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The car started moving.
“Um, Alejandro? Are you going to put me down?” Usually, he’d insist that she sat in her own seat with her belt buckled.
“I don’t fucking want to. I don’t want to let you out of my sight again. Bad things keep happening to you when I’m supposed to be looking after you.”
There was self-recrimination in his voice and she couldn’t let him blame himself for something that had been out of his control. She reached up and cupped the side of his face. “It’s not your fault. It was theirs. I c-can’t believe she was still alive. She’d b-been out there all this time. And M-Mikey . . .”
She started trembling and he held her tighter, crooning to her until she began breathing more easily.
Then he set her down next to him. She let out a desperate sound, one that she’d never heard herself make before.
He pulled her close as he secured her seatbelt.
“You’re all right, Preciosa. You’re okay. I have you. I won’t let you go.”
“I just . . . I t-trusted him. When he talked about h-his girlfriend, he sounded so young and sweet. And it was her! She wanted r-revenge for Vince. And he . . . Mierda! Alejandro!”
“What? What is it? Are you in pain? Scot, get her to the hospital.”
“Got it, Boss,” The Scot said grimly. There were none of his usual jokes or laughs.
“No, no, I don’t need to go to the hospital. Well, actually, I do.”
“Wait, why? What hurts? Fuck!”
“Nothing. I want to c-check on Rafael. Can we go s-see him?”
“He’s in the ICU, Preciosa,” he said soothingly. “We’ll see him when he wakes up.”
If he woke up.
No, she couldn’t think like that. He’d wake up and be annoying her in no time.
She hoped.
She really, really hoped.
“Are you sure you don’t need the hospital?” he asked. “I think we should go.”
“No, they didn’t do anything to me. Not really. Just threats. They were gearing up to . . . to torture me. Alejandro . . . he had a tattoo.”
“What? Mikey? He had lots of tattoos, didn’t he?”
“No, I mean . . . he had a Sentinel tattoo. Like Maeve’s stalker. He said . . . he said the Deity found him. That he convinced him that he had a greater destiny than working for you. And that he helped Mikey set this all up to p-punish me for ruining everything.”
Alejandro started swearing in Spanish.
“We have to warn my friends. Someone could be coming for t-them next. Like they did Maeve.”
“I’ll warn them. I still have Tobias down watching Immy, and Gray has Maeve well protected.”
“The guys, though.”
“They can take care of themselves. It will be all right.” Nonetheless, he brought out his phone to send off a message, probably to the group chat he had with Sampson, Isaiah, Abe, Gray, and Jenner.
“Fuck! How long was he working with the fucking Deity?” he asked.
“The Deity got to him some time after he saved Starla. M-Mikey said that he was s-struggling to pay for everything, to keep S-Starla hidden and safe from you. That the Deity o-offered him solutions. He s-said the tattoo was recent, b-because he didn’t want to risk anyone seeing it and that h-he’d proven his worth. But, Alejandro . . . the Deity is meant to be dead.”
“It can’t be the same man. It has to be a copycat.”
She was trembling non-stop, so he held her close, whispering soothingly. “I won’t let him touch you. Not ever again.”
A sob escaped. “Sorry. Sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing?”
“I should be stronger. I just . . . it all feels so u-unreal. Like a bad dream. I want to wake up, Papi.”
“My girl. I have you. Just lean on me. I’m here. I’ll keep you safe.”
26
Alejandro looked up as Reuben walked into his office.
Reuben crouched down to check on Cat. She was curled up in the makeshift bed that Bernard had set up for her. He’d brought in all the blankets and pillows he could find to make a fort for her next to Alejandro’s desk.
She was wrapped up securely, holding Roger and Snuggly. Gage had retrieved her things when Rafael and the car had been found.
Alejandro had tried to insist that she sleep in an actual bed, but she’d burst into tears and clung to him.
So he hadn’t mentioned it again. If he could have gone to bed with her, he would have. But there was too much to do.
“She doing all right?” Reuben whispered, concern on his face.
“As well as she can be. Aaron and I made her take a sedative.” She hadn’t been happy about that, but he’d been insistent. And in the end, she’d given in and taken it.
She’d been shivering with shock, so he’d put her thickest pajamas on her. They had images of a princess riding a dragon on them. She didn’t wear them to bed because she usually preferred his shirt. But he wanted her warm.
