“Sweetie?” She stomped her foot. “Don’t try and sweet-talk me. You think I didn’t catch you say ‘making love’? You think I’m a fool who’d eat up all of your macho, tough guy attitude, and kiss your feet because you got all mushy with me?”
“Fine, then shoot me.” He advanced toward her, getting within arm’s length. “Go ahead. Prove what a woman you are and shoot me.”
“Don’t be crazy. Tell me what you’re up to, and we can either work together or separate.” She lowered the gun, wondering if she was stupid or completely besotted by the Big Axe.
“That’s better.” He sat on the bed and patted it. “Please. I’ll feel better if we’re friends.”
True. She’d rather have him on her side than otherwise, but the jury was still out on whether he could be trusted. Yes, he told a good story about Soledad, but did she have proof the girl existed? Joshua Cano never confided in her, nor did he explain what safeguards he put in place. In fact, she didn’t know he knew about Carmelita’s birth, but then again, a mob boss knew everything.
She crossed over to the chair and sat down, keeping the gun in her lap. “Let’s not play games. Prove to me you’re in this to help me. We need to come up with a plan. I’ve called my mother on the burner phone you gave me, and she says my father’s en route. She’s going to have him contact me when he gets in.”
He let out a whoosh of air. “Great. I hope they don’t bump into each other at the airport.”
“Right, that would be a bad coincidence. What if they’re on the same flight sitting next to each other?”
“My father landed already,” Axe said. “He wanted to know if I crossed the border. What you heard was me telling him I’m with you. Right now, that has him happy and satisfied. He wants to know the details of what I plan on doing. I suppose this means contacting Cano, since he’s the one who knows where Soledad is stashed.”
“Does your father have any clue to Carmelita’s whereabouts? I keep thinking about what Scabby said. They think they’re protecting her, but they also showed me pictures of the girl on FacePlant, the litaloca person. Why?”
“To throw you off track,” Axe said. “Let’s think this through from Joshua’s point of view. Let me write all of this down, so we can strategize.”
He unzipped his backpack and took out a notepad and pen. “We think Cano faked Carmelita’s death to keep her safe. Agreed?”
“The bastard,” Leanna said. She kept the gun but moved the chair closer to him and looked over his shoulder as he wrote down their theory. “Something happened that started all of this. Maybe Carmelita asked questions about who her parents are. She’s of the age where she would wonder why she didn’t look like Ana and Eduardo, or she snooped around.”
“Let me show you something,” Axe said. He pulled out a sheaf of paperwork from his backpack. “I searched their house, looking for pictures of Carmelita. The weirdest thing is that there aren’t any, but there was a ton of nail polish and makeup. You’d think a girl who liked to doll herself up would have taken a lot of selfies.”
“Maybe she posted them all to FacePlant,” Leanna said. “These days, no one prints their pictures.”
“True,” Axe said. “But I did find her birth certificate. It says Ana and Eduardo Bandera are her parents.”
“Part of adoption is getting a new birth certificate.” Leanna pointed to the issue date. “Why didn’t they have photographs? I’m sure Ana and Eduardo had baby pictures, at least.”
“I didn’t have time to do a thorough search. But look at this.” He showed her a Valentine heart and Gabriel’s ID card.
“What? You didn’t tell me earlier. Are you saying Gabriel is her boyfriend?”
“I also found birth control pills,” Axe said. “Now, I can’t prove they belong to her, but isn’t Ana too old?”
“Ana couldn’t have children,” Leanna said. “If Gabriel were her boyfriend, why didn’t he help me find her?”
“He sounded scared and worried.”
Leanna slapped her head. “Oh, how stupid I am. Scabby said I brought you, the hitman, who was working with El Bardo. They thought I was being tricked to lure Carmelita into your clutches.”
“How many times do I have to tell you I’m not a hitman?” Axe patted his bare chest. “I was the one who told you to go home. I didn’t want you coming in the first place. I also gave you the gun you’re holding.”
“True. Let’s assume you were kept in the dark. If you wanted to use me as a lure and hostage, you would have an advantage. Cano’s daughter and me, two for one.”
“Exactly, but I wouldn’t have told you about Soledad if I were in on this.” Axe scribbled on his pad. “My father introduced me to El Bardo to keep an eye on us and possibly snag Carmelita if he got the chance.”
“Me and you together were wild cards,” Leanna said. “Just like Scabby didn’t trust me because I was with you, El Bardo probably didn’t trust you because you were with me.”
“Except later, he realized you could be the hostage,” Axe said. “This is what my father is planning. Since we can’t find Carmelita, he wants to use you in exchange for Soledad.”
Leanna handed Axe the gun. She had now officially crossed over to the stupid and deserved to die category. “Okay, then. Use me. Get Soledad back. At least one of us gets our daughter back.”
“No way.” Axe put the gun on the bed and clasped her in his arms. “We’re in this together. We find both girls, and we won’t leave without them.”
