Page 75 of Until Retribution Burns (Beauty in Lies 3)

37

Rafael

Joaquin and I left Isa in the bunker, my lungs heaving with the effort to breathe past the smoke. I knew that when Isa woke, there would be hell to pay. While I might not regret doing whatever it took to keep her safe from the danger above ground and from the risks that came if Hugo had to physically restrain her, I definitely regretted the way it had to happen.

And the fact that she would know this plan had long since been in place in the event of an emergency.

“Gabriel has a plan. Go see if he needs help,” I instructed Joaquin.

That was exactly why I needed him outside the bunker, even if it went against both our instincts.

I grabbed an assault rifle from the brothers’ room and stashed my handguns into the back of my waistband. Nodding to Joaquin, I watched as he pushed open the bedroom door and made his way back toward the main space of the house. I followed shortly after, veering toward the front after pointing up the stairs to signal that was the last place I’d seen Gabriel. I didn’t speak, keeping my breaths as shallow and minimal as I could to prevent too much smoke in my lungs.

Making my way out the front door, I moved through the rain of gunfire and took cover behind one of the SUVs closest to the house, looking for higher ground as bullets flew past my head when I ducked down.

Peeking over the hood, I stared in shock at the familiar shell of the old Ford at the gate. It was a crumpled mess beneath the flames. Nothing remained of what it had once been, not even the charred body that I could barely make out within it.

My phone pinged with a text, and I ducked back down to quickly glance at the words that filled my screen. Relief filled me with the confirmation of everything I already knew to be true. Isa and the baby were safely tucked into the bed in the bunker, sleeping away the worst of a tragedy that would undoubtedly haunt her for the rest of her life.

It was devious in the way I’d come to expect of the quietest Cortes brother. It was always the quietest ones you had to worry about.

Bullets rained down on the SUV I hid behind as I lifted my phone to my ear to call Joaquin to see if he’d found Gabriel. His plan was the best chance we had at walking away with the least casualties possible. “Did you find him?” I asked as soon as he answered.

“You’re sure about this?” he asked, and the hesitance in his voice might have made me hesitate. He knew as well as I did that some acts in life were unforgivable.

This wasn’t one of them, not for me anyway.

“Do it,” I ordered, ending the call and shoving my phone into my pocket. I darted for the next SUV in the driveway, hiding behind it and getting a little further from the house. Raising my gun to notch against my shoulder, I ignored the twinge of pain from the bullet wound from not long past when it settled into place.

The front door burst open as Joaquin emerged from the house. Odina sucked back lungfuls of air as smoke billowed out behind them, adding validity to the deception. Instead of her usual jeans, she wore one of Isa’s favorite dresses. I was immediately struck with the hatred of seeing it on her skin, an irrational loathing of watching her impersonate the sister who she’d done nothing but harm.

Even if this time around it was to Isa’s benefit.

I hadn’t taken the time to inform myself about how they would follow through with the lie, far too driven by the need to make Pavel’s men believe they’d already accomplished what they set out to do. Even with Isa tucked safely away in the bunker, that wouldn’t keep her safe forever.

I needed to get her the fuck out of Chicago and home toEl Infierno. To do that the fastest way possible, I needed Pavel’s men dead or gone. My preference was dead, but if they took one of my very inconvenient problems off my hands, it would be no loss to me.

In time, Isa would understand it wasn’t a loss for her either.

Odina didn’t struggle, keeping oddly still in Joaquin’s grip as he moved her toward one of the vehicles like he might take cover.

They never made it that far.

Joaquin’s chest jerked suddenly as the bullet struck him dead center, his face going slack as his hand fell away from Odina’s waist. Fucking Dima Kuznetsov stepped out from behind one of his vehicles, hurrying to close the distance between them as his men focused their fire on the SUV where I hid. I peeked out around the far end as much as I dared so I could watch the scene unfold without taking a bullet to the brain.

Under the rain of bullets, there was no way for me to step out and move toward the woman they all thought was my wife. They’d forgotten the one simple truth in the game we called life though.

A King always protected his Queen.

Joaquin dropped to the ground, spinning as he fell until he landed face down and went perfectly still. Odina’s mouth opened as if she might scream, but there was no sound as her legs crumpled beneath her. Dima closed the distance between them, wrapping an arm around her waist and lifting her dead weight from the ground. She still didn’t struggle, even when he wrapped a hand around the front of her throat and placed the barrel of his gun to her temple.

His dark eyes gleamed as they met mine around the corner of the vehicle. “Where is my brother, Ibarra?!” he yelled, pressing the gun tighter to Odina’s head.

“Let her go, and I’ll take you to him!” I shouted back, locking eyes with Dima as he guided the woman he thought was my wife backwards. Odina didn’t move or say anything to try to tell him that she wasn’t who Dima believed her to be.

She couldn’t. Not with the drugs Gabriel had given her and the conscious sedation gripping her body. She likely felt every moment of fear, of knowing that her body had been stolen from her and used for a nefarious purpose.

Exactly as she’d done to her sister a year and a half prior.

---