te jet. No. The damage was done. Her men would think that he had her and then killed her.
“She is worthless now. Leave her. It doesn’t matter.”
Miguel placed his gun onto the table then turned to talk with the other men. They were going to have a small meeting about the organization and about Solandro being the new boss. As they walked in, gathered around the table, Solandro shook their hands. They discussed the operation and made some deals. Solandro pulled out his cell phone.
“I will transfer the money immediately. You be sure to do as I asked. I expect progress. Do what needs to be done to keep the authorities at bay.”
He got an error message on his phone. He tried again. He was frustrated when he realized that someone had tampered with his accounts.
“Fuck!” He rose from the table and tossed the edge up and onto its side.
“Everyone out!” he yelled then paced the room.
“What is it? What’s going on?”
“The government has seized my accounts. They somehow know who I am and what I look like. They got the information but how?”
“The agent. The one you killed. Do you remember that he mailed something and it couldn’t be tracked down?” Miguel stated.
Solandro roared in anger. The woman on the floor moaned then began to move around slowly.
“Get up! Get up, bitch!” Solandro screamed as he pulled her up by her shirt and tossed her across the rug. She landed with a thump and cried out in pain.
“They dare seize my money. They dare mess with Solandro Cruz. I am the fucking richest man alive. I will kill them all!” he yelled then reached down and pulled Alexa up by her neck. He shook her then tossed her down again.
“Freeze, asshole!” He turned as multiple agents, including the ones he’d sought out, entered the room. He wasn’t going to get caught. He wasn’t going to spend his life behind bars.
He grabbed for the gun on the side table next to the woman. As his fingers reached the trigger, multiple shots rang through the air and struck his body. He jerked, the gun fell from his fingers, and his world ended.
Epilogue
It had taken hours of surgery to remove the bullet and save Alexa’s life. Michael and Chad finally had their chance to see her. They walked in together, and Michael looked at all the tubes and then at Chad.
“Come on. She’s alive and the doctors said she’ll be okay.”
Michael absorbed her pale complexion and how tiny and fragile she looked lying in that hospital bed. There were bandages on her head and on her arm. As he stood by her side, he noticed the bruise on her throat. Solandro had tried to strangle her.
“Oh God, baby, I’m so glad you’re alive.” Chad leaned down and kissed her cheek.
He took her hand and squeezed it.
“I’m so sorry, baby. I’m sorry that our job put you in such danger.”
Michael kissed her cheek then headed out of the room.
He ignored his friends and walked through the double doors and into the long hallway. He took a few deep breaths of air. He hated hospitals. He hated the smell of them and the memories of visiting them a few too many times, and he hated that Alexa was here and it was all his fault.
“Hey, what the fuck was that all about?” Chad asked as he joined his brother.
“I’m not arguing with you, Chad. I want to be alone.”
“No, you don’t. You’re trying to place distance between us and Alexa. I know that what happened today scared you. Hell, it took God knows how many years off my own life, but I’m willing to face my emotions here. I love her, Michael, and I know that you love her, too. Solandro is dead and Santos isn’t too far behind. It’s over. Our job with the government is over and we can start living a normal life now with Alexa in it.”
Michael shook his head.
“I put her here. I put her life in danger. We shouldn’t have gotten involved with her. She had enough bad shit happen in her past. How will she forgive me for doing this to her? I lied. I didn’t tell Alexa everything that I was involved in. When we arrived home from the raid, we should have said fuck the debriefing and went to her. Thinking that only our lives were in jeopardy was stupid. We should have been protecting her by staying uninvolved.”
“You can be such an asshole sometimes, Michael. I can’t believe how easily you can regret what we shared with Alexa. She’s ours, Michael. She loves us, too. I just know it, and none of us would have ever thought that Solandro would come after us like this. His sick, narcistic, pompous attitude is what destroyed him in the end. He’s dead. Just admit to your real fears, Michael. Admit that you love her and that your heart soars just thinking about her and suck up that fear and face it. She is ours. Now get your head out of your ass and let’s join the others. We’ve got a family, Michael, and most of them are standing by our side just like we would stand by theirs.”