hair and she nodded. “I won’t allow him to speak to you again.”
“But,” she argued.
“I don’t care if he’s your father. No more calls.”
She nodded again and hugged me tighter, clinging to me like I could solve everything. Gripping the back of her neck, I tilted her back and pressed my lips to her forehead. When my phone vibrated in my jacket, I cursed under my breath.
“What is it?”
I needed to leave for work but the thought of leaving her down here all day made my skin crawl. “Come on.”
“Where?” Her voice cracked.
“You’ll be in my room from now on. Unless you decide to run again.” I narrowed my eyes at her, searching for any sign that she would try something stupid. I hoped my words had sunk in yesterday because if she did run and I wasn’t here to chase her, Denis would eat her alive.
She cracked a small smile, “Promise.” Instead of gripping her arm, I laced our fingers and led us upstairs, through the bookshelf, and down the hall.
“Lock the door from the inside. No one will know you’re in here— don’t open it for anyone else.” She nodded, fiddling with her hands in front of her. “I’ll be back later.”
“Promise?” Her brows lifted. I balled my hands into a fist to stop from touching the wrinkle on her forehead. She was damn near precious.
“As long as you’re waiting for me.”
I left my room and waited until I heard the lock click in place before stepping away. I needed to know she was safe. My control was slipping more and more, but I couldn’t stop myself from pulling her closer. When I got to the garage, Matteo was already there, waiting on the hood of the car.
After Luka and I brought the photo of Coco’s body to the table and discussed our concerns with the othertenientes, there was no question that we needed to act. We didn’t even need to vote. I handed down the order to thetenientesfor their local dealers to keep their ears to the ground. All we needed was to come in contact with anyone affiliated with the Desalmados and let Matteo work them over. No one could keep their mouth shut when my brother had them in a room. With a little bit of pressure, we’d find out who they were and then deliver a swift response. My way.
Yesterday, Matteo got the call that an unfortunate kid in the wrong place, at the wrong time, had been swept up and would be waiting, bound and gagged, at the old warehouse by the beach.
It’d been years since I’d seen the place and my memories from the inside were chilling.
We sped there, weaving in and out of the cars going slowly down the two-lane dirt roads until they cleared and we parked. The building was dilapidated and looked like the perfect place for a drug deal or a contract kill to go down. I always thought it was a little too on the nose to do our dirty business at places that looked like this but in all my years in Tamaulipas, the cops never fucked with places like this.
In reality, we owned the cops.
