Page 48 of Ravaged Hearts

Brandon glanced away from his laptop and aimed an arched brow at me. “Who? Ortega?”

“Yeah. Hope’s stuck on that plane with him. Do you think he’ll…” Goddammit, I could hardly say the words. “Do you think he’ll touch her? Maybe we should’ve pulled her out when we had the chance.”

“Hope never gave the signal. She knows Ortega better than us, so if she thought going with him was a risk, she’d have let us know.”

Would she, though? I’d seen the determined look in her eyes before we parted. Hope was dead set on seeing this op through no matter what. Even knowing there was little chance of her asking for an extraction, I’d glued myself to the live video feed on Brandon’s laptop, anxiously waiting for her signal so I could sweep in and put an end to this madness.

Brandon’s gaze briefly shifted to my bouncing leg. “Ortega said he was going to wait until he put a ring on it.”

A stipulation Espinoza had made before agreeing to the union, Hope had told me. Never thought I’d feel gratitude toward the cartel boss for anything, but today, I did.

I grunted. “There are still a lot of disgusting things he can do without putting his dick inside her.”

Revulsion and fury coursed through me as I thought about how much Hope would loathe Ortega’s filthy hands on her. She wouldn’t let him. My little spitfire would fight back, and then what would he do to her?

Brandon shifted his laptop to the vacant seat beside him and faced me. “Brother, you’re going to drive yourself insane if you keep thinking about things that are out of your control. You need to trust Hope. She’s smart, brave, and has experience handling Ortega on her own. And don’t forget how pissed Daddy dearest will be if he finds out his second-in-command assaulted his precious daughter who, as far as Espinoza is concerned, has just returned from the grave.”

“But Ortegadidassault her.”

“Hemanhandledher. He didn’t strike Hope, or Kane would’ve neutralized the asshole before he had a chance to take his next breath.”

“I don’t like how rough he was.” I rubbed the back of my neck, trying to relieve the tension in my muscles. “Did Ortegaseem worried about pissing off Espinoza to you? What if he suspects this is a trap?”

Brandon frowned, and before he could answer, Sage’s voice sounded over our comms. “One to TOC. We have eyes on the Gulfstream on its approach to the runway. Standing by.”

“Copy that,” Brandon responded.

The Manzanillo team’s binoculars must have a much clearer view of the aircraft than the terminal’s shitty CCTV streaming on Brandon’s laptop.

“Gulfstream has touched down,” said Sage. “There are three white vans waiting on the apron in convoy formation. My bet is that’s where the jet will park.”

Minutes later, the aircraft came to a stop exactly where she’d predicted. “Stairs descending. Okay, I’ve got eyes on our girl. She’s with Ortega and his two guards.”

“Is she okay?” I snapped, desperately needing an answer to that question.

“She looks fine, but…”

“What?” I shot up from my seat and tightened my comms headset. “What’s wrong? Talk to me.”

“Hope’s hair is loose. She hasn’t signaled she’s in danger, but I can’t see the hair-clip tracker.” Sage couldn’t hide her concerned tone.

Brandon straightened in his seat. “That’s why we have two. She’s still wearing the belt buckle, isn’t she?”

“I can’t see,” Sage replied. “Hope and Ortega just got in the middle van. The convoy is already leaving the airport.”

I snapped my fingers at Brandon. “Her trackers. Check them.”

He tapped away at the laptop. “Last transmitted location is where the Gulfstream pulled up. It’ll be another thirty seconds until we get the next ping.”

I paced the cargo bay. There were probably a dozeninnocuous reasons for why the hair clip wouldn’t be in place. I just couldn’t think of any right now.

Brandon froze, and his eyes came to mine. “Both trackers are still on the Gulfstream.”

“What?” I yelled. “How could they have found them? How could they even know what they are?”

“They couldn’t.” Brandon shook his head with bewilderment. “Someone would have to bust them open to find the tech inside. They’re designed so that if the outer casing is breached, they send a distress signal, which I haven’t received. The trackers are intact and functioning.”

What did this mean? Why would Ortega take away those two specific items when he had no way of knowing what they were?

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