Page 96 of Falling for the Enemy

“Don’t look at me like that, Mr. Tall, Dark, and Scary!” she practically screams, not even bothering to give me her full attention. “If your best friend got into a car accident, you’d steal your brother's car in order to reach her too!”

Hermosa makes a choking sound.

Again, Casper is going to lose it.

Anna doesn’t even have a driver’s license.

Throwing her arms around my niece, she buries her face against her shoulder. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” She looks close to having a breakdown. “But the next time someone rams you, try not to run off a cliff, okay?” She lifts her head, her entire frame trembling. “My heart can’t take it.”

Now crying, Jade hiccups. “I’ll do my best.”

Anna nods. “That’s all I can ask for.”

Jesucristo. These two.

“Benito, I need to speak with you,” I say, needing to get to the bottom of what happened. “Join me outside for a minute.”

Knowing better than to disobey my command, especially now when he’s skating over thin ice, he heads for the exit. But as usual, my sister doesn’t miss a thing.

My sharp tone included.

Chin wobbling, she moves toward me, shaking her head. “Don’t you do it, Hermanito,” she says, stopping when her chest is mere inches from my stomach. A foot taller, I tower over her. “I don’t care that he disobeyed you, he saved Jade’s life.” She pokes a shaky finger into my chest. “You do not hurt him.”

That earns a brow raise from me.

“Princesa, I can’t allow—”

“Nyet, he won’t touch him,” Manzana interjects, drawing a hard line in the sand. As if I won’t step right over it. “I give you my word.”

“Gracias, Ari,” my sister replies. “It’s nice to have someone else around to help keep him in line.” What is this? The day for mutiny? “Cristo knows it’s not a one-woman job.”

Carmen steps back.

“Go find out what happened.” She pulls in a deep breath and turns. “Hopefully, the guards you always have tailing us can offer some insight.”

She starts to walk to Jade, but I grab her arm, stopping her before she can make it far. “You know?”

“Of course I know,” she quickly answers, looking at me as if I’m loco. “Your men aren’t exactly subtle. Especially the younger one with the black hair and dimples—”

“Christian,” Anna pipes up.

Manzana lifts her chin, her mood quickly shifting, taking on a lethal edge. Anna having a crush on one of my men doesn’t bode well for anyone.

“And how do you know that, love?”

Anna, the smartass, shrugs. “Because he’s easy to spot. I mean, when a guy looks like that—”

“Myshka!”

Casper’s timing is impeccable.

Giving Carmen’s arm a slight squeeze, I focus on her as Ari’s bull charges toward his little sister, madder than I’ve ever seen him.

“I will get to the bottom of what happened,” I assure her. “And once I do, I’ll handle it.”

I expect her to balk, maybe even offer to have her son-in-law, a local homicide detective, deal with it.

She doesn’t.

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