Maverick studies me for a long moment before saying, “You’re underestimating him. And yourself.”
I scoff. “Sentimental today, aren’t we, Don?”
“No,” he says simply. “Just observant.”
I shake my head, but the truth of it sits heavy in my chest.
Because Eliissomething else. Something precious. Something fragile in all the ways that matter and steel in the ways that count.
And something someone could use against me if they ever figured out just how much he means to me.
“I shouldn’t have brought him here,” I mutter, mostly to myself.
“Cortéz was all talk in his little letter,” Maverick says, arms crossing as he watches the yard. “He never had access to this compound, and he never would have breached my estate had it not been for an incompetent guard. But now we know his tricks. That man of yours is safe inside these walls.”
That man of yours.
Fuck, I want to hear him say it again.
But he’s right. Spike has Shadows lining this fucking place like it’s Fort Knox. Inside the walls, outside the walls. Snipers perched on the roofs. Foster’s pit crew has drones circling the compound like hungry hawks. Maverick’s men are stationed at their bunkers, watching over the Moretti family, every one of them ready to die for the Don if need be.
Eli is as safe as any human can possibly be in a warzone.
It doesn’t stop my chest from tightening like someone’s got a fist wrapped around my heart.
“Hey, brother,” Tank says, jogging up to us. “Patch is on his way. He’s not too thrilled about being called in, but Spike wantshim here in case things go sideways. You might want to catch him up on Eli’s condition. Just in case he’s needed.”
Great. Fucking fantastic.
Patch is brilliant…better than brilliant…but he’s also emotionally allergic to bedside manner. The man will stitch your guts back in place without blinking… but God help you if you try to thank him.
I nod my agreement anyway and lean my head back against the building, letting my eyes close for just a second.
My lungs burn. My heart aches. My brain won’t shut the hell up. I’ve never been this worked up before over a threat.
Then again, I wasn’t too worried about my brothers. They can handle themselves. And, it’s not just Eli that has my head a mess. The compound is filled with people who have brought joy, love, light, and laughter inside these walls. Like Spike says…our most precious members.
Sunny, Riley, Lila, Abby, Asher, Bree, Micah….Eli.
All eight of them trusting us to keep them safe.
Going against the Mexican Cartel is suicide. We’ve said it for years. We’ve all known it. Los Fantasmas is a monster with a thousand teeth. It devours everything in its path. It doesn’t negotiate. It doesn’t show mercy. It doesn’t break.
And without Maverick’s empire standing beside us?
Yeah. We’d all be fucking dead.
We can’t take them down on our own. I mean, sure, we can dismantle individual sectors…just like we did when we rescued Abby all those years ago. But we’re going after the fucking Boss. Which means the entire Cartel will come after us.
I open my eyes again and immediately find Eli across the yard.
Smiling…Laughing.
Completely unaware that I’m three seconds from ripping out my own hair because I brought him right into the middle of a fucking war.
He looks so small surrounded by the people he’s grown to care for in such a short amount of time. So safe. So soft.
God, what happens if I can’t protect him?
