“I’ll poll our informants and see what the Canos are planning,” his father said. “You’re wrong about Carmelita having no leverage. Maybe Joshua doesn’t want her, but Leanna’s father will. Now that everyone knows she’s still alive, the game is wide open. Be careful out there, son.”
“I will, but one thing you ought to know. I intend to keep Leanna safe no matter what. She’s the innocent one in all of this. All she wants is a chance to know her daughter, and I promised her I would help her.”
“Dio mio,” his father exclaimed. “She’s the daughter of Dom’s killer. Don’t tell me you’re in love with her.”
Axe couldn’t say he wasn’t, so he hung up.
* * *
“Give me your phone.” Juan held out his hand.
“I’ll need it.” Leanna tried to scramble out of the van and get away. “What are you going to do? Leave me without anything? No money, no ID, no phone, nothing?”
“I saw you take pictures of us. You’ll probably try to contact that hitman of yours, then bring El Bardo after us.” He grabbed her wrist and easily wrestled it from her.
“Axe is not a hitman,” Leanna retorted. “He’s a business owner back in San Francisco. But if El Bardo is the bad guy, then Axe is in danger.”
“This so-called Axe is the son of the Salvadori crime family, but I’m sure you knew that already. Carmelita is the granddaughter of the man who killed his uncle. Maybe you didn’t know.” Juan kept the gun pointed at her. “We got you away from those two. You should be thanking us.”
“You mean when you roofied me?”
“Yep. Our orders were to get you out of the way, and now, you’re out of the way. Turn around and walk.”
Leanna stumbled out of Reuben’s van with her hands up. “I can’t believe you think I’m dangerous to Carmelita. If you know where she is, please, I beg you to bring me to her.”
“She doesn’t know who you are,” Juan said. “When Gabriel said yourhusbandis with El Bardo, we knew we had to get you away from her.”
“That man’s not my husband,” Leanna said. “He was my bodyguard, and we were pretending to be together.”
“You two looked too hot for pretending,” Juan said. “You’re wasting my time. Go, before the others come back.”
“I’m her mother. You know how a mother feels. You can’t leave me here without her.”
Juan’s lips quivered, but he pressed them tighter and lowered his eyebrows. “You’re a danger to her.”
“Does she know Ana and Eduardo are dead?” Leanna wasn’t sure whether to believe anything Juan said, but something must have spooked him. He didn’t seem to be lying. He’d gotten that phone call, and the entire group had been eerily quiet after the call.
“I don’t know.” Juan let out a tired breath. He leveled the gun at her. “Go now.”
“Okay, I’ll go.” Leanna lowered her gaze. Tears pooled in her eyes. She had no choice but to walk down the cracked sidewalk, half expecting to be shot.
“Hey, where are you going?” Patricia’s voice sailed toward her. She and Reuben came around the corner. They were both licking ice cream cones and had smiles on their faces. “Aren’t you going to get your wire transfer?”
Ivan and Maria crossed the street, approaching them. Maria was leaning heavily on Ivan, and she looked like she’d taken another hit of drugs.
“I’m not sure where I’m going,” Leanna said.
“Then come with us,” Ivan said. “The cartel traffickers aren’t meeting us until evening. We might as well get something to eat or take siesta.”
“I don’t have any money,” Leanna said.
“What’s wrong?” Patricia asked. “Are you stoned? Took some drugs?”
“No.” Leanna felt numb. Nothing seemed real, and the scene in front of her played out like a very bad movie. “I just don’t know what to do.”
“I have to get Maria back to the van,” Ivan said. “You two finish your ice cream. We’ll find a place to hang out until it’s time to meet the coyotes.”
“Yeah, no need to decide anything,” Patricia said. “Reuben and I might claim asylum. Then we won’t have to pay.”
