The ringing of his cell phone stopped him mid-step. “Fuck.” Damn thing didn’t ring these days unless it was his father checking in. Argh. Rio knew it was sad, he was thirty-one years old and didn’t have a person in the fricking world that he could trust. Even the people he had gone to school with were all either dead or recruited to El’ Mencho’s cartel. Detouring to the table, he picked up the cell. The number flashing on the screen confirmed his suspicions. His father, fabulous. Swiping the screen, he greeted his sperm donor in Lebanese Arabic, “MarHaba Beyih.”
“You will prepare yourself to leave in one week.”
Hello, son, how are you? Do you need anything in the exile I banished you to?But Rio knew better than to expect any kind of care or worry from the man who was his sperm donor. The one he called father, not out of respect or love, but out of fear. It took a couple of seconds before the words the man had spoken sank in.Huh, what now? Where am I going?
Rio knew better than to answer or question his father’s opening statement. He remained silent until his father spoke again.
“In one week, you will travel to Lebanon and marry the bride who was intended for your brother.”
Oh, fuck no, I don’t even like women that way.
“Do you understand me?” his father asked. “This joining of the families is important for our cause. Now that your brother died in your place, it is your duty to take his place for the benefit of us all.”
No way, I will not do this. You can’t make me.
“Yes, Sir.” Except Rio knew his father could do this, knew he would do this if he had to chain Rio up and put him on a plane to Lebanon.
Shit. Shut up, do not agree, grow some balls, man.
“One week, Felipe.” his father ordered, before the phone went dead.
Rio sank into a chair, anger making his legs refuse to hold him up. While part of the anger was aimed at the shit twist of fate that had him as part of this family, most of it was aimed at himself. Damn it, he was smart, he wasn’t a coward. Not that his actions and meek following of his father’s orders up to now showed it. If you discounted the little side issue he had going on with the CIA, that is. There had to be a way out of this. There freaking had to be. Women were great and all, but for him, if his father was expecting grandchildren, then he was going to be extremely disappointed. Marrying his brother’s intended bride and not consummating the wedding… that would be an insult to the woman and her family, which would cause bigger problems in the long run. But telling his father he was gay—hello death warrant, let me sign you.
Rio went back to the computer, went through the motions of opening up multiple tabs, including the one with the throwaway email account he had been on only a few minutes before. It was time to type the code. He had to request that the CIA pull him out. He had done all he could. But based on the non-answers for his previous emails, he had no idea if the Americans would even honor his request.
‘The parrots are swearing at the tourists… it is time to move them to an isolated part of the zoo.’
Bang. Thud.
The loud noise made him jump. He spun around and stared at the door. “What the hell?”
Bang.
The noise sounded again.Is that a knock?Rio reached for his weapon. Despite having seen El’ Mencho’s soldiers earlier, they had been going the other way over the ridge. He hadn’t heard a car or any other engine. He glanced at the lightbulb next to the front door. It was off. Reaching for a small device on his desk, he pointed it at the light and pressed the orange ‘test’ button. The bulb immediately flared to life, telling him it was in working order and the alarm at the gate hadn’t been tripped.
He checked that the gun was loaded, as if the rounds could magically have disappeared in the last half an hour or so, but damn it, he was depending on routine and habits to keep him alive. Moving silently to the door, he stood next to it, cocked his head to one side, and listened. Is that a moan? Maybe he needed to press a freaking glass against the wall, like that woman detective on the show he liked to watch. What was her name? Murder, She Wrote woman? Eh, it didn’t matter right now.
Focus on staying alive, idiot.
Blowing out a breath, he reached for the chain and slid the nail into the hook attached next to the door frame. He had seen similar set-ups on doors when he was in school in The States and this was the best he could do. Now he could open the door a couple of inches and still at least maintain the illusion of safety.
Reaching out he twisted the handle. Immediately the door slammed inward, the chain digging into the wood the only thing that stopped it opening fully. Rio pointed the business end of his gun into the open space.
“I didn’t know where else to go.”
What is he doing here?
How the hell did he find me?
Oh shit, was he the assholes’ target and not the baby collared peccaries?
Shock? No, that was too strong a word. Surprise, yeah, he would go with that one. Surprise sent multiple questions popping into his head. “Cade? What the hell?” Rio didn’t have much time to react as the man who haunted his dreams slid down the door to land on the dusty porch. Gone was the self-confident man he had met in Brazil. In his place was a man who looked like he was suffering from the effects of drugs.Shit.
Stuffing the gun into the back of his jeans, Rio pressed against the door. He needed to get it shut. Damn it, he might have dreamed about the man who rocked his world, but he could not get caught with the man here. His father would shit a freaking goat and Rio would be dead. They both would be, but that didn’t stop him from using all of his weight to shove the door closed.
“Please.”
The groan from Cade filtered through the door as Rio pulled the nail out of the hook. Argh, did the idiot really think he would leave him sprawled on the damn porch? Was this who El’ Mencho’s men had been shooting at?
