“Why would I trust you?” I ground out. “You could be inviting me into a trap. Why shouldn’t I just destroy your entire organization to get Sofia back?”
“Because Pedro will use her against you if he realizes he’s under siege,” she countered. “He’s…not being gentle with her.”
A beastly roar ripped through the night, an animal sound of rage and pain. Adrián dared to grab my shoulders and shake me hard enough that I focused on his steady, pale green stare.
“You have my word,” Adrián told her, agreeing to Carmen’s terms and letting her know he was listening in. “You control the Ronaldo Cartel now, Carmen. Tell us how we can access your estate.”It took twelve agonizing minutes to get everything into position. If Carmen had been alarmed to learn that we were waiting just outside her gates to launch an assault by the time she called me, she hid her surprise from her tone.
Duarte seemed more excited than ever, his wide grin practically maniacal and plastered as a permanent fixture on his face. He’d come to some sort of arrangement with Adrián while we’d moved in on the estate, but I’d been too consumed by fear for Sofia to focus on what they were saying.
He’s not being gentle with her.
Carmen’s sickening admission played through my mind on a maddening loop, making my stomach churn. I tasted fresh blood in my mouth where I’d caught my cheek while gnashing my teeth.
Adrián risked touching me again, gripping my upper arm hard enough to harness my attention.
“When we get inside, Carmen will tell us how to get to Sofia. You go straight for her. I’ll have your back, and so will the rest of the team.” He jerked his chin in the direction of the two most dangerous killers in his employ, who rounded out our extraction team. “Duarte will deal with Carmen. After Sofia is safe with you, we burn this place to the ground. No one gets out alive,” he swore, his panther’s eyes glinting through the darkness. “Not after challenging me.”
Caesar’s brazen challenge for control of Adrián’s territory wouldn’t go unpunished. An example would be made tonight.
Right on time, a light flashed from atop the defensive wall that surrounded Ronaldo’s estate. Our group moved through the night, swift and silent. As promised, Carmen had disabled the motion-sensor floodlights to enable our approach.
It seemed she’d been completely honest in her intentions. She was willing to betray her brother in exchange for control of the cartel.
She would live to regret that decision.
Just as we reached a reinforced steel door set into the defensive wall, it swung inward to admit us.
Carmen Ronaldo was a slender, lone silhouette in the threshold. I heard her sharp gasp the instant she saw my blood-streaked body barreling toward her. She made the mistake of changing her mind, trying to close the door to keep me out.
I slammed my weight against the metal, knocking her back with the force of my entry.
She stumbled and fell onto the grass lawn, and our team breached the defensive wall.
Before she could get her bearings or open her mouth to scream, Duarte was on top of her, capturing her wrists in one hand and pinning them into the dirt above her head. He pressed his palm over her ruby-painted lips, fully subjugating her.
Her striking gray eyes flew wide, and she struggled wildly beneath him. He leaned in to whisper in her ear, inhaling her scent like a lover.
“Quiet now, kitten,” he purred. “You promised to help my friend Mateo, remember? Tell him where he can find Sofia, and this will all be over soon. I will leave your home, and you won’t be harmed tonight.”
“I gave you my word,” Adrián reminded her, throwing out his arm in front of my chest to hold me back.
I hadn’t realized I was advancing on Carmen, impatient to get the information I needed so I could rescue Sofia.
Carmen managed a small, shaky nod. Duarte hummed his approval at her capitulation, dropping a mocking kiss on the tip of her nose.
Her cheeks flushed with rage, but she didn’t lash out when he released her and got to his feet. He offered a hand to help her up, but she scowled at him and scrambled upright without his assistance.
She turned sharply, as though exposing her back to Duarte went against all her survival instincts.
“This way,” she urged, leading us toward the sprawling mansion, keeping to the shadows cast by the wall that surrounded the property.
We moved far too slowly and quietly, the pace setting my teeth on edge. Adrián’s death grip on my upper arm was the only thing tethering me to sanity, a bruising reminder that caution was necessary to ensure Sofia’s safe extraction. If it weren’t for my friend’s punishing, supportive presence at my side, I would have gone out of my mind with feral rage hours ago.