Page 90 of Sovereign Oaths

But I couldn’t hold on to them forever.

CHAPTER 21

Cruz

Marco quietly shut the door behind him before taking the empty chair and turning it to face me and Javi.

“She’s okay?” I asked.

“Sleeping. Derek’s staying.” He rolled his shoulders while rocking his neck back and forth. “I was getting sore.”

“You didn’t wake her, did you?” Javi pressed.

“No, we were careful,” Marco assured him.

The best thing for Em right now was rest. When she was awake, she was a mess. Crying, doubting herself, asking if there was any way things could have gone down differently.

This morning, after the dust settled and she accepted she was safe, the survivor’s guilt settled in.

She watched a good friend die and couldn’t do a single thing. Who knew if this was the first time someone she cared about was killed? She kept her heart so locked up I doubted many managed to get close.

But Ama did.

Nothing any of us could say would make it better. Nothing that she hadn’t already told herself. This was a part of the mission. She knew going in that all Dias’s family members and associates would be killed by the end. When we walked away, no one would be left in his organization.

Ama didn’t get the death she deserved. We planned to use a sniper while she was sleeping. No panic or fear or even pain. Just a last breath.

That was the least we could do for his mother. We issued the order last night after Em’s request, before news of her daughter’s death could reach her. It was a mercy kill; the best we could offer.

We left no trace, and Alessio attributed the attack on his men and mother to Brazzi, fueling the rage he already felt. It shook him. The thin shred of sanity he clutched to after Ama’s death and Em leaving snapped when he got the news.

He raged like there was nothing left to live for, reacting without thinking. He sent a crew to the gang’s territory to get a shipment, and they were killed on sight. He sent another group deeper into Velez land in Mexico. They were taken out, and the cartel burned his villa there to the ground, leaving no survivors.

If I were him, I’d lose it too.

“What happened overnight?” Marco rubbed his hand over his face.

We took shifts, two on and two off, so someone was always with Em, which usually ended up with two of us cuddling her.

Derek still had a few hours until he relieved me, but Javi looked tired and rough.

“Dias is getting more desperate.” I relayed the news of Dias’s erratic behavior. “He’s pressuring his crew to get rid of Brazzi and his men, but they don’t have the numbers to do that.

Marco nodded. None of this was a surprise, but he needed to know.

“They’re getting more restless,” Javi continued. “The divide is now up to about seventy percent against him. They’re pissed because they blame all of this on Dias’s obsession with Em, not his poor business decisions. It’s a personal problem he’s forcing on them. Two of his top guys came to him around two a.m. to report on the unrest, but he doesn’t care. Brazzi is now enemy number one.”

“They don’t care that Ama was killed by Brazzi’s men?” Marco scoffed.

“From what it sounds like, they sympathize and hate that she got caught in the middle, but they still blame Em because she was there too. None of the drama between him and Brazzi was that bad until she was involved,” Javi explained.

Marco blew out a breath. “She can’t go back there. It’s not safe for her.”

I agreed. “He told them to bring in as many men as possible from Cuba and Mexico too.”

“Is anyone left in Cuba?” he asked.

“No. They sent a few guys to check in since Dias couldn’t reach the guards or his mom. That’s when they found the bodies. They’re stuck there, getting things in order,” I explained.

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