He glanced over and saw she’d gone pale.
“What did he do?” she asked, her voice hushed. And if he wasn’t mistaken, a little horrified.
“He kidnapped and raped Alyssa. Then slit her throat.” Guilt reared its angry, bitter head, and the backs of his eyes suddenly burned.Fuck.He took a moment to regroup before continuing. “He left her lying on the ground in a pool of blood for me to find…” That’s when it became fucking personal. When he left the CIA and staged his own death. So he could focus all of his attention on getting revenge on Barrera.
“Dios mío.” Her hand pressed against her chest, and he swore her eyes glittered with unshed tears before she squeezed them shut. When she opened them again and looked over at him, he saw so much empathy. And pain.
Why would she even care?
“José has turned into a monster,” she murmured. “I’m so very sorry for the hell he’s put you through. If I could do anything—”
“Oh, you can,” he interrupted. It’s clear what he needed to do. And he wouldn’t hesitate to use her to achieve his end goal. “You’re going to help me lure out your piece of shit brother. Make him slither out of his den so I can end him.”
Alarm filled her face.
He may as well be candid about his plans since she was now an integral part of them. “You’re going to help me get my revenge. One way or another.”
“How?” she whispered, looking slightly stricken.
“You’ll find out when I’m ready for you to know. In the meantime, you aren’t going anywhere except back to the States with me.”
When she didn’t argue with him and turned quiet, he relaxed back in the seat.Good.He needed the silence to get his thoughts and plans in order. They still had around four hours left to drive, and it would take the Motley Crew approximately that amount of time or a little less to reach Manzanillo’s airport.
He snuck a look from the corner of his eye to see her staring out the window. She seemed almost forlorn. Maybe he was misreading her, but it almost felt like she was mourning his loss, too.
But that made no logical sense. She never knew Alyssa.
She did lose a sibling, though. He remembered her mentioning her brother Miguel, and the sadness in her voice when she recounted how he’d been murdered, too. Perhaps they had more in common than he realized. Than he wanted to admit.
Because admitting that meant they had similarities. That Essie was a human with feelings and emotions. That she was more than just a narco princess.
All this time, I had no idea she was José’s sister.
“What were you running from?” he asked in a low voice. He’d made assumptions about why she fled, but maybe he’d been wrong.
Silence. Just when he thought she wasn’t going to answer, she whispered, “Isn’t it obvious? My brother.”
He should’ve asked her sooner, but there were things he wasn’t ready to deal with yet. Or maybe he was losing his touch. Maybe he was having a hard time seeing past her deep brown eyes, full lips and tempting ass. Because even though she was related to a murderous bastard, Estrella Barrera wasthe most infuriatingly lovely, most goddamn gorgeous, and most intelligent woman he’d ever met.
And he’d sworn to snuff that beautiful spark out.
Chapter twelve
The airport, situated between the ocean and the Sierra Madre mountains, wasn’t very big or modern. Xander drove up to a private plane and Essie noticed it didn’t look very modern either. More like an old tin can ready to split at its seams. If she didn’t know any better, she’d think they’d driven through some weird time warp and wound up back in the 1970s.
As he turned off the truck, she took in the six men hanging out nearby. They were impossible to miss. Big and rugged, they were all quite capable looking despite sporting silver at their temples. Her nerves escalated as she followed Xander, who was immediately surrounded and welcomed with hugs and thumps on the back. They seemed relieved to see their friend, and she clasped her hands, trying not to fidget, and sent them a tentative smile.
“Holy hell, Hawke, you look like a gremlin after midnight.” The big man with huge muscles and deep green eyes chortled, slapping a hand on Xander’s shoulder.
Xander scraped a hand over his beard. “Thanks, Madden. I missed you, too.”
“We want all the details on why you went AWOL.” Essie’s attention moved to a man with dark hair and arctic-blue eyes. So stunning, she almost forgot to breathe.
“But first, who is this lovely creature?” Tall, somewhat lanky, and with a charming smile that probably made panties drop everywhere, the man reached his hand out to her. “Lex Battle, at your service, Miss—?”
“Just Essie,” she murmured, feeling all eyes on her. Lex shook her hand for a moment too long, and she could’ve sworn she felt Xander tense beside her.
“Essie, this is Brandon Ward, Wes Murphy, Chaz Madden, Corey Emerson, Jayson Knight and, of course, Lex. Guys, meet Estrella Barrera, José Barrera’s sister,” he added coolly.
