Page 29 of Beautiful Dangerous

“Who’s responsible?”

“The Pino cartel.”

“You know that for sure?”

“The war between us and the Pino cartel has been going on for a long time, and this hit… It was them. No doubt.”

I turn my head to look at him. “You’re bleeding.”

“A bullet grazed the top of my arm, it’s nothing.”

“You were trying to protect Javier. It isn’t nothing.”

“I could’ve tried harder.”

“It wasn’t your fault. You aren’t to blame.” I look back at the TV. “Where is he now?”

“At the reservation. Savannah’s looking after his body until we can get in touch with Clay, and start organizing the funeral.”

“I want to see him.”

“That’s not a good idea.”

I hold Lucca’s gaze. “He’s my husband. I want to see him.”

“He didn’t want that, Liv. Okay? He didn’t want you to see him like that.”

“Dead, you mean?”

Lucca drops his head, his shoulders sagging, and I suddenly realize how hard this must be for him, too. “He didn’t want you to remember him that way, Liv.” He raises his head, his eyes locking on mine.

“How do you know that?”

Lucca sighs and leans back against the wall. “He was still alive when we put him in the car. He was able to talk, all the way to the reservation. He passed just after we got there.”

I get up and go over to the window, looking out into the darkness. Hoping Javier will somehow magically appear? No. I know that isn’t going to happen. “Did he tell you anything else? As he was dying?”

“That he loves you. And he’s sorry.”

“For what?” I turn around to face Lucca. “For dying? It’s a risk that comes with the job, he used to tell me that enough times.”

“He wants you to take over, Olivia.”

I stare back out into the darkness, allowing Lucca’s words to sink in.

“You knew that was his wish, if anything happened to him.”

“I know.”

“You’re ready.”

I know that, too. “The things he said to me, this morning, before he left, it was almost like he knew this was coming. Like he could sense something was about to happen. I just didn’t realize that, until now.”

“The Pino cartel are enemies of the Delgado family, Liv, you know that. This vendetta against us, like I said before, it’s been there for decades. They took out Javier’s father and his grandfather before him, and now they’ve taken Javier, too. And they won’t stop. They’ll keep going until they’ve taken everything that’s ours. So we need to put an end to it, before they hurt you, too.”

“They want me dead.”

It isn’t a question. I know they do.

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