Page 34 of Brutal Enforcer

Angel glared at me, but there was a smile hidden in the corner of his mouth. He might have to reprimand me for being brash, but my older brother wasn’t upset that so many of the Rojas family were dead. “I know you would,” he said, “but I need you to be smarter in the future. If something happens to me—”

Emma smacked his arm lightly, but the sound still echoed in the quiet room. “Don’t talk like that,” she reprimanded.

His expression softened. “Lo siento,mi esposa.” He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “I do need to speak to Omar. Do you want to wait outside?”

She glared at him. “I would not.” She laced their fingers together and settled back into her chair. “You both talk. I’ll stay out of it.” When they were first married, Angel would have insisted that she leave. He didn’t trust her around their business, but now, she was truly the queen to his king.

“You can lecture me,” I said, “but I’m not going to apologize.”

“I don’t want an apology,” Angel said. “I want you to use your head. We’ll take care of the Rojas family in due time. They’re all snakes; we’ll have another opportunity. You know they turned on Padre, right? They killed him after I lost consciousness.”

My muscles tensed. “The Rojas men turned on Padre?”

Angel’s eyes met mine. “Someone put a pillow over his face,” he said. “Who else would do that but the men who attacked me? If Padre and I were dead, and they could arrest you for your idiocy, then the Castillos would be no more.”

“Gee, thanks.” I turned to see Lili in the doorway. “You don’t have any confidence that I could keep things together?”

Angel didn’t look apologetic. “Temporarily? You did an amazing job,Mija,” he said. “But in the long run?” He frowned. “How were the Tíos?”

“Pains in the ass,” I answered before Lili could downplay their behavior or outright lie. “They wanted her to step aside and let someone else take the lead.”

Angel’s jaw clenched, and Emma patted his arm. “They didn’t do anything, love,” she assured him. “They made a lot of noise until Lili threatened to shoot them. That’s all.”

“They need another lesson in manners,” he grumbled.

I chuckled. “You can’t keep killing our Tíos,hermano. There won’t be any left.”

Angel made a noise like he couldn’t care less about that, but before he could say anything, a nurse came in squawking about the end of visitors’ hours. Emma gave her a flat glare when she insisted thateveryonein the room leave. “We can call security,” the nurse said and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Try it,” Emma snarled. Pregnancy and nearly losing Angel had made her savage. It wasn’t a bad look on her.Lyse is like that, my mind whispered to me, and I did my best to shove the thought away. Now wasn’t the time: Angel might not be able to read minds, but he was incredible at reading people.

“She stays, Margie,” Angel said. “She won’t sleep if she’s forced to go, and I need my girl strong.” His eyes shifted to Emma and dipped down to the swell of her belly.

The nurse threw up her hands. “Fine,” she declared, “but no one else, understand?”

Angel nodded. “Perfectly.” The nurse looked at him, suspicious, before she left the room. We had maybe five minutes before she returned to see if we were gone. “We’ll get our revenge on the Rojas,” he promised. “Just stay away from them for now. We don’t want to invite any more scrutiny, yes?”

I nodded, although I had no intention of staying away from Luis Rojas. If Angel found out about my meeting, I would face a punishment later, but I had taken many such punishments over the years from our father. Physical pain would be worth the trade-off for revenge; I was built and trained to withstand it, after all.

“Sleep well,hermano,” I said.

Lili repeated the sentiment. “I’ll take care of thisidiota,” she promised and patted me on the shoulder. She kept a hold of me until we were out of the hospital completely, like she was afraid that I would disappear in front of her. “Coming home to sleep?” she asked.

Sleeping in my own room, in my own bed, sounded amazing…and it wasn’t like Lyse was going anywhere, right? I could cancel my meeting with Felix and Luis and wait like Angel thought we should.

But I had promised Lyse that I would be back before sunrise, and I didn’t relish breaking that promise. She had looked so hopeless at the idea of being left behind.

“I think I’m going to check on a few things,” I told her. “I haven’t done my rounds in almost two weeks.”

Lili rolled her eyes. “You can’t wait until tomorrow? I haven’t seen you in two weeks either.”

Damnit, Lili. “You need to rest,Mija,” I said. “You haven’t been sleeping well. Go home and get some rest. There will be plenty of time for us to hang out.”

She eyed me. “You’re going to meet a woman, aren’t you?”

“What? No!”

“You don’t have to be so touchy,” Lili teased. “If you want to go see one of yourzorras, who am I to stop you?”

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