Page 66 of Dina's Favorite Mistake

Her lungs burned, and her legs shook as she ran toward the ruins. They came into view, but she didn’t see Camila or Jose or Diego. Not at first.

Camila screamed again, and Dina finally located her. She stood near the main pile of ruins, her hands over her face. Jose was right behind her, the gun trained on her back.

Dina followed Camila’s horrified gaze and sucked in a shocked breath. Mirta’s lifeless body was slumped on the ground. Thewhole back of her head was bloody and red. She’d been executed by gun.

A few feet away, Diego had suffered the same fate. His death hadn’t been as quick as his mother’s. His pale hands rested on his thighs, his stomach a bloody mess. There was another splotch of blood on his chest and more dripping from his hanging head.

Jose killed them.

He killed them both.

And now he has a gun on my daughter.

Dina didn’t hesitate. She didn’t try to call out or negotiate. She snatched the gun from the back of her pants, flicked off the safety and aimed at the man who had once been her trusted bodyguard.

Breathe. Aim. Squeeze.

The pistol fired, and the bullet struck Jose right in the side, just under his armpit. He shouted in pain and whirled in her direction, pointing his gun right at her face.

She lifted her hand to shoot again but never got a chance.

The crack of a rifle ricocheted off the trees and ruins. Jose jerked backward, blood spraying behind him in a macabre cloud. The gun fell from his hand, and he dropped to his knees, scratching at the hole that had been blown in his chest.

Another rifle shot blasted from behind her, this one striking Jose in the head. He crumpled like wet paper, folding to the side and then straight onto his face.

Heavy footsteps advanced from behind, each one accompanied by the splash of water. Steve appeared at her side, rifle still on his shoulder and ready to fire again. “Put the safety on that gun. Now.”

Dina reacted like a robot. Adrenaline saturated her bloodstream. She flicked the safety switch into place and handed the gun to Steve who held out his hand.

“Ama!” Camila shouted and ran toward her on legs as wobbly as a newborn colt’s.

“Camila!” Dina raced to her daughter, intercepting her halfway and crushing her in an embrace. “Oh, God. Camila!” She kissed her daughter’s cheek. “Camila!”

“Ama! Ama!” Camila cried, clearly overcome with shock. “Ama, I want to go home!”

“We will,” Dina promised, smoothing her hands over her daughter’s soaking wet hair. “We’ll go home. We’re safe now.”

Steve calmly walked from body to body, crouching down to check for a pulse before moving to the next one. He collected Jose’s weapon and rendered it safe.

Because of him.

He saved us both.

Chapter Twenty-One

What a clusterfuck!

Exhausted and weary, Steve dropped onto the sofa in the guest room he’d been given. He tossed aside his phone and cradled his aching head in hands. He tried to quiet the racing thoughts galloping through his mind. His ears still rang from the vicious ass-chewing his boss had given him over the phone.

I’m getting fired.

Or, if I’m really luck, only demoted.

Either outcome spelled disaster for his career.But, hey, at least I’m not going back to jail.

56 hours in a holding cell. He wasn’t stupid. He knew the game. They had been sweating him and punishing him for interfering in a local case. He’d stomped all over their jurisdiction, and they’d tossed him in the clink as punishment.

But Soila Farias had made so much noise about his arrest that he’d finally been allowed to leave. She had accompanied him tohis final interrogation and had insisted on having two lawyers present. She’d barely let him speak a single word.

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