Once the dust settled, Axe rushed to the car.
“Leanna, are you okay?” he shouted, opening the door.
“Take a picture,” she said. “I’ve got my first kill.”
Axe could only gape. Leanna had garroted Pablo with speaker wires she’d cut out of the back panel of the sedan.
She really was Tomas Rivera’s daughter after all.
* * *
Leanna left El Bardo’s body slumped in the driver’s seat of the sedan. She didn’t really want Axe to take a picture, because they had to dump the sedan and remove all the evidence before any of the local farmers came to investigate.
“I don’t have time to talk,” she said. “He killed Maria. Get all of our stuff out of the car, and wipe everything down as much as we can.”
“It’ll be impossible to clean this up,” Axe said. “However, no one will investigate much. He could have been the one who killed Ana and Eduardo.”
“They’re truly dead? Did you see them?” Leanna took a step back from Axe, keeping him beyond arm’s length.
He nodded slowly. “I’m so sorry. So very sorry.”
Stepping toward her, he reached out, opening his arms.
“We’ll talk later,” Leanna said, keeping her gaze off Axe and his general hotness. She didn’t believe he was a hitman, but after what Juan said, she wasn’t sure he was completely in the clear. “We have to get out of here.”
“I’m really worried about you and Carmelita,” Axe said. He opened the trunk and removed their luggage. “Have you any idea where Carmelita is?”
“No, and I wouldn’t tell you if I did,” Leanna said. “You have a lot of explaining to do. What do we do about the car?”
“Push it into the river with the pickup,” Axe said. He transferred everything into the truck. “This is going to be gruesome, but I need you to steer.”
“Are you trying to get rid of me?” Leanna asked. “You steer, and I’ll drive the pickup.”
“Okay, fine by me. Just stop before the car goes in so I can jump out.” Axe shoved Pablo’s body across the bench seat to the passenger side. He tried to hot-wire the car, but it wasn’t taking, so he put it in neutral. “Go ahead, push.”
Leanna started the pickup and slowly moved it into position. Axe pushed from the side of the car, steering as he walked with the door open.
The little truck struggled to shove the sedan over a sandy slope. Once the car crested the embankment, Axe let go of the steering wheel and jumped to the side. The Oldsmobile bounced and rolled, door flapping, into the shallow Rio Grande without submerging.
“It’s the best we can do,” Axe said as he climbed into the driver’s seat of the pickup, causing Leanna to move over. “We better get away. This is cartel territory, and I’m sure they’re watching.”
“Will they stop us?” Leanna’s heart surged to her throat.
“Depends on what they find, or if they have bigger fish to fry,” Axe said. “Hopefully, El Bardo isn’t high on their interest list.”
Leanna shuddered and tamped down her jumpy nerves. She’d killed a guy, and she wasn’t even sure it was self-defense. True, he’d killed Maria, and he was shooting at Axe, but there was no court of law out here in the badlands. If the cartel saw or heard what happened, they might execute both of them for doing a deal on their turf.
“We’re not smuggling drugs or people,” Leanna said. “Hopefully, we pay a toll, and they leave us alone.”
“I didn’t see anyone past the cemetery,” Axe said. “There were a bunch of cars gathered there. Maybe they were at a funeral. There was also some kind of accident in town. Police cars and emergency vehicles blocking traffic.”
“He killed Maria,” Leanna said. “He shot her, and they left her like roadkill. No one even tried to help her.”
“Who?” Axe asked, but a whoosh of grief blanketed Leanna and left her numb.
She wasn’t really sitting in a battered pickup in cartel territory. She hadn’t truly killed a person and covered up the evidence. She wasn’t with a man who did everything he could to obstruct her search for Carmelita—who could still be a danger to her daughter. She hadn’t watched Maria die in the streets. Ana and Eduardo weren’t dead.
If only she could turn back the clock. If only she could go back to worrying about pink and blue fondant, making cupcakes and jelly rolls, fighting with Nikki over party playlists, and scaring Jolie by showing up with garish, dark-colored makeup to her country club fundraisers.
If only the most important thing in her life was flirting with Axe and talking big about what she’d do if she got him alone. If only life were so simple, and all she had to worry about was an arrogant hunk who didn’t give her the time of day.
“I’ve decided on the red, white, and blue tartan sundress with the big ruffled bow for the Bumblebee Splash into Summer Charity Pool Party,” she said woodenly. “Promise me you’ll vote your charity dollars for me. I’m donating it all to a scholarship in honor of Ana and Eduardo.”
A huge ball of grief clogged her chest and bent her double. She covered her face with her hands and couldn’t hold back the heaving sobs that roiled over her, drowning her in a vast ocean of if-onlys and what-ifs.
