Page 60 of Deception & Desire

“Teo is outside. Set up a comms link. He should have the Guild ready to intercept by now,” I shout over another scream. The gunfire is getting closer.

“What about you?”

“I need to find Mia.”

“Leon—”

But I’ve already started running. “Go. Now. That’s an order.”

Progress is slower now as I push and push and push against the current of people desperately trying to reach the exits. Flashes of faces are illuminated by the sickly green strobe lights and the erratic gunfire.

A shot goes off too close for comfort, and I drop with those around me immediately in self-preservation. The sudden space gives me a clear line of sight across the room.

A looming figure, a close-shaved head, and a leather jacket. Gesturing and barking orders at men dressed head to toe in black. They all look just like the man I incapacitated before.

Only I know this stance, know the grim line of that expression. Even in the dim light, his presence is unmistakable.

Amos Rubio.

In the flesh. In the middle of The Inferno.

The man who hasn’t been seen outside his precious mansion in months is now barking orders to the Cartel in the middle of a populated venue.

This is very, very bad.

I flick off the safety on my gun as I change course toward him. But my line of sight gets disrupted as the bodies around me begin to move again.

Some civilian with a hero complex sees my gun and tries to wrestle me for it. It’s easy to knock him aside, but the momentary distraction costs me. I lose sight of Rubio completely.

I spin around, trying to relocate the place he’d been only a moment earlier, to no avail. My movements become more agitated and desperate until…

Something cold and hard presses into the back of my neck.

“Leon Moretti,” he drawls, overwhelmingly arrogant. “Why am I not surprised that you’re here?”

My entire body tenses as Amos Rubio strolls casually into view. His grip on his gun is lazy as he circles around me.

“Teo Vitale has you doing his dirty work. I’d hoped you’d have more of a backbone, but then again, the Guild has always had a way of chewing people up and spitting them back out again.”

He steps closer, tilting his head. “You chose the wrong side, Moretti. I could have given you so much more than this.”

It’s all just games, trying to buy time or distract me.

“Where is she?” I demand, my voice low and dangerous.

“Who?” he asks, feigning innocence. “Teo’s little spy? Or my precious daughter?”

My stomach hollows out. He knows. He knows about Mia.

Do you think they’re after her?

“It’s my fault, really. I underestimated Teo. Using my darling, naive Carmen like that, luring her out to a place like this in order to what, kidnap her? Torture her for information?” Amos sucks at his teeth.

Wait. Does he think we’re here forCarmen?

“Not really his style. But then I realized,” Amos taps his gun to my chin. “It’s your style, isn’t it? Leon Natali, the man who killed his own mother in cold blood. The man who would send his wife into the field to manipulate a child.”

My mind goes blank. A faint buzzing fills my ears. He can’t know about that. How does he know about that?

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