Jax scans the area. It’s almost twilight now, the sun already setting. A set of headlights appears in the distance, its lights bouncing off the sheet metal of the warehouse.
“Don’t get out of the vehicle until I say so,” Jax tells me, stepping out of the SUV. With everything going on, we can’t take any chances.
He and Enzo walk around to the front of the car, guns hidden but at the ready.
A limo with blacked-out windows crawls to a stop. The back passenger side door opens, and a man exits. I’ve never met Alejandro, Rafe’s older brother. But I’ve definitely heard about him. And the guy who just got out of the limo looks too much like Rafe not to be him.
My fists clench when I think about my friend who is now my enemy. I’d already lost Kellan. His death changed me, and not in a good way. And even though Rafe is very much alive, I’ve lost him too. Two of my brothers, taken from me. One by a gun, the other through betrayal.
Alejandro walks into the beams of the headlights. They create a bright halo around him, allowing me to get a better look at the man. He’s thinner than Rafe, not as tall. Similar facial features to his younger brother. Shaved head covered with tattoos. That must have hurt like a bitch to have done. He’s got a jagged scar running along his left cheek up into his hairline. His fingers are full of rings, and he has casters in his earlobes. Just thinking about him touching Andie has me wanting to kill him where he stands.
Alejandro comes over and stops in front of Jax. I can’t see my friend’s face, but I can see his right hand twitching at his back pocket, like he’s about to pull his knife. The knife he doesn’t have because he gave it to Andie. Alejandro leans to the side, trying to get a look inside the SUV through the front windshield, but he won’t be able to see me. The tinting of the glass is too dark. It also has a reflective coating.
Alejandro says something to Jax, then he raises his hand. The back passenger door of the limo opens and out steps Julio Ortiz. Unlike his son, he’s dressed casually in a dark suit. Hair carefully styled and slicked back. Two men escort him over to the SUV. Jax comes around and opens my door for me to get out.
“Julio, always a pleasure,” I tell him, shaking his hand. I hate having to dispense pleasantries with this asshole.
“Keane Agosti,” he greets me in return. Without preamble, he says, “I’ll get right to the point. I heard some disturbing rumors.” His accent is thicker than Rafe’s, more cultured.
“Oh?” I casually reply.
He grins at that, his perfect teeth unnaturally white. He’s had some plastic surgery done. Up close, it’s easy to see. His face is frozen and unemotive. Too much Botox.
“Where’s the girl?”
The nerve of this motherfucker.
I watch Jax in my peripheral, his body taut and on alert. I silently send him a warning not to do anything stupid.
“Where’s your son?” I inquire back.
The slight pupil contraction gives him away. He doesn’t know about Rafe. He’s also smart enough not to ask about him. I’m sure he’ll have his men look into it as soon as he gets back inside the limo.
“I expect Rossi to keep his agreement. Tell him I want my property delivered as promised.”
His property? I hold on to my anger. He’ll pay for that remark soon enough.
“That sounds like a threat.”
He doesn’t confirm my observation. “We’ll talk again soon.”
Julio’s guards flank him on either side and escort him back to the limo. Alejandro mutters something in Spanish to Jax before joining his father, but I instantly pick it up. So does Jax. We’ve both lived around Rafe long enough to learn the rudiments of the language. Before Jax has a chance to rip out Alejandro’s throat, I check him.
“Get in the car. Now.”
Jax reluctantly does what I say. Enzo sidles up beside me, and we watch Julio’s limo drive off.
“Things just got worse, didn’t they?”
Sighing heavily, I pinch the bridge of my nose and close my eyes. That’s a huge fucking understatement.
“Set up a call with the other families. Secure line,” I tell him.
Not only are we up against Declan Levine, we’re about to go to war with Julio Ortiz. Fuck me.
Chapter 7
I killed a man.
