Page 61 of Falling for the Enemy

Teeth gritted, I turn and face him.

Standing next to my Rover across the street, his phone pressed to his ear, he lifts his chin. “¡Vámonos!” His eyes flick to Carmen, then Jade, who silently leans against her car, seemingly lost in thought, before returning to me. “Word on the street is that the head rat is on the move, and the huntress is going after him!”

For a second, my brows furrow.

It’s clear my lieutenant is trying to watch what he says given our audience but the rat and the huntress? If the situation were different and I wasn’t who I am, I’d laugh.

But my lips don’t twitch.

Instead, they pull tight and flatten as I bare my teeth. His veiled words strike my heart at the exact moment my phone screeches in my pocket, the siren-like tone alerting me to Ari’s departure from her mansion.

Wrapping my hand around the back of Carmen’s neck, I pull her to me and kiss her forehead. “I’ll call you, princesa,” I say, repeating my parting words from our last visit.

I don’t await a response.

Not before releasing her and turning to leave. Only, before I can cross the street, my youngest niece calls out to me. “Alejandro!”

From over my shoulder, I see her peer at the exact place where Benito sits in the Rover’s driver’s seat, concealed by the tinted window, his bandaged hand likely resting on the steering wheel. Wisely, he’s done as I commanded and remained in the vehicle.

A knife to the hand.

That’s all it took for him to fall back in line.

“What’s his name?” How she even knows the cabrón is there, his face undoubtedly twisted in a venomous sneer aimed in my direction, I’m unsure. “Last time, I didn’t have a chance to ask and—”

“His name is Corpse,” I lie smoothly. “And if either of you goes near the other, that’s exactly what he’ll become.” She scowls, the challenge that flickers in her eyes a match to the fire I saw dancing in Benito’s when they first met. “Stay away from him, Jade. For your sake and his.”

She shrugs a lone shoulder. “We’ll see.”

Temples throbbing, I bite back a curse.

I’ve warned them both, but deep in my gut, I have a feeling neither my lieutenant nor my niece plan to listen to a word I’ve spoken. It’s a mistake on both their parts. The first because such defiance will lead to punishment; the second because allowing Benito close will only result in one thing.

Heartbreak.

SEVENTEEN

Ari

The moment I’ve been awaiting has arrived.

Gun in hand, my movements are silent as I covertly move through the dimly lit warehouse where I find myself, its vast aisles constructed of towering metal racks and dusty, stacked crates.

With Casper flanking me and both Ivan and Viktor circling the building in search of a rear entrance, I carefully hug the shadows.

The dark clothing I wear merges with the thick blackness, aiding in cloaking me from the mafiosos who laugh thirty feet away, the echo of their combined pitches more grating than nails on a chalkboard.

Soon, I’ll happily silence each of them.

For eternity.

I round a wooden box the size of a refrigerator and kneel, careful to keep my body tucked behind its mass. Peeking around the side, I count the men visibly seated ahead in a near-perfect circle, each of them dressed in tailored suits and expensive leather shoes.

... Seven, eight, nine—

Lungs freezing, the numbers dancing in my head scatter like rats, a fitting comparison given the situation, when my gaze lands on the man I’ve spent mountains of cash and countless hours searching for.

Stefano, the cowardly traitor,DeMeo.

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