“No, she doesn’t suspect anything.” Other than my depraved interest in her. Fortunately, she couldn’t read my thoughts, but they were far from pure and respectable.
“Good. Storm wants a conference call tonight.”
“Why?” I put the cage into park and killed the engine. I leaned the back of my head against the headrest and exhaled a deep breath.Thank you for saving me, Mama.
“Because he’s the president, and we do as he says. Don’t be asking why.”
“Okay, shit. What’s got you so worked up?” I rubbed my eye with the palm of my hand, feeling a migraine coming on. It wasn’t like he was the villain in this situation. I was doing all the dirty work, laying the foundation for kidnapping an innocent, oblivious woman. My old man had it fucking easy, in my opinion.
“Tina isn’t sleeping. She’s on edge. It makes me crazy when she’s like this because I can’t do a goddamn thing to help her.” Now it all made sense. Tina was my dad’s world. He would do anything for her and to protect her. But he couldn’t wipe away her past or the memories that haunted her.
“I don’t imagine any of this is easy for her.”
“No, it isn’t. It won’t be long before she’s face to face with her daughter. The way all this is going down, it could blow up in our faces. If anything goes wrong—”
“Nothing will go wrong, Dad. We know our job. I know what I needed to do.” Even though I hated what my orders were. Tricking Brynne, then holding her captive didn’t sit well with me. But I didn’t call the shots. I only followed orders.
“Okay,mijo. I just… Jesus Christ, I’ve never been so worried.”
“Well, you don’t need to worry about me. Just take care of Tina.”
“She’s worried about you too. All of you. She thinks Bruno will discover the plan and kill you before you get Brynne. Her nightmares are horrific. The latest had some of you not returning to Minnesota.”
“Who died?” The hairs on my arms stood like the quills on a porcupine. Were Tina’s dreams foreshadowing? Prophecy? Why was he telling me all this? Didn’t he know how it might mess with my mind? Clearly not.
“It wasn’t clear. She never said anyone died, only that some didn’t return home.”
“Fuck.”
“Don’t get in your head. Stay focused and safe. This will all be over soon enough.”
Too late. I was about to be sick.“Yeah, I’m cool.” Except some of us might not come out of it in one piece or at all.
“Seven o’clock, you call Storm. You hear me? Don’t be late.”
“I won’t be.”
“Good. Take it easy,mijo.”
“Give Tina my love.” I ended the call and got out of the Chevy.
Disgust settled in my stomach. Poor Tina. She was a strong woman but also tender and had a delicate heart. The shit she’d been through before escaping was hideous. And here I’d fallen for her daughter, the one person she longed to see and hug, prayed for day and night, loved with all her heart. I was a despicable human.
I could hear everyone saying,You had one job. One fucking job. Falling in love with Brynne, wasn’t it.
Jesus, I needed to do something to change the course I was on. But what could I possibly do to rewrite our story?
Entering the house, I followed the voices to the kitchen. Espada, Ryder, and Copper were at the table playing poker… as usual.
“Dude, what the fuck? You had one job,” Espada hissed, putting his beer bottle to his lips, an irritated expression on his ugly mug.
“What?” My chest squeezed tightly. Had they seen me with Brynne, saw how I flirted with her?
“Where’s my carne asada burrito,cabrón?” He pointed at Ryder. “That’s the word of the day.Cabrónmeans asshole, bastard, shithead, fucker. It can mean a lot, you understand?” Espada had been teaching Ryder and Copper Spanish. Only the words he felt were necessary and only when he wanted to play teacher.
Espada sat there smugly in his white tank. Every bit of visible skin was covered in ink, and the parts you couldn’t see. I knew his entire body was tattooed because the brother walked around butt-naked a lot. It was safe to assume he didn’t have an insecure bone in his body.
“Sí, jefe.” Ryder flicked his gaze at me like he was embarrassed.