—Where the fuck are you?Answer the phone!—
Enrique winced.Stealing Lourdes was one thing; taking care of business, another.Ignoring the voicemail notifications, he called his friend.Two rings, and the line connected.
“Tell me you didn’t do it.”
Rubén’s harsh, deep voice grated in his ears.“Do what?”Enrique replied, stalling.
“You damn well know what.Where are you?Where’s Lourdes?”
“She’s safe.”Enrique let out a slow breath.“I would never hurt her.”
“No, you would just disappear with her the week before she was supposed to marry another man,” the Lozano jefe spat.“Edita and her bodyguard found Lourdes’s guard locked in a closet.The woman is frantic about her missing daughter.Gerardo and Diego are in an uproar.Abduction, kidnapping, war—that’s all I’m hearing from them.My phone won’t stop ringing.They don’t know who grabbed her, but they each have men combing the state.”
State, not country.Thank the saints for small blessings.He straightened, rolling his shoulders.“You know how Zayas is.He only cares about furthering his career.Allying himself with the Villegases is a tactical move.He wants the might of two cartels behind him.He doesn’t give a fuck about Lourdes.”
“Take her back.Now,” Rubén bit out, a chill slicing through his words.“She’s obligated to obey her father.”
“Hell, no.”The sharp feminine curse hissed over the line.
Enrique smirked as Drina, Rubén’s new wife, scolded the irate jefe from somewhere in the background.No surprise there.Drina and her daughter, Sera—who was Rubén’s biological child that he’d only recently found out about—had softened him over the past several months.Rubén, however, had a responsibility to the cartel and its allies.
In their world, obligation trumped everything.At least it was supposed to.
He glanced around at the acres of farmland abutting the foothills and spreading down the river valley.The tranquility embraced him, a far contrast to the war raging inside him.
“You can’t hide forever,” Rubén continued, much calmer but no less firm.“You have a life back home, responsibilities.Are you really going to throw it all away?”
For Lourdes, he was tempted.Enrique tightened his grip on the phone and paced from one end of the SUV to the other.
“Head back to Durango.I’ll meet you there.If Lourdes follows through with the wedding, the repercussions won’t be as severe for either of you.”
“Over my dead body.”
“That could be arranged.Fuck it.I’m calling Domingo.Have him track your phone.”
“He could try.”More like succeed.Domingo Vega could work his mojo from anywhere.
Rubén barked out a dark laugh.“If you wanted Lourdes so damn bad, you should’ve arranged it with her father.Married her, do everything right.”
“Cristo,”Enrique cursed and rubbed his clenched jaw, the bristles abrading his fingers.“Don’t you think I tried, Rubén?I was too fucking late.Villegas already signed a contract with Zayas.If her father wants her home bad enough, he’ll break off the engagement.”
“Hell will freeze over before that happens.You’re putting me in a tight spot, mi amigo.”
“Lo siento,”he apologized, meaning it.Heavy silence stretched between them.Throughout their twenty-some-year friendship, he never disobeyed Rubén—not over something so important.He ceased his mad pacing and scrubbed his hand down his drawn face.“Tell Lieutenant Muniz I won’t be back for a few weeks.He’ll tell the others and keep everything running.”Muniz and the other lead lieutenants under Enrique’s direct command could only do so much.The paperwork would pile up, and he’d risk betrayal and abuse of power from his underlings if he didn’t resume his duties soon.
“I’ll handle it.”A string of curses spewed from Rubén’s lips.“Gerardo and Diego are working together to find Lourdes.I’ll coordinate my own search, but I might have to fly to Durango to keep the peace.As much as Sera was looking forward to the wedding and sightseeing, she and Drina are staying put.It’s not safe for my girls to be anywhere near the chaos you’ve caused.”
“That’s smart.”Though only a fool would target Drina, the Lozano Cartel queen.
“You had better hope my men find you before anyone else does,” Rubén tacked on.“I’ve been calling you for hours.As soon as I heard someone had grabbed the woman, I knew you would be desperate to find her.Then you never answered your phone, and I knew.I fucking knew you were responsible.”
“Will you name me as the culprit?”
The jefe snorted.“I’ll hold off as long as possible.”
Breathing easier, Enrique slumped against the trunk.“Are the police involved?”
“Of course not.Gerardo, Diego, and I are handling this in-house.”
