Page 54 of Once A Crime Lord

Aunt Isabel hugged her tight. Her eyes filled with tears, but she refused to let them fall. When her aunt pulled back, she hoped she didn’t look as scared as she felt.

“You’ve been through so much, honey,” Aunt Isabel said quietly. “Trust Gavin to take care of it.”

Her stomach clenched. “I’ll try.”

“That’s my girl.”

The front door burst open, and Carmen rushed in with her shoes in hand, hair a mess. She skidded to a stop when she spotted them.

“Why the fuck aren’t you answering your phone?” Carmen bellowed.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and saw that it had a blank screen. “Oh, it’s dead.”

Carmen pressed a hand against her chest and sagged against the back of the couch. “You bitch. I hate you.”

She hugged her cousin who dropped her shoes and hugged her tight. Beau butted his head against Carmen in welcome. Carmen pet him but didn’t release her.

“Where’s Gavin?” Carmen asked in a muffled voice.

“In the basement.”

“What? Why?”

She moved her eyes to Aunt Isabel who was watching the news. Carmen noticed the direction of her glance and nodded before she released her.

“We were at a restaurant, and they had the news on. I got in touch with Alice and Janice, but neither of them knew what happened to you, and I...” Carmen blinked back tears. “I fucking hate this. Every time I leave you alone, shit goes down.” She lowered her voice. “Was there a shooting?”

“Yes.” She picked up Nora before remembering that she was covered in God knew what. “I’m going to give Nora a bath.”

Aunt Isabel nodded. “We’ll be here if you need us.”

Carmen collapsed on the couch and cuddled against her mother, who pulled her close. She was glad Aunt Isabel was here but wished she could get a hug from her own mother after a day like today.

She paused in the doorway of the master suite and tiptoed to the bed. She reached beneath the nightstand and quietly pulled the gun from its hiding place. She methodically checked the room with Nora on her hip and relaxed when she found that they were alone. She attended the event to restore her faith in humanity, but all she had gained was another dose of paranoia and fear.

She bathed with Nora and then settled on the bed to breastfeed. God, she had nearly been gunned down again. Would this ever stop? She plugged her dead phone in to charge. The screen flickered to life. A series of beeps, rings, and chirps sounded. She thumbed through her phone and saw several texts from Janice, Alice, and Carmen. She listened to two frantic voicemails from Carmen and deleted one from her mother before she could hear the first word.

The bedroom door opened. She reached for her gun, only to stop short when she saw Carmen who changed out of her tailored dress. Face bare of makeup and dressed in yoga pants, Carmen crawled on the bed and sat cross-legged in front of her.

“Spill,” Carmen demanded.

“Where’s your mom?”

“She went home. She got out of this life and doesn’t want to be around for whatever happens next.”

“She’s a smart woman.”

“The news obviously doesn’t know what the fuck went down.”

She draped Nora on her shoulder to burp her. “The hospital director gave Gavin and I a tour of the new wing. We were about to leave when a gang came out of the elevator. Gavin started blasting away and pulled the fire alarm when he realized there were more of them than he thought. Gavin killed a drug lord this morning and then came to the hospital event. Those were his men.”

Carmen made a rolling motion with her hand. “Go on.”

“They were gunning for Gavin, so Blade got me out of there. In the parking garage, we got jumped. Jonathan was there.”

“Who?”

She ignored the spurt of annoyance. “Jonathan, my ex.”

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