I take the phone from Ronan, hesitating before I key in Gabriel's number. It rings several times before someone picks up. "¿Hola?"

"Gabe."

"Camilla," he breathes. "Are you still with that fucking Russian?"

"Yes."

"What the fuck does he want?" he asks.

My gaze drifts to Ronan sitting on the couch with his cigar between his lips. A thin stream of smoke drifts in front of his face as his eyes lock with mine and narrow. "I... I don't know." Once again I feel torn. Ronan and I have gone from enemies to lovers, to both at the same time. And now...I can't even see the battle lines that were once drawn in blood. It's so easy to forget everything but Ronan and the intoxicating power that swirls around us when we're together, but hearing Gabe's voice... My brother reminds me where my loyalties should lie, and of my own treachery in feeling something for Ronan. Ronan watches me like a hawk and it's as though he can see my emotions, so I turn away from him. "How's business?" I ask Gabe, changing the subject.

"The Los Zetas are fucking loco," he sighs. "They're riding my cock and..." He hesitates for a beat. "I heard that Sebastian is in Mexico having dealings with them." My heart pounds against my ribs.

"Leave," I say, cutting him off. "If he finds you..."

"Ah, let him find me." He spits. "Fucking puta. I'll slit his throat and piss on his dead body, Mila."

"Gabriel," I say through clenched teeth.

"What? You want me to run? Ai, ai, ai... He killed our familia. That debt still needs to be paid!"

I pinch the bridge of my nose and try to slow my breathing. "Gabriel, I am ordering you to leave Juarez."

He snorts. "Si, and you are in such a position to order anything... fucking Russian."

"Gabe, you fucking dick!" I shout, but the line cuts off.

I stare at the screen, watching it tremble within my shaking hand. I try to call back but it says the number is unavailable. My heart pounds with a very real and visceral fear. Gabriel and I, we live a certain life. We accept that death will come for us at some point, but if he goes after Sebastian Cortez it will be suicide. He can't take him on. Since killing my family, he's become one of the most powerful men in South America. He killed my father, my mother, my brother—all to steal our drug empire. I accept death, but I will not lose another brother to that man. Gabe is all I have left.

My fingers tighten around the phone in my hand and I spin around to face Ronan. "I have to go to Mexico," I say, and hurry toward the door.

"Stop!" Ronan says, the deepness to his voice causing a tremor to shoot down my spine.

I turn to face him, slowly backing away. "Am I or am I not your captive, Ronan?"

"You chose to stay." He smiles.

My temper rises like a wave. "For you, Ronan! As your equal, not your prisoner. And now my brother needs me so I'm leaving."

"You think too highly of yourself, Camilla. You believe you are something you are not."

I clench my fists, my nails digging into my palms. "Fuck you, Ronan." I turn and storm out of the room toward his wing of the house.

I go straight to the closet, rip open the drawers, pull out the least pretentious clothes I can find, and shove them into a leather bag tucked beneath the racks of dresses. The only thought in my mind right now is Gabriel coming face to face with Sebastian Cortez. That man is the boogeyman, the feature of my nightmares, the one who stole our lives and forced us onto the streets of Mexico.

Ronan's feet pad across the floor. I can feel him looming behind me, bristling with tension.

I zip the bag, tossing it over my shoulder. When I go to move past him, he steps in my path, blocking the closet door. His eyes lock with mine, icy and hard. Has he always been so cold, so implacable?

He grabs my jaw, squeezing so hard I know I'll be bruised. "Tell me what has happened." His warm breath blows across my face as he studies me like a predator with dying prey.

"Gabriel is about to get himself killed. I need to go."

"You aren't answering my question." His fingers dig deeper into my skin.

I try to tug away from his grasp, but it's pointless. "This is personal, not business. It doesn't concern you, Russian."

"Everything concerning you is my business." His nostrils flare and he lifts me by my jaw. "Answer my fucking question!"

I grab at his wrist, struggling to keep my tiptoes on the floor. I rake my nails down his wrist. There's a sadistic flash in his eyes before a smirk flinches across his lips. He shoves me through the dresses hanging in the closet, right up against the wall before moving his hand to my throat. My pulse skitters and skips as his fingers close around my neck. His grip grows tighter and tighter. I claw at his hands, attempting to pry his fingers lose, but it's no use. As I struggle for breath, Ronan leans in, brushing his mouth over mine. "How long will it take for you to realize you made a choice to stay," he whispers before biting my lip. "And there are grave consequences for going back on agreements with me, little kitty. As you've seen..."

Choking, I gasp for a breath. I feel like he's trying to inhale each struggled breath. My vision spots. My ears ring and that weightlessly numb feeling courses through my veins until everything goes black.

There's still a dull ring in my ears when I blink my eyes open. Ronan's bedroom window comes into focus. The heavy red drapes framing the bleak, gray clouds on the other side of the glass. My head pounds and my throat aches. I try and put my hand to my throat, but I can't. Glancing up, I find thick ropes binding me by my wrists to the bed frame.

"Really?" I growl.

The bed dips as Ronan sits beside me. "You're like an animal, so I shall treat you as such." He smiles, those blue eyes tracing over my face as he tenderly tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. "I understand you think you are some force to be reckoned with, but really," he laughs before motioning his hand over me like a prize, "what true force would end up in a situation as this."

My head falls back against the pillow and I close my eyes on a frustrated groan. I don't have time for this. Gabe is rash at the best of times. I'm not even sure I'd get there in time, even if Ronan did let me go. That foreign, crippling fear grips me and I bite the inside of my cheek to try and control my emotions. "If you let me go, I will come back." I open my eyes and turn my head to the side, meeting his gaze. "I promise. I just really need to do this."

And I mean it. I will come back to him. Not because I have to, not for an opportunity to end him, but because I want to. I want him.

His fingers stroke over my cheek. A deep line sets between his brow as he tilts his head. "Do what, krasivaya?"

I exhale slowly. "Save my shithead brother from being an idiot." Ronan arches a single brow, the arrogance pouring off him. Groaning, I stare up at the ceiling. "He's going after someone who took something from us, and this someone is very dangerous. Gabriel is setting himself up for a suicide mission because he's a dick."

"And you believe you—a woman—are better suited to take care of a dangerous man than your brother?" One side of his mouth curls. "So very certain."

I fight back my spiking temper. "No," I say through clenched teeth. "I have no intention of taking care of anything. I just need to stop Gabe from doing something stupid." I glare at him. "And not because I'm a woman, because I'm not an idiot."

"I see." He pats my face, and I jerk away from him.

"I swear to god, Ronan..."

"Who is this someone? Does he have a name?"

"No, he's like Voldemort, you can't speak it." I roll my eyes.

"I don't know who Voldemort is..."

"For fuck's sake. Of course he has a fucking name. Sebastian Cortez." He leans over to kiss me before pushing up from the bed and leaving without another word. I yank against the rope. "Ronan!" Nothing. I slump back against the bed. Tears of frustration prickle my eyes. I hope to god Gabe doesn't go after Cortez because for the first time in our lives I'm not there to save him.

If anything happens to Gabriel I will kill Ronan. What affection I have for him won't be enough to stop me.