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“I-I’m s-sorry, Papi,” she got out between her chattering teeth.
“Shh. You’ve apologized and I’ve already forgiven you.”
“I s-still feel b-bad.”
“Which is why you’ll be punished.” He gave her a tender look. Sometimes it was scary how well he understood her.
She was certain he liked spanking her ass. But that wasn’t necessarily why he did it—everything he did was for her. To protect her. To take care of her.
“Here’s your pacifier and your favorite swaddle.”
The swaddle was a large, soft blue blanket that she liked to be cocooned in on those days when it felt like she was drifting into a thousand pieces.
He wrapped her up tightly and she instantly felt better. More grounded and secure.
“I don’t deserve you, Papi,” she murmured before he put the pacifier into her mouth.
“Don’t say that. If anything, I don’t deserve you. But I’m going to do whatever it takes to keep you.”
9
Alejandro finished his call to Leo with a sigh.
Fuck.
At least those fuckers, Bert and Ernie, were dead. Although he had no idea who’d killed them.
He put in a call to Dante. He needed to get back to Cat before she woke up. It had taken him quite a while to get her off to sleep once they’d gotten home, and then she’d had several nightmares during the night. But when he’d left her, she was finally sleeping peacefully at last.
However, he knew that wouldn’t last.
“How did you get on with Leo?” Dante asked, not beating around the bush.
Alejandro had to stop himself from snapping at him. “It didn’t go to plan. Cat got kidnapped.”
“What? Explain.”
He went through it all.
“So Leo believes his missing enforcer is this Jimmy that Cat heard her kidnappers talk about?” Dante asked. “And the two who kidnapped her were low-level members of the Radical Raiders?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure Leo isn’t behind it all?”
“I don’t think so. He seemed genuinely angry about the whole situation. I got him to agree to continue to use our stock with a hefty discount on the next supply.”
Dante sighed. “Fucking Ruiz is becoming a real problem. I need to secure more supply. Work with another big player against him.”
“That sounds risky.”
“It’s either that or we let him get more powerful.”
Also not a good thing.
“How is Rafael?” Alejandro asked. He’d been their man on the inside with Ruiz, but about six months ago, Ruiz had discovered he was a rat. Rafael had barely made it out of there alive.
“I think we need to get him out of Mexico,” Dante told him. “He fucking hates it here at the compound, he can’t go anywhere. He’s like a sitting duck. How would you feel if I sent him to you?”
“I do need a bodyguard for Cat,” Alejandro replied slowly. “Do you think he’d be okay with that?”
“I think he’ll like it better than the paper pushing he’s been doing here. I’ll talk to him.”
“All right. I’ll be in touch.”
“Good. Bye.”
Alejandro rolled his eyes. Asshole.
Cat winced as she rolled over, a whimper escaping before she could stop it.
Ouchie.
She could feel every ache.
Those assholes. What she wouldn’t give to have them locked up in one of Alejandro’s special warehouses. She might even be able to convince him to let her have a go at them.
With a sigh, she drew the blanket over her head, cocooning herself with Snuggly, Roger, and her pacifier.
She felt safe under here with them. After they’d gotten home from Bismarck, Aaron had checked her over. She had some nasty bruising on her ribs and her ankle was sprained. But other than several other bruises, she was all right.
Well, except for inside her head.
Just how many nightmares had she had last night? She still felt exhausted this morning and her throat was raw.
The door opened and closed quietly before she felt Alejandro sit on the bed beside her.
“One of those days, huh, Pequeña?” he asked gently, rubbing her back.
Not quite. She had reached burn-out, but on a different level. Her body hurt and she was physically and mentally exhausted.
Yet, her brain was on a loop, going over what happened again and again.
She just couldn’t shut it up.
“It’s all right,” he murmured. “All you have to do today is let Papi take care of you.”
But didn’t he have to work?
She summoned the energy to move the blankets back off her face, then draw her pacifier out. “Work?”
He cupped her face. “There’re a few things I have to organize. I do have something to tell you though.”
She frowned, confused by his tone. He looked both annoyed and happy.
“Bert and Ernie were found dead in an alley close to where you escaped.”
“Really? Who did it?”
“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “But I talked to Leo this morning. He said that Bert and Ernie were low-level members of his gang. And that the Jimmy you heard them mention could refer to one of his enforcers.”
