Page 34 of Intern

“Ten dollars,” he immediately barters.

Probably should’ve led with the phone over the private airfield.

I drop a twenty through the partition, and he immediately passes me his phone. “No international.”

Keying in what I hope is his number, I am pleased when a groggy Alejandro answers the phone.

“Hello?”

“It’s Sofia. I need to borrow your plane.”

“And good morning to you too,” he huffs, “Jesus, Sofia. It’s three in the morning.”

“Can you get your pilot there in the hour?”

“Sorry. Go back to sleep, cerecita.” He momentarily diverts his attention to who I am assume is the beautiful redhead in his bed. “I can get my pilot there and ready to go in an hour. I thought you weren’t supposed to be leaving your apartment.”

“We had some unexpected company.” I try to keep my description vague in front of our eavesdropping cabby. “And I have a family emergency I need to get to.”

“You can’t go alone.” He actually sounds concerned.

“I’m not. Gabriel is going with me.”

“The kid?”

“He took care of our company this evening. He’s more than adequate.” I hang up the phone before he has a chance to argue.

“Adequate, huh?” Gabriel quips as I pass the driver back his cell phone. “You sure know how to pour on the compliments.”

“Pretty sure the words I used were ‘more than adequate.’” I raise a brow as my eyes dart to the significantly more than adequate bulge in his gray sweatpants.

It takes us just over an hour to reach the tarmac. The plane is outside the hangar, the stairs down and ready for us to board.

Gabriel allows me to take the stairs first, following immediately behind me. Stepping through the door, I come to such an abrupt stop that Gabriel bumps into me.

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

twenty eight

GABRIEL

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Sofia’s question comes out as more of an exclamation, immediately pulling every bit of my attention to pulling the gun tucked into the waistband of my pants. I’m so distracted that I don’t even realize that she has come to a full stop. I crash into her back, forcing both of us into the cabin.

With the gun still snuggly pressed between the elastic band of my pants and my hip, I’m relieved to find the source of her shock is merely Alejandro and Andres.

Merely?

I chuckle to myself.

Is this my world now?

I’m on a plane with three of the world’s most prominent names in the international drug trade, and it’s just those guys?

“You’re one of us now, Sofia,” Alejandro stands from his seat. “I may not have known you nearly as long as Andres, but you are just as much my sister as he is my brother. If you go down, we all go down. We are all or nothing.”

She doesn’t speak a word, but only nods as she continues into the cabin. I follow behind her toward the back of the plane, but I am stopped by Alejandro’s firm hand gripping my shoulder.

I’m not letting her go alone.

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