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His phone rang, and he held it to his ear and listened. “Okay.Gracias.” He hung up. “Navarro wants you at the ranch.”
“Ramon. Let me out in town.” She gripped the seat and leaned forward. “I’m not going to the ranch. Let. Me. Out.”
He shook his head. “Boss’s orders.”
“I don’t care!” She twisted and flipped the lock on the door. It would hurt when she hit the asphalt and rolled. She’d have to shift the boy’s head from her lap where he’d fallen asleep.
Ramon grabbed her arm. “Don’t.”
She turned back to glare at him and stared down the barrel of a pistol. “Seriously?”
“Boss’s orders.”
ChapterTwenty-Four
Ramon opened the car door for Kenna. As she climbed out, wind from the storm front moving in from the coast whipped at her hair. She glared at him and nearly got knocked over by a housekeeper-type lady who gathered Javier from the back seat and raced with him toward the house.
Kenna leaned against the back quarter panel as Navarro stepped onto the front stoop, every inch the lord of the manor at this ranch. Did he really think she would simply bow to his will? She’d had enough of this place and these people who did whatever they wanted.
The housekeeper stopped so Navarro could speak to his nephew, which only made the boy start to cry. She had no idea why he’d settled down with her. Kenna didn’t have “a way with kids” like some people seemed to. She was just who she was, no pretense. She figured kids respected a genuine person. They might actually be better at discerning that stuff. One day she might have children of her own, but Kenna couldn’t imagine bringing them into the life she had now.
“Come in.” Navarro waved her over.
Kenna folded her arms. “No.”
Ramon stiffened beside her. The few other men around seemed interested in how this was going to play out.
“I’m going back to my hotel so I can take a shower and get out of here.” She shrugged. “I’m not staying.” She wanted to say,And you can’t make me, but figured that might sound a little childish.
Too bad she was irritated and at the end of her rope enough to consider it. Kenna was about ready to throw a full-blown tantrum that would make Javier proud. She was glad Jax wouldn’t be here to see it.
“You don’t get to order me around,” she added. “I don’t work for you.” She had nearly no power here if he wanted to push it—no weapons and zero way to pressure them.
Navarro stepped aside.
Stairns came out, followed by Maizie. Neither looked like they were here of their own accord. Tight expressions. Maizie hugged herself, a defensive mechanism to protect her space.
Kenna strode over to them and pulled the teen to her. It would look like a hug but was more like Kenna standing between Maizie and whatever might come at her. She whispered, “What happened?” low in Maizie’s ear.
The girl wrapped her arms around Kenna’s waist. “They kicked the door in. I screamed a lot, but no one helped me.” She shuddered. “Stairns was already in the van.”
Kenna glanced at her former boss. Stairns had a knot on his forehead, his eyes glassy—and mean. She’d never seen him this unhappy, and she didn’t blame him.
The wind blew hair across her face. After tucking Maizie behind her, she turned toward Navarro. “Your men were abducting my friends, rather than saving your nephew? Interesting.”
“It’s called strategy.”
“What do you want from us that was more important than Javier?”
His brows rose. “I have plenty of men, and I know how to…” His expression pinched. “What’s the word? Right, I know how to multitask.” He lifted his chin. “Inside.”
Kenna stared at him. The last thing she wanted to do was to follow orders, with no argument. The last thing she wanted to do was go inside. Least of all right when he asked. Defiance was her only option right now.
Maizie’s hand slipped against Kenna’s.
She clasped her fingers, so the girl knew she had both Kenna and Stairns to watch her back.
Stairns went inside first. Then Navarro. Kenna followed them, Maizie beside her.
