Maria stood in front of Diego’s desk, where he was sitting in his chair as Brook perched on the corner of his desk. He had his hand on Brook’s knee, rubbing his thumb back and forth across her skin. Maria envied them the intimacy they shared; it was obvious that Brook soothed Diego, especially at times like this.
Maria stared sullenly at a random spot on the carpet and wished like hell she hadn’t climbed out that window. She looked over at the guard who had been on duty and mouthed I’m sorry.
He gave her a small smile because he’d always thought she was kinda cute. He’d watch her better in the future, though, because if anyone would have been able to read his thoughts, they would have seen he was as concerned if not more, than Diego had been about the girl’s welfare. It was probably good he wasn’t there with the man who had tried to rob the convenience store. The fucker would be in the ground by now.
Maria was relieved when Diego finally spoke. At least now she’d know what he was thinking.
“I’ve thought about it. Although I’ve always gone out of my way to make certain my women were safe, I’ve also tried to give them some semblance of freedom. It isn’t in your nature to be cooped up inside, Maria, I get that. You also have a penchant to be impulsive.”
“I prefer to think of it as adventurous--”
“And I’d prefer that you not speak. As I was saying, I think you need a challenge. I’m going to leave this up to you, but I have an idea I want you to think about.”
Maria’s heart began to pound in her chest. What if this was something she knew she shouldn’t do, but she wanted to do anyway?
“—I’d like you to set Santiago up. If he was following you, I believe we can convince him you aren’t on lockdown anymore. We can put a tracker on you and catch him.”
“You mean like you did already? I know you didn’t just happen to stop by the convenience store.”
“And you, little girl, should be glad I did!” Diego snarled. He had a way of shutting people down quickly with only a few cutting, cruel words.
She inhaled slowly before answering. “You saved my life. And you’re right about me needing adventure. Staying inside is making me nuts.” She’d started out strong but ended on a whine. Even she had sense enough to know what lines to never cross with her boss. Sure…she was the one employee who always pushed the envelope, but she wasn’t crazy and pissing Diego off right now would be just that—a crazy thing to do.
Diego eyed Crush with a frown. “Are you willing to protect her if I send her out on a job? God knows the girl can’t stay out of trouble.”
“I’ll kill to protect her, boss.”
Maria felt her heart skip a beat and she looked up at the brawny guard again as if she were seeing him for the first time. She smiled at him but his eyes remained neutral and direct, unwavering. It only made her think he was even better looking than she’d originally thought. Hmm, how come I’ve never noticed you before, big guy?
As far as Diego was concerned, things were working out better than he’d anticipated. From the way these two were making eyes at each other, he was going to be successful catching a serial killer. That meant the Ramirez brothers were going to be happy, and in his line of work that was a good thing. Lately both Ramirez brothers had been crankier than usual and he didn’t want it directed toward him or any of his women. In his line of work, you could be in good standing with the bosses one day and the next…not so much.
Diego steepled his fingers on the desk and looked at Maria speculatively. Whatever he was getting ready to say to her would be important, she could tell.
“This goes against everything in me. I don’t like using you to catch a killer. Tell me no, that you don’t want to do it, and I won’t send you out there. I don’t want your blood on my hands or on my conscience. You know I look at you like an annoying little sister. That means I care about you. So I want you to use every instinct you have to bring your ass back to me safely. I’m going to ask you one more time: are you sure you want to do this?”
“Diego,” she said, her voice thick, “you know I love you like a brother. The thing about it is”—she shook her head and continued—“I love these girls here like they’re my sisters. This is my family. Sure, we fight, but real sisters fight too. You can rip each other a new asshole when you’re family, but let an outsider come in and try to do it and it’s war. We’ve got an outsider who wants to kill women and seems to be focusing on the women who work here. If I can help catch him, then I owe it to every woman here to try.”
“Well, let’s catch the son of a bitch without any lives being lost and I’m cool with it. Now go with our blessing.” When he turned and looked at Brook she had tears in her eyes, and he knew what Maria had said was the gospel truth: these girls were sisters. Everybody in his club was family. Just come back alive, little girl.
Diego waited until Crush and Maria were gone before talking to his woman. “I don’t like this one damn bit, but at least it gives me some semblance of control over an uncontrollable situation.”
Brook took his face in both of her hands, ensuring he was looking at her and paying attention as she spoke.
“It isn’t always about what we do, sometimes it’s about why we do it.”
Diego grabbed onto those words as if they were a lifeline. He might need them in the future. Brook was proving to be much more than just his woman—she was proving herself to be a competent partner in crime, a worthy Colombian cartel woman.