Instead, he lowered the gun, and I let a slow breath out. His gaze met mine and there was a flash of confusion and fear before he locked it down, regaining his bravado. His voice was hard as he commanded, “You will come to heel. You will be at every meeting with Juarez until after the wedding. Is that clear?”
“I’ll think about it.” Turning on my heel, I strode out of his office, needing to get out of this place before I actually got shot.
I pushed through the front doors into the afternoon sunlight, breathing deeply of air that suddenly tasted like freedom.
After sliding in behind the wheel of my car, I pulled out my phone and dialed Harley.
"Time’s up," I said when he answered. "Gather the men we can trust. We're going to need them."
"How bad is it?" I could hear the worry in his voice, but also the dedication that he had to me and not my father.
"Bad enough. And Harley?"
“Yeah?”
"I'm finally done being afraid of him."
As I roared down the driveway away from the villa, I thought of Elin waiting for me, of Rhea, of all the people my father would sacrifice for his ambitions.
The Owl’s Talon was becoming something else entirely.
And God help anyone who stood in my way.
Thedeadnevertalked,but Ricky Mendez was willing to make an exception for me. It might have helped that I had him tied to a chair and had already attached a car battery to his nipples and drenched his chest with water. Little fucker had been trying to sell their bottom-grade shrooms in our territory. Juarez’s people had been here just a few days and they were already trying to act like this was all theirs.
“To think that my father has allowed the Juarez family here with open arms. Welcomed you all into our family. United us by blood and marriage.” Tipping my head, I asked, “Andthisis how you repay our kindness? Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you? Turnthat battery on and just wait for you to fry? Let you smell your own skin cooking?”
"They're moving on Friday." He wheezed, blood bubbling at the corner of his mouth. His eyes, already glazing over, locked onto mine with desperate intensity. "His men have failed over and over again to bring her too him and Juarez doesn't trust your old man to deliver. He's taking your sister himself."
We knew that based on what Elin and I had learned at the Lounge, but to have it confirmed from another source ignited the fire of rage within me. I tapped it down, knowing I had to keep a cool head here. Just for a little while longer at least. I pressed the handkerchief harder against the bullet wound in his chest, but we both knew it was an act at this point. He was just another body I'd have to dispose of before dawn.
"Friday? That's in two days." My voice remained steady even as my mind raced. "What about the wedding arrangements?"
Ricky's laugh turned into a wet cough. "What wedding? That was always bullshit. He just wants her as leverage against your father. The things he's planning to do to her—" His body convulsed, and then he was gone, secrets and warnings dying with him.
“Fuck!” I kicked the chair he was sitting in, and it toppled over with him in it, blood now pooling at his chest.
My phone vibrated against my thigh. Elin's smirking face lit up the screen from the photo I'd taken of her lying in bed when I’d been sassing her. She’d thought me talking back was funny. I had too, until I’d tried to sit down an hour later.
I pressed my cell to my ear, turning away from Ricky's body. Blood had begun seeping into the concrete. "Twenty minutes," I said, already calculating the fastest route across town.
"Your voice is tight." The familiar sound of her coffee mug hitting the counter punctuated her words.
I glanced down at my knuckles, raw and flecked with someone else's blood. "Working." I lowered my voice. "And the walls have ears."
I ended the call and looked around the warehouse, the metallic scent of blood hanging heavy in the air. I had to move fast. I wiped Ricky's blood off my hands onto my jeans, then grabbed my jacket from a nearby crate, shrugging it on as I headed toward the exit. The night outside was cold and unforgiving, but there was no time to waste.
Two hours later, I was pacing across Elin's living room, explaining everything while she watched me with those calculating eyes. She sat perfectly still on her couch, my Goddess.
"And Juarez plans to take Rhea before any wedding actually happens," she summarized. "Your father either doesn’t believe you or he’s sanctioned it, because he's convinced this alliance is the answer to everything."
"He believes whatever he wants to believe," I said, grabbing my jacket from the back of the chair. "I'm done playing his games. Rico's documents won't be ready. We need to move Rhea tomorrow morning."
Elin's eyebrows shot up. "Tomorrow? That's—"
"Necessary," I finished. "Whatever safe location you have in mind, we need to get her there before Juarez makes his move. I have connections that can buy us time, but not much."
The sound of footsteps made us both turn. Rhea stood in the doorway, her dark hair pulled back in a messy bun, wearing one of my old T-shirts that hung to her knees.
