He needs space.
He’ll have it tonight, but tomorrow, I refuse to be ignored.
29
DRACO
I can’t remember the last time I slept.
It’s never been for longer than an hour or two. Tonight, I am completely restless. I can’t even get comfortable in my bed knowing she’s here, under the same roof.
I was weak out there.
So fucking weak for her.
But how the fuck was I supposed to resist her after all this time? It was only a few days that she was away, but it felt like an eternity.
Her skin on mine, after what felt like fucking years, was euphoric as hell.
This is why I didn’t want her to come back. I’m only weak for her. I only buckle beneath her touch. Only she can do this to me—make me lose control of myself.
She owns way too much of my body, has claimed my fucking soul, and she knows it. She fucking knows it.
The night shifts into day, the sun creeping over the horizon. The house is mostly quiet, giving me time to think.
I spark a joint, standing on the balcony, inhaling deeply and letting it cloud my lungs.
I hear a door slide open and look up. From where I am, I can see Gianna stepping onto her balcony, looking at the ocean. She inhales deeply, and then exhales, opening her eyes.
Her fingers push through her thick, wild curls. Those fucking highlights. I don’t know why she did that to her hair. She was fine without them. Natural looks best on her, not that she isn’t fucking sexy right now, wearing only a white robe, her hair damp like she’s just gotten out of the shower.
Her eyes drop and she looks to her left, down at me. Our eyes latch, only for a brief moment. Her lips part like she wants to say something, but I frown and pull away, putting out my joint and walking back into my room.
I spend most of my time in the office, looking over maps, making calls, trying to get any fucking lead that I can. All of it is a fucking dead end. No one has seen or heard from Hernandez in days.
Just when I feel like giving the fuck up, Guillermo comes rushing into the office.
“Jefe,” he pants, stopping on the opposite side of my desk.
“Yeah, Guillermo?”
“Nito said he saw a man in a wheelchair being pushed around in Lantía. No arms or legs. He thinks it’s Henry Ricci.” Just as he says that, Gianna steps into the office.
My jaw clenches when she asks, “When did you hear that?”
“Just got off the phone with him,” Guillermo answers.
Gianna looks over at me. “We should go. It takes about an hour and a half to fly there, right? We might be able to catch him.”
“You don’t know why he’s there. It could be a brief visit—a waste of time,” I tell her, waving a dismissive hand.
“That doesn’t matter. He’s around. He can lead us to her. Tell the guy who saw him to keep an eye on Henry.”
I look at Guillermo who is silently agreeing, his head doing a simple nod, like she’s right. Of course she’s fucking right. It’s a quick flight, but I don’t trust it.
It makes me skeptical. Why would Henry return to a city he was captured in? What game are he and Hernandez playing at?
“Load up. Get ready,” I command, and my men take off in a flash.
Gianna comes closer and Patanza waits at the door, watching her. “I’m coming to help,” Gianna insists.
“I told you I don’t need your help.”
“I don’t care. I’m going anyway, and Clark is coming with us. He’s resourceful.”
I cock a brow, opening the top drawer of my desk and taking out a pistol and a carton of bullets to load it. “You trust Clark?”
She swallows hard. “I didn’t at first, but now I do. He’s had my back ever since we left, hasn’t made me doubt him since.”
“Emilio spoke to the security guard who had the DEA agents taken care of. Gonna tell me about that?”
“Yessica sent them after me.”
I stop what I’m doing, frowning up at her.
“They came on her behalf. Ordered me to get off the jet when we were about to leave Colorado. I got off, and I just…blacked out. I shot them.”
I don’t give a fuck about any of that. “Wait—she knew where you were…
I feel my blood running cold now, my pulse picking up in speed. How the fuck is that even possible? I covered my tracks. I made sure she would never even find out I sent Gianna out of the country…unless the DEA was keeping tabs when she landed in Colorado. Found out about Big Jack. Found out where he lived and how close he and Lion were as siblings…
“Emilio has already let Clark call to tell Big Jack to pack up and move to the safe house until this is over,” Gianna announces, her voice cutting through my thoughts.