Page 32 of Drawn Blue Lines

“Look, lady, I don’t know who you think you are—”

Adriana held my stare. “Trust me, he’ll take my call when you tell him who’s on the line.”

“And who is it?”

“Adr—”

I knocked the phone out of her hand, lunging for it before she could drive the final nail in my coffin. Luckily, my reflexes weren’t as sluggish as my brain, and I grabbed it seconds before she did, ending the call with a glare. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

She shrugged. “You forced my hand.”

“I thought you wanted my death to be slow and drawn out, not over in the next five minutes!”

Adriana cocked her head. “You still love her.”

“Eden is married to Val, and Val is the head of the cartel I’ve sworn a life oath to. For fuck’s sake, they have a baby.”

“Thanks for the biography. However, you didn’t deny it which tells me I’m right.”

The headache that had been pounding behind my eyes suddenly became a full-blown explosion. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I closed my eyes as a heated conversation from over a year ago broke through the incessant hammering in my head.

I shed my suit jacket and raced to catch up with him. “You need me, Carrera. I know where she is, and I need you. I can’t go in there alone. I’ll never make it out.”

“You’ve got that right.”

“Look,” I said, placing a hand on his shoulder and stopping our movement. “She doesn’t want me, man. I don’t know what you’ve got going on with Eden, but it’s obvious you care about her. I may not like you, but that’s enough for me. I just want her safe.”

“She’s mine.”

“Fine, she’s yours. Can we go get her now?”

His eyes narrowed in suspicion. “If you have no interest in her, why are you so dead set on walking into a massacre? You do understand this isn’t the movies, right? These men are real. They have real guns with real bullets, and a lot of people will die. I can’t guarantee you won’t be one of them. My only concern will be Eden.”

I didn’t flinch despite his warning. “Let’s just say, I’m hoping if I do this, you’ll owe me one.”

I was right. I may have lost Eden to Val, but I gained something almost as valuable.

An owed favor.

A favor that I cashed in trying to protect my sister. Now my safety net was gone. I didn’t have anything to shield me from Val’s wrath should Adriana follow through with her threat. Our relationship was already shaky due to my history with his wife. If Adriana told him I exposed her identity just to sever his hold on Eden, he’d happily gut me himself.

I might be reckless, but I wasn’t suicidal.

I squeezed my phone so hard, I was surprised it didn’t crack. “Fine.”

Adriana cupped a hand behind her ear. “What was that?”

I ground out the words as if I were chewing sand. “I said, fine.”

“Well?”

“Well what?”

She pointed at the phone in my hand. “Aren’t you going to call him?”

“With you here? I don’t think so.”

“You’re seriously taking all the fun out of this for me,” she huffed, crossing her arms.

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