Chapter 12

Mia

I stood up, befuddled at my brother-in-law’s demand. “Why? Where is Aléjandro?” My palms grew clammy. “Is he okay?” As Rei appeared to be measuring his words, I asked again, “What’s happening?”

Before he could answer, my phone rang, Aléjandro’s name appeared on the screen. I let out the breath I was holding. “This is Aléjandro.”

“No, Mia. It’s not.” Rei came closer. “Give me the phone.”

I turned away, hitting the green button. “This means you’re okay.”

“Señora Roríguez?” An unfamiliar voice came from the phone.   

Rei was now inches away, his voice a low growl coming from over my shoulder. “Disconnect the call.”

I looked down at the phone in my hands and turned back to my brother-in-law. Before I could decide, he ripped the phone from my grip and hit the disconnect button.

The small hairs on the back of my neck were standing to attention. “What the hell?”

“Have you had any other calls?” he asked as he hit the button to turn off the phone and slid it into his pocket.

“Give me that back.” I clenched my teeth.

“Any other calls?”

“No.” I let my hands drop, slapping my thighs. “I’ve been unpacking.” I looked around the bedroom. “Tell me why you took my phone and disconnected that call.” I recalled the unfamiliar voice. Looking up, I asked, “Is Aléjandro okay?”

“Sí, he will be. Come with me.”

With my circulation thumping in my ears, I turned a circle, taking in our bedroom. Once I was again facing Rei, I said, “He told me to stay here.”

Rei offered his hand. “Come with me. Something happened after his meeting at Wanderland. Aléjandro trusts me to take you to him.”

“Take me where? Is he hurt? Who was calling?” My questions were coming faster than answers. I didn’t take Rei’s hand, but I did nod. “I’ll go with you.”

“We should hurry.”

That didn’t help my nerves. My quick assessment of myself was that I needed to change clothes. I’d been unpacking all afternoon, and I looked haggard. Instead, I ran my hand over my hair, slipped my feet into a pair of sandals, and grabbed my purse. We quickly made our way downstairs and out the front door. As we stepped out into the evening air, I realized I didn’t have a key to the house.

Rei pushed buttons on the keypad and the lock clicked with its activation.

“I should know that.”

Rei nodded. “I believe the plan was to put in a new system if you liked the house.”

If I liked it.

Aléjandro said the same thing.

Rei’s car was still parked on the driveway. After locking the gate with another series of numbers, Rei opened the passenger door. Instead of opening out, the car door went up.

I looked up before getting inside. “That’s…”

He grinned. “Too bad they quit making these. It’s a hell of a lot nicer than Jano’s Porsche.”

Now didn’t seem like the time to be comparing sports cars. “Where are we going?”

“To one of the cartel hideouts.”

“And that’s safe?” I asked.

“Aléjandro wouldn’t ask me to take you there if it wasn’t.”

There were too many alarms sounding in my head to make sense of what was safe and what wasn’t. A cartel hideout. That didn’t sound safe. Settling into the front seat of Rei’s Audi R8, I tried to settle my nerves.

I watched as the driver door opened upward, the same as the passenger door. If they were both open at the same time, they’d look like wings.

Once Rei was behind the steering wheel, I started my list of questions. “What happened? And why didn’t you want me to speak to that caller?”

Rei’s dark brown eyes looked at me, purposely scrutinizing me—or that was how it felt.

“I’m his wife.”

Rei nodded. “And I’m his brother. Aléjandro trusts you. Sorry, Mia, but I don’t know you.” Turning away from my stare, Rei pulled the car up toward the gate.

Know me.

I didn’t know my own husband.

To hell with this.

I wasn’t going to some unknown place with a person who couldn’t be honest with me. As the car came to a stop, I reached for the door handle. The car door popped open.

Rei reached out and seized my arm. “Qué diablos?”

While I didn’t understand what he’d said, I recognized the tone. I pulled my arm from his grasp. “If you can’t trust me, I can’t trust you. I’m staying here where Aléjandro said to stay.”

Rei exhaled. “Close the damn door.”

Pushing on the door, it began to rise.

“M****a.” Rei exhaled. “Jano wasn’t lying when he said you’re stubborn.” When I didn’t respond or move, he went on, his tone softening, “Close the door, por favor.”

Slowly, I reached for the handle and pulled it toward me. The car took over from there and the door closed. I turned back to Rei. “Tell me what’s happening.”

“Will you stay in the car, or do I need to worry about you jumping out when I’m driving?”

I gestured toward my seatbelt I’d rebuckled. “I’m belted in.”

Rei nodded as he put the car into drive and pulled out of the gate. “What did he tell you before he left?”

Laying my head against the seat, I remembered. “He said Dante said some things that upset a lieutenant named Nicolas, and he was going to Wanderland to set things straight. He said Emiliano and Nick would be with him.”

We were now on roads with more cars.

Rei nodded. “Nicolas is Andrés Ruiz’s brother.”

The family that hosted our wedding.

“He’s worked for our father for as long as we’ve been alive. You can see why he’s not too happy about taking orders from us.”

My thoughts went to my uncles. “Yeah, Dario has some of the same issues, especially with our uncles.” As soon as the words left my tongue, I wondered if I shouldn’t be sharing things about the famiglia. I quickly added, “He has them under control.”

Rei smiled. “Sí, I saw how happy they were at the wedding.”

“What happened at Wanderland?”

“Nicolas listened, according to Jano. With our padre still near, he didn’t have much of a choice. Nicolas agreed to investigate changes with the whores at the club.” He turned my direction, as his grip of the steering wheel tightened. “As Jano, Em, and Nick were leaving Wanderland, there was a drive-by.”

“A shooting?” I asked, my heart rate accelerating.

Rei nodded.

“Are they…is anyone dead?”