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His nose flares and anger flashes in his eyes. He points to the approaching car. “Stop talking and get in.”
“And if I don't?” I bite back, my teeth rubbing so hard together my jaw aches. It's still not enough to distract me from the throbbing pain in my chest.
“Then I will give you Andres' job for the rest of the month.” The gleam in his eyes is hard to miss. “I know how much you love being a club manager and handling regular club matters,” he says, the sarcasm clear in his mocking tone.
I huff out a laugh. “You'd regret doing that and you know it. Who's going to take my place? Your little fuck boy?”
He opens the back door and shoves me inside. “If you're done trying to cause a scene, I'd like to get home sooner than later.”
“I'm not staying there tonight. You can drop me off at my apartment on the way.” I slide my legs all the way in the car, positioning myself better in the back seat.
Slamming the door shut, he rushes to the other side and gets in. “You're only going where I say tonight and that's final.”
I reach for the handle and he locks the door.
“Drive, Cortez.”
The man nods in the rearview mirror and my father presses a button. A window separates us from the front seat.
Holding me in place with his threatening stare, he leans his back against the seat. “You are staying at the house tonight. We have important matters to deal with first thing in the morning, and then you are flying out to Mexico with me.”
“Mexico? I thought this ride together had nothing to do with business.” I bang my fist against the door, tempted to jump out of the moving vehicle.
“I guess it has a habit of sneaking in anyway.” He shifts in the seat. “I wasn't going to mention our recent issue until morning but since you wouldn’t come easily, I figured I might as well put it all out there now.”
Running a hand through my hair, I wiggle in my seat. Fernando's fingers are still affecting me an hour later. They fit inside me so perfectly, as if they’ve always belonged there, and I'm already aching for them again. He wasn't gentle in the end but he wasn't as rough as I wanted him to be either.
Pulling my jacket tighter to my body, I refuse to meet my father's eyes and glance out the window instead. “Get on with it then.”
“There was an interference with two of our shipments.”
So basically the same shit, different day. The smaller dealers don't always want to pay our prices so they resort to stealing. “What does this mean for us?”
“It means there will be a delay getting product to very important clientele if we don't figure out a solution fast.” His hands press to his knees and an uneasiness hangs in his eyes for too long.
He's never this worried. This wasn't a run-of-the-mill robbery. What else isn't he telling me? “Do we know who is responsible?”
He shakes his head, rubbing at the stubble on his chin. “Not yet. But once we find out, they will regret stealing from us and killing four of our men.”
My stomach shifts. They succeeded at taking what's ours and managed to disappear without a single trace. That never happens. At least not with larger shipments. “Any ideas who it can be? The Garcia Cartel maybe? They’ve claimed the other half of Texas as their territory, so it's only a matter of time before they want ours too.”
He pinches between his brows, his shoulders slumping in exhaustion. “I considered it but from what I hear, they prefer to grow in other areas instead of dealing with the hassle of trying to claim already taken ones. Did you get the man we are holding to talk yet?”
“Not yet but I figured out how to get what I need out of him tomorrow. You think the two situations are related?”
He shrugs, bringing his legs closer together. “It's a possibility. Only one way to find out. Get him to tell us everything he knows, starting with names, and we go from there.”
He says that like he's expecting for me to be in two places at once. “How can I do that when I'll be in Mexico with you?”
“We will be back before dinner. Then you'll have all night long with him. He may be our only lead for a while, so don't fuck it up.”
Huffing out a breath, I glare in his direction. “When have I ever?”
He rests his arm on the back of the seat, cutting into me with his icy stare. “There's a first time for everyone, and you haven't been yourself lately. You disappear randomly, zone out, and your mind is always somewhere else during meetings. You need to get rid of whatever is causing you to be distracted. If it's some puppy love, end it.”
I scratch at the leather of the seat. He's the pot calling the kettle black. “Says the man whose life now revolves around some guy half his age.”
“My love for Andres doesn't get in my way of being who I need to be in this business. Not every man can have both without letting one rule the other. You clearly can't.” He leans in closer, his jaw tightening. “Tell me, mijo, where did you go earlier? Was it to meet him?”
