Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 153571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 768(@200wpm)___ 614(@250wpm)___ 512(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 153571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 768(@200wpm)___ 614(@250wpm)___ 512(@300wpm)
"Jose is my brother," she whispers.
"Then whose fucking baby is it?" Brady demands, his voice sharp.
Selena doesn't say anything, but her gaze doesn't waver from mine, and I know exactly whose kid she's carrying. I see the truth burning in those dark eyes right alongside the fear.
"Motherfucker," I swear loudly, pinching the bridge of my nose.
"You gotta be kidding me," Brady says half a second later, and I know he's figured out what she isn't saying, too.
She's pregnant with Pedro Francisco's kid. Whether by choice or by force, the baby in her belly is the only heir to a goddamn drug empire. If Guerrero is a monster, Francisco is the fucking devil. He runs the cartel in Sinaloa. Guerrero might as well be his fucking lapdog. His crimes pale in comparison to the shit Francisco has done over the years.
But Selena Ortega is a hell of a lot more valuable than we ever suspected. Because Francisco's been trying for an heir with his wife for years. I guess the motherfucker finally found a way to give himself one.
Jesus Christ.
"If you kill Jose and send me back, you know what will happen," she says, her voice soft and resigned. "You said yourself that they will come for me."
She's not wrong. Guerrero is a death sentence hanging over her head, but Francisco is something worse. If anyone finds out she's carrying his kid and not Guerrero's, his enemies will tear California apart to find her. Guerrero's little war will pale in comparison to what will happen if Francisco's enemies get their hands on his kid. If she's lucky, they'll kill her and the kid quickly. If she's not…there will be no stopping Francisco. It'll be a bloodbath.
For a minute, I consider telling her that's not my fucking problem. I don't want to deal with this shit when her brother has Mila and Tahani, but I can't tell her that. With Guerrero to protect her, she stood a chance of keeping her kid safe. Without him, her kid is as good as dead, and so is she.
I close my eyes, defeat coursing through me in a flood.
No matter what I do here, someone loses. Guerrero will do anything for Francisco…including handing Mila and Tahani back, safe and sound. But I can't use Selena to secure their safety. Not if it means putting an innocent baby into Francisco's hands. Not if it means dragging the continent into this war. I may be walking a thin line, but I'm still a fucking cop, and I can't let either happen any more than I can let Guerrero hurt my family.
I can't hand her over.
As I expected, Cowell Beach is all but deserted, the rain clouds overhead having driven everyone indoors. The wind whips around me as I stare down at the beach from the bluff, suddenly wishing like hell that I'd chosen a more public location. Seaweed and trash litter the sand below, strewn carelessly. The entire area looks dirty, dingy, and far too fucking exposed for the shit I'm about to do.
"Are you sure about this?" Brady asks, reluctance stamped across every weary line of his face as he takes in the same view from his position beside me. "We can find a different way."
"No, we can't."
He sighs, rubbing a hand across his head. He knows I'm right, though. There is no other way. In half an hour, I've got to walk down to that beach and meet Guerrero. And I have to do it alone.
Brady has to get Selena the hell out of California, immediately. If I manage to kill her brother, she's going to need to disappear. And if I don't manage to kill the son of a bitch…well, she's going to need to disappear then, too. We can't risk Francisco getting his hands on her or her baby.
"If I don't make it out of this, you take care of my girls, Brady," I mutter to him, swallowing hard at the thought of losing today. If I do…fuck, just let me get Mila and Tahani out first.
Brady is the closest thing to a brother I've got. He has been for ten damn years. If I don't make it out alive, there is no one else I'd trust with my family. It's the closest to an apology I have for being a dick when Guerrero's men went after his family.
"Fuck," he swears, hearing what I don't say. He reaches out and pulls me into a hug before pounding me on the back. His forehead touches mine the same way it has every goddamn time we've made it through hell and lived to tell the tale. "I'll take care of them like they're my own," he promises before stepping back. "Be careful, brother."
"I will." I glance over my shoulder at the woman sitting in the passenger seat of his SUV. "No one can know where she's at, man. Not even Finn." I trust Finn with my life, but this isn't the kind of shit he could keep from his bosses. If we're going to have any chance of keeping her kid out of Francisco's hands, everyone has to believe she disappeared.